People who develop long covid after being hospitalised with severe covid-19 have raised levels of many inflammatory immune molecules compared with those who recovered fully after such a hospitalisation, according to a study of nearly 700 people. The findings show that long covid has a real biological basis, says team member Peter Openshaw at Imperial Read more about Long covid linked to signs of ongoing inflammatory responses in blood[…]

Accumulation of microplastics in the natural environment is ultimately due to the chemical nature of widely used petroleum-based plastic polymers, which typically are inaccessible to biological processing. One way to mitigate this crisis is adoption of plastics that biodegrade if released into natural environments. In this work, we generated microplastic particles from a bio-based, biodegradable Read more about Rapid biodegradation of microplastics generated from bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane in compost[…]

In this article we’ll investigate what makes airplanes fly by looking at the forces generated by the flow of air around the aircraft’s wings. More specifically, we’ll focus on the cross section of those wings to reveal the shape of an airfoil – you can see it presented in yellow below: We’ll find out how Read more about The flow of air over Airfoils, or how planes fly[…]

From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19. Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly. Fast-forward four years and Read more about COVID-19 Leaves Its Mark on the Brain. Significant Drops in IQ Scores Are Noted.[…]

A chemical element so visually striking that it was named for a goddess shows a “Goldilocks” level of reactivity — neither too much nor too little — that makes it a strong candidate as a carbon scrubbing tool. The element is vanadium, and research by Oregon State University scientists has demonstrated the ability of vanadium Read more about Key advance for capturing carbon from the air[…]

Global warming is largely caused by carbon dioxide and other gases absorbing infrared radiation, trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere – known as the greenhouse effect. The most accurate climate models use precise measurements of the amount of radiation CO₂ can absorb to calculate how much heat will be trapped in the atmosphere. These models are Read more about Fermi Resonance explains why carbon dioxide causes global warming[…]

Researchers have profiled the entire immune system in young children to compare their response to SARS-CoV-2 with that of adults. The results, published in Cell, show that infants’ systems mount a strong innate response in their noses, where the airborne virus usually enters the body. And unlike adults, babies don’t exhibit widespread inflammatory signaling throughout Read more about Here’s Why Infants Are Strangely Resistant to COVID[…]

Delivering medication to the lungs with inhalable nanoparticles may help treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In mice with signs of the condition, the treatment improved lung function and reduced inflammation. COPD causes the lungs’ airways to become progressively narrower and more rigid, obstructing airflow and preventing the clearance of mucus. As a result, mucus Read more about COPD: Inhalable nanoparticles could help treat chronic lung disease[…]

The rainbow looks different to a human than it does to a honeybee or a zebra finch. That’s because these animals can see colors that we humans simply can’t. Now scientists have developed a new video recording and analysis technique to better understand how the world looks through the eyes of other species. The accurate Read more about Animals Can See Colors We Can’t. A New camera method gives us a good idea.[…]

[…] few have looked at the effects on wildlife at the population level. Enter Erik Katovich, an economist at the University of Geneva. Dr Katovich made use of the Christmas Bird Count, a citizen-science project run by the National Audubon Society, an American non-profit outfit. Volunteers count birds they spot over Christmas, and the society Read more about Wind turbines are friendlier to birds than oil-and-gas drilling[…]

A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal reveals new evidence for standard gravity breaking down in an idiosyncratic manner at low acceleration. This new study reinforces the evidence for modified gravity that was previously reported in 2023 from an analysis of the orbital motions of gravitationally bound, widely separated (or long-period) binary stars, known Read more about Study of wide binary stars reveals new evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration[…]

[…] Curceanu hopes the apparatus and methods of nuclear physics can solve the century-old mystery of why lentils – and other organisms too – constantly emit an extremely weak dribble of photons, or particles of light. Some reckon these “biophotons” are of no consequence. Others insist they are a subtle form of lentil communication. Curceanu Read more about Biophotons: Are lentils communicating using quantum light messages?[…]

It sounds like a simple, well-known everyday phenomenon: there is high pressure in a champagne bottle, the stopper is driven outwards by the compressed gas in the bottle and flies away with a powerful pop. But the physics behind this is complicated. […] Using complex computer simulations, it was possible to recalculate the behavior of Read more about Clarified at last: The physics of popping champagne[…]