SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
A multidisciplinary team of Western University researchers is beginning work on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. They join the global effort to curb the spread of the virus which to-date has been confirmed in 225,000 cases worldwide, and has caused more than 9,000 deaths. The team is rapidly mobilizing its efforts to establish and … Read more
A novel blood test that uses gold nanoparticles to detect cancer has also been shown to identify signals released by cancer cells which could result in earlier diagnosis and better treatment. New research has revealed the nanotechnology developed by University of Queensland scientists can detect and monitor extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the bloodstream. Australian Institute … Read more
A group of scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan have succeeded in taking repeated measurements of the spin of an electron in a silicon quantum dot (QD), without changing the spin in the process. This type of “non-demolition” measurement is important for creating quantum computers that are fault tolerant. Quantum … Read more
The Toba super-eruption was one of the largest volcanic events over the last two million years, about 5,000 times larger than Mount St. Helen’s eruption in the 1980s. The eruption occurred 74,000 years ago on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, and was argued to have ushered in a “volcanic winter” lasting six to ten years, … Read more
A remarkable new treasure has been found by scientists from the University of Portsmouth – the first fossil plant gum on record. The beautiful, amber-like material has been discovered in 110 million year old fossilised leaves. University of Portsmouth PhD student Emily Roberts, made the discovery while examining fossilised leaves of the Welwitschiophyllum plant, found in the … Read more
A natural experiment created by an active volcano gives new insight into the long-term negative impacts of human colonisation of tropical forest islands. The findings are published in the British Ecological Society journal, Journal of Ecology. Researchers from the University of Réunion island surveyed vegetation on more than 600 years of lava flows on the slopes … Read more
In the animal kingdom, survival essentially boils down to eat or be eaten. How organisms accomplish the former and avoid the latter reveals a clever array of defense mechanisms. Maybe you can outrun your prey. Perhaps you sport an undetectable disguise. Or maybe you develop a death-defying resistance to your prey’s heart-stopping defensive chemicals that … Read more
The first reports of seismic activity and ground vibrations on Mars are in. The red planet has a moderate level of seismic activity, intermediate between Earth and the Moon. An international team that includes University of Maryland geologists released preliminary results from the InSight mission, which landed a probe on Mars on November 26, 2018. … Read more
A team of international scientists investigating how to control the spin of atom-like impurities in 2D materials have observed the dependence of the atom’s energy on an external magnetic field for the first time. The results of the study, published in Nature Materials, will be of interest to both academic and industry research groups working on … Read more
The team, from the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow in the UK and ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, used their technique to observe how the magnetisation behaves, the first time this has been done in three dimensions. The technique, called time-resolved magnetic laminography, could be used to understand and control the … Read more