Liftoff! Pioneers of space

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space 60 years ago next week.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-liftoff-space.html

US sanctions Chinese computer makers in widening tech fight

The Biden administration has added seven Chinese supercomputer research labs and manufacturers to a U.S. export blacklist in a spreading conflict with Beijing over technology and security.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-sanctions-chinese-makers-widening-tech.html

Amazon union organizers deflated as vote tilts against them

Amazon is heading into the final stretch of a union push in Bessemer, Alabama with a sizeable lead over labor organizers.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-amazon-union-deflated-vote-tilts.html

Verizon recalls mobile hotspots sold to schools, in stores

Verizon is recalling 2.5 million mobile hotspots after some reports of overheating and two reports of minor burns.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-verizon-recalls-mobile-hotspots-sold.html

Three-man Soyuz flight honouring Gagarin blasts off for ISS

A three-man crew blasted off to the International Space Station Friday in a capsule honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-three-man-soyuz-flight-honouring-gagarin.html

X-ray study recasts role of battery material from cathode to catalyst

An international team working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a unique X-ray instrument to learn new things about lithium-rich battery materials that have been the subject of much study for their potential to extend the range of electric vehicles and the operation of electronic devices.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-x-ray-recasts-role-battery-material.html

Could Mario Kart teach us how to reduce world poverty and improve sustainability?

Many Mario Kart enthusiasts are familiar with the rush of racing down Rainbow Road, barely squeaking around a corner, and catching a power-up from one of the floating square icons on the screen—or, less ideally, slipping on a banana peel laid by another racer and flying off the side of the road into oblivion. This heated competition between multiple players, who use a variety of game tokens and tools to speed ahead or thwart their competitors, is part of what makes the classic Nintendo racing game that has been around since the early 1990s so appealing.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-mario-kart-world-poverty-sustainability.html

Three-man Soyuz flight honouring Gagarin blasts off for ISS

A three-man crew blasted off to the International Space Station Friday in a capsule honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.

X-ray study recasts role of battery material from cathode to catalyst

An international team working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a unique X-ray instrument to learn new things about lithium-rich battery materials that have been the subject of much study for their potential to extend the range of electric vehicles and the operation of electronic devices.

Configuring infrared spectroscopy tools to better detect breast cancer

Detecting and analyzing breast cancer goes beyond the initial discovery of the cancer itself. If a patient has a tumor removed and it needs to be analyzed to determine further treatment, it might be OK for the results to take 24 hours. But if the patient is still on the operating table and clinicians are waiting to make sure no cancer cells are present along the edges of the removed tumor, results need to be nearly immediate.

Could Mario Kart teach us how to reduce world poverty and improve sustainability?

Many Mario Kart enthusiasts are familiar with the rush of racing down Rainbow Road, barely squeaking around a corner, and catching a power-up from one of the floating square icons on the screen—or, less ideally, slipping on a banana peel laid by another racer and flying off the side of the road into oblivion. This heated competition between multiple players, who use a variety of game tokens and tools to speed ahead or thwart their competitors, is part of what makes the classic Nintendo racing game that has been around since the early 1990s so appealing.

Cancer-killing virus therapy shows promise against inoperable skin cancers

Early results show that a new combination drug therapy is safe and effective against advanced skin cancer in patients who were not able to have their tumors surgically removed.

Sunlight linked with lower COVID-19 deaths, study shows

Sunnier areas are associated with fewer deaths from Covid-19, an observational study suggests.

Failure to rescue a major driver of excess maternal mortality in Black women

In a study of over 73 million delivery hospitalizations during a 19-year period in the United States, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center found that failure to rescue from severe maternal morbidity contributes more than a half of the 3-fold difference in maternal mortality between Black women and White women. Failure to rescue refers to death resulting from severe maternal morbidity such as eclampsia, acute heart failure, and sepsis. The findings are published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Brazil at high risk of dengue outbreaks after droughts because of temporary water storage

Dengue risk is exacerbated in highly populated areas of Brazil after extreme drought because of improvised water containers housing mosquitoes, suggests a new study in Lancet Planetary Health.

Surgery for stress urinary incontinence doesn't cause pelvic cancer

Women undergoing surgery to treat stress urinary incontinence (SUI) are not at increased risk of developing pelvic cancers, according to a large-scale, population-based study in The Journal of Urology, Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA).

Lessons in equity from the frontlines of COVID-19 vaccination

When the first COVID-19 vaccines were approved for emergency use in December 2020, healthcare systems across the Unites States needed to rapidly design and implement their own approaches to distribute COVID-19 vaccines equitably and efficiently. This new role has required Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) to develop new strategies and build large operational teams to organize and successfully vaccinate more than 14,000 patients a week across Eastern Massachusetts. In an Insight article published in JAMA Health Forum, Leonor Fernandez, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Peter Shorett, MPP, Chief Integration Officer at BILH, identify five key lessons about health equity that have emerged from BILH's vaccination campaign for the health system's approximately 1.6 million patients.

Even 'safe' ambient CO levels may harm health, study finds

Data collected from 337 cities across 18 countries show that even slight increases in ambient carbon monoxide levels from automobiles and other sources are associated with increased mortality.

Study investigates link between lactation and visceral, pericardial fat

As demonstrated by multiple studies over the years, women who breastfeed have a lower risk for developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes when compared to those who don't or can't. However, the mechanisms by which these risks are reduced for lactating women are still not fully understood.

Earth's crust mineralogy drives hotspots for intraterrestrial life

Below the verdant surface and organic rich soil, life extends kilometers into Earth's deep rocky crust. The continental deep subsurface is likely one of the largest reservoirs of bacteria and archaea on Earth, many forming biofilms—like a microbial coating of the rock surface. This microbial population survives without light or oxygen and with minimal organic carbon sources, and can get energy by eating or respiring minerals. Distributed throughout the deep subsurface, these biofilms could represent 20-80% of the total bacterial and archaeal biomass in the continental subsurface according to the most recent estimate. But are these microbial populations spread evenly on rock surfaces, or do they prefer to colonize specific minerals in the rocks?

Earth's crust mineralogy drives hotspots for intraterrestrial life

Below the verdant surface and organic rich soil, life extends kilometers into Earth's deep rocky crust. The continental deep subsurface is likely one of the largest reservoirs of bacteria and archaea on Earth, many forming biofilms—like a microbial coating of the rock surface. This microbial population survives without light or oxygen and with minimal organic carbon sources, and can get energy by eating or respiring minerals. Distributed throughout the deep subsurface, these biofilms could represent 20-80% of the total bacterial and archaeal biomass in the continental subsurface according to the most recent estimate. But are these microbial populations spread evenly on rock surfaces, or do they prefer to colonize specific minerals in the rocks?

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-earth-crust-mineralogy-hotspots-intraterrestrial.html

Long-awaited review reveals journey of water from interstellar clouds to habitable worlds

Dutch astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, the Netherlands), together with an international team of colleagues, has written an overview of everything we know about water in interstellar clouds thanks to the Herschel space observatory. The article, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, summarizes existing knowledge and provides new information about the origin of water on new, potentially habitable, worlds. The article is expected to serve as a reference work for the next twenty years.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-04-long-awaited-reveals-journey-interstellar-clouds.html

Long-awaited review reveals journey of water from interstellar clouds to habitable worlds

Dutch astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, the Netherlands), together with an international team of colleagues, has written an overview of everything we know about water in interstellar clouds thanks to the Herschel space observatory. The article, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, summarizes existing knowledge and provides new information about the origin of water on new, potentially habitable, worlds. The article is expected to serve as a reference work for the next twenty years.