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Astronomers have detected elusive pulsation patterns in dozens of young, rapidly rotating stars thanks to data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The discovery will revolutionize scientists’ ability to study details like the ages, sizes and compositions of these stars — all members of a class named for the prototype, the bright star Delta Scuti. “Delta Scuti stars clearly pulsate in interesting ways, but the patterns of those pulsations have so far defied understanding,” said Tim Bedding, a professor of astronomy at the University of Sydney....

A new study performed in human lung airway cells is one of the first to show a potential link between exposure to organophosphate pesticides and increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection. The findings could have implications for veterans, many of whom were exposed to organophosphate pesticides during wartime. Exposure to organophosphate pesticides is thought to be one of the possible causes of Gulf War Illness, a cluster of medically unexplained chronic symptoms that can include fatigue, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, insomnia, dizziness, respiratory disorders and memory problems....

The result, published today (November 6, 2019) in the journal Nature, is one of the most precise measurements from electron-scattering experiments. The new value for the proton radius that was obtained is 0.831 fm, which is smaller than the previous electron-scattering value of 0.88 fm and is in agreement with recent muonic atomic spectroscopy results. “We are happy that years of hard work of our collaboration is coming to an end with a good result that will help critically toward the solution of the so-called proton radius puzzle,” says Ashot Gasparian, a professor at North Carolina A&T State University and the experiment’s spokesperson....

ESA’s Planck space telescope has made the first conclusive detection of a bridge of hot gas connecting a pair of galaxy clusters across 10 million light-years of intergalactic space. Planck’s primary task is to capture the most ancient light of the cosmos, the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB. As this faint light traverses the Universe, it encounters different types of structure including galaxies and galaxy clusters – assemblies of hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity....

The research uses a novel but simple metric to classify plant complexity based on the arrangement and number of basic parts in their reproductive structures. While scientists have long assumed that plants became more complex with the advent of seeds and flowers, the new findings, published on September 17, 2021, in Science, offer insight into the timing and magnitude of those changes. “The most surprising thing is this kind of stasis, this plateau in complexity after the initial evolution of seeds and then the total change that happened when flowering plants started diversifying,” said lead study author Andrew Leslie, an assistant professor of geological sciences at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth)....

Tropical deforestation causes widespread degradation of biodiversity and carbon stocks. Researchers were now able to test the relationship between land tenure and deforestation rates in Brazil. Their findings show that poorly defined land rights go hand in hand with increased deforestation rates. The study, by researchers from the German Center of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University, was published today (October 1) in the journal Nature Communications. Privatizing these lands, as is often promoted in the tropics, can only mitigate this effect if they go hand in hand with strict environmental policies....

Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new method that could one day replace conventional pressure treating as a way to make lumber not only fungal-resistant but also nearly impervious to water — and more thermally insulating. The new method, which will be reported today (February 13, 2020) in the journal Langmuir and jointly sponsored by the Department of Defense, the Gulf Research Program, and the Westendorf Undergraduate Research Fund, involves applying a protective coating of metal oxide that is only a few atoms thick throughout the entire cellular structure of the wood....

Primordial chemical signatures discovered in modern kimberlites trace back 2 billion years. Scientists have detected primordial chemical signatures preserved within modern kimberlites, according to new research by a multi-national team involving a University of Alberta scientist. The results provide critical insight for understanding the formation of Earth. “Knowing the chemical signature of Earth’s original building blocks is the holy grail of geochemistry,” said Graham Pearson, author on the study. “This knowledge can help us understand the formation of the planets in the solar system as well as their relationship to each other....

The study, conducted in the DR Congo, Nigeria, and Uganda, which aimed to investigate the large-scale roll-out of the antimalarial drug RAS, has found that when used as an emergency treatment in real-world conditions, RAS was not effective in improving the survival rate of young children suffering from severe malaria. “Our findings point to a very inconvenient but important issue,” said Manuel Hetzel, Professor of Epidemiology at Swiss TPH and first author of the publication....

Protected California sea lions are apparently gorging themselves on Chinook salmons and steelheads in the Columbia River, both of which are listed as threatened populations. Wildlife managers along the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon are facing a quandary. Sea lions have been congregating there for the past decade to feast on salmon waiting to climb the fish ladders at the base of the Bonneville Dam on their way to spawn each spring....

In the early 1980s, researchers first noted an unexpected effect when two hydrophobic surfaces were slowly brought together in water. “At some point, the two surfaces would suddenly jump into contact—like two magnets being brought together,” says Himanshu Mishra from KAUST’s Water Desalination and Reuse Center. Mishra’s lab investigates water at all length scales, from reducing water consumption in agriculture, to the properties of individual water molecules. Researchers were unable to explain the phenomenon at the molecular level, so in 2016, Mishra organized a KAUST conference on the subject....

Artyom Yurov explained: “To begin with, let’s remember what quantum physics is. Perhaps this is the most amazing phenomenon known to people. When scientists started studying atoms for the first time, they noticed that everything works “upside down” in the microcosm. For example, according to quantum theory, an electron may present in several places simultaneously. Try to imagine your cat simultaneously lying on the sofa and eating from its bowl that is in the other corner of the room....

Physicists around the world have for decades been trying to detect neutrinos, which are constantly bombarding our planet and which are lighter than any other known subatomic particles. Scientists hope that by capturing neutrinos, they can study them and, hopefully, understand where they come from and what they do. But existing attempts are often expensive, and miss an entire class of high-energy neutrinos from some of the furthest reaches of space....

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists have discovered the fastest way to identify potent, neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The method—as well as a trio of successful animal studies on an antibody called “Ab1”—are described today (November 2, 2020) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ab1 is on track for human clinical trials by early next year. At any given time, the human body contains up to 10 billion different antibodies....

The signaling protein, known as PGRMC2, had not been extensively studied in the past. Short for “progesterone receptor membrane component 2,” it had been detected in the uterus, liver, and several areas of the body. But the lab of Enrique Saez, Ph.D., saw that it was most abundant in fat tissue—particularly in brown fat, which turns food into heat to maintain body temperature—and became interested in its function there....

That’s what Yuping Zeng, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, aims to discover. She and a team of researchers recently created a high-electron-mobility transistor, a device that amplifies and controls electrical current, using gallium nitride (GaN) with indium aluminum-nitride as the barrier on a silicon substrate. They described their results in the journal Applied Physics Express. Among devices of its type, Zeng’s transistor has record-setting properties, including record low gate leakage current (a measure of current loss), a record high on/off current ratio (the magnitude of the difference of current transmitted between the on state and off state) and a record high current gain cutoff frequency (an indication of how much data can be transmitted with a wide range of frequencies)....

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 caused a new wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The new mutations help the virus spread more effectively and avoid antibodies, which is why those who have already had the disease or who have been vaccinated are getting infected more often. At the same time, recent data shows that the severity of the disease in vaccinated patients is significantly lower than in people who had not previously contracted the virus....

The human neocortex is roughly three times bigger than that of our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, and is the seat of many of the higher cognitive functions that are unique to humans, such as our speech or the ability to learn. A key question for scientists is how in human evolution the neocortex became so big. In a 2015 study, the team around Wieland Huttner, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, found that under the influence of the human-specific gene ARHGAP11B, mice produced much more neural progenitor cells and could even undergo folding of their normally unfolded neocortex....

Bush fires can cause destruction – but at the same time create new life: many species of the genus Banksia commonly found in Australia require heat in order for their seeds to be released from the pods. Since fires occur at irregular intervals, the mature seeds often remain in the two-valved pods for long time periods – up to 17 years in some species. During this long period of time, the seed pods are constantly exposed to environmental challenges....

A new study from the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia is the first to suggest that COVID-19 does not directly damage taste bud cells. Contrary to previous studies that have shown damage may be caused directly by the virus particle, the researchers, led by Hongxiang Liu, associate professor of animal and dairy science in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, found that taste loss is likely caused indirectly by events induced during COVID-19 inflammation....