Culture

To perform calculations, quantum computers need qubits to act as elementary building blocks that process and store information. Now, physicists have produced a new type of qubit that can be switched from a stable idle mode to a fast calculation mode. The concept would also allow a large number of qubits to be combined into a powerful quantum computer, as researchers from the University of Basel and TU Eindhoven have reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Leading research at Newcastle University has been used to shape how dentistry can be carried out safely during the Covid-19 pandemic by mitigating the risks of dental aerosols.

It is well known that coronavirus can spread in airborne particles, moving around rooms to infect people, and this has been a major consideration when looking into patient and clinician safety.

Research, published in the Journal of Dentistry, has led the way in helping shape national clinical guidance for the profession to work effectively under extremely challenging circumstances.

Heidelberg/Germany, 11 January 2021 - Development of an in vitro human-derived tissue model for studying virus infection and disease progression in the alveolar cells of the lungs responsible for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange with the blood might enable the study of possible therapies for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) triggered by SARS-CoV-2.

Two billion years after the Big Bang, the Universe was still very young. However, thousands of huge galaxies, rich in stars and dust, were already formed. An international study, led by SISSA - Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, now explains how this was possible. Scientists combined observational and theoretical methods to identify the physical processes behind their evolution and, for the first time, found evidence for a rapid growth of dust due to a high concentration of metals in the distant Universe.

Patients with severe COVID-19 disease have significantly shorter telomeres, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in collaboration with the COVID-IFEMA Field Hospital, published in the journal Aging. The study, led by Maria A.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University is leading a global research effort to offer the first worldwide view of how climate change could affect water availability and drought severity in the decades to come.

By the late 21st century, global land area and population facing extreme droughts could more than double -- increasing from 3% during 1976-2005 to 7%-8%, according to Yadu Pokhrel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in MSU's College of Engineering, and lead author of the research published in Nature Climate Change.

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health developed an infectious disease early warning system that includes areas lacking health clinics participating in infectious disease surveillance. The approach compensates for existing gaps by optimally assigning surveillance sites that support better observation and prediction of the spread of an outbreak, including to areas remaining without surveillance. Details are published in the journal Nature Communications.

New research from Swansea University suggests that a simple nurse- or carer-led medicines' monitoring system can help reduce medication-related illness for people living in residential care homes - and the process takes just a few minutes per patient.

Fast facts:

This study describes essential differences between marine and freshwater species and the contributions of viruses to such differences

The results may help guide future bioengineering efforts to develop plant strains adapted to grow in salt-water, which is of local and regional food security interest

Microalgae are fundamental to global ecosystems due to their ability to sustain coral reef species and produce atmospheric oxygen

Before this study, many important algal phyla did not have sequenced representatives

It is well known that the expansion of the universe is accelerating due to a mysterious dark energy. Within galaxies, stars also experience an acceleration, though this is due to some combination of dark matter and the stellar density. In a new study to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters researchers have now obtained the first direct measurement of the average acceleration taking place within our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

In diseases characterized by bone loss -such as periodontitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis- there is a lot that scientists still don't understand. What is the role of the immune response in the process? What happens to the regulatory mechanisms that protect bone?

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Scientists have known for years that mutations in the MLL4 gene can cause Kabuki syndrome, a rare developmental disorder.

But a study published on Jan. 11 in Nature Communications illuminates new details regarding how this occurs. (Images are available by contacting Charlotte Hsu in UB Media Relations at chsu22@buffalo.edu.)

CLEVELAND - As reported in Nature Communications, researchers from Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute have developed a novel, patient-derived model of ulcerative colitis, which will help advance studies into new treatments for the chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

Oncotarget recently published "PD-1/PD-L1 expression in anal squamous intraepithelial lesions" which reported that the presence and distribution of CD8 lymphocytes and the presence of PD-1 lymphocytes and PD-L1 epithelial cells were assessed.

CD8 lymphocytes were observed more frequently in HSIL versus LSIL in the lamina propria or intra epithelial.

PD-1 lymphocytes were observed more frequently in HSIL versus LSIL.

A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered a groundbreaking one-step process for creating materials with unique properties, called metamaterials. Their results show the realistic possibility of designing similar self-assembled structures with the potential of creating "built-to-order" nanostructures for wide application in electronics and optical devices.

The research was published and featured on the cover of Nano Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society.