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The new catalyst is designed to add functional groups to aliphatic hydrocarbons, which are organic compounds consisting solely of hydrogen and carbon. These hydrocarbons usually do not mix with water and form separate layers due to their lack of functional groups. By incorporating functional groups into these hydrocarbon chains, the properties of the materials can be significantly altered and made more recyclable. “Methane in natural gas is the simplest of hydrocarbons with nothing but carbon-hydrogen (CH) bonds....

More than 140,000 US children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One U.S. child loses a parent or caregiver for every four COVID-19 deaths, a new modeling study published today in Pediatrics reveals. The findings illustrate orphanhood as a hidden and ongoing secondary tragedy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasizes that identifying and caring for these children throughout their development is a necessary and urgent part of the pandemic response – both for as long as the pandemic continues, as well as in the post-pandemic era....

That’s a question physicists including me have tried to answer for decades. But it is proving difficult. Although we can confidently trace cosmic history back to one second after the Big Bang, what happened before is harder to gauge. Our particle accelerators simply can’t produce enough energy to replicate the extreme conditions that prevailed in the first nanosecond. But we expect that it’s in that first tiny fraction of a second that the key features of our universe were imprinted....

When seeing these increasing case numbers, it is reasonable to wonder if this is the dreaded second wave of the coronavirus – a resurgence of rising infections after a reduction in cases. The U.S. as a whole is not in a second wave because the first wave never really stopped. The virus is simply spreading into new populations or resurging in places that let down their guard too soon....

This dramatic infrared image shows the nearby star formation region Monoceros R2, located some 2700 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros (the Unicorn). The picture was created from exposures in the near-infrared bands Y, J, and Ks taken by the VISTA survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Monoceros R2 is an association of massive hot young stars illuminating a beautiful collection of reflection nebulae, embedded in a large molecular cloud....

Using this device, which consists of several tubes contained within a needle about as thin as a human hair, the researchers can deliver one or more drugs deep within the brain, with very precise control over how much drug is given and where it goes. In a study of rats, they found that they could deliver targeted doses of a drug that affects the animals’ motor function. “We can infuse very small amounts of multiple drugs compared to what we can do intravenously or orally, and also manipulate behavioral changes through drug infusion,” says Canan Dagdeviren, the LG Electronics Career Development Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and the lead author of the paper, which appears in the Jan....

Most consumers want to make food purchases that are smart for their wallets, their health, and the environment. And while switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet can lower one’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions, it may not be realistic or healthful for everyone. Now, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report three ways that Americans can reduce the carbon footprint of their food purchases, without requiring drastic dietary changes....

Some harmful algae create domoic acid, which causes vomiting, cramping, headaches, and even seizures, and memory loss. Others produce saxitoxin, which causes numbness, staggering, and respiratory failure. Toxic blooms occur naturally when deep, nutrient-rich water swells up in the coasts. They can be amplified by land runoff of fertilizers and other chemicals that provide nutrients, like phosphorous. Algal blooms have been increasing in frequency in coastal waters almost everywhere. According to the NOAA, in the USA alone, algal blooms have caused $82 million in health costs and economic damages to fisheries as well as tourism....

In recent years, ferroptosis has been linked to a number of illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease and acute organ damage. The results of this study support the idea that vitamin K treatment might be a new, effective way to treat various disorders associated with ferroptosis. Vitamin K is a potent ferroptosis suppressor Since ferroptosis prevention is considered a highly promising approach for the therapy of many degenerative diseases, new mechanisms and compounds regulating ferroptosis are extensively being explored....

When threatened, the marine parchment tube worm secretes a sticky slime that emits a unique long-lasting blue light. New research into how the worm creates and sustains this light suggests that the process is self-powered. “The light, or bioluminescence, produced by this worm does not appear as flashes, like in most luminous organisms, but as a long-lasting glow,” said Evelien De Meulenaere, PhD, a researcher in Dimitri Deheyn’s lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography....

The effect is so strong—a team of scientists from the University of Vermont discovered—that the increase in happiness from a visit to an outpost of urban nature is equivalent to the mood spike on Christmas, by far the happiest day each year on Twitter. With more people living in cities, and growing rates of mood disorders, this research may have powerful implications for public health and urban planning. The new study was published on August 20 in People and Nature, an open-access journal of the British Ecological Society....

Mount Merapi on Java is among the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Geoscientists have usually used seismic measurements which illustrate underground movements when warning the population of a coming eruption in time. An international team including scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now found another indication for an upcoming eruption in the lava from the peak of Mount Merapi: The uppermost layer of stone, the “plug dome”, becomes impermeable for underground gases before the volcano erupts....

If you often find yourself off by one while counting your socks after doing the laundry, you might want to take a seat for this. Researchers from Japan have now counted the extra, or missing charges, in a single platinum nanoparticle with a diameter that is only a tenth of that of common viruses. This new method for carefully examining changes in net charge on metal nanoparticles will assist in the further understanding and development of catalysts for converting greenhouse and other dangerous gases into fuels and benign gases, or for effectively producing ammonia required for agricultural fertilizers....

Urine is mostly water, mixed in with nutrients that plants can quickly and easily absorb. It can be compared to the nitrogen-rich fertilizer urea, except that it’s liquid and free. When urine is separated at the source, resources, which would otherwise be used to treat waste through expensive sewage treatment systems, are saved. The farmers using urine as a fertilizer can also offset their carbon footprint, reducing the need for phosphorous....

Scientists at Yale University have found a new way to manipulate microwave signals that could aid the long-term effort to develop a quantum computer, a powerful tool that would revolutionize information processing through unprecedented speed and power. Like regular (classical) computers, quantum computers must be able to receive, store, and manipulate information in order to perform calculations. But the fragile nature of quantum information — which exists as a “0” or “1” or both simultaneously — poses challenges....

“Over the last seven years, we have created a detailed map of the epigenetic alterations that occur in the brain of people affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias such as those associated with the so-called Lewy bodies or Parkinson’s disease. That allowed us to collaborate with Dr. Johannes Gräff’s group in Lausanne, who noticed how one of the molecular lesions we had discovered was caused by inheriting a variation in the DNA sequence” – states Dr....

These items of plastic waste have become symbolic of the pandemic and have now entered the archaeological record, in particular face-masks. In the UK alone, 748 million items of PPE, amounting to 14 million items a day, were delivered to hospitals in the two or so months from February 25, 2020, comprising 360 million gloves, 158 million masks, 135 million aprons, and one million gowns. Within the context of this COVID-specific, single-use plastic and its impacts, the authors of the study argue that an archaeological perspective is uniquely placed to inform a policy-informed approach to tackling environmental pollution....

Scientists have shown for the first time a link between two types of heart problems and one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antibiotics. In a study published on September 9 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in partnership with the Provincial Health Services Authority’s (PHSA) Therapeutic Evaluation Unit found that current users of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as Ciprofloxacin or Cipro, face a 2....

Now researchers at UTSA have conducted a review of the security holes that exist in popular smart-light brands. According to the analysis, the next prime target could be that smart bulb that shoppers buy this coming holiday season. “Your smart bulb could come equipped with infrared capabilities, and most users don’t know that the invisible wave spectrum can be controlled. You can misuse those lights,” said Murtuza Jadliwala, professor and director of the Security, Privacy, Trust, and Ethics in Computing Research Lab in UTSA’s Department of Computer Science....

A third partygoer may have gotten close to the central star multiple times. That star stirred up the jets ejected by the first companion, which helped create the wavy shapes we see today at the edges of the gas and dust. Not to be left out, a fourth star with an orbit projected to be much wider, also contributed to the celebration. It circled the scene, further stirring up the gas and dust, and generating the enormous system of rings seen outside the nebula....