How bacteria sleep through antibiotic attacks

Bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment even without antibiotic resistance by slowing down their metabolism and going into a type of deep sleep. A research team funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation reveals the changes bacteria undergo to reach this "persister" state.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-bacteria-antibiotic.html

Researchers have broken the code for cell communication

Knowledge on how cells communicate is an important key to understanding many biological systems and diseases. A research team led by researchers at the University of Gothenburg has now used a unique combination of methods to map the mechanism behind cellular communication. Their findings can potentially improve understanding of the underlying mechanism behind type 2 diabetes.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-broken-code-cell.html

Three storms have dumped snow on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea

The words "snow" and "Hawai'i" are not often mentioned in the same paragraph—or even on the same vacation. But snow does fall in Hawai'i almost every year, and 2021 has seen a deep cold front drop snow on the summits of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island at least three times in the past few weeks—as well as on Haleakala on Maui. This means there are currently in snowcaps on Hawai'i's three tallest mountains.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-storms-dumped-mauna-loa-kea.html

Elastomers develop stronger bonds of attachment

Elastomers are the soft, elastic materials, like gels and rubbers, that are found in automobile and airplane parts, in sports equipment, and are used to protect precision machinery and buildings against vibrations. Scientists now want to make them thinner and tougher, without losing elasticity. Nagoya University materials engineer Yukikazu Takeoka and colleagues reviewed the most recent efforts towards improving elastomers for the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-elastomers-stronger-bonds.html

Socializing in the time of COVID

If working practices and education have been compromised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, then so too, obviously, have our social lives. The limitations of lockdowns and keeping apart to reduce the risk of catching or passing on the virus have been at the forefront of our minds for many months now. The usual places we might gather such as pubs and restaurants, theaters and festivals have all been off-limits periodically in many parts of the world in response to the disease.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-socializing-covid.html

Nanospheres measure the forces of cell motors

Motor proteins generate the forces for essential mechanical processes in our body. On a scale of nanometers—a millionth of a millimeter—motor proteins, for example, power our muscles or transport material within our cells. Such movements, invisible to the naked eye, can be made visible by Erik Schäffer: the professor of Cellular Nanoscience at the University of Tübingen develops special force microscopes, so-called optical tweezers, to measure how these molecular machines work mechanically. His team at the Center for Plant Molecular Biology has now improved the technology. Special probes, germanium nanospheres, enable a higher resolution of displacements and forces that the motors generate. The results have been published in the journal Science.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nanospheres-cell-motors.html

Lab team uses giant lasers to compress iron oxide, revealing the secret interior of rocky exoplanets

Advances in astronomical observations have resulted in the discovery of an extraordinary number of extrasolar planets, some of which are believed to have a rocky composition similar to Earth. Learning more about their interior structure could provide important clues about their potential habitability.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-lab-team-giant-lasers-compress.html

Arctic blast puts Europe's homeless, travelers in peril

Aid workers are warning that the sharp drop in temperatures across parts of northern Europe this month has put homeless people at serious risk.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-arctic-blast-europe-homeless-peril.html

China's Mars probe sends back video of Red Planet

China's space agency released video footage from its spacecraft circling Mars on Friday, two days after it successfully entered the planet's orbit in Beijing's latest ambitious space mission.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-china-mars-probe-video-red.html

Disney streaming services gaining ground on Netflix

Disney said Thursday its streaming services flourished while its parks, travel and film businesses remained hobbled by the pandemic at the end of last year.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-disney-streaming-gaining-ground-netflix.html

Biden team seeks pause in US WeChat ban litigation

The Biden administration asked a US court Thursday to suspend litigation connected to former president Donald Trump's proposed ban on WeChat while it reviews the policy.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-biden-team-wechat-litigation.html

Microsoft backs search engines paying for news worldwide

Microsoft on Thursday lobbied for other countries to follow Australia's lead in calling for news outlets to be paid for stories published online, a move opposed by Facebook and Google.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-microsoft-news-worldwide.html

Why the world is watching Australia's new big-tech rules

Australia on Friday moved a step closer to introducing pioneering legislation that would force tech giants to pay for sharing news content, a move that could change how people worldwide experience the internet.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-world-australia-big-tech.html

Lemurs show there's no single formula for lasting love

Humans aren't the only mammals that form long-term bonds with a single, special mate—some bats, wolves, beavers, foxes and other animals do, too. But new research suggests the brain circuitry that makes love last in some species may not be the same in others.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-lemurs-formula.html

'All we have left': dating apps on frontline of loneliness pandemic

Dating apps are booming in lockdown—no longer just a way of hooking up but also of simple interaction at a time when the coronavirus inflicts loneliness on millions.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-left-dating-apps-frontline-loneliness.html

Stonehenge likely made with stones from older monument: study

Remains of an ancient monument in west Wales indicate stones that stood at the site may have been dismantled and used to build the Neolithic standing circle Stonehenge, a new study suggested Friday.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-stonehenge-stones-older-monument.html

Amazon faces biggest union push in its history

The second Jennifer Bates walks away from her post at the Amazon warehouse where she works, the clock starts ticking.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-amazon-biggest-union-history.html

India's top court takes up social media content

India's top court on Friday sought the government and Twitter's response to a petition seeking a mechanism to check fake news, hate messages and what officials consider seditious and incendiary content on social media platforms.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-india-court-social-media-content.html

Australia report says make Google and Facebook pay for news

Australia's Parliament will debate making Google and Facebook pay for news after a Senate committee on Friday recommended no changes to drafts of the world's first such laws.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-australia-google-facebook-news.html

New research tackles a central challenge of powerful quantum computing

To build a universal quantum computer from fragile quantum components, effective implementation of quantum error correction (QEC) is an essential requirement and a central challenge. QEC is used in quantum computing, which has the potential to solve scientific problems beyond the scope of supercomputers, to protect quantum information from errors due to various noise.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-tackles-central-powerful-quantum.html

Drone-based photogrammetry: A reliable and low-cost method for estimating plant biomass

Remote sensing technology has become a vital tool for scientists over the past several decades for monitoring changes in land use, ice cover, and vegetation across the globe. Satellite imagery, however, is typically available at only coarse resolutions, allowing only for the analysis of broad trends over large areas. Remote-controlled drones are an increasingly affordable alternative for researchers working at finer scales in ecology and agriculture, but the laser-based technology used to estimate plant productivity and biomass, such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR), remain prohibitively expensive.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-drone-based-photogrammetry-reliable-low-cost-method.html

Finding the best targets to improve crop yield by following CO2 journey inside the leaf

A team of scientists have measured the relative importance of the different obstacles that carbon dioxide (CO2) encounters in its voyage from the atmosphere to the interior of plant cells, where it is converted into sugars. This research leading method provides much needed information that will help to increase the yield of important food crops such as cowpea, soybean and cassava.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-crop-yield-co2-journey-leaf.html

Research highlights ways to protect astronaut cardiovascular health from space radiation

Space: the final frontier. What's stopping us from exploring it? Well, lots of things, but one of the major issues is space radiation, and the effects it can have on astronaut health during long voyages. A new review in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine explores what we know about the ways that space radiation can negatively affect cardiovascular health, and discusses methods to protect astronauts. These include radioprotective drugs, and antioxidant treatments, some of which are more common than you might think.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-highlights-ways-astronaut-cardiovascular-health.html