News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
The new Omicron variant of the pandemic coronavirus has provided an avalanche of mutations, many never seen before, for scientists to ponder. And as with earlier variants, Omicron researchers are focused on numerous changes to the spike protein, which studs the surface of SARS-CoV-2 and allows it to latch on to and invade human cells. … Read more
Farmland is overtaking much of the planet. That’s the conclusion of a new satellite map, which finds that fields of corn, wheat, rice, and other crops have eaten up more than 1 million additional square kilometers of land over the past 2 decades. The study highlights how Earth’s land is becoming, in essence, a unified … Read more
With that famous song, sleigh rides and snowmen who magically come alive, so much of the cultural imagery associated with Christmas features a glistening carpet of snow. But as rising global temperatures start to dull winter’s bitter edge, will the proverbial White Christmas become just a bit of Yuletide lore? Although logic would seem to … Read more
Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. The past few days have been awash with news of the emergence of the latest concerning variant of the virus behind … Read more
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will travel to a special spot where the gravity from Earth and the sun is balanced Credit: Matthew Twombly Advertisement The most ambitious space telescope built to date is about to start peering at the universe through infrared eyes. The $10-billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is designed to see … Read more
By New Scientist In our letter grid, which you can download here, you will find the 17 known types of fundamental particle (we have let you off the antiparticles), the 20 standard amino acids that make up life’s proteins and all 118 officially named elements in the periodic table. Fair warning: the words you are … Read more
The four fundamental forces act upon us every day, whether we realize it or not. From playing basketball, to launching a rocket into space, to sticking a magnet on your refrigerator – all the forces that all of us experience every day can be whittled down to a critical quartet: Gravity, the weak force, electromagnetism, … Read more
By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu and Layal Liverpool Oxford Street, London, UK, on 21 December, 2021 TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images Latest coronavirus news as of 12pm on 23 December Omicron’s high transmissibility means it’s still a severe threat despite its … Read more
In 1949, at the height of his career, Rustin McIntosh, the director of pediatrics at Columbia University’s Babies Hospital, submitted his letter of resignation. Dr. Scott Baird, who wrote a biography on Dorothy Andersen, takes us back to this pivotal moment, which occurred at the dawn of pediatric pathology in the United States. Through archival … Read more
When news of the novel coronavirus’s Omicron variant first broke over the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., the sense of dread and fatigue was palpable. Just when the COVID pandemic’s outlook had started to improve, we were faced with a new arrival that was clearly more transmissible than previous variants—and likely able to significantly evade … Read more