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An archaeologist and a biologist have found evidence of birds being sacrificed to the goddess Isis in the excavated ruins of the Temple of Isis in Pompeii. In their study, reported in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Chiara Assunta Corbino and Beatrice Demarchi studied frescos found at the ancient site revealing the role birds played in ritual banquets.
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The course of human history has been marked by complex patterns of migration, isolation, and admixture, the latter a term that refers to gene flow between individuals from different populations. Admixture results in a blending of genetic lineages, leading to increased genetic diversity within populations. In addition to admixture among modern human populations, ancient humans reproduced with other
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LATEST

 
Budget For LLM Inference Cost is still a major factor when scaling services on top of LLM APIs. Especially, when using LLMs on large collections of queries and text it can get very expensive. It is estimated that automating customer support for a small company can cost up to $21.000 a month in inference alone. The inference costs differ from vendor to vendor and consists of three components: a po
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Drawing a Line OpenAI has told Washington, DC lobbying company FiscalNote that it can't advertise using ChatGPT for politics, Semafor reports …. The integration was supposedly meant to enhance "political participation," according to an earlier version of the press release, which clearly had OpenAI spooked.
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Abstract Athleticism and the mortality rates begin a lifelong trajectory of decline during early adulthood. Because of the substantial follow-up time required, however, observing any longitudinal link between early-life physical declines and late-life mortality and aging remains largely inaccessible. Here, we use longitudinal data on elite athletes to reveal how early-life athletic performance pr
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Abstract Diamond shows unprecedented hardness. Because hardness is a measure of resistance of chemical bonds in a material to external indentation, the electronic bonding nature of diamond beyond several million atmospheres is key to understanding the origin of hardness. However, probing the electronic structures of diamond at such extreme pressure has not been experimentally possible. The measur
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Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) posed a risk for the transition of vertebrates from aquatic to terrestrial life. How ancestral organisms adapted to such ROS exposure has remained a mystery. Here, we show that attenuation of the activity of the ubiquitin ligase CRL3Keap1 for the transcription factor Nrf2 during evolution was key to development of an efficient response to ROS exposure. The K
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Abstract Disruption in neurogenesis and neuronal migration can influence the assembly of cortical circuits, affecting the excitatory-inhibitory balance and resulting in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. Using ventral cerebral organoids and dorsoventral cerebral assembloids with mutations in the extracellular matrix gene LGALS3BP , we show that extracellular vesicles released into
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Abstract Detailed neuroscientific data from macaque monkeys have been essential in advancing understanding of human frontal cortex function, particularly for regions of frontal cortex without homologs in other model species. However, precise transfer of this knowledge for direct use in human applications requires an understanding of monkey to hominid homologies, particularly whether and how sulci
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Abstract Taking someone else’s visual perspective marks an evolutionary shift in the formation of advanced social cognition. It enables using others’ attention to discover otherwise hidden aspects of the surroundings and is foundational for human communication and understanding of others. Visual perspective taking has also been found in some other primates, a few songbirds, and some canids. Howev
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Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have caused revolutionary changes in cancer treatment, but low response rates remain a challenge…. Semaphorin 4A (Sema4A) modulates the immune system through multiple mechanisms in mice, although the role of human Sema4A in the tumor microenvironment remains unclear.
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Abstract Convergent local adaptation offers a glimpse into the role of constraint and stochasticity in adaptive evolution, in particular the extent to which similar genetic mechanisms drive adaptation to common selective forces. Here, we investigated the genomics of local adaptation in two nonsister woodpeckers that are codistributed across an entire continent and exhibit remarkably convergent pa
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In a recent AI infrastructure event, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) made a groundbreaking announcement regarding its internal silicon chip project. This revelation marked the first time that Meta publicly disclosed details about its computer chips. The company's focus on AI and data center hardware has attracted significant attention from investors, particularly as Meta enters a period of rest
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The United States has suffered from a deliberate fuzziness in formulating its objectives in the Russian war in Ukraine. Flaccid phrases like “helping Ukraine defend itself” or, even worse, “putting Ukraine in the best possible position for negotiations” are either meaningless or insipid. Bureaucratic mental fog is masquerading as artful policy, and it is dangerous. Strategy is the matching of mea
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38714-z Whole genome duplication can generate new genes and support survival through mass extinctions. Here, the authors show that paddlefish and sturgeon shared a genome duplication event 200 million years ago that was previously unrecognised due to the mixed signals from independent rediploidisation.
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Fandom Fracas Writers are threatening to pull their stories from Archive of Our Own (AO3), one of the world's largest fanfiction websites, after staff posted that they will not prohibit the publication of artificial intelligence-generated fanfiction on the website. Typifying the anger, one Twitter user wrote that they " would rather have one hundred thousand unreadably bad human-written fics adde
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A new artificial intelligence system called a semantic decoder can translate a person’s brain activity—while listening to a story or silently imagining telling a story—into a continuous stream of text. The system might help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes , to communicate intelligibly again. The study in the journal Nature Neu
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Antonio Vento is 13 years old. He’s a tiny figure in bandages who doesn’t walk and, until recently, couldn’t see more than shadows. He has dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, an inherited disease that makes his skin so fragile that kids with the illness are called “butterfly children.” But now, thanks to a novel gene therapy squirted onto his skin and dripped into his eyes, things are better. His w
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Fire Sale The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal watchdog, is warning customers that certain combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors being sold on Amazon are absolutely terrible at alerting consumers that their homes are on fire. In other words, the e-commerce giant is selling smoke detectors that can't reliably detect smoke — an astoundingly troubling finding that co
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The course of human history has been marked by complex patterns of migration, isolation, and admixture, the latter a term that refers to gene flow between individuals from different populations. Admixture results in a blending of genetic lineages, leading to increased genetic diversity within populations. In addition to admixture among modern human populations, ancient humans reproduced with other
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In a new study published in eLife, lead author Carolyn Elya, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, reveals the molecular and cellular underpinnings behind the parasitic fungus, Entomophthora muscae's (E. muscae), ability to manipulate the behavior of fruit flies.
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The nucleobase molecules carrying the genetic codes are the most important ingredients for life, but they are also very vulnerable. When the ultraviolet component in the sunlight irradiates these molecules, the electrons in the molecules will be excited, and the excited nucleobase molecules may result in irreversible changes or even damages to the DNA and RNA chains, leading to the "sunburn" of or
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The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope released eight new images of the sun, previewing the exciting science underway at the world's most powerful ground-based solar telescope. The images feature a variety of sunspots and quiet regions of the sun obtained by the Visible-Broadband Imager (VBI), one of the telescope's first-generation instruments.
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The massive, star-forming interstellar cloud Lupus 3 is captured with the 570-megapixel US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera at NSF's NOIRLab's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The dazzling central region of this sprawling cloud reveals a pair of infant stars bursting from their natal cocoons of dust and gas to illuminate the reflection nebula known as Bernes 149.
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The nucleobase molecules carrying the genetic codes are the most important ingredients for life, but they are also very vulnerable. When the ultraviolet component in the sunlight irradiates these molecules, the electrons in the molecules will be excited, and the excited nucleobase molecules may result in irreversible changes or even damages to the DNA and RNA chains, leading to the "sunburn" of or
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Plants show enormous variety in traits relevant to breeding, such as plant height, yield and resistance to pests. One of the greatest challenges in modern plant research is to identify the differences in genetic information that are responsible for this variation.
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Polygenic scores—estimates of an individual's predisposition for complex traits and diseases—hold promise for identifying patients at risk of disease and guiding early, personalized treatments, but UCLA experts found the scores fail to account for the wide range of genetic diversity across individuals in all ancestries.
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The brush-tailed bettong—a rare, very cute marsupial resembling a rabbit-sized kangaroo—is bouncing back on the South Australian mainland, more than 100 years after disappearing from the region.
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Satellite-derived bathymetry continues to advance and improve rapidly. A recent study has confirmed the effectiveness of a methodology developed to obtain bathymetric data from satellite images in the Western Mediterranean. The results of this research, published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, reaffirm the value of this tool for monitoring coastal are
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Early on in Master Gardener , the taciturn, mysterious protagonist sits down and starts writing in a journal, essaying his thoughts in voice-over. I saw the film with a packed audience that immediately let out a knowing chuckle. The director Paul Schrader’s explorations of the inner life of “God’s lonely man” have included a lot of cinematic diaries over the years. Master Gardener completes a tri
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From its humble origin(s), life has infected the entire planet with endless beautiful forms. The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence was left behind other than the existence of life itself. This leaves many questions open, and one of the most tantalizing is how many times life magically emerged from non-living elements.
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During the coronavirus lockdowns, 50% of European workers were estimated to engage in some form of smart working—smart working at its worst, though, because it was unplanned and in many cases full-time, with a strong potential to create a sense of social isolation. The flip side of the coin is that this experience revealed that smart working is feasible both for routine and for non-routine tasks,
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope served the astronomy community well for 16 years. From its launch in 2003 to the end of its operations in January 2020, its infrared observations fueled scientific discoveries too numerous to list.
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A team of physicists have discovered that the environment of a molecular cloud in interstellar space can support the existence of fatty acids, a key component of life on Earth.
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From its humble origin(s), life has infected the entire planet with endless beautiful forms. The genesis of life is the oldest biological event, so old that no clear evidence was left behind other than the existence of life itself. This leaves many questions open, and one of the most tantalizing is how many times life magically emerged from non-living elements.
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Two years after losing NASA's much-coveted Human Landing Systems (HLS) contract to SpaceX and its explosion-prone Starship spacecraft, Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin has finally scored some of its own federal funding to build a lunar lander. After Blue Origin made a huge fuss over NASA's decision to award SpaceX — and SpaceX only — the almost $3 billion HLS contract back in 2021, the agen
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Last week, at Google’s annual conference dedicated to new products and technologies, the company announced a change to its premier AI product: The Bard chatbot, like OpenAI’s GPT-4 , will soon be able to describe images. Although it may seem like a minor update, the enhancement is part of a quiet revolution in how companies, researchers, and consumers develop and use AI—pushing the technology not
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Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have fabricated a novel device that could dramatically boost the conversion of heat into electricity. If perfected, the technology could help recoup some of the heat energy that is wasted in the U.S. at a rate of about $100 billion each year.
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The risk of wildfire is higher in areas where trees and shrubs have replaced grasses, according to a new study. Across the United States over the past decade, an average of over 61,000 wildfires have burned some 7.2 million acres per year. Once a wildfire starts spreading, the firefighting task is exacerbated by issues like spot fires, where winds carry lofted sparks and start new fires outside o
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38533-2 Disorder and device variability in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices pose challenges for their application in quantum technologies. Here, the authors show that Joule heating can provide a detailed fingerprint of such devices, uncovering different sources of inhomogeneities.
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38550-1 Electrically switching perpendicular magnetized ferromagnets using spin-orbit torques without assisting magnetic fields is a major goal for spintronics. Recently, several works have proposed using out-of-plane spin polarized currents to achieve this, but these rely on antiferromagnetic metals with low Neel temper
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The city’s first-of-its-kind policy encourages its public servants to use the technology—and could serve as a blueprint for other governments.
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This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic , Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. All her life, Victoria Rutledge thought of herself as someone with an addictive personality. Her first addiction was alcohol. After she got sober in her early 30s, she replaced drinking with food and shopping, which sh
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Space Race Gone are the good old days of homophobia and racism at NASA — and to some senators, that's a problem. During a budgetary hearing this week, a pair of Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee criticized NASA's efforts to both combat climate change and increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), calling the initiatives "woke." As Space Policy Online
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Written sources from Mesopotamia suggest that kissing in relation to sex was practiced by the peoples of the ancient Middle East 4,500 years ago, researchers report. Recent research has hypothesized that the earliest evidence of human lip kissing originated in a very specific geographical location in South Asia 3,500 years ago, from where it may have spread to other regions, simultaneously accele
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As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, it's no secret that many jobs that were once considered safe from automation are now at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). One such profession that is facing this risk is writing. With AI-generated content becoming increasingly sophisticated and lifelike, there is growing concern among writers and publishers alike t
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AI-generated media that looks and sounds exactly like the real world will soon permeate our lives. How should we prepare for it? AI developer Tom Graham discusses the extraordinary power of this rapidly advancing technology, demoing cutting-edge examples — including real-time face swaps and voice cloning — live from the TED stage. In conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson, Graham digs into
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The trailer for Gareth Edwards’ new film shows humanity being outsmarted by AI – and is released just as our overlords-to-be are rearing their terrifying heads It’s been a while since we had a truly great movie about devious, dystopian AIs priming themselves to take over the world, in which the key choices made by mere humans will decide whether we end up as just an organic footnote in histories
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We know a lot about mosquito preferences up close, but how do mosquitoes find us from up to a hundred meters away? Using an ice-rink-sized outdoor testing arena in Zambia, researchers found that human body odor is critical for mosquito host-seeking behavior over long distances. The team also identified specific airborne body-odor components that might explain why some people are more attractive to
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Scientists found weak, biologically-rich layers of sediments hundreds of meters beneath the seafloor which crumbled as oceans warmed and ice sheets declined. The landslides were discovered in the eastern Ross Sea in 2017, by an international team of scientists during the Italian ODYSSEA expedition, and scientists revisited the area in 2018 as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP
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Researchers recently published a study that focuses on the Sudbury-Assabet and Concord watershed in eastern Massachusetts, and which links hydrological changes, including floods, drought and runoff, to changing patterns of land use.
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Open Sesame! Meta is cracking the AI arms race wide open. Literally. According to a report from The New York Times , Meta-formerly-Facebook is doubling down on its decision to make its large language model called LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) — which competes with the likes of OpenAI's GPT-4 — open source. "The platform that will win will be the open one," Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scien
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We know a lot about mosquito preferences up close, but how do mosquitoes find us from up to a hundred meters away? Using an ice-rink-sized outdoor testing arena in Zambia, researchers found that human body odor is critical for mosquito host-seeking behavior over long distances. The team also identified specific airborne body-odor components that might explain why some people are more attractive to
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Researchers have sequenced the genome of the Montmorency tart cherry for the first time. The scientists were searching for the genes associated with the tart cherry trees that bloom later in the season to meet the needs of a changing climate. They started by comparing DNA sequences from late-blooming tart cherry trees to the sequenced genome of a related species, the peach. However, in a surprise
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In 1928, Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw Jr. invented a giant metal respirator that enabled them to solve the problem of respiratory failure in polio patients. In the process, their unwieldy creation fundamentally altered the relationship between human and machine.
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Sunscreens work in two ways: either by blocking harmful UV rays from reaching the skin, or by converting the rays into heat that can be released from the body.
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I n a bygone era , Americans could be confident that conservatives, like the former General Electric pitchman Ronald Reagan , were friendlier to corporations than their ideological opponents, and that the most aggressive efforts to rein in corporate power were coming from the left. Today, the relationship that the American left and right each have with Big Business is different. When corporations
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Can hands that look like lobster claws hold a secret that could upend the artistic canon? The historian Benjamin Binstock thinks so. He has a controversial theory: Several of the paintings attributed to Johannes Vermeer were in fact made by his young daughter Maria. A set of late-career works don’t match the artist’s established style, and the hypothesis hinges on their dates, the identities of t
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A team of atmospheric and climatic scientists from several institutions in Europe has found that even if all human management of forestry land stopped immediately, it would not be sufficient to offset global carbon emissions. In their study, reported in the journal Science, the group used mapping and AI applications to model how much forest regrowth, and by extension, sequestration of CO2, would o
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Am I Covered? After what scientists say was a meteorite smashed through a family's roof in New Jersey, Garden State residents began wondering whether insurance covers extraterrestrial damage. In an advice column published to NJ.com , a Jersey insurance specialist said that in the extremely unlikely case of meteorite or other space debris damage, residents who have homeowners' or business property
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A research group led by Professor Minoru Osada and postdoctoral researcher Yue Shi at the Institute for Future Materials and Systems (IMaSS), Nagoya University in Japan, has developed a new technology to fabricate nanosheets, thin films of two-dimensional materials a couple of nanometers thick, in about one minute.
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A team of chemical and environmental engineers at the University of California, Riverside, has found a way to use microbial degradation to break down chlorinated PFAS in wastewater. In their paper published in the journal Nature Water, the group describes how they tested the ability of microbes in waste water to degrade some PFAS compounds and what they found by doing so.
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Imagine using your cell phone to control the activity of your own cells to treat injuries and disease. It sounds like something from the imagination of an overly optimistic science fiction writer. But this may one day be a possibility through the emerging field of quantum biology. Over the past few decades, scientists have made incredible progress in understanding and manipulating biological syst
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Recently, a research team led by Prof. Chen Chunying from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) revealed that gut microbiota can ferment exogenous carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) as carbon sources into short chain fatty acids. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was reported as a Nature Highlight.
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Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that it combined two rapidly developing technologies, quantum computing and generative AI, to explore lead candidate discovery in drug development and successfully demonstrated the potential advantages of quantum generative adversarial networks in generative chemistry.
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A team of chemical and environmental engineers at the University of California, Riverside, has found a way to use microbial degradation to break down chlorinated PFAS in wastewater. In their paper published in the journal Nature Water, the group describes how they tested the ability of microbes in waste water to degrade some PFAS compounds and what they found by doing so.
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Creating artificial cells with life-like characteristics out of a minimal set of components is a major goal of synthetic biology. Autonomous motion is a key capability here, and one that is difficult to reproduce in the test tube. A team led by physicist Erwin Frey, Professor of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU, and Petra Schwille from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, has now mad
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Creating artificial cells with life-like characteristics out of a minimal set of components is a major goal of synthetic biology. Autonomous motion is a key capability here, and one that is difficult to reproduce in the test tube. A team led by physicist Erwin Frey, Professor of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU, and Petra Schwille from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, has now mad
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To be able to exploit the advantages of elements and their molecular compounds in a targeted manner, chemists have to develop a fundamental understanding of their properties. In the case of the element bismuth, a team from the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung has now taken an important step.
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An international team of researchers including scientists from FAU has, for the first time, used X-rays for an imaging technique that exploits a particular quantum characteristic of light. In their article, which has now been published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the researchers detail how this process could be used for imaging non-crystallized macromolecules.
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Semicrystalline polymers are solids that are assumed to flow only above their melting temperature. In a new study published in Science Advances, Chien-Hua Tu and a research team at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany and the University of Ioannina Greece confined crystals within nanoscopic cylindrical pores to show the flowing nature of semicrystalline polymers below their mel
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38538-x The development of three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with novel topologies is of both fundamental and practical interest but the construction of highly crystalline 3D COF remains challenging. Here, the authors report highly crystalline 3D COFs with pto and mhq-z topologies by rationally se
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38590-7 The authors report on a quasi-one-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, DMAGeI3 (DMA = Dimethylamine), with notable ferroelectric attributes at room temperature including large spontaneous polarisation, low coercive field, and strong second harmonic generation response.
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Optical imaging and metrology techniques are key tools for research rooted in biology, medicine and nanotechnology. While these techniques have recently become increasingly advanced, the resolutions they achieve are still significantly lower than those attained by methods using focused beams of electrons, such as atomic-scale transmission electron spectroscopy and cryo-electron tomography.
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Throughout their lives, cells encounter environments that vary in terms of how stiff or soft they are. These mechanical conditions impact just how quickly cells can grow, move and carry out basic functions like repairing damaged tissue. Though scientists have long known that cells can sense and respond to different environmental conditions, what isn't clear is whether cells hold onto memories of t
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Remote work revealed that core areas of San Francisco and other cities are overreliant on offices. It’s time to reimagine what—and who—downtowns are for.
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My mother and I don’t speak the same language. Her English is sparse, and my Mandarin stalled at the picture-book level on the day I started kindergarten in California, when I realized that the few English words I knew— hello , please , thank you —weren’t going to get me very far. I immersed myself in strange grammar and new vocabulary, eventually devouring books with a religious fervor. My mothe
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Throughout their lives, cells encounter environments that vary in terms of how stiff or soft they are. These mechanical conditions impact just how quickly cells can grow, move and carry out basic functions like repairing damaged tissue. Though scientists have long known that cells can sense and respond to different environmental conditions, what isn't clear is whether cells hold onto memories of t
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Prehistoric Planet’s intimate, moving CGI footage is revolutionising natural history – and it’s presented by a national treasure. We meet the creators of a unique TV series Jurassic Park was released 30 years ago, but in those three decades our perception of dinosaurs has largely remained static. In the public consciousness, they were giant, scaly beasts with huge claws and teeth who spent their
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A research group led by Professor Minoru Osada (he, him) and postdoctoral researcher Yue Shi (she, her) at the Institute for Future Materials and Systems (IMaSS), Nagoya University in Japan, has developed a new technology to fabricate nanosheets, thin films of two-dimensional materials a couple of nanometers thick, in about one minute.
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This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Your digital life isn’t as permanent as you think it is Earlier this week, Google announced its intention to start deleting personal accounts that haven’t been active in over two years in December. Photos, emails, and docs attached to inactive accounts will al
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When it comes to big problems it’s generally a good idea to remember some basic principles. One is that there is no free lunch. This is a cliche because it’s true. Another way to put this is – there are no solutions, only trade offs. Sometimes there is a genuine advance that does improve the calculus, and there are certainly more or less efficient ways to do things. But when making decisions that
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T he third graders were not interested in meeting the state auditor. It was career day at Samuelson Elementary School in Des Moines, and Rob Sand had assembled a table in the gymnasium alongside a dozen other grown-ups with jobs. All the other adults had brought props: the man from the bathroom-remodeling company handed out yellow rubber ducks, a local doctor let the kids poke and prod a model he
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the paramilitary Wagner Group, has turned the war in Ukraine into his own show since early May. From the trenches of Bakhmut, on Telegram and other social-media channels, he’s decried the Russian military command as worthless and corrupt, particularly claiming that it has deprived his forces of ammunition. At a time of extraordinary top-down control in Russian med
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38678-0 Good impalement resistance, mechanical robustness and weather resistance are essential for applications of superhydrophobic coatings. Here, the authors achieve scalable preparation and practical application of robust superhydrophobic coatings for preventing rain attenuation of 5G/weather radomes.
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38581-8 Resistance to 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin (5FU + CDDP) presents a major issue in patients with gastric cancer. Here, the authors establish 5FU + CDDP resistant intestinal gastric cancer patient-derived organoids and identify JAK/STAT-ADAR1 altered lipid metabolism as a regulator of chemoresistance.
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Flyvningens samlede klimaudslip og en voksende flyvning bør tvinge enhver ansvarlig klima- og transportminister til blokken med lovgivning. Og var det ikke galt nok med CO2-udledningen alene, så betyder flyenes kulstofforurening i atmosfæren at tallene for klimapåvirkning endda skal ganges med tre.
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Vandene er ved at falde til ro efter ugens demonstrationer, hvor vognmænd blokerede trafikken bl.a. ved Padborg, Helsingør, København og i Hjørring imod regeringens nye vejafgift for lastbiler, der indfases fra 2025 og som i 2030 i gennemsnit vil udgøre ca. 1,3 kroner per kørt kilometer for konventionelle diesel- eller benzindrevne lastbiler.
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Robyn Caplan understands the fragility of digital memories intimately. After tragically losing both of her parents in recent years, Caplan treasures the digital possessions she inherited. She cherishes her mom’s iPad, access to their email inboxes, and message threads with both of them. It allows her to see the world through the eyes of her parents, she says. After Caplan moved away from her fami
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In this webinar, participants are introduced to the core principles of the Interactive Computing approach, highlighting its key distinctions from traditional methods of accessing computational resources. The session provides an overview of the Interactive computing services available across various Fenix sites, accompanied by a brief demonstration of the current implementation at CINECA, which is
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38605-3 Ubiquitination and deubiquitination processes regulate the stability of PD-1, affecting T cell biology. Here the authors identify the ubiquitin-specific protease 5 (USP5) as a deubiquitinase for PD-1 and show that USP5 inhibition in combination with a MEK inhibitor or anti-CTLA-4 could promote anti-tumor immune r
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38457-x Vaccines with broad and long-lasting protection against variants of concern are still limited. Here, the authors report a self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccine expressing a membrane-anchored SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD and show that it elicits broad, durable and protective immunity in small animal models and NHPs.
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This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here . What if I told you there’s a group of people who think death is morally bad—that we have a moral duty to find ways to slow or reverse aging? Who seek to create a new state with its own laws that expedite the development of longevity drugs, partly by encou
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38434-4 Temperature-induced insulator-to-metal transitions are usually accompanied by structural phase transitions. Here the authors demonstrate an enhancement of the electrical conductance in a thin film of a biologically relevant metal-organic framework, without noticeable change in the structure, assigned to be of mai
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Researchers have observed the X-ray emission of the most luminous quasar seen in the last 9 billion years of cosmic history, known as SMSS J114447.77-430859.3, or J1144 for short. The new perspective sheds light on the inner workings of quasars and how they interact with their environment. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Forskare vid Lunds universitet har utvecklat en metod för att mäta hur många RNA-molekyler som levereras in i en cell. Kunskapen är värdefull när man undersöker dosmängd vid RNA-läkemedels– och vaccinforskning, inte minst inom områden som cancer, virus- och bakterieinfektioner.
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A break-dancing championship in Morocco, rally racing in Portugal, a deadly cyclone in Myanmar, widespread flooding in Italy, pro wrestling in Japan, cattle grazing outside the Reichstag, an obelisk of plastic bags in Argentina, a fashion show in Australia, and much more
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Nature Communications, Published online: 19 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38423-7 The compositional space of potential high-entropy alloys is gigantic and difficult to explore efficiently. Here, the authors use high-throughput first-principles computations to predict what elements can mix to form high-entropy alloys, understanding of the factors favoring their formation.
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Wylam, Northumberland: Why would a rare mountain flower be found here? The answer lies in the soil This lowland pastoral landscape around Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Close House Riverside reserve , on the north bank of the Tyne, is an unlikely place to find a mountain wild flower, the nationally scarce alpine pennycress . But in spring, an area of grassland about the size of a football pitch
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Preamble : I'm writing this to archive my thoughts and also have discussion. My intent is not to offend and I'm okay with being wrong. I won't even reply to people to tell them they are wrong (though I will give my thoughts on replys). Argument : Controlling an AGI or ASI is impossible regardless of the efforts put into alignment. Because anything that is as or more intelligent than us will likel
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Researchers have discovered a new nutrient source that pancreatic cancer cells use to grow. The molecule, uridine, offers insight into both biochemical processes and possible therapeutic pathways. The findings show that cancer cells can adapt when they don't have access to glucose.
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This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Republican lawmakers in several states have begun the process of rolling back tenure at their public institutions of higher education on the grounds that no one should have a lifetime job. And yet, man
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Evolution is a sequence of design changes happening on their own in a discernible direction; it never weds itself to a single point on a drawing board. An evolving system or animal is free to simply go with what works. Not so much that its performance suffers greatly, but enough that it opens access to other options near the so-called optimal design. With scientists often looking to nature for clu
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Scales, spines, feathers and hair are examples of vertebrate skin appendages, which constitute a remarkably diverse group of micro-organs. Despite their natural multitude of forms, these appendages share early developmental processes at the embryonic stage. Researchers have discovered how to permanently transform the scales that normally cover the feet of chickens into feathers, by specifically mo
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Drawing on 36 years of data, a new study of 199 baboons in southern Kenya finds that adversity early in life can take years off the lifespan, but strong social bonds with other baboons in adulthood can help get them back. Baboons who formed stronger social bonds — measured as how often they groomed with their closest friends — added 2.2 years to their lives, no matter what hardships they faced w
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Computer scientists and oceanographers developed a machine-learning model that generates more accurate predictions about the velocities of ocean currents. The model could help make more precise weather forecasts or effectively predict how oil will spread after a spill.
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For three years now—spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations—Washington has been on a quest to ban TikTok. Earlier this year, the White House announced a ban on the social-media platform on federal-agency devices. And now, a bill that is gaining steam in Congress and has support from the president, the RESTRICT Act, would outlaw communications technologies—including software on American
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Tokyo’s Waseda University is investigating alleged misconduct by an assistant professor at the institution, Retraction Watch has learned. The probe is focusing on at least three works by Woohyang Sim , of the Faculty of International Research and Education, including her 2020 doctoral dissertation, titled “What is Higher Education For? Educational Aspirations and Career Prospects of Women in the
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong, hosts of the Short Wave podcast, about the mysteries of multicellular organisms, a house built with diapers, and the physics of gummy candy.
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Pharmaceutical drugs can save lives, but taking these medications as prescribed—especially among those with chronic conditions—can be challenging, for a variety of different reasons. Improving medication adherence could reduce unfavorable health outcomes, hospitalizations, and preventable deaths, while simultaneously reducing health care costs by up to $300B annually in the United States alone.
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PM sounds a more cautious note after calls from tech experts and business leaders for moratorium The UK will lead on limiting the dangers of artificial intelligence, Rishi Sunak has said, after calls from some tech experts and business leaders for a moratorium. Sunak said AI could bring benefits and prove transformative for society, but it had to be introduced “safely and securely with guard rail
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Pharmaceutical drugs can save lives, but taking these medications as prescribed—especially among those with chronic conditions—can be challenging, for a variety of different reasons. Improving medication adherence could reduce unfavorable health outcomes, hospitalizations, and preventable deaths, while simultaneously reducing health care costs by up to $300B annually in the United States alone.
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The Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover recently collected 152 images while looking deep into Belva Crater, a large impact crater within the far larger Jezero Crater. Stitched into a dramatic mosaic, the results are not only eye-catching, but also provide the rover's science team some deep insights into the interior of Jezero.
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Sinking Feeling Bad news for New Yorkers: the Big Apple appears to be sinking a little deeper into the Earth each year, under the unfathomable weight of its iconic skyscrapers. A new study published in the journal Earth's Future finds that the geological process of subsidence, in which sediments shift and settle, seems to be occurring rapidly in specific parts of NYC, including the just-at-sea-le
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Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here. Question of the Week I’m a longtime opponent of drug prohibition––as I wrote in a 2014 article, “it is immoral to cage humans for smoking marijuana.” One of my favorite
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Produce such as lettuce and spinach is routinely tested for foodborne pathogenic bacteria like salmonella, listeria monocytogenes and pathogenic types of E. coli in an effort to protect consumers from getting sick.
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For the first time, a newly published artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is allowing researchers to quickly and accurately estimate coastal fish stocks without ever entering the water. This breakthrough could save millions of dollars in annual research and monitoring costs while bringing data access to least-developed countries about the sustainability of their fish stocks.
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Scientists are often trained to seek out the absolute best solution to a given problem. On a chalk board, this might look something like drawing a graph to find a function's minimum or maximum point. When designing a turbojet engine, it might mean tweaking the rotor blades' angles a tiny degree to achieve a tenth of a percent increase in efficiency.
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Since Michigan is the nation's leading producer of tart cherries, Michigan State University researchers were searching for the genes associated with tart cherry trees that bloom later in the season to meet the needs of a changing climate. They started by comparing DNA sequences from late-blooming tart cherry trees to the sequenced genome of a related species, the peach. However, in a surprise to t
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Researchers of the HSE Centre for Language and Brain have investigated the impact of both auditory and visual noise on semantic processing during reading to determine if it results in a more superficial reading style that emphasizes the meanings of individual words over connections between them in a sentence.
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When individuals share videos about surprise reunions with their intimate partners on the internet, the reaction from viewers may not be the roses and unicorns the posters expected. Viewers' responses to shared videos have the potential to shape offline relationships, a case study of one such video found.
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For the first time, a newly published artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is allowing researchers to quickly and accurately estimate coastal fish stocks without ever entering the water. This breakthrough could save millions of dollars in annual research and monitoring costs while bringing data access to least-developed countries about the sustainability of their fish stocks.
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Since Michigan is the nation's leading producer of tart cherries, Michigan State University researchers were searching for the genes associated with tart cherry trees that bloom later in the season to meet the needs of a changing climate. They started by comparing DNA sequences from late-blooming tart cherry trees to the sequenced genome of a related species, the peach. However, in a surprise to t
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Across the United States over the past decade, an average of over 61,000 wildfires have burned some 7.2 million acres per year. Once a wildfire starts spreading, the firefighting task is exacerbated by issues like spot fires, where winds carry lofted sparks and start new fires outside of the original fire perimeter. The greater the potential spot fire distance, the more difficult wildfires are to
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Across the United States over the past decade, an average of over 61,000 wildfires have burned some 7.2 million acres per year. Once a wildfire starts spreading, the firefighting task is exacerbated by issues like spot fires, where winds carry lofted sparks and start new fires outside of the original fire perimeter. The greater the potential spot fire distance, the more difficult wildfires are to
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Soon, you'll be able to get a box of freshly picked, sweet strawberries from the grocery store or local farm stand. But it's disappointing when you get them home and find that the ones at the bottom have started to rot. To increase the berries' shelf life, researchers have incorporated cannabidiol — a non-hallucinogenic compound from cannabis known as CBD — and sodium alginate into an edible ant
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Health insurance providers, it seems, are as cruel as ever, as evidenced by a letter sent to a newborn's family denying the infant coverage for neonatal care in an intensive care unit (ICU). In an editorial for the Washington Post , Kaiser Family Foundation senior contributing editor Elizabeth Rosenthal described the problem of insurance claim denials in the starkest terms: by providing examples
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A new paper runs counter to some of the dominant theories about human origins in Africa. There is broad agreement that Homo sapiens originated in Africa. But there remain many uncertainties and competing theories about where, when, and how. In the new paper, researchers suggest that, based on contemporary genomic evidence from across the continent, there were humans living in different regions of
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In the dark, early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Michael Toce noticed a surprising trend. As a pediatric-emergency-medicine doctor at Boston Children’s Hospital, he was seeing lots of kids who had taken too much medication. The problem wasn’t that they’d overdosed on opioids or painkillers or marijuana. Instead, they’d swallowed too much melatonin, an over-the-counter supplement used as a sle
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For more than 10 years, Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, has been investigating the unconventional properties of "metamaterials"—an artificial material that exhibits properties not commonly found in nature as defined by Newton's laws of motion—in his long-term pursuit of designing an ideal metamaterial.
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My friend Keith Neal, who has died aged 84, taught biology at Manchester grammar school (MGS) for 23 years, turning it from an elite, esoteric A-level to one of the most popular subjects at GCSE. As head of department, and ardent environmentalist, he enthused his students through his knowledge and adventurous field trips. He was an internationalist, taking students to India in 1988 and 1993, and
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Soon, you'll be able to get a box of freshly picked, sweet strawberries from the grocery store or local farm stand. But it's disappointing when you get them home and find that the ones at the bottom have started to rot. To increase the berries' shelf life, researchers have incorporated cannabidiol — a non-hallucinogenic compound from cannabis known as CBD — and sodium alginate into an edible ant
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When most people think of crystals, they picture suncatchers that act as rainbow prisms or the semi-transparent stones that some believe hold healing powers. However, to scientists and engineers, crystals are a form of materials in which their constituents—atoms, molecules, or nanoparticles—are arranged regularly in space. In other words, crystals are defined by the regular arrangement of their co
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High power/energy ultrafast fiber lasers have broadband applications in material processing, medicine, advanced manufacturing and other fields. Compared with solid-state lasers, fiber lasers have the advantages of compact systems, flexibility, good heat dissipation and high beam quality.
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Every second, the planet loses a stretch of forest equivalent to a football field due to logging, fires, insect infestation, disease, wind, drought, and other factors. In a recently published study, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center presented a comprehensive strategy to detect when and where forest disturbance happens at a large scale
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Climbing caribou numbers in northeastern British Columbia prove that collaborations between Indigenous and colonial governments can reverse decades-long declines, but focus needs to shift to culturally meaningful recovery targets, a consortium of researchers and community members say in a new paper published this week in Science.
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Research shows that the numbers of butterflies in meadows and pastures of Europe are in a continuous decline. Grassland butterflies will soon play an even greater role in EU nature conservation legislation. Based on the occurrences and population trends of butterflies, the member states are supposed to document the progress they have made in implementing the planned 'Nature Restoration Law'.
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CNET staffers are unionizing, and they're naming their employer's use of AI as a key reason why — a timely reminder that even as generative AI tech raises billions in funding and threatens to upend entire industries, it's already causing a very real human impact among workers. And now, they're fighting back. "In terms of AI initiatives and media workers, we're not alone in this issue," a CNET uni
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Evidence suggests ancient Mesopotamians kissed and practice could be more culturally universal than previously thought Humanity’s earliest record of kissing dates back about 4,500 years in the ancient Middle East, 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to researchers. Scientists have highlighted evidence that suggests kissing was practised in some of the earliest Mesopotamian soci
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A new study sheds light on why some adults develop hearing problems. By some estimates, hearing loss affects at least 50% of the population after 75 years of age. While congenital hearing impairment—usually presenting in childhood—results from rare mutations, hearing problems in adults are likely due to the cumulative effect of polygenic risk and environmental factors. Recent genome-wide associat
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HomeScienceVol. 380, No. 6646Embracing questions after my father’s murderBack To Vol. 380, No. 6646 Full accessLetterPast as Prologue Share on Embracing questions after my father’s murderJacquelyn J. Cragg [email protected]Authors Info & AffiliationsScience18 May 2023Vol 380, Issue 6646p. 700DOI: 10.1126/science.adh5157 PREVIOUS ARTICLERenewable energy in China’s abandoned minesPreviousNEXT ARTIC…
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Maximizing the development of renewable energy such as wind and solar power is an effective way to achieve carbon neutrality (1). China has promised to triple its wind and solar capacity to more than 1.2 GW by 2030 (2), but the photovoltaic and fan equipment needed to meet this goal will require substantial land resources (3). Although the country is building massive wind and solar power bases in
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HomeScienceVol. 380, No. 6646Venezuela’s harmful mining activities growBack To Vol. 380, No. 6646 Full accessLetter Share on Venezuela’s harmful mining activities growIzabela Stachowicz [email protected], Vilisa Morón Zambrano, […] , Anthony J. Giordano, José R. Ferrer-Paris, and Stefan Kreft+2 authors fewerAuthors Info & AffiliationsScience18 May 2023Vol 380, Issue 6646p. 699DOI: 10.1126/scien…
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It is widely expected that by this summer, the United States Supreme Court will overturn long-standing precedents allowing the consideration of race as one factor among many in university admissions. The current legal regime goes back to the Court’s …
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Microplastics in the digestive tract of seabirds alter the microbiome of their gut, a new study shows. That increases the presence of pathogens and antibiotic-resistant microbes, while decreasing the beneficial bacteria found in the intestines, the researchers report. Scientists have worried about the potential harms of microplastics for years. These small plastic particles less than 5 mm in leng
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A soft electronic skin could allow people with prosthetics to sense pressure and temperature, helping them to more easily interact with their surroundings. Thin and stretchable like regular skin, the electronic skin sticks to surfaces like a Band-Aid. It contains sensors to measure external temperature and pressure, which it sends to an implanted electrode in the brain in the form of electrical s
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Last month, experimental artist and futurist Claire "Grimes" Boucher announced that she was willing to have artists clone her voice with the use of AI — but only if they were willing to "split 50 percent royalties." To put her money where her mouth was, she even created an entire AI generator platform called Elf.Tech specifically designed to copy her voice. Now, an LA-based artist and producer wh
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Since their protection under the Endangered Species Act, wolf populations have been making a comeback in the continental United States. Conservationists have argued that the presence of wolves and other apex predators, so named because they have no known predators aside from people, can help keep smaller predator species in check.
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A new study uncovers how the interplay between Sargassum spp., plastic marine debris and Vibrio bacteria creates the perfect "pathogen" storm that has implications for both marine life and public health. Vibrio bacteria are found in waters around the world and are the dominant cause of death in humans from the marine environment.
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Quantum computers promise to solve challenging tasks in material science and cryptography that will remain out of reach even for the most powerful conventional supercomputers in the future. Yet, this will likely require millions of high-quality qubits due to the required error correction.
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In the years it strikes, the band of warm ocean water spanning from South America to Asia known as El Niño triggers far-reaching changes in weather that result in devastating floods, crop-killing droughts, plummeting fish populations, and an uptick in tropical diseases.
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The Greenland ice sheet (GIS) and Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) contribute largely to global mean sea level (GMSL) changes, though the seas surrounding the Antarctic like the Bellinghausen-Amundsen Seas and the Indian Ocean sector are seeing significantly more warming than the rest of the marginal seas, with immediate noticeable effects on the mass balance (net weight of the glacier mainly accounting
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Limits on numbers at Paris summit mean some of those ‘most needing to be heard’ will not be in attendance Scientists and NGOs have accused the UN’s environment programme (Unep) of locking out those “most needing to be heard” from upcoming negotiations in Paris aimed at halting plastic waste. Last-minute restrictions to the numbers of NGOs attending what the head of Unep described as the “most imp
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High-temperature shock (HTS) is an emerging synthesis method with kinetics-dominated non-equilibrium characteristics, which can achieve an ultrafast heating/cooling rate of ~105 K/s and a peak temperature larger than ~3000 K within a time scale of seconds or milliseconds, and is widely used in the preparation of high entropy content, thermodynamic metastable phase and defect-rich materials.
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Scientists have discovered a new species of mosasaur, a sea-dwelling lizard from the age of the dinosaurs, with strange, ridged teeth unlike those of any known reptile. Along with other recent finds from Africa, it suggests that mosasaurs and other marine reptiles were evolving rapidly up until 66 million years ago, when they were wiped out by an asteroid along with the dinosaurs and around 90% of
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Bacteria can rapidly evolve resistance to antibiotics by adapting special pumps to flush them out of their cells, according to new research. Antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem of global significance. The rise of resistant 'superbugs' threatens our ability to use antimicrobials like antibiotics to treat and prevent the spread of infections caused by microorganisms. It is hoped that the f
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Welcome To Safepepe! ⦁ ALTCOIN ⦁ SAFEPEPE Is Just 9 Days Old ⦁ Very Low Market Cap Be One Of The First 500 Holders And Position Yourself For A 1000X And This Is Just The Beginning – > Link: https://linktr.ee/safepepe ⦁ Trading On The Binance SMARTCHAIN (BNB) ⦁ 100% LP Locked ⦁ Holders Rewards Taxes 2% going to LP, 2% to holders and 5% for marketing! We are trending on Coinsniper, Coinmooner, Top1
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A revolution in space manufacturing is coming. Enabled by cheaper launch costs, companies are scrambling to take advantage of easier access to the benefits space offers as a manufacturing environment. These include a constant vacuum, near absolute zero temperatures, and a lack of any significant gravity. These features would enable easier processing and manufacturing of hundreds of products, from
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It is as inevitable as the rising of the sun and the turning of the tides. Someday another large rock from space will crash into the Earth. It has happened for billions of years in the past and will continue to happen for billions of years into the future. So far humanity has been lucky, as we have not had to face such a catastrophic threat. But if we are to survive on this planet for the long ter
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As the Greek myth goes, the nymph Eurydice was killed only a few hours after she married the musician Orpheus. Consumed by grief, Orpheus traveled to the Underworld to find his late wife, where he played a song so sad that its rulers Hades and Persephone told the musician that he and Eurydice could go back — albeit under one condition. All Orpheus had to do was wait until they were back in the la
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DNA is well known as the blueprint of life, necessary for an organism to facilitate living processes. DNA can be damaged by various factors such as radical metabolites, radiation, and some toxic chemicals. As DNA is a molecule consisting of two strands, either one or both of the strands can be damaged.
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At the end of a star's life, nuclear fusion ceases, and the resulting pressure is no longer sufficient to counteract the gravitational force. This collapse can lead to the formation of neutron stars, which are composed of the densest matter in the universe. However, the composition of neutron stars has been the subject of much controversy.
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The Late Ordovician mass extinction event (LOME) has long been viewed as odd compared to other mass extinction events in Earth's history. Contrary to nearly all other major extinction phases known from the fossil record it appears to be instigated by an ice age. A new study, however, shows that the LOME was probably governed by mechanisms like those seen during most other events—including global w
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Six months after OpenAI’s silver-tongued chatbot launched on the web and set off an AI arms race, you can put it in your pocket.
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The Late Ordovician mass extinction event (LOME) has long been viewed as odd compared to other mass extinction events in Earth's history. Contrary to nearly all other major extinction phases known from the fossil record it appears to be instigated by an ice age. A new study, however, shows that the LOME was probably governed by mechanisms like those seen during most other events—including global w
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In CNN’s tumultuous town hall last week with Donald Trump, the most jarring moment was the most revealing. For many viewers, an especially discordant exchange came when some of the New Hampshire Republicans in the studio audience laughed and cheered as the former president disparaged E. Jean Carroll, the woman who, just a day earlier, had won a $5 million civil jury verdict against him for sexual
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In 1856, an amateur chemist named William Henry Perkin mixed a batch of chemicals that he hoped, in vain, would yield the malaria drug quinine. When Perkin’s failed experiment turned purple, a hue so vivid that it could stain silks without fading, he realized he’d stumbled upon a different marvel of modernity: a commercially viable synthetic dye, the first of a new generation of chemicals that wo
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Much ado about the debt ceiling the past couple months. As the issue plays on (and on and on) in the news cycle, a reset is in order. Let's get to the nuts and bolts of an issue that—believe it or don't—can be understood even by the numbers-averse among us.
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Adding to the grim list of record ice losses, record air temperatures and record droughts, which have all hit the headlines recently, the temperature of the surface waters of our oceans is also at an all-time high. With an El Niño looming, concerns are that we will soon be facing even worse extremes. Satellites orbiting overhead are being used to carefully track the patterns that lead up to El Niñ
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Rubber-based agroforestry systems are sustainable intercropping systems in which farmers grow multiple crops or livestock alongside rubber trees to improve their income and/or livelihoods, while also reaping the subsequent ecological benefits. However, it is unknown whether adding more intercropped species to the rubber–tea agroforestry system increases the benefits.
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Mosquito season is right around the corner. But there are things you can do to protect yourself. People are most likely to get bitten by mosquitoes during the warm and lazy summer months, says Katie Westby , vector and disease ecologist at the Tyson Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis’ environmental field station in Eureka, Missouri. Westby is interested in how mosquitoes are ad
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Publishing in the journal Nature Sustainability, a team of conservationists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society say that providing a "Conservation Basic Income" (CBI)—of $5.50 per day to all residents of protected areas in low- and middle-income countries would cost less than annual subsidies given to fossil fuels and other environmentally harmful industries.
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Tantrum vs. End Game full fight! #discoveryplus #battlebots Stream Full Episodes of Battlebots https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/moonshiners About Battlebots: Every spring, a fearless group of men and women venture deep into the woods of Appalachia, defying the law, rivals and nature itself to keep the centuries-old tradition of craft whiskey alive. Subscribe to Discovery: https://www.youtube.co
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In 2009, John Rogers, the creator of the crime drama Leverage , wrote a blog post describing how an episode of the show had come together. In it, he noted one of the things he’d learned from fans: They loved the moments when the show’s core team simply chatted about their cases—the thrill of watching smart people being smart together. “Competence porn,” the show’s writers began calling it, and th
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Biodiversity loss ranks among the top three risks to humanity, as stated in the 2023 World Economic Forum Global Risks Report. Understanding biodiversity's basic building blocks is essential to monitor changes, identify influencing factors, and implement appropriate policies. However, much of terrestrial animal diversity, including insects, remains unknown or "dark taxa."
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It may be that the famous Higgs boson, co-responsible for the existence of masses of elementary particles, also interacts with the world of the new physics that has been sought for decades. If this were indeed to be the case, the Higgs should decay in a characteristic way, involving exotic particles. At the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, it has been shown
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Biodiversity loss ranks among the top three risks to humanity, as stated in the 2023 World Economic Forum Global Risks Report. Understanding biodiversity's basic building blocks is essential to monitor changes, identify influencing factors, and implement appropriate policies. However, much of terrestrial animal diversity, including insects, remains unknown or "dark taxa."
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Why are "good colleges" often the ones that accept the fewest students? Exposing the harmful consequences of society's obsession with highly rejective (and expensive) universities, educator Cecilia M. Orphan asks us to rethink what makes institutions "prestigious" and consider directing funds and attention to where they're needed most: regional public universities that serve all students. A call f
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A team of chemists from Tsinghua University and Guangxi Normal University, both in China, has found an organic catalyst that can be used to make chlorine more energy efficiently. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they searched for and found an organocatalyst with an amide functional group that could be used to enable a chlorine evolution reaction.
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From self-cannibalism to spilling tomato sauce down my wedding dress, my nightmares are trying to keep me real Just what is the function of a recurring nightmare? Why am I forever doomed to be nude in different workplaces? Are these fantasies constructed to rehearse for the play of your life? Or are they, as I suspect, a way for your brain to chop down the tall poppy of your psyche? Maybe my brai
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There are now two impressive possible treatments for this form of dementia. But concerns remain over cost and potential side-effects Could a new treatment developed by the US pharmaceutical company Lilley mean “ the beginning of the end ” of Alzheimer’s? Could we even cure the disease some day? These are the types of headlines and questions swirling around after news of a new drug, called donanem
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Book It A man says he's written almost 100 books using AI since August 2022 and made around $2,000, according to a first-hand account he wrote for Newsweek . While a perusal of the books in question reveals the barest of plots and character development, they serve as curious AI-generated novelties that tantalizingly suggest the technology's potential — or, depending on your point of view, entrepr
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Molecular clocks in our cells synchronize our bodies with the cycle of night and day, cue us for sleep and waking, and drive daily cycles in virtually every aspect of our physiology. Scientists studying the molecular mechanisms of our biological clocks have now identified a key event that controls the timing of the clock.
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In order to move, cells must be able to rapidly change shape. A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show that cells achieve this by storing extra "skin" in folds and bumps on their surface. This cell surface excess can be rapidly deployed to cover temporary protrusions and then folded away for next time. The study appears May 17 in the Biophysical Journal.
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A dinosaur specimen from Castellón, Spain represents a new proposed species of spinosaurid, reports a paper published in Scientific Reports. The identification of a potential new species suggests that the Iberian peninsula may have been a diverse area for medium-to-large bodied spinosaurid dinosaurs and sheds light on the origin and evolution of spinosaurids.
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In order to move, cells must be able to rapidly change shape. A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show that cells achieve this by storing extra "skin" in folds and bumps on their surface. This cell surface excess can be rapidly deployed to cover temporary protrusions and then folded away for next time. The study appears May 17 in the Biophysical Journal.
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A dinosaur specimen from Castellón, Spain represents a new proposed species of spinosaurid, reports a paper published in Scientific Reports. The identification of a potential new species suggests that the Iberian peninsula may have been a diverse area for medium-to-large bodied spinosaurid dinosaurs and sheds light on the origin and evolution of spinosaurids.
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Harvard University researchers have improved a gene editing process for studying and treating genetic disorders. The prime editing method is effective in human cells, targeting single nucleotide variants with the ability to precisely correct pathogenic mutations or install more protective variants. While success in the lab has been promising, translating these effects into living systems where the
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Harvard University researchers have improved a gene editing process for studying and treating genetic disorders. The prime editing method is effective in human cells, targeting single nucleotide variants with the ability to precisely correct pathogenic mutations or install more protective variants. While success in the lab has been promising, translating these effects into living systems where the
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AI is the talk of the town these days. But despite the technology’s impressive accomplishments—or perhaps because of them—not all of that talk is positive. There was a New York Times tech columnist’s piece about his unsettling interaction with ChatGPT in February; an open letter calling for a moratorium on AI research in March; “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton’s dramatic resignation from Google
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On June 27, 2010, the FBI arrested 10 Russian spies who lived and worked as American professionals near New York City. The case, which unraveled an intricate system of false identities and clandestine meetings, exposed one of the largest spy networks in the U.S. since the Cold War ended and inspired the show The Americans. It also brought attention to steganography, a way of disguising a secret..
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The breadth of BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti's AI aspirations just got a lot clearer — and if he has it his way, AI use at the viral publisher won't be limited to time-killing quizzes and bottom-tier travel guides . " BuzzFeed has always lived at the intersection of technology and creativity. And recent developments in artificial intelligence represent an opportunity to take this convergence to the
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The University of Alicante Applied Biochemistry research group⁠—in collaboration with researchers from the Alicante University Hospital Dr. Balmis (HGUDB) and the Alicante Health and Biomedical Research Institute (ISABIAL)⁠—has identified the anti-cancer capacity of a pigment present in the Santa Pola salt flats. This pigment is produced by certain microorganisms, the "halophilic archaea," in orde
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The University of Alicante Applied Biochemistry research group⁠—in collaboration with researchers from the Alicante University Hospital Dr. Balmis (HGUDB) and the Alicante Health and Biomedical Research Institute (ISABIAL)⁠—has identified the anti-cancer capacity of a pigment present in the Santa Pola salt flats. This pigment is produced by certain microorganisms, the "halophilic archaea," in orde
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Hey everyone! I'm a Digital Marketing Specialist at Lasting Dynamics, a custom software development company focused on empowering businesses in fintech, health, and other industries through digital transformation. Our team of skilled developers and technology consultants collaborates closely with clients to create groundbreaking software solutions that enhance operational efficiency, elevate cust
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In nature, the skin of cephalopods (animals with tentacles attached to the head) exhibits unparalleled camouflage ability. Their skin contains pigment groups that can sense changes in environmental light conditions, and they adjust their appearance through the action of pigment cells. Although intricate in nature, this color-changing ability is fundamentally based on a mechanical mechanism in whic
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Natural and artificial crystals can change the spectral color of light, which is known as the nonlinear optical effect. Color conversion is used for numerous applications, including nonlinear microscopy for biological structures and material examinations, LED light sources and lasers in optical communications, and in photonics and its resulting technologies such as quantum computing. Researchers f
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Nature Communications, Published online: 18 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38363-2 Giardia lamblia intestinal infection is independently associated with faltering linear growth in children in low-middle income countries, yet the mechanistic pathway has not been clearly identified. Authors utilise the MAL-ED cohort, and a gnotobiotic murine model, to explain Giardia-induced effects on childhood
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Gorillas who survive past age 6 are largely unaffected by adversity they encountered as infants or juveniles, according to new research. There’s something most species—from baboons to humans to horses—have in common: When they suffer serious adversity early in life, they’re more likely to experience hardship later on in life. When researchers decided to look at this question in gorillas, they wer
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A specially designed capsule can voyage through the digestive system, collecting new data about digestion and microorganisms. Most of the process of digestion takes place in our small intestine, where enzymes break down food so it can be absorbed through the gut wall. “CapScan gives us a fuller picture of the gut metabolome and its interactions with the gut microbiome for the first time.” “The sm
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This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Future space food could be made from astronaut breath The future of space food could be as simple—and weird—as a protein shake made with astronaut breath or a burger made from fungus. For decades, astronauts have relied mostly on pre-packaged food, or the occa
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Several centuries ago, as scientists began to embrace the startling idea that Earth was not the center of the universe, they also began to ponder its startling implication: that the stars in the night sky might be suns in their own right, orbited by their own worlds. Until the 1990s, that idea was no more than a hypothesis. By then, telescopes had become sufficiently advanced to reveal the hard e
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As I arrived for the first day of the National Conservatism Conference in London, a protester outside shouted directions to me: “Up the stairs—turn far right.” That description, unsurprisingly, would have offended many of the speakers gathered this week at the Emmanuel Centre, a 10-minute walk from Big Ben. One of them, the journalist Melanie Phillips, published an article after the conference’s
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In an apology statement on Tuesday after his latest suspension for apparently brandishing a gun on social media, the NBA star Ja Morant declared , “My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.” The Memphis Grizzlies point guard is right: His promises can’t be trusted. On Saturday, an Instagram Live video appear
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If you’re looking for a reason the world will suddenly end, it’s not hard to find one—especially if your job is to convince people they need to buy things to prepare for the apocalypse. “World War III, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Joe Biden—you know, everything that’s messed up in the world,” Ron Hubbard, the CEO of Atlas Survival Shelters, told me. His Texas-based company sells bunkers with
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Talking to my three elementary-school-age daughters about beauty can be hard. No matter how much I insist that their looks don’t matter, that their character is what truly counts in life, they don’t believe me. About a year ago, I was tiptoeing down the hallway after tucking my 9- and 6-year-olds into their bunk bed when I overheard the younger one. “Momma says it doesn’t matter if you’re beautif
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Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. W hen we are stuck on a hard problem, it usually isn’t because we can’t find the answer; it’s that we don’t even know the right question. Imagine that you are trying to figure out how fast food can make you healthier: You are overlooking the right first question—which is whether fast food can do
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Chemists have taken a big step toward splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules to make pure hydrogen — without using fossil fuels. Results from pulse radiolysis experiments have laid bare the complete reaction mechanism for an important group of 'water-splitting' catalysts. The work means scientists are closer to making pure hydrogen from renewable energy, an energy source that could contribute to
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Prehistoric hearths found near Madrid date back about 250,000 years, with nearby tools showing food traces Prehistoric humans in Europe might have been sitting round campfires built to toast snacks as early as 250,000 years ago – 50,000 years earlier than originally thought, researchers have suggested. Human species have a long association with fire, with some sites suggesting its controlled use
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Approximately 700,000 years ago, a 'warm ice age' permanently changed the climate cycles on Earth. During this exceptionally warm and moist period, the polar glaciers greatly expanded. A research team identified this seemingly paradoxical connection. The shift in the Earth's climate represents a critical step in our planet's later climate development.
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The latest version of ChatGPT passed a radiology board-style exam, highlighting the potential of large language models but also revealing limitations that hinder reliability, according to two new research studies.
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Chemists have taken a big step toward splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules to make pure hydrogen — without using fossil fuels. Results from pulse radiolysis experiments have laid bare the complete reaction mechanism for an important group of 'water-splitting' catalysts. The work means scientists are closer to making pure hydrogen from renewable energy, an energy source that could contribute to
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There is an ongoing culture war, and not just in the US, over the content of childhood education, both public and private. This seems to be flaring up recently, but is never truly gone. Republicans in the US have recently escalated this war by banning over 500 books in several states (mostly Florida) because they contain “inappropriate” content. There are a few issues worth exploring here. First,
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As children and teens head into summer break, how can parents nurture their mental health? Parenting researcher Matthew Mulvaney , associate professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, has recommendations. In both his teaching and his research, he seeks to understand the principles by which parents and families support optimal child development. Here, he answers q
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This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. I seem to be constantly signing up for new subscriptions these days. Netflix, Paramount+, and of course I’m glued to the latest season of Succession , so now I’m back on HBO Max too. And soon, I might have another subscription to consider adding to that lis
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Ramakrishna Vankayalapati The chair of the Department of Pulmonary Immunology at the University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center lost a paper last year after an institutional investigation found several issues with the data in the article. Although the researcher, Ramakrishna Vankayalapati , is still identified as the chair on his online profile and the department’s website , he no longer
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Nature, Published online: 16 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01653-2 Commercial projects might take the ISS’s place once the ageing orbiter is deliberately crashed into the ocean in 2031. Plus, a rare mutation protected one man from early Alzheimer’s and human DNA ‘bycatch’ can reveal personal information.
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Nature, Published online: 15 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01643-4 The most energetic explosion ever observed is a fireball 100 times the size of the Solar System. Plus, how the world’s regulators can keep pace with human embryo science and one scientist’s experience of bouncing back from intense burnout.
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India, a land of vibrant colors, diverse traditions, and rich heritage, is renowned for its exquisite clothing styles that reflect the country's cultural tapestry. Indian dress has captivated the world with its intricate designs, luxurious fabrics, and timeless elegance. From the elegant saree to the regal sherwani, each garment tells a story and embodies the essence of India's diverse regions an
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#Artificial #intelligence (AI) – The system needsnew structures – "I thought the whole idea of strong AI is that wedon't have to know how the brain works in order to know how the mindworks." (John Searle: "Minds, Brains, and Programs."2000, p.146) Construction 1This is "Construction 1"of my entire essay "The system needs new structures – not onlyfor/against Artificial Intelligence (AI)" and forms
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Nature Communications, Published online: 18 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38513-6 Electrocyclic reactions proceed through critical geometries, which are known as pericyclic transition states in thermal reactions and pericyclic minima in photochemical reactions. Here, the authors image the structure of a pericyclic minimum in real time using a combination of ultrafast electron diffraction and a
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Nature Communications, Published online: 18 May 2023; doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38356-1 Single cell sequencing can be used to better characterize immune cell progenitors. Here the authors characterize CLEC12Ahi pre-basophils downstream of pre-basophil and mast cell progenitors (pre-BMPs) but upstream of mature basophils and this population includes basophil progenitors (BaPs).
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The future of space food could be as simple—and weird—as a protein shake made with astronaut breath or a burger made from fungus. For decades, astronauts have relied mostly on pre-packaged food, or the occasional grown lettuce , during their forays off our planet. With missions beyond Earth orbit in sight, a NASA-led competition is hoping to change all that and usher in a new era of sustainable s
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The flight from urban areas that took place during the first year of the pandemic either reversed or slowed in its second year, as last year metropolitan areas in Texas and Florida boomed and declines in New York and Los Angeles were halved, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has likely taken a disproportionate toll on foster children, who already face tremendous instability in their day-to-day lives and relationships. Because these children are underrepresented in research studies, however, we may never know the full extent of the harms they suffered.
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Open access notables Visiting online haunts of climate science rejectionists reveals a nexus of anxieties in some sections of the public: climate change and population migration. Judging from connections formed in headlines and article texts, one could easily conclude that readers' fears are being exploited; it's not hard to find content implying that the concept of climate change is a subterfuge
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Osha Davidson When I arrived at Karen Nabity’s place in Arizona’s Rio Verde Foothills on a spring afternoon, she opened the door and flashed a big smile. “Oh good!” she said, laughing as she ushered me inside. “You got here in time for happy hour!” I’m not much of a drinker, but as it turned out she wasn’t talking about adult beverages for humans
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