Tech
Scientists from the MIPT Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases have joined forces with their colleagues from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, and uncovered how sodium ions drive glutamate transport in the central nervous system. Glutamate is the most important excitatory neurotransmitter and is actively removed from the synaptic cleft between neurons by specialized transport proteins called excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs). The findings are reported in Science Advances.
SARS-CoV-2 infections pose a global threat to human health and a formidable research challenge. One of the most urgent tasks is to gain a detailed understanding of the molecular interactions between the virus and the cells it infects. It must also be clarified, whether these interactions favour the multiplication of the virus or - on the contrary - activate defence mechanisms.
The Colorado potato beetle is a notorious pest--and a kind of unstoppable genius.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Dec. 21, 2020) - A mathematical model that can help project the contagiousness and spread of infectious diseases like the seasonal flu may not be the best way to predict the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus, especially during lockdowns that alter the normal mix of the population, researchers report.
WASHINGTON -- Researchers have taken an important new step in advancing the performance of resonator fiber optic gyroscopes, a type of fiber optic sensor that senses rotation using only light. Because gyroscopes are the basis of most navigation systems, the new work could one day bring important improvements to these systems.
While the scientific community grapples with the loss of the Arecibo radio telescope, astronomers who recently revived a long-dormant radio telescope array in Argentina hope it can help modestly compensate for the work Arecibo did in pulsar timing. Last year, scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia (IAR) began a pulsar timing study using two upgraded radio telescopes in Argentina that previously lay unused for 15 years.
Physicists at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have shown that topological phases could exist in biology, and in so doing they have identified a link between solid-state physics and biophysics.
Microscopy is an essential tool in multiple research fields and industries, such as biology, medicine, materials science, and quality control, to name a few. Although many microscopy techniques exist, each has pros and cons, mostly in terms of spatial resolution, speed (images per second), and applicability. For example, scanning electron microscopy can capture images with nanometric resolution, but it offers lower speed and is impractical for certain samples.
An international team of researchers has discovered what it believes to be a new population of blue whales in the western Indian Ocean.
By analyzing Fitbit data and self-reported symptoms, researchers from Evidation Health and collaborators analyzed trends in heart rate, step count, and symptom duration between patients with flu and those with COVID-19. While both showed similar-looking spikes in resting heart rate and decreases in average step count, COVID-19 symptoms lasted longer and peaked later. Contrasting and comparing flu and COVID-19 is important for COVID-19 screening, as current practices often only check for more general symptoms like fever.
Diapause is a seasonal adaptation strategy of insects and animals where biological functions are put on hold, such as insect eggs that remain dormant until conditions are more favorable to hatch. This is not a passive response of dormancy to adverse situations but an actively induced state that takes place well in advance in anticipation of natural conditions. Although it has been hypothesized that the neuroendocrine systems are associated with seasonal reproductive plasticity, the morphological, physiological, behavioral, reproductive responses of diapause remain unclear.
Megathrust earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis that originate in subduction zones like Cascadia -- Vancouver Island, Canada, to northern California -- are some of the most severe natural disasters in the world. Now a team of geoscientists thinks the key to understanding some of these destructive events may lie in the deep, gradual slow-slip behaviors beneath the subduction zones. This information might help in planning for future earthquakes in the area.
"What we found was pretty unexpected," said Kirsty A. McKenzie, doctoral candidate in geoscience, Penn State.
New research suggests that cannabis use by people in care for opioid addiction might improve their treatment outcomes and reduce their risk of being exposed to fentanyl in the contaminated unregulated drug supply.
Scientists in Australia have developed a process for calculating the perfect size and density of quantum dots needed to achieve record efficiency in solar panels.
Quantum dots, man-made nanocrystals 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper, can be used as light sensitisers, absorbing infrared and visible light and transferring it to other molecules.
This could enable new types of solar panels to capture more of the light spectrum and generate more electrical current, through a process of 'light fusion' known as photochemical upconversion.
Using a network of a newly introduced type of rain gauge that can measure rainfall with drop-by-drop precision, KAUST researchers have developed a high-frequency rainfall model to improve understanding of rainfall/runoff dynamics, such as flash flooding and hydrodynamics in small watersheds.