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Feb 10, 2021

3D-Printed Device Converts Air into Water for US Military

Posted by in categories: military, space

Very promising, machines like this one will help in the desert or in drought condions, even in Mars.


GE Research’s atmospheric water extraction device could supply up to 150 soldiers with water.

Feb 10, 2021

China’s first quantum computer operating system launched

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

A Chinese startup on Monday launched the country’s first homegrown operating system (OS) for quantum computers in Hefei, capital of eastern China’s Anhui Province, according to a local media report.

Feb 10, 2021

Einsteinium, Element Named after Albert Einstein, No More a Mystery as Scientists Discover its Properties

Posted by in category: chemistry

Placed quite down in the periodic table with the atomic number 99, Einsteinium is the seventh transuranic element.

Feb 10, 2021

New Research Highlights Risk of New COVID Mutations Emerging During Chronic Infection

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

SARS-CoV-2 mutations similar to those in the B1.1.7 UK variant could arise in cases of chronic infection, where treatment over an extended period can provide the virus multiple opportunities to evolve, say scientists.

Writing in Nature, a team led by Cambridge researchers report how they were able to observe SARS-CoV-2 mutating in the case of an immunocompromised patient treated with convalescent plasma. In particular, they saw the emergence of a key mutation also seen in the new variant that led to the UK being forced once again into strict lockdown, though there is no suggestion that the variant originated from this patient.

Using a synthetic version of the virus Spike protein created in the lab, the team showed that specific changes to its genetic code — the mutation seen in the B1.1.7 variant — made the virus twice as infectious on cells as the more common strain.

Feb 10, 2021

Efficient Lewis acid catalysis of an abiological reaction in a de novo protein scaffold

Posted by in categories: chemistry, evolution

New enzyme catalysts are usually engineered by repurposing the active sites of natural proteins. Here we show that design and directed evolution can be used to transform a non-natural, functionally naive zinc-binding protein into a highly active catalyst for an abiological hetero-Diels–Alder reaction. The artificial metalloenzyme achieves 104 turnovers per active site, exerts absolute control over reaction pathway and product stereochemistry, and displays a catalytic proficiency (1/KTS = 2.9 × 1010 M−1) that exceeds all previously characterized Diels–Alderases. These properties capitalize on effective Lewis acid catalysis, a chemical strategy for accelerating Diels–Alder reactions common in the laboratory but so far unknown in nature. Extension of this approach to other metal ions and other de novo scaffolds may propel the design field in exciting new directions.

Feb 10, 2021

The photochemical reaction of phenol becomes ultrafast at the air–water interface

Posted by in category: chemistry

Reactions at the interface between water and other phases play important roles in various chemical settings. Now, ultrafast phase-sensitive interface-selective vibrational spectroscopy has revealed that the photoionization of phenol can occur four orders of magnitude faster at the water surface than in the bulk aqueous phase.

Feb 10, 2021

ATLAS finds evidence of a rare Higgs boson decay

Posted by in category: particle physics

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, scientists in the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been hard at work characterizing its properties and hunting down the diverse ways in which this ephemeral particle can decay. From the copious but experimentally challenging decay to b-quarks, to the exquisitely rare but low-background decay into four leptons, each offers a different avenue to study the properties of this new particle. Now, ATLAS has found first evidence of the Higgs boson decaying to two leptons (either an electron or a muon pair with opposite charge) and a photon. Known as “Dalitz decay,” this is one of the rarest Higgs boson decays yet seen at the LHC.

Feb 9, 2021

A warped scalar portal to fermionic dark matter

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

We argue that extensions of the SM with a warped extra dimension, together with a new $${\mathbb {Z}}_2$$ Z 2-odd scalar singlet, provide a natural explanation not only for the hierarchy problem but also for the nature of fermion bulk masses and the observed dark matter relic abundance. In particular, the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the new scalar particle, which is required to naturally obtain fermion bulk masses through Yukawa-like interactions, can be the leading portal to any fermion propagating into the bulk of the extra dimension and playing the role of dark matter. Moreover, such scalar excitations will necessarily mix with the Higgs boson, leading to modifications of the Higgs couplings and branching ratios, and allowing the Higgs to mediate the coannihilation of the fermionic dark matter.

Feb 9, 2021

Tough times for India’s domestic workers as gadgets replace them

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Shoma Abhyankar is one of millions of Indians who turned to electric and electronic appliances during the Covid-19 pandemic to fill a housework gap left by limiting contact with domestic workers. The takeover by gadgets and machines could have lasting consequences, changing the face of domestic work across the nation.


Many Indian families started doing their own household chores when coronavirus lockdowns began, causing a sales boom for appliances and leaving domestic workers unemployed.

Feb 9, 2021

Synthetic Cannabinoid Drug For Covid-19 Approved For Phase-1 Clinical Trials

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

August 2020… “As Covid-19 continues to take lives on a daily basis, the search is ongoing for solutions that might prevent, cure or treat the deadly disease. In recent months, some have pointed to cannabis as a possible treatment for severe cases of the Covid-19 — pointing specifically towards the cannabinoid CBD, one of cannabis’ main chemical ingredients. And some research has suggested that this cannabinoid could be helpful. Now, a synthetic cannabinoid drug, ARDS-003, has been given approval by the FDA to begin phase-1 clinical trials. ARDS-003 is an injectable drug designed to help with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a serious syndrome that occurs in severe cases of the novel coronavirus. This syndrome can be triggered during a cytokine storm, a dangerous over-elevation of cytokines. Cytokines are proteins which signal the body to produce more inflammation. While inflammation is a normal and healthy part of immune responses, when too much of it is produced, it can lead to serious and deadly problems like organ failure and ARDS. ”.