NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has recorded breath-taking new images of the iconic Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57.   The images, released today by an international team of astronomers led by Professor Mike Barlow (UCL, UK) and Dr Nick Cox (ACRI-ST, France), with Professor Albert Zijlstra of The University of Manchester, showcase the nebula's intricate and ethereal beauty in unprecedented detail, providing scientists and the public with a mesmerizing view of this celestial wonder.  For many sky enthusiasts, the Ring Nebula is a well-known object that is visible all summer long and is located in the constellation ...

SKIN CANCER-RELATED MUTATIONS HIGHER IN THE UK THAN SINGAPORE A new study has shown how, on average, people in the UK have facial skin that is far more DNA damaged from the sun than people in Singapore, explaining the far higher risk of developing the most common skin cancers in the UK. This study looked at keratinocyte cancers - basal and squamous cell carcinomas - rather than melanoma, a rarer and sometimes fatal form of skin cancer, finding Northern European skin types in the UK were less able to protect themselves from UV damage. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators at ...

UK researchers are calling on higher education institutes and research funders to adopt a new set of recommended actions to address the substantial under-representation of PhD students from ethnic minority backgrounds. Black, Asian and minority ethnic students have a markedly lower representation in postgraduate research compared with undergraduate or taught postgraduate study in the UK. For instance, in 2020/21, around 26.5% of UK undergraduates were from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared with around 19% for postgraduate students.  The ...

A joint research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and collaborators recently developed a stable artificial photocatalytic system that is more efficient than natural photosynthesis. The new system mimics a natural chloroplast to convert carbon dioxide in water into methane, a valuable fuel, very efficiently using light. This is a promising discovery, which could contribute to the goal of carbon neutrality. Photosynthesis is the process by which chloroplasts in plants and some organisms use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to create food or energy. In past decades, many scientists have tried to develop artificial photosynthesis processes to turn ...

About The Study: In this study of 1.4 million birthing person–infant pairs in the U.S., most pregnancy-specific alcohol policies were not associated with decreased odds of infant injuries or morbidities. Policy makers should not assume that pregnancy-specific alcohol policies improve infant health.  Authors: Sarah C. M. Roberts, Dr.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.27138) Editor’s ...

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, is pleased to announce that Nottingham Trent University has chosen Altmetric Explorer from Digital Science’s flagship products to improve the measurement and reporting of social media and alternative metrics.  Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has signed a deal to utilise Altmetric to report on societal impact and dissemination of research.  Using Digital Science’s products and tools, NTU will be able to support its research strategy, impact development, dissemination ...

Seven entrepreneurs will embark on a two-year fellowship as the seventh cohort of Innovation Crossroads kicks off this month at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Representing a range of transformative energy technologies, Cohort 7 is a diverse class of innovators with promising new companies. New to Innovation Crossroads’ sponsorship this year are DOE’s Office of Electricity and Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, which join DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, DOE’s Building Technologies Office, and the Tennessee ...

Highlights: Since its inception in 2014, Insilico Medicine has developed multiple AI models for predicting the probability of success of clinical trials focusing on Phase II to Phase III transition probabilities.  To validate the models, it pursued three strategies - retrospective, quasi-prospective, and prospective validation. In 2016, it deposited on a preprint server the first date-stamped article with the predictions of clinical trials. The publication titled “Prediction of clinical trials outcomes based on target choice and clinical trial design with multi‐modal artificial intelligence” ...

New research published today in Nature has revealed the importance of mineral forms of iron in regulating the cycling of this bio-essential nutrient in the ocean. The findings pave the way for new work on the relationship between the iron and carbon cycles and how changing ocean oxygen levels may interact. The study, led by the University of Liverpool and involving collaborators in the United States, Australia and France, addresses a knowledge gap in ocean research. Principal Investigator Professor Alessandro Tagliabue said: “To date we have not fully appreciated ...

Wnt signalling is a well-known mode of cell-to-cell communication in multicellular biological organisms. It involves the secretion of small Wnt glycoproteins, by signalling cells, that bind to receptor proteins in the membrane of receiving cells. This signal modifies proteins on the inside of these receiving cells to make cells grow, divide or differentiate. This mode of communication is fundamental in both normal and altered cellular development, such as in cancer and wound healing, and has remained in the limelight ...

A University of Ottawa-led research team has published rigorous new research that advances a quest to understand a puzzling – and heartbreaking – ultra-rare disease that’s found almost exclusively in boys. XLP-2 is a genetic X-linked lymphoproliferative disease first described in 2006. It typically has severe complications among patients who become infected with the Epstein-Barr virus, an exceedingly common virus that infects most people without problems in their teenage years or young adulthood. But when the few individuals with XLP-2 encounter the Epstein-Barr virus the experience is often fatal ...

About a third of the restaurants listed on iFood, the food delivery app most used by Brazilians, are “dark kitchens”, according to the first study of the topic conducted in Brazil, and one of only a few worldwide. An article on the study is published in the journal Food Research International. It has eight authors; the first three and the last are researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo state. Defined in the article as delivery-only restaurants that have no direct contact with consumers, have no premises for local consumption and sell solely ...

WASHINGTON —On a hot summer day, white clothing feels cooler than other colors due to reflecting—not absorbing—sunlight. Other colors like blue or black, will undergo a heating effect as they absorb light. To circumvent this heating effect in colored cooling films, researchers drew inspiration from nanostructures in butterfly wings. The new films, which don’t absorb any light, could be used on the outside of buildings, vehicles and equipment to reduce the energy needed for cooling while preserving vivid color properties. “In buildings, large amounts of energy are used for cooling and ventilation, and running ...

Thanks to the support of libraries participating in Direct to Open (D2O), the MIT Press will publish its full list (see below) of 2023 scholarly monographs and edited collections open access on the MIT Press Direct platform.  Launched in 2021, D2O is a sustainable framework that harnesses the collective power of libraries to support open and equitable access to vital, leading scholarship. D2O moves scholarly books from a solely market-based, purchase model, where individuals and libraries buy ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A team including Eskenazi Health, Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute has helped guide a new dementia care and payment model announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) is the first model established by the Innovation Center that directly addresses the needs of unpaid caregivers, usually family, of individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. The model will provide a comprehensive ...

The climate crisis is severely affecting marine ecosystems around the world and the Mediterranean is not an exception. Marine heat waves associated with this crisis are causing massive mortality events throughout the basin. Given this scenario, their correct definition and characterization become a key element in defining possible future scenarios. Now, a new study by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR-ISMAR) has revealed how decoupling global warming trends affects the definition of marine heat waves characteristics. ...

Light affects living organisms in many different ways: for example, plants orient their growth direction towards the sun, while circadian rhythms in humans are controlled by daylight. These processes always involve photoreceptors, which are proteins that can sense different colours and intensities of light. 10,000-fold increase in enzymatic activity Now, researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have deciphered the function of a highly efficient photoreceptor. Their findings have been published in the journal Science Advances. The research ...

The western U.S., particularly the Southwest, has experienced a notable increase in record-breaking high temperatures over recent decades, with recurring drought and heatwaves. These conditions have resulted in severe consequences for both human and nature systems, including dire water shortages, rampant wildfires, substantial agricultural losses, and increased human mortality. These regions, dominated by water-limited ecosystems, face exacerbated water stress due to more frequent and protracted droughts and heatwaves, which can profoundly impair ecosystem ...

Sandwich complexes were developed about 70 years ago and have a sandwich-like structure. Two flat aromatic organic rings (the “slices of bread”) are filled with a single, central metal atom in between. Like the slices of bread, both rings are arranged in parallel. Adding further layers of ‘bread’ and ‘filling’ produces triple or multiple sandwiches. “These compounds are among the most important complexes used in modern organometallic chemistry,” says Professor Peter ...

Children raised in rural environments who spend a lot of time outdoors with some exposure to animals grow to have better regulated immune systems than children living in urban environments, a new study has found.  Research led by APC Microbiome Ireland (APC), a world-leading SFI research centre and University College Cork (UCC), has shown that early life immune development is highly dependent on a child’s living environment and lifestyle factors. Researchers say that the immune system needs to learn how not to over-respond ...

Fuel cells are compact energy conversion units that utilize clean energy sources like hydrogen and convert them into electricity through a series of oxidation–reduction reactions. Specifically, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), an integral part of electric vehicles, utilize proton-conductive membranes for operation. Unfortunately, these membranes suffer from a trade-off between high durability and high ion conductivity, affecting the lifetime and performance of PEMFCs. To overcome this issue, scientists ...

University of Tennessee Extension and GAP Connections recently received a grant from the Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center to launch a series of workshops across the state to help agricultural producers and agribusinesses navigate the intricacies of labor management. Tennessee’s labor-intensive farming operations are increasingly in need of agricultural labor options, creating challenges for agricultural employers that have transitioned from readily available family labor to scarce hired labor that ...

WASHINGTON—The number of girls diagnosed with precocious puberty increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to potential risk factors such as increased screen time and less physical activity, according to a new study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. The number of girls referred to pediatric endocrinologists for precocious puberty has increased significantly over the last two years, potentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Precocious puberty is when children's bodies begin to change into adult bodies too soon. They start to develop physical changes before the age of 8 such as breasts ...

In an era of unprecedented LGBTQ2+ visibility coupled with incredible backlash, coming out as a sexual minority can be a deeply ambivalent experience, according to new research. In a study published in Theory and Society, sociologists Dr. Amin Ghaziani and Andy Holmes conducted in-depth interviews with 52 adult Vancouverites about their experiences coming out over the last five years. We spoke to Dr. Ghaziani (he/him), professor in the UBC department of sociology and Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities, about the findings. Why were you interested in recent experiences of coming out? Coming out is about sharing your identity with someone, and it’s an ongoing ...

(LOS ANGELES) – August 3, 2023 - Scientists from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) have developed a nanoengineered bioink with improved bonding and cross-linking capabilities for 3D bioprinting of tumor models. A key component of this bioink is Laponite, highly charged, disk-shaped, crystalline nanoparticles. As explained in their recent paper in Biofabrication, these nanoparticles were shown to enhance the biological signaling that occurs in the tumor microenvironment ...