Yekaterina “Kate” Shulgina was a first year student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, looking for a short computational biology project so she could check the requirement off her program in systems biology. She wondered how genetic code, once thought to be universal, could evolve and change. That was 2016 and today Shulgina Read more about Researchers develop program to read any genome sequence and decipher its genetic code – shows underlying evolutionary forces[…]

Scientists have discovered a new phase of water — adding to liquid, solid and gas — know as “superionic ice.” The “strange black” ice, as scientists called it, is normally created at the core of planets like Neptune and Uranus. In a study published in Nature Physics, a team of scientists co-led by Vitali Prakapenka, Read more about Scientists discover new phase of water, known as “superionic ice,” inside planets[…]

No one knows why some people age worse than others and develop diseases -such as Alzheimer’s, fibrosis, type 2 diabetes or some types of cancer- associated with this aging process. One explanation for this could be the degree of efficiency of each organism’s response to the damage sustained by its cells during its life, which Read more about Researchers design antibodies that destroy old cells, slowing down aging[…]

Daily exposure to phthalates, a group of chemicals used in everything from plastic containers to makeup, may lead to approximately 100,000 deaths in older Americans annually, a study from New York University warned Tuesday. The chemicals, which can be found in hundreds of products such as toys, clothing and shampoo, have been known for decades Read more about Widely used chemical linked to 100,000 US deaths per year: study[…]

The fight against malaria, one of the world’s worst diseases for decades, is likely to get much easier as the World Health Organization has endorsed the wide use of a malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, the first ever to win such approval. The vaccine will be recommended for children in sub-Saharan Africa and other high-risk Read more about WHO Endorses ‘Breakthrough’ Childhood Vaccine For Malaria[…]

Carlene Knight’s vision was so bad that she couldn’t even maneuver around the call center where she works using her cane. But that’s changed as a result of volunteering for a landmark medical experiment. Her vision has improved enough for her to make out doorways, navigate hallways, spot objects and even see colors. Knight is Read more about CRISPR Gene-Editing Experiment using direct injection Partly Restores Vision In Legally Blind Patients[…]

A relatively new type of computing that mimics the way the human brain works was already transforming how scientists could tackle some of the most difficult information processing problems. Now, researchers have found a way to make what is called reservoir computing work between 33 and a million times faster, with significantly fewer computing resources Read more about Scientists develop the next generation of reservoir computing[…]

When two substances are brought together, they will eventually settle into a steady state called thermodynamic equilibrium; examples include oil floating on top of water and milk mixing uniformly into coffee. Researchers at Aalto University in Finland wanted to disrupt this sort of state to see what happens—and whether they can control the outcome. […] Read more about Physicists make square droplets and liquid lattices[…]

An enormous randomized trial of communities in Bangladesh seems to provide the clearest evidence yet that regular mask-wearing can impede the spread of the covid-19 pandemic. The study found that villages where masks were highly promoted and became more popular experienced noticeably lower rates of covid-like symptoms and confirmed past infections than villages where mask-wearing Read more about Masks Lead to Less Covid-19, Massive Study Finds[…]

Reddit has finally cracked down on COVID-19 misinformation following growing calls to act, although it probably won’t satisfy many of its critics. The social site has banned r/NoNewNormal and quarantined 54 other COVID-19 denial subreddits, but not over the false claims themselves. Instead, it’s for abuse — NoNewNormal was caught brigading en masse (that is, Read more about Reddit offers a non-response to uproar over COVID-19 misinformation[…]

“It occurred to us that actually a clock is a thermal machine,”[…]Like an engine, a clock harnesses the flow of energy to do work, producing exhaust in the process. Engines use energy to propel; clocks use it to tick. Over the past five years, through studies of the simplest conceivable clocks, the researchers have discovered Read more about The New Science of Clocks Prompts Questions About the Nature of Time, finds limits for their accuracy[…]

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is now not only approved for everyone over 16 years old, it’s recommended. On Monday, an independent advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously to support recommending the vaccine. The decision of those 14 experts was based on overwhelming evidence that Pfizer’s 2-shot immunization, named Comirnaty, which Read more about CDC shares 8 new charts that show how powerful Pfizer’s vaccine is against COVID-19 and the Delta variant[…]

Over 135 subreddits have gone dark this week in protest of Reddit’s refusal to ban communities that spread misinformation about the COVID pandemic and vaccines. Subreddits that went private include two with 10 million or more subscribers, namely r/Futurology and r/TIFU. The PokemonGo community is one of 15 other subreddits with at least 1 million subscribers Read more about Reddit’s turns anti-vaxx says it’s teaching a controvesy[…]

Streetlights—particularly those that use white light-emitting diodes (LEDs)—not only disrupt insect behavior but are also a culprit behind their declining numbers, a new study carried out in southern England showed Wednesday. Artificial lights at night had been identified as a possible factor behind falling insect populations around the world, but the topic had been under-researched. Read more about LED streetlights contribute to insect population declines[…]

The observed trend in Earth’s energy imbalance (TEEI), a measure of the acceleration of heat uptake by the planet, is a fundamental indicator of perturbations to climate. Satellite observations (2001–2020) reveal a significant positive globally-averaged TEEI of 0.38 ± 0.24 Wm−2decade−1, but the contributing drivers have yet to be understood. Using climate model simulations, we show that it Read more about Increase in Earth’s energy imbalance is proof that climate change is man made[…]

the UAE is now testing a new method that has drones fly into clouds to give them an electric shock to trigger rain production, the BBC and CNN have previously reported. The project is getting renewed interest after the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology recently published a series of videos on Instagram of heavy rain in parts of the Read more about Cloud seeding in UAE: Artificial rain with drones, electricity[…]

According to the study, 56% of foundations and eye products, 48% of lip products and 47% of mascaras tested were found to contain high levels of fluorine, which is an indicator of PFAS use in the product. . Credit: University of Notre Dame Many cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels Read more about Use of PFAS in cosmetics ‘widespread,’ new study finds – not a good thing[…]

[…] it looks like researchers have developed the perfect thing to combat this problem. They’ve developed a cocktail of plastic-eating enzymes which can actually degrade plastic in a matter of days — something that normally takes hundreds of years to degrade. The enzyme cocktail includes PETase and MHETase. These are produced by a type of Read more about Scientists Create Enzyme That Can Destroy Plastic Within Days, Not Years[…]

A team of researchers in Germany and Australia recently used a new microscopy technique to image nano-scale biological structures at a previously unmanageable resolution, without destroying the living cell. The technique, which employs laser light many millions of times brighter than the Sun, has implications for biomedical and navigation technologies. The quantum optical microscope is Read more about New Quantum Microscope Can See Tiny Structures in Living Cells[…]

A light-powered microscope has a resolution limit of around 200 nanometers—which makes observing specimens smaller or closer together than that all but impossible. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have found a clever way to improve the resolution of a conventional microscope, but surprisingly it involves no upgrades to the lenses or optics Read more about Simple Slide Coating Gives a Boost to the Resolution of a Microscope[…]

New results from the Dark Energy Survey use the largest ever sample of galaxies over an enormous piece of the sky to produce the most precise measurements of the universe’s composition and growth to date. Scientists measured that the way matter is distributed throughout the universe is consistent with predictions in the standard cosmological model, Read more about Dark Energy Survey releases most precise look at the universe’s evolution[…]

Although people-growing is probably a long way off, mice can now mostly develop inside an artificial uterus (try private window if you hit a paywall) thanks to a breakthrough in developmental biology. So far, the mice can only be kept alive halfway through gestation. There’s a point at which the nutrient formula provided to them Read more about Mice Develop halfway to gestation Inside An Artificial Womb[…]

Researchers from University of Arizona and University of Utah published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that examines why most scholarly research is misinterpreted by the public or never escapes the ivory tower and suggests that such research gets lost in abstract, technical, and passive prose. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Read more about Three ways to improve scholarly writing to get more citations[…]

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District and Oxitec Ltd today announced location participation plans for its landmark Florida Keys pilot project. Project managers anticipate that during the last week of April and first week of May release boxes, non-release boxes and netted quality control boxes will be placed in six locations: two on Cudjoe Key, Read more about Florida Keys Mosquito Control District and Oxitec Announce Site Participation for Florida Keys Pilot Project to Combat Disease Transmitting Mosquito Type[…]