Allocation Update – Q1 2024
We’re welcoming the new year with a fresh wave of grants! Discover the projects that received funding in the first quarter of this year, listed down below:…
First case of highly pathogenic avian influenza transmitted from cow to human confirmed
in March a farm worker who reported no contact with sick or dead birds, but who was in contact with dairy cattle, began showing symptoms in the eye and samples were collected by the regional health department to test for potential influenza A. Experts …
Persistent strain of cholera defends itself against forces of change, scientists find
A longstanding mystery about the strain of Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) responsible for the seventh global cholera pandemic is how this lineage has managed to out-compete other pathogenic variants. The team identified a unique quirk of the immune syst…
Insights into protein evolution
A research team has unveiled a breakthrough in understanding how specific genetic sequences, known as pseudogenes, evolve.
Just believing that an AI is helping boosts your performance
Sometimes it seems like an AI is helping, but the benefit is actually a placebo effect — people performing better simply because they expect to be doing so — according to new research. The study also shows how difficult it is to shake people’s trust …
Cats purrfectly demonstrate what it takes to trust robots
Would you trust a robot to look after your cat? New research suggests it takes more than a carefully designed robot to care for your cat, the environment in which they operate is also vital, as well as human interaction.
World’s largest hummingbird is actually two species
The Giant Hummingbird of western South America is not one species but two, according to an international group of researchers. The northern population stays in the high Andes year-round while the southern population migrates from sea level up to 14,000…
Exceptionally large transverse thermoelectric effect produced by combining thermoelectric and magnetic materials
A research team has demonstrated that a simple stack of thermoelectric and magnetic material layers can exhibit a substantially larger transverse thermoelectric effect — energy conversion between electric and heat currents that flow orthogonally to ea…
Today’s world: Fastest rate of carbon dioxide rise over the last 50,000 years
Today’s rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase is 10 times faster than at any other point in the past 50,000 years, researchers have found through a detailed chemical analysis of ancient Antarctic ice.
New gel breaks down alcohol in the body
Researchers have developed a protein-based gel that breaks down alcohol in the gastrointestinal tract without harming the body. In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol.
New work extends the thermodynamic theory of computation
Physicists and computer scientists have recently expanded the modern theory of the thermodynamics of computation. By combining approaches from statistical physics and computer science, the researchers introduce mathematical equations that reveal the mi…
New viruses that could cause epidemics on the horizon
Suddenly they appear and — like the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus — can trigger major epidemics: Viruses that nobody had on their radar. They are not really new, but they have changed genetically. In particular, the exchange of genetic material between diff…
Island birds more adaptable than previously thought
The researchers found that birds were more evolutionarily similar on smaller, more isolated islands than on larger, less remote places. The team had expected to find that forested areas had more numerous and more varied species of birds compared to far…
New drug makes exercise, everyday tasks easier for people with common heart condition
People with the heart condition obstructive cardiomyopathy were able to use significantly more oxygen while exercising after taking the investigational drug aficamten, according to a new study.
Like dad and like mum…all in one plant
Scientists have established a system to generate clonal sex cells in tomato plants and used them to design the genomes of offspring. The fertilization of a clonal egg from one parent by a clonal sperm from another parent led to plants containing the co…