Cities are vibrant centers of modern life, tied together by dense and diverse networks of socioeconomic interactions. But the sorts of connections that foster creativity and innovation in cities now threaten to spread the novel coronavirus.
Culture
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed tiny sensors that measure oxygen transport in bovine lung tissue. The study - which establishes a new framework for observing the elusive connection between lung membranes, oxygen flow and related disease - is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Philadelphia, April 9, 2020 - Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have pinpointed a genetic variation responsible for driving the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The genetic pathway associated with this variation is involved in other immune disorders, suggesting the mechanism they identified could serve as an important therapeutic target. The findings were published today by the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis.
In the course of every single cell division, the genetic information on the chromosomes must be distributed equally between the newly developing daughter cells. The enzyme separase plays a decisive role in this process. Susanne Hellmuth and Olaf Stemmann from the Chair of genetics at the University of Bayreuth have now discovered a previously unknown mechanism that regulates the activity of the separase. These fundamental findings add a new aspect to our current understanding of chromosome inheritance. The scientists have presented their study in the journal "Nature".
New Rochelle, NY, April 9, 2020--The new, global Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Health and Medicine (TCIHM) COVID-19 Support Registry aims to capture key information on the case, treatment/supportive care, and outcome variables related to the use of integrative health products and practices in patients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BUFFALO, N.Y. - While researchers have suggested that individuals who base their self-worth on their financial success often feel lonely in everyday life, a newly published study by the University at Buffalo and Harvard Business School has taken initial steps to better understand why this link exists.
"When people base their self-worth on financial success, they experience feelings of pressure and a lack of autonomy, which are associated with negative social outcomes," says Lora Park, an associate professor of psychology at UB and one of the paper's co-authors.
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method that doesn't require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible, 3D-printed robots.
The innovation comes from rethinking the way soft robots are built: instead of figuring out how to add soft materials to a rigid robot body, the UC San Diego researchers started with a soft body and added rigid features to key components. The structures were inspired by insect exoskeletons, which have both soft and rigid parts--the researchers called their creations "flexoskeletons."
Social media should be used to chart the economic impact and recovery of businesses in countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research published in Nature Communications. University of Bristol scientists describe a 'real time' method accurately trialled across three global natural disasters which could be used to reliably forecast the financial impact of the current global health crisis.
In Swahili, red-billed oxpeckers are called Askari wa kifaru, or "the rhino's guard." Now, a paper appearing April 9 in the journal Current Biology suggests that this indigenous name rings true: red-billed oxpeckers may act as a first line of defense against poachers by behaving like sentinels, sounding an alarm to potential danger. By tracking wild black rhinos, researchers found that those carrying oxpeckers were far better at sensing and avoiding humans than those without the hitchhiking bird.
Quantum computers that are exponentially faster than any of our current classical computers and are capable of code-breaking applications could be available in 12 to 15 years, posing major risks to the security of current communications systems, according to a new RAND Corporation report.
The security risks posed by this new category of computers can be managed if the U.S. government acts quickly, and a centrally coordinated, whole-of-nation approach is the best way to manage those challenges, according to RAND researchers.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Cambridge have 3D printed coral-inspired structures that are capable of growing dense populations of microscopic algae. The work, published Apr. 9 in Nature Communications, could lead to the development of compact, more efficient bioreactors for producing algae-based biofuels. It could also help researchers develop new techniques to repair and restore coral reefs.
The discovery of the oldest known direct evidence of fibre technology -- using natural fibres to create yarn -- is reported in Scientific Reports this week. The finding furthers our understanding of the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals during the Middle Palaeolithic period (30,000-300,000 years ago).
Contrary to popular belief, Neanderthals were no less technologically advanced than Homo sapiens. An international team, including researchers from the CNRS, have discovered the first evidence of cord making, dating back more than 40,000 years (1), on a flint fragment from the prehistoric site of Abri du Maras in the south of France (2). Microscopic analysis showed that these remains had been intertwined, proof of their modification by humans. Photographs revealed three bundles of twisted fibres, plied together to create one cord.
An international team of scientists led by the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, has been able to reconstruct, in the smallest details, the skulls of some of the world's oldest known dinosaur embryos in 3D, using powerful and non-destructive synchrotron techniques at the ESRF, the European Synchrotron in France. They found that the skulls develop in the same order as those of today's crocodiles, chickens, turtles and lizards. The findings are published today in Scientific Reports.
Philadelphia, April 9, 2020 - Approximately five percent of women experience two or more miscarriages, a condition known as recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Although genetic testing is important for evaluating RPL, current tests have revealed shortcomings in clinical practice.