Earth
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up unimaginable challenges for healthcare workers. Even simple outpatient procedures such as endoscopies can expose staff to the risk of infection.
However, a team of researchers has developed a simple, disposable, and inexpensive device to provide an additional barrier of protection for healthcare workers performing esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGD).
The 'Gamma Factory initiative' - an international team of scientists - is currently exploring a novel research tool: They propose to develop a source of high-intensity gamma rays using the existing accelerator facilities at CERN. To do this, specialized ion beams will be circulated in the SPS and LHC storage rings, which will then be excited using laser beams so that they emit photons. In the selected configuration, the energies of the photons will be within the gamma radiation range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Various forms of mercury are released naturally by volcanoes and weathering of rocks and soil. Human activities, such as mining or burning fossil fuels, can also release the element into the environment, where aquatic microbes can convert it into the toxic form, methylmercury. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have shown that dragonfly larvae, collected from national parks as part of a citizen-scientist engagement program, can serve as sentinels for mercury bioaccumulation.
Philadelphia, July 22, 2020 - Researchers in Spain propose mitigating methane production by dairy cattle through breeding. In an article appearing in the Journal of Dairy Science, scientists are targeting reduction of enteric methane in the breeding objectives for dairy cattle to select for animals that use feed more efficiently and thus produce less methane.
(Edmonton, AB) A team of University of Alberta researchers has developed a faster way of tracking the movement of tumours in the body during radiation therapy, which could significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients.
"When a patient is getting radiation treatment, for example on the lungs, the tumour might be moving because of the patient's breathing," said Michelle Noga, a U of A radiologist who also works at MIC Medical Imaging and is the study's co-author.
DURHAM, N.H.-- Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have identified new pathways in an RNA-based virus where inhibitors, like medical treatments, unbind. The finding could be beneficial in understanding how these inhibitors react and potentially help develop a new generation of drugs to target viruses with high death rates, like HIV-1, Zika, Ebola and SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The whitespotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari), found in estuaries and lagoons throughout Florida, is listed as "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List of Threatened Species." Keeping tabs on this highly mobile species for conservation efforts can be extremely challenging, especially for extended periods of time.
Antibiotic treatment in early life impedes brain signalling pathways that function in social behaviour and pain regulation in mice, a new study by Dr Katerina Johnson and Dr Philip Burnet has found. It was published today in BMC Neuroscience.
WHAT:
A cave deep in the wilderness of central Nevada is a repository of evidence supporting the urgent need for the Southwestern U.S. to adopt targets aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new UNLV study finds.
Adults aged 60 and up have fared better emotionally compared to younger adults (18-39) and middle-aged adults (40-59) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new UBC research published recently in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.
Based on daily diary data collected between mid-March and mid-April of this year, the researchers found that older adults experienced greater emotional well-being and felt less stressed and threatened by the pandemic.
Microplastics have been found in the guts of sharks that live near the seabed off the UK coast.
University of Exeter scientists studied four species of demersal (seabed-dwelling) shark.
Of the 46 sharks examined, 67% contained microplastics and other man-made fibres.
A total of 379 particles were found and - though the impact on the sharks' health is unknown - the researchers say it highlights the "pervasive nature of plastic pollution".
WASHINGTON - (July 22, 2020) - A mouse model of glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain, suggests that this recalcitrant cancer originates from a pool of stem cells that can be a significant distance away from the resulting tumors. The findings of a new study, led by Children's National Hospital researchers and published July 22 in the journal Nature Communications, suggest new ways to fight this deadly disease.
Scientists can now explain how baby reef sharks tolerate living in the sometimes-extreme environments of their nurseries--but, they also say these habitats face an uncertain future which may leave newborn sharks 'trapped'.
The lead author of the study is Ian Bouyoucos, a PhD student at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU).
"Nearshore, shallow water nurseries provide food and abundant shelter where baby blacktip reef sharks can avoid bigger predators, such as other sharks," Mr Bouyoucos said.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have furthered understanding of a barrier that can prevent doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks from operating at high efficiency by causing vital heat to be lost from them.