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Scientists are pursuing a new strategy in the protracted fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus by engineering nanobodies that can neutralize virus variants in two different ways.

Recent studies show that, in the future, the mercury concentration of fish in Finnish Lapland can shift closer to the level found in lakes located below the Arctic Circle. According to researchers, mercury content should be increasingly carefully investigated and monitored in fish and food webs, as the climate and land use change.

Asymmetric three-component 1,2-oxytrifluoromethylations of styrenes were explored by using N-oxyphthalimide (NOPI) as the resulting benzylic radical anchor after cross-coupling by a CF3 radical under the catalyses of chiral N-salicylidene-derived oxovanadium(V) complexes. Unprecedented, four-component, and asymmetric radical 1,4-oxy-trifluoromethylation to olefins was also achieved. DFT calculations were performed to explain the enantioselectivity. The enantioselectivity profile was dominated by several noncovalent interactions between the intermediary vanadium(NOPI) complex and the resulting benzylic radical.

Amazon rain forests could be at far higher risk of extreme drought than previously thought, according to new research.

A team led by UNIGE has reviewed the literature on the internal and external mechanisms that lead to a volcanic eruption. Analyzing the thermo-mechanics of deep volcanic processes and magma propagation to the surface, together with magma chemistry, the geologists determined that most of the magma rising from depth actually does not cause a volcanic eruption. They also show that older volcanoes tend to produce less frequent, but larger and more dangerous eruptions.

Middle-aged people in the UK with at least two long-term physical health conditions are at a greater risk of developing depression or anxiety later in life compared to those with none or only one long-term physical health condition, according to new research from King's College London.

Warming seas are driving many species of marine life to shift their geographic ranges out of the tropics to higher latitudes where the water is cooler. Florida's reefs will not be able to make that northward move, however, as they will be caught between intolerably hot tropical waters and increasingly frequent water-cooling cold snaps, according to new findings from Florida Institute of Technology, the U.S. Geological Survey, and several other institutions to be published June 22 in Nature's Scientific Reports.

Although the emissions targets for aviation are in line with the overall goals of the Paris Agreement, there is a high likelihood that the climate impact of aviation will not meet these goals, according to a new study.

A new study published in Nature Communications demonstrates the important role that planting new commercial forests could play in the fight against climate change by including new accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation achieved from future use of harvested wood. The study applied a novel, time-dependent assessment to capture the complex dynamics of carbon uptake, storage and partial eventual release back to the atmosphere, alongside product and energy substitution by wood products, over a 100 years.

A study in 27 European countries puts the prevalence of depression at 6.4% of the population. The work, published in The Lancet Public Health, analyzed data from the European Health Interview Survey, which includes responses from more than 250,000 people. The incidence is higher in women at 7.7%, while in men it is 4.9%. Strong differences are seen between countries, with higher rates in more economically developed states.

"Current scales assess the more commonly known effects of exposure to traumatic stress, mainly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This limits patient assessment and may lead to misdiagnoses and ineffective treatment," says Dr. Goral. "The research was conducted to address this gap by developing a validated, comprehensive assessment tool, the Continuous Traumatic Stress Response (CTSR) Scale."

New research is showing that some tiny catalysts being considered for industrial-scaled environmental remediation efforts may be unstable during operation.

For decades, governments and health authorities have tried to steer people away from "vice" products such as tobacco through counter-marketing measures such as tax increases, but according to a new study from the UBC Sauder School of Business, they can help people quit -- but how much they help, and who pays the price, varies significantly.

An observational study found that out of more than 2,400 pollinator visits to flowers at urban and rural farms in in Western Washington about 35% of were made by flies -- most of which were the black-and-yellow-striped syrphid flies. For a few plants, including peas, kale and lilies, flies were the only pollinators observed. Bees still made the majority, about 61%, of floral visits, but the rest were made by other insects and spiders.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is often used to determine the chemical composition of materials. It was developed in the 1960s and is accepted as a standard method in materials science. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, however, have shown that the method is often used erroneously.

Mental distress tends to be lower in the summer when compared to the fall, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

ETH researchers examined chemicals in plastics worldwide. They found an unexpectedly high number of substances of potential concern intentionally used in everyday plastic products. A lack of transparency limits management of these chemicals.

While scientists have known that PTSD and migraine often co-occur, no-one had studied this link, before now. A new study by the open access publisher Frontiers on identical twins investigates the genetic basis for both migraine and PTSD. It reveals epigenetic risk factors that are shared by PTSD and migraine, suggesting that similar environmental risk factors are at play in both conditions. The findings could help researchers to develop new treatments.

Researchers have shown why people with mental health disorders, including anorexia and panic disorders, experience physical signals differently.

Rutgers scientists have used a diagnostic technique for the first time in the opioid addiction field that they believe has the potential to determine which opioid-addicted patients are more likely to relapse