Wars and conflicts leave devastating destruction in their wake. With so many conflicts now taking place in urban environments, scientists are studying how post-conflict peacebuilding happens in these urban settings. Dahlia Simangan, an associate professor at The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University, has analyzed the case of Marawi, a city in the Philippines, to better understand the urban environment’s influence on post-siege reconstruction and peacebuilding. This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of peacebuilding by integrating conventional peacebuilding components and urban characteristics. The findings are published ...

Osaka, Japan – From LEDs to batteries, our lives are full of electronics, and there is a constant push to make them more efficient and reliable. But as components become increasingly sophisticated, getting reliable temperature measurements of specific elements inside an object can be a challenge. This is problematic because measuring a device’s temperature is vital for monitoring its performance or designing the materials from which it’s manufactured. Now, in a new study led by Osaka ...

High and low tide cause low and high methane fluxes Methane, a strong greenhouse gas that naturally escapes from the bottom of the North Sea, is affected by the pressure of high or low tide. Methane emissions from the seafloor can be just easily three times as much or as little, depending on the tide. This is shown by NIOZ oceanographer Tim de Groot, in a publication in Nature Communications Earth and Environment. "Our research shows that you can never rely on one measurement when you want to know how much methane escapes from the seafloor," De Groot emphasizes. Swamp ...

While the COVID-19 vaccines introduced many people to RNA-based medicines, RNA oligonucleotides have already been on the market for years to treat diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and amyloidosis. RNA therapies offer many advantages over traditional small molecule drugs, including their ability to address almost any genetic component within cells and to guide gene editing tools like CRISPR to their targets.   However, the promise of RNA is currently limited by the fact that rapidly growing global demand is outpacing the industry’s ability to manufacture it. The standard method of chemically ...

Lakes, with their rich biodiversity and important ecological services, face a concerning trend: rapidly increasing temperatures. A recent study published in Nature Geoscience by an international team of limnologists and climate modelers reveals that if current anthropogenic warming continues until the end of this century, lakes worldwide will likely experience pervasive and unprecedented surface and subsurface warming, far outside the range of what they have encountered before. The study uses lake temperature ...

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found that inflammation in an immune cell may be responsible in part for some severe symptoms in a group of rare genetic conditions called lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs).  LSDs affect about one in 7,700 live births worldwide. Children with the condition typically present at a young age with progressive neurodegeneration. Many children with LSDs die prematurely, and current treatments focus on symptom management.  Until now, the role of macrophages in the immune system and LSDs was ...

An international team of researchers led by the University of Bristol has shed light on Earth’s earliest ecosystem, showing that within a few hundred million years of planetary formation, life on Earth was already flourishing. Everything alive today derives from a single common ancestor known affectionately as LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). LUCA is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria to the gigantic redwood trees (as well as us humans) descend. LUCA represents the root ...

Astronauts on spacewalks famously have to relieve themselves inside their spacesuits. Not only is this uncomfortable for the wearer and unhygienic, it is also wasteful, as – unlike wastewater on board the International Space Station (ISS) – the water in urine from spacewalks is not recycled. A solution for these challenges would be full-body ‘stillsuits’ like those in the blockbuster Dune franchise, which absorbed and purified water lost through sweating and urination, and recycled it into drinkable water. Now, this sci-fi ...

A method to screen a wide variety of drug candidates without laborious purification steps could advance the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Efforts to combat the increasing threat of drug-resistant bacteria are being assisted by a new approach for streamlining the search for antimicrobial drug candidates, pioneered by researchers at Hokkaido University, led by Assistant Professor Kazuki Yamamoto and Professor Satoshi Ichikawa of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Their methods, developed together with researchers elsewhere in Japan and in the USA, are discussed ...

Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have made significant advances in sodium-ion battery (SIB) technology by improving cycling performance of the NaNiO2 cathode. They successfully synthesized, for the first time, the cathode active material NaNi0.9Ti0.1O2, which delivers a specific capacity of 190 mAh/g, thus positioning it as a potential candidate for application in high-energy-density SIBs. This innovative approach not only improves battery stability but also propels us toward advanced energy-storage solutions beyond. With its high theoretical ...

The ability of salmon hatcheries to increase wild salmon abundance may come at the cost of reduced diversity among wild salmon, according to a new University of Alaska Fairbanks–led study. The number of juvenile salmon released into the North Pacific Ocean by hatcheries increased rapidly in the second half of the last century and remains at over 5 billion each year. Salmon hatcheries have helped push annual pink salmon harvests in Prince William Sound from about 4 million fish prior to hatchery programs to roughly 50 million in recent years.   Using data collected from pink salmon streams ...

Researchers created a computer model that uses AI to examine heart images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)   Results were comparable to those worked out by doctors manually, but instead of taking 45 minutes or more, the AI model takes just a few seconds The AI model could lead to more efficient diagnoses, better treatment decisions and improved outcomes for patients  Researchers have developed a groundbreaking method for analysing heart MRI scans with the help of artificial ...

Galaxies avoid an early death because they have a "heart and lungs" which effectively regulate their "breathing" and prevent them growing out of control, a new study suggests. If they didn't, the Universe would have aged much faster than it has and all we would see today is huge "zombie" galaxies teeming with dead and dying stars. That’s according to a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, which investigates one of the great mysteries of the Universe – why galaxies are not ...

Superconductivity is a fascinating phenomenon, which allows a material to sustain an electrical current without any loss. This collective quantum behavior of matter only appears in certain conductors at temperatures far below ambient.  A number of modern studies have investigated this behavior in so-called non-equilibrium states, that is in situations in which the material is pushed away from thermal equilibrium. In these conditions, it appears that at least some of the features of superconductivity can be recreated even at ambient temperatures. Such non-equilibrium high temperature superconductivity, shown to exist under irradiation ...

New research to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) (Madrid, 9-13 September) shows that people recently diagnosed with diabetes who experience short or long sleep duration are more likely to experience microvascular disease (damage to the small blood vessels), which could ultimately lead to more serious complications. The study is by Mette Johansen and Thomas Olesen, Steno Diabetes Center Odense, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark, and colleagues. Microvascular complications, such as retinopathy and nephropathy, are major contributors ...

Whether it’s a pharmacy, a supermarket, or a clothier, when you walk into a retail store in the U.S., you are sure to encounter a flashy promotional display featuring products from a specific brand. It’s a marketing strategy that’s been proved to be highly effective at boosting sales. Brands carefully plan display campaigns, signing contracts with retailers that specify when to install the exhibits and for how long. They often provide financial incentives to encourage compliance. But a new study from Ashish ...

An invasive fungus that colonizes the skin of hibernating bats with deadly consequences is a stealthy invader that uses multiple strategies to slip into the small mammals' skin cells and quietly manipulate them to aid its own survival. The fungus, which causes the disease white-nose syndrome, has devastated several North American species over the last 18 years. Scientists have learned much about the fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, since it was first documented in a New York cave in 2006, including where it thrives, its distribution, and clinical features. But exactly ...

According to current understanding, menstrual cramps only happen in cycles in which an egg is released, or an ovulatory cycle. But new research from the University of British Columbia (UBC) is challenging this notion. The findings, published in the Journal of Pain Research, reveal that some women not only experience cramps when no egg is released, but that cramps can be more severe and last longer during these anovulatory cycles. “I was surprised to see significant cramps in menstrual cycles with or without ovulation, which challenges current thinking” said co-author, Dr. Paul Yong, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UBC and Canada Research ...

Racial disparities in dementia are due to social determinants of health, with genetic ancestry playing no role, according to a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study, which was based on a long-running population-based survey in four Latin American countries, helps explain why people of predominantly Native American or African ancestry have a higher prevalence of dementia: Study participants were more likely to experience social contexts and health conditions that raised their risk of cognitive decline, such as lower education levels, rural residency and high blood pressure. Once such factors ...

HOUSTON – (July 11, 2024) – Implantable technologies have significantly improved our ability to study and even modulate the activity of neurons in the brain, but neurons in the spinal cord are harder to study in action. “If we understood exactly how neurons in the spinal cord process sensation and control movement, we could develop better treatments for spinal cord disease and injury,” said Yu Wu, a research scientist who is part of a team of Rice University neuroengineers working on a solution to this problem. “We developed a tiny sensor, spinalNET, that records the electrical activity of spinal neurons as the subject performs normal ...

Image The flow of water within a muscle fiber may dictate how quickly muscle can contract, according to a University of Michigan study. Nearly all animals use muscle to move, and it's been known for a long time that muscle, like all other cells, is composed of about 70% water. But researchers don't know what sets the range and upper limits of muscle performance. Previous research into how muscle works focused only on how it worked on a molecular level rather than how muscle fibers are shaped, that they are three-dimensional ...

Nearly one in 10 people who get COVID while pregnant will go on to develop long COVID, a report publishing July 11th in Obstetrics & Gynecology has found. “It was surprising to me that the prevalence was that high,” says Torri Metz, MD, vice chair of research of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Utah Health, who co-led the nationwide study. “This is something that does continue to affect otherwise reasonably healthy and young populations.” Intersecting risks Prior research had shown that COVID affects pregnant people in uniquely ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The rabbit hole contains madness, according to author Lewis Carroll. Online, that madness manifests in the form of increasingly extreme content, often without users realizing it. A new study by Penn State researchers suggests that giving users control over the interface feature of autoplay can help them realize that they are going down a rabbit hole.  The work — which the researchers said has implications for responsibly designing online content viewing platforms and algorithms, as well as helping users better ...

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j4zjqI21Gs Faculty in UCF’s College of Sciences and College of Engineering and Computer Science are preparing incoming students to keep pace with the emerging multidisciplinary field of artificial intelligence. A team of five faculty, led by UCF’s Center for Research in Computer Vision (CRCV), recently received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant totaling nearly $2.5 million over five years to serve as resources to uplift bright yet low-income or struggling ...

One of the intriguing abilities of the human mind is daydreaming, where the mind wanders off into spontaneous thoughts, fantasies and scenarios, often without conscious effort, allowing creativity and reflection to flow freely.  In a new study published in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, University of Arizona researchers used low-intensity ultrasound technology to noninvasively alter a brain region associated with activities such as daydreaming, recalling memories and envisioning the future. They found that the technique can ultimately enhance mindfulness, marking a major advancement in the field ...