Culture

Like many around the world, the lab of Professor Mriganka Sur in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT has embraced the young technology of cerebral organoids, or "minibrains," for studying human brain development in health and disease. By making a surprising finding about a common practice in the process of growing the complex tissue cultures, the lab has produced both new guidance that can make the technology better, and also new insight into the important roles a prevalent enzyme takes in natural brain development.

Duluth, Minnesota - A new paper in the May issue of Nature Communications demonstrates why keeping local lakes and other waterbodies clean produces cost-effective benefits locally and globally.

Below please find link(s) to new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. All coronavirus-related content published in Annals of Internal Medicine is free to the public. A complete collection is available at https://annals.org/aim/pages/coronavirus-content.

One of the most basic structural aspects of relativistic spacetime is the description of how time and distances are altered by motion. The theory of special relativity describes a spacetime framework for linear constant motion in which time dilates and lengths contract in response to motion. This framework is described by the Lorentz transformation, which encompasses mathematical formulas that describe how time and distance are altered between moving reference frames.

A new study from the University of Portsmouth calls for further government oversight to curb potential illegal activity through these zones.

This study demonstrates the attractive trading advantages offered by freeports to enable enterprise and innovation. Eight new freeports in England are due to enter operation in late 2021, which are hoped to drive investment, economic opportunities and growth to those regions.

In recent decades, Spain has undergone rapid social changes in terms of gender equality, despite, as a result of the Franco dictatorship, starting from a more backward position than most European countries. This process is hampered by the economic downturn that began in 2008, underlining the importance of the economic context in the development of gender inequality levels. Little attention has been paid in academia to how this gender revolution is associated with factors related to individual wellbeing.

It was commonly assumed that wildlife products are exported from low-income countries to meet the demand of consumers in wealthy economies, and therefore, a widening wealth gap may drive up the volume of global trade and endanger wildlife.

YouTube channels run by zoos focus on entertainment over education, according to a new study.

The videos also focus disproportionately on mammals, rather than reflecting the diversity of zoos' animals.

Conservation was the focus of just 3% of zoo videos in the study - but it found that conservation content in videos is gradually increasing.

The study evaluated the most recent and most-viewed videos, so the findings partly reflect the public's preference for certain species and content.

In some countries of the WHO European Region, 1 in 3 children aged 6 to 9 years is living with overweight or obesity. Mediterranean countries have the highest rates of obesity, but the situation there is starting to improve.

New Curtin University research has found a bias among scientists toward colourful and visually striking plants, means they are more likely to be chosen for scientific study and benefit from subsequent conservation efforts, regardless of their ecological importance.

Analysis of The Autopsy, Toxicological, and Psychiatric Reports of Portugal's First Major Forensic Case: Part III
https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2021.1898079

Most people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop no or only mild symptoms. However, some patients suffer severe life-threatening cases of COVID-19 and require intensive medical care and a ventilator to help them breathe. Many of these patients eventually succumb to the disease or suffer significant long-term health consequences. To identify and treat these patients at an early stage, a kind of "measuring stick" is needed - predictive biomarkers that can recognize those who are at risk of developing severe COVID-19.

First biomarker to predict severity of disease

Antibiotic resistance in E. coli has been steadily increasing since the early 2000s despite attempts to control it, a new study suggests. In the biggest genomic survey of E. coli to date, that took more than 16 years in Norway, researchers have successfully tracked the spread of antibiotic resistant genes and have shown that these genes are being transferred between E. coli strains.

Can expert commissions develop solutions for controversial issues that will enjoy broad democratic support? A team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has analysed the work of Germany's "Coal Exit Commission" using a set of new criteria.

Only one in three fertilizations leads to a successful pregnancy. Many embryos fail to progress beyond early development. Cell biologists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen (Germany), together with researchers at the Institute of Farm Animal Genetics in Mariensee and other international colleagues, have now developed a new model system for studying early embryonic development. With the help of this system, they discovered that errors often occur when the genetic material from each parent combines immediately after fertilization.