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An international research team that includes scientists and engineers from The University of Texas at Austin has devised a new method for making urea that is more environmentally friendly than today's process and produces enough to be competitive with energy-intensive industrial methods.

T cells are components of the body's immune system. The ability of T cells to recognize diverse pathogens and mount a defense against them stems from the way proteins are spliced during their development and maturation. Now, scientists from Korea highlight the importance of a protein called NSrp70, which was previously discovered in T cell subnuclear spaces, in regulating the maturation of these cells, and has implications in T cell-mediated adaptive immunity against viral infection and cancer.

A new study from the University of Missouri found the unanticipated transitions to virtual schooling due to COVID-19 exposed the lack of digital resources among Black families in the United States, including access to Wi-Fi and technological savviness.

Having no children who completed college is negatively associated with parents' self-rated health and positively associated with depressive symptoms. Additionally, among parents with the highest propensity for having no children who complete college, the consequences on depressive symptoms are greatest.

Lab-based studies are critical to understanding ebola vaccine effectiveness due to the sporadic nature of outbreaks. This study identifies features of the antibody response responsible for survival from 139 immune- and vaccine-related parameters.* Findings will help develop vaccines that produce an antibody response profile which ensures protection and focuses on survival quality

Found in South Africa, this is the oldest evidence for this type of life: the discovery expand the frontiers of potentially habitable environments on the early Earth, as well as other planets such as Mars

A new study on the effects of Airbnb listings on Boston neighborhoods suggests that the prevalence of listings may hamper local social dynamics that prevent crime. However, tourists themselves do not appear to generate or attract higher levels of crime. Babak Heydari, Daniel T. O'Brien, and Laiyang Ke of Northeastern University in Boston, MA, USA present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 14, 2021.

An analysis of the tone used in pandemic-related social media posts from U.S. Congress members over an 8-month period in 2020 finds clear partisan differences, with Democrats using a slightly negative tone compared with Republicans, who appeared to use more strongly positive language in their COVID-19 messaging. Democrats were also far more likely than

New research, led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, illustrates the disparity between the narrow origins and far-reaching impacts of greenhouse emissions responsible for disrupting the global climate system.

Facebook posts by members of the U.S. Congress reveal the depth of the partisan divide over the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.A study of all 12,031 Facebook posts concerning the pandemic by members of Congress between March and October 2020 showed that Democrats generally took a more negative or neutral tone on the issue, while Republicans were more likely to have a positive tone in their posts.

More doesn't necessarily mean better - including in cancer treatment. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists report today in Science Translational Medicine that combining targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy with immunotherapy significantly boosts eradication of metastatic cancer in mice, even when the radiation is given in doses too low to destroy the cancer outright.

Newborns at higher altitudes have up to 37 percent higher mortality rates, perhaps because of lower availability of blood oxygen, vitamins and minerals.

Phone conversations contain vocal features which might help identify early Alzheimer's disease, thanks to a new machine-learning model.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to Manta Rays: Wide variety of "hitchhiker" fish found to associate with manta rays in the Maldives, including species not previously known to be associated.

A picture of a person's inner eyelid taken with a standard smartphone camera can be used to screen for anemia, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Selim Suner of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, USA, and colleagues.

A novel analysis of 3 years of conversations at a software engineering organization suggests a strong relationship between communication and productivity. Arindam Dutta of Arizona State University, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 14, 2021.

Domestic dogs show many adaptations to living closely with humans, but they do not seem to reciprocate food-giving according to a study, publishing July 14 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, led by Jim McGetrick and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria.

With few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys, public health agencies can better estimate disease occurrence and trends, changes in transmission, rates of hospitalization and death and effectiveness of vaccines and other control measures.

A team of University of Houston pharmaceutical researchers is reporting a newly recognized process of drug metabolism in the intestines - followed by recycling through the liver - that could have important implications for developing treatments for intestinal diseases and for taking multiple medications at the same time.

Male seed beetles with genital structures that injure females may have greater reproductive success. As new research from Uppsala University shows, females that mate with such males benefit, in the sense that their offspring are healthier. This new piece of the puzzle will help scientists to understand how complex mating interactions between males and females have developedevolved. The study is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.