Tag: scientists

Scientists develop mathematical model to optimise elite athletes’ performance

Scientists have developed a mathematical model that promises to optimise training for competitors in 400-metre and 1,500-metre athletics events, according to a study published Tuesday. The model is based on performance data gathered from elite athletes including Olympic 1,500 metres champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, Dutch world indoor 400m world record holder Femke Bol and Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith at the 2022 European Championships in Munich. “We wanted to understand what was happening at the physiological […]

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Scientists in Peru discover two new endangered plant species

LIMA, Peru (AFP) – A group of Peruvian and international botanists has discovered two new species of plant that are endangered by mining activity in the Peruvian Andes, the University of San Marcos reported Tuesday. The new species, named “Viola ornata” and “Viola longibracteolata,” belong to the Neo-andinium subgenus of Viola, which in Peru currently has 15 species. “San Marquino botanists are publishing a study in which they reveal two new species of plants found in […]

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Chilean scientists study climate change at ‘end of the world’

Chilean scientists studying organisms in one of the most remote places on Earth are urging regional leaders to step up efforts to tackle climate change. A recent expedition, which was delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, sought to investigate harmful organisms and how they are impacting climate change. Chile’s Magallanes region — on the southern tip of South America where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet — is known as the “end […]

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Inside the South African lab that discovered Omicron

  by Claire DOYEN JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Access to the laboratory is strictly limited, for the risk of accidental infection is just too high. Here, technicians at whirring machines analyze 18,000 PCR tests a day, looking for signatures of coronavirus. Their work is so precise that just a handful of samples helped the team to discover Omicron — the new virus variant that has triggered global fears of yet another surge in the […]

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Global experts warn of COVID-19 airborne threat

  by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — As countries ease their lockdowns, authorities need to recognize the coronavirus can spread through the air far beyond the two meters (six feet) urged in social distancing guidelines, an international group of 239 scientists said Monday. In a comment piece that takes direct aim at the World Health Organization for its reluctance to update its advice, researchers recommended new measures including increasing indoor […]

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Scientists in China believe new drug can stop pandemic ‘without vaccine’

  by Qian Ye and Matthew Knight Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt. The outbreak first emerged in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines. A drug being tested by scientists at China’s prestigious Peking University could not only shorten the recovery […]

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Ukraine scientists navigate lockdown to reach Antarctica

by Olga SHYLENKO Agence France-Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Yuriy Otruba was preparing for his sixth scientific expedition to Antarctica when the coronavirus pandemic hit, shutting borders, grounding flights and locking down countries he needed to travel through. After repeated trips since 2009, the 34-year-old Ukrainian scientist feared this year’s journey would be impossible due to strict lockdown measures imposed throughout the world to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The journey from Kiev to the Akademik Vernadsky […]

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Scientists race to develop vaccine for new coronavirus

  by Catherine Lai Agence France Presse SINGAPORE (AFP) — Scientists from the United States to Australia are using new technology in an ambitious, multi-million-dollar drive to develop a vaccine in record time to tackle China’s coronavirus outbreak. The new virus has spread rapidly since emerging late last year in China, killing more than 800 people in the mainland and infecting over 37,000. Cases have been reported in two dozen other countries. Coming up with […]

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PHIVOLCS seeks help from int’l scientists, borrows infrared camera from US to view Taal’s main crater

(Eagle News) — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) is talking with the United States Geological Service (USGS) regarding the ongoing volcanic activity of Taal Volcano, seeking their help to better get accurate data and images on the restive volcano’s crater. The US embassy is also securing an infrared camera to be used by PHIVOLCS to take pictures of Taal’s main crater. Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of the Volcano Monitoring Division of PHIVOLCS, […]

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Scientists set off to explore new Antarctic ecosystem

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A team of international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey set off on Wednesday to explore a mysterious marine ecosystem that has lain hidden under an ice shelf for up to 120,000 years. The BAS said that an iceberg known as A68 broke off from the Larsen Ice Shelf in July 2017, revealing a section of seabed measuring 5,818 square kilometers (2,245 square miles) — nearly four times the […]

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Human muscle tissue grown from stem cells: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Working human muscle has been grown from stem cells in the lab in a breakthrough that holds promise for sufferers of degenerative muscular diseases, scientists said on Tuesday. The team from Duke University in North Carolina said they were the first to achieve this feat using adult skin or blood cells which were “reprogrammed” into a juvenile, versatile state. These are called “induced pluripotent stem cells” or iPSCs. Like naturally-occurring stem […]

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Citizen scientists asked to record rather than repel mosquitoes

CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — When you next hear the high pitched whine of a mosquito, researchers from Stanford University in California, are hoping you’ll reach for your smartphone, not the repellent. The idea is to put mosquitoes under a world-wide surveillance operation using the recording device in nearly everyone’s pocket. Mosquitoes can be differentiated by the frequency of their wingbeats, which is what produces their characteristic whine. The team are calling for citizen scientists […]

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