Brazil, the hardest-hit Latin American country in the coronavirus pandemic, has surpassed 10,000 deaths, according to figures released Saturday by th

Globally, as of 9 May 2020, there have been 3,862,676 confirmed cases, including 265,961 deaths, reported to WHO.

The tank behaved like a pressure cooker, say experts

Darrin’s death is not the last word on his life. His love for pastors—and his concern for their mental health and thriving—can be part of our response today.

Darrin Patrick has died.

Darrin is probably best known for planting The Journey Church in St. Louis in 2002, eventually growing to six locations. He was a husband, father, speaker, and author.

Darrin and his spiritual mentor Greg Surratt led the Pastor's Collective podcast and he was serving as a teaching pastor at Seacoast Church.

But, most importantly, Darrin was married to Amie and they have four children.

Darrin’s Journey and Focus

Darrin was very open about his journey—and specifically asked me to help share his story a little over a year ago. His story of leaving the Journey is painful and messy, but he wanted people to know about it.

He wanted people to learn from his pain.

Darrin died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.” I know that has caused some people to want more details—to use language that is more precise and to provide added details. And, as you can tell from the statement, the situation is confusing. Seacoast Church shared, ““Darrin was target shooting with a friend at the time of his death. An official cause of death has not been released but it appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No foul play is suspected.”

Thus, it is important to let families communicate the way they are comfortable. Families grieve in complex ways—and right now, they owe nothing to the rest of us. We just owe them our prayers.

The family is grieving and I am respecting their grief and their communication choices.

And, from there, I am going to take Darrin’s admonition from a year ago and fast forward it until now—hoping that even this moment might be a catalyst for pastors to get help that Darrin always wanted them to get.

Darrin and I talked recently and his last ...

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Maharashtra tops the tally with 779 deaths

Sara Ali Khan shared a beautiful picture of Amrita Singh and Rukhsana Sultana holding her newborn self

The study, however, concluded that HCQ had no potential harm either.

Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with around 20,228 positive cases of infection and 779 deaths.

The change in weather and the dust storm was witnessed in areas from Noida to Rajouri Garden in West Delhi.

Five persons of a family were brutally hacked to death in Hamirpur village, 27 km from Rapar town of Kutch, as the simmering animosity between members of two communities came to a boil on Saturday.

With the nationwide lockdown in place to fight the spread of COVID-19, the first condolence meeting held on virtual platform. Banerjee had died on March 20 after a prolonged illness while Goswami succumbed to cardiac arrest on April 30.

With Viswanathan Anand resting, the Indian team managed to hold their own against the favourites before Yu Yangyi subdued B Adhiban with black pieces to secure another victory in the tournament.

Of the 2,109 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 779 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 472 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 215, West Bengal at 171, Rajasthan at 106, Uttar Pradesh at 74, Delhi at 73, and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu at 44.

Of the total three patients discharged on Saturday, a 18-month-old child was also discharged after defeating Covid-19.The total patients discharged in the city stands at 24.

A portable IR fiber laser-heating system, optimized for X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) spectroscopy with signal collection through the radial opening of diamond anvil cells near 90°with respect to the incident X-ray beam, is presented. The system offers double-sided on-axis heating by a single laser source and zero attenuation of incoming X-rays other than by the high-pressure environment. A description of the system, which has been tested for pressures above 100 GPa and temperatures up to 3000 K, is given. The XES spectra of laser-heated Mg0.67Fe0.33O demonstrate the potential to map the iron spin state in the pressure–temperature range of the Earth's lower mantle, and the NIS spectra of laser-heated FeSi give access to the sound velocity of this candidate of a phase inside the Earth's core. This portable system represents one of the few bridges across the gap between laser heating and high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies with signal collection near 90°.

British Geological Survey recreates Great Britain in Minecraft  Eurogamer.net

Mum feels the 'earth move' beneath her at Plymouth car park  Plymouth Live

What is a sinkhole and are they caused by bad weather?  expressandstar.com

UK Geothermal: boiling beneath the surface?  Power Technology

Climate change: Cardiff study says ground-water could heat homes  BBC News

Climate change and urbanisation 'threaten groundwater', say scientists  ENDS Report

Dramatic Fossil Shows a Squid-Like Creature Crushing a Fish in Its Jaws  Gizmodo UK

Earthquake rumbles under sea off Norfolk coast | Great Yarmouth News  Great Yarmouth Mercury

Fossil believed to show squid-like creature attacking fish 200 million years ago  Aberdeen Evening Express

Key structural biology experiments that have sought to elucidate how potassium ions permeate and pass through the selectivity filter of potassium ion channels are reviewed.

Death-associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) was found to form a complex with purpurin and the crystal structure of the complex was determined. Purpurin may be a good lead compound for for the discovery of inhibitors of DAPK1.

Bidentate and tridentate coordination of a 2,4-di-tert-butyl-substituted bridging amine bis­(phenolate) ligand to a palladium(II) center are observed within the same crystal structure, namely di­chlorido­({6,6'-[(ethane-1,2-diylbis(methyl­aza­nedi­yl)]bis­(methyl­ene)}bis­(2,4-di-tert-butyl­phenol))palladium(II) chlorido­(2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-{[(2-{[(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hy­droxy­phen­yl)meth­yl](meth­yl)amino}­eth­yl)(meth­yl)amino]­meth­yl}phenolato)palladium(II) methanol 1.685-solvate 0.315-hydrate, [PdCl2(C34H56N2O2)][PdCl(C34H55N2O2)]·1.685CH3OH·0.315H2O. Both complexes exhibit a square-planar geometry, with unbound phenol moieties participating in inter­molecular hydrogen bonding with co-crystallized water and methanol. The presence of both κ2 and κ3 coordination modes arising from the same solution suggest a dynamic process in which phenol donors may coordinate or dissociate from the metal center, and offers insight into catalyst speciation throughout Pd-mediated processes. The unit cell contains di­chlorido­({6,6'-[(ethane-1,2-diylbis(methyl­aza­nedi­yl)]bis­(methyl­ene)}bis­(2,4-di-tert-butyl­phenol))palladium(II), {(L2)PdCl2}, and chlorido­(2,4-di-tert-butyl-6-{[(2-{[(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hy­droxy­phen­yl)meth­yl](methyl)amino}eth­yl)(meth­yl)amino]­meth­yl}phenolato)palladium(II), {(L2X)PdCl}, mol­ecules as well as fractional water and methanol solvent mol­ecules.

Crystal structures are reported for N-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)piperazine (MeOPP), (I), and for its 3,5-di­nitro­benzoate, 2,4,6-tri­nitro­phenolate (picrate) and 4-amino­benzoate salts, (II)–(IV), the last of which crystallizes as a monohydrate. In MeOPP, C11H16N2O, (I), the 4-meth­oxy­phenyl group is nearly planar and it occupies an equatorial site on the piperazine ring: the mol­ecules are linked into simple C(10) chains by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In each of the salts, i.e., C11H17N2O+·C7H3N2O6−, (II), C11H17N2O+·C6H2N3O7−, (III), and C11H17N2O+·C7H6NO2−·H2O, (IV), the effectively planar 4-meth­oxy­phenyl substituent again occupies an equatorial site on the piperazine ring. In (II), two of the nitro groups are disordered over two sets of atomic sites and the bond distances in the anion indicate considerable delocalization of the negative charge over the C atoms of the ring. The ions in (II) are linked by two N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form a cyclic, centrosymmetric four-ion aggregate; those in (III) are linked by a combination of N—H⋯O and C—H⋯π(arene) hydrogen bonds to form sheets; and the components of (IV) are linked by N—H⋯O, O—H⋯O and C—H⋯π(arene) hydrogen bonds to form a three-dimensional framework structure. Comparisons are made with the structures of some related compounds.

Herein the nucleation pathway of conformational polymorphs was revealed by studying the relationships and distinctions among a series of α,ω-alkanedicarboxylic acids [HOOC–(CH2)n−2–COOH, named DAn, where n = 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15] in the solid state and in solution. Their polymorphic outcomes, with the exception of DA5, show solvent dependence: form I with conformation I crystallizes from solvents with hydrogen-bond donating (HBD) ability, whereas form II with conformation II crystallizes preferentially from solvents with no HBD ability. In contrast, form II of DA5 does not crystallize in any of the solvents used. Quantum mechanical computation showed that there is no direct conformational link between the solvents and the resultant polymorphic outcomes. Surprisingly, solute aggregates were found in no-HBD solvents by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and only monomers could be detected in HBD solvents, suggesting stronger solvation. Furthermore, it was found that all six compounds including DA5 followed the same pattern in solution. Moreover, crystal-packing efficiency calculations and stability tests stated that dimorphs of DA5 bear a greater stability difference than others. These suggest that the rearrangement from conformation II to I could not be limited by hard desolvation in HBD solvents, where form I was also obtained. In other systems, metastable II was produced in the same solvents, probably as a result of the rearrangement being limited by hard desolvation. In this work, a comparative study uncovers the proposed nucleation pathway: difficulty in desolvation has a remarkable effect on the result of rearrangement and nucleation outcome.

Nucleation of crystals from solution is fundamental to many natural and industrial processes. In this work, the molecular mechanism of conformational polymorphism nucleation and the links between the molecular conformation in solutions and in crystals were investigated in detail by using 5-nitro­furazone as the model compound. Different polymorphs were prepared, and the conformations in solutions obtained by dissolving different polymorphs were analysed and compared. The solutions of 5-nitro­furazone were proven to contain multiple conformers through quantum chemical computation, Raman spectra analysis, 2D nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy spectra analysis and molecular dynamics simulation. The conformational evolution and desolvation path was illustrated according to the 1H NMR spectra of solutions with different concentrations. Finally, based on all the above analysis, the molecular conformational evolution path during nucleation of 5-nitro­furazone was illustrated. The results presented in this work shed a new light on the molecular mechanism of conformational polymorphism nucleation in solution.

Current software tools for the automated building of models for macro­molecular X-ray crystal structures are capable of assembling high-quality models for ordered macromolecule and small-molecule scattering components with minimal or no user supervision. Many of these tools also incorporate robust functionality for modelling the ordered water molecules that are found in nearly all macromolecular crystal structures. However, no current tools focus on differentiating these ubiquitous water molecules from other frequently occurring multi-atom solvent species, such as sulfate, or the automated building of models for such species. PeakProbe has been developed specifically to address the need for such a tool. PeakProbe predicts likely solvent models for a given point (termed a `peak') in a structure based on analysis (`probing') of its local electron density and chemical environment. PeakProbe maps a total of 19 resolution-dependent features associated with electron density and two associated with the local chemical environment to a two-dimensional score space that is independent of resolution. Peaks are classified based on the relative frequencies with which four different classes of solvent (including water) are observed within a given region of this score space as determined by large-scale sampling of solvent models in the Protein Data Bank. Designed to classify peaks generated from difference density maxima, PeakProbe also incorporates functionality for identifying peaks associated with model errors or clusters of peaks likely to correspond to multi-atom solvent, and for the validation of existing solvent models using solvent-omit electron-density maps. When tasked with classifying peaks into one of four distinct solvent classes, PeakProbe achieves greater than 99% accuracy for both peaks derived directly from the atomic coordinates of existing solvent models and those based on difference density maxima. While the program is still under development, a fully functional version is publicly available. PeakProbe makes extensive use of cctbx libraries, and requires a PHENIX licence and an up-to-date phenix.python environment for execution.

The study of ion channels dates back to the 1950s and the groundbreaking electrophysiology work of Hodgin and Huxley, who used giant squid axons to probe how action potentials in neurons were initiated and propagated. More recently, several experiments using different structural biology techniques and approaches have been conducted to try to understand how potassium ions permeate through the selectivity filter of potassium ion channels. Two mechanisms of permeation have been proposed, and each of the two mechanisms is supported by different experiments. The key structural biology experiments conducted so far to try to understand how ion permeation takes place in potassium ion channels are reviewed and discussed. Protein crystallo­graphy has made, and continues to make, key contributions in this field, often through the use of anomalous scattering. Other structural biology techniques used to study the contents of the selectivity filter include solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, both of which make clever use of isotopic labeling techniques, while molecular-dynamics simulations of ion flow through the selectivity filter have been enabled by the growing number of potassium ion channel structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank.

As one of the most important phenomena in crystallization, the crystal nucleation process has always been the focus of research. In this work, influences of pre-assembly species and the desolvation process on the crystal nucleation process were studied. p-Nitro­benzoic acid (PNBA) was taken as a model compound to investigate the relationship between solution chemistry and nucleation kinetics in seven different solvents. One unsolvated form and four solvates of PNBA were obtained and one of the solvates was newly discovered. The nucleation behaviours and nucleation kinetics of PNBA in the seven solvents were studied and analyzed. Density functional theory (DFT) and solvation energy calculation were adopted to evaluate the strength of solute–solvent interactions. Vibrational spectroscopy combined with molecular simulation was applied to reveal the pre-assembly species in the solution. Based on these results, a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between molecular structure, crystal structure, solution chemistry and nucleation dynamics was proposed and discussed. It was found that the structural similarity between solution chemistry and crystal structure, the interaction between specific sites and the overall strength of solvation will jointly affect the nucleation process.

A versatile, compact heater designed at National Synchrotron Light Source-II for in situ X-ray nano-imaging in a full-field transmission X-ray microscope is presented. Heater design for nano-imaging is challenging, combining tight spatial constraints with stringent design requirements for the temperature range and stability. Finite-element modeling and analytical calculations were used to determine the heater design parameters. Performance tests demonstrated reliable and stable performance, including maintaining the exterior casing close to room temperature while the heater is operating at above 1100°C, a homogenous heating zone and small temperature fluctuations. Two scientific experiments are presented to demonstrate the heater capabilities: (i) in situ 3D nano-tomography including a study of metal dealloying in a liquid molten salt extreme environment, and (ii) a study of pore formation in icosahedral quasicrystals. The progression of structural changes in both studies were clearly resolved in 3D, showing that the new heater enables powerful capabilities to directly visualize and quantify 3D morphological evolution of materials under real conditions by X-ray nano-imaging at elevated temperature during synthesis, fabrication and operation processes. This heater design concept can be applied to other applications where a precise, compact heater design is required.

Quantum beats in fluorescence decay from Zeeman-split magnetic sublevels have been measured for helium Rydberg states excited by synchrotron radiation. The Zeeman quantum beats observed in this prototypical case were fitted with an equation from a theoretical formulation. It is proposed that Zeeman quantum beat measurement can be a useful way to simply evaluate the polarization characteristics of extreme ultraviolet light.

Obtaining crystals and solving the phase problem remain major hurdles encountered by bio-crystallographers in their race to obtain new high-quality structures. Both issues can be overcome by the crystallophore, Tb-Xo4, a lanthanide-based molecular complex with unique nucleating and phasing properties. This article presents examples of new crystallization conditions induced by the presence of Tb-Xo4. These new crystalline forms bypass crystal defects often encountered by crystallographers, such as low-resolution diffracting samples or crystals with twinning. Thanks to Tb-Xo4's high phasing power, the structure determination process is greatly facilitated and can be extended to serial crystallography approaches.

The Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) is the world's largest database of fully evaluated and published crystal structure data, mostly obtained from experimental results. However, the purely experimental approach is no longer the only route to discover new compounds and structures. In the past few decades, numerous computational methods for simulating and predicting structures of inorganic solids have emerged, creating large numbers of theoretical crystal data. In order to take account of these new developments the scope of the ICSD was extended in 2017 to include theoretical structures which are published in peer-reviewed journals. Each theoretical structure has been carefully evaluated, and the resulting CIF has been extended and standardized. Furthermore, a first classification of theoretical data in the ICSD is presented, including additional categories used for comparison of experimental and theoretical information.

BEATRIX, is a new tool for performing data analysis of energy-resolved neutron-imaging experiments involving intense fitting procedures of multi-channel spectra. The use of BEATRIX is illustrated for a test specimen, providing spatially resolved 2D maps for residual strains and Bragg edge heights.

The unique nucleating and phasing capabilities of the crystallophore, Tb-Xo4, are illustrated through challenging cases.

A recent survey of the bottom-dwelling animals of the Chesapeake has revealed that communities of even these relatively hardy organisms are under stress. Many regions of the bay are becoming inhospitable to bottom-dwelling animals because of a lack of oxygen—a condition known as “hypoxia.”

The post Bottom-dwelling creatures in the Chesapeake Bay need more oxygen, study finds. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recently, researchers from Boston University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have been taking a closer look at the vibrations that red-eyed treefrog embryos use as cues to trigger early hatching. They discovered that treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations.

The post Researchers discover treefrog embryos can evaluate different features of vibrations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Recently, scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama discovered that the brain region responsible for learning and memory is larger in the social queens than in the solitary queens of this species. Their study is the first comparison of the brain sizes of social and non-social individuals of the same species.

The post For sweat bees, being social builds a more developed brain appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

More than 25 years ago, researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab began taking weekley surveys of the species that make their way in and out of Muddy Creek.

The post Net survey: For quarter century, scientists have been counting creatures traveling Chesapeake Bay tributary appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It seems the stuff of science fiction, but astronomers have found a real-life “Death Star” that shredded a rocky planet and is swallowing the dusty remains.

The post “Death Star” Shreds, Swallows Dwarf Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Data from a recent study of wild takins in the high-altitude forests of the Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve in southeast China has shown that the […]

The post Great Sichuan earthquake of 2008 had little impact on of China’s wild takins appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving all of these sites, three archaeologists—Leslie Reeder of Southern Methodist University, Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon and Torben Rick from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History—have issued a call to action for scientists to assess the sites most at risk around the world.

The post Scientists issue call to action for archaeological sites threatened by rising seas, urban development appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.