Recently digitized footage shows Marine in dugouts in the field, working on building a hospital and assisting the wounded on the front lines. (U.S. Marine Corps History Division and Moving Image Research Collections, University of South Carolina)

While no written records exist, new research has illuminated key details of the battle fought in northern Germany during the 13th century B.C.E.

Laboratory study of field-collected mosquitoes can allow researchers to better understand the ways variation within and among mosquito populations shapes burdens of mosquito-borne disease. The Anopheles gambiae complex comprises the most important vectors of malaria, but it can be challenging to keep in the laboratory. For some species of mosquitoes, especially An. gambiae, it is very difficult to bring viable eggs into the laboratory. Instead, it is preferable to collect larvae or pupae and then transport them as carefully as possible back to the laboratory. This simple protocol allows a researcher to start new laboratory colonies from larvae or pupae collected from natural breeding sites or proceed directly to their planned experiments. The use of natural breeding sites provides additional reassurance that the resulting colonies are representative of natural populations.

All PCR- and DNA-based blood meal analyses require host DNA from a mosquito blood meal to be effectively preserved between the time when the specimen is collected and the extraction of DNA. As soon as a mosquito ingests blood from a host animal, digestion of host cells and cellular components within the blood meal by enzymes in the mosquito midgut begins to degrade the host DNA templates that are the targets of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Without effective preservation, host DNA is typically undetectable by PCR 48 h after feeding, because of digestion. Preservation methods for mosquito blood meals vary in their efficacy, and the logistics of fieldwork can limit the options for preservation of blood meals and maintenance of the integrity of host DNA. This protocol describes a method of blood meal preservation that is effective, convenient, and amenable to fieldwork in remote locations where cryopreservation at –20°C or –80°C may not be feasible. It uses a Flinders Technology Associates (FTA) card, which is a chemically treated card that lyses cells and allows nucleic acids to be preserved. This method is also expected to preserve the DNA or RNA of pathogens present within the engorged mosquito abdomen, including RNA viruses.

A Two-Day Festival in the historic Arts & Industries Building brings community, artists and scholars together for a “Culture Lab”

A researcher may have many reasons for wanting to establish new laboratory colonies from field-collected mosquitoes. In particular, the ability to study the diversity found within and among natural populations in a controlled laboratory environment opens up a wide range of possibilities for understanding how and why burdens of vector-borne disease vary over space and time. However, field-collected mosquitoes are often more difficult to work with than established laboratory strains, and considerable logistical challenges are involved in safely transporting field-collected mosquitoes into the laboratory. Here, we provide advice for researchers working with Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae, and Culex pipiens, as well as notes on other closely related species. We provide guidance on each stage of the life cycle and highlight the life stages for which it is easiest to initiate new laboratory colonies for each species. In accompanying protocols, we provide methods detailing Ae. aegypti egg collection and hatching as well as how to transport larvae and pupae from the field.

Engineers Use CAD To Adapt Standard Parts, Assemblies To Fit In Custom Body Design from 1950s

Andergauge and National Oilwell are the latest of more than 300 petroleum industry companies to streamline product development and delivery

OM Hungary’s baseball ministry celebrates brothers in Christ and starts new family outreach.

From unbelieving football-lover to dedicated disciple; meet Moldovan OMer Ion Manoli!

The combined efforts of trade unions, activists and other heroes over decades paved the way for the glory of the latest Bok win, writes Terry Bell.

Sports came to an abrupt halt when schools shut down in March. But as COVID-19 cases wane in some states, pressure grows to find ways to play.

Penn State Berks took learning out of the classroom in early October when 14 students, faculty and staff visited "Field of Screams," a haunted Halloween attraction in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The event was organized as an experiential learning activity for humanities, arts and social sciences courses (such as "Rhetoric of American Horror Films" and "Transformative Texts") that deal with topics related to horror and monstrosity within popular cultural texts. 

One is a retired high school teacher from Leesport. Another is an insurance professional and mother of two from Harrisburg. The third is a retired dentist who lives near State College. They’ve never met but share common bonds: All suffer from atrial fibrillation, or AFib, which is caused by an irregular and often rapid heartbeat in the upper chambers of the heart. This summer, the trio were among the first patients to undergo a newly approved heart ablation procedure at Penn State Health hospitals.

The team in Buenos Aires, Argentina, visits a children’s home to play soccer with kids who don’t have parents who can care of them.

Team members of the OM Córdoba team attended a sports ministry training and came home with big dreams for the boys on their field.

Three families talk about their experiences serving in the Middle East with small children, a special needs son and teenage daughters.

Research by fDi Intelligence reveals which countries receive more than their ‘expected share’ of FDI. 

Netanyahu urged Iranians to imagine their free lives without 'the tyrants of Tehran' in an unusual English message.

A small incident in the mounting mayhem of the 2024 elections crystalized the state of the dark art of politics in these United States. In Springfield, Ohio, a small midwestern industrial city, a woman named Anna Kilgore noticed that her cat, Miss Sassy, had been missing for a few days. Kilgore notified the police that she […]

Mariska Hargitay on mother Jayne Mansfield's deathMariska Hargitay got candid on “dealing” with the death of her mother, Hollywood diva, Jayne Mansfield at the age of 3.“I lost my mother when I was 3 years old, and I grew up in a house of people dealing with the tragedy in...

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

Researchers have used quantum light to create a magnetic field with a strength that is measured in imaginary numbers

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

Obidoxime chloride is an antidote for nerve gas intoxication. As an emergency medicine, it is being stored by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) scattered throughout Israel in depots without a controlled environment (field conditions), thus being exposed to high and fluctuating temperatures. These conditions do not meet the manufacturer’s requirements. In addition, due to possible supply shortages, the utilization of expired batches was suggested. The current work investigated these matters. Long-term (15 years) storage under different conditions was initiated. Chemical stability and toxicity in rats were assessed. No difference was found between field conditions vs the controlled environment. The obidoxime assay remained >95% for 5 years and >90% for 7 years. The pH remained above the lower specification limit for 7–8 years. The major degradation product, 4-pyridinealdoxime, surpassed the allowed limit at 5 years. The content of total unknown impurities reached its maximum allowed by the IDF limit at 4–5 years. Threefold higher than clinically utilized doses of valid-to-date Toxogonin batches administered to rats did not cause any abnormality. However, expired batches produced significant toxic effects. Although no difference was found between storage of obidoxime ampoules when adhering to manufacturer’s recommendations vs field conditions, accumulation of degradants over the limit allowed by the IDF at 4–5 years of storage and the toxicity of the expired batches observed in rats led the IDF to a decision to shorten the shelf-life of this product from 5 to 4 years when stored in an uncontrolled environment of the Mediterranean climate.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Low-field 64 mT portable brain MRI has recently shown diagnostic promise for MS. This study aimed to evaluate the utility of portable MRI (pMRI) in assessing dissemination in space (DIS) in patients presenting with optic neuritis and determine whether deploying pMRI in the MS clinic can shorten the time from symptom onset to MRI.

Matt's Dragon Quest slime car draws near. Command? Kelley blows open doors. And Chris announces the end of the noseless era.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 706: “Whiskey Fields of Colorado” appeared first on RPGamer.

Sin enjoyed the roguelike stylings of Dungeons of Blood and Dream when she played it in early access back in July, calling it a “baffling, bizarre thing that lives on the border of janky, retro, and punk”. As of yesterday, it’s now out for realsies, promising psychedelic dungeon crawling, the stabbing of assorted gribblies, and lots of little details that make you go “ooo, that’s nice. I’m glad they put that in there.”

Read more

Doubled number of specialists should make up for the switch from the classic class system.

The fight between environmental campaigners and fossil fuel moved to the Scottish courts today.

Campaigners want to stop the Rosebank oil and Jackdaw gas fields, but oil companies say they are vital.

A mysterious electromagnetic mechanism may be more important than the firing of neurons in our brain to explain our awareness

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has expressed its sadness at the death of Joy Wingfield, honorary professor of Pharmacy Law and Ethics at the University of Nottingham.

In the spirit of the Halloween season, IEEE Spectrum presents a pair of stories that—although grounded in scientific truth rather than the macabre—were no less harrowing for those who lived them. In today’s installment, Robert Langer had to push back against his field’s conventional wisdom to pioneer a drug-delivery mechanism vital to modern medicine.

Nicknamed the Edison of Medicine, Robert Langer is one of the world’s most-cited researchers, with over 1,600 published papers, 1,400 patents, and a top-dog role as one of MIT’s nine prestigious Institute Professors. Langer pioneered the now-ubiquitous drug delivery systems used in modern cancer treatments and vaccines, indirectly saving countless lives throughout his 50-year career.

But, much like Edison and other inventors, Langer’s big ideas were initially met with skepticism from the scientific establishment.

He came up in the 1970s as a chemical engineering postdoc working in the lab of Dr. Judah Folkman, a pediatric surgeon at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Langer was tasked with solving what many believed was an impossible problem—isolating angiogenesis inhibitors to halt cancer growth. Folkman’s vision of stopping tumors from forming their own self-sustaining blood vessels was compelling enough, but few believed it possible.

Langer encountered both practical and social challenges before his first breakthrough. One day, a lab technician accidentally spilled six months’ worth of samples onto the floor, forcing him to repeat the painstaking process of dialyzing extracts. Those months of additional work steered Langer’s development of novel microspheres that could deliver large molecules of medicine directly to tumors.

In the 1970s, Langer developed these tiny microspheres to release large molecules through solid materials, a groundbreaking proof-of-concept for drug delivery.Robert Langer

Langer then submitted the discovery to prestigious journals and was invited to speak at a conference in Michigan in 1976. He practiced the 20-minute presentation for weeks, hoping for positive feedback from respected materials scientists. But when he stepped off the podium, a group approached him and said bluntly, “We don’t believe anything you just said.” They insisted that macromolecules were simply too large to pass through solid materials, and his choice of organic solvents would destroy many inputs. Conventional wisdom said so.

Nature published Langer’s paper three months later, demonstrating for the first time that non-inflammatory polymers could enable the sustained release of proteins and other macromolecules. The same year, Science published his isolation mechanism to restrict tumor growth.

Langer and Folkman’s research paved the way for modern drug delivery.MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital

Even with impressive publications, Langer still struggled to secure funding for his work in controlling macromolecule delivery, isolating the first angiogenesis inhibitors, and testing their behavior. His first two grant proposals were rejected on the same day, a devastating blow for a young academic. The reviewers doubted his experience as “just an engineer” who knew nothing about cancer or biology. One colleague tried to cheer him up, saying, “It’s probably good those grants were rejected early in your career. Since you’re not supporting any graduate students, you don’t have to let anyone go.” Langer thought the colleague was probably right, but the rejections still stung.

His patent applications, filed alongside Folkman at the Boston Children’s Hospital, were rejected five years in a row. After all, it’s difficult to prove you’ve got something good if you’re the only one doing it. Langer remembers feeling disappointed but not crushed entirely. Eventually, other scientists cited his findings and expanded upon them, giving Langer and Folkman the validation needed for intellectual property development. As of this writing, the pair’s two studies from 1976 have been cited nearly 2,000 times.

As the head of MIT’s Langer Lab, he often shares these same stories of rejection with early-career students and researchers. He leads a team of over 100 undergrads, grad students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists, all finding new ways to deliver genetically engineered proteins, DNA, and RNA, among other research areas. Langer’s reputation is further bolstered by the many successful companies he co-founded or advised, like mRNA leader Moderna, which rose to prominence after developing its widely used COVID-19 vaccine.

Langer sometimes thinks back to those early days—the shattered samples, the cold rejections, and the criticism from senior scientists. He maintains that “Conventional wisdom isn’t always correct, and it’s important to never give up—(almost) regardless of what others say.”

Kamala Harris is blasting Donald Trump for vowing to protect women whether they “like it or not” at the same time he is calling for Republican Liz Cheney to be shot in the face. We get response from The Nation's abortion access correspondent Amy Littlefield and talk about 10 states with abortion rights on the ballot, including Arizona, Nevada, Florida, South Dakota and Missouri. Trump's remarks are a “succinct and clear definition of patriarchy,” says Littlefield. She argues the 2024 election will be decided in large part by white women and whether they will vote for abortion rights. Trump is “laying out the bargain that white patriarchy has offered for white women in this country,” says Littlefield. “He is saying, 'White women, we will protect you from Brown and Black men.'”

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

Living within a third of a mile of pesticide application before and during early medlinkpregnancy/medlink may significantly elevate the risk of medlinkstillbirth/medlink.

Disrupt is just a few short weeks away. Alongside our return to a live, in-person show, we’ve beefed up the Battlefield program. Two hundred companies have been hand selected by the TechCrunch editorial staff to grace the expo hall, 20 of which will launch their company for the first time live on our stage. The […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The time has finally come to announce the five finalists of the Startup Battlefield. It all started earlier this year when the TechCrunch editorial team selected 200 companies from thousands that applied. From there, the team then chose the 20 finalists who pitched this week onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 to investor judges and packed […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Over the last three days, 20 startups participated in the incredibly competitive Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt. These 20 companies were selected as the best of the Startup Battlefield 200 and competed for a chance to take home the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000. After three days of intense pitching, we have a winner. The […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Here’s an exciting reprieve for time-strapped or procrastination-prone early-stage startup founders. We’re extending the application deadline for the Startup Battlefield 200! Take your shot at joining this elite group for a new and awesome opportunity at TechCrunch Disrupt. It’s positively packed with perks and possibilities. Don’t delay: Apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 by August […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Building a successful startup requires an enormous amount of talent, hard work, money and, frankly, a bit of luck. Translation: You need to grab hold of every opportunity you can to make it happen. Well, heads up, early-stage founders. Your opportunity to join our inaugural cohort — the Startup Battlefield 200 — ends tomorrow. Don’t […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Time is running out on one of the biggest opportunities in Disrupt history. We stop accepting applications to the Startup Battlefield 200 tonight, August 5, at precisely 11:59 p.m. PDT. No more deadline extensions, no last-minute exceptions. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Lollygagger alert: Drop what you’re doing and go apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 right […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Available space, weather and air traffic volume are key factors that go into airfield design. Robert Hoxie, who helped redesign Chicago O’Hare’s airfield, explains how runways are mapped out. Photo Illustration: Adele Morgan/The Wall Street Journal

Cleo Fields' victory in Louisiana's newly drawn district marks a significant win for Democrats, flipping a Republican seat blue for the first time in a decade.

The defence industry is experiencing significant growth. With the world becoming more unstable due to geopolitical churning, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Gaza and increasing competition between major global powers, countries are boosting their spending on