Culture
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report a breakthrough in developing a next-generation thermochromic window that not only reduces the need for air conditioning but simultaneously generates electricity.
A model that can calculate a person's risk of becoming infected and then seriously ill due to COVID-19 has been shown to accurately estimate risk during the first wave of the pandemic in England, in new research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
The model, developed using routine anonymised data from more than 8 million adults in 1205 general practices across England, uses a number of factors such as a person's age, ethnicity and existing medical conditions to predict their risk of catching COVID-19 and then dying or being admitted to hospital.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have identified new clues into ways tobacco use impacts patients with kidney cancer.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, provides the first steps in developing personalized treatments for patients with this type of cancer.
Expanding on previous work that identified the mutations of kidney cancer cells, this study reveals metabolic fingerprints that distinguish cancers from nonsmokers compared to smokers.
A cutting-edge technique that allows scientists to zoom into tiny details in a 3D image of a whole animal heart may lead to new insights on congenital heart disease.
About 30 years ago, Dr. Richard Sifers set out on a journey to discover why people with a rare condition known as alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency present with high variation in the severity of liver disease. His journey led him to the discovery of fundamental underpinnings of this condition and, unexpectedly, to uncovering a novel cellular mechanism for disposing of misfolded proteins.
Weather forecasters can more accurately predict when a tornado is likely to hit the UK thanks to a new tool devised in a partnership between the University of Leeds and the Met Office.
Around 30 tornadoes occur in the UK each year, 40% of which develop on cold fronts - but a lack of forecasting methods for these conditions means they strike without warning.
ITHACA, N.Y. - If an initial COVID-19 vaccine is about as effective as a flu shot, uptake by the American public may fall far short of the 70% level needed to achieve herd immunity, new Cornell research suggests.
In surveys of nearly 2,000 American adults, barely half said they would be willing to take a hypothetical vaccine with an efficacy, or effectiveness, of 50% - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's minimum threshold for a COVID-19 vaccine, and comparable to flu vaccines.
A promising new biomarker that appears in patients before stomach cancer develops may help with early detection of the disease and improve patient response to therapy, according to findings in a study led by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers.
The biomarker can be detected through a simple blood test, saving time and lowering costs. Currently, stomach cancer diagnosis requires endoscopic collection of stomach tissue through a biopsy procedure, and then analysis by pathology.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects more than 70,000 children in the United States and the prevalence is rising. In fact, 25% of the 3.1 million individuals with IBD present before 21 years of age. There is no cure for IBD, and treatment often includes medication to block a molecule that causes inflammation in the intestines called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Unfortunately, the TNF-blocking therapy doesn't work for many children and its therapeutic effects can be short-lived.
KINGSTON, R.I., -- October 20, 2020 -- For the first time, researchers have mapped the biological diversity of marine sediment, one of Earth's largest global biomes. Although marine sediment covers 70% of the Earth's surface, little was known about its global patterns of microbial diversity.
To efficiently infect human cells, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is able to use a receptor called Neuropilin-1, which is very abundant in many human tissues including the respiratory tract, blood vessels and neurons. The breakthrough discovery was made by a German-Finnish team of researchers led by neuroscientists Mika Simons ,Technical University of Munich, Germany and virologist Giuseppe Balistreri, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Why is the new coronavirus so infectious?
BROOKLYN, New York, Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - A new report from The Governance Lab (The GovLab) at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering launched today at an event at the Nesta Centre for Collective Intelligence, has found organizations that tap the wisdom of the crowd are better at solving many of the problems that trouble governments, including those exacerbated by COVID-19 -- from air pollution and chronic illness, to sustainable development, climate change and disaster response.
New Rochelle, NY, October 20, 2020--Synthetic estrogens from pharmaceuticals contaminate rivers and threaten the health of humans and fish. An effective and cost-efficient method for removing synthetic estrogen from bodies of water has been demonstrated in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Engineering Science. Click here (http://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2020.0048) to read the article now.
Manajit Hayer-Hartl, head of the research group "Chaperonin-assisted Protein Folding", has a long-standing interest in the central enzyme of photosynthesis called Rubisco. Her team has already reported on many of the interacting partners of Rubisco that are required for the folding and assembly of this highly abundant protein. In the current study, they have elucidated how Rubisco activase works. As the name indicates, this enzyme is critical for repairing Rubisco once it has lost its activity. The study was published in Cell.
Nearly one-third of students who reported misusing prescription opioids as high school seniors between 1997 and 2000, but did not have a history of medical use, later used heroin by age 35, according to a University of Michigan study.