ScienceDaily: Top News

How highly processed foods harm memory in the aging brain

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 02:27 PM PDT

Four weeks on a diet of highly processed food led to a strong inflammatory response in the brains of aging rats that was accompanied by behavioral signs of memory loss, a new study has found. Researchers also found that supplementing the processed diet with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA prevented memory problems and reduced the inflammatory effects almost entirely in older rats.

How the brain ignores distracting information to coordinate movements

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 12:41 PM PDT

Researchers have discovered how neurons in a small area of the mammalian brain help filter distracting or disruptive signals -- specifically from the hands -- to coordinate dexterous movements. Their results may hold lessons in how the brain filters other sensory information as well.

The planet does not fall far from the star

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:20 AM PDT

A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. Scientists now deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption -- and partly contradict it at the same time.

New metalens focuses light with ultra-deep holes

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Researchers developed a metasurface that uses very deep, very narrow holes, rather than very tall pillars, to focus light to a single spot.

Pollution’s impact on child health

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Air pollution is known to harm children's respiratory health, but its specific impacts on infection rates have remained unclear. A new analysis provides evidence of a link between the two in low-income settings, and indicates one industry may play an outsized role in the problem.

Big differences found in male and female jojoba plant sex genes

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Hot desert sex has resulted in major genetic differences between male and female jojoba plants -- one of only 6 percent of plants that require a male and female plant to reproduce. New research suggests male and female jojoba plants have diverged so much, that the jojoba plant has more novel sex genes than any other known living organism. The discovery may help researchers develop a DNA test to identify male and female jojoba plants, which cannot be distinguished from each other as seedlings - and shed light on how plants adapt to environmental stress.

Aided by stem cells, a lizard regenerates a perfect tail for first time in more than 250 million years

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:19 AM PDT

Lizards can regrow severed tails, making them the closest relative to humans that can regenerate a lost appendage. But in lieu of the original tail that includes a spinal column and nerves, the replacement structure is an imperfect cartilage tube. Now, a study describes how stem cells can help lizards regenerate better tails.

Early modern human from Southeast Asia adapted to a rainforest environment

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:19 AM PDT

Although there has been evidence of our species living in rainforest regions in Southeast Asia from at least 70,000 years ago, the poor preservation of organic material in these regions limits how much we know about their diet and ecological adaptations to these habitats. An international team of scientists has now applied a new method to investigate the diet of fossil humans: the analysis of stable zinc isotopes from tooth enamel. This method proves particularly helpful to learn whether prehistoric humans and animals were primarily eating meat or plants.

Mammals on the menu: Snake dietary diversity exploded after mass extinction 66 million years ago

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:19 AM PDT

Modern snakes evolved from ancestors that lived side by side with the dinosaurs and that likely fed mainly on insects and lizards.

Mito warriors: Scientists discover how T cell assassins reload their weapons to kill and kill again

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:18 AM PDT

Researchers have discovered how T cells -- an important component of our immune system -- are able keep on killing as they hunt down and kill cancer cells, repeatedly reloading their toxic weapons.

Many US adults worry about facial image data in healthcare settings

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 11:18 AM PDT

Uses of facial images and facial recognition technologies -- to unlock a phone or in airport security -- are becoming increasingly common in everyday life. But how do people feel about using such data in healthcare and biomedical research?

By 2500 Earth could be alien to humans

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 10:12 AM PDT

To fully grasp and plan for climate impacts under any scenario, researchers and policymakers must look well beyond the 2100 benchmark. Unless CO2 emissions drop significantly, global warming by 2500 will make the Amazon barren, the American Midwest tropical, and India too hot to live in, according to a team of international scientists.

Evidence of superionic ice provides new insights into unusual magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 10:12 AM PDT

Not all ice is the same. The solid form of water comes in more than a dozen different - sometimes more, sometimes less crystalline - structures, depending on the conditions of pressure and temperature in the environment. Superionic ice is a special crystalline form, half solid, half liquid - and electrically conductive. Its existence has been predicted on the basis of various models and has already been observed on several occasions under - very extreme - laboratory conditions. New results provide another piece of the puzzle in the spectrum of the manifestations of water. And they may also help to explain the unusual magnetic fields of the planets Uranus and Neptune, which contain a lot of water.

Artificial intelligence helps to find new natural substances

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 10:12 AM PDT

More than a third of all medicines available today are based on active substances from nature and a research team has developed a procedure to identify small active substance molecules much more quickly and easily.

Scientists discover large rift in the Arctic’s last bastion of thick sea ice

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 10:11 AM PDT

In May 2020, a hole a little smaller than the state of Rhode Island opened up for two weeks in the Last Ice Area, a million-square-kilometer patch of sea ice north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island that's expected to be the last refuge of ice in a rapidly warming Arctic. The polynya is the first one that has been identified in this part of the Last Ice Area.

Bridging optics and electronics

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 10:11 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a simple spatial light modulator made from gold electrodes covered by a thin film of electro-optical material that changes its optical properties in response to electric signals.

Lone changer: Fish camouflage better without friends nearby

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:20 AM PDT

While gobies aren't the only fish with camouflage abilities, new research shows that their colour change is influenced by their social context: they transform faster and better when alone. This is likely an adaptive, stress response to perceived threat from predators - with possible application to other camouflaging species.

Data continues to show that American’s need at least 5 hours per week of physical activity to prevent some cancers

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:20 AM PDT

A new report finds more than 46,000 cancer cases annually in the United States could be prevented if Americans met the 5 hours per week of moderate-intensity recommended physical activity guidelines.

After two hours, sunscreens that include some zinc oxide can lose effectiveness, become toxic

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:02 AM PDT

Sunscreen that includes zinc oxide, a common ingredient, loses much of its effectiveness and becomes toxic after two hours of exposure to ultraviolet radiation, according to scientists.

Pesticide linked to chronic kidney disease

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

A commonly available pesticide has been associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Sense of smell is our most rapid warning system

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

The ability to detect and react to the smell of a potential threat is a precondition of our and other mammals' survival. Using a novel technique, researchers have been able to study what happens in the brain when the central nervous system judges a smell to represent danger. The study indicates that negative smells associated with unpleasantness or unease are processed earlier than positive smells and trigger a physical avoidance response.

Molecular mixing creates super stable glass

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

Researchers have succeeded in creating a new type of super-stable, durable glass with potential applications ranging from medicines, advanced digital screens, and solar cell technology. The study shows how mixing multiple molecules -- up to eight at a time -- can result in a material that performs as well as the best currently known glass formers.

Metabolic restoration in HIV-infected patients as a therapeutic approach

Posted: 14 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

Medical researchers have shown that optimizing the energy metabolism of key cells enables people with HIV-1 to better defend themselves against the virus.

Laser treatment could significantly improve glaucoma care in Africa, potentially at no extra cost

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 03:40 PM PDT

Laser treatment has the potential to transform the management of glaucoma in Africa, and to prevent more people from going irreversibly blind, particularly in regions with high disease prevalence and incidence, suggests new research. Conducted in Tanzania, the research is the first randomised controlled trial exploring the use of the laser treatment, Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT), for patients with glaucoma in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Surface chemistry reveals corrosive secrets

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 02:40 PM PDT

Interactions between iron, water, oxygen and ions quickly become complex. Scientists have now developed a more precise method to observe how iron minerals like rust form.

Improvements in microscopy home in on biology’s elusive details

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 02:40 PM PDT

Researchers are carrying the field of microscopy a step further, refining a technique known as cryogenic electron microscopy, or cryo-EM.

In neurodegenerative diseases, brain immune cells have a 'ravenous appetite' for sugar

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 12:21 PM PDT

At the beginning of neurodegenerative disease, the immune cells of the brain -- the 'microglia' -- take up glucose, a sugar molecule, to a much greater extent than hitherto assumed. These results are of great significance for the interpretation of brain scans depicting the distribution of glucose in the brain. Furthermore, such image-based data could potentially serve as a biomarker to non-invasively capture the response of microglia to therapeutic interventions in people with dementia.

Mutations in liver cells linked to liver disease and fat metabolism

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 09:27 AM PDT

Mutations linking liver disease with obesity and diabetes have been identified, leading to new understanding about how systemic diseases interact.

Mutated cells drive out early tumors from the esophagus

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 09:27 AM PDT

Normal human esophagus carries a high number of mutations, but tumors are rare, due to mutant cells eliminating early tumors.

How the Sun’s magnetic forces arrange gas particles

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 08:41 AM PDT

Solar prominences hover above the visible solar disk like giant clouds, held there by a supporting framework of magnetic forces, originating from layers deep within the Sun. The magnetic lines of force are moved by ever-present gas currents -- and when the supporting framework moves, so does the prominence cloud. A research team has observed how magnetic forces lifted a prominence by 25,000 kilometers -- about two Earth diameters -- within ten minutes.

Metamaterial eENZ can control correlations of light

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 08:40 AM PDT

Researchers have theoretically demonstrated that the correlations of light can be controlled with a metamaterial known as enhanced epsilon-near-zero (eENZ) materials. The material allows small and high-quality lasers that are expected to have applications for example in imaging, flow detection and wireless optical communication.

Heartburn drugs may have unexpected benefits on gum disease

Posted: 13 Oct 2021 08:40 AM PDT

New research found that patients who used drugs prescribed to treat heartburn, acid reflux and ulcers were more likely to have smaller probing depths in the gums (the gap between teeth and gums).