Culture
Artificial intelligence is supposed to make machines perform at ever more amazing levels. A robot that can do little more than a remote-controlled model car has a limited range of applications. But from an automatic machine to an autonomous robot, it is a big, almost revolutionary step.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- An implantable smart wrap that fits safely and securely around the bladder may one day help people who have under-active bladders, a condition that hinders patients from urinating regularly and comfortably, according to an international team of researchers.
Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. The summary below is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. A collection of coronavirus-related content is free to the public at http://go.annals.org/coronavirus.
1. Insights From Rapid Deployment of a "Virtual Hospital" as Standard Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic
"Age gates" that aim to keep underage users off alcohol websites are mostly ineffective, a Texas A&M University alcohol researcher found.
"Alcohol brand age gates are weak, at best, and likely an inconsequential barrier that someone with limited math abilities can easily overcome," said Adam Barry, a professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have discovered a previously undescribed population of neurons that help control our eyes as they view in three-dimensional space.
During normal viewing, we direct our eyes between objects in the three-dimensional space many times a minute. With each change, the left and right eyes will rotate, generally in the same direction, but mostly by different degrees of rotation. These unequal movements are known as disjunctive saccades.
Ever receive a vaccination that seemed to burn a lot while it was injected? The vaccine solution likely contained a lot of salt or sugar -- natural preservatives that help keep it stable, in addition to the cold temperature at which it was kept.
The viruses in vaccines, which train our cells to identify and vanquish viral invaders must be kept cold to keep them from bursting apart. The typical shipping temperature for vaccines ranges from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (35 to 47 degrees Fahrenheit).
The effects of climate change are sometimes difficult to grasp, but now a virtual reality forest, created by geographers, can let people walk through a simulated forest of today and see what various futures may hold for the trees.
"The main problem that needs to be addressed is that climate change is abstract," said Alexander Klippel, professor of geography, Penn State. "Its meaning only unfolds in 10, 15 or 100 years. It is very hard for people to understand and plan and make decisions."
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) have demonstrated that personalized drug screens can be used to identify new therapeutic candidates for medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain cancer in children.
PULLMAN, Wash. - A team of researchers for the first time has found a correlation between the levels of bacteria and fungi in the gastrointestinal tract of children and the amount of common chemicals found in their home environment.
The work, published this month in Environmental Science and Technology Letters, could lead to better understanding of how these semi-volatile organic compounds may affect human health.
Across the United States, weather stations made up of instruments and sensors monitor the conditions that produce our local forecasts, like air temperature, wind speed and precipitation. These systems aren’t just weather monitors, they are also potent tools for research on topics from farming to renewable energy generation.
Researchers investigating the heritage of thousands of rice varieties have identified just two distinct maternal lineages, a discovery which could help address the issue of global food security.
University of Queensland scientists studied more than 3000 rice genotypes and found diversity was inherited through two maternal genomes identified in all rice varieties.
Lead researcher UQ's Professor Robert Henry said the finding was important in understanding how rice adapted to its environment.
EUGENE, Ore. - Nov. 11, 2020 - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board launched the Real-time Transaction Reporting System in 2005 to tighten the gap in trade reporting in municipal bond markets from a full day to fifteen minutes.
The system brought real-time price discovery to the $4 trillion over-the-counter market, transforming muni trading, investing and potentially the financing of civic projects. In a new study, a team of researchers investigated the effects of improved disclosure of trading information for muni investors and bond dealers.
More than half of people with acute COVID-19 infection continue to have persistent fatigue 10 weeks after their initial illness, according to a new study published November 9 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Liam Townsend of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and colleagues.
Scientists have developed a bilayer passive cooling technology inspired by the way camels stay cool in the hot desert sun. The technology's bottom hydrogel layer acts like a camel's sweat glands, lowering the temperature through evaporating water, whereas the top aerogel layer functions like fur, insulating against outside heat while letting water vapor pass through. The research, published November 11 in the journal Joule, demonstrates that the design keeps products cool five times longer than conventional single-layer approaches.
Since the first bird evolved more than 150 million years ago, its descendants have adapted to a vast range of ecological niches, giving rise to tiny, hovering hummingbirds, plunge-diving pelicans and showy birds-of-paradise. Today, more than 10,000 species of birds live on the planet--and now scientists are well on their way to capturing a complete genetic portrait of that diversity.