At HMS, Maofu Liao is establishing a new research pipeline to improve the process of antibiotic development https://t.co/4G2nyGKzWQ
— Harvard Medical School (@harvardmed) November 4, 2021
Category Archives: Science
Previews: New Scientist Magazine – November 6
Climate Science: Young People Voice Concerns Onboard The COP26 Train
Last weekend, hundreds of young people boarded a specially chartered train in Amsterdam to travel to Glasgow ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit.
Among them were scientists, activists and policy makers. In a Nature Podcast special, we boarded the train to catch up with some of them – to talk about their science, their motivations and their message.
Views: What 3°C Of Global Warming Will Look Like
If global temperatures rise three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the results would be catastrophic. It’s an entirely plausible scenario, and this film shows you what it would look like.
Video timeline: 00:00 – What will a 3°C world look like? 00:57 – Climate change is already having devastating effects 02:58 – How climate modelling works 04:06 – Nowhere is safe from global warming 05:20 – The impact of prolonged droughts 08:24 – Rising sea levels, storm surges and flooding 10:27 – Extreme heat and wet-bulb temperatures 12:51 – Increased migration and conflict 14:26 – Adaptation and mitigation are crucial
Analysis: $131 Trillion To Reduce Global Warming
Money is a sticking point in climate-change negotiations around the world. As economists warn that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will cost many more trillions than anticipated, WSJ looks at how the funds could be spent, and who would pay. Illustration: Preston Jessee/WSJ
Science: Sleeping Without A Brain, Insect Invasions, Racist Search Algorithms
Simple animals like jellyfish and hydra, even roundworms, sleep. Without brains. Why do they sleep? How can we tell a jellyfish is sleeping?
Staff Writer Liz Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what can be learned about sleep from these simple sleepers. The feature is part of a special issue on sleep this week in Science.
Next is a look at centuries of alien invasions—or rather, invasive insects moving from place to place as humans trade across continents. Sarah talks with Matthew MacLachlan, a research economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, about his Science Advances paper on why insect invasions don’t always increase when trade does.
Finally, a book on racism and the search algorithms. Books host Angela Saini for our series of interviews on race and science talks with Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor in the African American Studies and Information Studies departments at the University of California, Los Angeles, about her book: Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism.
Science Magazine: “Why We Sleep” – October 29
Previews: New Scientist Magazine – October 30
Science: 4000-Year-Old Mummies, Digital-Hygiene Checks, Ancient Snakes
The unexpected origins of a 4000-year-old people, protecting your ‘digital presence’ and what to expect from COP26.
In this episode:
00:48 The origins of the mysterious Tarim mummies
For decades there has been debate about the origins of a group of 4000-year-old individuals known as the Tarim Basin mummies. Their distinct appearance and clothing has prompted scientists to hypothesise they had migrated from the North or West. Now, a team of researchers have used modern genomics to shed new light on this mystery and reveal that migration was not the mummies’ origin.
Research article: Zhang et al.
News and Views: The unexpected ancestry of Inner Asian mummies
08:59 Research Highlights
Making wood mouldable, and how ancient snakes diversified their diets.
Research Highlight: Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong
Research Highlight: Finicky no more: ancient snakes ate their way to success
11:09 How a regular ‘digital-hygiene’ check can protect your reputation
Attaching a researcher’s name to a paper without them knowing is an unscrupulous practice that can have serious repercussions for the unwitting academic. To prevent this, computer scientist Guillaume Cabanac is advocating a once-a-month ‘digital-hygiene’ check, to identify incorrect acknowledgements, and help prevent research malpractice.
World View: This digital-hygiene routine will protect your scholarship
18:51 What to expect from COP26
This week sees the start of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), with an estimated 20,000 people — including world leaders, scientists and activists — expected to be in attendance. Jeff Tollefson, senior reporter at Nature, joins us to explain what’s on the agenda for the conference.
News Explainer: COP26 climate summit: A scientists’ guide to a momentous meeting
Covid-19: How BioNTech Used Its Cancer Research To Create A Vaccine (CNBC)
Over a month and a half before the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin met with his wife, BioNTech’s co-founder and chief medical officer Özlem Türeci, and together they agreed to redirect most of the company’s resources to developing a vaccine. Up until that point, BioNTech was little-known internationally and primarily focused on developing novel cancer treatments. The founders were confident in the potential of their mRNA technology, which they knew could trigger a powerful immune response. That confidence wasn’t necessarily shared by the broader medical community. No mRNA vaccine or treatment had ever been approved before. But the couple’s timely breakthrough was actually decades in the making. CNBC spoke with Şahin and Türeci about how they, along with Pfizer, created a Covid-19 vaccine using mRNA.
Boomers Daily 