Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

Mutation accessibility fuels influenza evolution      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists showed that fixed mutations within a viral population most likely stem from how easy it is to acquire that mutation (i.e., mutation accessibility) rather than just its benefit.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Hubble sees evaporating planet getting the hiccups      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A young planet whirling around a petulant red dwarf star is changing in unpredictable ways orbit-by-orbit. It is so close to its parent star that it experiences a consistent, torrential blast of energy, which evaporates its hydrogen atmosphere -- causing it to puff off the planet.

Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Listen to a star 'twinkle'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many people know that stars appear to twinkle because our atmosphere bends starlight as it travels to Earth. But stars also have an innate 'twinkle' -- caused by rippling waves of gas on their surfaces -- that is imperceptible to current Earth-bound telescopes. In a new study, researchers developed the first 3D simulations of energy rippling from a massive star's core to its outer surface. Using these new models, the researchers determined, for the first time, how much stars should innately twinkle.

Biology: Evolutionary Biology: Microbiology
Published

'Swine flu' strain has passed from humans to swine nearly 400 times since 2009      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of the strain of influenza A responsible for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic -- pdm09 -- shows that the virus has passed from humans to swine about 370 times since 2009, and subsequent circulation in swine has resulted in the evolution of pdm09 variants that then jumped from swine to humans.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Using cosmic weather to study which worlds could support life      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the next generation of giant, high-powered observatories begin to come online, a new study suggests that their instruments may offer scientists an unparalleled opportunity to discern what weather may be like on far-away exoplanets.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb snaps highly detailed infrared image of actively forming stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Young stars are rambunctious! NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the 'antics' of a pair of actively forming young stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. To find them, trace the bright pink and red diffraction spikes until you hit the center: The stars are within the orange-white splotch. They are buried deeply in a disk of gas and dust that feeds their growth as they continue to gain mass. The disk is not visible, but its shadow can be seen in the two dark, conical regions surrounding the central stars.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New planetary formation findings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered new evidence of how planets as massive as Jupiter can form.

Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers reveal new features of galactic black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of scientists, including astrophysicists, report on a dedicated observational campaign on the Galactic microquasar dubbed GRS 1915+105. The team revealed features of a microquasar system that have never before been seen. Using the massive Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, astronomers discovered a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signal in the radio band for the first time from any microquasar systems.

Biology: Microbiology
Published

How eavesdropping viruses battle it out to infect us      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Dozens of viruses -- at least -- can eavesdrop on host information. Not only did they demonstrate the strategy's abundance, but they also discovered tools that control it and send signals that tell bacteriophage viruses to flip from chill (lysogeny) into kill (lysis) mode. They showed that in polylysogeny, phages can coexist, their viral DNA or RNA hidden tucked inside the bacterium's own, replicating right along with the cells. But the infiltrating phages aren't exactly peaceful; it's more like mutually assured destruction. And the tenuous detente lasts only until something triggers one or more of the phages to switch into kill mode.

Biology: Developmental Biology: Microbiology
Published

New findings offer potential breakthrough in HIV cure research      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The results of a novel study has revealed exciting findings in the pursuit of an HIV cure.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dark energy camera captures galaxies in lopsided tug of war, a prelude to merger      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The spiral galaxy NGC 1532, also known as Haley's Coronet, is caught in a lopsided tug of war with its smaller neighbor, the dwarf galaxy NGC 1531.

Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Invasive Species
Published

Western science catches up with First Nations' medicinal use of ant honey      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have discovered the honey produced by Australian ants possesses unique anti-microbial activity against bacteria and fungi that could make the liquid useful medicinally.

Biology: Microbiology
Published

Monkeypox: Characterization of post-infectious immune response      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In 2022-2023, an outbreak of monkeypox, now known as mpox (caused by the monkeypox virus or MPXV) led to 87,000 human cases in 170 countries. Most cases were reported outside the usual areas in which the virus circulates. Since the outbreak began, surveillance of the virus has been stepped up in Europe, with nearly 5,000 cases being reported in France.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

New image reveals secrets of planet birth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have gained new clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Researchers have detected large dusty clumps, close to a young star, that could collapse to create giant planets.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb detects water vapor in rocky planet-forming zone      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Water is essential for life as we know it. However, scientists debate how it reached the Earth and whether the same processes could seed rocky exoplanets orbiting distant stars. New insights may come from the planetary system PDS 70, located 370 light-years away. The star hosts both an inner disk and outer disk of gas and dust, separated by a 5 billion-mile-wide (8 billion kilometer) gap, and within that gap are two known gas-giant planets.

Biology: Microbiology
Published

Study explores how often children diagnosed with flu experience serious neuropsychiatric side effects      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

While the incidence of influenza-associated neuropsychiatric events in children in the United States is unknown, the controversy over the use of a common antiviral medication typically administered to treat flu in children has sparked concern among parents and medical professionals alike.

Biology: Microbiology
Published

Revealing HIV drug-resistance mechanisms through protein structures      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have discovered the molecular mechanisms by which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) becomes resistant to Dolutegravir, one of the most effective, clinically used antiviral drugs for treating HIV. Their findings reveal how changes to the 3D structures of integrase, an HIV protein, can lead to Dolutegravir resistance and how other compounds may be able to overcome this resistance.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

To stick or to bounce: Size determines the stickiness of cosmic dust aggregates      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Current evidence suggests that microparticles of cosmic dust collide and stick together to form larger dust aggregates that may eventually combine and develop into planets. Numerical models that accurately characterize the conditions required for colliding microparticle aggregates to stick together, rather than bounce apart, are therefore paramount to understanding the evolution of planets. Recent modeling suggests that dust aggregates are less likely to stick together after a collision as the size of the aggregates increases.

Biology: Microbiology Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Detection of bacteria and viruses with fluorescent nanotubes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The new carbon nanotube sensor design resembles a molecular toolbox that can be used to quickly assemble sensors for a variety of purposes -- for instance for detecting bacteria and viruses.