“We always looked at how physics influenced biology, but at some point, we realized that biology might also be influencing physics,” says first author Ellard Hunting, a biologist at the University of Bristol. “We’re interested in how different organisms use the static electric fields that are virtually everywhere in the environment.” As with most living creatures, bees carry an innate electric charge. The research team found that honeybee hive swarms change the atmospheric electricity by 100 to 1,000 volts per meter, increasing the electric field force normally experienced at ground level....

In routine clinical practice, it has been noted that obese individuals are more likely to develop chronic inflammatory disorders like psoriasis at an earlier age and with greater severity. Additionally, these issues are more challenging to treat in people who are obese. Therefore, researchers at Leipzig University Hospital were curious to learn why obese people are more likely to develop chronic inflammatory disorders and chronic wounds that do not heal....

Blooms are a common occurrence this time of year. But the regularity of the blooms and their simple beauty belie the complexity of this ecosystem. Two main water masses flow from the Bering Strait and enter the southern Chukchi. One type, known as “Bering Sea Water,” is cool, salty, and rich in nutrients. This water fuels most of the phytoplankton growth, primarily diatoms, which are likely the main reason for the colorful green waters pictured here....

CAL Fire released an update on this destructive fire today, October 28 at 7 a.m. PDT. The major impediment in fighting this fire seems to be the weather. CAL Fire reports that: “A Red Flag warning will continue through Monday morning. 40-50 mph (41-80 kph) wind gusts are still a possibility throughout the evening while narrow roads and steep terrain are making access to the fire areas very difficult. These Northeast winds coupled with low humidity create critical fire weather conditions....

Patients with cancer should receive a tailored exercise prescription to protect their hearts, reports a paper published today (October 6, 2019) in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 ‘Cancer patients are often less active than adults without cancer,’ said author Dr. Flavio D’Ascenzi, University of Siena, Italy. ‘However, exercise is essential for patients diagnosed with cancer who are under treatment, irrespective of the type of treatment....

We know it generically as “long COVID,” though it’s hardly generic, and we still know very little about it, including what it is, who, when or how badly it will strike, how long it might take to recover or whether complete recovery is possible for all. Long COVID, or post-COVID condition, features symptoms that can include trouble breathing, chest pain, brain “fog,” fatigue, loss of smell or taste, nausea, anxiety and depression, among others....

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation resulting from the inflammatory response to coronavirus infection may be the cause of previously unexplained long COVID symptoms — such as fatigue, brain fog, and rashes — that occur in approximately 30% of patients after recovery from initial COVID-19 infection. The first evidence linking EBV reactivation to long COVID, as well as an analysis of long COVID prevalence, is outlined in a new long COVID study published in the journal Pathogens....

The rediscovery in southern Vietnam was published on November 11, 2019, in the scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution and is spurring on efforts to protect the chevrotain and the other mysterious and extraordinary wildlife that shares its home in Vietnam. “We had no idea what to expect, so I was surprised and overjoyed when we checked the camera traps and saw photographs of a mouse deer with silver flanks,” said An Nguyen, associate conservation scientist for GWC and expedition team leader....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration. Maggots suppress the immune system. They consume dead tissue, leaving healthy tissue practically unscathed. Physicians have been using larvae to clean wounds for a long time. The use of penicillin in the 1940s made clinical maggots less useful, but in the 1990s, when antibiotic-resistant bacteria arose, it created a new demand for alternative treatments. In 2004, the FDA approved maggot therapy as a prescription treatment....

Future prospects for superior new organic electronic devices are brighter now thanks to a new study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Working at the Lab’s Molecular Foundry, a DOE nanoscience center, the team has provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule to molecule in an organic thin film. Their results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance....

The above animation shows one example, where a section of ice cliff collapsed. The older image (acquired in bin-2 mode) is not as sharp as the newer one. HiRISE has been re-imaging regions first photographed in 2006 through 2007, six Mars years ago. This long baseline allows us to see large, rare changes as well as many smaller changes. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp....

The plume from Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai behaved like a mega-thunderstorm that rose 58 kilometers (36 miles) into the atmosphere. When an underwater volcano erupted near the small, uninhabited island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai in January 2022, two weather satellites were uniquely positioned to observe the height and breadth of the plume. Together they captured what is likely the highest plume in the satellite record. Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center analyzed data from NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 17 (GOES-17) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Himawari-8, which both operate in geostationary orbit and carry very similar imaging instruments....

The maternal and infant mortality rates in the United States are alarmingly high compared to other wealthy nations and European countries, and maternal health outcomes continue to deteriorate. A new study from researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is shedding light on the possible impact of hospital organizational structures and staffing in US maternity care on the birthing process and adverse birth outcomes....

Early discoveries by NASA’s newest Mars orbiter are starting to reveal key features about the loss of the planet’s atmosphere to space over time. The findings are among the first returns from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, which entered its science phase on November 16. The observations reveal a new process by which the solar wind can penetrate deep into a planetary atmosphere. They include the first comprehensive measurements of the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere and electrically charged ionosphere....

In one of two studies they conducted on COVID’s chronic effects that were published in February 2022, researchers with the VA St. Louis Health Care System focused on mental health disorders following COVID-19 infection. The group’s findings appeared on February 16, 2022, in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The researchers found that, even in people not needing hospitalization while infected with COVID-19, serious health issues related to mental health could persist, or pop up, in the weeks and months following the acute stage....

The first images of a nebula from the James Webb Telescope gave astronomers remarkable insights into the death of the star that created these beautiful haloes of gas and dust. Around 2500 years ago, a star ejected most of its gas, forming the beautiful Southern Ring Nebula, NGC 3132, chosen as one of the first five image packages from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Led by Australia’s Macquarie University, a team of nearly 70 astronomers from 66 organizations across Europe, North, South, and Central America, and Asia used the Webb images to piece together the messy death of this star....

A research team led by Professor Hongzhe SUN, Norman & Cecilia Yip Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, and Professor Kwok Yung YUEN, Henry Fok Professor in Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has discovered a novel antiviral strategy for treatment of COVID-19. They discovered that a class of metallodrugs currently used in the treatment of other infectious diseases is showing efficacy to potently suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication and relieve viral-associated symptoms in an animal model....

The results reveal a complex pattern of immigration from Africa, Asia, and Europe which varied in direction and its timing for each of these islands. For Sicily, the article reports on a new ancestry during the Middle Bronze Age that chronologically overlaps with the Greek Mycenaean trade network expansion. Sardinians descend from Neolithic farmers A very different story is unraveled in the case of Sardinia. Despite contacts and trade with other Mediterranean populations, ancient Sardinians retained a mostly local Neolithic ancestry profile until the end of the Bronze Age....

The researchers published their findings in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Nicolas Guiseppone, Université de Strasbourg, as well as researchers from the Laboratoire de Matière Systèmes Complexes (CNRS/Université Paris Diderot) used a biomimetic approach to provide the experimental validation. This discovery has a number of applications in nanotechnology and the field of synthesis of artificial muscles. Human muscles are controlled by the coordinated movement of thousands of proteins, which function individually only over distances of a few nanometers....

An online first study published in Critical Care Medicine indicates the actual mortality rate of adults with critical illness from COVID-19 is less than what was previously reported. Compared to earlier reports of a 50 percent mortality rate, the study finds that the mortality rate of critically ill patients who required mechanical ventilation was only 35.7 percent. About 60 percent of patients observed in the study survived to hospital discharge....