A study just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) explored the role of omega-3 fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA, and whether they might be protective against contracting and/or suffering adverse outcomes of COVID-19 infection. The study compared the risk for three COVID-19 outcomes: 1-testing positive, 2-hospitalization, and 3-death as a function of baseline plasma DHA levels. DHA levels (% of total fatty acids) were measured by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy but were converted to Omega-3 Index (red blood cell EPA+DHA%) for this analysis....

The study, published today in The BMJ, aimed to assess the association between macrolides — a class of drugs used to treat common bacterial infections — and major malformations such as heart and genital defects, as well as four neurodevelopmental disorders (cerebral palsy, epilepsy, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder) in children. Researchers analyzed data from 104,605 children born in the UK from 1990 to 2016 using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) with a median follow-up of 5....

In a study published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources, MBARI researchers Lynne Christianson, Shannon Johnson, Darrin Schultz, and Steve Haddock examined a specific gene sequence in comb jellies. This sequence has revealed untold diversity within this group of animals. “Using genetics, we discovered surprising diversity in some groups, including some more commonly-seen species that were previously considered a single species, but are now revealed to be multiple species,” said Lynne Christianson, lead author on the study and a senior research technician at MBARI....

Caldwell 99 is a very prominent object in the southern night sky. On a clear night, it can be spotted easily with the naked eye as a dark patch, void of stars, next to the Southern Cross in the constellation Crux. It is easiest to spot in the Southern Hemisphere during the autumn. (Northern Hemisphere observers will want to be positioned near the equator and look for it in the springtime....

Physical chemist Ralf I. Kaiser and fellow researchers examined remote sensing data regarding NASA’s Cassini–Huygens mission to Titan—the only solar system body besides Earth with a solid surface, lakes, and a thick atmosphere with a pressure of about 1.5 atmospheres at surface level. Images and data from Cassini-Huygens exposed the existence of vast longitudinal dunes on Titan’s surface across the equatorial deserts reaching heights of up to 100 meters, close to the size of the Egyptian pyramids of Giza....

Competing as teams Winston and WFIRM, each used a different approach to create lab-grown human liver tissues that were strong enough to survive and function in ways similar to those inside the human body. The teams each used a varied 3D printing technique to construct a cube-shaped tissue about one centimeter thick and capable of functioning for 30 days in the lab. Team Winston, the first team to complete its trial under the challenge rules, will receive $300,000 and has the opportunity to advance its research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) U....

This deep-field image shows what is known as a supercluster of galaxies — a giant group of galaxy clusters which are themselves clustered together. This one, known as Abell 901/902, comprises three separate main clusters and a number of filaments of galaxies, typical of such super-structures. One cluster, Abell 901a, can be seen above and just to the right of the prominent red foreground star near the middle of the image....

Researchers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant solar system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars. Using a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640, the scientists collected the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of this system’s four red exoplanets, which orbit a star 128 light years away from Earth. A detailed description of the planets—showing how drastically different they are from the known worlds in the universe—was accepted Friday for publication in The Astrophysical Journal....

Read on to learn how transits contributed to past scientific discoveries and for a look at how scientists use them today. Plus, find resources for engaging students in this rare celestial event! Why It’s Important Then and Now In the early 1600s, Johannes Kepler discovered that both Mercury and Venus would transit the Sun in 1631. It was fortunate timing: The telescope had been invented just 23 years earlier, and the transits of both planets wouldn’t happen in the same year again until 13425....

By means of special metamaterials, light and sound can be passed around objects. KIT researchers now succeeded in demonstrating that the same materials can also be used to specifically influence the propagation of heat. A structured plate of copper and silicon conducts heat around a central area without the edge being affected. The results will be presented in the Physical Review Letters journal. “For the thermal invisibility cloak, both materials have to be arranged smartly,” explains Robert Schittny from KIT, the first author of the study....

Macaques have had a reputation as crop raiders, but the new study shows they, in fact, cause only relatively minor losses in palm oil yield. And, more importantly, they actively search for rats, the major oil palm pest. “By uncovering cavities in oil palm trunks where rats seek shelter during the day, one group of pig-tailed macaques can catch more than 3,000 rats per year,” said leading author Anna Holzner of the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig....

Marine Heatwaves Becoming More Intense, More Frequent When thick, the surface layer of the ocean acts as a buffer to extreme marine heating—but a new study from University of Colorado at Boulder shows this “mixed layer” is becoming shallower each year. The thinner it becomes, the easier it is to warm. The new work could explain recent extreme marine heatwaves, and points at a future of more frequent and destructive ocean warming events as global temperatures continue to climb....

“To be honest, the first time I came to the US in 2007, I was shocked by the available one-time use plastic containers in the supermarket,” says corresponding author Hongli (Julie) Zhu of Northeastern University. “It makes our life easier, but meanwhile, it becomes waste that cannot decompose in the environment.” She later saw many more plastic bowls, plates, and utensils thrown into the trash bin at seminars and parties and thought, “Can we use a more sustainable material?...

MIT engineers are taking advantage of a phenomenon known as emergent behavior on the microscale. They have designed simple microparticles that can collectively generate complex behavior, much the same way that a colony of ants can work together to dig tunnels or collect food. Working together, the microparticles can generate a beating clock that oscillates at a very low frequency. The researchers demonstrated how these oscillations can be harnessed to power tiny robotic devices....

A combined NASA and European Space Agency (ESA)-funded study has found firm evidence that nitrogen in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan originated in conditions similar to the cold birthplace of the most ancient comets from the Oort cloud. The finding rules out the possibility that Titan’s building blocks formed within the warm disk of material thought to have surrounded the infant planet Saturn during its formation. The main implication of this new research is that Titan’s building blocks formed early in the solar system’s history, in the cold disk of gas and dust that formed the sun....

By tracking a part of the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan over several years, NASA’s Cassini mission has found a remarkable longevity to the hydrocarbon lakes on the moon’s surface. A team led by Christophe Sotin of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, fed these results into a model that suggests the supply of the hydrocarbon methane at Titan could be coming to an end soon (on geological timescales)....

The collection does not end there. Today, Johnson houses the world’s largest collection of astromaterials from the solar system. This includes samples from asteroids, comets, Mars, the Moon, the Sun, and dust from other stars. By curating the most extensive collection of extraterrestrial materials on Earth, ARES provides critical scientific expertise for planetary surface exploration, and leads in the global knowledge of the orbital debris environment. As the agency prepares for a robotic and human return to the surface of the Moon, the ARES team is providing expertise in sample collection and curation, lunar science research, and lunar surface science mission definition and planning for the agency’s Artemis program....

1. Supports Liver Health As detoxifier of your blood, the liver is constantly processing toxins. These toxins can damage the liver if it’s not protected by antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which are damage-causing molecules from toxins. Some antioxidants, such as glutathione, are produced naturally by your liver, though this production declines with age. In addition to supplying antioxidants itself, milk thistle has also been found to boost the liver’s own production of glutathione....

“You would have one chip that does everything instead of multiple chips, multiple fabrication methods, and multiple material sets that must be integrated – often overseas,” said Dana Weinstein, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering, who is developing acoustic resonators with the processes used to produce industry-standard fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs). “There’s a need for America to advance its capabilities in chip manufacturing, and an advance of this nature addresses multiple concerns in supply chain, national security and hardware security....

Among the 25 different types of bitter taste receptors, the TAS2R14 subtype is one of the most widely distributed in tissues outside the mouth. Scientists are uncertain about the structure of the receptor, and they haven’t identified the particular compound or “ligand” in the body that activates it. However, a few synthetic compounds, such as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) flufenamic acid, are known to bind to and activate TAS2R14s....