ScienceDaily: Top News

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. The Webb observatory's mission is to seek the light from the first galaxies in the early universe and to explore our own solar system, as well as planets orbiting other stars, called exoplanets.

Patients recovering from severe COVID-19 may have a more dysfunctional B cell response than patients who had less-severe COVID-19, a new study suggests.

A new study adds more evidence that the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can evade the immune protection conferred by vaccines and natural infection and suggests the need for new vaccines and treatments that anticipate how the virus may soon evolve.

Researchers have developed a method to stabilize a promising material known as perovskite for cheap solar cells, without compromising its near-perfect performance.

The two-meter skull of an enormous new ichthyosaur species, Earth's first known giant creature, reveals how both the extinct marine reptiles and modern whales became giants.

UC San Diego engineers developed a powerful new tool that directly measures the movement and speed of electrical signals inside heart cells, using tiny 'pop-up' sensors that poke into cells without damaging them. It could be used to gain more detailed insights into heart disorders and diseases.

A new antibody discovered in the blood of some people vaccinated against or infected with influenza can recognize a broad variety of flu viruses.

Scientists describe T. adhaerens' unusual behavior, including its capacity to repair its DNA even after significant radiation damage and to extrude injured cells, which later die. The findings advance scientific investigations of natural cancer-suppression mechanisms across life. Insights gleaned from these evolutionary adaptations may find their way into new and more effective therapies for this leading killer.

Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to study the brains of secondary school students during a task focused on musical observation. They found that students trained to play music from a young age exhibited certain kinds of brain activity more strongly than other students. The researchers also observed a specific link between musical processing and areas of the brain associated with language processing for the first time.

A variety of jobs expose people to formaldehyde, a strong-smelling gas used in manufacturing wood and chemical products, plastics and in other applications. A new study suggests that long-term exposure to formaldehyde during work may be associated with cognitive impairment later on.