All-terrain microrobot flips through a live colon — ScienceDaily
A rectangular robot as tiny as a few human hairs can travel throughout a colon by doing back flips, Purdue University engineers have demonstrated in live animal models. Why the back flips? Because the goal is to use these robots to transport drugs in humans, whose colons and other organs have rough terrain. Side flips […]
Evolution made mosquitos into stealthy, sensitive vampires
A yellow fever mosquito discretely sinks its labrum into its prey (a human that’s hundreds of times its size). (Centers for Disease and Control/) Adapted excerpt taken from The Inside Out of Flies by Erica McAlister, with permission from Firefly Books Ltd. The mouthparts in flies are as spectacular and as diverse as their choice […]
Researchers develop a plant-based thermotherapy patch
A team of researchers at Tampere University, Finland, has developed a biodegradable, transparent, flexible and fast-acting thermotherapy patch from plant leaves. The patch is compatible with flexible electronic applications. Plant material was used to reduce the amount of electronic waste. The researchers used leaves from a Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). The veins of the leaves […]
Drought more likely than blizzards this winter
Credit: Larisa Koshkina/public domain Don’t expect much of a winter wallop this year, except for the pain of worsening drought, U.S. government forecasters said Thursday. Two-thirds of the United States should get a warmer than normal winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted. Only Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and northwestern Minnesota, will […]
What is RNA? | Live Science
More than just DNA’s lesser-known cousin, RNA plays a central role in turning genetic information into your body’s proteins. This remarkable molecule also carries the genetic instructions for many viruses, and it may have helped life get its start. ‘Central Dogma’ Together, RNA, short for ribonucleic acid, and DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, make up […]
A spherical star cluster has surprisingly few heavy elements
A strange, newly measured clump of stars orbiting the nearby Andromeda galaxy has the lowest level of heavy chemical elements ever seen in one of these mysterious star clusters. Named RBC EXT8, this globular cluster is also surprisingly massive, challenging theories for how such clusters and some galaxies form, astronomers report online October 15 in […]
Machine learning uncovers potential new TB drugs — ScienceDaily
Machine learning is a computational tool used by many biologists to analyze huge amounts of data, helping them to identify potential new drugs. MIT researchers have now incorporated a new feature into these types of machine-learning algorithms, improving their prediction-making ability. Using this new approach, which allows computer models to account for uncertainty in the […]
What Controls Giant Subduction Earthquakes?
Giant earthquakes—those greater than magnitude 8.5—are rare. That’s good news for people living on the coastlines along subduction zones where giant earthquakes occur but bad news for geophysicists who want to understand where and why they strike. Now, a new study that models seismic activity in subduction zones has pinpointed the factors responsible […]
Don’t worry. Your dentist probably won’t catch COVID-19.
The results of a new survey from the American Dental Association suggest that, earlier in the pandemic at least, dentists caught COVID-19 far less often than was expected. (Unsplash/) By now, most of us know that one of the ways COVID-19 is spread is by aerosols: droplets both large and small hanging in the air […]
Scientists discover a new mechanism for cellular defense against viral and bacterial infections
A study published in the journal Science and coordinated by researchers of IDIBAPS, the UB and teh Spanish National Center of Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) describes a new immune defence mechanism unknown until now. It is a mechanism orchestrated by lipid droplets (LDs), the cellular organelles capable of attracting and eliminating invading pathogens. Researchers from Spain, […]
