Culture
People living in low-income, disadvantaged communities across much of urban Los Angeles lack the means to cool their homes, posing a growing threat to their health -- and their lives -- from extreme heat waves due to global warming, new USC research shows.
The communities across southern L.A. are most vulnerable, underscoring social inequities as a warming world affects populations differently. The USC research aims to help prepare the megalopolis for big disruptions, manifest in the coronavirus crisis today and climate change tomorrow.
DURHAM, N.C. -- In a recent study, Duke researchers tested whether a single infusion of a unit of a child's own or donor cord blood could improve social communication skills in children between the ages of 2-7 diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Of the 180 children in the study, the subgroup of children without an intellectual disability showed improvements in language communication, ability to sustain attention measured via eye tracking, and increased alpha and beta EEG power, a measure of brain function.
Talk about motherly instincts: Biologists at the University of Iowa have learned that female roundworms can alert their future offspring of dangers they will encounter when born, and the mothers pass on these warnings even before the offspring have been conceived.
Computing - Mining for COVID-19 connections
Scientists have tapped the immense power of the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to comb through millions of medical journal articles to identify potential vaccines, drugs and effective measures that could suppress or stop the spread of COVID-19.
An accumulation of an unexpected intermediate of the peptidoglycan recycling pathway that is able to modulate the synthesis and structure of the cell wall, has been found by researchers at Umeå University, Sweden.
Despite physical distance, it's possible to create proximity between family members located in different places. This is according to a study from Linköping University that has investigated how video calls bring family members together. The results show that proximity in video calls is established mainly by way of the body and the senses, e.g. by giving a digital high five.
When COVID-19 patients are critically ill, the biggest threat to their lives is lung dysfunction. If their lungs don't work, their blood can't circulate enough oxygen to the brain, the liver and other organs.
Patients infected with either severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) or SARS-CoV-2 produce antibodies that bind to the other coronavirus, but the cross-reactive antibodies are not cross protective, at least in cell-culture experiments, researchers report May 17 in the journal Cell Reports. It remains unclear whether such antibodies offer cross protection in the human body or potentiate disease. The findings suggest that more research is needed to identify parts of the virus that are critical for inducing a cross-protective immune response.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (May 18, 2020) -- The immune system's ability to marshal specialized cells to fight off infection relies in part on tiny molecules called microRNAs, which act as a release for the "brakes" that keep cells dormant until needed, according to a new study published in the journal Cell Reports.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - New research suggests mindfulness training may help multiple sclerosis patients in two very different ways: regulating negative emotions and improving processing speed.
People with MS who underwent the four-week mindfulness training not only improved more compared to those who did nothing - they also improved compared to those who tried another treatment, called adaptive cognitive training.
A new global study offers a powerful confirmation of one of the most influential frameworks in all of the behavioral sciences and behavioral economics: prospect theory, which when introduced in 1979 led to a sea change in understanding the irrational and paradoxical ways individuals make decisions and interpret risk with major impacts for science, policy, and industry. Led by a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researcher, the new study in 19 countries and 13 languages replicates the original study that provided the empirical basis for prospect theory.
Maunakea, Hawaii - New evidence shows the first-ever pictures capturing the birth of a pair of planets orbiting the star PDS 70 are in fact authentic.
Using a new infrared pyramid wavefront sensor for adaptive optics (AO) correction at W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii, a Caltech-led team of astronomers applied a new method of taking family photos of the baby planets, or protoplanets, and confirmed their existence.
The team's results are published in today's issue of The Astronomical Journal.
AURORA, Colo. (May 18, 2020) - Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine have identified a new way that cells in the central nervous system regenerate and repair following damage.
In an article published in the current issue of Nature Neuroscience, scientists from CU found that precisely-timed motor learning stimulates cellular processes to improve recovery after damage to oligodendrocytes, cells that are critical for healthy neurologic function throughout life.
Today, scientists from all over the world face the task of creating optical switches. These devices will allow for transmitting information in binary code with the help of light, which in the future will be useful for the development of ultrafast optical memory cells. ITMO University scientists have demonstrated how to create, using a femtosecond laser, an all-optical switch based on a metal-organic framework which can be synthesized in vitro and is usually used in chemistry for gas absorption. The research has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
During pandemic stage of emerging pathogen, climate has modest impact compared to population suscept
In influencing the trajectory of the pandemic stage of an emerging pathogen, a population’s susceptibility to a novel disease is more influential than climate factors like humidity. The results – based on a model informed by climate-dependence of known coronaviruses – may inform researchers’ effort to understand the likely trajectory of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including as summer and its associated temperature and humidity changes, hoped for to bring respite from the pandemic, set in in parts of the world.