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The volcanic island of Rapa Nui has long been shrouded in mystery. European sailors first arrived on its shores on Easter Sunday in 1722, giving it its colloquial name: Easter Island. It covers just 160 sq. km and is one of the most remote islands on the planet. Today, Rapa Nui is part of Polynesia…
Read More “Rapa Nui genomes restore the real history of an old, troubled people” »
A Gilead Sciences, Inc. office is shown in Foster City, California. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The Indian Patent Office is set to hear the objections against the grant of patent claims filed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences on the HIV drug Lenacapavir later this week. Lenacapavir, administered as twice-yearly injections, has garnered attention…
Read More “Patent applications for HIV prevention drug opposed in India” »
Candida auris fungi, emerging multidrug resistant fungus, 3D illustration | Photo Credit: Dr_Microbe Infections of drug-resistant superbugs are projected to kill nearly 40 million people over the next 25 years, a global analysis predicted on Monday, September 16, 2024, with the researchers urging action to avoid this grim scenario. Superbugs — strains of bacteria or…
Read More “Drug-resistant superbugs projected to kill 39 million by 2050” »
Photograph used for representational purposes only | Photo Credit: Getty Images Pregnancy triggers vast changes in a woman’s body — hormonal, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary and more. And, as a new study reveals, the brain undergoes major changes too, some fleeting and others more enduring. Researchers said on Monday, September 16, 2024, they have for…
The rings of Saturn are some of the most famous and spectacular objects in the Solar System. Earth may once have had something similar. In a paper published last week in Earth & Planetary Science Letters, my colleagues and I present evidence that Earth may have had a ring. The existence of such a ring, forming around…
Read More “Hidden craters suggest earth once had a Saturn-like ring” »
This handout photo provided by SpaceX and Polaris on September 15, 2024 shows the manned Polaris Dawn mission’s “Dragon” capsule aboard the rescue vessel after it splashed down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, after completing the first human spaceflight mission by non-government astronauts of the Polaris Program. | Photo Credit: AFP Two astronauts…
Read More “Polaris Dawn: why world’s first private spacewalk wasn’t just a vanity project” »
Coelacanths are deep-sea fish that live off the coasts of southern Africa and Indonesia and can reach up to two metres in length. For a long time, scientists believed they were extinct. In new research published in Nature Communications, we reveal the best-preserved coelacanth fossil ever found from the ancient period hundreds of millions of years ago…
Read More “Exceptional new fish fossil sparks rethink of how earth’s geology drives evolution” »
If the two eyes are shown different images, they sometimes compete instead of blending. Some people can mentally suppress the competing image, but some find it uncomfortable. Representative photo. | Photo Credit: Vince Fleming/Unsplash A: Not everybody does this, according to a professor of neurobiology and behaviour at Cornell University, but those who do do…
It’s not easy finding food at sea. Seabirds often stay aloft, scanning the churning waters for elusive prey. Most seabirds take fish, squid, or other prey from the first few metres of seawater. Scavenging is common. But there are other tactics. Frigatebirds, skuas, and gulls rely on the success of other seabirds. These large, strong…
Read More “How skuas, frigatebirds, and gulls are helping spread avian influenza” »
In recent years, the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly within the realm of natural language processing (NLP), has undergone a remarkable transformation. We have witnessed the rise of powerful large language models (LLMs) made by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, among others, and generative AI (Gen-AI), characterised by its unparalleled ability to generate data based…
Read More “How quantum computing can make large language models even better” »