An international team led by scientists at the University of Sydney has demonstrated nanowire networks can exhibit both short- and long-term memory like the human brain. The research has been published today in the journal Science Advances, led by Dr Alon Loeffler, who received his PhD in the School of Physics, with collaborators in Japan. “In this research we found higher-order cognitive function, which we normally associate with the human brain, can be emulated in non-biological hardware,” Dr Loeffler said. “This work builds on our previous research in which we showed how nanotechnology could be used to build a brain-inspired electrical device with neural ...

Polynesian peoples are renowned for their advanced sailing technology and for reaching the most remote islands on the planet centuries before the Europeans reached the Americas. Through swift eastward migrations that are now well covered by archaeological research, Polynesian societies settled virtually every island from Samoa and Tonga to Rapa Nui/Easter Island in the east, Hawai’i in the north, and Aotearoa/New Zealand in the south. But little is known about Polynesian migrations west of the 180th meridian. In order to better understand the relationship between these Polynesian societies of the western Pacific, Melanesia and Micronesia – often ...

A study led by the University of St Andrews suggests that a frequently used medical test for heart injury could one day be used to help COVID-19 patients avoid hospitalisation. Cardiac troponins are proteins that form part of the heart’s contractile machinery and are released into the bloodstream when the heart is damaged. It can be measured in a blood test which is widely used in the assessment of heart attacks and other heart conditions.  Existing studies since 2020 have shown that COVID-19 patients who have elevated troponin levels are more likely to die or suffer adverse clinical outcomes compared with those who have normal ...

JUPITER, Fla. — In a discovery fundamental to the inner workings of cells, scientists have discovered that if oxidative stress damages protein factories called ribosomes, repair crews may move in to help fix the damage so work can quickly resume. The discovery, reported Friday in the journal Molecular Cell, could have implications for cancer, the aging process, and growth and development, said the study’s lead author, molecular biologist Katrin Karbstein, Ph.D., a professor at The Herbert ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An exploded star can pose more risks to nearby planets than previously thought, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray telescopes. This newly identified threat involves a phase of intense X-rays that can damage the atmospheres of planets up to 160 light-years away. The results of the study, led by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Washburn University and the University of Kansas, are published in the Astrophysical Journal. Earth is not in danger of such a threat today because there are no potential supernova progenitors within this distance, but it may have experienced ...

Despite efforts by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and pediatric clinicians to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rate among children, many remain unvaccinated due to parental concerns about the vaccine’s long-term effects and anticipated responsibility. Those are findings from a new study published in Pediatricsand conducted by the Center for Economic and Social Research(CESR) at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The researchers sought to determine the causes of low child vaccination rates. Currently, only 39% of children 5 to 11 and 68% of those 12 to 17 have received ...

ATLANTA, Ind. – Insignum AgTech® and Beck’s have signed an agreement to test Insignum’s innovative corn traits in Beck’s elite varieties. The companies will collaborate to cross the trait into proprietary Beck’s genetics for field-testing in 2023 to evaluate commercial viability of the traits. Insignum AgTech develops plant genetic traits that enable plants to “talk” and signal to farmers when specific plant stresses begin. “With this trait, a corn plant generates purple pigment, indicating that a fungal infection has started ...

Botanists and paleontologists, led by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, have identified a fossil chili pepper that may rewrite the geography and evolutionary timeline of the tomato plant family. The team’s findings, published last month in the journal New Phytologist, show that the chili pepper tribe (Capsiceae) within the tomato, or nightshade (Solanaceae), family is much older and was much more widespread than previously thought. Scientists previously believed that chili peppers evolved in South America at most ...

An international team of scientists, co-led by Dr Carla J. Harper, Assistant Professor in Botany in the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity, has discovered the oldest evidence of plant self-defence in wood in a 360-million-year-old fossil from south-eastern Ireland. Plants can protect their wood from infection and water loss by forming special structures called “tyloses”. These prevent bacterial and fungal pathogens from getting into the heartwood of living trees and damaging it. However, it was not previously known how early in the evolution of plants woody species became capable of forming such defences.  Published ...

By looking at where people were born instead of where they ultimately move to and die, geographic disparities in mortality look different than previously assumed, according to a new study published on April 1, 2023, in the journal Demography. interstate migration may mitigate regional inequalities in mortality according to “Understanding Geographic Disparities in Mortality,” a paper led by Jason Fletcher, professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of the Center for Demography of Health and Aging with an appointment in Population Health Sciences. “At a time when nearly ...

DENVER/April 21, 2023 – A new study is testing whether the addition of CBD can improve pain management in dogs following orthopedic surgery. The study, funded by Morris Animal Foundation, will be conducted by a veterinary research team at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. CBD use in pets has gained in popularity in the last decade, but there are few controlled studies closely examining its efficacy as a pain management tool. This study hopes to help partially close this knowledge gap. The research team, led by Dr. Alan Chicoine, Assistant Professor, Department ...

WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society today endorsed the Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act of 2023, a bipartisan insulin affordability bill introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME). This legislation would cap out-of-pocket insulin costs for those with private insurance, ensure patients can share in insulin rebates and discounts, and promote competition in the insulin market. These measures would protect access to life-saving insulin for more than 7 million people nationwide who rely on the medication to manage their diabetes. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control ...

The biological age of humans and mice undergoes a rapid increase in response to diverse forms of stress, which is reversed following recovery from stress, according to a study publishing on April 21 in the journal Cell Metabolism. These changes occur over relatively short time periods of days or months, according to multiple independent epigenetic aging clocks. “This finding of fluid, fluctuating, malleable age challenges the longstanding conception of a unidirectional upward trajectory of biological age over the life course,” says co-senior study author James White of Duke University School of Medicine. “Previous reports ...

When spurring action against climate change, NGOs and governmental agencies frequently operate on the assumption that people are unmotivated to act because they view climate change as a problem that affects distant regions far in the future. While this concept, known as psychological distance, seems intuitive, researchers report in the journal One Earth on April 21 that most people see climate change as an important and timely issue even if its impacts are not immediately noticeable. “There is no consistent evidence ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Researchers have uncovered both the mathematical and biological mechanism behind the rugged structures at cell boundaries found in tissues such as the kidneys and nasal glands. The team hopes that their new insights can help develop new ways of treating associated pathologies and build better biological models for future study. Our cells come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. From the neurons that extend across the central nervous system, to the spherical white blood cells that protect us from infection, a cell's form and ...

Under embargo until April 21, 2023 Although families with immigrant mothers experienced higher rates of food insecurity and inability to pay rent during the pandemic than other groups, they reported less participation in economic impact payments (EIP) in the form of stimulus checks and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – two programs designed to provide stopgap financial support, according to a new study in JAMA Health Forum from researchers at the Dornsife School of Public Health and Children’s HealthWatch. The team surveyed 1,396 caregivers in Boston, ...

CHICAGO – A new study by Northwestern University found that among youth who had entered juvenile detention, one-quarter of Black and Hispanic males were later injured or killed by firearms within 16 years. While the nation’s youth and young adults are disproportionately affected by the daily occurrence of 100 firearm deaths and 234 non-fatal firearm injuries, youth who have been previously involved with the juvenile justice system had up to 23 times the rate of firearm mortality than the general population. The study is the first to focus on the incidence rate of firearm injuries and death within the juvenile justice population. “Who ...

About The Study: In this study of 5,000 patients with breast cancer, a shorter breast cancer–specific survival in women from disadvantaged neighborhoods compared with advantaged neighborhoods was identified, even after controlling for individual-level sociodemographic, comorbidity, breast cancer risk factor, access to care, tumor, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network guideline-concordant treatment characteristics. The findings suggest potential unaccounted mechanisms, including unmeasured social determinants of health and access to care measures.  Authors: Neha Goel, M.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is ...

About The Study: This 25-year longitudinal cohort study (n = 1,829) found that youths involved with the juvenile justice system had up to 23 times the rate of firearm mortality as the general population; rates varied by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. Sixteen years after detention, more than one-quarter of Black and Hispanic males had been injured or killed by firearms.  Authors: Linda A. Teplin, Ph.D., of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: The results of this study suggest that the COVID-19 crisis exacerbated pre-existing inequities in food insecurity and difficulty paying rent according to race and ethnicity and maternal nativity and that equity-focused policy changes are needed to ensure that all children and their families in the U.S. can afford basic needs for optimal health.  Authors: Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Boston University School of Public Health, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

With temperatures rising worldwide, more and more people globally consider air-conditioning an essential element of living with climate change. However, air-conditioning units are also rather power-hungry and are likely to increase energy consumption in areas where they are used often. To limit the impact of air-conditioners on our energy grids and our climate, we need data to better understand where they're sold globally. That's quite a struggle in regions where that data is not available. However, through social media advertising ...

WHAT: A majority of parents of children diagnosed with Lyme disease reported that their kids recovered within six months of completing antibiotic treatment, according to a new joint study from Children’s National Research Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, published in Pediatric Research. The findings, based on Lyme disease treatment outcome data from 102 children in the United States, also revealed that a notably small percentage of children took longer than six months to recover ...

A backpack full of multiple sclerosis therapy A cell therapy using myeloid cells bound to drug delivery microparticles reduces disease burden in a preclinical multiple sclerosis model. By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a devastating autoimmune disease that destroys the protective myelin covering around nerves, disrupting communication between the brain and body, and causing patients’ ability to move and function to progressively decline. The MS atlas reported in 2020 that someone is diagnosed with MS every five minutes around the world, adding ...

Prof. PENG Chenhui's team from the School of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), realized the collective transfer and reconfigurable self-assembly of colloidal particles by combining the light-driven molecular motors with liquid crystal (LC) molecules in the nematic phase whose orientations are programmed with topological patterns and disclination networks. The work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on April 11th. Through light irradiation, the cooperative reorganizations of nanomotors induce collective dynamics of the disclination networks. The morphology ...

The study was carried out in an animal model with oral administration of MNPs, in this case polystyrene, a widely-used plastic which is also found in food packaging. Led by Lukas Kenner (Department of Pathology at MedUni Vienna and Department of Laboratory Animal Pathology at Vetmeduni) and Oldamur Hollóczki (Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Hungary) the research team was able to determine that tiny polystyrene particles could be detected in the brain just two hours after ingestion. The mechanism that enabled them to breach the blood-brain barrier ...