Your favorite music can send your brain into a pleasure overload

We all know that moment when we're in the car, at a concert or even sitting on our sofa and one of our favorite songs is played. It's the one that has that really good chord in it, flooding your system with pleasurable emotions, joyful memories, making your hair stand on edge, and even sending a shiver or "chill" down your spine. About half of people get chills when listening to music. Neuroscientists based in France have now used EEG to link chills to multiple brain regions involved in activating reward and pleasure systems. The results are published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Seven different 'disease forms' identified in mild COVID-19

In a study recently published in the journal Allergy, a team of MedUni Vienna scientists led by immunologist Winfried F. Pickl and allergologist Rudolf Valenta (both from the Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology) showed that there are seven forms of disease in COVID-19 with mild disease course, and that the disease leaves behind significant changes in the immune system, even after 10 weeks. These findings could play a significant role in the treatment of patients and in the development of a potent vaccine.

Scientists pinpoint possible reasons for successful cross-species viral spread

Infectious disease emergence is often the result of a pathogen entering a new host species, as highlighted by COVID-19. However, most cross-species transmissions fail to establish in the newly- infected species.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-successful-cross-species-viral.html

Building European cities with wood would sequester and store half of cement industry's current carbon emissions

Buildings create a whopping one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions—that's about 10 times more than air traffic worldwide. In Europe alone, about 190 million square meters of housing space are built each year, mainly in the cities, and the amount is growing quickly at the rate of nearly 1% a year.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-european-cities-wood-sequester-cement.html

Next-gen astronomical survey makes its first observations toward a new understanding of the cosmos

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey's fifth generation collected its very first observations of the cosmos at 1:47 a.m. on October 24, 2020. This groundbreaking all-sky survey will bolster our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies—including our own Milky Way—and the supermassive black holes that lurk at their centers.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-next-gen-astronomical-survey-cosmos.html

Researchers achieve fused silica with high damage threshold by combing chemical etching and laser polishing

Laser damage in fused silica, particularly ultraviolet laser damage, is still a key problem limiting the development of high-power laser systems. The traditional processing method of fused silica goes through the processes of grinding and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). This method is time-consuming to achieve an ultra-smooth surface, and is easy to cause surface and sub-surface defects, resulting in a significant reduction in the surface damage threshold of the fused silica.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fused-silica-high-threshold-chemical.html

The efficiency of migratory birds' flight formations

Migratory birds flying south provide an impressive example of cooperative behavior that saves power and energy. In the past, it was impossible for scientists to study this phenomenon in a natural environment. Researchers who guided young northern bald ibises to their wintering grounds have now succeeded for the first time in obtaining a comprehensive data set. A better understanding of this behavior is also of fundamental importance in respect of climate change.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-efficiency-migratory-birds-flight-formations.html

Team develops cost-efficient and high-resolution multi-spectral camera

A team of researchers at the Chair of Multimedia Communications and Signal Processing at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has developed an intelligent camera that achieves not only high spatial and temporal but also spectral resolution. The camera has a wide range of applications that can improve environmental protection and resource conservation measures as well as autonomous driving or modern agriculture. The findings of the research have been publishedas an open access publication.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-team-cost-efficient-high-resolution-multi-spectral-camera.html

Researchers discover mechanism that allows non-coding RNA to amplify protein production

Scientists from an international group led by the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences and Yokohama City University have discovered that a pair of proteins play a key role in allowing an important type of functional non-coding RNA, known as SINEUPs, to act to promote their target messenger RNA. SINEUPs are a recently discovered type of RNA that work specifically to amplify the production of proteins by messenger RNAs, and hence could be important for developing therapeutics for diseases where a certain protein is insufficiently synthesized.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-mechanism-non-coding-rna-amplify-protein.html

Analysis of a Martian meteorite reveals evidence of water 4.4 billion years ago

A meteorite that originated on Mars billions of years ago reveals details of ancient impact events on the red planet. Certain minerals from the Martian crust in the meteorite are oxidized, suggesting the presence of water during the impact that created the meteorite. The finding helps to fill some gaps in knowledge about the role of water in planet formation.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-analysis-martian-meteorite-reveals-evidence.html

Warming of 2 C would release billions of tons of soil carbon

Global warming of 2°C would lead to about 230 billion tons of carbon being released from the world's soil, new research suggests.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-billions-tons-soil-carbon.html

Abnormal blood pressure levels while sleeping increase risk of heart disease, stroke

People who experience high blood pressure while sleeping are more likely to experience future cardiovascular disease especially heart failure, even when their daytime blood pressure is within normal ranges, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation.

Japan carbon pledge boosts hopes of ammonia backers

Japan's pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2050 is offering hope to industry heavyweights pushing ammonia as the fuel of the future—but critics say the corrosive gas is still far from a clear-cut clean energy.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-japan-carbon-pledge-boosts-ammonia.html

Ambitious but controversial: Japan's new hydrogen project

Japan's new 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality has thrown a spotlight on its efforts to find new, greener fuel options, including an ambitious but controversial liquid hydrogen venture.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-ambitious-controversial-japan-hydrogen.html

16 dead after Typhoon Goni batters Philippines

The most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines this year destroyed tens of thousands of homes and killed at least 16 people, officials said Monday, as communications to the worst-hit areas remained cut off.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-dead-typhoon-goni-batters-philippines.html

Record fires ravage Brazil's Amazon and Pantanal regions

A record high number of fires scorched Brazil's Amazon and Pantanal wetlands last month, official data showed on Sunday, as deforestation and climate change wreaked havoc on some of the planet's most valuable ecosystems.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-ravage-brazil-amazon-pantanal-regions.html

New research reports discovery of 5-million-year-old honey badger-like animal

Five million years ago, dangerous carnivores—such as giant wolverines and otters, bears, sabertooth cats, and large hyaenids—prowled the West Coast of South Africa. Today we can confirm that, among them, fearlessly roamed a smaller relative of the living honey badger.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-discovery-million-year-old-honey-badger-like-animal.html

Starting kindergarten on the right foot

Everything you ever really needed to know you learned back in kindergarten—that old saying gets some scientific support in a new study by researchers at Canada's Université de Montréal and Université Sainte-Anne.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-kindergarten-foot.html

More Republicans follow COVID guidelines when they're told it will protect themselves

For decades, scientists have predicted that a deadly pandemic would sweep the globe—but what they didn't expect was that basic public health measures such as mask wearing and social distancing would become political flashpoints, especially in the United States.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-11-republicans-covid-guidelines-theyre-told.html

Europe imposes new virus curbs as exasperation, anger grows

Germany on Monday led a further tightening of coronavirus restrictions in Europe that have triggered anger and frustration across the continent, while the COVID-19 crisis in the United States deepened.

Ambitious but controversial: Japan's new hydrogen project

Japan's new 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality has thrown a spotlight on its efforts to find new, greener fuel options, including an ambitious but controversial liquid hydrogen venture.

Global coronavirus death toll tops 1.2 million

More than 1.2 million people have died of coronavirus around the globe, according to an AFP tally from official sources at 0745 GMT on Monday.

Biomarker combination predicts kidney injury in critically ill children

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have identified a unique method of identifying the early signs of a potentially serious condition known as Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).

Canada should approve HIV self-testing

Canada should integrate self-testing for HIV into the health system to help reduce the burden of the disease, argues a commentary published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal.