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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 5, 2020 at 10:12am

A new thermometer measures temperature with sound

An acoustic thermometer takes temperature by listening to the faint hum that objects give off when they get hot.

Hot objects not only glow, but also softly hum. The hum is generated by the rapid jitters of particles that make up the hot object. If human ears were keen enough to hear this noise, “it would sound like radio static”.  The hotter [an object] gets, the louder it gets. So scientists created an acoustic thermometer that senses the intensity of heat-generated sound emanating from nearby objects.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.120603

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-thermometer-measures-temper...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 5, 2020 at 9:08am

Meet the real-life superhumans pushing the limits of human ability

These people have abilities far beyond what the average person might be able to do, including seeing underwater, resisting the cold and tolerating pain.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/meet-the-real-life-supe...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 4, 2020 at 9:41am

Physicists Have Successfully Connected Two Large Objects in Quantum Entanglement

Physicists have just served up a sharp reminder that even our macroscopic world is subject to the laws of quantum physics - by successfully entangling a millimetre-sized drum with a large cloud of atoms. 

They conducted the experiment using a 13 nanometre-thick, millimetres-long silicon nitride membrane (or drum) that buzzed lightly when struck with photons.

Those photons, or particles of light, came courtesy of a thin fog of a billion caesium atoms spinning inside the confines of a small, cold cell.

Despite being two very different objects, the millimetres-long drum and the fog of atoms represent an entangled system - and they push the limits of quantum mechanics. With the new result, entanglement between very different objects has become possible

Entanglement between distant macroscopic mechanical and spin systems

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-1031-5

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 4, 2020 at 6:46am

Metal-ion breakthrough leads to new biomaterials

The elasticity of a biodegradable, metal-ion elastomer is demonstrated. The first-of-its-kind material, developed by engineers, can be used to repair skin, blood vessels and other soft tissue.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:51am

New research provides clues on optimizing cell defenses when viruses attack

Science’s pursuits of unraveling how human cells fight viral infections kicked into high gear in 2020 with the devastating emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In a  study published recently in eLife  scientists describe fresh details about the mechanisms involved when individual human cells are attacked by viruses, with possible implications for COVID-19 clinical treatment. The research helps advance science’s understanding of interferons, a key group of immune response proteins released naturally by human cells when a virus is detected.

In response to a viral infection, human cells synthesize and secrete interferon-alpha, a chemical that triggers a series of biochemical reactions in cells, leading to the production of gene products that work to kill viruses or limit their spread. Interferon-alpha has been used clinically for more than 50 years in the treatments of diseases such as hepatitis B and C and HIV.

However such efforts have been limited because interferon-alpha, in addition to inducing antiviral effects, also triggers cell refractoriness—or insensitivity—to further treatments. This stalled effectiveness takes hold within hours after drug administration and lasts for several days, resulting in a low therapeutic response rate.

Looking into the details of these processes researchers used a combination of experimental analyses and mathematical modeling to describe the intricate time-dependent regulatory mechanisms that human cells use to control the duration and strength of antiviral responses triggered by interferon. Their efforts resulted in the identification of a time delay in the production of USP18, an inhibitory factor that triggers cell refractoriness to prolonged interferon treatments.

https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/new-research-provides-clues-...

https://researchnews.cc/news/2820/New-research-provides-clues-on-op...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:44am

How did human butts evolve to look that way?

An evolutionary anthropologist tackles the mystery of the butt

https://massivesci.com/articles/butts-shape-big-anthropologist-evol...

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Astronomers Find Monster Black Hole With 6 Galaxies Trapped in Its Gravitational Web

https://www.sciencealert.com/monstrous-black-hole-has-trapped-six-e...

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** Study provides solid support for wearing face-covering in enclosed environments with poor ventilation

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/78466023.cms?utm_sou...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:38am

Human biology registers two seasons, not four, study suggests

As kids, we learn there are four seasons, but researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine have found evidence to suggest that the human body doesn't see it this way.

We're taught that the four seasons—winter, spring, summer and fall—are broken into roughly equal parts throughout the year

In south Asia that is summer, spring, winter and rainy season.

It didn't seem likely that human biology adheres to those rules. So scientists  conducted a study guided by people's molecular compositions to let the biology tell us how many seasons there are.

Four years of molecular data from more than 100 participants indicate that the human body does experience predictable patterns of change, but they don't track with any of Mother Nature's traditional signals. Overall, researchers saw more than 1,000 molecules ebb and flow on an annual basis, with two pivotal time periods: late spring-early summer and late fall-early winter. These are key transition periods when change is afoot—both in the air and in the body.

Scientists hope that observations from this study—of higher levels of inflammatory markers in the late spring, or of increased markers of hypertension in early winter, for example—can provide a better foundation for precision health and even help guide the design of future clinical drug trials.

M. Reza Sailani et al. Deep longitudinal multiomics profiling reveals two biological seasonal patterns in California, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18758-1

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-human-biology-registers-seasons.html?...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:21am

Scientists discovered a missing gene fragment that's shedding new light on how males develop

It's one of the most important genes in biology: Sry, the gene that makes males male. Development of the sexes is a crucial step in sexual reproduction and is essential for the survival of almost all animal species. Researchers report the surprise discovery of an entirely new part of the Sry gene in mice—a part we had no idea existed.

Scientists discovered Sry in 1990. It is the gene on the Y (male) chromosome that leads to the development of male characteristics in mice, humans and most other mammals. Since then, Sry has been the subject of intense study worldwide because of its fundamental role in mammalian biology.

We have come to understand, in some detail, how Sry acts to trigger a cascade of gene activity that results in the formation of testes, instead of ovaries, in the embryo. Testes then stimulate the formation of other male characteristics.

Researchers have understood the Sry gene is made up of one exon, a segment of a gene used to code for amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. This can be compared to a computer file consisting of one contiguous block of data on a hard disk.

Our newest research reveals there's actually a second exon in mouse Sry. This is like finding a whole new separate block of previously hidden data.

New sequencing approaches revealed what appeared to be two versions of Sry: a short, single-exon form and a longer, two-exon form. Scientists called this two-exon version "Sry-T."

They removed the new exon using CRISPR, a gene editing tool that lets researchers alter DNA precisely and  discovered this prevented Sry from functioning: XY mice (which would normally develop as males) developed as females instead.

Conversely, adding Sry-T to fertilized XX mouse eggs (which would normally develop as females) resulted in males.

The mouse Sry locus harbors a cryptic exon that is essential for male sex determination, Science 02 Oct 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6512, pp. 121-124 DOI: 10.1126/science.abb6430 , science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6512/121

https://sciencex.com/news/2020-10-gene-fragment-males.html?utm_sour...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:16am

Bright light bars big-eyed birds from human-altered landscapes

New research shows the glaring light in human-altered landscapes, such as livestock pastures and crop fields, can act as a barrier to big-eyed birds, potentially contributing to their decline.

researchers found strong links between bird eye size, habitat and foraging technique. Birds that kept to the shade of the forest had larger eyes than those that inhabited the canopy, and birds with relatively small eyes were more numerous in agricultural settings.

The findings suggest eye size is an overlooked, but important trait in determining birds' vulnerability to changes in their habitat and could help inform future research on their sensitivity to other bright environments, such as cities.

 Ian J. Ausprey et al, Adaptations to light predict the foraging niche and disassembly of avian communities in tropical countrysides, Ecology (2020). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3213

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-bright-bars-big-eyed-birds-human-alte...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 3, 2020 at 6:00am

Understanding  how cirrus clouds form in a better way

New research provides insights into how cirrus clouds form, with implications for agriculture, urban development and climate-change predictions. The study shows that trees and plants play an important role that affects precipitation and global climate change.

An international team combined theory, field measurements and lab experiments to develop a better understanding of the formation of clouds.

Scientists knew that particles in the air from smoke and auto emissions would influence the creation of clouds, but this new research spotlights the importance of volatile emissions from plants and organic amterial, which the scientists call "secondary organic aerosols."

The new data will help us better predict how activities such as deforestation or reforestation will affect the world's climate, because these secondary organic aerosols are derived from plants. If the levels of these organic aerosols change, we'll now have a better understanding of what effects this will have and be able to use this information in global climate models.

The researchers were able to take data supplied by other researchers on the project and use it to create cirrus-like ice clouds in their Purdue laboratory, and then analyze the results using a specialized spectrometry instrument.

Martin J. Wolf et al. A biogenic secondary organic aerosol source of cirrus ice nucleating particles, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18424-6

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-cirrus-clouds.html?utm_source=nwlette...

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