on 16-Jan-2021 (Sat)

According to the researchers, one of the most urgent tasks is to understand all the molecular interactions between the virus and the cells it infects.

While the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses host proteins to replicate, the scientists said until now, there has been no detailed understanding of all the proteins occurring in human cells which interact with the viral genetic material – its RNA.

From the results, the scientists identified 18 host proteins that play an important role during SARS-CoV-2 infection, and found 20 small molecules that may inhibit these proteins.

They believe the two proteins CNBP and LARP1

"The way LARP1 binds to viral RNA is very interesting, because it is similar to the way LARP1 regulates certain cellular messenger RNAs that we already know.

The world’s largest radio telescope, the Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope or FAST has been installed in Pingtang in China's Guizhou province.

The data collected should help understand of the origins of the universe. It could also aid in the search for alien life.

FAST is surrounded by a five-kilometre “radio silence” zone where mobile phones and computers are not allowed.

Work on FAST began in 2011. It cost 1.1 billion yuan to build.

A new class of antibiotics

Published in Nature

New molecules that can kill difficult-to-treat bacterial infections and also enhance our natural immune response have been developed by researchers from the U.S. The molecules target a metabolic pathway that is essential for most bacteria but absent in humans. The team writes that these molecules can help in the fight against the rising multidrug-resistant bacteria.

A new study has shown that big bumblebees learn where the best flowers are located, remember the spot and visit them repeatedly. Since they can carry more nectar, they explore areas away from the nest and spend energy to find the best flower. But smaller ones that have a short flight range don’t make the effort to learn about the best flowers and visit many flowers near the nest.

Using data from Chang’E-1 and Chang’E-2 lunar orbiters researchers have identified 1,09,956 new craters on the Moon and also tried to estimate their ages using artificial intelligence

A new study has shown that the brain not just looks at your movements and surroundings but also calculates other’s movements. “Our results support the idea that, under certain mental states, this pattern of brain waves may help us recognise boundaries,” said first author Matthias Stangl in a release.

researchers have found that mussels, oysters and scallops have the highest levels of microplastic contamination among seafood.

A possible case of reinfection was considered if a PCR test was positive before 90 days of a previous infection with SARS-COV-2 virus. While only two reinfections were caused by the new variant, there were three reinfections in the other group.

Quick sequencing of the whole genome of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) helped develop various test kits.

Water on the Moon

In October, NASA confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit side of the Moon indicating that water may be distributed across the moon’s surface, and not limited to the cold and shadowed side.

a new pair of salivary glands hidden between the nasal cavity and throat. The team proposed the name “tubarial glands” and noted that this identification “could help to explain and avoid radiation-induced side-effects” such as trouble during eating, swallowing, and speaking.

spotted phosphine gas on Venus. On Earth, microorganisms that live in “anaerobic” (with no oxygen) environments produce phosphine.

This is important because, if it is phosphine, and if it is life, it means that we are not alone.

In March, a person suffering from Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited disease that leads to blindness, became the first to have CRISPR/Cas-9-based therapy directly injected into the body.

Stories from Indus Valley vessels

The year 2020 marks 100 years of discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation, and a new study showed that dairy products were being produced by the Harappans as far back as 2500 BCE.

found the presence of animal products, including cattle and buffalo meat, in ceramic vessels dating back about 4,600 years.

NASA launches Mars rover Perseverance

Mars rover Perseverance blasted off for the red planet on July 30 to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth. If all goes well, the rover will descend to the Martian surface on February 18, 2021.

Scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier bagged the Nobel Prize for Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing”. The discovery of “one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors”

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) are pieces of DNA that bacteria snip off from viruses that once attacked them, much like file names used to store various documents we write in MS Word.

Similarly, the CRISPR are a part of bacteria’s immunological systems that help them in recognising threatening viruses. When they sense a lurking virus, the bacteria produce customised RNA, which is necessary to translate DNA into protein, gleaned from the CRISPR libraries. This also contains Cas (CRISPR-associated) genes that are used to produce enzymes such as Cas-9. These enzymes — the Cas-9 being a particularly popular one — can be used to chop the DNA of the virus and destroy them.

Using the tool, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms

Streptococcus pyogenes, a species of bacteria known to be associated with a range of illnesses such as pharyngitis, tonsillitis and scarlet fever.

In their natural form, the scissors recognise DNA from viruses, but Charpentier and Doudna proved that they could be controlled so that they can cut any DNA molecule at a predetermined site. Where the DNA is cut it is then easy to rewrite the code of life,” the note adds.

Earlier this year, a person with hereditary blindness became the first to have a CRISPR/Cas-9-based therapy directly injected into her body.

Chinese researcher He Jiankui announced that he had used it to create ‘gene-edited twins’ Lula and Nana via in-vitro fertilisation.

He used the gene scissors on the children when they were embryos to edit a gene, CCR5, that in its modified form would ostensibly protect the babies from HIV. The HIV uses the CCR5 to infect cells and the modified gene would shut the door against such an entry.

Thus, even though the CRISPR/Cas-9 system allows a democratic usage in labs across the world to tinker with genomes, it still has not reached the level of precision required to be sure that it does not cause unintentional side effects.

Only one woman, Marie Curie, has been honoured twice, with the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

he 2001-2019 interval has seen the maximum number of women Laureates — 24 — compared to just 11 from 1981 to 2000 and 7 from 1961 to 1980.

“Our study in asymptomatic and mild cases gives a positive insight into the durability of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 after four months of infection,

variant of SAR-COV-2, genome sequencing of two samples was conducted at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Of the two, one sample is from Telangana and another from Andhra Pradesh.

It has been 30 years since the Hubble telescope was launched.

‘FELUDA’ is billed as a cheaper, faster and simpler alternative to the standard RT-PCR diagnosis.

‘FELUDA’ is billed as a cheaper, faster and simpler alternative to the standard RT-PCR diagnosis.

Archaeologists have unearthed new sections of a famous Aztec tower of human skulls dating back to the 1400s beneath the center of Mexico City, authorities said on Friday.

The team uncovered in March the facade and eastern side of the tower, as well as 119 human skulls of men, women and children, adding to hundreds previously found

Huey Tzompantli, a huge array of skulls that struck fear into the Spanish conquistadores when they captured the city under Hernan Cortes in 1521.

The world’s highest mountain is now officially a little higher. After years of debate, China and Nepal finally agreed on a precise elevation for Mount Everest. The new agreed height of 8,848.86 meters (29,031.69 feet) was announced at a virtual ceremony.

This is 86 centimeters higher than the measurement previously recognised by Nepal. It is more than four meters above China's official figure.

Obesity is one of the major cancer risk factors. But how are they related? A new study has noted that a diet containing high fat impels the immune system’s T-cells which accelerates tumour growth. “We now know there is a metabolic tug-of-war between T-cells and tumor cells that changes with obesity,”

A recent study conducted by an international team of researchers showed that a Neanderthal child (two-year old) was buried, possibly some 41,000 years ago.

La Ferrassie rock shelter, in Dordogne, which had been a popular Neanderthal site in Europe.

Researchers have developed a new app named iGenomics, which helps you to study DNA through smartphones. This app currently works in iPhone only.

A new genus and species of ichthyosauru, which probably lived 150 million years ago, has been discovered near the Kimmeridge Bay, in Dorset, United Kingdom. It has been named Thalassodraco etchesi and is two-metre long. This finding is the fifth known ichthyosaur, and the smallest so far discovered in the U.K.

It is quite rare to observe any species roll in fecal matter but wild pandas residing at low habitat temperature were found to sniff, roll and cover their whole body with horse excreta.

China has published a plan to become by 2035 a world leader in artificial intelligence, space, clean energy and robotics.

The world’s second-largest radio telescope, at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, was destroyed when its suspended 900-tonne receiver platform came loose and plunged 140 metres (450 feet) onto the radio dish below.

The world’s most populous country has so far only won one scientific Nobel Prize — awarded in 2015 to chemist Tu Youyou.

Beidou geolocation system — a competitor of the American GPS

Chang’e 4, became the first probe to land on the moon’s little-explored far side and continues to send back data on conditions that could affect a future extended stay by humans on the moon.

China also has joined the effort to explore Mars. In July, it launched the Tianwen 1 probe, which was carrying a lander and a robot rover to search for water.

In 2003, China became the third country to send an astronaut into orbit on its own after the Soviet Union and the United States.

That has prevented China from taking part in the International Space Station, something it has sought to compensate for with the launching of an experimental space station and plans to complete a permanent orbiting outpost within the next two years

part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.

A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in Britain. The strain is referred to by some experts as the B.1.1.7 lineage. They say it is not the first new variant of the pandemic virus. But it is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain.

If confirmed, this detection provides a novel way to examine alien worlds

An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.

“The signal is from the Tau Bootes system, which contains a binary star system and an exoplanet. We make the case for an emission by the planet itself,” adds Dr. Turner.