ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

How can we shift from a state of inattentiveness to one of highest attention? The locus coeruleus, literally the 'blue spot,' is a tiny cluster of cells at the base of the brain. As the main source of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, it helps us control our attentional focus. Synthesizing evidence from animal and human studies, scientists have now developed a novel framework describing the way the blue spot regulates our brain's sensitivity to relevant information in situations requiring attention.

Fundamental changes in the ocean, such as warming, acidification or oxygen depletion, may have significant consequences for the composition of fish stocks, including the displacement of individual species. Researchers have reconstructed environmental conditions of the warm period 125,000 years ago (Eemian interglacial) using sediment samples from the Humboldt Current System off Peru. They were able to show that, at warmer temperatures, mainly smaller, goby-like fish species became dominant and pushed back important food fish such as the anchovy (Engraulis ringens). The trend is independent of fishing pressure and fisheries management.

An international research team has discovered a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star.

Researchers have developed a computational approach for simulating interactions between matter and light at the atomic scale. The team tested their method by modeling light -- matter interactions in a thin film of amorphous silicon dioxide, composed of more than 10,000 atoms, using the world's fastest supercomputer, Fugaku. The proposed approach is highly efficient and could be used to study a wide range of phenomena in nanoscale optics and photonics.

An international team of leading scientists has compiled a comprehensive overview of the potential, global outlook, background and frontiers of integrated photonics. The paper is a roadmap for integrated photonic circuits for quantum technologies. The review outlines underlying technologies, presents the current state of play of research and describes possible future applications.

When elderly people stay active, their brains have more of a class of proteins that enhances the connections between neurons to maintain healthy cognition, a new study has found.

A philosophy team analyzed the role self-deception plays in everyday life and the strategies people use to deceive themselves. The team described four strategies used to stabilize and shield the positive self-image. According to their theory, self-deception helps people to stay motivated in difficult situations.

Warnings have emerged about the unreliability of the metrics used to detect whether an audio perturbation designed to fool AI models can be perceived by humans. Researchers show that the distortion metrics used to detect intentional perturbations in audio signals are not a reliable measure of human perception, and have proposed a series of improvements. These perturbations, designed to be imperceptible, can be used to cause erroneous predictions in artificial intelligence. Distortion metrics are applied to assess how effective the methods are in generating such attacks.

The results found that teenagers undergoing short sleep consumed more foods that were likely to spike blood sugar fast -- things like foods high in carbs and added sugar, or sugary drinks, compared to when they were in healthy sleep.

Interventions aimed at promoting physical activity in people with asthma could improve their symptoms and quality of life -- according to new research. Researchers looked at whether interventions such as aerobic and strength or resistance training, had helped participants with asthma. Although they found that these interventions worked, patients with asthma may have had difficulty undertaking them because of their difficulty traveling to fitness groups or because the interventions were not suitable for people with additional health conditions. But the team say that digital interventions -- such as video appointments, smartwatches and mobile apps -- could remove some of these barriers and enable patients to carry out home-based programs in future.

The findings of this study are intended to aid botanists who specialize in crop protection in better understanding the distribution of planteose throughout the endosperm, perisperm, and seed coat of Orobanche minor -- a root parasitic weed, which is consistent with planteose's role as a storage carbohydrate. The findings of this work demonstrate unequivocally that the enzyme OmAGAL2, which is involved in the hydrolysis of planteose, is a promising molecular target for root parasitic weed control.

Egg white is one of the most important protein ingredients for the food industry. The first assessment of the environmental impact of egg white protein -- ovalbumin -- production by fungus Trichoderma reesei shows that the ovalbumin produced by precision fermentation reduced land use requirements by almost 90 per cent and greenhouse gases by 31--55 per cent compared to the production of its chicken-based counterpart.

A study used computer models to investigate how cities and climate change influenced the destructive and deadly rainstorm that struck the Rotterdam-Brussels-Cologne metropolitan region on July 14, 2021. The study found that the interplay of large-scale climate and local-scale urbanization intensified the storm, causing more rainfall than either climate or urbanization on its own.

A study evaluating the risk of overactive bladder as a side effect of cholinesterase inhibitor drugs taken for dementia and Alzheimer's disease, finds that one drug -- Donepezil -- is linked to increased risk of the distressing side effect.

A team sees stripes in samples of twisted double bilayer graphene, indicating the presence of a nematic phase characterized by broken rotational symmetry.

A simple, low-cost method of directly converting natural gas into useful chemicals and fuels, using the precious metal gold as a key ingredient, has been proposed.

Using data from over 300 patient tumors, researchers have described 12 classes of 'immune archetypes' to classify cancer tumors. Their findings reveal that cancers from different parts of the body are immunologically similar to one another. These classifications provide unique strategies for enhancing each patient's choice of cancer immunotherapies.

Lysosomes are organelles that play essential roles in cellular digestion and waste management, and lysosomal dysfunction typically leads to serious diseases. In a recent study, scientists developed a novel technique to extract intact lysosomes from cells using magnetic nanoparticles. Their approach is much faster than previous methods and yields samples with high purity, allowing for a better understanding of lysosomes and their metabolites and, hopefully, paving the way to treatments for lysosomal disorders.

There is no difference between healthful foods for adults and for children aged 2 and older, except for age-appropriate adjustments in texture and portion size, according to experts in nutrition.

Among adults with a certain type of bleeding stroke, those who used marijuana within the last 3-30 days were more than twice as likely to develop a serious stroke complication that increases the risk of death and disability. The study is the largest to examine the impact of THC, the mood-changing ingredient in marijuana, on complications after a bleeding stroke.