ScienceDaily: Top News

‘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.

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.

Quick COVID breathalyzer could allow mass screening in public places

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:31 AM PST

Researchers have developed a prototype 'breathalyzer' that can sensitively and accurately diagnose COVID-19, even in asymptomatic individuals, in less than 5 minutes.

Anxiety and neuroticism linked to ability to experience ASMR

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

A study has uncovered new evidence linking higher levels of neuroticism and anxiety with the ability to experience a deeply relaxing sensation known as the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).

Scientists develop insect-sized flying robots with flapping wings

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

A new drive system for flapping wing autonomous robots has been developed, using a new method of electromechanical zipping that does away with the need for conventional motors and gears.

Engineers develop surgical 'duct tape' as an alternative to sutures

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

Engineers have developed a kind of surgical 'duct tape.' The strong, flexible, and biocompatible sticky patch can be applied to biological tissues and organs to help seal tears and wounds.

Novel method simulates tens of thousands of bubbles in foamy flows

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

Bubbles aren't just for bath time. Bubbles, specifically bubbles in foamy flows, are critical for many industrial processes, including the production of food and cosmetics and drug development and delivery. But the behavior of these foamy flows is notoriously difficult to compute because of the sheer number of bubbles involved. Previous attempts to simulate foamy flows have relied on the time-consuming and computationally expensive process of tracking the bubbles by color-coating each individual bubble in the foam. This limited simulations to just a few dozen bubbles, instead of the thousands to millions in real foams. Now, researchers have developed a new way to simulate tens of thousands of bubbles in foamy flows, breaking the computational complexity of this long-standing process.

Testing the effectiveness of KN95 and surgical mask 'fit hacks'

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 11:30 AM PST

Researchers have tested a variety of popular hacks for improving the fit of KN95 and surgical masks, and found that while some hacks do improve fit, they can also come at the cost of the wearer's comfort.

Scientists engineer new material that can absorb and release enormous amounts of energy

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:47 AM PST

A team of researchers recently announced that they had engineered a new rubber-like solid substance that has surprising qualities. It can absorb and release very large quantities of energy. And it is programmable. Taken together, this new material holds great promise for a very wide array of applications, from enabling robots to have more power without using additional energy, to new helmets and protective materials that can dissipate energy much more quickly.

The key to a powerful antibiotic's formation now clear

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:47 AM PST

According to new research, the enzyme tokK helps synthesize a chain of methyl groups that allows potent antibiotics called carbapenems to circumvent antibiotic resistance.

Living in a walkable neighborhood lowers risk of excessive weight gain during pregnancy

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:47 AM PST

In one of the first studies to examine the link between neighborhood characteristics and weight gain during pregnancy, researchers find that pregnant people who live in walkable neighborhoods in New York City have lower odds of excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) than those who live elsewhere in the city. They also found that living in a neighborhood with high rates of poverty increased the odds of excessive GWG.

Novel chemical glucose sensing method based on boronic acids and graphene foam

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:47 AM PST

Researchers have developed a new glucose sensor that is cheaper and more robust than current systems.

Minimizing long-term lung damage in COVID patients

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:46 AM PST

A combined treatment strategy targeting SARS-CoV-2 symptoms and severe lung tissue injury is essential to minimize lung sequelae -- chronic complications resulting from COVID-19 infection, according to a new review article.

Nearly 1,000 mysterious strands revealed in Milky Way’s center

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 10:46 AM PST

More than 35 years ago, a Northwestern professor discovered mysterious, gigantic magnetic filaments in the Milky Way galaxy's turbulent center. Now, armed with more advanced technology, he and his collaborators have uncovered nearly 1,000 of the strange structures.

Microbes making tree methane in ghost forests are in the soils

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 09:43 AM PST

Researchers wanted to know if different communities of microbes are making methane gas inside the soils or in the dead trees, which are also known as snags. They found that although the methane gas is generated in the soils, the trees act like filtering straws as the gas rises through the wood.

Mechanism revealed behind loss of smell with COVID-19

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 09:43 AM PST

Researchers have discovered a mechanism that may explain why COVID-19 patients lose their sense of smell, as well as having implications for long COVID.

Shadow of cosmic water cloud reveals the temperature of the young universe

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Astronomers have found a new and original method for measuring the cosmic microwave background's temperature when the Universe was still in its infancy. They confirm in their new study the early cooling of our Universe shortly after the Big Bang and open up new perspectives on the elusive dark energy.

What is your dog’s lifespan? You might be surprised

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

The Dog Aging Project, founded in 2018, is by far the most ambitious project tackling the question of canine longevity, enrolling and studying tens of thousands of dogs of all sizes, breeds and backgrounds to develop a thorough understanding of canine aging. Their open-source dataset will give veterinarians and scientists the tools to assess how well a specific dog is aging and will set the stage for further research into healthy aging -- in both dogs and people. One of their most intriguing avenues of inquiry will analyze the DNA of exceptionally long-lived dogs, the 'super-centenarians' of the dog world.

Satellites and light reflections help researchers spot coastal plastic waste

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Geospatial scientists have found a way to detect plastic waste on remote beaches that are not visible in conventional satellite images, bringing us closer to global monitoring options.

How the connections inside bird brains work together

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Physiologists have a furthered understanding of the bird neural circuitry that allows them to distinguish where a specific sound is coming from. Their findings could help scientists understand the basics of how mammalian brains compute the time difference between a single sound arriving at each individual ear, known as 'interaural time difference'. This ability is an integral component of sound localization.

Simple, inexpensive, fast and accurate nano-sensors pinpoint infectious diseases

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Researchers describe a novel method for detecting viruses like Ebola virus (EBOV) and SARS CoV-2.

Cooling matter from a distance

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Researchers have succeeded in forming a control loop consisting of two quantum systems separated by a distance of one meter. Within this loop, one quantum system -- a vibrating membrane -- is cooled by the other -- a cloud of atoms, and the two systems are coupled to one another by laser light. Interfaces such as this allow different kinds of quantum systems to interact with one another even over relatively large distances and will play a key role in quantum technologies of the future.

Reassessing radon as a reliable groundwater tracer

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

As radioactive atoms are transported through groundwater aquifers in the form of gaseous radon, they are eventually transferred to the atmosphere. Measurements of the rate of this transfer can, in theory, be used to trace the infiltration of water into the surrounding soil. Yet a new study shows that this technique could have a significant flaw.

Untangling a DNA replication mystery may lead to new antimalarial drugs

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

The function of an enzyme, critical to most forms of life, has been revealed.

Hummingbirds exert fine control over body heat

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Scientists from multiple universities now find there's more than one level of hummingbird torpor: shallow and deep, plus the transition stage between levels of torpor and the normal sleep state.

Predicting cell fates: Researchers develop AI solutions for next-gen biomedical research

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Data is not only the answer to numerous questions in the business world; the same applies to biomedical research. In order to develop new therapies or prevention strategies for diseases, scientists need more and better data, faster and faster. However, the quality is often very variable and the integration of different data sets often almost impossible.

Cancer treatment: A berry from Brazil helps out

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:18 AM PST

Castalagin, a polyphenol from the Amazonian fruit camu-camu, increases the efficacy of immunotherapy in mice by modifying their microbiome, researchers find.

Scientists uncover 'missing' plastics deep in the ocean

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

A new study unveils the prevalence of plastics in the entire water column of an offshore plastic accumulation zone in the southern Atlantic Ocean and implicates the ocean interior as a crucial pool of 'missing' plastics. Results show that small microplastics are critical, underexplored and integral to the oceanic plastic inventory. In addition, findings show that weak ocean current systems contribute to the formation of small microplastics hotspots at depth, suggesting a higher encounter rate for subsurface particle feeders like zooplankton.

The last ice age widened the Aare and Gürbe valleys

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

A team was able to prove that the glaciers of the penultimate ice age ('Riss' glaciation) mainly eroded the bedrock between Thun and Bern, but that during the last glaciation (' Würm'- glaciation) glacial carving resulted in a widening and not in a further deepening of the valleys. The researchers reconstructed the geometry of the bedrock using gravity measurements to reach their conclusions.

A new amplifying technique for weak and noisy signals

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

Scientists have demonstrated a technique for the recovery of weak, noise-dominated optical signals.

Genome study finds unexpected variation in a fundamental RNA gene

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

A genome study to look for variants in a gene considered a fundamental building block for microscopic structures that synthesize proteins took a surprising twist.

COVID forecasting method using hospital and cellphone data proves it can reliably guide US cities through pandemic threats

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

Using cellphone mobility data and COVID-19 hospital admissions data, researchers have reliably forecast regional hospital demands for almost two years, according to a new study. The forecasting system, which municipal authorities credit with helping Austin maintain the lowest COVID-19 death rate among all large Texas cities, has been built out for use by 22 municipal areas in Texas and can be used by any city to guide COVID-19 responses as the virus continues to spread.

New mouse model to shed light on the mystery surrounding Huntington’s disease onset and improve the targeting of potential therapies

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

Researchers have developed a new mouse model of Huntington's disease that recapitulates more Huntington's disease-like characteristics than earlier models, providing new clues to the disease and giving researchers a powerful new tool to test new therapies.

New lightweight material is stronger than steel

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

Chemical engineers have created a new material that is stronger than steel, as light as plastic, and can be easily manufactured in large quantities.

Different autism risk genes, same effects on brain development

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 08:17 AM PST

Researchers have found that three different autism risk genes actually affect similar aspects of neuron development and the same neuron types, although each gene acted through unique molecular mechanisms. Additionally, a person's specific genomic background fine-tuned the genes' effects. The study was conducted using miniature 3D models, or 'organoids,' of the human cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for cognition, perception, and language. The results advance our understanding of autism spectrum disorder and are a first step toward finding treatments for the condition.

3D structure of regulator protein revealed

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 06:19 AM PST

A team of researchers has revealed the structure of a protein complex which is an important regulator of cellular degradation processes.

The path to renewable fuel just got easier

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 06:19 AM PST

The holy grail of bio-fuel researchers is to develop a self-sustaining process that converts waste from sewage, food crops, algae and other renewable carbon sources into fuels, while keeping waste carbon out of our atmosphere and water. Much progress has been made in converting such waste to useful fuel but completing the cycle using clean energy has proved a tough nut to crack.

Research advances technology of AI assistance for anesthesiologists

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 06:19 AM PST

A new deep learning algorithm trained to optimize doses of propofol to maintain unconsciousness during general anesthesia could aid anesthesiologists and augment monitoring, according to a new study.

Immunological memory provides long-term protection against coronavirus

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 05:03 AM PST

Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 by infection or vaccination generates immune cells that provide long-term immunity. These long-lived memory T cells play a key role in preventing severe cases of COVID-19. Researchers have now discovered how these memory T cells form.

Ocean eddies could explain Antarctic sea-ice paradox

Posted: 02 Feb 2022 05:03 AM PST

Despite global warming and the sea-ice loss in the Arctic, the Antarctic sea-ice extent has remained largely unchanged since 1979. However, existing climate model-based simulations indicate significant sea-ice loss, contrary to actual observations. As experts have now shown, the ocean may weaken warming around Antarctica and delay sea-ice retreat.

Magnetic seeds used to heat and kill cancer

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 05:11 PM PST

Scientists have developed a novel cancer therapy that uses an MRI scanner to guide a magnetic seed through the brain to heat and destroy tumors.

'Threaded bone' rituals restored dignity after looting of Indigenous graves

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 05:11 PM PST

Ancient Indigenous people in Peru had a unique response to the looting and destruction of their ancestors' graves during the European colonial period, an international team of archaeologists has discovered. A study found nearly 200 examples of human vertebrae threaded onto reed posts in the Chincha Valley, dating from AD 1450-1650. The period spanned the Inca rule and the start of the European colonization -- a turbulent time of extensive famine and epidemics -- that coincided with widespread desecration of Indigenous people's graves by Europeans.

UK plants flowering a month earlier due to climate change

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 05:11 PM PST

Climate change is causing plants in the UK to flower a month earlier on average, which could have profound consequences for wildlife, agriculture and gardeners.

Artificial intelligence system rapidly predicts how two proteins will attach

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 01:56 PM PST

A new machine learning system can predict the structure formed when two proteins dock, in a process that's between 50 to 800 times faster than some software-based methods. This could help scientists better understand biological processes or speed the development of new therapies.

Mass customization can make fashion more sustainable if customers are willing to wait for it

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 01:56 PM PST

Mass customization, where customers order clothing made to their own style tastes and measurements, has been proposed as one solution to overproduction. But the logistical challenges of tailoring garments to individual customer requests and lengthy manufacturing lead times have discouraged most firms from adopting mass customization. They might want to reconsider that decision, according to a new study.

New research links continents to key transitions in Earth’s oceans, atmosphere and climate

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 01:10 PM PST

A new study advances the understanding of the role that continents have played in the chemical evolution of Earth's oceans, with implications for understanding atmospheric oxygenation and global climate oscillations. 

Climate change has likely begun to suffocate the world’s fisheries

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 01:10 PM PST

By 2080, around 70 percent of the world's oceans could be suffocating from a lack of oxygen as a result of climate change, potentially impacting marine ecosystems worldwide, according to a new study. The new models find mid-ocean depths that support many fisheries worldwide are already losing oxygen at unnatural rates and passed a critical threshold of oxygen loss in 2021.

Paternal alcohol use increases frequency of fetal development issues

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 01:10 PM PST

Prenatal visits have traditionally focused almost exclusively on the behavior of mothers, but new research continues to suggest that science should be looking more closely at the fathers' behavior as well.

Moons may yield clues to what makes planets habitable

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

Because the moon is so important to life on Earth, scientists conjecture that a moon may be a potentially beneficial feature in harboring life on other planets. Most planets have moons, but Earth's moon is distinct in that it is large compared to the size of Earth; the moon's radius is larger than a quarter of Earth's radius, a much larger ratio than most moons to their planets. New research finds that distinction significant.

People in urban areas had better access to care and lower copays than rural areas

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

Substance abuse, access to mental health care and costs remain a burden for people living in rural areas, even if they have private insurance.

Study finds higher risk in families of Black patients with inherited heart muscle disease

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

Black patients diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) of unknown cause are more likely to have family members at risk of developing the heart muscle disease than families of white patients, according to results of a multi-site study.

The U.S. is failing to care for traumatic brain injury survivors, experts say

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

The United States care system is often failing to meet the needs of individuals, families and communities affected by traumatic brain injury, according to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The authors make many recommendations for advancing progress in TBI care, including changes to classification methods, improving research funding and establishing continuity of care.

New model to investigate fibrosis treatments without use of animals

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

A new 3D connective tissue model gives researchers a sophisticated tool to understand the underlying mechanisms of connective tissue disorders and test potential treatments.

Scientists unveil promising new approach to diabetes prevention

Posted: 01 Feb 2022 11:40 AM PST

A team of scientists has conducted promising early tests of a new strategy that might one day be used to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes. The scientists tested an experimental compound called IXA4 in obese mice. They showed that the compound activates a natural signaling pathway that protects the animals from harmful, obesity-driven metabolic changes that would normally lead to diabetes.