Culture
Dr Steven Truxal, a Reader in The City Law School, says the COVID-19 crisis has exposed an imbalance in EU state aid for the aviation sector.
In the first billion years, there was no oxygen on Earth. Life developed in an anoxic environment. Early bacteria probably obtained their energy by breaking down various substances by means of fermentation. However, there also seems to have been a kind of "oxygen-free respiration". This was suggested by studies on primordial microbes that are still found in anoxic habitats today.
Research has shown that a mutation in the ATAXIN-1 gene leads to accumulation of Ataxin-1 (ATXN1) protein in brain cells and is the root cause of a rare genetic neurodegenerative disease known as spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1). How healthy cells maintain a precise level of ATXN1 has remained a mystery, but now a study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital reveals a novel mechanism that regulates ATXN1 levels.
When fast-moving ions cross paths with large biomolecules, the resulting collisions produce many low-energy electrons which can go on to ionise the molecules even further. To fully understand how biological structures are affected by this radiation, it is important for physicists to measure how electrons are scattered during collisions. So far, however, researchers' understanding of the process has remained limited.
Nowadays, agriculture is going to become AI-native: Skoltech researchers have used the Zhores supercomputer to perform a very precise sensitivity analysis to reveal crucial parameters for different crop yields in the chernozem region. Their paper was published in the proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Science 2020.
Materials science researchers, led by electrical engineering professor Shui-Qing "Fisher" Yu, have demonstrated the first electrically injected laser made with germanium tin.
Used as a semiconducting material for circuits on electronic devices, the diode laser could improve micro-processing speed and efficiency at much lower costs.
In tests, the laser operated in pulsed conditions up to 100 kelvins, or 279 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
PHILADELPHIA -- (August 4, 2020) -- Scientists at The Wistar Institute may have discovered a new way of identifying and targeting hidden HIV viral reservoirs during treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART). These findings were published today in Cell Reports and may have translational implications for improving the long-term care of HIV positive people.
Experts from the Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine have developed a platform for self-testing services which is based on artificial intelligence and designed for medical tasks, such as for analyzing diagnostic images. The first working prototype of the platform is hosted on the popular GitHub service, and developers from all over the world can take part in its improvement by adding verification criteria depending on the purpose of the services.
For years, scientists have attributed animal behavior to the coordinated activities of neuronal cells and its circuits of neurons, known as the neuronal network (NN). However, researchers are pushing the boundaries in understanding animal behavior through the integration of gene regulation.
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke physician Eric Westman was one of the first champions of masking as a means to curtail the spread of coronavirus, working with a local non-profit to provide free masks to at-risk and under-served populations in the greater Durham community.
But he needed to know whether the virus-blocking claims mask suppliers made were true, to assure he wasn't providing ineffective masks that spread viruses along with false security. So he turned to colleagues in the Duke Department of Physics: Could someone test various masks for him?
Artificial molecules could one day form the information unit of a new type of computer or be the basis for programmable substances. The information would be encoded in the spatial arrangement of the individual atoms - similar to how the sequence of base pairs determines the information content of DNA, or sequences of zeros and ones form the memory of computers.
Public plant breeding programs are declining across the United States.
A team of scientists led by Kate Evans, a Washington State University horticulture professor who leads WSU's pome fruit (apples and pears) breeding program, found that public plant breeding programs are seeing decreases in funding and personnel.
The study was published in the journal Crop Science.
By visualizing coronavirus replication in an infected host cell, researchers may have answered a long-standing question about how newly synthesized coronavirus components are able to be incorporated into fully infectious viruses. Their work uncovers a coronavirus-specific structure in cells that may be a target for much-needed antiviral strategies against this family of viruses. Coronaviruses replicate their large genomes in the host cell's cytoplasm. They do this by transforming host cell membranes into peculiar double-membrane vesicles (DMVs).
ITHACA, N.Y. - How contagious is COVID-19, and how severe is the virus for those who've caught it?
Everyone wants firm numbers as schools make decisions about in-person versus remote learning, as local and state governments grapple with reopening, and as families care for sick loved ones.
Vast areas of the Martian night sky pulse in ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. The results are being used to illuminate complex circulation patterns in the Martian atmosphere.
The MAVEN team was surprised to find that the atmosphere pulsed exactly three times per night, and only during Mars' spring and fall. The new data also revealed unexpected waves and spirals over the winter poles, while also confirming the Mars Express spacecraft results that this nightglow was brightest over the winter polar regions.