When the universe began, matter was flung outward and gradually formed the planets, stars, and galaxies that we know and love today. By carefully assembling a map of that matter today, scientists can try to understand the forces that shaped the evolution of the universe. A group of scientists, including several with the University of Chicago and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, have released one of the most precise measurements ever made of how matter is distributed across the universe today....

Based on these findings from a short-term intervention, the research team plans to conduct similar studies in humans to explore the potential health-related connections between consuming tomatoes and changes to the human gut microbiome. “It’s possible that tomatoes impart benefits through their modulation of the gut microbiome,” said senior author Jessica Cooperstone, assistant professor of horticulture and crop science and food science and technology at The Ohio State University. “Overall dietary patterns have been associated with differences in microbiome composition, but food-specific effects haven’t been studied very much,” Cooperstone said....

The research led by Professor Michael Ward, an epidemiologist in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, and two researchers from our partner institution Fudan University School of Public Health in Shanghai, China, is the first peer-reviewed study of a relationship between climate and COVID-19 in the southern hemisphere. “COVID-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease that recurs in periods of lower humidity. We need to be thinking if it’s wintertime, it could be COVID-19 time,” said Professor Ward....

To cause COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus must force its way into people’s cells – and it needs an accomplice. Cholesterol, the waxy compound better known for clogging arteries, helps the virus open cells up and slip inside, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Clifford Brangwynne’s lab reports. Without cholesterol, the virus cannot sneak past a cell’s protective barrier and cause infection, the team writes in a preprint posted to bioRxiv. The work, which recreated the early stage of infection in lab-grown cells, has not yet undergone the scientific vetting process of peer review....

A large study from Ontario confirms that SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), especially the Delta variant, are more virulent than the native strain of the virus, increasing people’s risk of hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and death due to COVID-19. The research is published in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The study included 212 326 cases of COVID-19 reported between February 7 and June 26, 2021, in Ontario, Canada’s largest province with a population of almost 14....

Findings are consistent with long-haul symptoms following the 2005 SARS epidemic. Many long-haul COVID-19 patients have chronic fatigue syndrome and other breathing issues months after their initial COVID-19 diagnosis, according to a study in JACC: Heart Failure, which is the first of its kind to identify a correlation between long-haul COVID-19 and chronic fatigue syndrome. Chronic fatigue syndrome is a medical condition that can often occur after a viral infection and cause fever, aching, and prolonged tiredness, and depression....

Scientists in the Advanced Materials and Nanosystems directorate at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Palo Alto have developed a revolutionary nanotechnology copper-based electrical interconnect material, or solder, that can be processed around 200 °C. Once fully optimized, the CuantumFuse™ solder material is expected to produce joints with up to 10 times the electrical and thermal conductivity compared to tin-based materials currently in use. Applications in military and commercial systems are currently under consideration....

Forty years ago, the emission spectra of only CS and S2 species, and not those of CS2 species, were observed from several comets by the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite. The photodissociation mechanism of CS2 molecules remains unclear, and S2 fragments have not been experimentally observed before. Recently, a team led by Prof. YUAN Kaijun from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in cooperation with Prof....

VY Canis Majoris is a stellar goliath, a red hypergiant, one of the largest known stars in the Milky Way. It is 30–40 times the mass of the Sun and 300,000 times more luminous. In its current state, the star would encompass the orbit of Jupiter, having expanded tremendously as it enters the final stages of its life. The new observations of the star used the SPHERE instrument on the VLT....

Electricity plays many roles in our lives, from lighting our homes to powering the technology and appliances we rely on every day. Electricity can also have a major impact at the molecular scale, by powering chemical reactions that generate useful products. Working at that molecular level, MIT chemistry professor Yogesh Surendranath harnesses electricity to rearrange chemical bonds. The electrochemical reactions he is developing hold potential for process such as splitting water into hydrogen fuel, creating more efficient fuel cells, and converting waste products like carbon dioxide into useful fuels....

DNA damage signaling induced by aging telomeres increases the expression of ACE2, the human SARS-CoV-2 cell receptor. SARS-CoV-2 causes the pandemic coronavirus disease COVID-19, that is more harmful for elderly people, who show more severe symptoms and are at higher risk of hospitalization and death. A group of Italian and American researchers led by Fabrizio d’Adda di Fagagna now reports that the expression of the cell receptor for the virus, ACE2, which is essential for mediating cell entry of the virus, increases in the lungs of aging mice and humans....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Molecular Ecology. Researchers stumbled upon this technique while they were studying a form of anthrax that kills chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire. They started to sample flies to see whether the anthrax bacterium could be harbored inside the flies feasting on infected bodies. They discovered that they were detecting mammalian DNA from the flies, which could also be used to assess biodiversity. Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, an evolutionary biologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, and his colleagues baited traps with meat....

In the 1930’s the Maine Farmer’s Almanac began publishing “Indian” Moon names for each month of the year. These names have become popular and widely known. According to this almanac, as the full Moon in February, the tribes of what is now the northeastern United States called this the Snow Moon or the Storm Moon because of the heavy snows that fall in this season. The last time I checked (which was several years ago), NOAA long-term monthly averages for the Washington, DC area showed January and February were nearly tied as the snowiest months of the year....

The wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach could provide a quick and effective way to predict the potential spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) by picking up on biomarkers in feces and urine from disease carriers that enter the sewer system. Rapid testing kits using paper-based devices could be used on-site at wastewater treatment plants to trace sources and determine whether there are potential COVID-19 carriers in local areas. Dr. Zhugen Yang, Lecturer in Sensor Technology at Cranfield Water Science Institute, said: “In the case of asymptomatic infections in the community or when people are not sure whether they are infected or not, real-time community sewage detection through paper analytical devices could determine whether there are COVID-19 carriers in an area to enable rapid screening, quarantine, and prevention....

Onions and garlic are key ingredients in sofrito, a condiment that’s a staple of Puerto Rican cuisine. They may also be a recipe for reducing the risk of breast cancer. That’s according to the findings of a study led by University at Buffalo and University of Puerto Rico researchers. It’s the first population-based study to examine the association between onion and garlic consumption and breast cancer in Puerto Rico. The results were published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer....

Researchers discovered that among individuals in the daytime and nighttime eating groups, anxiety- and depressive-like mood levels rose by 16% and 26%, respectively. This increase was not seen in the group of participants who only ate during the day, indicating that meal timing may affect mood vulnerability. The findings were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Our findings provide evidence for the timing of food intake as a novel strategy to potentially minimize mood vulnerability in individuals experiencing circadian misalignment, such as people engaged in shift work, experiencing jet lag, or suffering from circadian rhythm disorders,” said co-corresponding author Frank A....

The opportunity to handle genuine Egyptian artifacts is provided by the Egypt Center to students studying Egyptology at Swansea University. During a recent handling session for an Egyptian Art and Architecture module Dr. Kenneth Griffin, from the University’s Department of Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology, noticed that one of the objects chosen was much more interesting than initially thought. Consisting of two irregularly shaped limestone fragments that have been glued together, the object had been kept in storage for over twenty years and was requested for the handling session based only on an old black and white photograph....

Researchers at universities in Finland, the UK and Myanmar have found that Asian elephant siblings influence younger offspring from early through to late-life. Being raised with older siblings strongly increased calves’ long-term survival compared to not having a sibling, with elder sisters having a bigger impact than elder brothers. In female elephants, those raised with older sisters had higher long-term survival and reproduced for the first time an average of two years earlier, compared to those with older brothers....

Mr. Musk not only provides details on the BFR’s updated design but, importantly, presents a plan for how to pay for it. He describes the development of a huge carbon fiber tank that is capable of holding the cryogenic liquid oxygen needed to fuel the rocket, and the key to the SpaceX business case, how on orbit refueling will take place. The article also reports on progress toward perfecting propulsive landing and achieving rendezvous and docking....

“If global climate keeps warming at the current rate, we expect emperor penguins in Antarctica to experience an 86 percent decline by the year 2100,” says Stephanie Jenouvrier, a seabird ecologist at WHOI and lead author on the paper. “At that point, it is very unlikely for them to bounce back.” The fate of the penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice, which the animals use as a home base for breeding, feeding, and molting, she notes....