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The researchers compared the R (basic reproduction number) of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus with the R of the British variant, and found that the British variant is almost 1.5 times more infectious. The researchers: "The study proves that active monitoring of at-risk populations and prioritized vaccination programs can prevent hundreds of deaths."

Artificial intelligence (AI) can analyse large amounts of data, such as those generated when analysing the properties of potential new materials, faster than humans. However, such systems often tend to make definitive decisions even in the face of uncertainty; they overestimate themselves. An international research team has stopped AI from doing this: the researchers have refined an algorithm so that it works together with humans and supports decision-making processes. As a result, promising new materials can be identified more quickly.

Aziridine structures are an important component of several medicines and pharmaceutical drugs, due to which reactions yielding desirable aziridine structures with high purity have received much interest. In a new study, scientists from Japan have reported a high yield of aziridines with high purity from oxazolones using a novel catalyst and look into the underlying mechanism, paving the way for future development of novel drugs and medicines.

Nearly three-quarters of Earth's land had been transformed by humans by 10,000BC, but new research shows it largely wasn't at the expense of the natural world.A study involving University of Queensland researchers combined global maps of population and land use over the past 12,000 years with current biodiversity data, demonstrating the effective environmental stewardship of Indigenous and traditional peoples.

A novel system of chilled panels that can replace air conditioning can also help reduce the risk of indoor disease transmission, suggests new analysis from the University of British Columbia, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.

Recent growth in the number of healthcare workers providing home care for Medicare patients is "small and inadequate" compared with the increasing demand in an aging America, a new study suggests.

The fossil provides the oldest, most intact example of the shoulder of a human ancestor ever found. The bones provide telltale clues of how the individual moved and was adapted to climbing, a USC-led research team reports.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified, at an atomic level, how a part of a protein called PLEKHA7 interacts with a cell's membrane to regulate important intercellular communications. The research, published in the journal Structure, points to hotspots within PLEKHA7 as targets for drugs. These targets could be key in designing treatments for advanced colon, breast and ovarian cancers.

A neural network that mimics the biology of the brain can be loaded onto a microchip for faster and more efficient artificial intelligence.

Researchers (UNIGE) looked at the way we process human gaze, focusing on the estimation of the temporal duration of social interactions. They discovered that when we make eye contact with another person, our attention is solicited, causing a distortion in our temporal perception: time seems shorter than it really is. These results will make it possible to develop a diagnostic tool to evaluate the mechanisms at work in people who are sensitive to social gaze.

Embargoed press materials are now available for the virtual Experimental Biology (EB) 2021 meeting, featuring cutting-edge multidisciplinary research from across the life sciences. EB 2021, to be held April 27-30, is the annual meeting of five scientific societies bringing together thousands of scientists and 25 guest societies in one interdisciplinary community.

A phase 2 clinical trial whose results were released in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine might point to a way to overcome bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a major cause of death in preterm infants.

In an article published in Pain, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Mass Eye and Ear report that 50.2 million (20.5 percent) U.S. adults experience chronic pain based on analysis of the new NHIS data. They estimated the total value of lost productivity due to chronic pain to be nearly $300 billion annually.

One of the promises of new methods of personalized medicine is that individual risks for diseases can be assessed using large DNA datasets. But many diseases are highly multifactorial, meaning that genetic risk factors are spread throughout the DNA. Finding these elusive connections and constructing a reliable and trackable statistical model from them is the goal of Matthew Robinson at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria and his international team.

Researchers at Penn Medicine have identified more genetic mutations that strongly predispose younger, otherwise healthy women to peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a rare condition characterized by weakness of the heart muscle that begins sometime during the final month of pregnancy through five months after delivery. PPCM can cause severe heart failure and often leads to lifelong heart failure and even death.

Researchers have deciphered a trove of data that shows one season of extreme melt can reduce the Greenland Ice Sheet's capacity to store future meltwater - and increase the likelihood of future melt raising sea levels.

Because COVID-19 has been detected in urine and stool samples, public restrooms can be cause for concern. Researchers measured droplets generated from flushing a toilet and a urinal in a public restroom and found a substantial increase in the measured aerosol levels in the ambient environment with the total number of droplets generated in each flushing test ranging up to the tens of thousands. Due to their small size, these droplets can remain suspended for a long time.

A new study identified clear strengths and a series of specific challenges autistic adolescents experience while learning to drive.

Policies designed to prevent the misuse of opioids may have the unintended side effect of limiting access to the pain-relieving drugs by terminally ill patients nearing the end of their life, new research led by the Oregon State University College of Pharmacy suggests.

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