Mindfully Curated
To the human eye, most stationary objects appear to be just that — still, and completely at rest. Yet if we were handed a quantum lens, allowing us to see objects at the scale of individual atoms, what was an apple sitting idly on our desk would appea…
A new treatment approach focused on fixing cell damage, rather than fighting the virus directly, is effective against SARS-CoV-2 in lab models. If found safe for human use, this anti-viral treatment would make COVID-19 symptoms milder and speed up reco…
The glaciers of Nanga Parbat – one of the highest mountains in the world – have been shrinking slightly but continually since the 1930s. This loss in surface area is evidenced by a long-term study. The geographers combined historical photographs, surve…
DNA analysis has revealed the presence of ‘Yersinia Pestis’ – the pathogen that causes plague – in skeletal remains from individual burials in medieval Cambridgeshire, confirming for the first time that not all plague victims were buried in mass graves…
Chemical engineers have answered longstanding questions about the underlying processes that determine the life cycle of liquid foams. The breakthrough could help improve the commercial production and application of foams in a broad range of industries.
A faster method for collecting pure malaria parasites from infected mosquitos could accelerate the development of new, more potent malaria vaccines.
Nitrogen from agriculture, vehicle emissions and industry is endangering butterflies in Switzerland. The element is deposited in the soil via the air and has an impact on vegetation — to the detriment of the butterflies, as researchers have discovered.
Researchers demonstrate highly chirped pulses created by a using a spectral filter in a Kerr resonator, enabling them to widen a laser pulse wavefront by separating the beam’s colors. The chirped pulses remain stable even with more than 90% energy loss.
Chronic stress could be one reason why some animal orphans have shorter lives and less offspring. Researchers assessed if, as orphan humans, orphan chimpanzees are exposed to chronic stress. They found that maternal loss is stressful but orphans experi…
Peatlands are an important ecosystem that contribute to the regulation of the atmospheric carbon cycle. A multidisciplinary group of researchers investigated the climate response of a permafrost peatland located in Russia during the past 3,000 years. U…
Outside the breeding season many parrots live in dynamic social systems in which individuals travel and forage. These flocks are characterized by frequent changes in composition and their dynamic nature entails a unique set of challenges, such as poten…
A destructive pest beetle is edging closer to Australia as biological controls fail, destroying home gardens, plantations and biodiversity as they surge through nearby Pacific islands.
Using neural networks, researchers have developed a new method to search the human genome for beneficial mutations from Neanderthals and other archaic humans. These humans are known to have interbred with modern humans, but the overall fate of the gene…
The most accurate distance measurement yet of ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) NGC1052-DF2 (DF2) confirms beyond any shadow of a doubt that it is lacking in dark matter. The newly measured distance of 22.1 +/-1.2 megaparsecs are based on 40 orbits of NASA’s …
Researchers develop technology to introduce genes into single cells in a targeted manner.
A new species of nematode (roundworm), named Cryptaphelenchus abietis, was isolated from bark beetles from a dead log collected in Nagano, Japan. The females of this newly described species can be identified based on the size of the post-uterine sac an…
Bacteria from an Indian landfill could help eliminate contaminated chemicals. The focus is on pesticides such as lindane or brominated flame retardants, which accumulate in nature and in food chains. Researchers used these bacteria to generate enzymes …
Scientists have developed a new method that improves dispensing of viscoelastic fluids – a vital process for circuit board production, 3D printing and other industrial applications. The scientists found that twisting these liquid bridges breaks them in…
Researchers have created an intelligent nanopore system sensitive enough to detect single SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. By training a machine-learning algorithm, the platform was able to identify between various coronaviruses in just five minutes. This w…
Researchers have developed a prototype device that could potentially diagnose pregnancy complications by monitoring the oxygen level of the placenta. The device sends near-infrared light through the pregnant person’s abdomen to measure oxygen levels in…