In the near term, Google has devised new quantum-enhanced algorithms that operate in the presence of realistic noise. The so-called quantum approximate optimization algorithm, or QAOA for short, is the cornerstone of a modern drive towards noise-tolerant quantum-enhanced algorithm development. The celebrated approach taken by Google in QAOA has sparked vast commercial interest and ignited a global research community to explore novel applications. Yet, little actually remains known about the ultimate performance limitations of Google’s QAOA algorithm....

The findings indicate that Saturn’s rings formed between 10 million and 100 million years ago. From our planet’s perspective, that means Saturn’s rings may have formed during the age of dinosaurs. The conclusions of the research — gleaned from measurements collected during the final, ultra-close orbits Cassini performed in 2017 as the spacecraft neared the end of its mission — are the best answer yet to a longstanding question in solar system science....

This new molecular system, which is not a new life form, suggests scientists looking for life beyond Earth may need to rethink what they are looking for. The research appears in Thursday’s edition of Science Magazine. DNA is a complex molecule that stores and transmits genetic information, is passed from parent to offspring in all living organisms on Earth, and its components include four key ingredients called nucleotides – all standard for life as we know it....

Scientists create smallest semiconductor laser that works in visible range at room temperature. An international team of researchers led by researchers from ITMO University announced the development of the world’s most compact semiconductor laser that works in the visible range at room temperature. According to the authors of the research, the laser is a nanoparticle of only 310 nanometers in size (which is 3,000 times less than a millimeter) that can produce green coherent light at room temperature....

Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium that is harmless, for the most part, posing no threat to humans with whom they coexist. However, on occasion, it can develop into an opportunistic pathogen, causing food poisoning or skin and bloodstream infections. Scientists have searched for an effective vaccine for more than a century, including at least 15 successful preclinical studies using animal models in the last 30 years. However, these vaccine candidates all failed in the subsequent human trials....

An international team of scientists has found evidence that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects cells in the mouth. While it’s well known that the upper airways and lungs are primary sites of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there are clues the virus can infect cells in other parts of the body, such as the digestive system, blood vessels, kidneys and, as this new study shows, the mouth. The potential of the virus to infect multiple areas of the body might help explain the wide-ranging symptoms experienced by COVID-19 patients, including oral symptoms such as taste loss, dry mouth, and blistering....

Hans Wandall’s team at the University of Copenhagen studied a group of 20 enzymes that initiate the first step in a particular kind of glycan modification, called GalNAc-type O-glycosylation, found on diverse proteins. These enzymes, called GalNAc transferases (GalNAc -Ts) are variously found in different amounts in different tissues, but their functions are poorly understood. Wandall’s team, led by then-graduate student Kirstine Lavrsen, found that one of the GalNAc-Ts, called GalNAc-T6, was absent in healthy colon tissue but abundant in colon cancer cells....

A red traffic light makes us stop. Because of their color, we immediately spot ripe cherries on a tree. The color red is attributed a signaling and warning effect. However, is this also reflected in the brain? Researchers at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience have now investigated this question. They wanted to know whether red triggers brain waves more strongly than other colors. The new research focuses on the early visual cortex, also known as V1....

Recently, it has become clear that a gene called CREB-Regulated Transcription Coactivator 1 (CRTC1) is associated with obesity in humans. Studies on mice have shown that deleting CRTC1 results in obesity, suggesting that its presence suppresses the condition. However, the specific neurons responsible for suppressing obesity through CRTC1 and the mechanism behind it are still unknown, as the gene is expressed in all neurons in the brain. To elucidate the mechanism by which CRTC1 suppresses obesity, a research group led by Associate Professor Shigenobu Matsumura from the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology at Osaka Metropolitan University focused on neurons expressing the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R)....

An international team of scientists has created a powerful new resource to speed the development of vaccines and treatments to battle the next pandemic. University of Virginia School of Medicine researcher Wladek Minor, PhD, and collaborators in China and Poland have developed an Internet information system, called virusMED, that lays out all we know about the atomic structure and potential vulnerabilities of more than 800 virus strains from 75 different virus families, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, Ebola and HIV-1....

“The flu shot is known to reduce the risk of heart attack and hospitalization for people with heart disease. We wanted to find out whether the vaccine has the same protective qualities for those at risk of stroke,” says Dr. Michael Hill, MD, a researcher at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and principal investigator on the study. “Our findings show the risk of stroke is lower among people who have recently received a flu shot....

An ancient human foraging instinct, fueled by fructose production in the brain, may hold clues to the development and possible treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This is according to scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study offers a new way of looking at a fatal disease characterized by abnormal accumulations of proteins in the brain that slowly erode memory and cognition....

As the field of nanomedicine matures, an emerging point of contention has been what shape nanoparticles should be to deliver their drug or DNA payloads most effectively. A pair of new papers by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI) and six other institutions suggests these microscopic workhorses ought to be disc-shaped, not spherical or rod-shaped, when targeting cancers at or near blood vessels. “The vast majority — maybe 99 percent — of the work being done right now is using nanoparticles that are spherical,” said TMHRI biomedical engineer Paolo Decuzzi, Ph....

One of the most widely used medications in the world, metformin is commonly prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. However, in addition to its effects on lowering blood sugar, in preclinical models, metformin shows benefits on aging and a number of diverse diseases such as cognitive disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. One question researchers have been asking is how this is being achieved. A multi-year study led by a collaboration of McMaster’s basic science and clinical researchers has found that metformin induces the expression and secretion of a protein called growth differentiating factor 15, or GDF15....

The study revealed that Chlamydia pneumoniae, a type of bacteria that can cause respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, exploited the nerve extending between the nasal cavity and the brain as an invasion path to assault the central nervous system. In response, the cells in the brain began depositing amyloid beta protein which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published earlier this year in the journal Scientific Reports....

Researchers have been able to verify its distance by redshift and it will help astronomers better understand our inflationary universe, but also the constraints of dark energy. It brings astronomers a step closer to understanding the nature of dark energy which drives the cosmic acceleration states John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Scientists believe that Type Ia supernovae originate from white dwarf stars that have collected an excess of materials from their companions and subsequently exploded....

The image, taken on December 13, 2020, features Solis Dorsum, a segment of a prominent wrinkle ridge system in a vast volcanic plateau, known as Tharsis. Wrinkle ridges are tectonic features that form in layered basalt lavas due to loading and flexure of the planet’s crust and upper mantle. These tectonic stresses are caused by the planet’s interior cooling and subsequent contraction. The study of wrinkle ridges, and in particular their distribution and orientation, can reveal details of the complex and dynamic geological history of Mars....

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have taken a giant stride towards solving a riddle that would provide the world with entirely renewable, clean energy from which water would be the only waste product. Reducing humanity’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is arguably the greatest challenge facing 21st-century civilization – especially given the ever-increasing global population and the heightened energy demands that come with it. One beacon of hope is the idea that we could use renewable electricity to split water (H2O) to produce energy-rich hydrogen (H2), which could then be stored and used in fuel cells....

SSO is the core facility of a new exoplanet-hunting project called Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars (SPECULOOS), and consists of four telescopes equipped with 1-meter (3.3-foot) primary mirrors. The telescopes — named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter — will enjoy pristine observing conditions at the Paranal site, which is also home to ESO’s flagship Very Large Telescope (VLT). Paranal provides a near-perfect site for astronomy, with dark skies and a stable, arid climate....

As nuclear fusion engines, most stars live placid lives for hundreds of millions to billions of years. But near the end of their lives they can turn into crazy whirligigs, puffing off shells and jets of hot gas. Astronomers have used Hubble to dissect such crazy fireworks happening in these two planetary nebulae. The researchers have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in the jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the stars at the center of each nebula....