WHO warns world to 'take action' over China virus

The World Health Organization on Wednesday warned all governments to "take action" over the SARS-like virus spreading from China that has killed 132 people and infected around 6,000 others.

Two defunct satellites speed toward possible collision

Two decommissioned satellites sped towards each other Wednesday at a combined speed of almost 33,000 miles (53,000 kilometers) an hour, raising the risk of a collision that would send thousands of pieces of debris hurtling through space.

News Corp aggregator aims to break free from tech platforms

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. on Wednesday unveiled an online news aggregation service, aiming to break away from the tech platforms that dominate digital media.

Five people in France confirmed to have coronavirus

The daughter of a Chinese tourist who is seriously ill in a Paris hospital has become the fifth person in France to be confirmed with the coronavirus, officials said Wednesday.

Health experts: Human-to-human spread of new virus worrying

World health officials expressed "great concern" Wednesday that a dangerous new virus is starting to spread between people outside of China, a troubling development as China and the world frantically work to contain the outbreak. For a second day, the number of infections grew dramatically.

NASA shutting down space telescope, infrared eyes to cosmos

NASA is pulling the plug on one of its great observatories—the Spitzer Space Telescope—after 16 years of scanning the universe with infrared eyes.

Study: Antioxidant flavonol linked to lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia

People who eat or drink more foods with the antioxidant flavonol, which is found in nearly all fruits and vegetables as well as tea, may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's dementia years later, according to a study published in the January 29, 2020, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Gut reaction: How immunity ramps up against incoming threats

A new study has revealed how the gut's protective mechanisms ramp up significantly with food intake, and at times of the day when mealtimes are anticipated based on regular eating habits.

Long life, good health

In a new report published today in Circulation, experts outline national and global goals to help people live healthier for longer. While heart disease and stroke-related deaths continue to decline, the rate at which they're declining has slowed and obesity rates are on the rise.

2019 novel coronavirus is genetically different to SARS and should be considered a new human-infecting coronavirus

A new genetic analysis of 10 genome sequences of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from nine patients in Wuhan finds that the virus is most closely related to two bat-derived SARS-like coronaviruses, according to a study published in The Lancet.

Scientists find record warm water in Antarctica, pointing to cause behind troubling glacier melt

A team of scientists has observed, for the first time, the presence of warm water at a vital point underneath a glacier in Antarctica—an alarming discovery that points to the cause behind the gradual melting of this ice shelf while also raising concerns about sea-level rise around the globe.

Coupled quantum dots may offer a new way to store quantum information

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have for the first time created and imaged a novel pair of quantum dots—tiny islands of confined electric charge that act like interacting artificial atoms. Such "coupled" quantum dots could serve as a robust quantum bit, or qubit, the fundamental unit of information for a quantum computer. Moreover, the patterns of electric charge in the island can't be fully explained by current models of quantum physics, offering an opportunity to investigate rich new physical phenomena in materials.

Researchers studying motivational aspects of mindfulness find quality differs by situation

What makes people more or less mindful from one situation to the next? Researchers have found that mindfulness is not entirely something an individual brings to a situation and rather is partly shaped by the situations they encounter.

Demand for drone delivery in e-retail is high, ability to meet that demand low

Consumers want what they want, and they want it now. Drone delivery has long been talked about as an option to satisfy consumer delivery demands, but how realistic is it? New research in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science looks at how possible and desirable it is to use drones for delivery for e-retailers considering cost and effectiveness in certain population areas and in certain locations.

Monitoring intermediates in CO2 conversion to formate by metal catalyst

Plants take in energy from sunlight to transform atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into sugars and then other materials for growth and metabolic functions. Mimicking this photochemical reaction to efficiently convert CO2 into fuels and industrially important chemicals would support a sustainable energy future and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Prescribed burns benefit bees

Freshly burned longleaf pine forests have more than double the total number of bees and bee species than similar forests that have not burned in over 50 years, according to new research from North Carolina State University.

UCLA researchers find chronic inflammation contributes to cancer metastasis

The study reveals a detailed epigenetic mechanism for how interleukin-1-beta, a common cytokine that helps fight infections during inflammation, plays a critical role in cancer metastasis. The researchers found that chronic exposure to interleukin-1-beta can promote lung cancer metastasis through inheritable changes of gene expression without altering DNA sequence. Because of these gene alterations, cancer cells can memorize this phenotype—known as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, an important step during cancer metastasis—to successfully reach distance organs and subsequently colonize.

The health of foundation species promotes the stability of the ecosystems that depend on them

Anyone who's read "The Lorax" will recognize that certain species serve as the foundation of their ecosystems. When the truffula trees disappear, so to do the swomee-swans and bar-ba-loots. However, the same is not necessarily true the other way around.

Better than reality: NASA scientists tap virtual reality to make a scientific discovery

NASA scientists using virtual reality technology are redefining our understanding about how our galaxy works.

Researchers develop new bio-inspired wing design for small drones

Researchers from Brown University have designed a new type of wing that could make small fixed-wing drones far more stable and efficient.

Drug lord's hippos make their mark on foreign ecosystem

Four hours east of Medellin in northern Colombia's Puerto Triunfo municipality, the sprawling hacienda constructed by infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar of "Narcos" fame has become a tourist attraction. When Escobar's empire crashed, the exotic animals housed at his family's zoo, including rhinos, giraffes and zebras, were safely relocated to new homes... except for the hippopotamuses.

Cheap nanoparticles stimulate immune response to cancer in the lab

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed nanoparticles that, in the lab, can activate immune responses to cancer cells. If they are shown to work as well in the body as they do in the lab, the nanoparticles might provide an effective and more affordable way to fight cancer.

Research team investigates abnormal neuron activity in Rett syndrome

The brain undergoes dramatic change during the first years of life. Its circuits readily rewire as an infant and then child encounters new sights and sounds, taking in the world and learning to understand it. As the child matures and key developmental periods pass, the brain becomes less malleable—but certain experiences create opportunities for parts of the adult brain to rewire and learn again.