Culture
The image of rows of chairs and desks facing a teacher at a blackboard has been a reality for decades. However, research reveals that this way of organizing the classroom furniture in schools is not the best way for favouring the learning process. Especially if the needs of 21st-century students are taken into account, who, according to the OECD, require a social environment that fosters autonomy, flexibility, decision-making capacity and the connection of knowledge by individual students or through teamwork.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The Mayo Clinic data scientists who developed highly accurate computer modeling to predict trends for COVID-19 cases nationwide have new research that shows how important a high rate of vaccination is to reducing case numbers and controlling the pandemic.
The United Kingdom government plans to implement mass scale population testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection using Lateral Flow Devices (LFDs), yet the devices' sensitivity is unknown. A study published in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Alan McNally at University of Birmingham, UK, and colleagues suggests while LFDs are highly effective in identifying SARS-CoV-2 in individuals with high quantities of viral RNA present on the test swab, they are inaccurate at diagnosing infections in individuals with lower viral loads.
Forget diamonds--plastic is forever. It takes decades, or even centuries, for plastic to break down, and nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists in some form today. We've known for a while that big pieces of plastic can harm wildlife--think of seabirds stuck in plastic six-pack rings--but in more recent years, scientists have discovered microscopic bits of plastic in the water, soil, and even the atmosphere.
Boulder, Colo., USA: Thirty-one new articles were published online ahead of
print for Geology in April. Topics include shocked zircon from the
Chicxulub impact crater; the Holocene Sonoran Desert; the architecture of
the Congo Basin; the southern Death Valley fault; missing water from the
Qiangtang Basin; sulfide inclusions in diamonds; how Himalayan collision
stems from subduction; ghost dune hollows; and the history of the Larsen C Ice Shelf. These Geology articles are online at
The genome of single-celled plankton, known as dinoflagellates, is organized in an incredibly strange and unusual way, according to new research. The findings lay the groundwork for further investigation into these important marine organisms and dramatically expand our picture of what a eukaryotic genome can look like.
DURHAM, N.C. - Mantis shrimp don't need baby food. They start their life as ferocious predators who know how to throw a lethal punch.
A new study appearing April 29 in the Journal of Experimental Biology shows that larvae of the Philippine mantis shrimp (Gonodactylaceus falcatus) already display the ultra-fast movements for which these animals are known, even when they are smaller than a short grain of rice.
In a novel effort to combat COVID-19 misinformation, a group of women researchers, including nurse scientists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), launched the Dear Pandemic social media campaign in March 2020. It delivers curated, comprehensive, and timely information about the COVID-19 pandemic in a question-and-answer format. Complex topics such as COVID-19 aerosol transmission, risk reduction strategies to avoid infection, and excess mortality are explained in common language and shared widely.
New York, NY--Research-practice partnerships (RPPs), long-term collaborations between researchers, policy makers and practitioners, represent an especially promising strategy for making sure that all children benefit from early childhood education, according to a journal released today by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
People living with a child who attends school in-person have an increased risk of reporting evidence of COVID-19, but teacher masking, symptom screening, and other mitigation measures in schools may be able to minimize that excess risk, suggests a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A new study led by University of Minnesota astrophysicists shows that high-energy light from small galaxies may have played a key role in the early evolution of the Universe. The research gives insight into how the Universe became reionized, a problem that astronomers have been trying to solve for years.
The research is published in The Astrophysical Journal, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astrophysics and astronomy.
DALLAS, April 29, 2021 – Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) lifted the pause in administration of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. The temporary pause was due to reports of a serious condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which refers to blood clots in the brain’s veins - not in the arteries, as is the case for most strokes - in combination with thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count).
Individuals who self-identify as Republicans became more skeptical of a potential COVID-19 vaccine and other inoculations, such as the flu shot, over the course of the pandemic, reveals a new study by the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management.
The discovery of ancient kumara pits just north of Dunedin dating back to the 15th century have shone a light on how scientific evidence can complement mātauranga Maori around how and where the taonga were stored hundreds of years ago.
DALLAS, April 29, 2021 -- Health care professionals should consider prescribing medication for patients with slightly elevated blood pressure if levels do not decrease after six months of healthy lifestyle changes, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association. The statement, published today in the Association's journal Hypertension, fills a gap in guideline recommendations by addressing how to manage untreated, stage 1 high blood pressure - levels of 130-139/80-89 mm Hg - that was not fully addressed in the 2017 treatment guidelines.