Culture

TROY, N.Y. -- A team of researchers led by Sufei Shi, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has uncovered new information about the mass of individual components that make up a promising quasiparticle, known as an exciton, that could play a critical role in future applications for quantum computing, improved memory storage, and more efficient energy conversion.

AUSTIN, Texas - During the next year, the Food and Drug Administration will review many new drug applications for preventing and treating the new coronavirus. But early approvals could get delayed by the standards the agency used for older drugs, according to new research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

Wind farms are large, highly technical projects but their development often relies on personal decisions made by individual landowners and small communities. Recognizing the power of the human element in wind farm planning, Stanford University researchers have devised a model that considers how interactions between developers and landowners affect the success and cost of wind farms.

CLEMSON, South Carolina - A Clemson University scientist has joined forces with an international team of astronomers to identify periodic gamma-ray emissions from 11 active galaxies, paving the way for future studies of unconventional galaxies that might harbor two supermassive black holes at their centers.

Among astronomers, it has long been well-established that most galaxies host a black hole at their center. But galaxies hosting a pair of black holes has remained theoretical.

Searching for food at night can be tricky. To find prey in the dark, bats use echolocation, their "sixth sense." But to find food faster, some species, like Molossus molossus, may search within hearing distance of their echolocating group members, sharing information about where food patches are located. Social information encoded in their echolocation calls may facilitate this foraging strategy, according to a recent study by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) scientists and collaborating institutions published online in Behavioral Ecology.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered that teaching physics to neural networks enables those networks to better adapt to chaos within their environment. The work has implications for improved artificial intelligence (AI) applications ranging from medical diagnostics to automated drone piloting.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A new study led by Marshall University researcher M. Jeremiah Matson found that environmental conditions affect the stability of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human nasal mucus and sputum.

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.

ACP Proposes Policies and Action to Confront Systemic Racism, Discrimination and Injustices in Health and Law Enforcement

ATLANTA - Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Emory Vaccine Center (EVC) are first to show a new adjuvant, 3M-052, helps induce long-lasting immunity against HIV. The study results are published today in Science Immunology.

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have shed light on the reproductive role of 'dark matter' DNA - non-coding DNA sequences that previously seemed to have no function.

Their findings, published today in Nature Communications, have revealed that a specific non-coding genomic region is essential for the proper development of the male and female reproductive organs in rice.

Differences in the rate that genetic mutations accumulate in healthy young adults could help predict remaining lifespan in both sexes and the remaining years of fertility in women, according to University of Utah Health scientists. Their study, believed to be the first of its kind, found that young adults who acquired fewer mutations over time lived about five years longer than those who acquired them more rapidly.

The researchers say the discovery could eventually lead to the development of interventions to slow the aging process.

A group of researchers, led by a UNSW sustainability scientist, have reviewed existing academic discussions on the link between wealth, economy and associated impacts, reaching a clear conclusion: technology will only get us so far when working towards sustainability - we need far-reaching lifestyle changes and different economic paradigms.

In their review, published today in Nature Communications and entitled Scientists' Warning on Affluence, the researchers have summarised the available evidence, identifying possible solution approaches.

Many countries are failing to comply with the non-binding commitments of the Paris Agreement, making it increasingly clear that we have to reconsider how to ensure collective action to limit global warming to less than 2°C above preindustrial levels. A new IIASA-led study supports a different approach to designing an international climate agreement that would incentivize countries to cooperate.

As evidence mounts for the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 infecting various animals, scientists at UCL say a global effort is needed to reduce the risk of the virus later returning to people.

In a comment piece for The Lancet Microbe, researchers write that if the virus becomes common in an animal population that lives near people, such as pets or livestock, there would be a risk that another outbreak could occur even if the virus is eradicated in people in the area.

COVID-19 patients with extremely high levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood are more likely to deteriorate quickly and die, according to new research published today.

The study, led by NIHR Research Professor Waljit Dhillo from Imperial College London and Consultant Endocrinologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, provides the first data to show that cortisol levels are a marker of the severity of the illness. The researchers suggest they can be used to identify those patients who are more likely to need intensive care.