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Ashique KhudaBukhsh of Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute led a team of researchers who used machine learning to identify supportive tweets from Pakistan during India's COVID crisis. In the throes of a public health crisis, words of hope can be welcome medicine.

Scientists from St. Petersburg University, in cooperation with researchers from Germany, USA and Italy, have discovered terrestrial allabogdanite, (Fe,Ni)2P. It is a mineral that, until now, has been found only in the extraterrestrial substance of meteorites. The discovery was made in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, in the historical region of the South Levant in the Middle East.

Ancient Rome's emperors did some pretty bizarre stuff--bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter, appointing a horse as a priest, dressing in animal skins and attacking people... the list goes on. Why were they acting that way? Possibly... lead poisoning. In this week's episode, we unwrap the possibility that lead caused the Roman Empire's collapse.

A connective tissue protein known to support the framework of organs also encourages immune responses that fight bacterial infections, while restraining responses that can be deadly in the condition called sepsis.

Researchers from Tallinn University of Technology, Grete Raba, Signe Adamberg, and Kaarel Adamberg showed that an acidic environment enhances the production of butyric acid from apple pectin by faecal bacterial consortia - microbiota. Pectin is a dietary fibre abundant in apples, berries, fruits, and vegetables. Pectin is used in jellies and desserts. As human digestive enzymes are not able to degrade pectin, it is metabolized by the microbes of the large intestine.

Rice computer scientists are sending RAMBO to rescue genomic researchers who sometimes wait days or weeks for search results from enormous DNA databases.

The US Food and Drug Administration's controversial decision to approve aducanumab for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease raises at least three major ethical issues that need to be addressed, states a new article in the Hastings Center Report.

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University were able to obtain polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes using electrospinning. PTFE is known to be the most stable existent polymer. According to the scientists, it is a simple, affordable and easily scalable method, which will allow obtaining chemically stable membranes in industrial-scale production. The membranes can be used in petrochemical, aerospace, nuclear industries, carbon-free energy and medicine.

The exoplanet satellite hunter CHEOPS of the European Space Agency (ESA), in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is participating along with other European institutions, has unexpectedly detected a third planet passing in front of its star while it was exploring two previously known planets around the same star. This transit, according to researchers, will reveal exciting details about a strange planet "without a known equivalent".

Scientists have uncovered an important security vulnerability that has been overlooked so far. Large websites often have many subdomains - for example, "sub.example.com" could be a subdomain of the website "example.com". With certain tricks, it is possible to take control of such subdomains. And if that happens, new security holes open up that also put people at risk who simply want to use the actual website.

Researchers investigated whether switching to an HDHP influenced the frequency of ED visits and hospitalizations for chest pain. Their findings, published in Circulation, report a 4.3% decrease in ED visits for chest pain and an 11.3% decrease in visits that led to inpatient hospitalization based on the initial ED evaluation.

* International research team discovers how microbes in the gut stimulate the production of new neurons (nerve cells) in the adult brain. * Gut microbes can break down amino acid tryptophan, and generate secreted molecules - indoles - that stimulate development of new neurons in the brain. * This discovery offers insight into brain ageing, the potential of dietary modification and next generation treatments for neurodegenerative conditions including but not limited to Alzheimer's disease.

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the process that leads to a blood clot forming in the lungs - a condition that kills more than two thousand people in the UK each year. In a paper published today in the scientific journal PNAS, researchers from the University of Leeds and University of Sheffield report on the role played by a protein called fibrin in stabilising the original clot to prevent bits of clot from breaking loose.

An Australian mammal thought to have been wiped out over 150 years ago can now be crossed off our list of extinct animals, following a new study.

COVID-19's socio-economic effects will likely cause another severe production crisis in the coffee industry, according to a Rutgers University-led study.

A first-of-its-kind longitudinal study of infant curiosity found that months-old babies most captivated by magic tricks became the most curious toddlers, suggesting a pre-verbal baby's level of interest in surprising aspects of the world remains constant over time and could predict their future cognitive ability.

A new study finds evidence for adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on declines in cancer detection and surgical treatments.

Preliminary results from the European gene therapy trial for Crigler-Najjar syndrome, conducted by Généthon in collaboration with European network CureCN, were presented at the EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) annual International Liver Congress on June 26.

A new approach to molecular drug design has yielded a highly promising bladder cancer drug, which induced rapid shedding of tumour cells and resulted in a significant reduction in tumour size when used in clinical trials. These potent effects were seen in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and the treatment was shown to be safe, as no drug-related side effects were observed.

Scientists at the University of Southampton have found that a marine invasive species - a sea squirt that lives on rocky shores - could spread along 3,500 kilometres of South American coastline if climate change or human activities alter sea conditions.