197 articles from TUESDAY 15.11.2022

Leprosy spurs growth in armadillo livers, offering clues to organ regeneration

Armadillos stash a secret under their shells—their liver grows dramatically when they are infected with the bacterium that causes leprosy in people. This oddity, revealed in a new study, may provide clues about how the body controls liver regeneration and how to jump-start the process in people. The finding is “very cool,” says hepatologist Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez of the...

Europe faces ‘cancer epidemic’ after estimated 1m cases missed during Covid

Report says 100m screenings lost because of pandemic, which had ‘chilling effect’ on researchExperts have warned that Europe faces a “cancer epidemic” unless urgent action is taken to boost treatment and research, after an estimated 1m diagnoses were missed during the pandemic.The impact of Covid-19 and the focus on it has exposed “weaknesses” in cancer health systems and in the cancer...

Opinion: Why COP27 should be the last of these pointless corporate love-ins

It's a glorious afternoon at a luxury resort in Egypt, with six swimming pools leading to a lovely little stretch of beach on the Red Sea. A salsa aquatic class in one of the pools has several enthusiastic participants. Elsewhere, guests are lounging on deck chairs sipping ice cold cocktails. Cheerful waiters are refilling glasses and serving snacks.

Rockets to Uncover Electric Circuit That Powers the Northern Lights

Portal origin URL: Rockets to Uncover Electric Circuit That Powers the Northern LightsPortal origin nid: 484000Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 - 17:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A NASA-funded rocket mission is headed to space to measure the global electric circuit underlying the northern lights.Portal image: Comet NEOWISE appears in a...

How NASA's Deep Space Network supports the agency's missions

Over 50 years ago, NASA captured the world's imagination and inspired generations with the Apollo 11 moon landing. NASA's then-young Deep Space Network (DSN) was crucial to tracking and communicating with that mission, as it will also be essential to NASA's next push to the moon: Artemis. In the half-century between those two lunar efforts, the network has expanded to support dozens of robotic...

Researchers use random numbers to precisely describe the warm dense hydrogen found in some planet interiors

Discovering the properties of quantum systems that are made of many interacting particles is still a huge challenge. While the underlying mathematical equations have been long known, they are too complex to be solved in practice. Breaking that barrier most probably would lead to a plethora of new findings and applications in physics, chemistry and the material sciences.

Footprints claimed as evidence of ice age humans in North America need better dating, new research claims

The wide expanse of an ancient lakebed in New Mexico holds the preserved footprints of life that roamed millennia ago. Giant sloths and mammoths left their mark, and alongside them, signs of our human ancestors. Research published in September 2021 claimed that these footprints are "definitive evidence of human occupation of North America" during the last ice age, dating back to between 23,000 and...

Emergent bilinguals lost vital instruction during remote learning, study shows

Emergent bilingual learners—students developing proficiency in English and another language—in kindergarten through second grade saw significant loss of language-rich instruction during remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study by Amy Crosson, associate professor of education in the Penn State College of Education.

Health harms of mass shootings ripple across communities

A grim and familiar pattern has followed the parade of mass shootings across America. In their aftermath, the nation's attention focuses on the direct victims of the attacks, the dead and injured, their families and friends, and the witnesses.

Word choice and media exposure affected anti-Asian boycotts during the pandemic, study finds

During 2020, the use of terms like the "China virus" by public officials and in the media negatively connected COVID-19 to China, where the virus originated, causing a detrimental impact. New research from scholars of the hospitality industry at Penn State and the University of Houston found that this type of virus naming contributed to hostility toward and boycotting of Chinese restaurants and...

New discoveries made about a promising solar cell material, thanks to new microscope

A team of scientists from the Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory has developed a new characterization tool that allowed them to gain unique insight into a possible alternative material for solar cells. Under the leadership of Jigang Wang, senior scientist from Ames Lab, the team developed a microscope that uses terahertz waves to collect data on material samples. The team then used...

Making mosquitoes' love songs fall on deaf ears

A team of researchers from the Group of Neural Circuit in the Graduate School of Science at Nagoya University in central Japan have developed a new method that may help control mosquito populations. The annoying buzzing sound that mosquitoes make when flying inspired this technique.

A new one-step, green and economical way to prepare layered double hydroxides

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have a unique structure and many benefits, which have led to them being widely used in fields such as catalysis, environmental management and medical applications. Typically, soluble metal salts, such as metal nitrates, are used as the starting materials for the synthesis of LDHs, but they are relatively expensive and can be inconvenient to store and transport due...

Roman roads laid the foundation for modern-day prosperity, study claims

Even though it is over 2,000 years since the ancient Roman road networks were established, there are clear connections between the routes of the roads and modern-day prosperity. In a study in economics, the researchers investigate the importance of the Roman road network in maintaining or losing wealth through the centuries.

It'll be tough to stop an asteroid at the last minute, but not impossible, study claims

On September 26, 2022, NASA's Double-Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) made history when it rendezvoused with the asteroid Didymos and impacted with its moonlet, Dimorphos. The purpose was to test the kinetic impact method, a means of defense against potentially-hazardous asteroids (PHAs) where a spacecraft collides with them to alter their trajectory. Based on follow-up observations, the test...

Effects of climate change such as flooding make existing disadvantages for Indigenous communities so much worse

Spring is here, and with it comes the threat of more floods. Australia is currently experiencing its third consecutive year of a La Niña weather cycle. This means we expect more rainfall than average over the spring and summer months. There is heightened risk of floods, tropical cyclones, prolonged heatwaves and grass fires in southern Australia. This has already led to flooding in parts of the...

Gene plays important role in embryonic development

An international study has identified a gene that plays an important role in the development of the human embryo. If it is altered, malformations of various organ systems can result. The gene emerged very early in evolution. It also exists in zebrafish, for example, and performs a similar function there.