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Scientists at Scripps Research Institute have created a new drug that may make the COVID-19 virus into a harbinger of its own doom. The drug, NMT5, described in a recent paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, coats SARS-CoV-2 with chemicals that may temporarily modify the human ACE2 receptor—the molecule the virus normally latches onto to infect cells. That means that while the virus is nearby, its entry into human cells through the ACE2 receptor is inhibited; however, when the virus is not there, ACE2 may operate normally....

Qubits can represent the two states corresponding to the classic binary bits, a 0 or 1. But, they can also maintain a “quantum superposition” of both states simultaneously, enabling quantum computers to solve complex problems that are practically impossible for classical computers. But a qubit’s quantum “coherence” — meaning its ability to maintain the superposition state — can fall apart due to noise coming from the environment around the qubit....

A group of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the Astro Space Center in Moscow, Russia, have obtained the first detection of interferometric signals between the Effelsberg 100-m telescope and the space-bound radio telescope satellite Spektr-R. The distance between the two radio telescopes is up to 350,000 kilometers – which corresponds to a virtual telescope of this aperture and an angular resolution of about 40 micro arc seconds....

Saharan Silver Ants Are World’s Fastest Ants According to Noël Coward, mad dogs and Englishmen are the only creatures that go out in the midday sun, but Harald Wolf from the University of Ulm, Germany, would add another animal: Saharan silver ants (Cataglyphis bombycina). Venturing from their nests to scavenge the corpses of less-fortunate creatures at the peak of the day — when the sand can reach 60°C (140°F) — these resilient ants had always fascinated Wolf....

Any permanent human space settlement will require beneficial microbes. With the recent celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program’s first landing of humans on the moon, the eyes and hopes of the world turn skyward again. The romantic notions of exploring and even colonizing space have been rekindled, with the above and more recent movies such as The Martian and the fictional planting of potatoes. The ambitious spirit is further spurred by private space enterprises such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origins, and the idea that we may need a “Planet B”, as our own planet’s natural habitats become more stressed and the human population exponentially increases....

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have shown for the first time that animal DNA shed within the environment can be collected from the air. The proof-of-concept study, published in the journal PeerJ, opens up potential for new ecological, health, and forensic applications of environmental DNA (eDNA), which to date has mainly been used to survey aquatic environments. Living organisms such as plants and animals shed DNA into their surrounding environments as they interact with them....

Now, Harvard and MIT researchers have found a way to correct for signal loss with a prototype quantum node that can catch, store and entangle bits of quantum information. The research is the missing link towards a practical quantum internet and a major step forward in the development of long-distance quantum networks. “This demonstration is a conceptual breakthrough that could extend the longest possible range of quantum networks and potentially enable many new applications in a manner that is impossible with any existing technologies,” said Mikhail Lukin, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics and a co-Director of Harvard Quantum Initiative....

The findings were recently published in the journal PLOS Biology. The leading cause of adult-onset macular degeneration (AMD) is due to a breakdown in the function of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE), a layer of tissue between the photoreceptors that detect light and the choriocapillaris that provides nourishment to the retina. Recognizing the significance of RPE in the development of AMD, the authors of the study focused on exploring the role of a transcription factor called LHX2....

The newly identified variant’s defense against coronary heart disease is probably due to the carriers’ lower-than-average arterial stiffness. The variant in question is found in the MFGE8 gene, which produces a protein called lactadherin. Lactadherin is known to affect the process of arterial stiffening. The results show that the variant inhibits the lactadherin protein’s ability to function. However, further research is required to confirm this. The findings, published in Communications Biology, are based on a FinnGen dataset comprising more than 260,000 Finnish biobank sample donors....

A research team composed of members from the National Space Science Center and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, both part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered that the grain rims of the soil samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission have high levels of hydrogen and a low ratio of deuterium to hydrogen, consistent with the theory that lunar water originates from the solar wind. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....

In chemistry, molecules can be manipulated in different ways to produce different things. Isomerization, for example, is a process which changes the arrangement of a molecule but leaves constituent atoms as they are. The process is found in natural systems such as the retina of the eye, and artificial systems like certain kinds of chemical synthesis. In many cases isomerization essentially makes a particular region of molecules either more or less ordered....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Nature. Until a century ago, the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was prosperous and plentiful in North American forests. The arrival of the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) from Asia wiped out almost all of the trees. Since then, there has been an effort to try and revive the majestic trees. Descendants of the original American chestnut tree were bred with a smaller Chinese variety (Castanea mollissima), which has a natural immunity to the Asian fungus....

Today, important clues about the anatomy and evolution of the mysterious giant squid (Architeuthis dux) are revealed through the publication of its full genome sequence by a University of Copenhagen-led team that includes scientist Caroline Albertin of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole. Giant squid are rarely sighted and have never been caught and kept alive, meaning their biology (even how they reproduce) is still largely a mystery. The genome sequence can provide important insight....

A team of scientists used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton to investigate some unusual X-ray activity of a white dwarf star. The data suggest this white dwarf is blasting a companion object, which is either a low-mass star or planet, with waves of heat and radiation while pulling it apart through gravitational force. Most stars, including the Sun, will become “white dwarfs” after they begin to run out of fuel, expand and cool into a red giant, and then lose their outer layers....

“Already, we have seen robots being deployed for disinfection, delivering medications and food, measuring vital signs, and assisting border controls,” the researchers write. Christensen, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, particularly highlighted the role that robots can play in disinfection, cleaning, and telepresence. Other co-authors include Marcia McNutt, president of the National Research Council and president of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a number of other robotics experts from international and U....

Counting down to its liftoff at 8:20 p.m. EDT (5:20 p.m. PDT) on Tuesday, the ISS Progress 82 cargo spacecraft stands atop its rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Before docking to the Poisk module at 10:49 p.m. on Thursday, the Roscosmos resupply ship will orbit Earth for two days. NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, begins its live launch broadcast at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. It will also cover the docking activities beginning at 10:15 p....

Most commercial fertilizer travels a long way before it reaches rural farmers in Kenya. Transportation costs force many farmers to rely on cheap, synthetic fertilizers, which can lead to the acidification and degradation of their soil over time. The situation amounts to a multigenerational crisis as elders have watched their crop yields dwindle over the course of decades. Now Safi Organics is using a technology honed at MIT’s D-Lab to make organic fertilizer that can help restore such farmlands....

The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured the multiple bushfires burning across Australia’s east coast. Around 150 fires are still burning in New South Wales and Queensland, with hot and dry conditions accompanied with strong winds, said to be spreading the fires. In this image, captured on November 12, 2019 at 23:15 UTC (13 November 09:15 local time), the fires burning near the coast are visible. Plumes of smoke can be seen drifting east over the Tasman Sea....

The work, done by Konstantin Batygin (MS ’10, Ph.D. ’12), a Caltech assistant professor of planetary science and Van Nuys Page Scholar, is described in a paper appearing in the March 5 issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Massive astronomical objects are frequently encircled by groups of smaller objects that revolve around them, like the planets around the sun. For example, supermassive black holes are orbited by swarms of stars, which are themselves orbited by enormous amounts of rock, ice, and other space debris....

Thermosphere 53–375 Miles – In the thermosphere, molecules of oxygen and nitrogen are bombarded by radiation and energetic particles from the Sun, causing the molecules to split into their component atoms and creating heat. The thermosphere increases in temperature with altitude because the atomic oxygen and nitrogen cannot radiate the heat from this absorption. Mesosphere 31–53 Miles – Studying the mesosphere is essential to understanding long-term changes in the Earth’s atmosphere and how these changes affect climate....