A group of researchers has devised a method of sliding ice and frost off surfaces by melting the interfacial layer directly. In the future, a delayed flight due to ice will be no cause for a meltdown. A group of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Kyushu University has developed a way to remove ice and frost from surfaces extremely efficiently, using less than 1% of the energy and less than 0....
Now, a group led by researchers at the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has identified three bacteria involved in DLB: Collinsella, Ruminococcus, and Bifidobacterium. Their findings, reported in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease, suggest new avenues for diagnosis and treatment. The onset of DLB is associated with abnormal deposits of alpha-synuclein, a protein in the brain that plays a role in the transmission of signals between neurons....
“We found that there’s a deep evolutionary history between bats and coronaviruses,” says Steve Goodman, MacArthur Field Biologist at Chicago’s Field Museum and an author of a paper just released in Scientific Reports detailing the discovery. “Developing a better understanding of how coronaviruses evolved can help us build public health programs in the future.” The study was led by Université de La Réunion scientists Léa Joffrin and Camille Lebarbenchon, who conducted the genetic analyses in the laboratory of “Processus infectieux en milieu insulaire tropical (PIMIT)” on Réunion Island, focusing on emerging infectious diseases on islands in the western Indian Ocean....
Use of disinfectants by pregnant women may be a risk factor for asthma and eczema in their children, finds a population study, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Disinfectants are used frequently in hospitals and other medical facilities, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in their use in medical settings and also more widely, including by the general population. Exposure to disinfectants in the workplace has been linked to asthma and dermatitis previously in the workers exposed, but few studies have looked at the impact of disinfectant use during pregnancy and the subsequent development of allergic disease in children....
A new, detailed model of the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein reveals previously unknown vulnerabilities that could inform development of vaccines. Mateusz Sikora of the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. A key feature of SARS-CoV-2 is its spike protein, which extends from its surface and enables it to target and infect human cells....
National poll shows nearly half of those previously vaccinated remain resistant to boosters. A national poll finds that nearly half (47%) of previously vaccinated respondents are booster hesitant or resistant, showing only a modest change in conviction, even after the World Health Organization recently (WHO) announced the risk posed by the rapidly spreading omicron variant. “This suggests that the early stages of omicron did not alter vaccine intentions, however, that well may change as it continues to spread,” said IPR political scientist James Druckman....
The lagoon is ecologically important. Fish grow to maturity in this protected nursery and then swim out to sea via narrow openings near the middle of the sand bar, making Bibane one of the best known fishing grounds in Tunisia. It is also an important breeding site for migratory shore birds and has been consequently declared a RAMSAR site, a designation for protected wetlands of international ecological significance. Bathymetric maps show that the long line of lighter-toned shallow water offshore is a drowned shoreline....
We already have two approved COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union, but immunizing enough people worldwide to stop viral spread will require at least two years. Meanwhile, finding drugs that can treat or prevent infections remains a priority. “Many efforts are focusing on developing treatments for COVID-19, but few are addressing how to reduce viral transmission,” affirms study coordinator Carlos Chaccour, researcher at ISGlobal and physician at the University of Navarra Clinic....
Engineers at Yale University have discovered that the stiffness of liquid drops embedded in solids has something in common with Goldilocks: While large drops of liquids are softer than the solid that surrounds them, extremely tiny drops of liquid can actually be stiffer than certain solids. But when they’re “just right,” the liquid drops have the exact same stiffness as the surrounding solid. The key is a liquid’s tendency to have as small a surface as possible — a contractile force known as “surface tension” that, for example, allows a cup of water to be filled slightly above the brim without spilling....
Our own host galaxy, the Milky Way, is home to star clusters of variable sizes and ages. We find many baby clusters within molecular clouds, fewer middle-age and old age clusters in the Galactic disk, and even fewer massive, old globular clusters in the halo. These clusters, regardless of their origin and age, are all subject to tidal forces along their orbits in the Galaxy. Given enough time, the Milky Way gravitational forces relentlessly pull them apart, dispersing their stars into the collection of stars we know as the Milky Way....
Next comes ESA’s Hera spacecraft which will return to the binary asteroid to perform a close-up survey of the crater left by DART, as well as measuring Dimorphos’ mass and make-up, along with that of its central body. “Hera is due to be launched in October 2024,” explains Ian Carnelli, heading the mission. “In order to make that deadline our team has been working hard during the last year to finalize and test the various spacecraft subsystems – including the two CubeSats that will be deployed from Hera itself in the vicinity of Dimorphos....
At the core of most galaxies including our own Milky Way is a massive black hole. Material falling into the environment of the black hole heats up, and can radiate dramatically, sometimes also powering the ejection of bipolar jets of rapidly moving charged particles. These so-called active galactic nuclei (AGN) are observed to have roughly two types of characteristics: bright, rapidly moving hot gas with dust emission features, or dust absorption with modest (or no) fast gas....
The study suggests that, in a multiroom building, rapid air exchanges can spread the virus rapidly from the source room into other rooms at high concentrations. Particle levels spike in adjacent rooms within 30 minutes and can remain elevated for up to approximately 90 minutes. The findings, published in the journal Building and Environment, come from a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory....
Upcoming presentation to provide updates on VITAL clinical trial showing mixed results of how vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids help protect against cancer mortality and myocardial infarction. The VITamin D and OmegA-3 Trial (VITAL) is the largest and most recent to test whether vitamin D or fish oil can effectively prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease. Results to date have been mixed but show promise for some outcomes, now confirmed by updated pooled (meta) analyses....
Polaris is not only famous as the beacon for early navigators, it is also the closest Cepheid to earth (445.5 light-years away), and a subject of intense study. It is a member of a triple system, and one source of confusion about its development has been the extent to which its companion stars could have affected its evolution. The star we can see by eye, Polaris Aa, has a close companion, Polaris Ab that orbits it in 29....
The effect of spaceflight on a microscopic worm — Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) — could help it to live longer. The discovery was made by an international group of scientists studying the loss of bone and muscle mass experienced by astronauts after extended flights in space. The results of this research have been published today, July 5, 2012, in the online journal Scientific Reports. Dr. Nathaniel Szewczyk, from The University of Nottingham, was part of the ICE-FIRST project which involved scientists from Japan, France, the US, and Canada....
For the first time, research in mice has shown a link between a genetic mutation, flu, and heart irregularities that researchers say might one day improve the care of flu patients. The study, led by Jacob Yount at The Ohio State University, appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Mutations in a gene called IFITM3 are known to increase the risk of flu hospitalizations and deaths in people....
The giant A-68A iceberg could strike land this month – wreaking havoc near the waters of the South Georgia Island. Since its ‘birth’ in 2017, the iceberg has traveled thousands of kilometers from the Larsen C ice shelf, in Antarctica, and now lies around 120 km from South Georgia. If it remains on its current path, the iceberg could ground in the shallow waters offshore – threatening wildlife, including penguins and seals....
Let’s talk about slime. Mucus is a protective, slimy secretion produced by goblet cells and which lines organs of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems. Slime production is essential to health, and an imbalance can be life-threatening. Patients with diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and ulcerative colitis produce too much mucus, often after growing too many goblet cells. Loss of goblet cells can be equally devastating — for instance during cancer, after infection, or injury....
Given that stress can adversely affect human health and well-being, including causing high blood pressure and increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease, it is essential to understand our individual responses to stress and identify potential factors that can act as effective stress buffers. In the paper, which was recently published in the Journal of Psychophysiology, Brian Leavy, Brenda H. O’Connell, and Deirdre O’Shea propose that, although previous research suggests that gratitude and affect-balance play key stress-buffering roles, to date little, has been known about the impact of these variables on cardiovascular recovery from acute psychological stress....
