RSV vaccines are safe and effective, review finds

RSV (respiratory syncytial virus)
Transmission electron micrograph of RSV. Credit: CDC/ Dr. Erskine Palmer / Public Domain

A new Cochrane review demonstrates that vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are both safe and effective in protecting vulnerable groups that are most at risk of serious illness, including older adults and infants.

RSV is a common virus that causes coughs and colds but can also lead to life-threatening lung infections like pneumonia. Children under the age of two are at the highest risk of severe RSV infection and death, with older adults also vulnerable.

An international group of researchers analyzed 14 clinical trials with over 100,000 participants, including older adults, pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and children...

Read More

Clearing significant hurdle to quantum computing

Harvard physicists working to develop game-changing tech demonstrate 3,000 quantum-bit system capable of continuous operation

One often-repeated example illustrates the mind-boggling potential of quantum computing: A machine with 300 quantum bits could simultaneously store more information than the number of particles in the known universe.

Now process this: Harvard scientists just unveiled a system that was 10 times bigger and the first quantum machine able to operate continuously without restarting.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, the team demonstrated a system of more than 3,000 quantum bits (or qubits) that could run for more than two hours, surmounting a series of technical challenges and representing a significant step toward building the super computers, wh...

Read More

Icy planetesimal with high nitrogen and water content discovered in white dwarf’s atmosphere

Cosmic crime scene: White dwarf found devouring Pluto-like icy world
Artist’s impression of white dwarf WD 1647+375 accreting icy planetary fragments from a pluto-like world, creating the chemical signature idenfitifed in this study. Credit: Snehalata Sahu / University of Warwick

University of Warwick astronomers have uncovered the chemical fingerprint of a frozen, water-rich planetary fragment being consumed by a white dwarf star outside our solar system.

In our solar system, it is thought that comets and icy planetesimals (small solid objects in space) were responsible for delivering water to Earth. The existence of these icy objects is a requirement for the development of life on other worlds, but it is incredibly difficult to identify them outside our solar system as icy objects are small, faint and require chemical analysis.

In a study publis...

Read More

Novel film manufacturing technique lets robots walk on water

Novel film manufacturing technique lets robots walk on water
Application demonstrations of on-liquid walkable devices. Credit: Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ady9840

Imagine tiny robots zipping across the surface of a lake to check water quality or searching for people in flooded areas. This technology is moving closer to reality thanks to work by researchers at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. Inspired by nature and insects such as water striders that walk on water, they created two prototype devices that can propel themselves across liquid surfaces.

The first, called HydroFlexor, paddles across a surface using fin-like motions. The second, named HydroBuckler, “walks” forward with a buckling motion that mimics the water-walking insects...

Read More