Tech
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- There have been many documented cases of Covid-19 "super-spreading" events, in which one person infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects many other people. But how much of a role do these events play in the overall spread of the disease? A new study from MIT suggests that they have a much larger impact than expected.
We all know that moment when we're in the car, at a concert or even sitting on our sofa and one of our favorite songs is played. It's the one that has that really good chord in it, flooding your system with pleasurable emotions, joyful memories, making your hair stand on edge, and even sending a shiver or "chill" down your spine. About half of people get chills when listening to music. Neuroscientists based in France have now used EEG to link chills to multiple brain regions involved in activating reward and pleasure systems.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have unlocked new possibilities for the future development of sustainable, clean bioenergy. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows how bacterial protein 'cages' can be reprogrammed as nanoscale bioreactors for hydrogen production.
Organic solar cells are cheaper to produce and more flexible than their counterparts made of crystalline silicon, but do not offer the same level of efficiency or stability. A group of researchers led by Prof. Christoph Brabec, Director of the Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) at the Chair of Materials Science and Engineering at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), have been working on improving these properties for several years.
Are you affected by your neighbours? So are nanoparticles in catalysts. New research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, published in the journals Science Advances and Nature Communications, reveals how the nearest neighbours determine how well nanoparticles work in a catalyst.
For millions of years, viruses have participated in a far-flung, import-export business, exchanging fragments of themselves with both viral and non-viral agents and acquiring new features. What these tiny entities lack in outward complexity, they make up for with their astonishing abilities to swap out modular genomic components and ceaselessly reinvent themselves.
In new research appearing in the journal mBio, Arvind Varsani and his colleagues investigate a recently discovered class of viruses that have taken the characteristic versatility of the viral world to new heights.
Using a new method, physicists at the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics have investigated the ultrafast fragmentation of hydrogen molecules in intense laser fields in detail. They used the rotation of the molecule triggered by a laser pulse as an "internal clock" to measure the timing of the reaction that takes place in a second laser pulse in two steps. Such a "rotational clock" is a general concept applicable to sequential fragmentation processes in other molecules.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have identified a unique method of identifying the early signs of a potentially serious condition known as Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).
Intelligent cameras are the next milestone in image and video processing A team of researchers at the Chair of Multimedia Communications and Signal Processing at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has developed an intelligent camera that achieves not only high spatial and temporal but also spectral resolution. The camera has a wide range of applications that can improve environmental protection and resource conservation measures as well as autonomous driving or modern agriculture. The findings of the research have been publishedas an open access publication.
HOUSTON - (Oct. 29, 2020) - Plastic waste comes back in black as pristine graphene, thanks to ACDC.
That's what Rice University scientists call the process they employed to make efficient use of waste plastic that would otherwise add to the planet's environmental woes. In this instance, the lab of Rice chemist James Tour modified its method to make flash graphene to enhance it for recycling plastic into graphene.
The lab's study appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.
The main parasite that causes malaria can alter its gene expression to survive undetected in the human blood stream, new research has shown.
A team of international researchers, including Dr Mario Recker from the University of Exeter, has studied how the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can lie seemingly dormant during unfavourable conditions.
The study explains how the parasite can remain in a person without showing observable symptoms, before allowing malaria to re-emerge when mosquito populations resurge during the rainy season.
Regular training enhances your strength, but recovery is equally important. Elastic bandages and compression garments are widely used in sports to facilitate recovery and prevent injuries. Now, a research team from Tohoku University has determined that compression garments also reduce strength loss after strenuous exercise.
Their research findings were published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
People who have been exposed to chemical warfare agents (CWAs) feel uncertain, decades after the exposure, about their survival and ability to build a family, a University of Gothenburg study shows. Women are more severely affected than men.
Commercially sold water filters do a good job of making sure any lead from residential water pipes does not make its way into water used for drinking or cooking.
Filters do not do a good job, however, of letting the user know how much lead was captured.
Until now, when a researcher, public works department or an individual wanted to know how much lead was in tap water, there wasn't a great way to find out. Usually, a scientist would look at a one-liter sample taken from a faucet.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--A new study by scientists at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues published Oct. 30, 2020, in Science, showed that mice exposed to potentially lethal levels of total body radiation were protected from radiation damage if they had specific types of bacteria in their gut. Radiation absorbed in a clinical setting or during an accidental exposure can cause damage to tissues. In this study, the bacteria mitigated radiation exposure and enhanced the recovery of blood cell production as well as repair of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.