Science Alert October 31, 2022 Interactions between respiratory viruses during infection affect transmission dynamics and clinical outcomes. To identify and characterize virus–virus interactions at the cellular level, researchers in the UK coinfected human lung cells with influenza A virus (IAV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Super-resolution microscopy, live-cell imaging, scanning electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography revealed extracellular and membrane-associated filamentous structures consistent with hybrid viral particles (HVPs). They found that HVPs harbor surface glycoproteins and ribonucleoproteins of IAV and RSV. HVPs use the RSV fusion glycoprotein to evade anti-IAV neutralizing antibodies and infect and spread among cells lacking IAV receptors…read […]
Tag Archives: S&T UK
Insect Swarms Can Electrify The Air as Much as a Thunderstorm
Science Alert October 25, 2022 The atmosphere hosts multiple sources of electric charge that influence critical processes such as the aggregation of droplets and the removal of dust and aerosols. Whereas these electric fields are known to respond to physical and geological processes, the effect of biotic sources of charge has not hitherto been considered. Researchers in the UK combined theoretical and empirical evidence to demonstrate that honeybee swarms directly contribute to atmospheric electricity, in proportion to the swarm density. They provided a quantitative assessment of this finding, by comparing the electrical contribution of various swarming insect species with common […]
A plastic film that can kill viruses using room lights
Phys.org September 9, 2022 Researchers in the UK have developed a thin, 30 μm, flexible, robust low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film loaded with 30 wt% P25 TiO2 and subsequently rendered highly active photocatalytically by exposing it to UVA (352 nm, 1.5 mW cm−2) for 144 h. The film was tested for anti-viral activity using two strains of influenza A virus, a highly stable picornavirus called EMCV and SARS-CoV-2, exposing it to either UVA radiation or with light from a cool white light fluorescent lamp. The film was effective at killing all the viruses—even in a room lit with just white fluorescent […]
The World Is Not Ready For The Next Super-Eruption, Scientists Warn
Science Alert September 6, 2022 According to researchers in the UK over the next century, large-scale volcanic eruptions are hundreds of times more likely to occur than are asteroid and comet impacts, put together. The peril posed by volcanoes may also be greater. In a 2021 study based on data from ancient ice cores, researchers found the intervals between catastrophic eruptions are hundreds or even thousands of years shorter than previously believed. The history of many volcanoes remains murky, making it hard to anticipate future eruptions and focus resources where risks are highest. According to the researchers we need more […]
Sulfur shortage: A potential resource crisis looming as the world decarbonizes
Phys.org August 22, 2022 Sulfur is required for the production of phosphorus fertilizer and manufacturing lightweight electric motors and high-performance lithium-ion batteries. According to researchers in the UK over 246 million tonnes of sulfuric acid are used annually. Rapid growth in the green economy and intensive agriculture could see demand increase to over 400 million tonnes by 2040. Today over 80% of the global sulfur supply comes from desulfurisation of fossil fuels to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas. Decarbonisation of the global economy to deal with climate change will greatly reduce the production of fossil fuels. This will […]
Floating ‘artificial leaves’ ride the wave of clean fuel production
Nanowerk August 17, 2022 Floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water could eventually operate on a large scale at sea. Current techniques for depositing photoelectrochemical (PEC) artificial leaves limit their scalability, whereas fragile and heavy bulk materials can affect their transport and deployment. Researchers in the UK fabricated lightweight artificial leaves using lead halide perovskite photocathodes deposited onto indium tin oxide-coated polyethylene terephthalate achieving an activity of 4,266 µmol H2 g−1 h−1 using a platinum catalyst, whereas photocathodes with a molecular Co catalyst for CO2 reduction attained a high CO:H2 selectivity of 7.2 under lower (0.1 sun) irradiation. The corresponding lightweight […]
A simple way of sculpting matter into complex shapes
Science Daily August 12, 2022 Researchers in the UK modeled propagation of far-red-detuned optical vortex beams through a Bose-Einstein condensate using nonlinear Schrödinger and Gross-Pitaevskii equations. They showed the formation of coupled light-atomic solitons that rotate azimuthally before moving off tangentially, carrying angular momentum. The number, and velocity, of solitons, depends on the orbital angular momentum of the optical field. Using a Bessel-Gauss beam increases radial confinement so that solitons can rotate with fixed azimuthal velocity. According to the researchers the model provides a highly controllable method of channeling a BEC and atomic transport…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New technology can help combat climate crisis
Science Daily August 3, 2022 Researchers in the UK developed a chemical process that converts sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into acetate and oxygen to produce high-value fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy. As part of the process, they grew CO2-fixing acetogenic bacterium Sporomusa ovata on a scalable and cost-effective photocatalyst sheet consisting of a pair of particulate semiconductors. The system effectively produces acetate and oxygen using only sunlight, CO2 and H2O, achieving a solar-to-acetate conversion efficiency of 0.7% at ambient conditions (298 K, 1 atm). The photocatalyst sheet oxidizes water to O2 and provides electrons and hydrogen to S. ovata […]
Bioinspired whisker arrays can work as antennae to detect sources of flow disturbances under water or in the air
Science Daily July 20, 2022 Previous behavioral research on live sea lions showed that the whisker system and the animal’s neural processing is seemingly able to detect the Direction of Arrival (DoA) from just one side of the heads vibrissal pads. Therefore, temporal differences between whisker stimulation are a likely method for determining the angle. Researchers in the UK developed a theoretical model based on multilateration and tested by experimental studies on a 2D array of bio-inspired whiskers with regular spacing, and a 3D array of bio-inspired whiskers on a model head of a sea lion, as used in their […]
Humans Can Learn to ‘Echolocate’ in Just 10 Weeks, Experiment Shows
Science Alert June 20, 2022 Researchers in the UK conducted a training study investigating the effects of blindness and age on the learning of a click-based echolocation. Blind and sighted participants of various ages trained in 20 sessions over the course of 10 weeks in various practical and virtual navigation tasks. They found that both sighted and blind people improved considerably on all measures, and in some cases performed comparatively to expert echolocators at the end of training. Sighted people performed better than those who were blind in some cases. However, neither age nor blindness was a limiting factor in […]