From Italy and the World

Tokyo/Hong Kong CNN  —  Sushi train restaurants have long been an iconic part of Japan’s food culture. Now, videos of people licking shared soy sauce bottles and messing with plates of food on conveyor belts are prompting critics to question their prospects in a Covid-conscious world. Last week, a video…

The endangered Bahama Warbler may be surviving on just one island following Hurricane Dorian’s devastation in 2019, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia. A new study shows the bird’s distribution and ecology on Grand Bahama before the hurricane struck. But the team says that the warbler may…

New information about an emerging technique that could track microplastics from space has been uncovered by researchers at the University of Michigan. It turns out that satellites are best at spotting soapy or oily residue, and microplastics appear to tag along with that residue. Microplastics — tiny flecks that can…

Cornell University researchers have unearthed precise, microscopic clues to where magma is stored, offering a way to better assess the risk of volcanic eruptions. In recent years, scientists have used satellite imagery, earthquake data and GPS to search for ground deformation near active volcanoes, but those techniques can be inaccurate…

Many of the hallmarks of human civilization — from roads and power lines to pet dogs — are taking a larger-than-expected toll on non-human primates living in Africa, according to two recent studies. The findings result from a collaboration between the University of Colorado Boulder and three South Africa-based institutions:…

Charlie, Jari, and Kiwi are pet dogs with a superpower: Their sensitive noses can distinguish between a healthy deer and one sick with chronic wasting disease (CWD), all from a whiff of the deer’s poop. That’s the finding of a study by scientists from Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, published…

When it comes to fighting off invaders, bacteria operate in a remarkably similar way to human cells, possessing the same core machinery required to switch immune pathways on and off, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. The study, published Feb. 8 in the journal Nature, also sheds light…

CNN  —  Two years after alleging he was racially abused at a cricket match, an Indian fan has had a hand in shaping how the sport tackles discrimination in Australia. Krishna Kumar was attending the third day of the 2021 test match between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket…

CNN  —  The Mouse House is not letting go of prize properties “Frozen” or “Toy Story” anytime soon. Disney CEO Bob Iger said on Wednesday during the company’s earnings call that there are plans for additional sequels to both hit franchises in the works. “We’ll have more to share about…

A record 60,466 nature people voted, and German photographer Sascha Fonseca’s “World of the snow leopard” emerged as the firm favorite in the prestigious competition. Fonseca used a camera trap to capture the image of the rarely sighted big cat at sunset, with a backdrop of mountains in Ladakh, northern…

Here’s why the earthquake in Turkey and Syria was so deadly A powerful fault-line, cold temperatures, aftershocks, lack of infrastructure and limited aid. CNN breaks down the reasons this earthquake was so deadly and the factors that may contribute to a rising death toll in its aftermath. Source link

CNN  —  Scientists know that air pollution can make it difficult to breathe and may ultimately cause serious health problems like cancer, but a new study shows that it might also have a negative impact on teens’ blood pressure. Exposure to higher levels of nitrogen dioxide was associated with lower…

CNN  —  A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has told CNN that while a brutal state crackdown has succeeded in quieting the demonstrations that gripped the country for months, many Iranians still want regime change. In an exclusive interview Wednesday from her home in Tehran, Nasrin Sotoudeh told CNN’s Chief…

Ongoing climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions is often discussed in terms of global average warming. For example, the landmark Paris Agreement seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 ?C, relative to pre-industrial levels. However, the extent of future warming will not be the same throughout the planet. One…

With a big assist from artificial intelligence and a heavy dose of human touch, Tim Cernak’s lab at the University of Michigan made a discovery that dramatically speeds up the time-consuming chemical process of building molecules that will be tomorrow’s medicines, agrichemicals or materials. The discovery, published in the Feb.…

Most proteins localize to distinct protein-rich droplets in cells, also known as “cellular condensates.” Such proteins contain sequence features that function as address labels, telling the protein which condensate to move into. When the labels get screwed up, proteins may end up in the wrong condensate. According to an international…

A new North Carolina State University study, performed in collaboration with battery testing researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, shows that extremely short pulses from a high-powered laser can cause tiny defects in lithium-ion battery materials — defects that can enhance battery performance. The technique,…

Common approaches to analyze DNA from a community of microbes, called a microbiome, can yield erroneous results, in large part due to the incomplete databases used to identify microbial DNA sequences. A team led by Aiese Cigliano of Sequentia Biotech SL, and Clemente Fernandez Arias and Federica Bertocchini of the…

The risk factors linked to cognitive decline in older adults explain a surprisingly modest amount about the large variation in mental abilities between older people, according to a new national study. Researchers found that the factors most commonly associated with cognitive functioning — including socioeconomic status, education and race —…

On a cold winter day, the warmth of the sun is welcome. Yet as humanity emits more and more greenhouse gases, the Earth’satmosphere traps more and more of the sun’s energy and steadily increases the Earth’s temperature. One strategy for reversing this trend is to intercept a fraction of sunlight…

Stunning video shows newborn baby pulled from rubble in Syria Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, according to officials. CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz reports on the ongoing rescue efforts in war-torn Syria where a humanitarian crisis was already unfolding…

CNN  —  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has admitted to “shortcomings” as it emerged his government restricted Twitter access amid growing anger over the state’s response to the massive earthquake earlier this week, which is now known to have killed more than 11,000 people. Two days after the quake hit…

CNN  —  The news made the Washington Post’s front page, but there was no glitzy ceremony or red carpet rolled out for this NFL great when he surprisingly won the league’s most prestigious individual prize. Mark Moseley of the then-Washington Redskins (now, the Commanders) was voted the NFL’s Most Valuable…

CNN  —  After five Memphis police officers brutally beat Tyre Nichols last month, one officer took two cell phone photos of the visibly injured 29-year-old Black man and texted one image to at least five people, newly revealed internal police department documents show. Demetrius Haley – one of five officers…

Ottawa CNN  —  Authorities in Quebec said two children have died and six others were taken to area hospitals with injuries after a city bus drove into a daycare center in a Montreal suburb Wednesday morning. During a briefing Wednesday, a spokesperson for Laval Police said the driver of the…

Researchers from Charité — Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG), and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) have investigated in detail how BPTA syndrome, an extremely rare hereditary condition, arises. A change in the charge of a protein disrupts cellular self-organization, resulting in a developmental disorder. The…

A research team at Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), led by Professor David Williams, has for the first time demonstrated the use of a novel control method in an aircraft with no tail. The technology allows an aircraft to be as smooth and sleek as possible, making it safer…

Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have developed an index to estimate how a bird uses its wings for flight or other locomotion by measuring the strength of the coracoid bone and the animal’s body mass. It should improve our understanding of how extinct animals used their wings and the…

Protected marine areas are one of the essential tools for the conservation of natural resources affected by human impact — mainly fishing — , but, are they enough to recover the functioning of these systems? A study published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, led by researchers from the…

Scientists from Northwestern University have collaborated on the implementation of an accurate, low-cost and easy-to-use test for detecting toxic levels of fluoride in water. The new biosensor device developed at Northwestern has been field tested in rural Kenya, providing evidence that water testing for fluoride can be easily used outside…