Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Inbox Astronomy: Hubble Finds Best Evidence for Elusive Mid-Sized Black Hole

INBOX ASTRONOMY

Hubble Finds Best Evidence for Elusive Mid-Sized Black Hole



Release date: Mar 31, 2020 1:00 PM (EDT)



Like detectives carefully building a case, astronomers gathered evidence and eliminated suspects until they found the best evidence yet that the death of a star, first witnessed in X-rays, could be traced back to an elusive mid-sized black hole. The result is a long-sought win for astronomy, as the mid-sized "missing link" in the black hole family has thus far thwarted detection. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was used to follow up on multiple X-ray observations of a suspected tidal disruption event. This is caused when a wayward star comes too close to the gravity well of a black hole and gets shredded by its tidal forces. The intense heat from stellar cannibalism betrays the black hole's presence with a burst of X-rays. Hubble resolved the source region of this X-ray flare as a star cluster outside the Milky Way galaxy. Such clusters have been considered likely places to find an intermediate-mass black hole. The discovery eliminated the possibility that the X-rays came from another type of source within the Milky Way.


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Find the entire Hubble News archive, images, and videos at HubbleSite.org.

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[NASA HQ News] #NASAatHome – Let NASA Bring the Universe to Your Home

  March 31, 2020 
RELEASE 20-034
#NASAatHome – Let NASA Bring the Universe to Your Home
NASA at Home logo

NASA's new Internet and social media special, NASA at Home, will show and engage you in the agency's discoveries, research, and exploration from around the world and across the universe – all from the comfort of your own home.

NASA at Home offers something for the whole family. It brings together a repository of binge-worthy videos and podcasts, engaging E-books on a variety of topics, do-it-yourself projects, and virtual and augmented reality tours, which include the agency's Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station, as well as an app that puts you in the pilot's seat of a NASA aircraft.

"We know people everywhere, especially students, are looking for ways to get out of the house without leaving their house," said Bettina Inclán, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Communications. "NASA has a way for them to look to the skies and see themselves in space with their feet planted safely on the ground, but their imaginations are free to explore everywhere we go. We've put that information at their fingertips. We hope everyone takes a few moments to explore NASA at Home."

This special also spotlights educational and entertaining resources and activities for families and students in kindergarten and up. Plus, it provides access to everything from formal lesson plans to amazing imagery and stories about how science and exploration help the world.

If you want to practice safe science at home, we have opportunities for citizen scientists to contribute to real ongoing research, from our solar system's backyard to your own backyard. This includes searching for brown dwarfs and planets in our outer solar system and helping track changes in clouds, water, plants, and other life in support of climate research.

NASA at Home will feature ongoing opportunities to interact and hear from agency experts. For example, record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch reads children's books weekdays at 4 p.m. EDT on Instagram live as part of educational and STEM activity for students.

NASA Television also is running NASA at Home-themed programming 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  weekdays, as well as broadcasting around-the-clock with recent mission events and news, conversations with astronauts on the International Space Station, educational looks at science, technology and exploration topics, and historical programs from the agency's storied past.

So, check in regularly with #NASAatHome for the latest and greatest the universe has to offer!

For more information all of NASA's programs, projects, and activities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1600
allard.beutel@nasa.gov

 

 

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[NASA HQ News] NASA Adds Shannon Walker to First Operational Crewed SpaceX Mission

  March 31, 2020 
RELEASE 20-035
NASA Adds Shannon Walker to First Operational Crewed SpaceX Mission
Shannon Walker looking out of the international space station's cupola at the Caribbean view beneath on November 25, 2010.
Shannon Walker looking out of the international space station's cupola at the Caribbean view beneath on November 25, 2010.
Credits: NASA

NASA has assigned astronaut Shannon Walker to the first operational crewed flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.

Walker will join NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover Jr., as well as Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), for a six-month expedition aboard the unique space laboratory.

This mission will be the first in a series of regular, rotational flights to the station following NASA's certification of the new crewed system following completion and validation of SpaceX's test flight with astronauts, known as Demo-2. This test is expected to take place in mid-to-late May as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Pending the successful Demo-2 test, Walker, Glover, Hopkins, and Noguchi will launch aboard Crew Dragon on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That launch is targeted for later this year.

Walker was born in Houston and began her career at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1987 as a robotics flight controller for the space shuttle with Rockwell Space Operations Co. She became a NASA employee in 1995, working on robotics and avionics hardware for the station with the program's international partners. She also coordinated on-orbit problem resolution in the Mission Evaluation Room at Johnson and in Moscow and served as acting manager of the On-Orbit Engineering Office before NASA selected her for the 2004 astronaut class. As an astronaut, she spent 163 days as a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expeditions 24 and 25 in 2010. Walker earned a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's and doctorate in space physics, all from Rice University in Houston.

NASA already assigned Glover and Hopkins to the first operation SpaceX crewed mission in August 2018. This will be the first spaceflight for Glover and the second for Hopkins, who lived aboard the space station from September 2013 to March 2014 as part of Expeditions 37 and 38.

It will be the third spaceflight for Noguchi, who was a space shuttle crew member on the STS-114 mission in 2005 and a space station crew member from December 2009 to June 2010 as part of Expeditions 22 and 23.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and to the space station. Commercial transportation to and from the station will provide expanded utility, additional research time and broader opportunities for discovery on the orbital outpost.

The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight. As commercial companies focus on providing human transportation services to and from low-Earth orbit, NASA is free to focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions.

Follow NASA astronauts on social media at:

https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts

Get more information on NASA's Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Joshua Finch / Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov

Brandi Dean / Jennifer Hernandez
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean@nasa.gov / jennifer.hernandez-1@nasa.gov

 

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Monday, March 30, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms

  March 30, 2020 
RELEASE 20-033
NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms
A new NASA mission called SunRISE will study what drives solar particle storms – giant surges of solar particles
A new NASA mission called SunRISE will study what drives solar particle storms – giant surges of solar particles that erupt off of the Sun – as depicted in this illustration. Understanding how such storms affect interplanetary space can help protect spacecraft and astronauts.
Credits: NASA

NASA has selected a new mission to study how the Sun generates and releases giant space weather storms – known as solar particle storms – into planetary space. Not only will such information improve understanding of how our solar system works, but it ultimately can help protect astronauts traveling to the Moon and Mars by providing better information on how the Sun's radiation affects the space environment they must travel through.

The new mission, called the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), is an array of six CubeSats operating as one very large radio telescope. NASA has awarded $62.6 million to design, build and launch SunRISE by no earlier than July 1, 2023.

NASA chose SunRISE in August 2017 as one of two Mission of Opportunity proposals to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. In February 2019, the agency approved a continued formulation study of the mission for an additional year. SunRISE is led by Justin Kasper at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. 

"We are so pleased to add a new mission to our fleet of spacecraft that help us better understand the Sun, as well as how our star influences the space environment between planets," said Nicky Fox, director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "The more we know about how the Sun erupts with space weather events, the more we can mitigate their effects on spacecraft and astronauts."

The mission design relies on six solar-powered CubeSats – each about the size of a toaster oven – to simultaneously observe radio images of low-frequency emission from solar activity and share them via NASA's Deep Space Network. The constellation of CubeSats would fly within 6 miles of each other, above Earth's atmosphere, which otherwise blocks the radio signals SunRISE will observe. Together, the six CubeSats will create 3D maps to pinpoint where giant particle bursts originate on the Sun and how they evolve as they expand outward into space. This, in turn, will help determine what initiates and accelerates these giant jets of radiation. The six individual spacecraft will also work together to map, for the first time, the pattern of magnetic field lines reaching from the Sun out into interplanetary space.

NASA's Missions of Opportunity maximize science return by pairing new, relatively inexpensive missions with launches on spacecraft already approved and preparing to go into space. SunRISE proposed an approach for access to space as a hosted rideshare on a commercial satellite provided by Maxar of Westminster, Colorado, and built with a Payload Orbital Delivery System, or PODS. Once in orbit, the host spacecraft will deploy the six SunRISE spacecraft and then continue its prime mission.

Missions of Opportunity are part of the Explorers Program, which is the oldest continuous NASA program designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the Science Mission Directorate's (SMD) astrophysics and heliophysics programs. The program is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for SMD, which conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system and universe.

For more information about the Explorers Program, visit:

https://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov

For information about NASA's heliophysics missions and activities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/sunearth

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Grey Hautaluoma / Karen Fox

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0668 / 301-286-6284

grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov / karen.fox@nasa.gov

 

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Friday, March 27, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Awards Artemis Contract for Gateway Logistics Services

  March 27, 2020 
RELEASE 20-032
NASA Awards Artemis Contract for Gateway Logistics Services
Illustration of the SpaceX Dragon XL as it is deployed from the Falcon Heavy's second stage in high Earth orbit
Illustration of the SpaceX Dragon XL as it is deployed from the Falcon Heavy's second stage in high Earth orbit on its way to the Gateway in lunar orbit.
Credits: SpaceX

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, as the first U.S. commercial provider under the Gateway Logistics Services contract to deliver cargo, experiments and other supplies to the agency's Gateway in lunar orbit. The award is a significant step forward for NASA's Artemis program that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 and build a sustainable human lunar presence.

At the Moon, NASA and its partners will gain the experience necessary to mount a historic human mission to Mars.

SpaceX will deliver critical pressurized and unpressurized cargo, science experiments and supplies to the Gateway, such as sample collection materials and other items the crew may need on the Gateway and during their expeditions on the lunar surface. 

"This contract award is another critical piece of our plan to return to the Moon sustainably," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "The Gateway is the cornerstone of the long-term Artemis architecture and this deep space commercial cargo capability integrates yet another American industry partner into our plans for human exploration at the Moon in preparation for a future mission to Mars."

NASA is planning multiple supply missions in which the cargo spacecraft will stay at the Gateway for six to 12 months at a time. These firm-fixed price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts for logistics services guarantee two missions per logistics services provider with a maximum total value of $7 billion across all contracts as additional missions are needed.

"Returning to the Moon and supporting future space exploration requires affordable delivery of significant amounts of cargo," said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. "Through our partnership with NASA, SpaceX has been delivering scientific research and critical supplies to the International Space Station since 2012, and we are honored to continue the work beyond Earth's orbit and carry Artemis cargo to Gateway."

The Gateway Logistics Services contract enables NASA to order missions for as long as 12 years with a 15-year performance period and provides the ability to add new competitive providers. These missions will support NASA's plans for sustainable exploration with both international and commercial partners, while developing the experience and capabilities necessary to send humans to Mars. 

"This is an exciting new chapter for human exploration," said Mark Wiese, Deep Space Logistics manager at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We are bringing the innovative thinking of commercial industry into our supply chain and helping ensure we're able to support crews preparing for lunar surface expeditions by delivering the supplies they need ahead of time."

Charged with returning to the Moon in the next four years, NASA's Artemis program  will reveal new knowledge about the Moon, Earth and our origins in the solar system. The Gateway is a vital part of NASA's deep space exploration plans, along with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and human landing system that will send astronauts the Moon. One standard logistics service mission is anticipated for each Artemis SLS/Orion crewed mission to the Gateway. Gaining new experiences on and around the Moon will prepare NASA to send the first humans to Mars in the coming years, and the Gateway will play a vital role in this process.

"We're making significant progress moving from our concept of the Gateway to reality," said Dan Hartman, Gateway program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Bringing a logistics provider onboard ensures we can transport all the critical supplies we need for the Gateway and on the lunar surface to do research and technology demonstrations in space that we can't do anywhere else. We also anticipate performing a variety of research on and within the logistics module."

For more information about NASA's Moon to Mars exploration plans, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Gina Anderson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
gina.n.anderson@nasa.gov

Isidro Reyna
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
isidro.r.reyna@nasa.gov

Amanda Griffin
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-3583
amanda.griffin@nasa.gov

 

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Friday, March 20, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Leadership Assessing Mission Impacts of Coronavirus

  March 20, 2020 
RELEASE 20-031
NASA Leadership Assessing Mission Impacts of Coronavirus

To protect the health and safety of the NASA workforce as the nation responds to coronavirus (COVID-19), agency leadership recently completed the first assessment of work underway across all missions, projects, and programs. The goal was to identify tasks that can be done remotely by employees at home, mission-essential work that must be performed on-site, and on-site work that will be paused.

"We are going to take care of our people. That's our first priority," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Technology allows us to do a lot of what we need to do remotely, but, where hands-on work is required, it is difficult or impossible to comply with CDC guidelines while processing spaceflight hardware, and where we can't safely do that we're going to have to suspend work and focus on the mission critical activities." 

The agency has defined mission-essential work as that which must be performed to maintain critical mission operations to ensure the schedule of time-sensitive mission-critical launches, or work to protect life and critical infrastructure. This includes work to support America's national security and mission-essential functions for the nation. NASA leadership will continually assess all activities as the situation evolves.

NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which includes the Perseverance Rover and Mars Helicopter, remains a high priority for the agency, and launch and other mission preparations will continue. Much of the work is being done by employees and contractors who work remotely across the agency. Assessments by agency leadership are underway for anyone required to work in areas under restriction, such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, especially after the recent announcement by California's governor.

The James Webb Space Telescope team, also in California, is suspending integration and testing operations. Decisions could be adjusted as the situation continues to unfold over the weekend and into next week. The decision was made to ensure the safety of the workforce. The observatory remains safe in its cleanroom environment.

Also in California, work continues by Lockheed Martin on X-59 NASA's first large-scale, piloted X-plane in more than 30 years, while NASA oversight and inspections will be conducted almost exclusively virtually.

Work on the agency's Artemis program continues with limited production of hardware and software for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. SLS and Orion manufacturing and testing activities at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center are temporarily on hold. The Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft will be shipped from the agency's Glenn Research Center to its Kennedy Space Center where it eventually will be attached on top of SLS for the Artemis I lunar mission. Assembly and processing work is continuing on the Artemis II Orion spacecraft at Kennedy.

Since the Human Landing System program leverages capabilities across the agency, it already functions as a virtual team to conduct engineering analysis and other work, and it has seen minimal impact from the requirement for mandatory telework. Most development work on the Gateway program continues and can be done remotely, however, any on-site activity beyond securing hardware is temporarily suspended until further notice. 

NASA's Ames Research Center is keeping the agency's supercomputing resources online, as well as the NASA IT Security Operations Center and in-flight spacecraft operations.

All work associated with supporting International Space Station operations continues. Flight controllers are working in the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where a number of additional measures went into effect in early March to reduce the risk of exposure to the team.

Astronaut training continues, as do preparations for the launch April 9 of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts. NASA and its international and commercial partners always take steps to prevent the crew from bringing illnesses like the cold or flu to the International Space Station. As with all crewed launches, crews must stay in quarantine for two weeks before they launch. This process ensures that they aren't sick or incubating an illness when they get to the space station and is called "health stabilization."

Work also continues on the agency's Commercial Crew Program, a critical element to maintaining safe operations on the International Space Station and a sustained U.S. presence on the orbiting laboratory. Commercial resupply activities and future missions also will go on as scheduled in order to keep the space station crew fully supplied and safe.

NASA also is supporting mission-essential operations for all spacecraft. This encompasses the Hubble Space Telescope and space communications network, as well as satellite missions that support the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and Department of Defense, including those that provide critical weather and GPS data.

Most of the agency remains under a Stage 3 status, with mandatory telework for all employees with limited exceptions for on-site work. Ames, Michoud, and Stennis are at Stage 4 with personnel on-site to protect life and critical infrastructure. NASA leadership continues to monitor developments regarding COVID-19 around the nation and follow the guidance from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local and state health officials in order to keep the NASA community safe.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Bettina Inclán / Karen Northon
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-1540
bettina.inclan@nasa.gov  / karen.northon@nasa.gov

 

NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov.
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Thursday, March 19, 2020

[NASA HQ News] March 19 Administrator Statement on Agency Response to Coronavirus

  March 19, 2020 
RELEASE 20-030
March 19 Administrator Statement on Agency Response to Coronavirus

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine:

"NASA leadership is determined to make the health and safety of its workforce its top priority as we navigate the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. To that end, the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center are moving to Stage 4 of the NASA Response Framework, effective Friday, March 20.

"The change at Stennis was made due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the community around the center, the number of self-isolation cases within our workforce there, and one confirmed case among our Stennis team.  While there are no confirmed cases at Michoud, the facility is moving to Stage 4 due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the local area, in accordance with local and federal guidelines.

"Mandatory telework is in effect for NASA personnel at both facilities until further notice. Additionally, all travel is suspended. These measures are being taken to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 and protect our communities.    

"Access to Stennis and Michoud will be limited to personnel required to maintain the safety and security of the center, as approved by agency leadership and the resident agencies. All previously approved exceptions for onsite work are rescinded and new approvals will be required in order to gain access to the center.

"NASA will temporarily suspend production and testing of Space Launch System and Orion hardware. The NASA and contractors teams will complete an orderly shutdown that puts all hardware in a safe condition until work can resume. Once this is complete, personnel allowed onsite will be limited to those needed to protect life and critical infrastructure.

"We realize there will be impacts to NASA missions, but as our teams work to analyze the full picture and reduce risks we understand that our top priority is the health and safety of the NASA workforce.

"I ask all members of the NASA workforce to stay in close contact with your supervisor and check the NASA People website regularly for updates. Also, in these difficult times, do not hesitate to reach out to the NASA Employee Assistance Program, if needed.  

"I will continue to say, so none of us forget – there is no team better prepared for doing hard things. Take care of yourself, your family, and your NASA team."

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Bettina Inclán / Matthew Rydin
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-603-7522
bettina.inclan@nasa.gov / matthew.m.rydin@nasa.gov

 

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Inbox Astronomy: Quasar Tsunamis Rip Across Galaxies

INBOX ASTRONOMY

Quasar Tsunamis Rip Across Galaxies



Release date: Mar 19, 2020 1:00 PM (EDT)



The weather forecast for galaxies hosting monster, active black holes is blustery. Engorged by infalling material, a supermassive black hole heats so much gas that it can shine 1,000 times brighter than its host galaxy. But that's not all.

Hubble astronomers found that the region around the black hole emits so much radiation that it pushes out material at a few percent the speed of light (a speed fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in a few minutes). This material slams into a host galaxy's lanes of gas and dust, preventing the formation of new stars. The torrential winds are snowplowing the equivalent of hundreds of solar masses of material each year. And, the forecast is that this stormy weather will continue for at least ten million years.


Read more
Find the entire Hubble News archive, images, and videos at HubbleSite.org.

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Wednesday, March 18, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to First Crew Launch to Station from America Since 2011

  March 18, 2020 
MEDIA ADVISORY M20-041
NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to First Crew Launch to Station from America Since 2011
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken familiarize themselves with SpaceX's Crew Dragon
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken familiarize themselves with SpaceX's Crew Dragon, the spacecraft that will transport them to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Their upcoming flight test is known as Demo-2, short for Demonstration Mission 2. The Crew Dragon will launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credits: NASA

Media accreditation is open for NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 flight test, which will send two astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. This mission will be the return of human spaceflight launch capabilities to the United States and the first launch of American astronauts aboard an American rocket and spacecraft since the final space shuttle mission on July 8, 2011.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the spacecraft, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting no earlier than mid-to-late May for launch.

This second demonstration mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is another end-to-end flight test of SpaceX's human spaceflight system, which will include launch, docking, splashdown and recovery operations. It is the final flight test of the system before SpaceX is certified to carry out operational crew flights to and from the space station for NASA.

Media accreditation deadlines are as follows:

·      International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 4 p.m. EDT Friday, April 17.

·      U.S. media must apply by 4 p.m. Friday, April 24.

All accreditation requests should be submitted online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

NASA is proactively monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it evolves. The agency will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency's chief health and medical officer and communicate any updates that may impact mission planning or media access, as they become available.

For questions about accreditation, please email ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, contact Kennedy's newsroom at 321-867-2468.

Reporters with special logistics requests for Kennedy, such as space for satellite trucks, trailers, tents, electrical connections or work spaces, must contact Tiffany Fairley at tiffany.l.fairley@nasa.gov by Friday, April 24.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry through a public-private partnership to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil. The goal of the program is to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the space station, which will allow for additional research time and will increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity's testbed for exploration. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Kyle Herring​
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

321-867-2468
kyle.j.herring@nasa.gov

Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov

 

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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Administrator March 17 Statement on Agency Response to Coronavirus

  March 17, 2020 
RELEASE 20-028
NASA Administrator March 17 Statement on Agency Response to Coronavirus

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine:

"Agency leadership continues to monitor developments regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) around the nation. We are closely following the advice of health professionals and the White House Coronavirus Task Force to keep our workforce safe. Implementing best practices early and quickly will increase likelihoods for better outcomes.

"This evening, NASA leadership has decided to elevate all centers and facilities to Stage 3 of NASA's Response Framework. Effective immediately, all employees and contractors will move to mandatory telework until further notice. Mission-essential personnel will continue to be granted access onsite. Please contact your supervisor as soon as possible if you have any questions.

"Although a limited amount of employees have tested positive for COVID-19, it is imperative that we take this pre-emptive step to thwart further spreading of the virus among the workforce and our communities. A list of collaboration tools and information supporting telework is available on NASA's Remote Collaboration Services webpage.

"I strongly encourage you and your families to follow all local, state and federal guidelines to stay healthy and to help slow the spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention website lists many resources available if you need help, specific state health websites can be found here. Additionally, I urge all NASA employees to follow President Trump's Coronavirus Guidelines for America, announced yesterday afternoon. You can find these 15 Day guidelines on whitehouse.gov, or by visiting https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf.

"Agency leadership will continue to monitor the rapidly-evolving risks COVID-19 poses to our workforce. You should anticipate continued frequent communication from your center director, myself and others. Up-to-date agency announcements and guidelines are available on the NASA People website, please check it often.

"NASA's early and thoughtful actions in coordination with our country's unified response to this health emergency is an incredible display of national solidarity. Thank you for your vigilance and flexibility. I am confident your diligence and commitment will ensure our mission will continue. Please make certain you are giving the appropriate attention to your health and that of your family."

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Bettina Inclán / Matthew Rydin
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-603-7522
bettina.inclan@nasa.gov / matthew.m.rydin@nasa.gov 

 

NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@newsletters.nasa.gov.
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Saturday, March 14, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Administrator Statement on Agency Coronavirus Status

  March 14, 2020 
RELEASE 20-027
NASA Administrator Statement on Agency Coronavirus Status

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine:

"As we navigate this difficult time, the protection and care of the NASA family continues to be our top priority and the key consideration as we make decisions on how to move forward. NASA leadership is coordinating closely with the White House Coronavirus Task Force and interagency partners in our nation's unified response to coronavirus (COVID-19), and regularly re-evaluating the conditions at each center.

"As you are aware, Ames Research Center in California was elevated to Stage 3 of NASA's Response Framework after an onsite case of COVID-19 was confirmed on March 8. We recently received confirmation that an employee at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama has tested positive for COVID-19. As with Ames – in consultation with Marshall Center Director Jody Singer, NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. J.D. Polk, and in accordance to agency response plans ­– Marshall has been elevated to Stage 3 and is in mandatory telework status, with restricted access to the center until further notice.

"While we do not have any confirmed cases of COVID-19 at any other NASA center as of today, March 14, out of an abundance of caution, all other NASA centers are transitioning to Stage 2 of our response framework. Center directors have been in contact with their employees about this status change and steps moving forward.  

"In Stage 2, telework is strongly encouraged for employees who can work remotely. I've directed employees to take home their laptop computer, power cord, NASA badge, and any other equipment needed to work effectively from an alternate location, as well as essential personal items they may need. The workforce is asked to stay in regular contact with supervisors. Travel that is not mission-essential, as defined in the response framework, will be limited agencywide.  

"More information on leave and telework is available on the NASA People website.

"As I've told the NASA community, if you are performing mission-essential work on center, do not go to work if you feel sick. Everyone should take extra precautions to protect themselves and others. I've asked employees to please continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency's chief health and medical officer, and if they have questions, don't hesitate to talk with their supervisor.

"As the COVID-19 situation evolves, we'll continue to closely monitor and coordinate with federal, state, and community officials to take any further appropriate steps to help safeguard the NASA family. The NASA People website is regularly updated with employee additional guidance. 

"The vigilance our workforce has displayed in our response to coronavirus is remarkable and has placed our agency in a position of strength as we confront this national emergency. I'm grateful for all the members of the NASA community and everything they're doing to care for the health of our workforce and keeping the mission going. We will get through this together and NASA will continue to accomplish amazing things for our country and all of humanity."

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Bettina Inclán / Matthew Rydin
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-603-7522
bettina.inclan@nasa.gov / matthew.m.rydin@nasa.gov

 

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Thursday, March 12, 2020

[NASA HQ News] NASA Science to Hold Virtual Community Town Hall Meeting

  March 12, 2020 
MEDIA ADVISORY M20-039
NASA Science to Hold Virtual Community Town Hall Meeting

NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) will hold a community town hall meeting with Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen and his leadership team at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, March 20, to discuss the president's Fiscal Year 2021 budget request for the directorate and other updates.

Members of the science community, academia, the media, and the public are invited to participate. Participants are encouraged to use the agency's website to hear audio of the presentation and view the slides.

To listen to the presentation and view the slides, go to:

http://www.nasa.gov/live

To ask a question, participants can go to:

https://arc.cnf.io/sessions/s6mw/#!/dashboard

Users must provide their first and last name, organization, and can submit their own questions or vote up or down a list of questions submitted by others. The meeting leaders will try to answer as many of the submitted questions as possible.

Participants also can listen to the audio portion of the meeting by calling 888-989-9718 or 312-470-7045 and using the passcode TOWNHALL. No questions will be taken over the phone. A replay of the call will be available for one month at 888-277-5024 or 203-369-3021.

For more about NASA's Fiscal Year 2021 request, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/budget

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

 

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

[NASA HQ News] New York City Students to Speak with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station

  March 11, 2020 
MEDIA ADVISORY M20-038
New York City Students to Speak with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir configures the Light Microscopy Module for the Next Advanced Colloids Experiment.
Credits: NASA

Students from New York City will have an opportunity this week to talk with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will air live at 10:40 a.m. EDT Friday, March 13, on NASA Television and the agency's website.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir will answer questions from students from Martin Van Buren High School. Rep. Grace Meng of New York is scheduled to attend the event and is scheduled to speak to students before the question-and-answer session.

The event will take place at Martin Van Buren High School, 230-17 Hillside Ave., Queens Village, New York. Media interested in covering should contact Vladimir Hurych at vhurych@schools.nyc.gov or 347-626-9571.

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS).

For nearly 20 years, astronauts have lived and worked continuously on the space station, testing technologies, performing science and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Through NASA's Artemis program, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon by 2024, with eventual human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

Follow America's Moon to Mars exploration at:

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars 

Follow NASA astronauts on social media at:

https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

-end-

 

Press Contacts

Katherine Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1288

katherine.m.brown@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111

sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
 

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Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Science X Newsletter Tuesday, Mar 10

Dear Reader ,

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Sign-up and get free, monthly access to articles that cover exciting, cutting edge discoveries in Energy, Environmental Science and Agriculture.


Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for March 10, 2020:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

A scheme for hybrid access point (H-AP) deployment in smart cities

A robotic planner that responds to natural language commands

Radio galaxy NGC 3894 investigated with Fermi

How a key brain region combines visual and spatial information to navigate

Research produces most accurate 3-D images of 2-D materials

AMD processors susceptible to security vulnerabilities, data leaks

Electrical power generation from moderate-temperature radiative thermal sources

Astronomers use slime mold model to reveal dark threads of the cosmic web

Wearing clothes could release more microfibres to the environment than washing them

Building a nuclear plant? Go online

Study reveals a mechanism that plants can use to dissipate excess sunlight as heat

Research shows mangrove conservation can pay for itself in flood protection

Uncovering novel relationships between SLCs and cytotoxic drugs in human cells

International study completes the largest genetic map of psychiatric disorders so far

From darkness to light: New findings unravel how plants control energy generation

Astronomy & Space news

Radio galaxy NGC 3894 investigated with Fermi

Using the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard NASA's Fermi spacecraft, astronomers have investigated a nearby radio galaxy known as NGC 3894. Results of the study, presented in a paper published March 3, confirm the galaxy's young age and provide more insights into its properties.

Astronomers use slime mold model to reveal dark threads of the cosmic web

A computational approach inspired by the growth patterns of a bright yellow slime mold has enabled a team of astronomers and computer scientists at UC Santa Cruz to trace the filaments of the cosmic web that connects galaxies throughout the universe.

New technique could elucidate earliest stages of planet's life

A new kind of astronomical observation helped reveal the possible evolutionary history of a baby Neptune-like exoplanet.

Solved: The mystery of the expansion of the universe

The Earth, solar system, the entire Milky Way and the few thousand galaxies closest to us move in a vast "bubble" that is 250 million light years in diameter, where the average density of matter is half as high as for the rest of the universe. This is the hypothesis advanced by a theoretical physicist from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) to solve a conundrum that has been splitting the scientific community for a decade: At what speed is the universe expanding? Until now, at least two independent calculation methods have arrived at two values that are different by about 10% with a deviation that is statistically irreconcilable. This new approach, which is set out in the journal Physics Letters B, erases this divergence without making use of any "new physics."

Neutron star with measured at 11 kilometers radius

An international research team led by members of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) has obtained new measurements of how big neutron stars are. To do so, they combined a general first-principles description of the unknown behavior of neutron star matter with multi-messenger observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817. Their results, which appeared in Nature Astronomy today, are more stringent by a factor of two than previous limits and show that a typical neutron star has a radius close to 11 kilometers. They also find that neutron stars merging with black holes are in most cases likely to be swallowed whole, unless the black hole is small and/or rapidly rotating. This means that while such mergers might be observable as gravitational-wave sources, they would be invisible in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Study suggests Earth and Moon not identical oxygen twins

Scientists at The University of New Mexico have found that the Earth and Moon have distinct oxygen compositions and are not identical in oxygen as previously thought according to a new study released today in Nature Geoscience.

Elon Musk dismisses astronomy concerns over Starlink network

SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Monday dismissed scientists' concerns that his company's Starlink constellation of internet satellites would obscure the view of the night sky, predicting the network "will not cause any impact whatsoever in astronomical discoveries."

Image: The foam-coarsening experiment aboard the ISS

Another fluid experiment joins long running research on foam stability on the International Space Station. The Foam-Coarsening experiment, developed by Airbus for ESA, is scheduled to be activated this month in the Fluid Science Laboratory in the European Columbus module.

How the moon formed: New research sheds light on what happened

How the Earth got its moon is a long debated question. The giant impact theory – which states that the moon formed from the a collision between the early Earth and a rocky body called Theia—has become the front runner among the explanations. But the details around how this happened are blurry and there are many observations that scientists are still struggling to explain.

Every part of Blue Origin's new Glenn rocket is gigantic, including its nose cone

Massive. Enormous. Huge. Gigantic. And whatever other words you find in the thesaurus all do the job when it comes to describing Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket. Especially its nosecone.

Docking, rendezvous and Newton's third law – the challenge of servicing satellites in space

If you want to build or fix something in space, you might think you'd need a human to do it. But what if you didn't? What if robotic spacecraft could be used to refuel satellites in orbit, add new instruments to outdated machinery and even build entire structures while in space?

Technology news

A scheme for hybrid access point (H-AP) deployment in smart cities

Researchers at the University of Essex, UESTC-China and ZTE have recently introduced a scheme for the deployment of hybrid access points (H-APs), which could simultaneously enable wireless information transfer (WIT) and wireless energy transfer (WET) in smart cities. This unique scheme, presented in a paper pre-published on arXiv, uses a mobility model of grid-based streets in urban environments to represent the movements of users navigating a city.

A robotic planner that responds to natural language commands

In years to come, robots could assist human users in a variety of ways, both when they are inside their homes and in other settings. To be more intuitive, robots should be able to follow natural language commands and instructions, as this allows users to communicate with them just as they would with other humans.

AMD processors susceptible to security vulnerabilities, data leaks

Graz University of Technology researchers recently revealed that AMD CPUs dating as far back as the early 2010s are susceptible to side channel attacks. Researchers have now demonstrated that a pair of infiltration approaches—collectively termed "Take A Way"—can access AES encryption keys.

Building a nuclear plant? Go online

Bucking current trends toward safe, clean and renewable energy resources, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur last week launched an initiative to reignite enthusiasm for nuclear energy.

Intel processors still vulnerable to attack: study

Computer scientists at KU Leuven have once again exposed a security flaw in Intel processors. Jo Van Bulck, Frank Piessens, and their colleagues in Austria, the United States, and Australia gave the manufacturer one year's time to fix the problem.

Analysis: Android has more vulnerabilities than Windows 10

Although Windows 10 users are used to complaining about bugs and upgrades, they may be surprised to learn that Android and Linux have more vulnerabilities.

Study uncovers a potential driver of premature solar panel failures

Unlike diamonds, solar panels are not forever. Ultraviolet rays, gusts of wind and heavy rain wear away at them over their lifetime.

Air France-KLM warns of worse to come after virus hits passenger numbers

Air-France KLM warned Tuesday the coronavirus outbreak will hit its business harder in coming months after February passenger numbers fell 0.5 percent overall as flights to China were cut.

Report: Pilots restarted software, causing fatal nosedive

Ethiopian investigators are mostly blaming Boeing for last year's crash of a Ethiopian Airlines jet shortly after takeoff, saying in an interim report Monday that there were design failures in the jet and inadequate training for pilots.

Restricting underage access to porn and gambling sites: Good idea, but technically tricky

Australia should work towards adopting a mandatory age-verification system for gambling and pornography websites, according to a recommendation from the federal parliamentary cross-party committee on social and legal issues.

Fueling a cleaner future for transport

A simple, fast and inexpensive method for modeling the combustion characteristics of gasoline has been developed by KAUST researchers, paving the way for cleaner and more efficient transport fuels.

Approximating a kernel of truth

By using an approximate rather than explicit "kernel" function to extract relationships in very large data sets, KAUST researchers have been able to dramatically accelerate the speed of machine learning. The approach promises to greatly improve the speed of artificial intelligence (AI) in the era of big data.

Avoiding a technological anxiety attack

Almost everywhere you look where two or more people are gathered together, someone is staring at the screen of a mobile phone or other device, swiping left, swiping right, tapping icons, scrolling…

Groundbreaking all-solid-state battery technology

On March 9 in London, researchers from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the Samsung R&D Institute Japan (SRJ) presented a study on high-performance, long-lasting all-solid-state batteries to Nature Energy, one of the world's leading scientific journals.

Environmental disaster or key to a clean energy future? A new twist on hydropower

Steve Lowe gazed into a gaping pit in the heart of the California desert, careful not to let the blistering wind send him toppling over the edge.

FBI arrests Russian accused of heading hacker 'storefront'

US authorities have arrested a Russian national who ran a hacker "storefront" that took in at least $17 million by selling stolen personal data and other illegal products and services, according to court records.

Edited Biden video portends social media challenges in 2020

As former Vice President Joe Biden's drive for the White House gains momentum, the 77-year-old's political opponents on both the right and left have launched an internet campaign suggesting he's not mentally or physically equipped to serve—sometimes using altered content and other disinformation to make their case.

Google restricts visits to curb coronavirus risk

Google on Monday began restricting visits to its offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and New York as it ramped up precautions against the deadly novel coronavirus.

Boeing factory employee tests positive for virus

US aviation giant Boeing said Monday that one of its factory workers had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus—the company's first known case.

Qantas grounds planes, CEO forgoes pay as virus spreads

Qantas announced Tuesday it was grounding most of its Airbus A380 fleet and its CEO would forgo his salary as the airline slashed international flights in response to the coronavirus epidemic.

Why raising the alcohol content of Europe's fuels could reduce carbon emissions

By 2030, a fifth of the fuel that motorists put into the petrol tanks of their cars could be alcohol, according to research concluding that new petrol and ethanol blends can reduce carbon emissions from Europe's transport sector with little additional cost to consumers.

Japan Inc scraps corporate joining events due to virus

Major Japanese firms such as Toyota and Toshiba have cancelled their traditional corporate joining ceremonies originally scheduled for next month due to the new coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Driver's-ed-inspired system could make automated parallel parking more accessible

One of the most challenging tasks for drivers is parallel parking, which is why automatic parking systems are becoming a popular feature on some vehicles. However, the cost of designing and implementing such computing-intensive systems can significantly increase a vehicle's price, creating a barrier to adding the feature in many models.

Autonomous on-demand buses underway in the streets of Europe

Would you like to take a ride on a driverless bus? This will be possible in five European cities between April and October 2020, where autonomous buses will be tested in real-life traffic conditions. Three international consortia have been awarded with contracts for the final phase of the pre-commercial procurement under the EU-funded FABULOS project. These consortia will pilot autonomous buses as part of the existing public transport systems. The initial tests will run in Gjesdal (Norway), Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia) in the spring and autumn. Pilots will also be launched in Lamia (Greece) and Helmond (the Netherlands).

China's Trip.com says no pay for top execs while virus rages

Top executives with Trip.com, China's leading online travel service, will accept no salaries starting from this month as the company copes with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, its CEO has told employees.

Twitter's 'manipulated media' tag on Trump tweet suffers glitch

Twitter Inc. marked a video posted by President Donald Trump's team as manipulated content under its new media policy. But the tag doesn't show up for all users.

Airlines slash flights, freeze hiring as virus cuts travel

Airlines are slashing flights and freezing hiring as they experience a sharp drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations in the face of the spreading coronavirus.

EU to stop 'ghost flights' in coronavirus fightback

The EU is to act "very rapidly" to help airlines struggling from the new coronavirus outbreak by proposing a law to stop "ghost flights" to keep airport slots, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.

Ryanair and EasyJet cancel Italy flights

Budget airlines Ryanair and EasyJet are to cancel all Italian flights until early April after the government ordered the entire country locked down because of the coronavirus, they announced Tuesday.

Medicine & Health news

How a key brain region combines visual and spatial information to navigate

When we move through the streets of our neighborhood, we often use familiar landmarks to help us navigate. And as we think to ourselves, "OK, now make a left at the coffee shop," a part of the brain called the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) lights up.

International study completes the largest genetic map of psychiatric disorders so far

An international study published in the journal Cell, has described 109 genetic variants associated with eight psychiatric disorders: autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome, in a total of about 230,000 patients worldwide.

Cancer cells spread using a copper-binding protein

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have shown that the Atox1 protein, found in breast cancer cells, participates in the process by which cancer cells metastasize. The protein could therefore be a potential biomarker for assessing the aggressiveness of the disease, as well as a possible target for new drugs. The research was recently published in the journal PNAS.

How intermittent fasting changes liver enzymes and helps prevent disease

Researchers in Australia have used state-of-the-art analytical tools to understand how intermittent fasting works on the liver to help prevent disease. The findings will help medical scientists working in cancer, cardiovascular and diabetes research develop new interventions to lower disease risk and discover the optimum intervals for fasting.

Scientists categorize neurons by the way the brain jiggles during a heartbeat

The brain jiggles when the heart beats, and now, researchers have found a way to use that motion to better study the differences between types of neurons. In a study appearing March 10 in the journal Cell Reports, researchers find that by analyzing the changes in the waveforms they record from neurons during a heartbeat, they can more accurately classify the different types of neurons in the human brain. This work, they say, could help us better understand how the different types of cells that exist in the brain interact together to produce cognition and behavior.

Thriving neuron 'nursery' found in a section of adult human nose tissue

Is it possible for an adult brain to make new nerve cells? Scientists have debated this question for decades, with many concluding that neuron-making stops after childhood, or around the age of 13.

Deep learning electrocardiogram devices found to be susceptible to adversarial attack

A team of researchers from New York University and NYU Langone Health has found that deep learning electrocardiogram devices can be susceptible to adversarial attacks. In their paper published in the journal Nature Medicine, the group describes how they developed an attack approach and tested it with electrocardiogram devices.

Altruism may not make people as happy as prior studies suggested

A pair of researchers, one with the University of Bonn, the other Harvard University, has found that altruism may not make people as happy as prior studies have suggested. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Armin Falk and Thomas Graeber describe a study they carried out with student volunteers and what they learned.

Intralipid improves efficacy of chemotherapy treatment

Pairing chemotherapy nanodrugs with a nutritional supplement can lessen devastating side-effects while reducing the amount of the expensive drugs needed to treat cancer according to a study from Carnegie Mellon University and Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes. In addition, pretreatment with the supplement promotes the production of tumor-killing macrophages, making it a promising complement and supplement to existing chemotherapies.

Muscle stem cells compiled in 'atlas'

Muscle repair is a crowded, complicated business. Many different types of cells are bumping around, chattering and trying to coordinate with each other as they work to regenerate new tissue.

Study shows CRISPR effectiveness against colitis pathogen

Research at North Carolina State University shows that the CRISPR-Cas system can be used to effectively target and eliminate specific gut bacteria, in this case Clostridioides difficile, the pathogen that causes colitis—a chronic, degenerative disease of the colon.

Flawed coronavirus test strategy contributed to US spread: experts

Faulty test kits for the novel coronavirus coupled with a diagnostic strategy that initially targeted too few people allowed the disease to spread beyond US authorities' ability to detect it, health experts have said.

First-ever analysis of video recorded CPR improves resuscitation outcomes in emergency departments

Less than 8 percent of people who suffer from cardiac arrest outside of the hospital survive the incident, according to the American Heart Association. To improve survivorship and better administer life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), researchers and physicians at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and North Shore University Hospital developed a novel approach called Mechanical, Team-Focused, Video-Reviewed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (MTV-CPR) to video record, review and reform practices to improve performance. Their research results published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

66-year study finds tall, slim girls are at greater risk of endometriosis

Girls who are tall and lean are at greater risk of developing endometriosis, a debilitating disease that affects women's quality of life and ability to conceive, according to results from a 66-year-long study which indicates that risk factors can now be picked up at an earlier age.

Persistent sleep difficulties in infancy linked to heightened risk of childhood anxieties

Persistent sleep difficulties during the first 12 months of life are linked to a heightened risk of developing childhood anxieties and emotional disorders, indicates research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Around 1 in 20 calls to NHS 111 helpline result in unnecessary emergency care visit

Around one in 20 calls made to the healthcare helpline NHS 111 result in unnecessary attendance at emergency care within 24 hours, despite callers having been advised to seek alternative forms of care, reveals an analysis published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Hospices struggle to deliver specialised support to children when a parent is dying

In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey and Princess Alice Hospice investigated the bereavement support provided to children before and after a parent's death. Ensuring children receive adequate support is vital in safeguarding their psychological wellbeing, as previous research in this area has found that approximately half of children who lose a parent through a prolonged illness continue to experience unresolved grief up to nine years later.

Study demonstrates how to collect true incidents from head impact sensors in youth sports

An increased awareness of concussion risks in young athletes has prompted researchers to use a variety of head impact sensors to measure frequency and severity of impacts during sports. A new study from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) shows these head sensors can record a large number of false positive impacts during real game play. The CHOP team's study emphasizes that an extra step to video-confirm the sensor data is essential for research and for use of this data in injury prevention strategies for player safety.

New clinical trial examines a potential noninvasive solution for overactive bladders

Keck Medicine of USC urologists are launching a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation in patients with an overactive bladder due to neurological conditions, such as a spinal cord injury or stroke, and idiopathic (unknown) causes.

Predicting appropriate opioid prescriptions post-cesarean delivery

Knowing the amount of opioids taken following cesarean section surgery and before discharge can inform individualized prescriptions and cut down on unnecessary, leftover pills that could be used for non-medical purposes, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Urine test could reduce unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies

Unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies could be reduced by 60 per cent thanks to new research from the University of East Anglia.

Italy locks down as China signals major progress in virus fight

Italy imposed unprecedented nationwide restrictions on its 60 million people on Tuesday to control the deadly coronavirus, as China signalled major progress in its battle against the global epidemic.

South Korea reports fewer than 150 new coronavirus cases

South Korea, one of the worst-affected countries in the coronavirus epidemic outside China, on Tuesday reported fewer than 150 new cases for the first time in two weeks.

Italy limits travel and bans public gatherings across whole country

Travel was restricted across Italy from Tuesday and public gatherings were forbidden throughout the country as the government signed off on strict quarantine measures to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.

A single dose of universal flu vaccine, FLU-v, may provide long-lasting protection against influenza

A single dose of adjuvanted FLU-v, a synthetic universal flu vaccine, may provide long-lasting protection across a broad spectrum of influenza viruses. Findings from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

China to ease travel curbs within locked-down province

Hard-hit Hubei, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China, will relax travel restrictions to allow healthy people to move within the province, officials said Tuesday.

Noncitizens are undertreated for heart attack, stroke risk factors

A new study published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, shows that noncitizens in the United States are less likely to receive treatment for cardiovascular disease risk factors when compared with born or naturalized U.S. citizens.

Closing in on liver fibrosis: Detailing the fibrosis process at unprecedented resolution

Today, there is no effective way to treat liver fibrosis. In a new study, researchers from University of Southern Denmark present a new technology to investigate cellular processes as they change during fibrosis development. Key findings are being validated in studies of human patients, paving the way for possible novel diagnostics and treatments.

Knowing more about a virus threat may not satisfy you

People who rate themselves as highly knowledgeable about a new infectious disease threat could also be more likely to believe they don't know enough, a new study suggests.

Tomosynthesis outperforms digital mammography in five-year study

A new study published in the journal Radiology has found that the advantages of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) over digital mammography (DM), including increased cancer detection and fewer false positive findings, are maintained over multiple years and rounds of screening. In addition, research showed that DBT screening helped detect a higher proportion of poor prognosis cancers than DM.

Low-dose chest CT leaves DNA intact

The low-dose chest CT scans used in lung cancer screening do not appear to damage human DNA, according to a study appearing in the journal Radiology. The results could help allay fears that such screenings will lead to an increase in radiation-induced cancer.

Older women with breast cancer may benefit from genetic testing, study suggests

About 1 in 40 postmenopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 65 have cancer-associated mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, according to a Stanford-led study of more than 4,500 participants in the long-running Women's Health Initiative.

Possible treatment for breast cancer patients could roll out to clinical trial immediately

A worldwide collaborative study led by scientists at the University of Sussex has proposed a new treatment strategy for patients with a rare but aggressive subtype of cancer known as triple negative breast cancer.

Demographics linked to choice not to vaccinate children in Texas, study finds

Texans who are college-educated, live in suburban or urban areas, have higher median incomes and are ethnically white are less likely to vaccinate their children, according to analysis by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. The findings could help public health officials identify pockets of low vaccination rates where communities within the state are at higher risk for an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.

Junk food orders up trouble for young brains

That teenager in your kitchen feasting on fast food, candy bars and pop might not be able to help themselves—all the more reason for adults to help them before they cause long-term damage to their developing brains.

COVID-19 and children: What parents should know

By now, we know Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person. While the situation is swiftly evolving, and experts are learning more daily, concerns about the younger population may be weighing on parents' minds.

Is your adolescent getting enough sleep? 3 things every parent should know

University of Virginia professors Joanna Lee Williams and Richard J. Bonnie believe that adolescence is a period of "extraordinary" opportunity for learning and exploration, and for laying a strong foundation for a successful life.

Why obesity causes high blood pressure—and potential ways to stop it

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered why obesity causes high blood pressure and identified potential ways of treating that form of high blood pressure.

Opioid marketing to Canadian doctors hyped benefits, downplayed harms

Between January 2016 and June 2019 there were over 13,900 deaths from opioid overdoses in Canada, 4,500 of which occurred in 2018. Based on information to date, 2019 is likely to have a similar mortality rate. Most deaths these days are from street drugs laced with fentanyl, carfentanil and other similar products.

You can do it! A 'growth mindset' helps us learn

One of the most influential phenomena in education over the last two decades has been that of the "growth mindset". This refers to the beliefs a student has about various capacities such as their intelligence, their ability in areas such as maths, their personality and creative ability.

Sad about having a boy instead of a girl? 'Gender disappointment' is no mental illness

In an age of gender-reveal parties, baby bumps on Instagram, and hyper-gendered toys and clothing, learning about a baby's sex is big news.

Long-term hemophilia treatment could lie in patients' own cells

Children (and adults) with hemophilia are slow to form blood clots, so are at constant risk for uncontrolled bleeding. Even when the skin isn't broken, a fall or a simple toe stub can become a serious medical issue: internal bleeding cause permanent damage to muscles and joints. While regularly replacing the missing or malfunctioning clotting factor can keep hemophilia under control, the protein must be infused multiple times per week—for life.

Study shows promising approach for the prevention and cure of gonorrhea in women

In research recently published in mBio, researchers from the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics have discovered non-antibiotic (host-targeted) therapies for the effective treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections by repurposing existing drugs.

Nutrition research finds novel target for Alzheimer's diagnosis, treatment

Alzheimer's is a costly disease.

Treating asthma with data analytics

As more and more people incorporate Internet of Things (IoT) devices into their lives, users are automating their homes, their vehicles and their workplaces. New research from the University of Delaware's Junbo Son suggests that IoT devices could have another impactful use: managing chronic health conditions and even saving lives.

New automated method developed for corneal nerve fiber tortuosity analysis

The Intelligent Medical Imaging (iMED) Group at the Cixi Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (CNITECH) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed a fully automated method for image-level corneal nerve fiber tortuosity estimation, contributing to the examination and diagnosis of eye-related diseases. The study was published in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

Invasion of exotic plants elevates disease risks

Invasive plants can not only interfere with the recovery of native plants, but also become hotbeds of arthropod disease vectors. Increased numbers of chigger mites that can transmit deadly scrub typhus were observed under exotic invasive plants with facilitated by industrialization, according to disease ecologist Chi-Chien Kuo and colleagues from National Taiwan Normal University and Taiwan Centers for Disease Control in a new study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Mouse study suggests immune cells could protect against Alzheimer's

Scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) Munich and Denali Therapeutics (South San Francisco, CA, U.S.) have developed an approach to stimulate immune cells of the brain in such a way that they might possibly provide better protection against Alzheimer's disease. Their report has been published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. These findings could ultimately enable development of novel therapies to treat Alzheimer's disease.

QuILT study reveals systemic barriers to safe patient transfers in labor and delivery

Delivering a baby is one of life's most thrilling and nerve-racking experiences. Whether someone is about to become a first-time parent or they have young ones at home already, most families have a host of questions before, during and after delivery. The Obstetrics and Gynecology team at St. Michael's Hospital is committed to making sure people have the answers they need and that parents have excellent care and support throughout their pregnancy.

Why you get shorter as you age

While you may be aware that a loss of vision, hearing and memory is a sign of aging, something that is perhaps not so noticeable is a reduction in height. This apparent shrinking is due to several factors relating to changes in bone, muscles, joints and other tissues in your body. While a certain amount of height loss is a normal part of aging and unlikely to be associated with any health problems, significant height loss may indicate underlying issues. Understanding what happens to your body as you age is important so you can counteract some of the negative effects of aging.

Coronavirus: How big, how bad, and what to look out for

Cases of illness from the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease, known as COVID-19, have been confirmed in more than 100 countries. The outbreak was first recorded in China in December last year. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses that can range from a common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The Conversation Africa's Ina Skosana spoke to Shabir Madhi about the situation.

History mustn't repeat itself with COVID-19

As the issue of repatriation of foreign nationals from China grabs the headlines in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent in the wake of the spread of COVID-19, there are some important lessons that can still be drawn from events 102 years ago in 1918 when an earlier epidemic, of so-called Spanish flu, arrived in the country.

7 science-based strategies to cope with coronavirus anxiety

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues its global spread and the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases continues to increase, anxiety related to the outbreak is on the rise too.

Dramatic increase in bowel cancer in young adults in England

There has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of bowel cancer in adults under the age of 50, according to new research from the University of Bristol, UWE Bristol and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol).

2018 health care spending up due to higher prices

Average employer-sponsored insurance spending rose to $5,892 per person in 2018, according to the Health Care Cost Institute annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report.

Why young people are drinking less—and what older drinkers can learn from them

Young people are drinking less than ever before. Some reading this will be able to recall the 1990s—the decade of peak alcohol, when drinking was a key part of life for young people. The decade saw the rise of pub and club culture, public displays of drunkenness by young adults and the arrival of new kinds of alcoholic drinks you could buy (alcopops anyone?).

Does screening travelers for disease and infection really work?

Following the emergence of a new coronavirus late last year, China closed its borders to prevent the disease from traveling. Yet many people had already left Wuhan, which allowed the virus to move with people as they traveled around the world.

Virtual screening for active substances against the coronavirus

The University of Basel is part of the global search for a drug to fight the rampant coronavirus. Researchers in the Computational Pharmacy group have so far virtually tested almost 700 million substances, targeting a specific site on the virus—with the aim of inhibiting its multiplication. Due to the current emergency, the first results of the tests will be made available to other research groups immediately.

Health officials say not to touch your face—but that's harder than it sounds

You might be buying—or making—lots of hand sanitizer to help protect yourself from the COVID-19 coronavirus, but health care professionals are asking you to do something a lot harder: Stop touching your face.

Can cash carry coronavirus? World Health Organization says use digital payments when possible

The World Health Organization is reportedly encouraging people to use as many digital payment options as possible in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

More than a nice coating

Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) have shown that specialized aggregates of molecules enwrapping nerve cells in the brain, the perineuronal nets, are crucial for regulating the connections between nerve cells that control motor memories. The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provide novel insight into how memories are formed and stored in the brain.

Tracking down 'illegal parkers' in cancer cells

Squamous cell carcinoma is a very unusual type of cancer. It occurs in many tissues—for example in the lungs, esophagus, pancreas, throat and pharynx, and on the skin. Due to the many mutations in this type of cancer, treatment is a particularly challenging task for medicine.

German hospital creates drive-through for coronavirus tests

In the small German town of Gross-Gerau, you don't go to the drive-through for a burger and fries. You go to get tested for the novel coronavirus.

Scientists uncover a mechanism that could lead to new immunotherapies head and neck cancer

Researchers at UC have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that could explain the reason behind decreased immune function in cancer patients and could be a new therapeutic target for immunotherapy for those with head and neck cancers.

Fatal overproduction of antibodies

Bone marrow plasma cells produce antibodies. These comprise two long and two short protein chains. The pathological proliferation of plasma cells can lead to an overproduction of the short chains. These associate to fibrils and deposit in organs. The result is fatal organ failure. A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Heidelberg University has now identified the mutation behind the disease in a patient.

New research shows children and teens worry about political issues

Many surveys of American adults have revealed that they worry about political issues and are concerned for the future of the United States. But what about children and teenagers?

Improving the collection of birth and death data worldwide

University of Melbourne researchers have identified and implemented the key interventions and tools that countries can—and should—use to improve the quality and availability of critical birth and death data and ultimately, improve health outcomes.

Music shows promise in decreasing delirium in critically ill patients

It is common for critically ill patients on life support to develop delirium, a form of acute brain failure for which no effective treatment is known. A study from Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute researchers reports that music appears to decrease delirium in patients on mechanical ventilators in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Routine childhood vaccination linked to improved schooling among adults in India

Vaccines have reduced the global burden of disease by preventing an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths worldwide each year. In India, the reduction in annual under-five deaths, from 3.4 to 1.2 million between 1990 and 2015, was largely due to expansions in coverage of routine childhood vaccination. Vaccines have been linked to increased economic productivity as well as improved cognition, growth, and schooling among children. While the long-term health benefits of vaccination are well known, little evidence exists on the link between routine childhood vaccination and long-term schooling attainment among adults in low- and middle-income countries.

Research finds high rates of trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms for those in drug court

Nearly 94% of defendants in Cuyahoga County drug court have been exposed to trauma and many suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a new Case Western Reserve University study.

Pain researchers get a common language to describe pain

For the first time, an international collaboration of researchers have succeeded in creating a complete overview of all pain conditions in the face, mouth and jaw and classifying them in the same way.

Modern virtual and augmented reality device can help simulate sight loss

Published today, during World Glaucoma Week 2020, a new study demonstrates how commercially available head mounted displays (HMD) can be used to simulate the day-to-day challenges faced by people with glaucoma.

Coronavirus: top US universities move classes online

Major American universities—including Harvard, Princeton and Columbia—have been forced to cancel classes because of the coronavirus and move lessons online, affecting tens of thousands of students.

Diabetes-related lower-extremity complications increasing

(HealthDay)—Diabetes-related lower-extremity complications (DRLECs) are a large and increasing contributor to the global burden of disability, according to a study published online March 5 in Diabetes Care.

Excess mortality observed for older adults with BP below 130/80 mm hg

(HealthDay)—For older adults, blood pressure (BP) < 130/80 mm Hg is associated with excess mortality, according to a study published online March 5 in Age and Ageing.

Millions of coronavirus test kits available soon, vice president says

(HealthDay)—Millions of much-needed testing kits for COVID-19 are on the way to clinics and labs nationwide, Vice President Mike Pence told reporters during a White House briefing Monday evening.

Could dad-to-be's health affect his newborn's health?

(HealthDay)—The health of both mom and dad are key to a healthy pregnancy and birth, new research finds.

People with implanted heart pumps may have higher suicide risk

People with a left ventricular assist device, a mechanical pump that helps the heart, might face a higher suicide risk, new research suggests.

Study: Daily avocado consumption improves attention in persons with overweight, obesity

A diet including daily avocado consumption improves the ability to focus attention in adults whose measurements of height and weight are categorized as overweight or obese, a new randomized control trial found.

German horse-mad town on lockdown to stop coronavirus

A tiny town in northern Germany known as an equestrian hotspot has gone into lockdown after just one woman tested positive for the coronavirus, with horse-riding schools closed and hundreds of residents forced into quarantine.

Some schools shut for 2 weeks in NYC suburb hit by virus

State officials are shuttering several schools and houses of worship for two weeks in a New York City suburb and sending in the National Guard to help with what appears to be the nation's biggest cluster of coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

EU leaders hold virus crisis videoconference

EU leaders held emergency talks by videoconference Tuesday as they scrambled to coordinate a Europe-wide response to the coronavirus epidemic, which has roiled markets and put Italy on lockdown.

Italy sees 168 coronavirus deaths, toll outside China over 1,000

Italy recorded 168 deaths Tuesday from the novel coronavirus, its highest single-day toll to date, pushing the number of fatalities outside China to more than 1,000.

Virus-hit Italy gets more isolated as nations restrict entry

Italians faced travel restrictions inside and outside the country Tuesday as nations near and far isolated Italy with flight bans and sweeping national measures went into effect in a bid to slow the coronavirus' silent spread across the peninsula.

New study identifies valuable tool for treating pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic cancer is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2030. However, recent developments in staging and treatment provide options to improve the long-term survival rate for an otherwise devastating diagnosis.

Study evaluates cervical cancer risks of IUDs

Patients who used copper intrauterine devices (Cu IUD) were found to have a lower risk of high-grade cervical neoplasms (cervical cancer) compared to users of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS), according to a Columbia study recently published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Experts urge low-risk virus patients not to overwhelm hospitals

People at low risk of falling seriously ill with the new coronavirus must do everything possible to avoid overwhelming hospitals, experts have warned.

UN, Red Cross say keeping kids in school could help fight virus

UN bodies and the Red Cross said Tuesday that keeping schools open could help combat the spread of the new coronavirus by educating children on preventative measures.

Young sugarcane workers at high risk of kidney function decline

Researchers from the Center for Health, Work and Environment (CHWE) at the Colorado School of Public Health have published a paper in PLoS ONE, studying the decline in kidney function for young, first-time sugarcane workers in Guatemala. The study, led by University of Colorado Instructor Miranda Dally, is the first to examine kidney function decline in workers starting their first day on a job with a high risk of developing Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Origin (CKDu), a rising epidemic in rural workers in Central and South America.

Virus death toll soars in locked-down Italy as pace slows in China

Locked-down Italy on Tuesday recorded its deadliest day of the novel coronavirus outbreak, with its toll jumping by 168, as airlines halted flights and neighbouring countries clamped down on borders of the worst-hit country outside of China.

Flu and coronavirus: Similar symptoms, different fears

Is it the flu, a cold or the new coronavirus? Patients and doctors alike are parsing signs of illness to figure out who needs what tests or care and how worried they should be.

Too much information? Privacy questions over S. Korea virus details

Allegations of affairs, revelations of membership of religious sects: South Korea's openness about infected patients has been key in its fight against the coronavirus but raised uncomfortable questions over privacy and stigmatisation.

German tourist tests positive for virus in northern Cyprus

A 65-year-old German tourist has tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, the first known case in northern Cyprus, authorities said on Tuesday.

'Stay at home': Italy's quarantine rules

Italians have been told to stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel as quarantine measures were extended to the whole country to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

China's Xi says Wuhan has 'turned the tide' againt virus epidemic

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that Wuhan has turned the tide against the deadly coronavirus outbreak, as he paid his first visit to the city at the heart of the global epidemic.

Thousands on virus-hit cruise ship await disembarkation

Thousands of passengers aboard a cruise ship struck by the novel coronavirus waited anxiously Tuesday for their chance to leave the vessel, even if it meant being shipped to military bases for weeks of quarantine.

Iran says new virus kills 54, death toll climbs to 291

Iran said Tuesday that the new coronavirus had killed 54 more people, raising the death toll to 291 amid 8,042 cases in the Islamic Republic.

Mongolia seals off cities, bans flights after first virus case

Mongolia on Tuesday barred anyone from entering or leaving its cities for six days and banned most international flights after the country reported its first coronavirus case—a Frenchman who arrived from Moscow.

Lebanon records first novel coronavirus death: health ministry

A Lebanese man died Tuesday from the novel coronavirus, a health ministry official said, marking the country's first recorded death from an epidemic that has infected 41 people nationwide.

First coronavirus cases confirmed in Burkina Faso

Two cases of coronavirus have been detected in Burkina Faso, a couple who returned to the West African country from France, the government said.

Cyprus main hospital shuts after surgeon diagnosed with coronavirus

Cyprus on Tuesday temporarily closed the country's largest hospital after its chief heart surgeon was among three cases of novel coronavirus confirmed on the divided eastern Mediterranean island.

Lockdown ends in Tenerife hotel over coronavirus

The remaining guests at a hotel in Spain's Canary Islands on lockdown over the coronavirus were cleared Tuesday to leave the building after completing their 14-day quarantine period.

Virus not yet causing drug shortage in Europe, says EU

Measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak have not yet led to reports of drug shortages in the European Union, the bloc's medical agency said on Tuesday.

Italy's 'darkest hour': How coronavirus became a very political problem

The Italian government's decision to expand its lockdown from two small areas of the north to encompass the entire country is a sign of its increasing desperation to control the spread of novel coronavirus. The number of positive cases by the evening of March 9 stood at at least 7,000 with more than 400 people having lost their lives. This has even been described as Italy's "darkest hour" by Giuseppe Conte, the country's prime minister.

Amid COVID-19 outbreak, US State Department cautions against travel by cruise ship

As the number of U.S. COVID-19 cases climbed past 530 in at least 34 states and the death toll hit 22, the State Department issued an advisory Sunday that urged all Americans to avoid cruise travel.

Study reveals health care gaps for trans, non-binary people

Nearly half of transgender and non-binary Canadians who responded to a national survey say they faced one or more unmet health care needs in the past year—with about 1-in-10 saying they avoided an emergency room visit completely, according to a Western-led project exploring this community across Canada for the first time.

Self-help groups empower caregivers of children with disabilities

Caregivers in low-income settings will be able to respond to the challenges of bringing up children with disabilities, thanks to a new model created by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI).

Morocco announces first coronavirus death

Morocco's health ministry said Tuesday the country had recorded its first death linked to the new coronavirus, an 89-year-old woman who suffered from chronic health problems.

Spain suspends air traffic from Italy over coronavirus

The Spanish government said Tuesday it was suspending all air traffic from Italy for two weeks over coronavirus fears, the official state bulletin said.

Czechs to close schools as central Europe widens virus fight

The Czech Republic said Tuesday it will close all schools, while neighbouring Slovakia suspended church services and Poland cancelled mass events in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly new coronavirus.

Russia issues public transport warning over coronavirus

Russia on Tuesday recommended against hugging, handshakes and taking public transport during rush hour as part of sweeping measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Missouri virus case shows 1 exposure can mean major response

The 20-something college student didn't know she had the new coronavirus as she flew home from a study abroad program in Italy, landing at one of the nation's busiest airports. She took a train to a St. Louis station shared by Amtrak and the Greyhound bus service. Her father, who was exposed to her but shows no signs of illness, went to a coffee shop and took another daughter to a father-daughter dance at a hotel and a house party.

What features make text-based counseling effective?

A fascinating new study has shown that the duration of a text-based counseling session, the length of the counselor's messages, and quick response time by the counselor are important factors in determining the impact of counseling. The study of young people under the age of 23 who relied on a dialogue-based, human-handled child hotline is published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

EU backs Italy's 'bold measures' to fight virus

The EU on Tuesday praised Italy for taking "bold" steps to curb the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak, adding that Brussels would do all in its power to help.

DR Congo's first coronavirus case confirmed in Kinshasa

The DR Congo confirmed its first coronavirus case in the capital Kinshasa, the third most populous city in Africa, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Patient-friendly brain imager gets green light toward first prototype

It might not start a fashion trend, but Sandia National Laboratories is designing a wearable brain imager.

25 virus suspects on Nile cruise boat test negative in Egypt

Egyptian authorities said Tuesday that 25 people who had intially tested positive for the novel coronavirus during a Nile River cruise had since tested negative.

Jordan imposes travel restrictions over coronavirus

Jordan's health minister said Tuesday that the country would bar entry to travellers coming from France, Germany and Spain to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Austria, Slovenia impose Italy border restrictions over virus

Austria and Slovenia announced Tuesday they would severely restrict travel from neighbouring Italy, the country worst hit by the new coronavirus after China.

Coronavirus case at Apple's EU headquarters in Ireland

An Apple employee at the tech giant's European headquarters in the city of Cork has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the firm said Tuesday.

Vatican closes to tourists—but not the faithful

The Vatican said Tuesday it was closing Saint Peter's Square and its main basilica to tourists—but not the faithful—as part of a broader clampdown to curb the coronavirus

Iceland to do general screening for coronavirus

Iceland will screen its population, including random samples, for the new coronavirus to determine how widely it has spread, a company involved in the plan said Tuesday.

Virus disrupts Italy as infections top 10K, deaths at 631

The boisterous hum of Rome dwindled to a whisper and police patrols kept people apart in cafes as Italy enforced an extraordinary, sweeping lockdown Tuesday in hopes of not becoming the next epicenter of the spreading coronavirus epidemic now that life in China is edging back to normal.

Chile to quarantine arrivals from Spain, Italy: official

Chilean health authorities on Tuesday announced all travelers arriving from Italy and Spain would be quarantined amid global fears over the spread of the coronavirus.

Biology news

Study reveals a mechanism that plants can use to dissipate excess sunlight as heat

For plants, sunlight can be a double-edged sword. They need it to drive photosynthesis, the process that allows them to store solar energy as sugar molecules, but too much sun can dehydrate and damage their leaves.

From darkness to light: New findings unravel how plants control energy generation

Researchers at Western Sydney University and The Australian National University have discovered new chemical communication pathways that determine how a plant changes when it emerges from darkness in the soil to light.

Cryo-EM reveals unexpected diversity of photosystems

Annemarie Perez Boerema from Alexey Amunts lab has reconstructed the atomic models of new forms of Photosystem I in collaboration with scientists from Israel and China. The studies, published in two Nature Plants articles, expand on the fundamental understanding of how bioenergetic complexes are assembled and regulated in the photosynthetic membranes of cyanobacteria and algae.

Crosstalk captured between muscles, neural networks in biohybrid machines

Scientists watched the formation of a self-emergent machine as stem cell-derived neurons grew toward muscle cells in a biohybrid machine, with neural networks firing in synchronous bursting patterns. The awe-inspiring experiment left them with big questions about the mechanisms behind this growth and a proven method of capturing data for continued study of bioactuators.

Planet's largest ecosystems collapse faster than previously forecast

New research has shown that large ecosystems such as rainforests and coral reefs can collapse at a significantly faster rate than previously understood. The findings suggest that ecosystems the size of the Amazon forests could collapse in only 49 years and the Caribbean coral reefs in just 15 years.

Biology researchers capture shape-shifting delivery structures in body's 'cellular FedEx system'

A new cellular biology study, published last month in the journal Structure by scientists at Vanderbilt, reports a shape-shifting structure in the human body which plays an important role in the timely delivery of fats and proteins.

Cancerous tumors, surrounding cells illuminated by new imaging agent

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new imaging agent that could let doctors identify not only multiple types of tumors but the surrounding normal cells that the cancer takes over and uses as a shield to protect itself from attempts to destroy it.

Hot time in the city: Urban lizards evolve heat tolerance

Faced with a gritty landscape of metal fences, concrete walls and asphalt pavement, city lizards in Puerto Rico rapidly and repeatedly evolved better tolerance for heat than their forest counterparts, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Researchers solve mystery of Tuvan throat singing

An international research team has uncoupled the mystery of how Tuvan throat singers produce distinctive sounds in which you can hear two different pitches at once—a low rumble and a high whistle-like tone.

Feeding wildlife can disrupt animal social structures

A team of researchers from the University of Georgia and San Diego State University has found that the practice of feeding wildlife could be more detrimental to animals than previously thought.

Disease-causing virus manipulates crop plants to favor its vector

The virus that causes barley yellow dwarf, the most widespread disease of cereal crops, manipulates its host plant and insect vector to promote its own survival, according to an international team of researchers. The group found that the virus raises the temperature of its host plants along with the heat-tolerance of its aphid vectors to create regions on the plants where aphids can feed free from competing insects. The findings could have implications for crop health as the global climate warms.

Some domesticated plants ignore beneficial soil microbes

While domestication of plants has yielded bigger crops, the process has often had a negative effect on plant microbiomes, making domesticated plants more dependent on fertilizer and other soil amendments than their wild relatives.

New test measures corn nitrogen needs with greater accuracy

The soil fertility tests farmers have used for decades to measure nitrogen levels don't account for the vast majority of the nitrogen in soils, so Iowa State University scientists helped develop a new test that yields more accurate results by using soil biology.

Malnourished bugs: Higher carbon levels make plants less nutritious, hurting insect populations

Grasshopper populations, like those of many other insects, are declining. My colleagues and I identified a new possible culprit: The plants grasshoppers rely on for food are becoming less nutritious due to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air.

Behind the mask: In search of gorilla-friendly tourism

Rwanda, land of a thousand invisible hills. It's an overcast morning in Kigali, capital of Africa's most densely populated country. The sound of a bamboo broom scraping the tarmac accompanies a solitary sweeper engaged in the Sisyphean task of keeping the hotel frontage spick and span. Overhead, a black kite looms into view. Then another, then a third, swooping down like dementors out of the mist. The drabness of the scene is relieved by the iridescent headgear of a diminutive sunbird, scolding the universe from a nearby palm frond.

Birds of a feather really do flock together

A species of tiny bird, found on a small island has evolved into five different color variations depending on where on the island it lives.

Non-thermal plasma can inactivate airborne viral threat to pigs

One of the most costly diseases facing the pork industry is caused by a virus that new research shows can be rendered harmless in a fraction of a second by a cold plasma reactor developed at the University of Michigan.

Climate shifts prompt shrubs and trees to take root in open areas

Wild, treeless landscapes are becoming more wooded as climate change leads to warming temperatures and wetter weather, research suggests.

Grad student names new treehopper species after Lady Gaga

According to Brendan Morris, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, treehoppers are the wackiest, most astonishing bugs most people have never heard of. They are morphological wonders, sporting bizarre protuberances that look like horns, gnarled branches, antlers, fruiting fungi, brightly colored flags or dead plant leaves. Treehoppers suck on plant juices. They sing to each other by vibrating plant stems. And they are an important food source for other forest creatures.

Disturbed retinal gene function underlying canine blindness

A canine study carried out at the University of Helsinki has described a gene variant in the regulatory region of the retina resulting in the abnormal function of retinal genes and, eventually, in the loss of vision in dogs. The study can benefit the diagnostics and treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a disease suffered by two million human beings globally.

Common feed ingredient tested safe in bulls

Cattle feeders choose distillers grains in feedlot diets as an inexpensive alternative to corn and soybean meal. But until now, no one had studied the effects of the common feed ingredient on bull development and fertility. With bull fertility to blame for a significant portion of reproductive failures in cow-calf operations, University of Illinois researchers decided it was worth a look.

New study unveils the mechanism of DNA high-order structure formation

A joint research team led by Professor Ja Yil Lee (School of Life Sciences, UNIST) and Professor Ji-Joon Song (Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST) has unveiled the structure and mechanism of proteins that are highly overexpressed in cancers and associated with poor patient prognoses. The findings could speed up the discovery and development of new cancer drugs.

Investigation underway: In­her­ited ar­rhythmia lead­ing to sud­den deaths in young Finnish Le­on­ber­gers

A new study in Finland has revealed that inherited malignant ventricular arrhythmia is fairly common among Finnish Leonbergers under three years of age. At its worst, such arrhythmia can result in the dog's sudden death.


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