Purdue-led fishing expedition nets new pupfish family member in New Mexico Genetic drift, not natural selection, identified as main factor driving speciation WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Scientists have identified a new member on the genetic family tree of an endangered pupfish native to south-central New Mexico. “We went into this thinking that there was one species of conservation concern,” said J. Andrew DeWoody, professor of genetics in Purdue University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. “The preponderance of evidence ...

BOSTON--Yoga, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and other practices are gaining in popularity due to their potential to improve health and well-being. The effects of these practices are mostly positive and occasionally transformational, yet they are known to sometimes be associated with challenging altered states of consciousness. New research by a team including investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, reveals that altered states of consciousness associated with meditation practice are far more common than expected. Although many people reported positive outcomes, that were sometimes even considered ...

Cislunar space, which stretches from the Earth to just beyond the moon’s orbit, is about to become heavily trafficked over the next 10 years. With NASA’s planned Artemis missions and other countries joining in the cislunar space race, there’s an interest in observing, tracking and predicting the orbit of objects like asteroids and satellites so they don’t collide with spacecraft. But the process of detecting and observing space objects, known as space domain awareness (SDA), faces challenges with the extensive volume of cislunar space. “Cislunar space is vast,” says Tarek Elgohary, an associate professor ...

A sensory process such as pain is no ordinary phenomenon—it’s a symphony of neural and vascular interactions orchestrated by the brain and spinal cord. Attempting to dissect this symphony by focusing on a single region is like trying to understand a complex melody by listening to just one instrument. It’s incomplete, potentially misleading, and may result in erroneous conclusions. Enter the Carney Institute’s team of visionaries. Their mission? To develop tools that allow unprecedented observation of neural and vascular activity within the brain and spinal cord. They tackled two critical fronts: imaging hardware and bioluminescent (BL) molecular tools. Innovative ...

A certain biological pathway, a set of linked reactions in the body, drives the inflammation seen in the skin disease psoriasis, a new study finds. The work could lead to improved therapies for all inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic and allergic dermatitis and a type of boil called hidradenitis suppurativa, say the study authors. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to irritation and infection, but when out of control, it can lead to the reddish, flaky, itchy lesions that come with these skin diseases. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, the new study found that the interleukin-17 (IL-17) pathway, ...

Research Assistant Professor Christopher Fowler received the NASA 2023 Planetary Science Early Career Award for his project “Bringing Planetary Science to West Virginia”. The award is based on demonstrated leadership, involvement in the planetary science community, and potential for future impact.    The resources provided by the NASA Planetary Science Early Career Award will allow Fowler and team to undertake research-related activities that are not always possible within the scope of more “traditional” ...

“[...] we have characterized a pair of compounds that impact multiple processes that are relevant to cancer cell proliferation but also, and possibly more importantly, to metastasis [...].” BUFFALO, NY- May 20, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on May 16, 2024, entitled, “The anticancer potential of the CLK kinases inhibitors 1C8 and GPS167 revealed by their impact on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the antiviral immune response.” The diheteroarylamide-based compound 1C8 and the aminothiazole carboxamide-related compound GPS167 inhibit the CLK kinases, and affect ...

Aging is contributing at the 2024 Systems Aging Gordon Research Conference in Barcelona, Spain, from June 2–7. BUFFALO, NY- May 20, 2024 – Aging is a contributor at the 2024 Systems Aging Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on “Systems Modeling, Aging Biomarkers, and Longevity Interventions” — taking place from June 2–7, 2024, in Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. “The conference will present recent advances in systemic rejuvenation, multi-omics approaches, applications ...

The shortage of suitable donor meniscus grafts from the knee and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) impedes treatments for millions of patients. Vitrification offers a promising solution by transitioning these tissues into a vitreous state at cryogenic temperatures, protecting them from ice crystal damage using high concentrations of cryoprotectant agents (CPAs). However, vitrification's success is hindered for larger tissues (>3 mL) due to challenges in CPA penetration. Dense avascular meniscus tissues require extended CPA exposure for adequate penetration; however, ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  By converting their data into sounds, scientists discovered how hydrogen bonds contribute to the lightning-fast gyrations that transform a string of amino acids into a functional, folded protein. Their report, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers an unprecedented view of the sequence of hydrogen-bonding events that occur when a protein morphs from an unfolded to a folded state. See video: Protein Sonification “A protein must fold properly to become an enzyme or signaling molecule or whatever its function may be — all the many things that proteins do in our bodies,” said University of Illinois ...

New York, NY [May 20, 2024]—Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have designed a regenerative medicine therapy to speed up diabetic wound repair. Using tiny fat particles loaded with genetic instructions to calm down inflammation, the treatment was shown to target problem-causing cells and reduce swelling and harmful molecules in mouse models of damaged skin. Details on their findings were published in the May 20 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Diabetic wounds, often resistant to conventional treatments, ...

Irvine, Calif., May 20, 2024 — A team of glaciologists led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine used high-resolution satellite radar data to find evidence of the intrusion of warm, high-pressure seawater many kilometers beneath the grounded ice of West Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier. In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the UC Irvine-led team said that widespread contact between ocean water and the glacier – a process that is replicated throughout Antarctica and in Greenland – causes “vigorous melting” and may require a reassessment of ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 15:00 EDT MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024 For the first time, there is visible evidence showing that warm seawater is pumping underneath Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier—ominously nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier. An international team of scientists—including a researcher from the University of Waterloo—observed it using satellite imagery and warns that it could accelerate catastrophic sea level rise in 10 to 20 years.  The intrusion of seawater causes the ice to continuously lift off the land and settle back down again. Ice melts intensely when it first touches seawater, ...

Deposits of designated critical minerals needed to transition the world’s energy systems away from fossil fuels may, ironically enough, be co-located with coal deposits that have been mined to produce the fossil fuel most implicated in climate change. Now, research led by the University of Utah has documented elevated concentrations of a key subset of critical minerals, known as rare earth elements, or REEs, in active mines rimming the Uinta coal belt of Colorado and Utah. These findings open the possibility that these mines could see a secondary resource stream in the form of metals used in renewable energy and numerous other high-tech ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024, 3:00 PM ET Key points: Replacing an average diesel school bus from 2017 with an electric one may result in $84,200 in health and climate benefits—including fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reduced rates of mortality and childhood asthma—per individual bus. Those benefits may increase to $247,600 per individual electric school bus replacing a diesel bus from 2005 or earlier in a large metropolitan area. While the benefits of replacing diesel vehicles with electric ones are well known, this is the first study to specifically quantify the health and climate benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric ...

Endoscopes are instruments that are used to look inside the body Even with new developments cleaning them sufficiently has been a challenge  The University has entered a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) with PFE Medical to improve the process by removing bacterial biofilm inside them.  Aston University experts are teaming up with a medical products company to improve the cleaning of endoscopes. Endoscopes are long, thin instruments with a light and camera at one end that are used to look inside the body. Cleaning them sufficiently has been a challenge and even with new developments they can ...

LA JOLLA, CA — The brain is often referred to as a “black box”—one that’s difficult to peer inside and determine what’s happening at any given moment. This is part of the reason why it’s difficult to understand the complex interplay of molecules, cells and genes that underly neurological disorders. But a new CRISPR screen method developed at Scripps Research has the potential to uncover new therapeutic targets and treatments for these conditions. The method, outlined in a study published in Cell on May 20, 2024, provides a way to rapidly examine the brain cell types ...

Image   Artificial neural networks may soon be able to process time-dependent information, such as audio and video data, more efficiently. The first memristor with a 'relaxation time' that can be tuned is reported today in Nature Electronics, in a study led by the University of Michigan.    Memristors, electrical components that store information in their electrical resistance, could reduce AI's energy needs by about a factor of 90 compared to today's graphical processing units. Already, AI is projected to account for about half a percent of the world's total electricity ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL:  10:15 a.m. PT, Monday, May 20, 2024 PARC MODEL OF CARE ASSOCIATED WITH FEWER DEATHS AMONG VETERANS  POST-ICU   Session:  B18 – Bridging Gaps to Improve Long-Term Outcomes The Post-Acute Recovery Center: A Telehealth Care Model to Improve Patient-Centered Outcomes for High-Risk Survivors of Critical Illness Date and Time: Monday, May 20, 2024, 10:15 a.m. PT Location:  San Diego Convention Center, Room 32A-B (Upper Level)   ATS 2024, San Diego – Research presented at the ATS 2024 International Conference demonstrates that veterans who received ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $6 million in funding for 12 awards across eight efforts to advance research in isotope enrichment, targetry, and separations. This funding is part of a key federal program that produces critical isotopes otherwise unavailable or in short supply in the U.S. Isotopes, or variations of the same elements that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, have unique properties that make them powerful in medical diagnostic and treatment applications. They are also essential for applications in quantum information science, nuclear power, national security, and more. “These ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 BST / 14:00 ET MONDAY 20 MAY 2024. World leaders still need to wake up to AI risks, say leading experts ahead of AI Safety Summit More information, including a copy of the paper, can be found online at the Science press package at https://www.eurekalert.org/press/scipak/, or can be requested from scipak@aaas.org Leading AI scientists are calling for stronger action on AI risks from world leaders, warning that progress has been insufficient since the first AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park six months ago.  Then, the world’s leaders pledged to govern AI responsibly. However, as the second AI Safety Summit in Seoul ...

Although researchers have warned of the extreme risks posed by rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, there is a lack of consensus about how to manage them. In a Policy Forum, Yoshua Bengio and colleagues examine the risks of advancing AI technologies – from the social and economic impacts, malicious uses, and the possible loss of human control over autonomous AI systems – and recommend directions for proactive and adaptive governance to mitigate them. They call on major technology companies and public funders to invest more – at least one-third of their budgets – into assessing and ...

The new Tandem Dual-Antenna Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)  Interferometry (TDA-InSAR) system, addresses the limitations of current spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems by providing a more reliable and efficient method for 3D surface mapping. The system's innovative design allows for single-pass acquisitions, significantly reducing the time required for data collection and enhancing the precision of 3D reconstructions in various terrains, including built-up areas and vegetation canopies. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry (InSAR) is a powerful tool for producing high-resolution topographic maps. However, traditional InSAR techniques face ...

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced the launch of its new Center for Healthcare Readiness, bringing together a diverse team of academic and operational experts to strengthen the Mount Sinai Health System’s strategies and the U.S. health care sector’s capacity to prepare for and respond to any large-scale public health emergency. The Center will work with both Mount Sinai’s own resources, and public and private partners at the local, regional, and federal levels, to pursue strategies in research, advocacy, innovation, and collaboration to plan ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that multiple species of Gardnerella, bacteria sometimes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and pre-term birth, can coexist in the same vaginal microbiome. The findings add to the emerging picture of Gardnerella’s effects on human health.  Gardnerella is a group of anaerobic bacteria that are commonly found in the vaginal microbiome. Higher levels of the bacteria are a signature of BV and associated with higher risk of pre-term birth, ...