The first clue for finding life on other planets is finding liquid water. The moons of Saturn and Jupiter like Enceladus, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto are suspected of holding oceans of liquid water beneath icy crusts. Similarly, some exoplanets beyond our solar system likely host liquid water, crucial for habitability. But detecting water, when we can’t physically access these celestial bodies, poses challenges. Ice-penetrating radar, a geophysical tool, has proven capable of detecting liquid water ...

 In a discovery that could hasten treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), UC San Francisco scientists have discovered a harbinger in the blood of some people who later went on to develop the disease.     In about 1 in 10 cases of MS, the body begins producing a distinctive set of antibodies against its own proteins years before symptoms emerge. These autoantibodies appear to bind to both human cells and common pathogens, possibly explaining the immune attacks on the brain and spinal cord that are the hallmark of MS.   The findings were published in Nature Medicine on ...

In the 1930s, it turned out that neither the energy nor the momentum balance is correct in the radioactive beta decay of an atomic nucleus. This led to the postulate of "ghost particles" that "secretly" carry away energy and momentum. In 1956, experimental proof of such neutrinos was finally obtained. The challenge: neutrinos only interact with other particles of matter via the weak interaction that is also underlying the beta decay of an atomic nucleus. For this reason, hundreds of trillions of neutrinos from the cosmos, especially the sun, can pass through our bodies every second without causing any damage. Extremely ...

Observing proteins precisely within cells is extremely important for many branches of research but has been a significant technical challenge - especially in living cells, as the required fluorescent labelling had to be individually attached to each protein. The research group led by Stefan Kubicek at CeMM has now overcome this hurdle: With a method called "vpCells," it is possible to label many proteins simultaneously, using five different fluorescent colours. This automated high-throughput approach, aided by AI-assisted image recognition, opens up entirely new applications in various disciplines, from fundamental cell biology to drug discovery. The study ...

    Graphic Climate change will increase the future value of residential rooftop solar panels across the United States by up to 19% by the end of the century, according to a new University of Michigan-led study.   The study defines the value of solar, or VOS, as household-level financial benefits from electricity bill savings plus revenues from selling excess electricity to the grid—minus the initial installation costs.   For many U.S. households, increased earnings from residential rooftop ...

PHILADELPHIA – Liver inflammation, a common side-effect of cancers elsewhere in the body, has long been associated with worse cancer outcomes and more recently associated with poor response to immunotherapy. Now, a team led by researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found a big reason why. In their study, published today in Nature Immunology, the researchers discovered that cancer-induced liver inflammation causes liver cells to secrete proteins called serum amyloid A (SAA) proteins, which circulate through the body and hinder the ability of T cells—major anticancer weapons of the immune system—to ...

Analysis of mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation deep water limb in the North Atlantic has weakened. Two decades of continual observations provide a greater understanding of the Earth’s climate regulating system. A new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience led by scientists at University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic ...

HOUSTON ― In a new study published today in Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have designed a new method for developing immunotherapy drugs using engineered peptides to elicit a natural immune response inside the body. In preclinical models of locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer, this method improved tumor control and prolonged survival, both as a monotherapy and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. “Amino acids are the building blocks of life and, when a few of them are linked together, they create a peptide. ...

Remember #BabyShark? And no, this was not the very catchy song for kids that took the internet by storm. Earlier this year, social media was abuzz with stunning footage of a newborn great white shark, captured by a flying drone. Now, marine scientists have shown for the first time that juvenile great white sharks select warm and shallow waters to aggregate within one kilometer from the shore. These results, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, are important for conservation of great white sharks – especially as ocean temperatures increase due ...

When Kevin Ryan and the other hardworking volunteers at Mossom Creek Hatchery in Port Moody, B.C. release young coho smolts into the ocean, they’re never quite certain how many will return as adults. Mossom releases between 5,000 and 10,000 coho smolts each year, and is one of the few hatcheries to release coho directly into the ocean, rather than into a river. Until now, no research had looked at the success of direct ocean releases of coho. UBC researchers used acoustic telemetry to tag and track coho on their journey. The results were revealing: ...

Thanks to the dizzying growth of cosmic observations and measurement tools and some new advancements (primarily the “discovery” of what we call dark matter and dark energy) all against the backdrop of General Relativity, the early 2000s were a time when nothing seemed capable of challenging the advancement of our knowledge about the cosmos, its origins, and its future evolution. Even though we were aware there was still much to uncover, the apparent agreement between our observations, calculations, and theoretical framework was indicating that our knowledge of the universe was set to grow significantly and without ...

An international team of researchers, led by Professor Jin WU from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has made a promising advancement in mapping plant functional traits from space using time-series satellite data. The study, published in Remote Sensing of Environment, showcases the innovative combination of the Sentinel-2 satellite mission and its dynamic time-series capabilities. This innovative approach not only unlocks a deeper understanding of essential foliar traits, providing crucial insights ...

The latest wearable devices, such as Samsung's Galaxy Ring and Apple's Vision Pro, are taking healthcare a step further and even enabling people to work virtually. Given the characteristics of wearable devices that require them to be small and lightweight, there is an inevitable limitation on battery capacity, still presenting a technical barrier to incorporating a variety of functions. In order for wearable devices to fully realize the imagined life, it is necessary to develop a lighter and more fromlessenergy storage method. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that a joint research team led by Dr. Hyeonsu Jeong ...

Grocery stores, airports and beaches aren’t great places to have telehealth visits with your endocrinologist. But home can be one of the best locations, giving a doctor helpful insights into a patient’s home environment, which can positively impact their care. This is just one finding shared in a new study published this week in The Journal of Clinical Diabetes. Researchers interviewed clinicians and staff who provide diabetes care through telehealth across four University of California academic medical ...

A new DC-DC power converter is superior to previous designs and paves the way for more efficient, reliable and sustainable energy storage and conversion solutions. The Kobe University development can efficiently interface with a wide range of energy sources while enhancing system stability and simplicity at an unprecedented efficiency. Electric power comes in two kinds, AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current). Famously, the question over which kind should be used for national power grids, the “Current War” of the late 19th century, got settled in favor of AC and most power plants today produce ...

Researchers have revealed the regulatory mechanism of a specific protein that plays a key role in balancing the immune response triggered by viral infections in mammal cells. These findings could help drive the development of antiviral therapies and nucleic acid medicines to treat genetic disorders. For cells to protect themselves from viral infections, a series of immune responses typically occur, including programmed cell death called apoptosis and interferon signaling. While apoptosis is a normal process, which occurs with or without the presence ...

Professors Kimoon Kim and Ji Hoon Shim along with Dr. Yeonsang Lee from the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Professor Jun Sung Kim from POSTECH’s Department of Physics and the Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems at the Institute for Basic Science created conducting two-dimensional polymers exhibiting electron mobility comparable to graphene. Their research has been featured in the online edition of Chem, an international chemistry journal.   Graphene, called a ...

A systemic review of the current body of research shows that investigators have inadequately addressed the intersection of aging, health disparities, and cancer outcomes among older adults. This is the conclusion of a new paper published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and led by Nikesha Gilmore, PhD, a member of Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester. As the population of survivors of cancer 65 and older will likely double in size during the next two decades, the review reveals an urgent need for ...

Dietary treatment is more effective than medications in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). These are the findings of a study conducted at the University of Gothenburg. With dietary adjustments, more than seven out of ten patients had significantly reduced symptoms. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common diagnosis that causes abdominal pain, gas and abdominal bloating, diarrhea, and constipation, in various combinations and with varying degrees of severity. Treatment often consists of dietary advice such as eating small and frequent meals and avoiding excessive intake of food triggers such as coffee, alcohol and fizzy drinks. Patients may also be given medications to improve specific ...

The study, published today in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, reveals for the first time how noise is generated and propagated from these engines, technically known as boundary layer ingesting (BLI) ducted fans. BLI ducted fans are similar to the large engines found in modern airplanes but are partially embedded into the plane's main body instead of under the wings. As they ingest air from both the front and from the surface of the airframe, they don't have to work as hard to move the plane, so it burns ...

A heart attack will leave a permanent scar on a human heart, yet other animals, including some fish and amphibians, can clear cardiac scar tissue and regrow damaged muscle as adults. Scientists have sought to figure out how special power works in hopes of advancing medical treatments for human cardiac patients, but the great physiological differences between fish and mammals make such inquiries difficult. So University of Utah biologists, led by assistant professor Jamie Gagnon, tackled the problem ...

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected surgeon-researcher Jay Lieberman, MD, chair and professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, among its class of 2024 fellows. The AAAS is the world’s oldest and largest general science organization and the publisher of Science, a top peer-reviewed academic journal. Election as a fellow is a lifetime honor — and one of the AAAS’s highest — signaling extraordinary achievement in the advancement or application of science.  Lieberman ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — ReElement Technologies on Thursday (April 18) signed an exclusive license to use patented Purdue University technologies to domestically refine and sell minerals critical in manufacturing modern, high-tech products for commercial and industrial use. The license was signed during the Purdue Innovates Startup and Technology Expo 2024 at the Purdue University Memorial Union. Sourcing rare earth and critical battery elements Rare earth elements are foundational essentials in permanent ...

Kaushik Rajashekara, Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, continues to receive recognition and awards on a global scale. The man who ushered in the era of electric cars, working on the General Motors EV1 in 1995 when he was a Technical Fellow there, has been elected an International Fellow of the Engineering Academy of Japan, recognized for his contributions to power conversion and, of course, electrification of transportation.   According to the academy, Rajashekara’s ...

To study how parasites evolve to break the defenses of their hosts, the National Institutes of Health has granted UC Riverside nematologist Simon “Niels” Groen a $1.9 million Outstanding Investigator Award. Roundworm parasites infect humans, livestock, and crop plants. Insights into why certain worms can evade host immune protections could help preempt a ticking time bomb: the decreasing effectiveness of pesticides and antibiotics for infections.     Bacterial, fungal, and parasite resistance to drugs and pesticides is making it harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat common infections ...