ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• No more needles for diagnostic tests?
• Wet and wild: There's lots of water in the world's most explosive volcano
• New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles
• Regulating the ribosomal RNA production line
• Possible new combo therapy for head and neck cancer
• Climate and carbon cycle trends of the past 50 million years reconciled
• Exercising muscle combats chronic inflammation on its own
• Tiny particles that seed clouds can form from trace gases over open sea
• Geographic factors that affect HPV vaccination rates
• New maintenance treatment for acute myeloid leukemia prolongs the lives of patients
• Student uses zebrafish to study spinal deformities
• AI trained to read electric vehicle charging station reviews to find infrastructure gaps
• Lack of sleep, stress can lead to symptoms resembling concussion
• Plant genome editing expanded with newly engineered variant of CRISPR-Cas9
• Highly efficient grid-scale electricity storage at fifth of cost
• Depression in new fathers connected to relationship insecurities
• Single atoms as a catalyst: Surprising effects ensue
• Fungi strengthen plants to fend off aphids
• Shift in caribou movements may be tied to human activity
• Highly functional membrane developed for producing freshwater from seawater
• Defects may help scientists understand the exotic physics of topology
• Do promotions make consumers more generous?
• Combined river flows could send up to 3 billion microplastics a day into the Bay of Bengal
• New variety of paintbrush lily developed by a novel plant tissue culture technique
• Magnetic waves explain mystery of Sun's outer layer
• A large number of gray whales are starving and dying in the eastern North Pacific
• Forecasting coastal water quality
• MRI helps unravel the mysteries of sleep

No more needles for diagnostic tests? Posted: 23 Jan 2021 06:10 AM PST Medical researchers have developed a biosensing microneedle patch that can be applied to the skin, capture a biomarker of interest and, thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity, allow clinicians to detect its presence.

Wet and wild: There's lots of water in the world's most explosive volcano Posted: 23 Jan 2021 06:10 AM PST Conditions inside the Shiveluch volcano include roughly 10%-14% water by weight (wt%), according to new research. Most volcanoes have less than 1% water. For subduction zone volcanoes, the average is usually 4%, rarely exceeding 8 wt%, which is considered superhydrous.

New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles Posted: 23 Jan 2021 06:10 AM PST Researchers have shown a way to make bulk metals by smashing tiny metal nanoparticles together, which allows for customized grain structures and improved mechanical and other properties.

Regulating the ribosomal RNA production line Posted: 23 Jan 2021 06:10 AM PST The enzyme that makes RNA from a DNA template is altered to slow the production of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), the most abundant type of RNA within cells, when resources are scarce and the bacteria Escherichia coli needs to slow its growth.

Possible new combo therapy for head and neck cancer Posted: 22 Jan 2021 12:44 PM PST Researchers have tested a new combination therapy in animal models to see if they could find a way to make an already effective treatment even better. Since they're using a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to do it, this could help people sooner than later.

Climate and carbon cycle trends of the past 50 million years reconciled Posted: 22 Jan 2021 11:06 AM PST Oceanographers fully reconciled climate and carbon cycle trends of the past 50 million years -- solving a controversy debated in the scientific literature for decades.

Exercising muscle combats chronic inflammation on its own Posted: 22 Jan 2021 11:06 AM PST Biomedical engineers have demonstrated that human muscle has an innate ability to ward off damaging effects of chronic inflammation when exercised. The discovery was made possible through the use of lab-grown, engineered human muscle, demonstrating the potential power of the first-of-its-kind platform in such research endeavors.

Tiny particles that seed clouds can form from trace gases over open sea Posted: 22 Jan 2021 11:06 AM PST New results from an atmospheric study over the Eastern North Atlantic reveal that tiny aerosol particles that seed the formation of clouds can form out of next to nothingness over the open ocean. The findings will improve how aerosols and clouds are represented in models that describe Earth's climate so scientists can understand how the particles -- and the processes that control them -- might have affected the planet's past and present, and make better predictions about the future.

Geographic factors that affect HPV vaccination rates Posted: 22 Jan 2021 09:03 AM PST A team of researchers have conducted the first-ever systematic review of area-level data reported in the United States between 2006 and 2020 to determine how geography, neighborhoods and sociodemographic factors impact HPV vaccination rates among adolescents and young adults.

New maintenance treatment for acute myeloid leukemia prolongs the lives of patients Posted: 22 Jan 2021 09:03 AM PST Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, that has gone into remission following initial chemotherapy remain in remission longer and have improved overall survival when they are given a pill form of the cancer drug azacitidine as a maintenance treatment, according to a randomized, international phase 3 clinical trial.

Student uses zebrafish to study spinal deformities Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST Molecular developmental biologists used zebrafish embryos to study a gene mutation that causes scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine that typically occurs in humans just before puberty.

AI trained to read electric vehicle charging station reviews to find infrastructure gaps Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST Although electric vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions attract many drivers, the lack of confidence in charging services deters others. Building a reliable network of charging stations is difficult in part because it's challenging to aggregate data from independent station operators. But now, researchers have developed an AI that can analyze user reviews of these stations, allowing it to accurately identify places where there are insufficient or out-of-service stations.

Lack of sleep, stress can lead to symptoms resembling concussion Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST A new study suggests that a lot of people might be going through life with symptoms that resemble concussion - a finding supporting researchers' argument that athletes recovering from a brain injury should be assessed and treated on a highly individualized basis.

Plant genome editing expanded with newly engineered variant of CRISPR-Cas9 Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST Scientists have created a newly engineered variant of the famed gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. SpRY removes the barriers of what can and can't be targeted for gene editing, making it possible for the first time to target nearly any genomic sequence in plants for potential mutation.

Highly efficient grid-scale electricity storage at fifth of cost Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST Researchers have found a way to enhance hybrid flow batteries and their commercial use. The new approach can store electricity in these batteries for very long durations for about a fifth the price of current technologies, with minimal location restraints and zero emissions.

Depression in new fathers connected to relationship insecurities Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:23 AM PST Becoming a parent often brings great joy, but not always. Parenthood also entails challenges, stress and, for some people, it can trigger depression. A new study shows that male postnatal depression is more common in men who are insecure in their relationship with their partner.

Single atoms as a catalyst: Surprising effects ensue Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:22 AM PST Catalysts are getting smaller - 'single-atom' catalysts are the logical end point of this downsizing. However, individual atoms can no longer be described using the rules developed from larger pieces of metal, so the rules used to predict which metals will be good catalysts must be revamped - this has now been achieved. As it turns out, single atom catalysts based on much cheaper materials might be even more effective.

Fungi strengthen plants to fend off aphids Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:22 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated that unique fungi strengthen the 'immune systems' of wheat and bean plants against aphids. Fungi enter and influence the amount of a plant's own defenses, resulting in fewer aphids. The results could serve to reduce agricultural insecticide use.

Shift in caribou movements may be tied to human activity Posted: 22 Jan 2021 08:22 AM PST Human activities might have shifted the movement of caribou in and near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to scientists who tracked them using isotopic analysis from shed antlers. The study is timely given the auction this year of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Indigenous Alaskans opposed the leases, arguing development could disrupt the migration of caribou they depend on for sustenance.

Highly functional membrane developed for producing freshwater from seawater Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:20 AM PST Researchers have developed a new desalination membrane by laminating a two-dimensional carbon material on to the surface of a porous polymer membrane. This membrane has the potential to perform highly efficient desalination because it is possible to control the gaps between its nanosheets and the charge on the nanosheets' surfaces. It is hoped that this research will contribute towards the implementation of futuristic desalination membranes.

Defects may help scientists understand the exotic physics of topology Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:20 AM PST Real-world materials are usually messier than the idealized scenarios found in textbooks. Imperfections can add complications and even limit a material's usefulness. To get around this, scientists routinely strive to remove defects and dirt entirely, pushing materials closer to perfection. Now, researchers have turned this problem around and shown that for some materials defects could act as a probe for interesting physics, rather than a nuisance.

Do promotions make consumers more generous? Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:19 AM PST Price promotions can have a positive effect on consumers' donation behavior because the monetary savings from price promotions increase consumers' perceived resources.

Combined river flows could send up to 3 billion microplastics a day into the Bay of Bengal Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:19 AM PST New research shows the Ganges River - with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers - could be responsible for up to 3 billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal every day.

New variety of paintbrush lily developed by a novel plant tissue culture technique Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:19 AM PST Scientists have developed simultaneous triploid and hexaploid varieties of Haemanthus albiflos by the application of endosperm culture, thus extending the use of this technique.

Magnetic waves explain mystery of Sun's outer layer Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:16 AM PST Researchers combined observations from a telescope in New Mexico, the United States, with satellites located near Earth to identify a link between magnetic waves in the chromosphere and areas of abundant ionized particles in the hot outer atmosphere.

A large number of gray whales are starving and dying in the eastern North Pacific Posted: 22 Jan 2021 07:16 AM PST It is now the third year that gray whales have been found in very poor condition or dead in large numbers along the west coast of Mexico, USA and Canada, and scientist have raised their concerns. An international study suggests that starvation is contributing to these mortalities.

Forecasting coastal water quality Posted: 22 Jan 2021 05:50 AM PST Using water samples and environmental data gathered over 48 hours or less, engineers have developed a new predictive technique for forecasting coastal water quality, a critical step in protecting public health and the ocean economy.

MRI helps unravel the mysteries of sleep Posted: 22 Jan 2021 05:50 AM PST Scientists are investigating brain activity during sleep with the help of MRI scans. It turns out our brains are much more active than we thought.

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