TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (AUGUST 21, 2020)
Tag Archives: Science
Top New Science Podcasts: 3D Printed Aerogels, Covid-19 Data & Sulfur
In this Nature podcast: a new way to produce aerogels opens up their use, the countries that collect Covid-19 data effectively, and understanding how sulfur can change state between two liquids.
In this episode:
01:05 Printing aerogels
Aerogels are materials with impressive insulating properties, but they’re difficult to handle, due to their innate fragility. Now, researchers have shown a new way to 3D print the most common form of aerogel, opening up a range of potential new applications. Research Article: Zhao et al.
07:00 Coronapod
To provide targeted public health interventions during the pandemic, it’s vital that data are collected and shared effectively. We discuss the countries doing this well, and find out how fragmented systems are preventing epidemiologists from giving up-to-date information on outbreaks.
21:11 Research Highlights
Fats in the blood as a possible marker of autism, and the selfish component to solar panel adoption. Research Highlight: Fats in the blood linked to autism; Research Highlight: Self-interest powers decision to go solar
23:24 Liquid-liquid transitions
It’s been thought that some liquids may be able to exist in two distinct states, but evidence has been scarce. Now, researchers show that sulfur can exist in two liquid states, and have discovered some insights into how this might occur. Research Article: Henry et al.; Video: 24 hours in a synchrotron
30:09 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we discuss the English language’s dominance in science, and how to make squid transparent. Symmetry: Physics in a second language; OneZero: The First Gene-Edited Squid in History Is a Biological Breakthrough
TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (AUGUST 13, 2020)
TOP NEW SCIENCE PODCASTS: NEW COVID-19 TESTING, HOW SPORTS BUILDS BONDS
Staff Writer Robert Service talks with host Sarah Crespi about a different approach to COVID-19 testing that might be useful in response to the high numbers of cases in the United States. To break chains of transmission and community spread, the new strategy would replace highly accurate but slow polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests with cheaper, faster tests that are less accurate but can be administered frequently.
Such tests cost between $1 and $3 compared with more than $100 for diagnostic PCR tests and give results in less than 30 minutes instead of days. Read all of our coronavirus coverage here. Also this week, Salma Mousa, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, joins Sarah to talk about an experiment that added Muslim players to teams in a Christian soccer league in northern Iraq. The goal of the study was to see whether this type of social contact would change how the Christians—a threatened minority in the region—behaved toward Muslims, on and off the field.
FOOD & AGRICULTURE: “The Robot Producing Crops Of The Future” (WSJ Video)
Arizona has what researchers call “the climate of tomorrow, today.” Scientists are using a 30-ton robotic field scanner in the state to study plant genetics and hopefully develop stress-resilient crops.
Photo: Jesse Rieser for The Wall Street Journal
More from the Wall Street Journal: Visit WSJ.com: http://www.wsj.com
Top New Science Podcasts: Locust Swarm Triggers & Covid-19 Antibodies
This week’s Nature Podcast looks at: Triggering swarming behaviour in locusts, antibody therapies as a bridge to Covid-19 vaccine, and new insights into how humans synchronize.
In this episode:
01:56 Understanding swarming behaviour
Swarms of migratory locusts regularly devastate crops across the world, but why these swarms form has been a mystery. Now, a team of researchers have identified a compound that causes solitary locusts to come together in their billions – a finding that could have practical applications for preventing this behaviour. Research article: Guo et al.; News & Views: Catching plague locusts with their own scent
08:48 Coronapod
We discuss the role that monoclonal antibodies may have as therapeutics to treat COVID-19. Although promising, there are numerous hurdles to overcome before these drugs can be used. News: Antibody therapies could be a bridge to a coronavirus vaccine — but will the world benefit?
15:30 Research Highlights
A satellite’s fecal find reveals that Antarctica’s emperor penguin population is much larger than previously thought, and changing how genes are named to avoid Excel’s autocorrect. Research Highlight: Satellites find penguins by following the poo; Research article: Bruford et al.
17:49 An out-of-sync arts project
A collaborative art-science project featuring a network of connected violinists has given new insights into how humans synchronize. Research article: Shahal et al.
23:51 Briefing Chat
We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we find out about the odd immune system of the anglerfish, and the beetle that can pass through a frog’s digestive system without coming to harm. Wired: The Anglerfish Deleted Its Immune System to Fuse With Its Mate; Research paper: Sugiura
Top New Science Podcasts: Pregnancy Risks Of Covid-19, Razor Blades & Hair
Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the risk of the novel coronavirus infection to pregnant women. Early data suggest expectant women are more likely to get severe forms of the infection and require hospitalization. Meredith describes how the biology of pregnancy—such as changes to the maternal immune system and added stress on the heart and lungs—might explain the harsher effects of the virus.
Also this week, Sarah talks with Gianluca Roscioli about his experiments with commercial razor blades and real human hair. By using a scanning electron microscope, he was able to show how something relatively soft like hair is able to damage something 50 times harder like stainless steel.
TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (August 7, 2020)
TOP JOURNALS: RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM SCIENCE MAGAZINE (JULY 31, 2020)
Top New Science Podcasts: Covid-19 Vaccine Fears And Origin Controversies
Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss his editorial on preventing vaccine hesitancy during the coronavirus pandemic. Even before the current crisis, fear of vaccines had become a global problem, with the World Health Organization naming it as one of the top 10 worldwide health threats in 2019. Now, it seems increasingly possible that many people will refuse to get vaccinated. What can public health officials and researchers do to get ahead of this issue?
Also this week, Sarah talks with Science Senior Correspondent Jon Cohen about his story on Chinese scientist Shi Zhengli, the bat researcher at the center of the COVID-19 origins controversy—and why she thinks President Donald Trump owes her an apology.
Finally, Geert Van der Snickt, a professor in the conservation-restoration department at the University of Antwerp, talks with Sarah about his Science Advances paper on a new process for peering into the past of paintings. His team used a combination of techniques to look beneath an overpainting on the Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck—a pivotal piece that showed the potential of oil paints and even included an early example of painting from an aerial view.
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