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4 articles from ScienceNOW

Beer was the backdrop to Danish Golden Age masterpieces

It’s said that art imitates life, but painters in 19th century Denmark really took that adage to heart. The so-called Danish Golden Age of painting, which lasted from about 1800 to 1850, coincided with a particularly beer-crazed era for the nation. A new study out today in Science Advances suggests Danish artists used grains and yeast leftover from brewing to...

The COVID-19 virus mutated to outsmart key antibody treatments. Better ones are coming

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged and other effective drugs were elusive, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) emerged as a lifesaving treatment. But now, 3 years later, all the approvals for COVID-19–fighting antibodies have been rescinded in the United States, as mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have left the drugs—which target parts of the original virus—ineffective....

Want to improve young scientists’ mentoring experience? Train their mentors in cultural awareness

Scientists who reflect on their racial and ethnic identities—as well as on those of their mentees—have the potential to be better mentors. And mentees of these scientists were also more likely to say their mentors were respectful of, and held space for conversations about, race and ethnicity. Those are the take-home message from a new randomized controlled trial—the first of its...

Paralyzed man walks naturally, thanks to wireless ‘bridge’ between brain and spine

Gert-Jan Oskam lost the ability to walk in 2011 when he injured his spine in a cycling accident in China. Six years later, the Dutch man managed to take a few short steps thanks to a small array of electrodes implanted on top of his spinal cord that delivered nerve-stimulating pulses of electricity. The device allowed him to walk, but the process was stilted and sometimes frustrating....