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Though writing by hand is increasingly being eclipsed by the ease of computers, a new study finds we shouldn't be so quick to throw away the pencils and paper: handwriting helps people learn certain skills surprisingly faster and significantly better than learning the same material through typing or watching videos.

What connection could possibly exist between the stripes on tropical fish and crystal growth? The answer is the way in which order emerges from randomness through Turing patterns, according to what a research team led by Dr. Fuseya of the University of Electro-Communications, Japan, has recently found. After analyzing a mysterious striped pattern, they observed while trying to grow a monoatomic layer of bismuth, they showed that Turing patterns also exist at the nanoscale.

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found specific intestinal microbiota signatures correlate with high-grade adverse events and response to combined CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade treatment.

A research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified potential new treatment targets for Alzheimer's disease, as well as existing drugs with therapeutic potential.

What The Study Did: A decline in COVID-19 cases after the vaccination of health care workers in a region of California that experienced high rates of COVID-19 disease over the winter is reported in this single-center study.

Tumor fragments in the lab are able to predict whether the corresponding real-life patients will benefit from immunotherapy. "We've solved a major problem many scientists had been facing: preserving a tumors original composition and structure outside of the patient in the lab", says cancer researcher Daniela Thommen from the Netherlands Cancer Institute. On 8 July, the results of her study are published in Nature Medicine.

What The Study Did: The SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine appeared to be safe and achieve satisfactory serologic status in patients with cancer. While there was a lag in antibody production compared with the rate in the noncancer control group, seroconversion occurred in most patients after the second dose.

A global consortium of scientists investigated which genetic factors influence severity of COVID-19. They found 13 locations in the human genome that are strongly associated with infection or severe COVID-19. They also identified causal factors such as smoking and high BMI. This study, one of the largest GWASs ever performed, includes nearly 50,000 COVID-19 patients and two million uninfected controls.

Researchers from Qatar, alongside researchers from 24 other countries, contributed to the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative large analysis identifying genetic markers for COVID risks, published today in Nature. The results of the analysis will enable genetic tests to predict the course of the disease, potential targeted therapies and drug repurposing to treat new infections and "long COVID". It is the latest milestone establishing Qatar as a leading regional center for genomics research and precision medicine.

As atmospheric concentrations of CO2 continue to rise, we are putting future generations at risk of having to deal with a massive carbon debt. IIASA researchers and international colleagues are calling for immediate action to establish responsibility for carbon debt by implementing carbon removal obligations, for example, during the upcoming revision of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

MIT researchers have devised a way to protect seeds from the stress of water shortage during their crucial germination phase, and even provide the plants with extra nutrition. Simple and inexpensive, the process could be deployed in arid regions to facilitate agriculture on drought-stressed land.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and collaborators developed a new brain mapping approach that may help clarify the cause of a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions and identify promising stimulation sites to target therapeutically.

As analytical instrumentation (gas- and liquid-chromatographs coupled with mass spectrometers) increase in sensitivity and speed, forensic scientists may find themselves still hindered by the process of preparing samples (blood, urine, etc.) for analysis and seeking more efficient approaches.

Researchers have used the latest wireless technology to develop a new radio receiver for astronomy. The receiver is capable of capturing radio waves at frequencies over a range several times wider than conventional ones, and can detect radio waves emitted by many types of molecules in space at once. This is expected to enable significant progresses in the study of the evolution of the Universe and the mechanisms of star and planet formation.

A research study from the The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research iPSYCH shows that people with ADHD, who also have another psychiatric diagnosis, are more likely to stop taking their ADHD medicine.

Of the Swedish men in their late teens who performed well in the physical fitness tests for military conscription, a relatively high proportion were able to avoid hospital care when they became infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic up to 50 years later. This has been shown by University of Gothenburg researchers in a register study, with results now published in the BMJ Open.

A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) reports that the type of one-on-one treatment plans delivered to toddlers, aged 12-30 months, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) did not lead to any significantly different outcomes. Neither the type of evidence-based intervention provided, nor the number of hours of therapy were shown to have an impact.

A research team at the University of Córdoba has developed and evaluated models for the prediction of solar radiation in nine locations in southern Spain and North Carolina (USA)

Synthesizing hybrid enzyme catalysts in situ to improve and expand enzymatic catalysis is an important way to address challenges of industrial biocatalysis. In this account, the construction principles, the structure-function relationship, the integration of biocatalysis and metal catalysis, and other key factors are introduced regarding the rational design of hybrid enzyme catalysts. This account sheds light on the development of rationally structurally designed hybrid enzyme catalysts for expanding biocatalysis in more chemical manufacturing processes.

Würzburg psychologists have studied the phenomenon of impulse buying behaviour. People who focus on enjoyment act differently than people who play it safe.