Bioluminescence, the scientific phenomenon behind the firefly’s glow, the anglerfish’s radiant lure, and the ghostly blue of phytoplankton-laden shores, is powered by a chemical reaction involving the luciferase protein. This luminescent protein has been integrated into sensors that emit visible light when detecting their target, making them ideal for straightforward point-of-care testing. However, until now, these sensors have not achieved the exceptional sensitivity necessary for clinical diagnostic tests. The gene-editing technique known as CRISPR could provide this ability, but it requires many steps and additional specialized equipment to detect what can be a low signal in a complex, noisy sample....

According to their study, published recently in the journal Nature, global warming may result in a decrease in the burial of organic carbon and a rise in the amount of carbon released back into the atmosphere. This is due to the potential effect of higher ocean temperatures in boosting the metabolic rates of bacteria. Researchers from Rice University, Texas A&M University, the University of Leeds, and the University of Bremen analyzed data from drilled cores of muddy seafloor sediments that were gathered during 81 of the more than 1,500 shipboard expeditions mounted by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessors....

So when a previously typical star’s behavior rapidly changes in a few decades, astronomers take note and get to work. Such is the case with a star known as SAO 244567, which lies at the center of Hen 3-1357, commonly known as the Stingray Nebula. The Stingray Nebula is a planetary nebula — an expanse of material sloughed off from a star as it enters a new phase of old age and then heated by that same star into colorful displays that can last for up to a million years....

Among designers of robotic probes to explore the planets, there is certainly no shortage of clever ideas. There are concepts for robots that are propelled by waves in the sea. There are ideas for tumbleweed bots driven by wind, rolling across Antarctica or Mars. Recently a team of engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, wondered if a probe could be buoyant in the clouds of Earth or a distant gas giant planet, like Jupiter....

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which has started its approach to the Red Planet, will help answer the next logical question in Mars exploration. With only about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) left to go in its 293-million-mile (471-million-kilometer) journey, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is nearing its new planetary home. The spacecraft has begun its approach to the Red Planet and in 43 days, on February 18, 2021, Perseverance will blaze through Mars’ atmosphere at about 12,100 mph (19,500 kph), touching down gently on the surface about seven minutes later....

“Artemis will be the broadest and most diverse international human space exploration program in history, and the Artemis Accords are the vehicle that will establish this singular global coalition,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “With today’s signing, we are uniting with our partners to explore the Moon and are establishing vital principles that will create a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space for all of humanity to enjoy.”...

A paper published today (May 11, 2021) in JAMA Network Open presents early results of the global effort to gather information about the incidence, severity, and outcomes of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 disease. “Very early on in the pandemic, it became apparent that a good number of people who were sick enough to be hospitalized also develop neurological problems,” said lead author Sherry Chou, M.D., M.Sc., principal investigator of the consortium and associate professor of critical care medicine, neurology, and neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC....

Immune to hypertension-related damage “High blood pressure almost always leads to the heart becoming weaker,” says Dr. Enno Klußmann, head of the Anchored Signaling Lab at the Max Delbrück Center and a scientist at the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). As it has to pump against a higher pressure, Klußmann explains, the organ tries to strengthen its left ventricle. “But ultimately, this results in the thickening of the heart muscle – known as cardiac hypertrophy – which can lead to heart failure greatly decreasing its pumping capacity....

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, is committed to publishing the most robust, evidence-based research and commentary on COVID-19 as they unfold to keep readers up to date and aware of issues relevant to community and individual health during this continually evolving global outbreak. All articles featured here are freely available. New computational model finds that a COVID-19 vaccine will have to be at least 80 percent effective to achieve a complete “return to normal....

But how often and for how long do we need to get up from our chairs? Few studies have compared various options to determine the minimum level of physical activity required to offset the negative health effects of a sedentary workday, a question that many office workers are eager to have answered. Now a study by Columbia University exercise physiologists has an answer: just five minutes of walking every half hour during periods of prolonged sitting can offset some of the most harmful effects....

Pluto gets into the holiday spirit, decked out in red and green. This image was produced by the New Horizons composition team, using a pair of Ralph/LEISA instrument scans obtained at approximately 9:40 AM on July 14, from a mean range of 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometers). The resolution is about 7 kilometers per LEISA pixel. Three infrared wavelength ranges (2.28-2.23, 1.25-1.30 and 1.64-1.73 microns) were placed into the three color channels (red, green and blue, respectively) to create this false color Christmas portrait....

Dr. Urs Schaffner, lead author of the study published in Nature Communications, says the leaf beetle Ophraella communa can significantly reduce pollen — which causes a range of symptoms from sneezing to itchy eyes and aggravates conditions such as asthma and eczema — from common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). The interdisciplinary study — the first to quantify the economic benefits of biological control in Europe — also argues that the costs inflicted by invasive species in Europe are “most probably seriously underestimated....

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have taken what they describe as “the first step toward a pill that can replace the treadmill” for the control of obesity, though that shift, of course, would not provide all of the many benefits of exercise. HSCI principal faculty member Chad Cowan and his team members at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a Harvard affiliate, say they have created a system using human stem cells to screen for compounds that have the potential to turn white, or “bad,” fat cells into brown, or “good,” fat cells, and have already identified two compounds that can accomplish that in human cells....

An Israeli spacecraft from SpaceIL is scheduled to launch Thursday, February 21 and is aiming to touch down on Mare Serenitatis two months later. NASA installed a small laser retroreflector aboard the lander to test its potential as a navigation tool. The agency also provided images of the Moon’s surface to help the engineers identify a landing site for the mission. NASA will also use its deep space telecommunications network to transmit images and science data home to SpaceIL and its partners....

More Accurate Picture of Coronavirus Cases Using Mathematical Modeling Mathematical modeling can take what information is reported about the coronavirus, including the clearly underreported numbers of cases, factor in knowns like the density and age distribution of the population in an area, and compute a more realistic picture of the virus’ infection rate, numbers that will enable better prevention and preparation, modelers say. “Actual pandemic preparedness depends on true cases in the population whether or not they have been identified,” says Dr....

As scientists across the globe race to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, an international team led by Davide Corti at Vir Biotechnology and David Veesler at the University of Washington has been working around the clock on a complementary approach – identifying neutralizing antibodies that could be used as a preventative treatment or as a post-exposure therapy. Their latest findings, which include data gathered at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Advanced Light Source (ALS), indicate that antibodies derived from SARS survivors could potently block entry of SARS-CoV-2 and other closely related coronaviruses into host cells....

This is the first study to use postmortem human brain tissue to investigate ADHD. Previous research on mental health conditions typically involved non-invasive scans of the brain, which allowed researchers to examine brain structure and activity but did not provide information on the genetic level and how genes may affect cell function and contribute to symptoms. The researchers used a genomic technique called RNA sequencing to probe how specific genes are turned on or off, also known as gene expression....

Patients on chronic opioid prescriptions who came off opioids were three times more likely to die of an overdose in the years that followed, a study found. With a huge push to reduce opioid prescribing, little is known about the real-world benefits or risks to patients of stopping these pain medications. A study published on August 29, 2019, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found an alarming outcome: Patients coming off opioids for pain were three times more likely to die of an overdose in the years that followed....

The mystery of Tabby’s Star is so compelling that more than 1,700 people donated over $100,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in support of dedicated ground-based telescope time to observe and gather more data on the star through a network of telescopes around the world. As a result, a body of data collected by Boyajian and colleagues in partnership with the Las Cumbres Observatory is now available in a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters....

The new findings come from UVA researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke, PhD, and her team, who are seeking to identify the mechanisms driving healthy aging and longevity. Their new work suggests a potential way to do so by reducing glycerol and glyceraldehyde’s health-draining effects. “The discovery was unexpected. We went after a very well-supported hypothesis that the secret to longevity was the activation of a cell-rejuvenating process named autophagy and ended up finding an unrecognized mechanism of health and lifespan extension,” said O’Rourke, of UVA’s Department of Biology and the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Cell Biology....