Commercially available ultrafiltration membranes that purify water are expensive and get clogged easily by particles and microorganisms. Recently, living filtration membranes were reported as an alternative sieving material. Grown from kombucha cultures, the filters are dense, stacked sheets of bacterial cellulose. Now, researchers show that these living membranes are more resistant to clogging...

A team of biology researchers has found that some of the newer variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 can infect the respiratory tract of wild mice, unlike the original strain that emerged from China.

How many black holes are out there in the Universe? A new study has investigated the demographics of stellar mass black holes, which are black holes with masses between a few to some hundred solar masses, that originated at the end of the life of massive stars. According to the new piece of research, a remarkable amount around 1% of the overall ordinary matter of the Universe is locked up in...

New research suggests manufacturers of newly developed antidepressant drugs have become more forthcoming about clinical trials that don't pan out. While the new findings are encouraging, they still hint at a fundamental shortcoming in medicine: A reliance of studies selectively reported in scientific literature, as opposed to the unvarnished results of clinical trials reported to the Food and Drug...

A drug treatment that acts as a decoy against SARS-CoV-2 was highly effective at preventing death and lung damage in humanized animal models of severe COVID-19 disease. The study suggests that the drug has the potential to treat COVID-19 patients, including those who are infected with aggressive SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Researchers describe a humidity sensor inspired by the structure and properties of camels' noses. In experiments, they found this device could reliably detect variations in humidity in settings that included industrial exhaust and the air surrounding human skin.

Changing environmental factors as well as changing gene-environment interactions could be to blame for increasing rates of myopia, also known as nearsightedness or shortsightedness, over time, suggests a new study.

A team of researchers has discovered a jumping behavior that is entirely new to insect larvae, and there is evidence that it is occurring in a range of species -- we just haven't noticed it before.

A new array of brain sensors can record electrical signals directly from the surface of the human brain in record-breaking detail. The new brain sensors feature densely packed grids of either 1,024 or 2,048 embedded electrocorticography (ECoG) sensors. If approved for clinical use, these sensors would offer surgeons brain-signal information directly from the surface of the brain's cortex in 100...

A new method identifies specific antibodies in immune responses to vaccination or infection in fraction of time needed for traditional approach.

The release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for almost a quarter of global warming, is being studied around the world, from Arctic wetlands to livestock feedlots. A team has discovered a source much closer to home: 349 plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the seafloor in Puget Sound, which holds more water than any other U.S. estuary.

Numbers like pi, e and phi often turn up in unexpected places in science and mathematics. Pascal's triangle and the Fibonacci sequence also seem inexplicably widespread in nature. Then there's the Riemann zeta function, a deceptively straightforward function that has perplexed mathematicians since the 19th century. The most famous quandary, the Riemann hypothesis, is perhaps the greatest unsolved...

Computer simulations of snow cover can accurately forecast avalanche hazard, according to a new international study. Currently, avalanche forecasts in Canada are made by experienced professionals who rely on data from local weather stations and on-the-ground observations from ski and backcountry ski operators, avalanche control workers for transportation and industry, and volunteers who manually...

A mutated gene affects growth of brain tumor cells in young adults, indicating sensitivity to a new treatment strategy, a team of researchers has discovered. These findings present possibilities for more effective therapies for glioma patients with this gene mutation.

Wild populations must continuously adapt to environmental changes or risk extinction. For more than fifty years, scientists have described instances of 'rapid evolution' in specific populations as their traits (phenotypes) change in response to varying stressors. For example, Spanish clover has developed a tolerance for copper from the mine tailings in which it grows, and the horn size of Alberta...

A study discusses how advances in global lightning detection have provided novel ways to characterize explosive volcanism.

Research finds that the cellular assembly line that produces proteins can stall with age, triggering a snowball effect that increases the output of misfolded proteins. In humans, clumps of misfolded proteins contribute to age-linked Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Software development teams given the freedom to tackle their projects in whatever ways they choose are more productive and have more satisfied customers than teams that follow a central corporate standard, according to new research.

Researchers have achieved a key milestone toward the development of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. They were able to demonstrate a two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.5 percent -- higher than the 99 percent considered to be the threshold for building fault-tolerant computers -- using electron spin qubits in silicon, which are promising for large-scale quantum computers as the nanofabrication...

Researchers have proven that near error-free quantum computing is possible, paving the way to build silicon-based quantum devices compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing technology.

The level of magnesium in the blood is an important factor in the immune system's ability to tackle pathogens and cancer cells. Researchers have reported that T cells need a sufficient quantity of magnesium in order to operate efficiently. Their findings may have important implications for cancer patients.

A precision diagnostic is emerging as a gold standard for detecting and describing problems inside quantum computing hardware.

Crystals reveal the hidden geometry of molecules to the naked eye. Scientists use crystals to figure out the atomic structure of new materials, but many materials can't be grown large enough. Now, a team of researchers report a new technique that can lead to the discovery of the crystalline structure of any substance.

New studies shed light on how mRNAs are born and how they regulate production of proteins inside of our cells once they reach maturity. The findings have implications not only for achieving effective doses for new vaccines, but for helping determine the biological roots of many cancers and diseases.