Puzzled otters learn from each other

Asian short-clawed otters learn from each other when solving puzzles to get food, a new study shows.

New fossil seal species rewrites history

The discovery, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, radically changes scientists' understanding of how seal species evolved around the world.

New fossil seal species rewrites history

The discovery, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, radically changes scientists' understanding of how seal species evolved around the world.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fossil-species-rewrites-history.html

Puzzled otters learn from each other

Asian short-clawed otters learn from each other when solving puzzles to get food, a new study shows.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-puzzled-otters.html

Electrifying growth of renewables despite pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic may have dealt a blow to energy demand but growth of renewables in the electric power sector has continued at a record pace, an IEA report said Tuesday.

Key events in development of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine

Key events in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by partners Pfizer Inc. and Germany's BioNTech:

EU agrees on tighter rules for surveillance tech exports

The European Union on Monday agreed to tighten up rules for the sale and export of cybersurveillance technology.

US allows 1st emergency use of a COVID-19 antibody drug

U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight COVID-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans.

Brazil halts trials of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

Brazil's health regulator said it had suspended clinical trials of a Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccine after an "adverse incident" involving a volunteer recipient, a blow for one of the most advanced vaccine candidates.

Large, delayed outbreaks of endemic diseases possible following COVID-19 controls

Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as mask wearing and social distancing are a key tool in combatting the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. These actions also have greatly reduced incidence of many other diseases, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Researchers isolate and decode brain signal patterns for specific behaviors

At any given moment in time, our brain is involved in various activities. For example, when typing on a keyboard, our brain not only dictates our finger movements but also how thirsty we feel at that time. As a result, brain signals contain dynamic neural patterns that reflect a combination of these activities simultaneously. A standing challenge has been isolating those patterns in brain signals that relate to a specific behavior, such as finger movements. Further, developing brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that help people with neurological and mental disorders requires the translation of brain signals into a specific behavior, a problem called decoding. This decoding also depends on our ability to isolate neural patterns related to specific behaviors. These neural patterns can be masked by patterns related to other activities and can be missed by standard algorithms.

Efforts needed to better integrate family caregivers into health care teams

Integrating family caregivers into a patient's health care team can help improve care quality and the quality of life for both patients and their families, yet family caregivers face significant barriers coordinating their efforts with the formal health care team, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Big Tech welcomes Biden presidency, but battles loom

Silicon Valley is welcoming the election of Joe Biden as US president even as it girds for a series of battles over tech policy in Washington.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-big-tech-biden-loom.html

Tropical Storm Eta floods already drenched Florida cities

A deluge of rain from Tropical Storm Eta caused flooding Monday across South Florida's most densely populated urban areas, stranding cars, flooding businesses, and swamping entire neighborhoods with fast-rising water that had no place to drain.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-tropical-storm-eta-drenched-florida.html

New Xbox hits stores, launching holiday season console war

Microsoft's new Xbox console hit stores worldwide Tuesday, kicking off a holiday season battle with Sony's latest PlayStation model, as the coronavirus pandemic creates unprecedented gaming demand around the world.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-xbox-holiday-season-console-war.html

China gears up for world's largest online shopping festival

Chinese consumers are expected to spend tens of billions on everything from fresh food to luxury goods during this year's Singles' Day online shopping festival, as the country recovers from the pandemic.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-china-gears-world-largest-online.html

Electrifying growth of renewables despite pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic may have dealt a blow to energy demand but growth of renewables in the electric power sector has continued at a record pace, an IEA report said Tuesday.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-electrifying-growth-renewables-pandemic.html

EU agrees on tighter rules for surveillance tech exports

The European Union on Monday agreed to tighten up rules for the sale and export of cybersurveillance technology.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-eu-tighter-surveillance-tech-exports.html

Do consumers enjoy events more when commenting on them?

Researchers from Rutgers University and New York University published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that explores the phenomenon of user-generated content during experiences.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-consumers-events-commenting.html

Researchers identify new Rickettsia species in dogs

Researchers at North Carolina State University have identified a new species of Rickettsia bacteria that may cause significant disease in dogs and humans. This new yet unnamed species, initially identified in three dogs, is part of the spotted-fever group Rickettsia which includes Rickettsia rickettsii, the bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF).

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-rickettsia-species-dogs.html

Researchers develop DNA approach to forecast ecosystem changes

When wolves returned to Yellowstone in 1995, no one imagined the predators would literally change the course of rivers in the national park through cascading effects on other animals and plants. Now, a Stanford University-developed approach holds the promise of forecasting such ecosystem changes as certain species become more prevalent or vanish altogether.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-dna-approach-ecosystem.html

Microbe 'rewiring' technique promises a boom in biomanufacturing

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved unprecedented success in modifying a microbe to efficiently produce a compound of interest using a computational model and CRISPR-based gene editing.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-microbe-rewiring-technique-boom-biomanufacturing.html