Culture
Zoologists at the University of Cologne studied the nervous systems of insects to investigate principles of biological brain computation and possible implications for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Specifically, they analysed how insects learn to associate sensory information in their environment with a food reward, and how they can recall this information later in order to solve complex tasks such as the search for food.
One of the novel coronavirus' most insidious tricks is that it can block the ability of cells to produce protective proteins without hindering its own ability to replicate.
Now, a multidisciplinary team of Yale researchers has discovered how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, accomplishes this trick by blocking production of cellular proteins, including immune molecules, and contributes to severe illness in its host.
New research by BAT has found that smokers who switched completely from smoking cigarettes to using BAT's flagship tobacco heating product (THP), glo, substantially reduced their exposure to certain cigarette smoke toxicants over three months.
For many of the toxicants measured, the levels found in participants were similar to those in people that stopped using tobacco completely.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Nov. 5, 2020 -- Conservation efforts on the edges of the Amazon forest, especially in light of recent deforestation by human disturbance, could help the region weather the storm of climate change, researchers say.
That assessment comes from an analysis of vegetation changes and carbon isotope signatures in the soil at 83 sites. The project, led by University of Oregon doctoral student Jamie Wright, established a record of soil changes associated with both climate and human activity over the last 1,600 years based on radiocarbon dating.
Peculiar hybrid structures called retrons that are half RNA, half single-strand DNA are found in many species of bacteria. Since their discovery around 35 years ago, researchers have learned how to use retrons for producing single strands of DNA in the lab, but no one knew what their function was in the bacteria, despite much research into the matter. In a paper published today in Cell, a Weizmann Institute of Science team reports on solving the longstanding mystery: Retrons are immune system "guards" that ensure the survival of the bacterial colony when it is infected by viruses.
Since the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion program went into effect 10 years ago, the U.S. has seen a larger reduction in the number of uninsured low-income, rural residents, compared to their urban contemporaries.
But the likelihood of repeated visits to emergency rooms for non-urgent reasons has not decreased.
That's what Washington State University's Bidisha Mandal discovered in a new paper published in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 - uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells. This could inform the development of effective drugs that target specific parts of the virus genome, in the fight against COVID-19.
Quick flashes of light in the night sky have been linked to the growing mass of satellites and debris zipping around Earth's orbit.
The orbital flashes, often mistaken for stars, are extremely common, occurring 1,000 times an hour, according to new research led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that may improve the accuracy of astronomical data.
Stargazers have long been tantalized by the inexplicable glimmers and the study published Nov. 5 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters provides a potential explanation for those mysterious flashes.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Dealing with a global pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of millions of people. A team of MIT and Harvard University researchers has shown that they can measure those effects by analyzing the language that people use to express their anxiety online.
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 5, 2020 - Today in Science, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine describe a new method to extract tiny but extremely powerful SARS-CoV-2 antibody fragments from llamas, which could be fashioned into inhalable therapeutics with the potential to prevent and treat COVID-19.
These special llama antibodies, called "nanobodies," are much smaller than human antibodies and many times more effective at neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They're also much more stable.
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 5, 2020) -- An enzyme that helps COVID-19 (coronavirus) infect the body also plays a role in inflammation and patient outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study led by Cedars-Sinai.
NEW YORK, NY (Nov. 5, 2020)--Children and adults produce different types and amounts of antibodies in response to infection with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.
The differences in antibodies suggest the course of the infection and immune response is distinct in children and most children easily clear the virus from their bodies.
November 5, 2020 - Studies using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive technique, to help veterans and active-duty service members living with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other lasting consequences of concussion have shown promise.
Scientists have found that insulin has met an evolutionary cul-de-sac, limiting its ability to adapt to obesity and thereby rendering most people vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes.
Argonne computational resources supported the largest comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 genome sequences in the U.S. and helped corroborate growing evidence of a protein mutation.
Before COVID-19 first entered the United States in March, Houston Methodist Hospital had already begun preparations to test for and sequence the virus on a large scale, given the news coming out of Wuhan, China.