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New research should prioritize vaccination strategies for organ transplant recipients
In a new Editorial, Peter Heeger, Christian Larsen, and Dorry Segev discuss recent evidence - including a recent Science Immunology study by Hector Rincon-Arevalo and colleagues - that points to a diminished immune response to COVID-19 vaccines among organ transplant recipients and others on immunosuppressive drug regimens.
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New technology detects greater variety of T cells that respond to coronaviruses
Scientists have developed a new technology to detect a wider variety of T cells that recognize coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
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Study ties milder COVID-19 symptoms to prior run-ins with other coronaviruses
In COVID-19 patients whose symptoms were mild, Stanford researchers found that they were more likely than sicker patients to have signs of prior infection by similar, less virulent coronaviruses.
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Using computation to improve words: Novel tool could improve serious illness conversations
Conversations between seriously ill people, their families and palliative care specialists lead to better quality-of-life. Understanding what happens during these conversations -- and how they vary by cultural, clinical, and situational contexts -- is essential to guide healthcare communication improvement efforts. True understanding requires methods to study conversations in large, inclusive, and multi-site epidemiological studies. A new computer model offers an automated and valid tool for such large-scale scientific analyses.
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Scalable manufacturing of integrated optical frequency combs
A collaboration between EPFL and UCSB has developed a long-anticipated breakthrough, and demonstrated CMOS technology -- used for building microprocessors and memory chips -- that allows wafer-scale manufacturing of chip-scale optical frequency combs.
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The first commercially scalable integrated laser and microcomb on a single chip
Fifteen years ago, UC Santa Barbara electrical and materials professor John Bowers pioneered a method for integrating a laser onto a silicon wafer. The technology has since been widely deployed in combination with other silicon photonics devices to replace the copper-wire interconnects that formerly linked servers at data centers, dramatically increasing energy efficiency -- an important endeavor at a time when data traffic is growing by roughly 25% per year.
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COVID-19 aggravates antibiotic misuse in India
Antibiotic sales soared during India's first surge of COVID-19, suggesting that the drugs were inappropriately used to treat mild and moderate COVID-19 infections, according to research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The excessive usage is especially concerning because antibiotic overuse increases the risk for drug-resistant infections -- not just in India, but worldwide.
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Scientists discover a new class of memory cells in the brain
Our brains have sensory cells, which process the faces that we see, and memory cells dedicated to storing data from person encounters. But until now, a hybrid neuron capable of linking vision to memory -- and explaining how we recall familiar faces -- remained elusive.
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Is global plastic pollution nearing an irreversible tipping point?
Current rates of plastic emissions globally may trigger effects that we will not be able to reverse, argues a new study by researchers from Sweden, Norway and Germany published on July 2 in Science. According to the authors, plastic pollution is a global threat, and actions to drastically reduce emissions of plastic to the environment are 'the rational policy response.'
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Unfinding a split electron
Scientists from the Nanoelectronics group at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria were looking for half an electron as a basis for a quantum computer. Together with researchers from University of Copenhagen and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), they investigated a promising experimental setup just to find that the signals they measured were not telling the truth. They now published their findings in the journal Science.
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Spatial patterns of gene transcripts captured across single cells of mouse embryo
A new technique called sci-Space, combined with data from other technologies, could lead to four-dimensional atlases of gene expression across diverse cells during embryonic development of mammals. Such atlases would map how the gene transcripts in individual cells reflect the passage of time, cell lineages, cell migration, and location on the developing embryo. They would also help illuminate the spatial regulation of gene expression.
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Introducing 'sci-Space,' a new method for embryo-scale, single-cell spatial transcriptomics
Researchers introduce "sci-Space," a new approach to spatial transcriptomics that can retain single-cell resolution and spatial heterogeneity at scales much larger than previous methods.
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In full-shell semiconductor-superconductor nanowires, zero-bias peaks induced by Andreev states, not Majorana modes
Researchers could not confirm that a feature that supposedly signals the presence of Majorana bound states - the unusual quasiparticles that may become the cornerstone of topological quantum computing - was in fact due to elusive Majorana particles, in full-shell semiconductor/superconductor nanowires.
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Massive exome-wide association study in humans identifies rare variants that protect against obesity
Through the sequencing of more than 640,000 human exomes, researchers identify rare gene coding variants strongly associated with body mass index (BMI) - including the variant GPR75, which conferred protection from obesity in mouse models.
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Special issue: Our plastics dilemma
Although plastics have become an essential material, permeating almost all aspects of modern living, many of the inherent properties that make them useful in such a wide variety of applications also make them a serious environmental threat.
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How information beyond the genetic sequence is encoded in plant sperm
- A new study has uncovered a mechanism which installs epigenetic information in sperm.- Small RNAs are made in tapetal nurse cells and are drive all newly established DNA methylation in plant sperm.- Tapetal small RNAs deposit methyl marks on genes and jumping elements (transposons) in male germ cells.- This regulates genes important for reproductive success and stops the jumping elements (transposons) from moving around in the DNA, protecting the integrity of the genome passed between generations.
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The key role of astrocytes in cognitive development
Researchers from Inserm, CNRS and Collège de France at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology have now uncovered their crucial role in closing the period of brain plasticity that follows birth, finding them to be key to the development of sensory and cognitive faculties. Over the longer term, these findings will make it possible to envisage new strategies for reintroducing brain plasticity in adults, thereby promoting rehabilitation following brain lesions or neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Study: Nearly 10 percent of high school students experienced homelessness in Spring 2019
A new report finds that 509,025 (9.17%) public high school students in 24 states experienced homelessness in spring 2019 -- three times the number recognized by the states' education agencies. This under-recognition creates gaps in funding and services needed by this vulnerable population.
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Plastic drapes reduce hypothermia in premature babies
A University of Houston College of Nursing researcher is reporting that use of a plastic drape during catheter insertion in very low birth-weight newborn babies can lower the rates of hypothermia, and she is recommending replacing cloth blanket and towels with them.
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New GSA Bulletin articles published ahead of print in June
The Geological Society of America regularly publishes articles online ahead of print. GSA Bulletin topics include multiple articles about the dynamics of China and Tibet; the end-Permian terrestrial extinction paradigm in South Africa; prehistoric lava flows from the urban district of Catania (Etna volcano, Italy); the debated origins of granite, and "a tale of two Tweefonteins."
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