Science

The current outbreak of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, a rapidly flourishing capital city of the Hubei province and the traffic hub of central China, was caused by a novel coronavirus designated 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO). TEM image of 2019-nCoV particles. Image credit: Zhu et al, doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. …

A research team headed by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has discovered that a combination of two molecules, alpha-KLOTHO (αKLOTHO) and TGF beta receptor 2 (TGFβR2), reverses the cellular and molecular signs of osteoarthritis in rats as well as in isolated human cartilage cells. The top image …

  The Standard Model of particle physics has led scientists to many important discoveries, but this framework has strained under the weight of recent discoveries. It can’t explain the observed amount of dark matter in the universe, the Higgs mechanism, or gravity as described by general relativity. Now, scientists are …

Mitochondria are considered as the power-generating units of the cell due to their key role in energy metabolism and intercellular communication. However, cell-derived mitochondrial components could be found in the extracellular space, as fragments or encapsulated in vesicles. Now, a team of researchers has demonstrated that human blood contains whole …

An international team of researchers has found the microscopic fungal filaments and mycelium-like structures in dolomitic shale from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The microfossils are at least 715 million years old (Neoproterozoic Era), making them 255 million years older than the next oldest fungi fossil. High-resolution SEM micrograph of …

The blue monkeys painted on the walls of Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini are among many animals found in the frescoes of this 3,600-year-old city. Historians have studied the murals for decades since they were unearthed in the 1960s and 1970s on the island, which was once known …

African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) voluntarily and spontaneously help familiar parrots to achieve a goal, without obvious immediate benefit to themselves, says a duo of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the Max Planck Comparative Cognition Research Station. African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Image credit: Andrew Bernard …

The 70 km- (43.5-mile) diameter Yarrabubba impact structure in Western Australia is approximately 2.23 billion years old, according to new research led by Curtin University scientists. Composite aeromagnetic anomaly map of the Yarrabubba impact structure within the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, showing the locations of key outcrops and samples used …

Life is pretty easy to recognize. It moves, it grows, it eats, it excretes, it reproduces. Simple. In biology, researchers often use the acronym ‘MRS-GREN’ to describe it. It stands for movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion and nutrition. But Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut and a chemist at Imperial …

A species of many-plumed moth believed to be new to science has been discovered in South Africa. Alucita udovichenkoi, an adult male. Image credit: Kovtunovich et al. Many-plumed moths, or the Alucitidae, are a small family with currently over 200 described species in nine genera. These moths are found in …