List of All Articles with Tag 'co'

A 79-square-mile area of Los Angeles County is under quarantine after an invasive fruit fly was found there -- the first such quarantine for the pest in the Western Hemisphere, according to California officials.

European natural gas prices rose for a second session as supply risks and uncertainty about the upcoming winter

The S&P 500 received its most bullish outlook yet from Oppenheimer Asset Management, which sees further upside for

If there’s one thing the Covid pandemic taught us, it’s that viruses shouldn’t be underestimated. People are, therefore, taking note after scientists discovered a whole new range of giant virus-like particles (VLP) that have taken on “previously unimaginable shapes and forms.” The microscopic agents, resembling everything from stars to monsters, were found in just a few handfuls of forest soil. The sample was collected from Harvard Forest, near Boston in the US back in 2019, and flown over to Germany’s Max Planck Institute. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter There, its contents were carefully examined and, at the end of last month, the findings were finally released. The team of researchers behind the investigation said that their discoveries “question our current understanding of the virosphere” and “imply that giant viruses employ a much wider array of [...] structures and mechanisms to interact with their host cells than is currently known.” In other words, the results prove how little we actually know about the universe of viruses that exist here on Earth. They also noted that the origins and functions of the different viral structures they found remain unknown – so there’s still plenty of mystery left to solve. The team at the Max Planck Institute, led by Dr Matthias Fischer, were amazed to find “an astounding diversity of virus-like particles (VLP)," in such a small sample. "Amazingly, we found that a few hundred grams of forest soil contained a greater diversity [of the structures] than that of all hitherto isolated giant viruses combined," they wrote. These included one type that resembled a supernova: Another that the teamed named the “haircut”: Another called the “turtle” morphotype: Another christened the “Christmas star”: And another called the “Gorgon” – named after the sisters with snakes for hair from Greek mythology: To clarify, VLP are molecules that closely resemble viruses, but they differ from them in one crucial way: they are non-infectious. This is because they contain no viral genetic material. Still, as virus-host systems, they are key to better understanding their potentially noxious counterparts. “[Our] findings imply that giant viruses employ a much wider array of [...] structures and mechanisms to interact with their host cells than is currently known,” the authors wrote. They ended their paper: “This fascinating window into the complex world of soil viruses leaves little doubt that the high genetic diversity of giant viruses is matched by diverse and previously unimaginable particle structures, whose origins and functions remain to be studied.” Clearly, there’s still plenty of work to be done. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The K-9 officer in Ohio who released a police dog on a Black man who was surrendering was fired for allegedly talking about the incident repeatedly with family and colleagues and allegedly lying to the police chief about sharing those sensitive details, new documents obtained by CNN show.

Russia shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region and jammed a third, the Defense Ministry said.

MADRID Factory activity in Spain contracted for the fifth consecutive month in July as domestic and foreign demand

China will place export controls on drone and drone equipment in order to "safeguard national security and interests," its commerce ministry announced Monday, in a move that could impact the war in Ukraine.

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc raised £216 million ($277 million) by selling new shares as the British

A key gauge of borrowing costs in Saudi Arabia has risen to a record, potentially hitting businesses and

LONDON Prices in British store chains rose in July at the slowest annual rate this year, industry data

'Napoleon' director Sir Ridley Scott has told why he cast Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French Emperor, revealing he had a moment of inspiration while watching the actor in 'Joker'.