A review of sustained mammal-to-mammal bird flu transmission in diverse species, led by The Pirbright Institute, shows global control strategies are not working. Writing in Nature, researchers analysed whether outbreaks in European fur farms, South American marine mammals and United States dairy cattle raise questions about whether humans are next. Led by zoonotic influenza specialist Dr Thomas Peacock, the scientists evaluated how recent changes in the ecology and molecular evolution of H5N1 in wild and domestic birds increase opportunities for spillover ...

Until a few years ago, the butterfly known as the southern small white could barely be found north of the Alps. That was before a Europe-wide invasion that brought a huge increase in the insect’s distribution – at the same time as a rapid decrease in genetic diversity within the species. It took a while for zoologist Daniel Berner to notice that a butterfly species that wasn’t local to his area had become established in his garden. Then, suddenly, he saw it everywhere: Pieris mannii – also known as the southern small ...

The skeletal remains of a senior officer of Sir John Franklin's 1845 Northwest Passage expedition have been identified by researchers from the University of Waterloo and Lakehead University using DNA and genealogical analyses.   In April of 1848 James Fitzjames of HMS Erebus helped lead 105 survivors from their ice-trapped ships in an attempt to escape the Arctic. None would survive. Since the mid-19th century, remains of dozens of them have been found around King William Island, Nunavut.   The identification was made possible by a DNA sample from a living descendant, which matched the ...

As one of the key materials of modern microwave communication technology, microwave dielectric ceramics are widely used in many core components of microwave circuits. In recent years, with the rapid development of microwave communication technology marked by mobile communication, in order to meet the requirements of the development of mobile communication technology, including 5G/6G, new requirements have been put forward for the performance parameters of microwave dielectric ceramics: low dielectric constant to reduce signal delay, low dielectric loss or high quality factor, and near-zero ...

Diffuse midline glioma (DMG) is a highly aggressive and fatal pediatric high-grade glioma that primarily affects critical regions of the central nervous system, such as the pons, thalamus, and spinal cord. Due to the high surgical risks and poor prognosis associated with DMG, treatment options for patients are extremely limited. Conventional treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, have shown limited efficacy, particularly with radiochemotherapy, which only temporarily controls tumor progression ...

Seoul National University’s College of Engineering announced that a research team led by Prof. Yongtaek Hong from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in collaboration with Prof. Byeongmoon Lee from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), has developed a ‘printing-based selective metal film deposition technique’ that enables the facile and fast fabrication of high-performance soft electronic devices and circuits in various ...

A mysterious type of iron-rich magma entombed within extinct volcanoes is likely abundant with rare earth elements and could offer a new way to source these in-demand metals, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  Rare earth elements are found in smartphones, flat screen TVs, magnets, and even trains and missiles. They are also vital to the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines.  Dr Michael Anenburg from ANU said the iron-rich magma that solidified to form some extinct volcanoes is up to ...

Supercomputers are the largest and most powerful computers in the world and yet few people know what they do or why they should care. That’s why an English professor at Portland State is helping to demystify one of the world’s fastest and largest supercomputers with a grant from the National Science Foundation. Sarah Read, an associate professor and director of PSU’s Technical and Professional Writing program, is teaming up with Clemson University’s Jordan Frith to give the public a better understanding of Aurora, ...

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — A scientific survey of registered voters in Bexar County says that two city charter amendments have low support among voters and there is no early leader in the 2025 San Antonio mayoral race. Additionally, voters have mixed opinions about new San Antonio Spurs and San Antonio Missions facilities according to the Bexar County Registered Voter Poll, which was conducted from September 11 to 16, 2024 by the UTSA Center for Public Opinion Research (CPOR). Established in Fall 2023, CPOR is a full-scale, academic public opinion research center that produces and facilitates basic and applied opinion research broadening shared understanding ...

Emily Carter, senior strategic advisor and associate laboratory director for applied materials and sustainability sciences at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has won the 2024 Marsha I. Lester Award for Exemplary Impact in Physical Chemistry. Awarded each year by the American Chemical Society (ACS) at its annual fall meeting, the award recognizes an “exemplary impact in physical chemistry research.” Nominees for the award must be members of the ACS’s physical chemistry ...

Today, the University of Phoenix Career Institute® and the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), a nonprofit seeking to advance economic prosperity in rural communities, released the G.R.O.W. ™ Generating Rural Opportunities in the Workforce™ report, providing a comprehensive look at the barriers Americans living in rural communities face in their day-to-day lives, and the impact these barriers have on career development and advancement opportunities. The findings of this study underscore the ways in which recent workforce transformation ...

Changes in silage production could help cut greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Agriculture is the largest source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the United States. N2O is the third most impactful greenhouse gas, yet one potential source—silage—has not been thoroughly studied. Silage, which is moist, harvested plant material used to feed livestock during the winter, is preserved through fermentation. During this process, anaerobic bacteria produce lactic acid, which prevents the plants from spoiling. Jeongdae Im and colleagues suggest that silage could be a significant ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) may reshape many industries, but the impact of the nascent technology on various jobs remains unclear. Daniele Quercia and colleagues used machine learning to investigate itself, by identifying patents for AI technologies that may impact various occupational tasks. The model used a dataset of 17,879 task descriptions from O*NET, a US government-run occupations database, as well as 24,758 AI patents filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office between 2015 and 2022 and measured semantic similarity between occupation task descriptions and patent descriptions. The analysis was not merely an exercise ...

A proof-of-concept study promises the speedy diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections through analysis of human breath. Lower respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis, are currently diagnosed by culturing bacteria from respiratory specimens, but the procedure is invasive, laborious, and time intensive. Molecular sequencing techniques cannot differentiate between clinical infection and mere colonization, in which bacteria are benignly present in the respiratory tract. Dapeng Chen and colleagues have designed a medical device that measures the protease activity ...

In a Perspective, Holly C. White and colleagues argue that student well-being should be a goal of pedagogy, along with traditional metrics such as GPA and student retention. Despite evidence linking certain academic experiences with well-being outcomes, few students report having had such experiences. Well-being is defined as a sense of belonging, agency, purpose, identity, civic engagement, and financial well-being. The authors summarize data-backed teaching practices that support elements of student well-being, including supportive mentorships and experiential or authentic learning opportunities. Six exceptional initiatives are described, which can act as models ...

It’s almost time to dust off the Halloween decorations and adorn the house with all manner of spooky things, including the classic polyester spider webs. Scientists reporting in ACS Nano have made their own version of fake spider silk, but this one consists of proteins and heals wounds instead of haunting hallways. The artificial silk is strong enough to be woven into bandages that helped treat joint injuries and skin lesions in mice. Spider silk is one of the strongest materials on Earth, technically stronger than steel for a material of ...

Hydrogen gas, owing to its high energy density and carbon-free nature, is gaining much attention as the energy source for a green and sustainable future. Despite being the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen is mostly found in a bound state as chemical compounds such as ammonia, metal hydrides, and other hydrogenated compounds. Among all the hydrogen carriers, ammonia stands out as a promising candidate owing to its wide availability, high hydrogen content with hydrogen making up 17.6% of its mass, and ease of liquefaction as well as transportation. A major drawback that hinders its exploitation as an ...

Despite a substantial Nepalese community in Japan many Nepalese women face significant challenges in accessing essential sexual and reproductive health services (SRHSs) due to language barriers and differences in healthcare laws and services between Nepal and Japan. In Nepal, women have free access to a wide range of contraceptive and abortion services, while Japan places more restrictions on certain contraceptives and does not provide free abortion services. These limited options make women more reliant on their male partner to use contraceptives for birth control. These challenges in accessing contraceptives, especially female-oriented contraceptives, lead them to acquire contraceptives ...

Parkinson’s disease (PD), also known simply as Parkinson’s, is a disorder of the nervous system that affects millions of people worldwide. The nerve cell damage associated with Parkinson’s can cause tremors, slowed movements, problems with balance, and many other symptoms which worsen gradually over time. Although there is no cure, there are medications available that can treat PD symptoms. Some of these medications, however, have previously unexplained side effects – including impaired decision-making that leads to potentially harmful behaviors such as pathological gambling, binge eating and compulsive shopping. Now, in ...

A new species of flatworm has been discovered and has already invaded several states in the southern United States. The particularity of the new species is that it looks a lot like Obama nungara, a species that has invaded much of Europe. The new species has been named Amaga pseudobama in reference to this resemblance. An international team reports the discovery of a new species of flatworm. The team includes researchers from National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, Drexel University and North Carolina State ...

Scientists at CERN have discovered an ultra-rare particle decay process, opening a new path to find physics beyond our understanding of how the building blocks of matter interact.  Today the NA62 collaboration presented at a CERN EP seminar the first experimental observation of the ultra-rare decay of the charged kaon into a charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair (K+ → π p+νν).   This is an ultra-rare occurrence - the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, which explains how particles ...

To make sure everyone eats well in our crowded world, we need to innovate. Vertical farming systems, which grow plants intensively in an indoor setting, could be part of the answer – but to use them on a large scale we need to overcome key problems, especially the management of the energy-intensive, expensive light the plants need to grow. Now scientists show how manipulating light according to the needs of specific crops could make them grow stronger and healthier while minimizing energy use. “The biggest benefit of vertical farming systems is that healthy food can be grown ...

A Brigham led study suggests using neurostimulation therapies on a specific brain circuit could treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)  KEY TAKEAWAYS Brigham researchers analyzed 193 patients from the Vietnam Head Injury Study with penetrating traumatic brain injury to determine if the location of shrapnel damage to their brains influenced risk of developing PTSD. Damage to areas connected to the amygdala was associated with a lower chance of developing PTSD. The study suggests lesions that could protect against PTSD map to a specific brain circuit connected to the amygdala and the medial prefrontal ...

SINGAPORE, 24 September 2024 – A landmark study led by Duke-NUS Medical School revealed that despite the recent pandemic, outbreak detection efforts remain under-resourced in South and Southeast Asia, with only about half the countries reviewed having integrated pathogen genomic surveillance initiatives in their national plans. Published in Nature Microbiology today, the study also identifies key priorities to enhance the preparedness of the region against future pandemics. The study, conducted over 12 months between 2022 and 2023, analyses responses on genomic sequencing capacity for pathogen detection from 13 out of 19 countries that make up South and Southeast Asia. The ...

Distinguishing between words is one of the most difficult tasks in decoding spoken language. Yet humans do it effortlessly - even when languages do not seem to clearly mark where one word ends and the next begins. The acoustic cues that aid this process are poorly understood and understudied for the vast majority of the world's languages. Now, for the first time, comparative linguists have observed a pattern of acoustic effects that may serve as a distinct marker across diverse languages: the systematic lengthening of consonants at the beginning ...