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Viral genome sequencing of wastewater can detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants before they are detected by local clinical sequencing, according to a new study reported in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The ability to track SARS-CoV-2 mutations in wastewater could be particularly useful for tracking new variants, like the B.1.17 strain that is now widespread in the U.K. and has already been introduced in the U....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Developmental Cell. In order to do so, scientists have been trying to reproduce the changes that occurred 400 million years ago, in the Devonian period. The researchers added Hoxd13, a gene known to play a role in distinguishing body parts during embryological development, to the tip of a zebrafish embryo’s fin. The objects at the ends of the embryo’s fins started to look like autopods, the multifinger proto-extremities that evolved from lobe-finned fish, allowing the first terrestrial evolutionary push....

SuperAger neurons are even larger than those in individuals 20 to 30 years youngerThese neurons do not have tau tangles that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’sLarger neurons in the brain’s memory region are a biological signature of SuperAging trajectory Neurons in the entorhinal cortex, an area of the brain responsible for memory, were significantly larger in SuperAgers compared to cognitively average peers and individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. They were even larger compared to individuals 20 to 30 years younger than SuperAgers — who are aged 80 years and older....

We’ve known for almost a century about the expansion of the universe. Astronomers noted that the light from faraway galaxies has a lower wavelength than that of galaxies close by. The light waves seem stretched, or redshifted, which means that those far galaxies are moving away. This expansion rate, or Hubble constant, can be measured. Certain supernovas, or exploding stars, have a well-understood brightness, this makes it possible to estimate their distance from earth, and relate that distance to their redshift or speed....

However, this diverse group of animals, which would fundamentally change global ecology and environments, was much slower to evolve and expand their range than their distant cousins living closer to the surface and swimming through the oceans, Yale geologist Lidya Tarhan reports on August 1 in the journal Geology. “The two events didn’t quite sync up in geological time,” Tarhan said. Today burrowing animals, by churning up sediment, dramatically shape the nature of the seafloor, the chemical composition of the seas, and the development of communities and hospitable environments....

The scientists published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Literacy requires the integration of brain activity in the areas associated with vision, hearing and language, which are distributed throughout the brain. Efficient communication between them is essential for children to become proficient readers. Jason Yeatman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in California, et al. studied how the development of reading ability relates to the growth in the brain’s white-matter tracts, the bundles of fibers that connect distant regions of the brain....

But parents don’t always agree to such invites, with nearly half in a new national poll saying they have declined a playdate because they didn’t feel comfortable leaving their child in the other parent’s care. Parents’ top concerns about playdates include children being unsupervised, hearing inappropriate language, getting into medications and harmful substances, and getting injured, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health at the University of Michigan....

Until recently, every spacecraft in history had made all of its measurements inside our heliosphere, the magnetic bubble inflated by our Sun. But on August 25, 2012, NASA’s Voyager 1 changed that. As it crossed the heliosphere’s boundary, it became the first human-made object to enter – and measure – interstellar space. Now eight years into its interstellar journey, a close listen of Voyager 1’s data is yielding new insights into what that frontier is like....

Astronomers have finally found direct proof that almost all water present in Jupiter’s stratosphere was delivered by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which struck the planet in 1994. The result is based on new data from Herschel that revealed more water in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere, where the impacts occurred, than in the north as well as probing the vertical distribution of water in the planet’s stratosphere. The origin of water in the upper atmospheres of the Solar System’s giant planets has been debated for almost two decades....

The Neptune-like planet orbits a star a quarter of its size about once every ten days, leaving a comet-like tail of gas comprised of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur in its wake. The discovery by astronomers from the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics and the Millennium Nucleus for Planet Formation (NPF) at the University of Valparaíso is published today (December 4, 2019) in the journal Nature. It is the first evidence of a giant planet orbiting a white dwarf star and suggests that there could be many more planets around such stars waiting to be discovered....

Regardless of whether an adult is young or old, male or female, their recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein, set by the Institute of Medicine, is the same: 0.8-g/kg/day. Many experts and national organizations recommend dietary protein intakes greater than the recommended allowance to maintain and promote muscle growth in older adults. However, few rigorous studies have evaluated whether higher protein intake among older adults provides meaningful benefit. A randomized, clinical trial conducted by Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigator Shalender Bhasin, MD, and colleagues has found that higher protein intake did not increase lean body mass, muscle performance, physical function or other well-being measures among older men....

Joten Okamoto (NAOJ Fellow) and Takashi Sakurai (Professor Emeritus of NAOJ) were analyzing data taken by the Solar Optical Telescope onboard Hinode, when they noticed the signature of strongly magnetized iron atoms in a sunspot. Surprisingly the data indicated a magnetic field strength of 6,250 gauss (*1). This is more than double the 3,000 gauss field found around most sunspots. Previously, magnetic fields this strong on the Sun had only been inferred indirectly....

Reaching the halfway point of the mission on Flight Day 13 of a 25.5 day mission, the spacecraft remains in healthy condition as it continues its journey in distant retrograde orbit, an approximately six-day leg of its larger mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon. “Because of the unbelievable can-do spirit, Artemis I has had extraordinary success and has completed a series of history-making events,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson....

People who get migraines are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, while some people who develop diabetes become less prone to migraines. Today, scientists studying the link between these conditions report how the peptides that cause migraine pain can influence production of insulin in mice, possibly by regulating the amount of secreted insulin or by increasing the number of pancreatic cells that produce it. These findings could improve methods to prevent or treat diabetes....

This target seems pretty steep when you think about how much water that actually is, and don’t we also get some water from the food we eat? We asked five medical and sports science experts if we really need to drink eight glasses of water per day. All five experts said no Here are their detailed responses: Karen Dwyer – Nephrologist You only need to drink to thirst. The best gauge of your hydration level is the color of your urine....

Astronomers of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have, for the first time, successfully tested a new method for determining the masses of extreme black holes in quasars. This method is called spectroastrometry and is based on the measurement of radiation emitted by gas in the vicinity of supermassive black holes. This measurement simultaneously determines the rotational velocity of the radiating gas and its distance from the center of the accretion disk from which material flows into the black hole....

The central galaxy streaked with color, IC 4870, was discovered by DeLisle Stewart in 1900 and is located approximately 28 million light-years away. It contains an active galactic nucleus, or AGN: an extremely luminous central region so alight with radiation that it can outshine the rest of the galaxy put together. AGNs emit radiation across the complete electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma-rays, produced by the action of a central supermassive black hole that is devouring material getting too close to it....

Messier 98 is estimated to contain about a trillion of stars and is full of cosmic dust — visible here as a web of red-brown stretching across the frame — and hydrogen gas. This abundance of star-forming material means that Messier 98 is producing stellar newborns at a high rate; the galaxy shows the characteristic signs of stars springing to life throughout its bright center and whirling arms. This image of Messier 98 was taken in 1995 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, an instrument that was installed on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope from 1993 to 2009....

If that doesn’t make your mind spin, just imagine what happens when two of these condensed cannon balls collide head-on. They ripple the very fabric of time and space in a phenomenon called gravitational waves, which can be measured by detectors on the ground on Earth. The explosive event, named GW170817, was observed in August 2017. The blast released energy comparable to that of a supernova explosion. It was the first combined detection of gravitational waves and gamma radiation from a neutron star merger....

Researchers in South Korea have developed a technology that enables immediate detection of specific airborne viruses in the field. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that the collaborative research team led by Dr. Joonseok Lee from Molecular Recognition Research Center, Professor Min-Gon Kim from the Department of Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), and Professor Chan-Seon Song from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, developed a detection platform that can simultaneously sample and monitor airborne viruses in the field....