Tech
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A team of MIT chemists has discovered the structure of a key influenza protein, a finding that could help researchers design drugs that block the protein and prevent the virus from spreading.
The protein, known as BM2, is a proton channel that controls acidity within the virus, helping it to release its genetic material inside infected cells.
Rutgers researchers say gender bias and stereotypes corresponding to certain occupations are prevalent on digital and social media platforms.
The study, published in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, finds that online images of men and women in four professions - librarian, nurse, computer programmer, and civil engineer - tend to represent and reinforce existing gender stereotypes.
Most modern electronic devices rely on tiny, finely-tuned electrical currents to process and store information. These currents dictate how fast our computers run, how regularly our pacemakers tick and how securely our money is stored in the bank.
Scientists are constantly searching for the source of things like the origin of the universe, matter or life. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and several other universities, have demonstrated a way to experimentally detect the most hidden aspect of all chemical reactions — the extremely short-lived transition state that occurs at their initiation.
Worldwide declines in insect populations have sparked considerable concern among researchers and members of the general public alike. To date, however, significant research gaps exist, and many insect threats remain under-investigated and poorly understood. For instance, despite their charismatic bioluminescent displays and cultural and economic importance, the 2000-plus species of firefly beetles have yet to be the subject of a comprehensive threat analysis.
Building on over two decades of research, Mars and the University of California Davis have developed a new methodology to measure cocoa flavanols and procyanidins that is more accurate and more reliable than previous analytical approaches. The method, published in Food & Function, has been developed in partnership with Waters, the world's leading specialty measurement company and chromatography pioneer, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce (NIST).
Aphids, small sap-sucking insects, are virus carriers responsible for significant economic losses in many crops worldwide. Many aphids form symbiotic and mutualistic relationships with viruses, an aspect of plant disease that has not been well explored.
Scientists based in Beijing, China, studied how one symbiotic virus, Acyrthosiphon pisum virus (APV), actually helps its host aphid adapt to new plants. APV is primarily located in the aphid's salivary glands and gut. When the aphid feeds on the plant, APV is transferred through the spit.
Urbana, IL -- Fundamental research in condensed matter physics has driven tremendous advances in modern electronic capabilities. Transistors, optical fiber, LEDs, magnetic storage media, plasma displays, semi-conductors, superconductors--the list of technologies born of fundamental research in condensed matter physics is staggering. Scientists working in this field continue to explore and discover surprising novel phenomena that hold promise for tomorrow's technological advances.
An international study by Monash University has discovered wild grey seals can clap their flippers underwater during breeding season.
This is regarded as a show of strength that warns off competitors and advertises themselves to potential mates.
The video footage taken by researchers shows a male grey seal clapping in the wild, producing a gunshot-like 'crack'.
Marine mammals like whales and seals usually communicate vocally using calls and whistles.
A novel approach to reverse the progression of healthy cells to malignant ones may offer a more effective way to eradicate colorectal cancer cells with far fewer side effects, according to a team of researchers based in South Korea.
Colorectal cancer, or cancer of the colon, is the third most common cancer in men and the second most common in women worldwide. South Korea has the second highest incident rate of colorectal cancer in the world, topped only by Hungary, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.
Vast amounts of valuable energy, agricultural nutrients, and water could potentially be recovered from the world's fast-rising volume of municipal wastewater, according to a new study by UN University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).
Today, some 380 billion cubic meters (m3 = 1000 litres) of wastewater are produced annually worldwide - 5 times the amount of water passing over Niagara Falls annually - enough to fill Africa's Lake Victoria in roughly seven years, Lake Ontario in four, and Lake Geneva in less than three months.
New research by engineers at MIT and elsewhere could lead to batteries that can pack more power per pound and last longer, based on the long-sought goal of using pure lithium metal as one of the battery's two electrodes, the anode.
Coastal plant communities are a crucial element of global sea defences but are increasingly threatened by the human-induced effects of climate change, according to new research.
Rising sea levels and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme storm events are having a visible, global impact on beaches, cliff faces and coastal infrastructure.
But a new report suggests their impact on coastal plants, an integral part of shoreline defences, needs to be placed in greater focus.
A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has created a device that measures how "sticky" cancer cells are, which could improve prognostic evaluation of patient tumors. The device is built with a microfluidic chamber that sorts cells by their physical ability to adhere to their environment.
Children diagnosed with ADHD inconsistently take their prescribed medication, going without treatment 40 per cent of the time, a new study has found.
The research, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, shows the average medication coverage, the total time on drug between the first and the last redeemed prescription, was just 60 per cent.