Tree pollen carries SARS-CoV-2 particles farther, facilitates virus spread
Most models explaining how viruses are transmitted focus on viral particles escaping one person to infect a nearby person. A study on the role of microscopic particles in how viruses are transmitted suggests pollen is nothing to sneeze at......»»
Parenting nightmare: Kiss on the cheek causes child’s incurable infection
Puzzle of child's misdiagnosed cheek lesion solved with one look at dad Enlarge / Herpes simplex virus, (HSV). Image taken with transmission electron microscopy. (credit: Getty | BSIP) As the US Surgeon General recently.....»»
Composite plastic degrades easily with bacteria, offers environmental benefits
Billions of tons of plastic waste clutter our world. Most of it has accumulated on the ground and in the oceans or disintegrated into tiny particles known as microplastics that pollute the air and the water, penetrating vegetation and the bloodstream.....»»
Few anti-immigration users dominate most UK-based Twitter anti-immigration content with rapid spread, high polarization
A study of more than 200,000 tweets from 2019 and 2020 finds that anti-immigration content spreads faster than pro-immigration tweets, and that a few users disproportionally generated most of the UK-based anti-immigration content. Andrea Nasuto and F.....»»
Scientists uncover hidden source of snow melt: Dark brown carbon
Wildfires leave potent climate heaters behind in their wake, particles that enhance the absorption of sunlight and warm the atmosphere. Dropped on snow like a wool poncho, these aerosols darken and decrease the surface reflectance of snowy places......»»
Bird flu reaches cows in California, the country’s largest milk producer
The highly pathogenic strain has now spread to 197 herds in 14 states. Enlarge / A cow grazes in a field at a dairy farm on April 26, 2024, in Petaluma, California. (credit: Getty | Justin Sullivan) The outbreak of H5N1.....»»
The world"s fastest single-shot 2D imaging technique films ultrafast dynamics in flames
Candle flames and airplane engines produce tiny soot particles from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as their precursors, both of which are harmful to humans and the environment. These carbon-based particles are also common in space, making up.....»»
Perception and deception in times of crisis: Characteristics of messages and sources that allow information to spread
The COVID-19 pandemic not only gave us a global health crisis but also an infodemic, a term coined by the World Health Organization (WHO) to describe the overwhelming flood of information—both accurate and misleading—that inundated media channels.....»»
Harnessing AI to fight global deforestation
The new European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is intended to prevent goods marketed in the EU from contributing to the spread of deforestation. When a wood product is brought into the EU market, for example, there must be documentation of which ty.....»»
Observatory reveals key evidence of cosmic ray acceleration limit in W51 for first time
The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) officially released the precise measurements of high-energy gamma radiation from the W51 complex, confirming it as a cosmic-ray accelerator boosting particles up to so-called ultra-high energies.....»»
Nanoplastics put stress on trees and impair photosynthesis
It is well known that more and more plastic waste is ending up in soil and bodies of water. Researchers are particularly concerned about tiny micro- and nano-sized particles. It remains unclear how and to what extent they are able to enter living org.....»»
Exploring functional organic materials for the energy transition
Carbon, of all things, could help us to push forward the decarbonization of our industrial society. Functional carbon particles, known as carbon dots, can transform sunlight into energy and extract hydrogen from water. Prof. Dr. Dirk M. Guldi, a chem.....»»
Avian flu has infected dairy cows in more than a dozen states—a microbiologist explains how the virus is spreading
The current strain of avian flu, H5N1, is responsible for the culling of millions of domestic birds and has sickened more than a dozen farmworkers in 2024, most recently in Colorado......»»
Deepfakes: Seeing is no longer believing
The threat of deepfakes lies not in the technology itself, but in people’s natural tendency to trust what they see. As a result, deepfakes don’t need to be highly advanced or convincing to effectively spread misinformation and disinformat.....»»
Unpatchable 0-day in surveillance cam is being exploited to install Mirai
Vulnerability is easy to exploit and allows attackers to remotely execute commands. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Malicious hackers are exploiting a critical vulnerability in a widely used security camera to spread Mira.....»»
Study reveals isolation, endogamy and pathogens in early medieval Spanish community
An archaeogenetic study sheds new light on the isolated medieval community Las Gobas in northern Spain. Besides isolation and endogamy, researchers have also identified the variola virus, which can offer a new explanation of how smallpox entered Iber.....»»
STEM program for middle- and high-school girls inspires brilliance
In a classroom on Georgia State's Atlanta Campus, more than a dozen middle and high school girls are wearing lab coats and peering into test tubes. They're conducting an epidemiology experiment—the study of how diseases are spread. It's just one of.....»»
Promising Mpox Drug Fails in Trials as Virus Spreads
In a trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the drug tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, was found to be no better than placebo at clearing mpox lesions......»»
Reconfigurable sensor can detect particles 0.001 times the wavelength of light
In recent years, advances in photonics and materials science have led to remarkable developments in sensor technology, pushing the boundaries of what can be detected and measured. Among these innovations, non-Hermitian physics has emerged as a crucia.....»»
AI modeling can deliver more benefits, less risk for water partnerships
A Cornell-led research collaboration found that cooperative partnerships seeking to spread the cost burden of water infrastructure projects among regional stakeholders often end up forcing local partners to bear the brunt of underlying supply and fin.....»»
Using machine learning to speed up simulations of irregularly shaped particles
Simulating particles is a relatively simple task when those particles are spherical. In the real world, however, most particles are not perfect spheres, but take on irregular and varying shapes and sizes. Simulating these particles becomes a much mor.....»»