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Thursday, Feb 25, 2021
When NASA’s Perseverance rover deployed its parachute during its death-defying plunge through the Red Planet’s atmosphere on Feb. 18, it flashed a secret code of red-and-white stripes across the sky, NASA scientists confirmed in a news conference on Monday (Feb. 22). Internet sleuths cracked the code six hours after learning about it. The stripes, which […]
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The Caennorhabditis elegans worm’s neurons expressing the receptor for melatonin glow green. Credit: Bojun Chen/UConn Health Research in C. elegans shows how melatonin activates the BK channel in the brain. Melatonin is used as a dietary supplement to promote sleep and get over jet lag, but nobody really understands how it works in the brain. […]
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Scientists in California are increasingly worried about the state’s “homegrown” coronavirus variant, with studies now showing that the variant is more transmissible than earlier strains and may be more resistant to current vaccines, according to news reports. The variant, known as B.1.427/B.1.429, first emerged in California last spring but didn’t show up on scientists’ radar […]
Read MoreA half-melted hunk of iron-rich rock found in Uppsala, Sweden, is part of a meteorite that fell there in November 2020. The lumpy meteorite is about the size of a loaf of bread and weighs around 31 pounds (14 kilograms), according to the Swedish Museum of Natural History. It was once part of a larger […]
Read MoreMore than 100 miles (161 kilometers) of Israel’s normally pristine Meditteranean coastline have been stained with thick globules of tar that washed up after an oil spill off the coast of the country last week. Authorities have yet to identify the culprit, but they say it is harmful to both humans and marine life. Israel’s […]
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Airflow patterns around two people conversing in typical situations, such as hair salons, medical exam rooms, and long-term care facilities. COVID-19 can spread from asymptomatic but infected people through small aerosol droplets in their exhaled breath. Most studies of the flow of exhaled air have focused on coughing or sneezing, which can send aerosols flying […]
Read MoreIn the scientific world right now, it’s mammals’ time to shine — literally. Researchers are building a growing (and glowing) list of fluorescent mammals, and a new addition, an endearing jumping rodent called the springhare, just leaped into the spotlight, its brown fur lighting up in swirling disco patterns of pink and orange under ultraviolet (UV) […]
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Scientists have found the psychological signature of people who are likely to hold dogmatic or extremist views. It makes sense, the researchers said, as people who are dogmatic tend to be impulsive but also slow to process perceptual information. Extremists — regardless of whether they are right-wing or left-wing — also tend to struggle with […]
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A lifesaving operation turned tragic when a Michigan woman contracted COVID-19 from her double lung transplant last year and died soon after. The case marks the first time that doctors have confirmed COVID-19 transmission through an organ transplant, according to a report of the case, published Feb. 10 in the American Journal of Transplantation. A […]
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Hundreds of people in New Zealand worked together to successfully “refloat” 40 long-finned pilot whales that stranded on a remote beach, meaning they returned the animals to open water, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The whales did not swim out into the deeper ocean, however, so some conservationists are worried that the animals may beach […]
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