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| Scientists profile FDA-approved drugs to potentially treat hundreds of genetic disorders Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST Nonsense-mediated RNA decay, or NMD, is an evolutionarily conserved molecular mechanism in which potentially defective messenger RNAs, or mRNAs, are degraded. Its disruption can lead to neurological disorders, immune diseases, cancers, and other pathologies. A team of biomedical scientists has designed a simple and robust method to determine the effects of drugs on NMD. The researchers profiled all current Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs to identify NMD modulators, which could potentially help treat hundreds of disorders associated with NMD. |
| Puffy planets lose atmospheres, become super-Earths Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST Astronomers have identified two different cases of 'mini-Neptune' planets that are losing their puffy atmospheres and likely transforming into super-Earths. |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST Astrophysicists have identified the mechanism that powers black hole flares. By employing computer simulations of unparalleled power and resolution, the researchers found that energy released near a black hole's event horizon during the reconnection of magnetic field lines powers the flares. The findings hint at exciting new possibilities for observing the region just outside a black hole's event horizon. |
| Tracking the cells that host HIV Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST New research sheds light on the lifespans and location of the cells that are responsible for producing HIV, preventing its eradication. Understanding the cells' dynamics may help scientists develop new ways to reduce their number with the ultimate goal of curing HIV infection. |
| Why COVID-19 surveillance in Nigeria is critical Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST If the United States ignores COVID-19 in Nigeria, we forgo global genomic surveillance at our own peril, reports a new study. |
| Researchers develop new approach to discover pervasive ‘forever’ chemicals known as PFAS Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:12 PM PST A team of researchers is using one of the most powerful chemical analysis tools in the world to unravel the complexities of PFAS. They are working to characterize and catalog the thousands upon thousands of chemical compounds in the PFAS family, so future studies can find solutions to health and environmental impacts. |
| Love of nature is partially heritable, study of twins shows Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST A person's appreciation of nature and their tendency to visit natural spaces are heritable characteristics, according to a large-scale study of UK twins. |
| Humans and other primates have evolved less sensitive noses Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST Variations in the genes for the newly discovered scent receptors for musk and underarm odor add to a growing body of research suggesting that humans' sense of smell is gradually becoming less sensitive. |
| Mothers' sleep apnea may increase risk of autism-like changes in their male offspring Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST Sleep apnea in pregnancy may increase the risk for brain and behavioral changes associated with autism, especially in males, according to a study in rats. |
| How to get chloride ions into the cell Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST A molecular movie has captured in detail the process of an anion transported across the cell membrane by a light-fuelled protein pump. Researchers have unravelled the mystery of how light energy initiates the pumping process -- and how nature made sure there is no anion leakage back outside. |
| NFTs offer new method to control personal health information Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST A team of scholars in ethics, law and informatics wrote one of the first commentaries on how NFTs could be repurposed for the healthcare industry. |
| Massive methane emissions by oil and gas industry detected from space Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST For the first time ever on a global scale, using satellite imagery, scientists have quantified volumes of massive methane emissions due to fossil-fuel extraction activities and their impact on the climate. Their findings partly explain why official inventories generally underestimate the volume of these emissions. Stopping these releases, be they accidental or deliberate, would save those countries responsible billions of dollars. |
| Fuel cells and game-changing tech to remove 99% of carbon dioxide from air Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST Engineers have demonstrated a way to effectively capture 99% of carbon dioxide from air using a novel electrochemical system powered by hydrogen. |
| Poor sleep and stress exacerbate each other among nurses who work night shift, study finds Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST Nurses who work the night shift report more sleep disturbances and are more likely to suffer from psychological and physical health symptoms including PTSD, insomnia and inflammation, a recent study found. |
| Study finds high levels of depression, anxiety among disabled people during COVID-19 pandemic Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST A new study confirms what many in the disabled community already know: People with disabilities have been experiencing high levels of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Scientists decode chemical defense against plant sap-sucking leafhoppers Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:06 PM PST Given the sheer number of potential enemies, plants are resistant to most pests, even if they can cause damage to other plants. Researchers describe a newly discovered mechanism that protects a wild tobacco species from plant sap-sucking leafhoppers. By combining different genetic screening methods with the study of chemical changes in tobacco leaves, they identified a previously unknown defense substance important for the tobacco's resistance to leafhoppers and characterized the genes for its biosynthesis. |
| Study confirms site of brain region responsible for making sure people say words as intended Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:05 PM PST A region crossing the folded surface of the top of the brain, called the dorsal precentral gyrus, plays an essential role in how people use the sound of their voices to control how they want the words to sound, a new study shows. |
| Are scientists being fooled by bacteria? Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:05 PM PST Researchers created a tailor-made gene sequencing method to accurately measure a biochemical, DNA tagging system, which switches genes on or off. This helped them study the system in any cell type, including human, plant and bacterial cells. While the results supported the idea that this system may occur naturally in non-bacterial cells, the levels were much lower than some previous studies reported and were easily skewed by bacterial contamination or current experimental methods. Experiments on human brain cancer cells produced similar results. |
| The brain’s secret to life-long learning can now come as hardware for artificial intelligence Posted: 03 Feb 2022 01:05 PM PST As companies use more and more data to improve how AI recognizes images, learns languages and carries out other complex tasks, a recent article shows a way that computer chips could dynamically rewire themselves to take in new data like the brain does, helping AI to keep learning over time. |
| How a SARS-CoV-2 infection can become severe COVID-19 Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Scientists have discovered that severe courses of the COVID-19 disease are not only marked by strong immune activation and inflammatory reactions, but also by a dysfunctional endothelium, in other words, the vascular system: If this barrier between blood flow and tissue is damaged, the patient's condition deteriorates. |
| Small study finds Alzheimer's-like changes in some COVID patients' brains Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST A study reports that the brains of a small sample of patients who died of COVID display some of the same molecular changes found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. |
| Future of winter: Low emissions vital to slow warming Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Winters are warming faster than summers in North America, impacting everything from ecosystems to the economy. Global climate models indicate that this trend will continue in future winters but there is a level of uncertainty around the magnitude of warming. Researchers focused on the role of carbon dioxide emissions in this equation -- looking at the effects of both high and low levels of carbon dioxide emissions on future climate warming scenarios -- and found that a reduction in emissions could preserve almost three weeks of snow cover and below freezing temperatures. |
| Scientists detect novel SARS-CoV-2 variants in NYC wastewater Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Researchers have detected at least four 'cryptic' variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in samples of wastewater from New York City's public sewer system. |
| Warps drive disruptions in planet formation in young planetary systems Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST A new study demonstrates the impact of passing stars, misaligned binary stars and passing gas clouds on the formation of planets in early star systems. |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Obesity is known to cause cardiometabolic diseases like hypertension and diabetes but attributing these diseases to merely an overabundance of fat is a simplification. On a basic level, fat acts as a receptacle to store energy, but upon a closer look it is an essential actor in vital bodily processes like the immune response, the regulation of insulin sensitivity, and maintenance of body temperature. Researchers argue that the negative health effects of obesity stem not simply from an excess of fat but from the decline in its ability to respond to changes, or in other words, its plasticity. |
| New role for cyanide in early Earth and search for extraterrestrial life Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Chemists discovered how cyanide could have enabled chemical reactions that metabolize carbon dioxide without the complex proteins used by living organisms today. |
| How liquid-like protein droplets collectively read DNA regions to switch on genes Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST When an organism develops, dividing cells specialize to form the variety of tissues and organs that build up the adult body, while keeping the same genetic material -- contained in our DNA. In a process known as transcription, parts of the DNA -- the genes -- are copied into a messenger molecule -the ribonucleic acid (RNA) -- that carries the information needed to produce proteins, the building blocks of life. |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Researchers have found that children who receive years of season-specific flu vaccines develop antibodies that also provide broader protection against new strains, including those capable of causing pandemics. |
| Structure of central inflammation switch elucidated Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:29 AM PST Researchers have elucidated the structure of a central cellular inflammatory switch. Their work shows which site of the giant protein called NLRP3 inhibitors can bind to. This opens the way to develop new pharmaceuticals that could target inflammatory diseases such as gout, type 2 diabetes or even Alzheimer's disease. |
| Researchers find new way to amplify trustworthy news content on social media without shielding bias Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:28 AM PST Social media sites continue to amplify misinformation and conspiracy theories. To address this concern, an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, physicists and social scientists has found a solution to ensure social media users are exposed to more reliable news sources. |
| Largest genetic study of migraine to date reveals new genetic risk factors Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:25 AM PST Scientists identified more than 120 regions of the genome that are connected to risk of migraine. The groundbreaking study helps researchers better understand the biological basis of migraine and its subtypes and could speed up the search for new treatment of the condition, which affects over a billion individuals worldwide. |
| New anti-HIV antibody function discovered: Tethering of viral particles at the surface of cells Posted: 03 Feb 2022 09:25 AM PST Researchers have discovered a new function of anti-HIV-1 antibodies by applying cutting-edge microscopy techniques to in vitro viral cultures. The scientists found that certain antibodies already known for effectively targeting HIV-1 envelope (Env) protein can prevent infected cells from releasing viral particles, thus halting viral spread. The findings demonstrate that these powerful antibodies exhibit different antiviral activities in addition to neutralization. |
| Unravelling the ancient stories hidden in DNA Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST Scientists have compared the chromosomes of three major animal groups to reveal surprising stability across a time span of more than 550 million years. |
| An insulin patch that sticks inside a person’s cheek Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST Managing blood sugar levels requires round-the-clock attention for people diagnosed with diabetes. A more healthful diet and increased physical activity can help, but many with the condition also need to take regular shots of insulin -- the primary hormone that regulates sugar. To deliver this drug in a less invasive way, researchers now report a prototype insulin-loaded patch that comfortably sticks to the inside of a person's cheek. |
| New analysis of tsunami deposits paints a clearer picture of Sanriku's past Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST The Sanriku Coast - which includes present day Iwate and parts of Aomori and Miyagi - has been prone to tsunamis throughout its history. Analyses of tsunami deposits along the coast, however, haven't always provided conclusive findings. Now, a research team has utilized a new radiocarbon dating method to clarify the region's tsunami history and better understand the frequency at which these disasters occur. |
| Exploring the strategies of categorization Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST Our mental ability to divide the complex world into categories makes our daily life much easier. But how do we categorize? What kind of stimulus properties do we assess? Researchers have come a step closer to answering these questions with the help of pigeons. They discovered that birds use different strategies to successfully learn categories. To gather data, the researchers used a novel research method. To this end, they combined so-called virtual phylogenesis, in which artificial stimuli are generated by computers, with a machine learning approach, namely an automated evaluation of the birds' pecking behavior. |
| Bacterial trick: A kind of sponge that absorbs certain messengers Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST Bacteria are extremely resourceful when it comes to adapting to a given environment. A team of researchers has now discovered a new trick bacteria use: a kind of sponge that absorbs certain messengers. |
| People with less memory loss in old age gain more knowledge Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:30 AM PST Do cognitive abilities change together, or do they change independently of each other? Researchers present new findings. |
| Tracking SARS-CoV-2 during Tokyo 2020 via wastewater Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:29 AM PST Wastewater-based epidemiological tracking of COVID-19 in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic village showed that SARS-CoV-2 was present in areas without diagnosed individuals. |
| Missing the bar: How people misinterpret data in bar graphs Posted: 03 Feb 2022 07:25 AM PST Thanks to their visual simplicity, bar graphs are popular tools for representing data. But do we really understand how to read them? New research has found that bar graphs are frequently misunderstood. The study demonstrates that people who view exactly the same graph often walk away with completely different understandings of the facts it represents. |
| Scientists test promising biosensor aimed for use in brain Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST Scientists have successfully tested in the lab a tiny biosensor they developed that can detect biomarkers tied to traumatic brain injuries. |
| What a salamander virus can tell us about the future of biodiversity amid a changing climate Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST The 'Ebola virus of the amphibian world' is as unpleasant as it sounds, but a species of salamander that lives in Arizona found a way to live with the endemic disease. As the climate changes, viruses change along with it, and this unpredictable virus could have a more severe effect on different species in the future. |
| Juno and Hubble data reveal electromagnetic 'tug-of-war' lights up Jupiter’s upper atmosphere Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST New space research has revealed a complex 'tug-of-war' lights up aurorae in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. The study describes the delicate current cycle driven by Jupiter’s rapid rotation and the release of sulphur and oxygen from volcanoes on its moon, Io. |
| More spice could help seniors avoid salt Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST Add a little spicy seasoning to a low sodium meal, and adults over the age of 60 may have a harder time noticing a lack of salt, according to a new study. The study tested saltiness perception in older adults using white sauce formulations with varying amounts of salt and different spices and seasonings added. |
| Wisdom engendered: Study finds men and women have different strengths Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST Researchers looked at gender differences relative to wisdom, using two different validated scales and found that, in general, women scored higher on compassion-related items and on self-reflection while men scored higher on cognitive-related items and on emotional regulation. |
| Exercise can provide relief for dry, itchy eyes Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST Researchers have discovered that a significant increase in tear secretion and tear film stability after participating in aerobic exercise can be another remedy for relieving dry, itchy eyes. |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST Investigators have identified a germline biomarker signature that successfully predicts which patients will suffer serious side effects that occur in up to 3 in ten patients on anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy, a promising new approach to treating cancer. |
| How migraine pain signals are generated, and blocked Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:36 AM PST An international team of researchers has discovered that Schwann cells -- which are abundant in the peripheral nervous system and create a protective sheath around nerve fibers -- play an essential role in migraine pain. Their study illustrates how pain is signaled from within Schwann cells and finds several ways to block this signaling, providing potential targets for new migraine treatments. |
| Human-induced climate change impacts the highest reaches of the planet — Mount Everest Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:35 AM PST Melting and sublimation on Mount Everest's highest glacier due to human-induced climate change have reached the point that several decades of accumulation are being lost annually now that ice has been exposed, according to a research team that analyzed data from the world's highest ice core and highest automatic weather stations. |
| People prefer interacting with female robots in hotels, study finds Posted: 03 Feb 2022 05:35 AM PST People are more comfortable talking to female rather than male robots working in service roles in hotels, according to new research. The study, which surveyed about 170 people on hypothetical service robot scenarios, also found that the preference was stronger when the robots were described as having more human features. |
| ‘Smart’ greenhouses could slash electricity costs Posted: 02 Feb 2022 01:59 PM PST A new, internet-connected lighting system for greenhouses could sharply reduce a farmer's electrical bill, according to a study by University of Georgia researchers. |
| New path to treat advanced triple-negative breast cancer Posted: 02 Feb 2022 01:59 PM PST A new study shows inhibition of the CECR2 gene prevents triple-negative breast cancer from advancing or metastasizing. |
| A new, nanoscale, 3D structure to control light Posted: 02 Feb 2022 01:27 PM PST Metamaterials, made up of small, repeated structures, engineered to produce desired interactions with light or sound waves, can improve optical devices used in telecommunications, imaging and more. But the functionality of the devices can be limited by the corresponding design space. |
| Does strep throat lead to the development of tics? Posted: 02 Feb 2022 01:27 PM PST A new study has found no link between a strep throat infection and the development of tics in children who have a parent or sibling with a chronic tic disorder. |
| Cadmium's route into chocolate Posted: 02 Feb 2022 12:39 PM PST Researchers have chased the source of cacao's cadmium contamination for years, but an array of distinct sampling methods and sites led to mixed results. In a new analysis, scientists consider the soil factors influencing cadmium's ride into cacao beans, with the aim of recommending feasible and cost-effective ways farmers can minimize uptake. |
| ADHD medicine may treat symptoms of genetic movement disorder in children, study finds Posted: 02 Feb 2022 12:39 PM PST Using a common attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication appears to help manage the symptoms of a rare and currently difficult to treat genetic movement disorder primarily found in children, according to a new study. The disorder, KCNMA1-linked channelopathy, named after the affected gene, can cause abnormal, involuntary movements from collapsing episodes, in which patients slump forward with their arms and legs appearing rigid. |
| Scientists develop 'exceptional' surface to explore exotic physics Posted: 02 Feb 2022 12:38 PM PST By demonstrating exceptional control of an open optical system, an international research team has provided a path to experimentally measure and test exotic phenomena and gain insights into new physics with exquisite sensitivity. |
| Researchers set record by preserving quantum states for more than 5 seconds Posted: 02 Feb 2022 12:38 PM PST A team of researchers has maintained a qubit coherence time for a record five seconds. The qubits are made from silicon carbide, widely found in lightbulbs, electric vehicles and high voltage electronics. |
| Astronomers offer theory about mysterious location of massive stars Posted: 02 Feb 2022 12:38 PM PST Astronomers have found an explanation for the strange occurrence of massive stars located far from their birthplace in the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy. |
| Remote sensing technology reduces urban air pollution Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:31 AM PST Implementing roadside technology to detect high-emitting vehicles improves urban air quality. |
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