Scientists claim Some stars could support 7 Earth-like planets

According to a UC Riverside-led study, some stars could support seven Earth-like planets in absence of a Jupiter-like planet.

The study is led by astrobiologist Stephen Kane published this week in the Astronomical Journal. Scientists focused on “habitable zone,” which is the area around a star in which an orbiting planet could have liquid water oceans.

Read More ... Scientists claim Some stars could support 7 Earth-like planets

Scientists develop nanorods from aspirin for cataract treatment

Scientists have developed nanorods from aspirin for treating cataracts in a non-invasive and economical way.

Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) claim that this is easy to use and low-cost alternative nonsurgical treatment method.

Read More ... Scientists develop nanorods from aspirin for cataract treatment

Scientists map how Covid-19 spread indoor via aerosol

Washington: Scientists have simulated how the novel coronavirus spreads indoors via aerosols as infected people speak or exhale, and have found the features of good ventilation that can filter virus particles out of the air, information that may help businesses and schools reduce COVID-19 transmission when they reopen.

The researchers, including Jiarong Hong from the University of Minnesota in the US, modeled indoor airborne virus transmission via aerosols, which are tiny droplets ejected from people’s mouths when they exhale, speak, or cough.

Read More ... Scientists map how Covid-19 spread indoor via aerosol

Scientists solve the mystery of the Stonehedge Megaliths

Scientists have solved the mystery of the origin of Stonehenge megaliths. Using geochemical data, researchers have determined that 50 of the 52 large stones, sarsen megaliths, originated from the West Woods in Wiltshire, England.

According to a recent report, The sarsens were erected at Stonehenge around 2500 BC. The largest stands 9.1 metres tall. The heaviest weighs about 30 tonnes.

Read More ... Scientists solve the mystery of the Stonehedge Megaliths

Scientists accidentally create new hybrid fish from 2 endangered species

Scientists accidentally bred a new hybrid of two endangered fish species. Hungarian scientists were trying to breed Russian sturgeon through gynogenesis, a method of asexual reproduction.

Read More ... Scientists accidentally create new hybrid fish from 2 endangered species

Solar Orbiter gives scientists an unprecedented look at the Sun

Paris: Scientists said Thursday they had obtained the closest ever images taken of the Sun as part of a pan-European mission to study solar winds and flares that could have far-reaching impacts back on Earth.

The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in February and completed its first fly by of our star last month, sending back unprecedented images of phenomena close to its surface.

Read More... Solar Orbiter gives scientists an unprecedented look at the Sun

More than 200 scientists tell WHO, COVID-19 is airborne: report

More than 200 scientists tell WHO, COVID-19 is airborne: report

New York: More than 200 scientists from 32 nations have written to the WHO, saying there is evidence that the coronavirus is airborne and even smaller particles can infect people, a significant departure from the UN health agency’s claims so far that COVID-19 is spread primarily through coughs and sneezes.

A report in The New York Times says that clusters of infections are rising globally as people go back to bars, restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, a trend that increasingly confirms that the virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby.

“In an open letter to the WHO, 239 scientists in 32 countries have outlined the evidence showing that smaller particles can infect people, and are calling for the agency to revise its recommendations,” the report said, adding that the researchers plan to publish their letter in a scientific journal next week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has long held that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

In its latest update dated June 29 on the coronavirus, the WHO said airborne transmission of the virus was possible only after medical procedures that produce aerosols, or droplets smaller than 5 microns.

The guidance that the health agency has given to deal with the virus, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and frequent handwashing, since the pandemic first broke is based on its claim that the virus spreads through large droplets when an infected person coughs and sneezes.

“If airborne transmission is a significant factor in the pandemic, especially in crowded spaces with poor ventilation, the consequences for containment will be significant. Masks may be needed indoors, even in socially-distant settings. Health care workers may need N95 masks that filter out even the smallest respiratory droplets as they care for coronavirus patients,” the NYT report said.

It said that ventilation systems in schools, nursing homes, residences, and businesses may need to minimize recirculating air and add powerful new filters.

“Ultraviolet lights may be needed to kill viral particles floating in tiny droplets indoors,” it said.

WHO’s the technical lead on infection control Dr Benedetta Allegranzi, however, said in the report that the evidence for the virus spreading by air was unconvincing.

“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence. There is a strong debate on this,” she said.

Interviews with nearly 20 scientists, including a dozen WHO consultants and several members of the committee that crafted the guidance, and internal emails “paint a picture of an organization that, despite good intentions, is out of step with science,” the report said.

“Whether carried aloft by large droplets that zoom through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, these experts said, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled,” it said.

Experts pointed out that WHO’s infection prevention and control committee is “bound by a rigid and overly medicalized view of scientific evidence, is slow and risk-averse in updating its guidance and allows a few conservative voices to shout down dissent”.

“They’ll die defending their view,” one longstanding WHO consultant was quoted as saying in the report.

The WHO was relying on a dated definition of airborne transmission. The agency believes an airborne pathogen, like the measles virus, has to be highly infectious and to travel long distances, said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne transmission of viruses at Virginia Tech.

WHO’s chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said in the report that agency staff members were trying to evaluate new scientific evidence as fast as possible, but without sacrificing the quality of their review. She said that the UN health agency will try to broaden the committees’ expertise and communications to make sure everyone is heard.

“We take it seriously when journalists or scientists or anyone challenges us and say we can do better than this. We definitely want to do better,” she said.

As the pandemic spread across the world, a lag by the global health agency in issuing critical guidelines was seen as hampering efforts to control the outbreak.

It lagged behind most of its member nations in endorsing face coverings for the public. While many organizations, including The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long since acknowledged the importance of transmission by people without symptoms, the WHO still maintains that asymptomatic transmission is rare.

The NYT report says that many experts said the WHO should embrace what some called a “precautionary principle” and others called “needs and values” — the idea that even without definitive evidence, the agency should assume the worst of the virus, apply common sense and recommend the best protection possible.

“There is no incontrovertible proof that SARS-CoV-2 travels or is transmitted significantly by aerosols, but there is absolutely no evidence that it’s not,” said Dr Trish Greenhalgh, a primary care doctor at the University of Oxford in Britain.

“So at the moment we have to make a decision in the face of uncertainty, and my goodness, it’s going to be a disastrous decision if we get it wrong. So why not just mask up for a few weeks, just in case?” she said.

Scientists call for retraction of study that said Covid-19 is mainly airborne

Scientists call for retraction of study that said Covid-19 is mainly airborne

Over 40 scientists have called for retraction of a study, ‘Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of Covid-19’.

The study, which was published last week in the journal PNAS, compared Covid-19 case counts and measures enforced in China’s Wuhan city, Italy, and New York City in the US.

It is said that the study made “extraordinary claims” about routes of transmission and the effectiveness of mask-wearing, among other things.

In the open letter, they claim that the PNAS study had methodological design flaws and the main conclusions of the study are based on the comparison of disease control measures, case count trends within and between Wuhan, Italy, and New York City.

It also said that the said the study’s analysis ignored the lag between changes in disease transmission and changes in reported case counts.

Scientists claim, “While masks are almost certainly an effective public health measure for preventing and slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the claims presented in this study are dangerously misleading and lack any basis in evidence”.

“Accordingly, we ask that the editorial board of PNAS retract this paper immediately” they added.

COVID-19 vaccine at least a year away, say scientists

COVID-19 vaccine at least a year away, say scientists

New Delhi: Vaccine design is still an empirical, trial and error process and a preventive against COVID-19 could be at least a year away, say scientists as information on developments in therapeutics to combat the infection flows in a steady trickle from across the world.

While quelling the buzz of a quick breakthrough, the scientists also hold out hope that the process might be cut short by a few months if testing approvals and scale-ups in manufacturing happen simultaneously.

According to the World Health Organisation, 10 candidate vaccines for COVID-19 are in the clinical evaluation and 126 are in the preclinical stage.

Preclinical development is a stage of research during which important feasibility, iterative testing and drug safety data are collected, while clinical trials are research studies performed on people.

There are different broad strategies by which SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are being developed the world over, explained immunologist Satyajit Rath.

While all are well-known strategies – some almost two centuries old and some almost two decades old – none are ‘guaranteed’ to yield a usable vaccine, the scientist from the National Institute of Immunology (NII) in New Delhi said.

Vaccine design still remains mostly an empirical, trial and error process, rather than an innovative knowledge-driven one. This is why, while any of these approaches is being put through trial and error, it remains a ‘vaccine candidate’ rather than a ‘vaccine,’ he added.

According to Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland in the US, What’s being confused – and scientists and politicians are contributing to the confusion – is the difference between a candidate and a vaccine.”

He was speaking at a virtual meeting earlier this month when scientists at the University of California (UC) Davis and from other institutes in the US gathered to lay out a full picture of the complexities of developing and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine – which they generally agreed won’t happen until some time in 2021.

“We are not expected to return to a fully normal life until a vaccine is developed. But how long will that take? UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May asked in the meeting.

About a year, maybe more, was the consensus.

In India, where the number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday rose to 3,43,091 and the death toll to 9,900, scientists agreed with their counterparts abroad

With at least six Indian companies working on a vaccine for COVID-19 and the Serum Institute of India last week announcing a deal with the company Astra Zeneca to supply one billion doses of vaccine for low and middle-income countries to combat the coronavirus, the buzz has been growing louder.

“We finally have a deal signed with @AstraZeneca, to exclusively manufacture their product for India and @gavi countries, up to a billion doses annually. This will ensure supply and access to all Indians,” Adar Poonawala, the CEO of the Serum Institute, tweeted on June 13.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged USD 15 million as India’s contribution to the vaccines alliance GAVI at the Global Vaccine Summit hosted by the UK.

But that does not translate into a vaccine anytime soon, scientists said.

My guess for that is, not before the middle of the next year, Rath said.

However, he noted that the time estimates might be pruned by a couple of months with simultaneous movements on testing-approval and manufacturing scale-up, and also by exception-shortcuts from regulatory authorities.

He explained that there are several challenges that will arise once such vaccines are ready to go into the market, since ‘going into the market’ and going into the ‘public health system’ are not the same thing.

Questions will remain on the ‘availability’ at a large scale, especially to the poor.

One limitation, of course, is the scale of manufacturing. Huge numbers of doses will have to be manufactured in very short times to reach everyone. A number of governmental and non-governmental organisations are trying to set up industrial partnerships to address this issue,” he said.

A second issue, the scientist said, will be the cost of vaccines, with the linked issue of intellectual property rights.

A final issue, he noted, is of actual implementation and delivery of vaccination.

“The resources and the technical-administrative structures needed for such a vaccination campaign are massive. It is not clear if any national governments have the understanding and the practical commitment to them. That might end up being the biggest roadblock of all, Rath said.

Umashankar Singh, assistant professor, Biological Engineering, IIT-Gandhinagar, said he is hoping a candidate vaccine may be available by the end of 2020, even if it is for a limited set of the population.

Two facets of vaccine production, in his view, need to be considered mass production of the lab product and also ensuring that the product is actually effective enough to justify mass production.

There are other challenges too, he said, adding that there is evidence for a range of virulence, variable infection rates and asymptomatic infections and emergence of multiple strains.

The uncertainty posed by these issues is likely to throw spanner in the works towards mass production of vaccines. This vaccine development is like chasing a moving target, a target we don’t know well enough. The question we should be asking is, even if a vaccine were to be available, how long would its effectiveness last? he said.

Singh noted that the emergence of a vaccine may or may not allow real protection against a rapidly evolving pathogen, but it would certainly allow us a psychological relief of being immune to the virus.

“That would allow us to move on to the issues of economy, social interactions and ease of governance, he said.

Even if by end of the year 2020 a candidate vaccine gets regulatory approval, mass production and supply chain is going to be a challenge, added an Indian virologist who didn’t wish to be named.

If it is a single-dose vaccine, the world will need at least eight billion doses, a task that might several months and maybe years. If it is a two-dose vaccine, the challenge becomes bigger.

Scientists claim to have discovered last meal of armored dinosaur

Scientists claim to have discovered last meal of armored dinosaur

Scientists claim to have discovered the last meal of an over 110-million-year fossilised armoured dinosaur by observing the contents of its well-preserved stomach.

It is said that after it died, the body was swept out to sea, bloated with gas and remained afloat until it sank in an oxygen-poor area perfect for preservation.

Scientists studying the fossil have discovered a ball of plant matter in the dinosaur’s gut that reveals the animal’s diet. The contents were comprised mostly of leaves of a particular type of fern, with very few leaves of conifers and cycads which is a type of evergreen.

David Greenwood, study co author and Brandon University biologist, said, “The leaf fragments and other plant fossils were preserved down to the cells”.

The nodosaur, known as Borealopelta markmitchelli, was found in 2011 during mining operations north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. It had a wide body, small head and walked on four short legs.

UK Scientists test common painkiller as potential treatment for Covid-19

UK Scientists test common painkiller as potential treatment for Covid-19

Scientists in London are testing whether a common painkiller and anti-inflammatory medicine a form of Ibuprofen called flarin can help patients with Covid-19.

Researchers from London’s Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital and King’s College are running a trial to see whether the painkiller and anti-inflammatory medicine Ibuprofen can be used to treat coronavirus patients.

Richard Beale, a professor of intensive care medicine at the NHS trust, said, “As a new illness, there are limited treatment options for patients with Covid-19.The clinical trial will assess whether this unique formulation of an established drug benefits patients”.

The trial which is called Liberate, was launched after studies conducted on animals suggested that the medication could treat acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Trial aims to test flarin on 230 people who have been hospitalized due to Covid-19 and have acute respiratory failure. Also, only patients who are 18 or older are eligible.

The estimated date for initial results is Sept. 25, 2020, and the final estimated study completion date is May 25, 2021.

Scientists develop world’s most heat-resistant material

Scientists develop world’s most heat-resistant material

New ceramic material with the highest known melting point has been developed  by scientists from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) MISIS in Russia.

The material can withstand temperatures of nearly 4,000 degrees Celsius. Aircrafts need such compounds for parts like jet engines, nose fairings and sharp front edges of wings as the temperature at such parts can go above 2000 degrees C while in flight.

Veronika Buinevich, NUST MISIS post-graduate, said, “It’s hard to measure a material’s melting point when it exceeds 4000 degrees С. Therefore, we decided to compare the melting temperatures of the synthesized compound and the original champion, hafnium carbide.”

In future, the team plans to conduct experiments on measuring the melting temperature by high-temperature pyrometry using a laser or electric resistance.

Scientists set new record for data transmission over 75 km of optical fibre

Scientists set new record for data transmission over 75 km of optical fibre

Toronto: Scientists on Monday said they have achieved a world record for high data transmission over 75 kilometres of standard optical fibre, using a powerful class of micro-comb called soliton crystals.

“This is one of the most efficient transmission systems implemented in a standard telecom network, given the record amount of information that can be encoded and propagated in an optical fibre with minimum loss of data,” said Professor Roberto Morandotti, of the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Canada.

Telecommunication networks use many different frequencies, or colours, to transfer as much information as possible, the researchers said.

Current networks need typically a separate laser for every colour, which is difficult and costly to set up properly, they said.

“Here, we decided to use a micro-comb to replace the multiple lasers. Like a hair comb, we can generate a set of frequencies which are equally distant, and the phase and amplitude of which can be easily and precisely controlled,” explained Morandotti, co-author of the research published in the journal Nature Communications.

The ability to supply all wavelengths with a single, compact integrated chip, replacing many parallel lasers, offers the greatest benefit, in terms of performance, scalability and power consumption, according to the researchers.

“We took advantage of the fact that a frequency comb could be created with a device known as a micro-ring resonator,” Morandotti said.

Previous to this work, a well-behaved comb, resulting in a so-called cavity soliton, required a special and unique balance between colour dispersion and non-linearity, the researchers said.

Such combs are typically difficult to generate and stabilise, and not really power efficient even under ideal conditions, the researchers said.

Therefore, the researchers have developed a new way to achieve them for telecom purposes.

“In particular, if the microresonator is properly designed, it is possible to get a cross point between the optical modes supported by the device,” Morandotti said.

“This in turn creates the right condition for realising a different type of micro-comb, leading to so-called crystal solitons, which is both robust and user-friendly,” explained Morandotti.

This work demonstrates the capability of optical micro-combs to perform in demanding and practical optical communications networks.

According to Morandotti, the proposed mechanism could be commercially implemented in five years from now since similar micro-ring resonators, intended for less demanding applications such as filtering, are already well known and commercially available.

Scientists claim to create an artificial eye that mimics human eye

Scientists claim to create an artificial eye that mimics human eye

Scientists have created a cyborg eye whose function and structures share many things in common with its human counterpart. Researchers say that bionic eye could surpass the sensitivity of a human one

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology researcher Zhiyong Fan and his colleagues have developed a visual sensor that imitates the actual human eye structure.

It is said that the artificial eye is like the real one that has a lens to focus light, and a retina which is located at the back of the eye. It is where photosensitive cells produce electrical impulses that are sent to the brain.

The eyes are said to function like human eyes. An array of nanowire photosensors is built inside a hemispherical membrane made of aluminium oxide that serves as the retina.

Scientists develop new, safer way to share ventilators for Covid-19 patients

Scientists develop new, safer way to share ventilators for Covid-19 patients

Scientists have come up with a new approach to sharing ventilators between Covid-19 patients. The researchers, including Indian origin Shriya Srinivasan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe this could be used as a last resort to treat Covid-19 patients in acute respiratory distress.

It involves splitting air tubes into multiple branches so that two or more patients can be connected to the same machine.

Several physicians’ associations have issued a joint statement discouraging this practice as it  poses risk to patients, because of the difficulty in ensuring that each patient is receiving the right amount of air.

However, A team of researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has now come up with a new approach to splitting ventilators, which they believe could address many of these safety concerns. They have demonstrated its effectiveness in laboratory tests, but they still caution it should be used only as a last resort during an emergency, when a patient’s life is at stake.

Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital said, “We recognize that ventilator sharing is not the standard of care, and interventions like this one would only be recommended as a last recourse.”

Scientists decode how COVID-19 disease kills people

Scientists decode how COVID-19 disease kills people

Beijing: COVID-19 mostly kills through an overreaction of the immune system, whose function is precisely to fight infections, say scientists who have decoded the mechanisms, symptoms, and diagnosis of the disease caused by the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus.

In a study published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, the researchers explained step-by-step how the virus infects the airways, multiplies inside cells, and in severe cases causes the immune defenses to overshoot with a “cytokine storm”.

“This storm is an over-activation of white blood cells, which release too-great amounts of cytokines inflammation-stimulating molecules into the blood,” they said.

“Similar to what happens after infection with SARS and MERS, data show that patients with severe COVID-19 may have a cytokine storm syndrome,” said study author Daishun Liu, Professor at Zunyi Medical University in China.

“The rapidly increased cytokines attract an excess of immune cells such as lymphocytes and neutrophils, resulting in infiltration of these cells into lung tissue and thus cause lung injury,” Liu said.

The researchers explained that the cytokine storm ultimately causes high fever, excessive leakiness of blood vessels, and blood clotting inside the body.

“It also causes extremely low blood pressure, lack of oxygen and excess acidity of the blood, and build-up of fluids in the lungs,” they said.

The researchers noted that white blood cells are misdirected to attack and inflame even healthy tissue, leading to failure of the lungs, heart, liver, intestines, kidneys, and genitals.

“This multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS) may worsen and shutdown the lungs, a condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome, (ARDS),” they said.

This, the researchers explained, happens due to the formation of a so-called hyaline membrane composed of the debris of proteins and dead cells lining the lungs, which makes absorption of oxygen difficult.

“Most deaths due to COVID-19 are therefore due to respiratory failure,” they said.

The researchers explained that in the absence of a specific antiviral cure for COVID-19, the goal of treatment must be to the-fight the symptoms, and lowering the mortality rate through intensive maintenance of organ function.

“For example, an artificial liver blood purification system or renal replacement therapy can be used to filter the blood through mechanical means,” they said.

The team noted that especially important are methods to supplement or replace lung function, for example with non-invasive mechanical ventilation through a mask, ventilation through a tube into the windpipe, the administration of heated and humidified oxygen via a tube in the nose, or a heart-lung bypass.

The researchers stressed the importance of preventing secondary infections. They noted that SARS-Cov-2 also invades the intestines, where it causes inflammation and leakiness of the gut lining, allowing the opportunistic entry of other disease-causing microorganisms.

The researchers advocate that this should be prevented with nutritional support, for example with probiotics — beneficial bacteria that protect against the establishment of harmful ones and nutrients and amino acids to improve the immune defenses and function of the intestine.

“Because treatment now relies on aggressive treatment of symptoms, preventative protection against secondary infections, such as bacteria and fungi, is particularly important to support organ function, especially in the heart, kidneys, and liver, to try and avoid further deterioration of their condition,” Liu added.