Culture

Comprehensive identification of viral proteins encoded by viral genes is required to understand the pathophysiology of viral infections. A research team led by Professor Yasushi Kawaguchi of the Institute of Medical Science, the University of Tokyo, conducted mass spectrometry specialized for novel synthetic proteins of viruses, and developed a new decoding method for viral genes that can easily and quickly obtain even non-canonical genetic information.

An area in the Olympic Peninsula's Hoh Rain Forest in Washington state for years held the distinction as one of the quietest places in the world. Deep within the diverse, lush, rainy landscape the sounds of human disturbance were noticeably absent.

The white of paper and the white of monitor can be precisely the same color values, yet they appear fundamentally different. That disparity may not lie in the mode of display, but rather how the colors are constructed, according to a research team at Yokohama National University in Japan.

They published their findings on October 27 in Scientific Reports, a Nature Research journal.

While many people are now enjoying longer, healthier lives, current retirement ages are posing challenges for both policymakers and retirees. A new study looked into whether there is potential to increase the retirement age based on the relationship between working life expectancy and health aspects important for work ability for women and men in Europe.

Nearly three percent of the world's population is at risk of developing an intracranial aneurysm, a localized dilation of a blood vessel forming a fragile pocket. Rupture of this aneurysm results in extremely severe, and, in one-third of cases, fatal haemorrhage. In the framework of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, a team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) and the University of Utrecht is studying the genetic determinants of aneurysms in order to better understand the different forms of the disease and to assess individual risk.

At some point in life, most people have stood over a rolled-out slab of cookie dough and pondered just how to best cut out cookies with as little waste as possible. Now, even math experts have given up on finding a computer algorithm to answer this type of geometric problem.

The mangrove forests on Java's north coast are slowly suffocating in plastic waste. The plastic problem in northeast Asia is huge and a growing threat to the region's mangroves; a natural alley against coastal erosion. Based on fieldwork published in Science of the Total Environment, NIOZ researcher Celine van Bijsterveldt shows that restoration of this green protection belt is impossible without better waste management

Plastic trap

Some useful drugs consist of peptides acting on their protein targets. To make them more efficient and stable, scientists have found a way to replace crucial segments of the peptides with ureido units. These oligoureas, which are composed of urea-based units, fold into a structure similar to that of peptides. Oligourea-based "fake" peptides enhance the options for rational drug design, concludes the study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Guangzhou, December 5, 2020: New journal BIO Integration (BIOI) publishes its third issue, volume 1, issue 3 which is a themed issue on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine and biomedicine. BIOI is a peer-reviewed, open access, international journal, which is dedicated to spreading multidisciplinary views driving the advancement of modern medicine.

As the global population grows and ages, so does their need for eye care. But according to two new studies published in The Lancet Global Health, these needs aren't being met relative to international targets to reduce avoidable vision loss.

NORFOLK, Va. -- After more than three years in development, a team of U.S. Army researchers and industry partners completed the construction of a testbed that will help to inform the design of future Army rotorcraft.

The team plans to test the TiltRotor Aeroelastic Stability Testbed, or TRAST, in a massive wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center to gauge the effectiveness of modern tiltrotor stability models.

Each and every biological organism has an important function in creating a healthy ecosystem, which is why conservationists everywhere encourage protecting biodiversity. However, monitoring wildlife health is an ongoing challenge. A new article in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry explores the use of a simple, inexpensive, and minimally invasive technique referred to as "micronuclei detection" to assess genetic toxicity (genotoxicity) in free-ranging bats in areas of varying agricultural activity.

In a recent study, Alexander von Humboldt Professor Jijie Chai at the University of Cologne and his team together with MPIPZ researchers have succeeded for the first time in reconstructing the sequence of molecular events that activate an inactive plant immune receptor and thus mediate the death of the host cell. The researchers' discoveries are of great importance for understanding how these critical plant immune molecules protect their hosts from infections. The configuration adopted by the activated protein is similar to that of other plant and mammal receptors, including humans.

More local law enforcement agencies are using military equipment, such as tear gas, armored vehicles and rubber bullets, to handle social justice protests--calling into question police militarization.

But if police no longer used weapons and tactics previously connected to the military, there is little evidence that this would impact violent crime or officer safety, according to a new University of Michigan study.

BEER-SHEVA, Israel...December 7, 2020 - According to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers, the natural sweetener stevia may lead to a gut microbial imbalance. The findings were just published in Molecules, a leading international peer-reviewed journal of chemistry.