Culture
NYU and IBM research takes electrons for a spin in moving toward more efficient, higher density data
Researchers at New York University and IBM Research have demonstrated a new mechanism involving electron motion in magnetic materials that points to new ways to potentially enhance data storage. The work, reported in the journal Physical Review Letters, unveils a process for setting the direction of the magnetic information, or spin, based on an electrical current.
When bacteria such as Salmonella or Yersinia cause fever, diarrhoea or abdominal pain, tiny "injection needles" are at work: their type 3 secretion system, or T3SS for short, shoots bacterial virulence proteins directly into the eukaryotic host cells. Researchers have thought of using bacterial injection devices to introduce proteins into eukaryotic cells. A Max Planck research team has now succeeded in controlling the injection system optogenetically, i.e. with light. In the future this will enable to use the system in biotechnological or medical applications.
In a recently published study, researchers from Aarhus University document that the risk of atrial fibrillation is not linked to the amount of body fat, but instead to large muscle mass, or more precisely, a high fat-free weight.
Magnetic field sensors are largely used in industry, medicine, as well as in applied and fundamental physics. For example, it is impossible to assemble a car without magnetic sensors. Viktor Belyaev and Valeria Rodionova, researchers at the Laboratory of Novel Magnetic Materials at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, together with colleagues at the Laboratory of Nano-Optics and Metamaterials at the Department of Physics at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, have developed a sensor that combines advances in the fields of magnetism, optics, and solid-state physics.
Phasmatodea, commonly known as stick insects and leaf insects, are icons of crypsis and primary defense specialization, exhibiting a wide range of remarkable morphological and behavioral modifications associated with camouflage. Most of extant stick and leaf insects have the appearance of abdominal extensions, which has been one of the innovations contributing to their extraordinary crypsis. However, the early origin and evolution of mimetic and defensive strategies within Phasmatodea are meager understanding.
Hyaline Fibromatosis Syndrome (HFS) is a rare but severe genetic disease that affects babies, children, and adults. Hyaline, a glassy substance, accumulates in the skin and various organs, and causes painful deformities that can lead to an early death.
HFS is caused by mutation of a gene called Capillary Morphogenesis Gene 2 or CMG2. It is also abbreviated as ANTXR2 because it makes cells sensitive to anthrax infections.
Previous data from COVID-19 patients suggests that cigarette smokers are more likely to have health complications. One possible reason, researchers report May 15 in the journal Developmental Cell, is that smoking increases the gene expression of ACE2--the protein that binds SARS-CoV-2--which may promote COVID-19 infection. The study suggests that prolonged smoking could cause an increase of the ACE2 protein in the lungs, possibly resulting in a higher rate of morbidity in patients.
Although the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was officially presented suddenly in the popular market of exotic and wild animals in Wuhan in December 2019, phylogenetic studies state that coronavirus was already present in latency phase since October in this city in the province of Hubei. During this latency phase, the infection followed its silent course and spread among the population in a stochastic way without showing epidemic signs.
The EU has an ambition of being climate neutral in 2050. It is hoped that this can be achieved through a green transition in the energy sector and CO2-intensive industries, as well as through altered consumer behavior such as food habits and travel demands among the EU population.
Menthol cigarettes will be removed from shelves in the UK this Wednesday (20 May 2020), yet new research has found that tobacco companies failed to use the four-year phasing-in period (from 2016) to prepare for this week's ban. Instead they continued to sell and promote menthol products and to develop new products which circumvent the ban.
A new paper in The Review of Economic Studies, published by Oxford University Press, finds that people who use a coin toss to decide on an important change are more likely to follow through with that decision, are more satisfied with that decision, and report a higher overall happiness after a six month period.
Commercially important seafood species are at greater risk of microplastic contamination depending how they clump together in the marine environment, new research suggests.
In the first study of its kind, scientists from the University of Plymouth used a series of experiments to assess whether the reefs formed by blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) affected their exposure and consumption of tiny microplastic particles.
DALLAS, May 15, 2020 -- When health care providers enrolled in a federal program that provides financial payments for monitoring and reducing cardiovascular risk in high-risk patients, they assessed patient risk and prescribed cholesterol-lowering and blood pressure-lowering medication more often, according to research presented today at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2020.
The global reach of COVID-19 is unquestionable. Every day, news reports highlight the disease's increasing toll on countries and major cities around the world.
However, little attention is paid to indigenous populations worldwide who may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19 but are largely excluded from most national or regional efforts to curb the spread of the disease. Even in high-income countries, indigenous groups like the Navajo have been hit hard by COVID-19, with per capita infection rates rivaling those of New York and New Jersey.
Orange, Calif. - A team of anthropologists, physicians, tribal leaders and local government authorities developed and implemented a multi-phase COVID-19 prevention and containment plan among the Tsimane, an indigenous group of forager-horticulturists in the Bolivian Amazon.