For The Better

A major crisis that accompanied the rise of the pandemic was lack of availability of the nasopharyngeal swab — necessary for testing for COVID-19, which in turn, was necessary to get a grip on the pandemic. An account of how one group addressed that c…

Scientists are developing new fish vaccines using nanocellulose produced from Maine’s wood pulp industry. Nanocellulose poses no known harmful effects to fish tissue and is unlikely to cause cellular damage. Fish vaccines made with nanocellulose may al…

The genome of the seadragon, a very unusual fish, has been decoded. Seadragons (Phyllopetryx taeniolatus) live off the coast in western and southern Australia. Evolutionary biologists have now found the genetic basis for some external characteristics o…

A research team offers a practical way to make ships CO2 neutral — or even CO2 negative — with CO2-capturing solid oxide fuel cells. After ‘burning’ traditional carbon-based fuels, the fuel cell generates concentrated CO2 that can be stored on-board …

A team led by researchers has generated premature cells that support early heart development but vanish soon after birth.

Giant anteaters living in less forested habitats make use of larger home ranges, according to a new study. This behavior may allow them to incorporate forest patches into their territory, the authors say.

Humans have been always on the move, creating a complex history of languages and cultural traditions dispersed over the globe. An international team has now traced families of related languages over more than 10,000 years by combining data from genetic…

Engineers have devised a new approach to using sound waves to conduct complex manipulations of tiny particles suspended in liquid. Dubbed a ‘shadow waveguide,’ the technique uses only two sound sources to create a tightly confined, spatially complex ac…

Neurobiologists have uncovered the long-sought-after mechanisms behind the maintenance and decline of key synapses implicated in brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers identified the main components driving amyloid beta-associated…

The 3D print of glioblastoma — the deadliest type of brain cancer — is printed from human glioblastoma tissues containing all components of the malignant tumor. Researchers say the breakthrough will enable much faster prediction of best treatments fo…

Researchers have developed a new strategy that could offer much more precise control of prosthetic limbs. After inserting small magnetic beads into muscle tissue, they can accurately measure the length of a muscle as it contracts, and this measurement …

As wildfire fronts advance through landscapes or communities on the ground, they also attack from above, launching volleys of glowing embers into the air. Also known as firebrands, these specks of burning debris can glide for up to 40 kilometers (appro…

Whether a robot or a person delivers your package, the carbon footprint would essentially be the same, according to a new study that could help inform the future of automated delivery as the pandemic fuels a dramatic rise in online shopping.

An international study has found evidence of a long-sought effect in accelerator data. The so-called ‘triangle singularity’ describes how particles can change their identities by exchanging quarks, thereby mimicking a new particle. The mechanism also p…

Eating a hot dog could cost you 36 minutes of healthy life, while choosing to eat a serving of nuts instead could help you gain 26 minutes of extra healthy life, according to a new study.

Mathematical research is aiding in the analysis of fMRI data. fMRI is the preeminent class of signals collected from the brain in vivo and is irreplaceable in the study of brain dysfunction in many medical fields, including psychiatry, neurology and pe…

Eating fructose appears to alter cells in the digestive tract in a way that enables it to take in more nutrients, according to a preclinical study. These changes could help to explain the well-known link between rising fructose consumption around the w…

Wearable health technologies are vastly popular with people wanting to improve their physical and mental health. Everything from exercise, sleep patterns, calories consumed and heart rhythms can be tracked by a wearable device. But timely and accurate …

Video images capture for the first time in live animals the inexorable spread of the COVID-19 virus, tracking the infection as it moved from the noses of mice to the lungs and other organs over the course of six days, in a new study.

Management of many of the largest fisheries in the world assumes incorrectly that many small fish reproduce as well as fewer large ones with similar total masses, a new analysis has found. That can lead to overharvesting the largest, most prolific fish…