Feed aggregator

In a new scientific investigation headed by the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), water from African and Mongolian waterholes as well as bloodmeals from Southeast Asian leeches were assessed for the ability to retrieve mammalian viruses without the need to find and catch the mammals. The scientists analysed the samples using high throughput sequencing to identify known viruses as well as viruses new to science.

A naturally occurring peptide in sunflower seeds was synthetically optimised and has now been identified as a potential drug for treating abdominal pain or inflammation (in the gastrointestinal tract, abdominal area and/or internal organs).

An international team of researchers has demonstrated a new concept for the generation of intense extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) radiation by high-harmonic generation (HHG). Its advantage lies in the fact that its footprint is much smaller than currently existing intense XUV lasers. The new scheme is straightforward and could be implemented in many laboratories worldwide, which may boost the research field of ultrafast XUV science. The detailed experimental and theoretical results have been published in Optica.

Neurons in the hippocampus fire during specific moments in time, according to research recently published in JNeurosci. The cells may contribute to memory by encoding information about the time and order of events.

An Australian-Chinese collaboration achieves record-high electron doping in a layered ferromagnet, causing magnetic phase transition--with significant promise for future electronics. Control of magnetism by electric voltage is vital for developing future, low-energy high-speed nano-electronic and spintronic devices, such as spin-orbit torque devices and spin field-effect transistors.

A three-dimensional atlas of the bumblebee brain is now available. It will allow to even better research how nerve cells are interconnected and how they process information.

Development of a new APEX reaction means that large numbers of nanographenes can be easily synthesized using a commercially available hydrocarbon as a template.

Osaka University researchers study the use of nanoparticles to induce crystallization of supercooled aqueous solutions to clathrate hydrates. On the basis of scanning electron microscopy images, they discovered that silver nanoparticles are much more effective compared with palladium or gold. This research may open the way for new latent heat energy storage materials via enhanced supercooling control.

New research using machine learning on images of everyday items is improving the accuracy and speed of detecting respiratory diseases, reducing the need for specialist medical expertise.Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers trained algorithms on a database of more than 1 million commonplace images and transferred this knowledge to identify characteristics of medical conditions which can be diagnosed with an x-ray.

New type of multifunctional wound dressings feature glowing nanosensors to track and monitor for infection. Harnessing the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory power of magnesium hydroxide, the smart dressings can also fight bacteria and reduce inflammation to help promote healing.

Slow earthquakes are long-period earthquakes that are not so dangerous alone, but are able to trigger more destructive earthquakes. Their origins lie in tectonic plate boundaries where one plate subsides below another. Though the causal mechanism is already known, there has been a lack of data to accurately model the life cycle of slow earthquakes. For the first time, researchers use deep-sea boreholes to gauge pressures far below the seafloor.

In March 2020, daily life in the United States changed in an instant as the country locked down to deal with the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. New research reveals how residents in one community returned to their routines as the restrictions lifted, according to a team of Penn State scientists.

Columbia research finds that some cases of OCD are caused by damaging gene variants that, while rare, provide a needed starting point for the development of better therapeutics.

An international team including astronomers from UC Davis has observed the first example of a new type of supernova. The discovery, confirming a prediction made four decades ago, could lead to new insights into the life and death of stars.

A new discovery in rats shows that the brain responds differently in immersive virtual reality environments versus the real world. The finding could pave the way for "virtual reality therapy" for learning and memory-related disorders ranging including ADHD, autism, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and depression.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a "designer" probiotic -- a thoughtfully engineered yeast that can induce multiple effects for treating IBD.

All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed. A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.

Engineers at MIT and Harvard have designed a prototype face mask that can diagnose the person wearing the mask with Covid-19 within about 90 minutes. The technology can also be used to design wearable sensors for a variety of other pathogens or toxic chemicals.

A worldwide team led by scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory has discovered the first convincing evidence for a new type of stellar explosion -- an electron-capture supernova. The discovery also sheds new light on the thousand-year mystery of the supernova from A.D. 1054 that was seen all over the world in the daytime, before eventually becoming the Crab Nebula.

A worldwide team led by UC Santa Barbara scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory has discovered the first convincing evidence for a new type of stellar explosion -- an electron-capture supernova. While they have been theorized for 40 years, real-world examples have been elusive. They are thought to arise from the explosions of massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars, for which there has also been scant evidence.