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
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
By Layal Liverpool Shutterstock/Mariia Tagirova BING CROSBY dreamed of a white Christmas. This December, I’m dreaming of categorising snowflakes. All in the name of science, of course. White Christmas or not, you too can get up close and personal with snowflakes and contribute to climate research by taking part in the online Snowflake ID project. … Read more
October saw the RTS,S malaria vaccine given the go-ahead for use outside trials for the first time – a momentous decision, decades in the making Health 15 December 2021 By Clare Wilson REUTERS/James Keyi/Alamy Decades in the making, October saw a malaria vaccine given the go-ahead for use outside trials for the first time, described … Read more
For the first time, grafting has been made to work in monocots, a type of plant including oats, wheats and bananas – and it might improve disease tolerance among these important crops Environment 22 December 2021 By Alex Wilkins A date palm two-and-a-half years after grafting. Inset shows a region at the base of the … Read more
Some of the most stunning examples of animal behavior seem to be driven by predators. A massive cloud of starlings darting away from a hawk that looks like swirling plume of smoke, for example. Or a shiny school of sardines twirling as dolphins circle around. Biologists have long believed such behavior confuses predators, giving each … Read more
Scientists and policymakers are puzzling over how to get rid of a group of toxic chemicals found in streams and drinking water. One hope was that the persistent compounds, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), would flow out to sea and stay put. But the ocean, it turns out, is spitting them back out: … Read more
About 2900 years ago, an elderly woman was carefully buried with two lambs in her lap and a piece of chalk in her hand at a site now called Cliff ’s End Farm, about 30 kilometers north of Dover, U.K. She had been killed by sword blows to her skull, likely in a sacrificial rite. … Read more
Among the possible treatments for people just developing COVID-19 symptoms, antibody-rich plasma donated by recovered patients has taken a backseat to options such as monoclonal antibodies and antiviral pills. But a new clinical trial suggests it may deserve a bigger role. The trial results, posted today as a preprint, showed a transfusion of convalescent plasma … Read more