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Future Pandemic? Consider Radically Altering Animal Agriculture Practices

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Almost three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases are spread between animals and people. COVID-19 is the latest and most impactful zoonotic event of the modern era. Researchers offer three plausible solutions to mitigate zoonotic risk associated with intensive animal agriculture. They explore incentivizing plant-based and cell-based animal source food alternatives through government subsidies, disincentivizing intensive animal source food production through the adoption of a "zoonotic tax," and eliminating intensive animal source food production through a total ban.
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Target protein identified for improving heart attack treatment

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
A new study led by researchers at Washington State University has identified a protein that could be the key to improving treatment outcomes after a heart attack. Published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, it suggests that protein kinase A (PKA) plays a role in heart muscle cell necrosis, a major type of cell death that commonly occurs after reperfusion therapy, the treatment used to unblock arteries and restore blood flow after a heart attack.
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People who eat a healthy diet including whole fruits may be less likely to develop diabetes

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
A new study finds people who consume two servings of fruit per day have 36% lower odds of developing type 2 diabetes than those who consume less than half a serving. The research was published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
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Researchers learn how swimming ducks balance water pressure in their feathers while diving

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
A Virginia Tech team has discovered the method ducks use to suspend water in their feathers while diving, allowing them to shake it out when surfacing. The discovery opens the door for applications in marine technology.
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Healthy diet before, during pregnancy linked to lower complications, NIH study suggests

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
A healthy diet around the time of conception through the second trimester may reduce the risk of several common pregnancy complications, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Expectant women in the study who scored high on any of three measures of healthy eating had lower risks for gestational diabetes, pregnancy-related blood pressure disorders and preterm birth.
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Mapping intermittent methane emissions across the Permian Basin

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
The Permian Basin, located in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is the largest oil- and gas-producing region in the U.S. The oilfield operations emit methane, but quantifying the greenhouse gas is difficult because of the large area and the fact that many sources are intermittent emitters. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology Letters have conducted an extensive airborne campaign with imaging spectrometers and identified large methane sources across this area.
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World's smallest, best acoustic amplifier emerges from 50-year-old hypothesis

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have built the world's smallest and best acoustic amplifier. And they did it using a concept that was all but abandoned for almost 50 years.
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Young T. rexes had a powerful bite, capable of exerting one-sixth the force of an adult

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Scientists have experimentally measured the bite force of adult T. rexes but not of younger tyrannosaurs. Fossils with juvenile bite marks, discovered by Joseph Peterson, have now allowed him and Jack Tseng to experimentally test how hard juveniles could chomp. Though their bite force is one-sixth that of an adult, it is still stronger than that of living hyenas. The measurement is higher than previous estimates, suggesting a different ecological niche for these youngsters.
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Atmospheric metal layers appear with surprising regularity

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Twice a day, at dusk and just before dawn, a faint layer of sodium and other metals begins sinking down through the atmosphere, about 90 miles high above the city of Boulder, Colorado. The movement was captured by one of the world's most sensitive "lidar" instruments and the regularly appearing layers promise to help researchers understand better how earth's atmosphere interacts with space, even potentially how those interactions help support life.
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Synthetic SPECIES developed for use as a confinable gene drive

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Scientists have developed a gene drive with a built-in genetic barrier that is designed to keep the drive under control. The researchers engineered synthetic fly species that, upon release in sufficient numbers, act as gene drives that can spread locally and be reversed if desired.
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Fossil secret may shed light on the diversity of Earth's first animals

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
A large group of iconic fossils widely believed to shed light on the origins of many of Earth's animals and the communities they lived in may be hiding a secret.Scientists, led by two from the University of Portsmouth, UK, are the first to model how exceptionally well preserved fossils that record the largest and most intense burst of evolution ever seen could have been moved by mudflows.
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'Prescription' to sit less, move more advised for mildly high blood pressure & cholesterol

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Physical activity is the optimal first treatment choice for adults with mild to moderately elevated blood pressure and blood cholesterol who otherwise have low heart disease risk. About 21% of adults in the US with mild to moderately raised blood pressure and 28-37% of those with mild to moderate elevated cholesterol levels may be best served by a prescription for lifestyle-only treatment, which includes increasing physical activity.
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Ben-Gurion U. studies show promise using drones to elicit emotional responses

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
"There is a lack of research on how drones are perceived and understood by humans, which is vastly different than ground robots." says Prof. Jessica Cauchard together with Viviane Herdel of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Magic Lab, in the Department of Industrial Engineering & Management. "For the first time, we showed that people can recognize different emotions and discriminate between different emotion intensities."
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Better popping potential for popcorn

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Research identifies traits associated with improved popcorn expansion
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Researchers explore ways to detect 'deep fakes' in geography

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
It may only be a matter of time until the growing problem of "deep fakes" converges with geographical information science (GIS). A research team including faculty at Binghamton University are doing what they can to get ahead of the problem.
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Aortic condition more deadly in women than in men

Eurekalert - Jun 02 2021 - 00:06
Women who experience acute aortic dissection--a spontaneous and catastrophic tear in one of the body's main arteries--not only are older and have more advanced disease than men when they seek medical care, but they also are more likely to die.
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A 'jolt' for ocean carbon sequestration

Eurekalert - Jun 01 2021 - 00:06
Global oceans absorb about 25% of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. Electricity-eating bacteria known as photoferrotrophs could provide a boost to this essential process, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
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Low-wage earners spent less time at home during early pandemic lockdown

Eurekalert - Jun 01 2021 - 00:06
Fine-grained location data gleaned from mobile phones shows that people living in less affluent neighborhoods spent less time at home during the early lockdown and first several months of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Central Oregon bat survey shows value and scale-up potential of citizen science

Eurekalert - Jun 01 2021 - 00:06
BEND, Ore. - Bat researchers say a project in Central Oregon shows citizen science's strong potential for helping ecologists learn more about one of the least understood groups of mammals.
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Magnesium ions injected directly into compromised bone accelerate bone regeneration

Eurekalert - Jun 01 2021 - 00:06
Orthopedic patients are typically given oral magnesium (Mg) supplements to aid bone regeneration. In this study, researchers tried replacing that supplement with an injection -- directly into the impacted bone -- of custom-made, polymer microspheres that control the release of magnesium ions. They found that the injections accelerated bone formation in vivo.
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