Most galaxies lie in clusters, groupings of several to many thousands of galaxies. Our Milky Way galaxy itself is a member of the “Local Group,” a band of about fifty galaxies whose other large member is the Andromeda Galaxy about 2.3 million light-years away. The closest large cluster of galaxies to us is the Virgo Cluster, with about 2000 members, whose center is about 50 million light-years away. The space between all these galaxies is not empty, but is filled with hot gas whose temperature is of order ten million kelvin, or even higher....

“The potential is huge! Using only the already existing Swedish energy plants, we could produce renewable fuels equivalent to 10 percent of the world’s aviation fuel, if such a conversion were fully implemented,” says Henrik Thunman, Professor of Energy Technology at Chalmers. ​We have summarized the work of the last ten years at Chalmers Power Central and GoBiGas in the report: “GoBiGas demonstration – a vital step for a large-scale transition from fossil fuels to advanced biofuels and electrofuels”....

The study, in mice, found that gut bacteria — partly by producing compounds such as short-chain fatty acids — affect the behavior of immune cells throughout the body, including ones in the brain that can damage brain tissue and exacerbate neurodegeneration in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. The findings, published on January 13 in the journal Science, open up the possibility of reshaping the gut microbiome as a way to prevent or treat neurodegeneration....

PLoS One study looks at demographic and clinical markers for severe disease in patients age 18-29. With the age of COVID-19 hospitalizations skewing younger in this fourth surge, a newly published Houston Methodist study looked at data from the first three surges within its hospitals that revealed clues about COVID’s risk factors among young adults. Lead author Edward A. Graviss, Ph.D., M.P.H., F.I.D.S.A., an Associate Professor of Pathology and Genomic Medicine with the Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his team investigated demographic and clinical risk factors for severe disease in hospitalized young adult COVID-19 patients age 18-29 years across Houston Methodist’s system of seven hospitals....

Cases of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fell significantly in both adults and children during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year. Influenza A and influenza B (which both cause flu) and RSV are common causes of respiratory infections, particularly in winter. There are 9 to 45 million of cases of flu in the US each year....

In a new paper, MIT researchers propose an experiment that may close the last major loophole of Bell’s inequality — a 50-year-old theorem that, if violated by experiments, would mean that our universe is based not on the textbook laws of classical physics, but on the less-tangible probabilities of quantum mechanics. Such a quantum view would allow for seemingly counterintuitive phenomena such as entanglement, in which the measurement of one particle instantly affects another, even if those entangled particles are at opposite ends of the universe....

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), diabetes mellitus affects more than 6.5 million people in Germany. With a share of over 95 percent, most patients are suffering from type 2 diabetes, which usually occurs in old age and is associated with obesity and cardiovascular problems. Faulty insulin regulation triggers the widespread disease. When blood sugar levels rise after a meal and insulin is needed quickly in high quantities, the pancreas of patients releases the hormone too slowly leading to dangerously high levels of glucose in the blood....

Importance of moving activities outdoors and ensuring proper ventilation indoors stressed, as experts urge science community to clarify definitions. Scientists affiliated with leading research institutions across the U.S. state in a letter published Monday in the journal Science that researchers across disciplines must converge to deliver clear public health guidance about how SARS-CoV-2 is spread in the air. The researchers write in the open letter that the scientific community must clarify the terminology used related to aerosols and droplets, and employ a more modern size threshold, rather than the existing one based on 1930s-era work....

The mechanical properties of the body’s soft tissues, including stiffness and strength, play a vital role in their proper functioning. For instance, the softness of the gastrointestinal tract’s tissues facilitates the movement and digestion of food, while tendons, which are relatively more stiff, transmit force from muscles to bones and enable movement. The ability to accurately measure the mechanical properties of these tissues, which are subject to change during developmental processes or because of disease, has profound implications for the fields of biology and medicine....

Unhindered by the Earth’s atmosphere, space telescopes provide an unspoiled view of our surrounding universe. However, unlike its predecessor, the Hubble Space telescope, JWST can capture infrared light, including light emitted from the very first stars and galaxies to wink into existence. Within days of coming online in late June 2022, researchers began discovering thousands of new galaxies more distant and ancient than any previously documented – some perhaps more than 150 million years older than the oldest identified by Hubble....

The team of researchers, led by PPPL physicist Jongsoo Yoo, have correlated magnetic field measurements taken by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission that is orbiting at the edge of the magnetic field that surrounds the Earth. The findings identified the source of the propagation of “whistler waves” — waves with whistle-like sounds that drop from high to low and stem from reconnection — whose detection orients the satellites relative to reconnection activity that can affect the Earth....

Breast cancer is one the most frequently occurring cancer in women worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of new cases are diagnosed with the disease every year. Around 5-10 percent of breast cancer is hereditary, meaning that a woman inherits faulty breast cancer-causing genes from her parents. For example, mutations in BRCA1 gene are found in many cases of hereditary breast cancer. These women are what we call BRCA positive. Basically, the BRCA proteins are involved in fixing broken DNA in a cell, and because BRCA mutant cells cannot accurately repair their DNA, it leads to the development of cancer....

Spike proteins change shape when they attack a cell. In their “open” structure, they expose a section known as the receptor-binding domain (RBD) so it can attach to the ACE2 protein on human cells. In the “closed” structure, this RBD segment is tucked inside the spike protein and can’t bind to human cells. Antibodies contained in some COVID-19 therapies or stimulated by vaccines or infection target the RBD domain so it can’t bind to ACE2....

For 150 years scientists have been trying to figure out why the wispy upper atmosphere of the Sun — the corona — is over 200 times hotter than the solar surface. This region, which extends millions of miles, somehow becomes superheated and continually releases highly charged particles, which race across the solar system at supersonic speeds. When those particles encounter Earth, they have the potential to harm satellites and astronauts, disrupt telecommunications, and even interfere with power grids during particularly strong events....

Both fatty and carbohydrate-rich foods activate the reward system in the brain, albeit via different signaling pathways. When carbohydrates and fats come together in the food, this effect is intensified. In nature, there are no foods that contain a high proportion of fats and carbohydrates: Either they are rich in fats, as in nuts, or rich in carbohydrates, as in the case of potatoes or cereals. An exception is breast milk....

Scientists in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences studied the impact of stimulation on muscle spindles, which “speak” to the central nervous system to help us maintain posture and walk straight. Their results provide new perspectives on whole-body vibration applications, paving the way for future research on the interaction between the central nervous system and the peripheral muscles. The research could in the future be applied to improve balance in older people and help reduce falls, this could be applied through either wearable devices or with a daily session of stimulation....

This is what researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) did to study the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. The team used neutrons and x-rays to map part of the internal structure of the coronavirus to create an accurate 3D model. Specifically, the scientists mapped the main protease (Mpro), an enzyme involved in the virus replication, to which they had added a preliminary small molecule discovered using high-speed computer screening....

“The energy sectors of most countries are undergoing a transition to renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar generation,” says IIASA postdoc Julian Hunt, the study’s lead author. “These sources are intermittent and have seasonal variations, so they need storage alternatives to guarantee that the demand can be met at any time. Short-term energy storage solutions with batteries are underway to resolve intermittency issues, however, the alternative for long-term energy storage that is usually considered to resolve seasonal variations in electricity generation is hydrogen, which is not yet economically competitive....

The research points to two treatment methods — granular activated carbon and ozonation — as being particularly promising. Each technique reduced the concentration of a number of pharmaceuticals, including certain antidepressants and antibiotics, in water by more than 95%, the scientists’ analysis found. Activated sludge, a common treatment process that uses microorganisms to break down organic contaminants, serves an important purpose in wastewater treatment but was much less effective at destroying persistent drugs such as antidepressants and antibiotics....

The scientists presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California. The trapped gas deposit is located just 290 meters below sea level. Previously, the shallowest deposits were found in the vicinity of the Svalbard Islands, in the Gulf of Mexico, at a depth of around 400 meters. The newly discovered deposit is of modest size, but such trapped deposits represent a large global carbon reservoir and some researchers fear that their destabilization around the world, caused by changes in sea temperature or drilling, could cause a release of methane into the environment and accelerate global warming....