104 articles from FRIDAY 20.1.2023
U.S. should expand rules for risky virus research to more pathogens, panel says
U.S. health officials should expand oversight of federally funded research that tweaks deadly viruses to include some less risky types of pathogens, an expert panel has concluded. Its
draft report
, released today, also recommends funding agencies share more information about decisions to approve such work.
The recommendations are welcome news for scientists,...
8 facts you may not know about eugenics
Eugenics is seen as a 19th-century idea put into horrific 20th-century practice. But the attraction to breeding “better” humans has a long and persistent history, says Adam Rutherford. The geneticist and science podcaster explains, in conversation with host Nahlah...
Teaching evaluations reflect—and may perpetuate—academia’s gender biases
Universities routinely use student teaching evaluations to help make decisions about which faculty members get tenure and promotions. But factors unrelated to teaching performance, such as gender, race, and even attractiveness, can skew these evaluations, potentially exacerbating existing inequities in academia.
Now, a new study suggests an additional source of bias:...
Brazil begins first operations to protect Amazon
Brazil this week began the first operations against Amazon deforestation since veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, the Ibama environmental agency said Friday.
New 'whipping jet' sprayer controls how aerosols move
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
Scientists have invented a new 'whipping jet' sprayer that allows for greater control over how aerosols move. The device could benefit pharmaceutical, automotive, food processing, carbon capture and other industries.
Unprecedented levels of high-severity fire burn in Sierra Nevada
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
High-severity wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada forests has nearly quintupled compared to before Euro-American settlement, rising from less than 10% per year then to up to 43% today, a new study finds.
New, more accurate computational tool for long-read RNA sequencing
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
Researchers have developed a new computational tool that can more accurately discover and quantify RNA molecules from these error-prone long-read RNA sequencing data. The tool, called ESPRESSO (Error Statistics PRomoted Evaluator of Splice Site Options), was reported today.
Finding a new way: Orienteering can train the brain, may help fight cognitive decline
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
The sport of orienteering, which draws on athleticism, navigational skills and memory, could be useful as an intervention or preventive measure to fight cognitive decline related to dementia, according to new research.
Vulnerability of red sea urchins to climate change depends on location
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
A new study of red sea urchins, a commercially valuable species, investigated how different populations respond to changes in their environments. The results show that red sea urchin populations in Northern and Southern California are adapted to their local conditions but differ in their vulnerability to the environmental changes expected to occur in the future due to global climate change and...
Regulating immunological memory may help immune system fight disease
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
Scientists have long sought to better understand the human body's immune responses that occur during various diseases, including cancer and inflammatory diseases. Scientists have now analyzed how immunological memory -- the memory the body's immune system retains after an infection or vaccination that helps protect against reinfection -- gets generated and maintained, as well as the role...
Female and male hearts respond differently to stress hormone in mouse study
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 21:49
Female and male hearts respond differently to 'fight or flight' stress hormone, according to a new study in mice. It may help explain sex differences in arrhythmia risk.
Dirty old mines could be a source of clean new energy
Bob McDonald's blog: The town of Springhill, N.S. is a pioneer in tapping into geothermal energy from water heated in underground...
Space launches from Canada will be allowed soon, transport minister says
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced Friday that the federal government will develop the regulatory requirements, safety standards and licensing conditions necessary to authorize commercial satellite space launches from Canada within the next three...
What Time You Eat Doesn’t Matter For Weight Loss, Study Finds
Recent diet trends have promised that clocks are as important for weight loss as scales. One such diet is known as intermittent fasting, which entails a schedule of alternating fasting and eating. A popular intermittent fasting schedule is time-restricted eating. By restricting eating to a limited number of hours a day, some proponents of this diet argue people can harness their bodies’...
Morris Nitsun obituary
My friend Dr Morris Nitsun, who has died aged 79, was a consultant psychologist, psychotherapist and group analyst who worked in the NHS for 50 years. He was also a gifted artist.Born in Worcester, a small, remote town in the Western Cape, South Africa, Morris was the youngest of three children of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants. His father, Joseph Nitsun, was a businessman who had lost family in the...
A U.S. judge lectures the government on how academic research works
A sentencing hearing is a forum to mete out justice for someone convicted of a crime. But this week, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Julie Robinson used
the sentencing of Franklin Tao
, a chemical engineer formerly at the University of Kansas (KU), Lawrence, to also talk at length about what motivates academic researchers—and how the U.S. government appeared to...
A mixture of crops provides ecological benefits for agricultural landscapes, find researchers
There are often too few flowering plants in agricultural landscapes, which is one reason for the decline of pollinating insects. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have now investigated how a mixture of crops of fava beans (broad beans) and wheat affects the number of pollinating insects. They found that areas of mixed crops compared with areas of single crops are visited equally often by...
Vulnerability of red sea urchins to climate change depends on location
A new study of red sea urchins, a commercially valuable species, investigated how different populations respond to changes in their environments. The results show that red sea urchin populations in Northern and Southern California are adapted to their local conditions but differ in their vulnerability to the environmental changes expected to occur in the future due to global climate change and...
Unprecedented levels of high-severity fire burn in Sierra Nevada
High-severity wildfire is increasing in Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade forests and has been burning at unprecedented rates compared to the years before Euro-American settlement, according to a study from the Safford Lab at the University of California, Davis and its collaborators. Those rates have especially shot up over the past decade.
Researchers develop new, more accurate computational tool for long-read RNA sequencing
On the journey from gene to protein, a nascent RNA molecule can be cut and joined, or spliced, in different ways before being translated into a protein. This process, known as alternative splicing, allows a single gene to encode several different proteins. Alternative splicing occurs in many biological processes, like when stem cells mature into tissue-specific cells. In the context of disease,...
Video: Exploring the 74,963 different kinds of ice
There are somewhere between 20 and 74,963 forms of ice because water can do all kinds of weird stuff when it freezes.
Researchers find that traded species have distinctive life histories with extended reproductive lifecycles
A new study by researchers from Durham University, UK, Queen's University Belfast, UK, University of Extremadura, Spain and Swansea University, UK have revealed that vertebrate species involved in the live wildlife trade have distinctive life history traits, biological characteristics that determine the frequency and timing of reproduction.
Economist examines US debt limit impact
It's not exactly comforting that the United States is running up against its debt limit, as officials announced this week, nor is there immediate cause for concern for the average taxpayer, says University of Michigan economist Daniil Manaenkov.
Statistical physics theorem also valid in the quantum world, study finds
Physicists at the University of Bonn have experimentally proven that an important theorem of statistical physics applies to so-called "Bose-Einstein condensates." Their results now make it possible to measure certain properties of the quantum "superparticles" and deduce system characteristics that would otherwise be difficult to observe. The study has now been published in Physical Review Letters.
Multipronged approach needed to combat intimate partner violence in humanitarian settings
Intimate partner violence is pervasive in humanitarian settings and its impacts are far-reaching, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Protecting and regenerating tropical mangroves
Mangroves were once seen as inhospitable malarial swamps and were among the fastest disappearing habitats in the world. Now, with input from Bangor University, one community project in Kenya is working to restore mangroves in a project which benefits local communities.
Feds research whale mystery after more than a dozen dead whales wash up along East Coast
Fourteen whales have washed up on Atlantic Coast beaches since Dec. 1, but marine mammal experts and some conservation groups urge caution before jumping to conclusions about why these animals and others died.
From Halo to The Simpsons, would fictional mad scientists pass ethical review?
Cave Johnson is almost ready to start a new study in his secret underground facility. The founder of the Michigan-based technology company Aperture Science, he’s invented a portal gun that allows people to teleport to various locations. Now, he and his colleagues want to see whether they can make portals appear on previously unfit surfaces with a new “conversion gel” containing moon...
Ripples in fabric of universe may reveal start of time
Scientists have advanced in discovering how to use ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves to peer back to the beginning of everything we know. The researchers say they can better understand the state of the cosmos shortly after the Big Bang by learning how these ripples in the fabric of the universe flow through planets and the gas between the galaxies.
Delivering a message by voice, even an artificial one, can be more compelling than putting it in writing
In this age of screens, smartphones, virtual assistants, and voice-enabled speakers, we are constantly bombarded by visual and auditory suggestions of things to do, products to buy, and media to consume. Yet are all these messages created equal?
A journey to the birthplace of lager beer
Without barley, hops and yeast, there is no beer. Brewing specialist Dr. Martin Zarnkow and beverage microbiologist Dr. Mathias Hutzler believe that a very special yeast variety might be found in Georgia. So they embarked on a "yeast hunt" and investigated microbiology and brewing traditions in the Caucasus region.
Studying the feasibility of drones for collecting environmental data
Earth observation, also known as remote sensing, provides highly relevant information about the state and change of our planet every day via satellite data worldwide. The data can be used, for example, to gather information about heat islands in cities, droughts or the condition of forests.
Soil organisms are essential for the maintenance of city parks and gardens, study shows
City parks and gardens support a rich and diverse community of soil organisms including bacteria, fungi, protists and invertebrates, which often go unnoticed compared with eye-catching plants and animals.
World-first computational reconstruction of a virus in its biological entirety
An Aston University researcher has created the first ever computer reconstruction of a virus, including its complete native genome.
Loneliness associated with unhealthful diets and physical inactivity among US college students
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:13
College students reporting a higher level of loneliness also reported a higher level of sedentary behavior and low activity.
Mixture of crops provide ecological benefits for agricultural landscapes
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:13
There are often too few flowering plants in agricultural landscapes, which is one reason for the decline of pollinating insects. Researchers ave now investigated how a mixture of crops of faba beans (broad beans) and wheat affects the number of pollinating insects. They found that areas of mixed crops compared with areas of single crops are visited equally often by foraging bees.
Rest isn't best: Getting kids back to school sooner after a concussion can mean a faster recovery
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:13
A new study finds that rest, contrary to popular belief, may not always be the best cure after a concussion.
First computational reconstruction of a virus in its biological entirety
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:13
A researcher has created a computer reconstruction of a virus, including its complete native genome. Although other researchers have created similar reconstructions, this is believed to be the first to replicate the exact chemical and 3D structure of a 'live' virus.
Early disease diagnosis: Getting under your skin for better health
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:12
Biomedical engineers say interstitial fluid, the watery fluid found between and around cells, tissues or organs in the body, could provide an excellent medium for early disease diagnosis or long-term health monitoring.
Incorporation of water molecules into layered materials impacts ion storage capability
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:12
Researchers have experimentally detected the structural change of hydration water confined in the tiny nano-scale pores of layered materials such as clays. Their findings potentially open the door to new options for ion separation and energy storage.
Hybrid immunity is the best protection against COVID-19, researchers find
- ScienceDaily
- 23/1/20 19:12
Results from global data show vaccination and a prior COVID-19 infection offer the best defense against severe illness and reinfection.