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Astronomers running cosmological simulations face a fundamental trade-off: with finite computing power, typical simulations so far have been either very detailed or have spanned a large volume of virtual space, but have so far not been able to do both. Detailed simulations with limited volumes can model no more than a few galaxies, making statistical deductions difficult. Large-volume simulations, in turn, typically lack the details necessary to reproduce many of the small-scale properties we observe in our own Universe, reducing their predictive power....

In severe cases of COVID-19, the infection can lead to obstruction of the blood vessels in the lung, heart and kidneys. LMU researchers have now shown that activated immune cells and blood platelets play a major role in these pathologies. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infects the respiratory tract and in severe cases, the infection can result in lung failure, which necessitates the use of mechanical ventilation. In addition, these patients develop further complications, such as pulmonary embolisms or thromboses (clots) in their veins....

A new study in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters finds the world lost 50-75% of its aircraft weather observations between March and May of this year, when many flights were grounded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Aircraft typically inform weather forecasts by recording information about air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and wind along their flight path. With significantly fewer planes in the sky this spring, forecasts of these meteorological conditions have become less accurate and the impact is more pronounced as forecasts extend further out in time, according to the study, which is part of an ongoing special collection of research in AGU journals related to the current pandemic....

“Our study is part of emerging evidence that COVID-19 infection may lead to liver injury that lasts well after the acute illness,” said Firouzeh Heidari, M.D., a post-doctorate research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Liver stiffness is a marker of liver damage, such as inflammation or fibrosis. Fibrosis is the buildup of scar tissue in the liver. Over time, healthy liver tissue diminishes, and the liver can no longer function properly....

COVID Detectives Researchers around the world have become forensic, Sherlock Holmes-like “consulting detectives” for government officials and public health organizations. Handling tens of thousands of samples, epidemiologists, like ETH Zurich Professor Tanja Stadler, can now reconstruct the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in areas where contact tracing is otherwise unavailable. Unlike the fictional Holmes, today’s researchers benefit from real-time statistical tools to decipher the genetic code of various viral strains. Stadler, who serves on the Swiss National COVID Science Task Force says, “Just like in humans, the genetic code of pathogens reveals a blueprint with information about the virus’ evolution and its origins....

The technology is useful for applications that do not always need to be transmitting data, like IoT devices that let consumers instantly order household items they are about to run out of, or wearable health monitors that take readings a handful of times a day. “The problem now is that these devices do not know exactly when to synchronize with the network, so they periodically wake up to do this even when there’s nothing to communicate....

The hundreds of billions of galaxies it contains, each of them home to billions of stars, planets and moons as well as massive star-and-planet-forming clouds of gas and dust, and all of the visible light and other energy we can detect in the form of electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves, gamma rays and X-rays — in short, everything we’ve ever seen with our telescopes — only amounts to about 5% of all the mass and energy in the universe....

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has cataloged more galaxies than all other previous three-dimensional redshift surveys combined, measuring 7.5 million galaxies in only seven months since beginning science operations. The US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads DESI, which is installed at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), has capped off the first seven months of its survey by smashing through all previous records for three-dimensional galaxy surveys, creating the largest and most detailed map of the Universe ever....

Most galaxies lie in clusters containing from a few to thousands of objects. Our Milky Way, for example, belongs to a cluster of about fifty galaxies called the Local Group whose other large member is the Andromeda galaxy about 2.3 million light-years away. Clusters are the most massive gravitationally bound objects in the universe and form (according to current ideas) in a “bottoms-up” fashion with smaller structures developing first and larger groupings assembling later in cosmic history....

The study was conducted on a large group of healthcare workers. Previous research has shown that concerns about potential side effects and a belief that the vaccine is not effective are the main reasons why some individuals refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The study also examined the relationship between the occurrence of side effects and the measured antibody concentrations. Significantly higher antibody levels were seen 14 weeks after vaccination with two doses of Comirnaty and especially after a heterologous vaccine sequence Vaxzevria-Comirnaty compared with two doses of the Vaxzevria vaccine....

At-home rapid COVID-19 tests are getting harder to find leading up to the Christmas holiday. Adding to the confusion, new preliminary information that suggests some rapid tests may not be able to detect the omicron variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said recently. Stay calm, test on, and get vaccinated and boosted. That’s the guidance right now from Northwestern experts. “While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) evaluate which home tests are less effective at providing an accurate result, it is important to keep in mind that rapid tests are an important tool for keeping everyone safe as many of us travel to be with family over the holidays,” said Thom McDade, the Carlos Montezuma Professor in the department of anthropology and a biological anthropologist at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern....

In a paper appearing today (January 12, 2022) in Nature, astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) reconstruct the evolutionary history of our galactic neighborhood, showing how a chain of events beginning 14 million years ago led to the creation of a vast bubble that’s responsible for the formation of all nearby, young stars. “This is really an origin story; for the first time we can explain how all nearby star formation began,” says astronomer and data visualization expert Catherine Zucker who completed the work during a fellowship at the CfA....

Roofs are a different atmospheric environment from the rest of the city, states Nathan Phillips, an ecologist at Boston University, in Massachusetts. Phillips has set up collectors in order to capture the air blowing across Boston. Phillips and his colleagues are using the data to model how carbon dioxide and other gases move through the city, and how this particular mix differs from the one in rural areas. The work is part of a study trying to model the city’s “metabolism....

The large is a majestic tree that towers up to 130 feet (40 m); among the small is a tiny, single-celled protist. The list of science’s best discoveries includes a rare great ape and the fossil of a marsupial lion that roamed Australia in the late Oligocene Epoch. There are also two residents of the world’s oceans — a fish from the depths of the Pacific Ocean and a bright amphipod from the chilly waters of the Antarctic Ocean....

Aye-ayes are unusual animals from the get-go: these extremely rare lemurs are known for their constantly growing incisors, large ears, and strange hands – particularly for the slender, elongated middle fingers that they use for locating and spearing grubs inside trees. “The aye-aye has the craziest hand of any primate,” says Adam Hartstone-Rose, associate professor of biological sciences at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the work....

New research led by the Doherty Institute has found the SARS-CoV-2 virus has the ability to momentarily accelerate its evolutionary pace, enabling variants to emerge more rapidly than other viruses. Recently published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, the team, led by University of Melbourne Dr. Sebastian Duchene, an Australian Research Council DECRA Research Fellow at the Doherty Institute and lead author on the paper, found the virus that causes the disease COVID-19 is actually undergoing short-lived mutational bursts and then returning to its ‘normal’ rate....

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope has reported what may be the first intact planet found closely orbiting a white dwarf, the dense leftover of a Sun-like star, only 40% larger than Earth. The Jupiter-size object, called WD 1856 b, is about seven times larger than the white dwarf, named WD 1856+534. It circles this stellar cinder every 34 hours, more than 60 times faster than Mercury orbits our Sun....

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 rebound is characterized by a recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms and/or a new positive viral test after having tested negative. The findings, according to the study’s authors, do not corroborate the idea that a five-day Paxlovid course is too brief for the body to mount a potent defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The goal of the research was to better understand how SARS-CoV-2 affects white blood cells....

Operations for surgical implants, such as hip and knee replacements or dental implants, have increased in recent years. However, in such procedures, there is always a risk of bacterial infection. In the worst case scenario, this can cause the implant to not attach to the skeleton, meaning it must be removed. Bacteria travel around in fluids, such as blood, looking for a surface to cling on to. Once in place, they start to grow and propagate, forming a protective layer, known as a biofilm....

A newly published study details how scientists developed a new way to use gravitational waves to measure the expansion rate of the universe. In a paper published in the journal Physical Review X, the international research team outline how they have developed highly advanced computer simulations to use special types of neutron stars to learn more about the fabric of the Universe. Lead author Dr Christopher Messenger, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “In Einstein’s theory of gravity, acceleration of mass leads to the emission of energy in the form of gravitational radiation – ripples in the very fabric of space-time that travel at the speed of light....