News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Multiple factors play a role in complex diseases like COVID, and knowing what they are is important for predicting how different people will be affected. Early on in the pandemic, being older, overweight, or smoking were identified as increasing your risk of developing severe COVID. This then informed public health decisions – the elderly were … Read more
Pack hunting spiders exist in places other than your nightmares. While most spiders enjoy solitary lives, 20 of the roughly 50,000 known spider species live in colonies. One species, Anelosimus eximius, lives in extremely large colonies of up to 1,000 individual spiders that work together to build webs spanning several meters. When prey falls into their … Read more
Researchers have discovered two types of human brain cells that physically help us form memories. These cells play a significant role in dividing continuous conscious experience into distinct segments that can be recalled in the future. As we move from the past, through the present, and into the future, we form autobiographical memories – … Read more
One of the largest COVID-19 brain imaging studies to date has shed some unsettling light on the disease’s impact on our brains. Even in those with a mild or moderate case, a SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with “significant” neurological changes and loss of gray matter. The study looked at the brain scans of 785 … Read more
Despite the joys that may come from a boozy Friday night, alcohol is bad for us. And not just in large quantities. Recent studies have been warning that even a moderate amount of drinking is linked to cardiovascular issues and brain damage. A new study looking at over 36,000 adults has now put the boot in as well, finding … Read more
Some of the James Webb Space Telescope‘s first science investigations will probe the role that bright objects called quasars played in early galaxy evolution. Quasars are distant objects powered by black holes typically a billion times as massive as our sun. They emit energies that can climb to trillions of electron volts, exceeding the total … Read more
Pluto may no longer be a planet, but the dwarf planet and its icy neighbors in the Kuiper Belt are about to enter the spotlight. One of the James Webb Space Telescope‘s first missions this year will be a program to study Pluto and some of the thousands of other celestial objects in the Kuiper … Read more
Archaeologists may have just uncovered evidence for the oldest known practice of mummification. Human remains interred 8,000 years ago in the Sado Valley in Portugal, during the Mesolithic, appear to have been deliberately treated for mummification prior to burial. This is the first evidence for Mesolithic mummification in Europe. It’s also possibly the oldest … Read more
What happens when two of the largest objects in the universe collide? Simple, says a new study: They create one of the largest shock waves in the universe. Located about 730 million light-years from Earth, Abell 3667 is a galaxy cluster in chaos. Actually composed of two clusters (or groups) of galaxies colliding into one another, Abell 3667 … Read more
If a pregnant woman catches COVID, it’s very rare for the virus to be passed through the placenta to the fetus. But it’s long been known that a mother’s antibodies can cross the placental barrier to the baby and can also be transferred via breast milk after the baby is born. This is why it’s … Read more