A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, mass vaccinations have begun to raise the tantalizing prospect of herd immunity that eventually curtails or halts the spread of SARS-CoV-2. But what if herd immunity is never fully achieved - or if the mutating virus gives rise to hyper-virulent variants that diminish the benefits of vaccination? Those questions underscore the need for effective treatments for people who continue to fall ill with the coronavirus. While a few existing drugs show some benefit, there's a pressing need to find new therapeutics. Led by The University of New Mexico's Tudor Oprea, MD, PhD, scientists ...

An abnormal build up of carbohydrates -- sugars and starches -- in the kernels and leaves of a mutant line of corn can be traced to one misregulated gene, and that discovery offers clues about how the plant deals with stress. That is the conclusion of Penn State researchers whose previous study discovered the Maize ufo1 gene responsible for creating the mutant corn line. They now are assessing its effects and potential for inclusion in breeding new lines of corn better able to thrive in a warming world. The finding of higher sugar levels in plant tissues in their latest study is just ...

May 3, 2021 Using social values for profit cheapens them, a new study cautions. Toronto - Businesses sometimes align themselves with important values such as a clean environment, feminism, or racial justice, thinking it's a win-win: the value gets boosted along with the company's bottom line. But be careful, warns new research from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Using these values primarily for self-interested purposes such as profit or reputation can ultimately undermine their special status and erode people's commitment to them. "It sets a different norm for appropriate use of the value," says research author Rachel Ruttan, an assistant professor of organizational behaviour and human resources at the Rotman School, who ...

When it comes to batteries, lithium-ion are the best we have as far as energy density and convenience. For now. The Washington University in St. Louis lab of Peng Bai, assistant professor in the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, has developed a stable sodium ion battery that is highly efficient, will be less expensive to make and is significantly smaller than a traditional lithium ion battery due to the elimination of a once-necessary feature. "We've found that the minimal is maximum," ...

Hydraulic fracturing to extract trapped fossil fuels can trigger earthquakes. Most are so small or far from homes and infrastructure that they may go unnoticed; others can rattle windows, sway light fixtures and jolt people from sleep; some have damaged buildings. Stanford University geophysicists have simulated and mapped the risk of noticeable shaking and possible building damage from earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing at all potential fracking sites across the Eagle Ford shale formation in Texas, which has hosted some of the largest fracking-triggered earthquakes in the United States. Published ...

ATLANTA--An influenza vaccine that is made of nanoparticles and administered through the nose enhances the body's immune response to influenza virus infection and offers broad protection against different viral strains, according to researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. Recurring seasonal flu epidemics and potential pandemics are among the most severe threats to public health. Current seasonal influenza vaccines induce strain-specific immunity and are less effective against mismatched strains. Broadly protective influenza vaccines are urgently needed. Intranasal vaccines are a promising strategy for combatting ...

BOSTON -- For the first time, researchers have shown how Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS), also known as anti-Mullerian hormone, a key reproductive hormone, suppresses follicle development and prevents ovulation in females. "Understanding the mechanism of follicle development by MIS opens the door to creating novel approaches to contraception, preserving the eggs of young girls undergoing chemotherapy, enhancing the success of fertility treatment, and potentially delaying menopause," says David Pépin, PhD, an associate molecular biologist in the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and senior author ...

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, most of the coral reef ecosystems on our planet - whether in Australia, the Maldives or the Caribbean - will have disappeared or be in very bad shape by the end of this century. That's because global warming is pushing ocean temperatures above the limit that single-cell algae, which are corals' main allies, can withstand. These algae live inside coral tissue for protection and, in exchange, provide corals with essential nutrients produced through photosynthesis. Because the algae contain a variety of pigments and therefore give coral reefs their famous colors, if they are lost the corals turn white, which is known as coral bleaching. But in spite of the real threat caused by global warming, corals in the ...

Abu Dhabi, UAE, May 3, 2021: Researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology have successfully sequenced the genome of previously extinct date palm varieties that lived more than 2,000 years ago. They did so using date palm seeds that were recovered from archaeological sites in the southern Levant region and radiocarbon-dated from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. The seeds were germinated to yield viable, new plants. The researchers conducted whole genome sequencing of these germinated ancient samples and used this genome data to examine the genetics of these previously extinct Judean date palms. This study marks the first time researchers have sequenced the genomes of plants ...

First-of-its-kind model replicates human alveolar lung tissue Allows researchers to study effects of COVID-19 on cell growth and development Provides insight as to how various drugs impact viral spread Globally, lung failure is one of the leading causes of death. Many conditions can affect and damage the lungs, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, influenza, pneumonia, and, most recently, COVID-19. To better understand respiratory diseases and develop new drugs faster, investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital designed a ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. --A new study found overlooked tsunami hazards related to undersea, near-shore strike-slip faults, especially for coastal cities adjacent to faults that traverse inland bays. Several areas around the world may fall into this category, including the San Francisco Bay area, Izmit Bay in Turkey and the Gulf of Al-Aqaba in Egypt. The study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign civil and environmental engineering professor Ahmed Elbanna and professor Ares Rosakis of the California Institute of Technology used the Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications to model ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Sometime between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago, prehistoric humans took their first steps into Sahul, an ancient landmass made up of modern Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. But nobody knows which way they went after that. "One of the really big unanswered questions of prehistory is how Australia was populated in the distant past. Scholars have debated it for at least 150 years," said Sandia National Laboratories archaeologist and remote sensing scientist Devin White. Now, an international team of scientists using a Sandia supercomputer in the largest reconstruction ...

Palo Alto, CA--New work from a Stanford University-led team of researchers including Carnegie's Arthur Grossman and Tingting Xiang unravels a longstanding mystery about the relationship between form and function in the genetic material of a diverse group of algae called dinoflagellates. Their findings, published in Nature Genetics, have implications for understanding genomic organizational principles of all organisms. Dinoflagellates include more than 2,000 species of marine and freshwater plankton, many of which are photosynthetic, and some of which also ingest other organisms ...

MADISON -- From radio to television to the internet, telecommunications transmissions are simply information carried on light waves and converted to electrical signals. Silicon-based fiber optics are currently the best structures for high-speed, long distance transmissions, but graphene -- an all-carbon, ultra-thin and adaptable material -- could improve performance even more. In a study published April 16 in ACS Photonics, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers fabricated graphene into the smallest ribbon structures to date using a method that makes scaling-up simple. In tests with these tiny ribbons, ...

SEATTLE--A new study of hospital deaths in the United States, published today in JAMA Network Open, is the most comprehensive look yet at changes in hospital mortality during the pandemic. Researchers analyzed data on more than 20,000 patients admitted to hospitals for COVID-19, over nine full months, from March to November of 2020. They found that rates of in-hospital mortality among COVID patients fell 38% between March and May, but there was little further decline through November 2020. The researchers aimed to uncover the most likely cause of the ...

People have become accustomed to having their temperature checked during the pandemic because fever is a key indicator of COVID-19. A new commentary by Washington State University College of Nursing Associate Professor Catherine Van Son and Clinical Assistant Professor Deborah Eti proposes that taking a temperature is a less useful indicator of infection in older adults and that a pulse oximeter be used instead. The paper, published in Frontiers in Medicine, said baseline temperatures are lower in older adults. A lower baseline temperature means a fever may ...

Buildings - The mirage effect A team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a method to detect and measure air leaking from a building's walls and roof that is quicker, cheaper and less disruptive to occupants. Current air leak detection options, such as using a blower door and smoke or infrared thermography, are costly and invasive. ORNL's method is conducted from outside, using an imaging technique to visualize the flow of air leaks and calculate the volumetric flow of air based on the refraction effects imaged by cameras. "Similar to a mirage over a black top road in the middle of summer, which looks fuzzy because ...

BURLINGTON, VT -- In the aftermath of George Floyd's 2020 murder by former police officer Derek Chauvin, many families may find themselves actively engaging in--or uncomfortably fumbling around--discussions about race. For white parents looking to clearly communicate antiracist ideologies with their preadolescent children, a new study offers some insight. "There's a difference between saying race "shouldn't" matter and race "doesn't" matter," explains Jamie Abaied, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Vermont and lead author of the study, ...

CHICAGO--May 3, 2021-- Patients with one or more health conditions are more likely to be screened for colorectal cancer than those without comorbidities, according to new research in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. However, patients with five or more health conditions are also less likely to be screened than patients with two to four health conditions. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. resulting in more than 53,000 deaths each year. Regular colorectal screenings, whether colonoscopy or at-home stool test, ...

Chestnut Hill, MA (5/3/2021) -- The billion-year-old fossil of an organism, exquisitely preserved in the Scottish Highlands, reveals features of multicellularity nearly 400 million years before the biological trait emerged in the first animals, according to a new report in the journal Current Biology by an international team of researchers, including Boston College paleobotanist Paul K. Strother. The discovery could be the "missing link" in the evolution of animals, according to the team, which included scientists from the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia. The microfossil, discovered at Loch Torridon, contains two distinct cell types and could be the earliest example of complex multicellularity ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - A new Cornell University-led study examines how temperature affects fishing behavior and catches among inland fisher households in Cambodia, with important implications for understanding climate change. The research, which used household surveys, temperature data and statistical models, revealed that when temperatures rise, people fish less often. At the same time, the study's authors indirectly found that stocks of fish and other aquatic foods also rise with temperatures, leading to slightly larger catches each time peopled fished. Without careful analysis, it would appear that overall fish catches appear unchanged annually, when in fact, more nuanced dynamics are at play. The study highlights why it's necessary when studying changing environmental ...

Researchers at the University of Haifa, the Weizmann Institute and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have built the first atlas of all of the different types of cells in Stylophora pistillata, a reef-building stony coral native to the Indo-Pacific oceans. Published today in the journal Cell, the study is the first to detect the presence of specialized immune cells in corals. The findings provide new insights into the molecular biology and evolution of corals and will aid present and future conservation efforts to protect coral reef ecosystems threatened by rising temperatures and ocean acidification. The map reveals that Stylophora pistillata has 40 different cell types over the three main stages ...

What The Study Did: The findings of this study suggest an association between county-level income inequality and COVID-19 cases and deaths. Authors: Michelle C. Odden, Ph.D., of Stanford University in Stanford, California, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8799) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media advisory: The full study is linked to this news release. Embed this link to provide your readers free access ...

What The Study Did: This study of registry patients evaluates whether any changes in the in-hospital COVID-19 mortality rates during the first nine months of the pandemic were associated with individual characteristics of patients with COVID-19. Authors: Gregory A. Roth, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Washington in Seattle, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8828) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, ...

What The Study Did: Study results suggest underuse of coronavirus testing in patients with fever may contribute to community transmission. Authors: Mark J. Pletcher, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8500) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...