While ecologically important, small mushrooms on monocots (grasses and sedges) are rarely studied and a lack of information about their habitat and DNA sequences creates difficulties in determining their presence or absence in ecological studies and their genetic relationships to other mushroom taxa.    This study led by Drs. Karen W. Hughes and Ronald H. Petersen (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA) examined a mushroom species, Campanella subdendrophora, (also known as Tetrapyrgos subdendrophora), which fruits on grasses in the US Pacific Northwest.    The researchers evaluated its phylogenetic position concerning both Campanella and Tetrapyrgos ...

SEATTLE, WASH.—March 6, 2024—The Allen Institute has officially become the newest member of the Weill Neurohub, a collaborative research network advancing treatments for neurological diseases.  Founded in 2003 by philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Allen Institute focuses on big questions in biology through a team-based, open science approach, and currently has moonshot projects in neuroscience, cell biology, and immunology institutes. The new partnership will integrate the Allen Institute’s expertise ...

Surface coatings have long been essential in various industries, offering protection and functionality. In recent years, liquid-infused surfaces (LIS) have emerged as a groundbreaking technology, revolutionizing how we approach surface coatings. In a review article recently published in Industrial Chemistry & Materials on Feb. 23, 2024, authors Zachary Applebee and Dr. Caitlin Howell explore a novel approach in surface technology that could significantly impact various industries, including healthcare and environmental conservation. A new frontier is emerging: multi-component ...

Evaporation is a natural process so ubiquitous that most of us take it for granted. In fact, roughly half of the solar energy that reaches the earth drives evaporative processes. Since 2017, researchers have been working to harness the energy potential of evaporation via the hydrovoltaic (HV) effect, which allows electricity to be harvested when fluid is passed over the charged surface of a nanoscale device. Evaporation establishes a continuous flow within nanochannels inside these devices, which act as passive pumping mechanisms. This effect is also seen in the microcapillaries of plants, where ...

Firstly, the authors briefly describe two models for tracking the maneuvering trajectories of non-cooperative space targets: the relative dynamics model and the indirect measurement model. In the relative dynamics model, tracking the maneuvering trajectory of the target is modeled as a problem of tracking the target's position over short discrete time intervals. On the other hand, the indirect measurement model transforms radar-derived values directly into measurements in the Local Vertical Local Horizontal (LVLH) coordinate system. Next, the authors address the tracking problem of targets ...

Land–atmosphere interactions play a crucial role in shaping Earth’s climate system, profoundly influencing weather patterns, climate variables, and ecological processes. Despite being located at similar latitude, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Yangtze River region (YRR) represent two distinct climate zones, garnering significant attention in this field. The former, situated in western China at an altitude exceeding 4000 m, is characterized by an arid climate, whereas the latter, located in the eastern Chinese plain, experiences a humid climate. Although both the TP and YRR have ...

Spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, is the leading genetic cause of infant death. Less than a decade ago, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Adrian Krainer showed this brutal disease can be treated by tweaking a process called RNA splicing. This breakthrough resulted in Spinraza, the first effective treatment for SMA. It also opened a new frontier in drug development. Now, CSHL research could push RNA-splicing drugs even further. CSHL Associate Professor Justin Kinney, Krainer, and postdoc Yuma Ishigami have ...

Read the online version (Available 8:00 a.m. ET, March 6, 2024) Watch the video (Embargoed. Do not distribute before 8:00 a.m. ET, March 6, 2024) Natural history museums have entered a new stage of scientific discovery and accessibility with the completion of openVertebrate (oVert), a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions to create 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and make them freely available online. Researchers published a summary of the project in the journal BioScience in which they review the specimens that have been scanned to date and offer a glimpse of how the data might be used to ask new questions ...

More than 120 people gathered for the 2024 Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) Workshop at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) from Feb. 27-28. The event, which was sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), is a part of the INFUSE awards program that funds laboratories or universities so they can partner with private sector companies working on the science and technology ...

The polysaccharide β-1,2-glucan consists of repeating units of glucose linked together by β-1,2-glycosidic bonds. Cyclic β-1,2-glucans (CβGs) occur in different bacterial species and have a role in bacterial infections and symbiotic relationships. CβG biosynthesis is catalyzed by cyclic β-1,2-glucan synthase (CGS), an enzyme that catalyzes the cyclization (closed ring formation) of linear β-1,2-glucan (LβG). Since the method for large-scale enzymatic synthesis of linear β-1,2-glucan has already been established, combining it with this enzyme is technically feasible for efficient ...

Scientists have discovered the gene that enables marine algae to make a unique type of chlorophyll. They successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land. Finding the gene solves a long-standing mystery amongst scientists about the molecular pathways that allow the algae to manufacture this chlorophyll and survive. “Marine algae produce half of all the oxygen we breathe, even more than plants on land. And they feed huge food webs, fish that get eaten by mammals and humans,” said UC Riverside ...

Patients kept asking a question that Nathan Lo, MD, PhD, infectious disease specialist, had a hard time answering: How often should I get my booster shot for COVID-19? “It’s a question that we have all asked. My patients have asked; friends and family members have asked,” Lo said. “We point to the national vaccine recommendations, although increasingly this question has become challenging to answer. I didn’t quite have the estimates on hand that I might hope to share with patients.” To build that evidence, Lo and his team at Stanford ...

XPANCEO, a deep tech company developing the first smart contact lenses with XR vision, health monitoring, and content surfing features, in collaboration with the Nobel laureate Konstantin S. Novoselov (National University of Singapore, University of Manchester) and professor Luis Martin-Moreno (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragon), has announced in Nature Communications a groundbreaking discovery of new properties of rhenium diselenide and rhenium disulfide, enabling novel mode of light-matter interaction with huge potential for integrated photonics, healthcare, and AR. Rhenium disulfide ...

More than 70% of American Indian young adults aged 20-39 and 50% of American Indian teens have cholesterol levels or elevated fat in the blood that put them at risk for cardiovascular disease, suggests a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. In some cases, these levels — specifically high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, often thought of as “bad cholesterol,” — were linked to plaque buildup and cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke.   The findings, ...

New research published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reveals the effects of wearing cosmetic foundation during aerobic exercise on the skin and its pores. The study included 43 healthy college students (20 males and 23 females). Foundation cream was applied to participants on half of the face in two different areas (forehead and upper cheek). The other half of the face served as control. Moisture increased after exercise in both the non-makeup and makeup zones; however, there was a greater increase in moisture in the makeup zones. This may be a result of makeup preventing ...

An increasing number of space objects, debris, and satellites in Low Earth Orbit poses a significant threat of collisions during space operations. The situation is currently monitored by radar and radio-telescopes that track space objects, but much of space debris is composed of very small metallic objects that are difficult to detect. In a study published in IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation, investigators demonstrate the benefits of using deep learning—a form of artificial intelligence—for small space object detection by ...

Research in animals has shown that the diabetes drug dulaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist may reduce symptoms of depression. A new study published in Brain and Behavior reveals the mechanisms that are likely involved. By conducting a range of tests in mice treated with and without dulaglutide, investigators confirmed the effects of dulaglutide on depressive-like behaviors, and they identified 64 different metabolites and four major pathways in the brain associated with these effects. Markers of depression and the antidepressant effects of dulaglutide were linked to lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) programs have recently acquired widespread popularity in dermatology for assessing, diagnosing, and treating skin conditions. As reported in the International Journal of Dermatology, investigators recently analyzed all published studies from the last 10 years to evaluate current AI programs in use for dermatologic purposes, uncovering significant shortcomings when applied to skin of color (SOC). The researchers identified various challenges when this technology is applied to SOC, ...

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aims to broaden healthcare access, but its effect on maternal and newborn health among women with gestational diabetes—or diabetes that develops during pregnancy—across diverse demographics is unclear. In a study published in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, researchers compared the impact of the implementation of the ACA on maternal and newborn health in Maryland (with ACA implementation) and Georgia (without ACA implementation) among 52,479 women. The investigators found that after ACA implementation, Maryland showed improved newborn outcomes compared ...

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have increased in recent decades among children. Because re-injuries after ACL reconstruction are higher in children compared with adults, anterolateral augmentation procedures may reduce re-injury rates after ACL reconstruction in youth. A comprehensive review published in the Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics marks the first attempt to present the outcomes and surgical methods of anterolateral augmentation procedures for skeletally immature patients. “We found many different surgical techniques ...

A specific gene may play a key role in new treatments that prevent muscle in the body from breaking down in serious muscle diseases, muscular dystrophies. This is shown in a new study at Umeå University, Sweden. Protein expressed by the gene naturally prevents the muscles around the eye from being affected when other muscles in the body are broken down during muscular dystrophies. In the study, the so-called genetic scissors were used and the gene is expressed in all muscles. The effects were that muscular dystrophin was alleviated throughout the body. "You could say that the eye muscles function as both an eye-opener for understanding the disease and as a door ...

WASHINGTON (March 6, 2024)--Despite progress toward cleaner air in the US, a new study suggests that communities of color across the nation are shouldering a growing burden of diseases linked to air pollution. A paper published today by researchers at the George Washington University suggests that racial and ethnic disparities in cases of pollutant-linked diseases like asthma increased during the last decade.   “Redlining and systemic racism have resulted in the least white areas of the US being located near factories, congested roadways or shipping routes with heavily ...

If you recently had trouble figuring out if an image of a person is real or generated through artificial intelligence (AI), you're not alone.  A new study from University of Waterloo researchers found that people had more difficulty than was expected distinguishing who is a real person and who is artificially generated.  The Waterloo study saw 260 participants provided with 20 unlabeled pictures: 10 of which were of real people obtained from Google searches, and the other 10 generated by Stable Diffusion or DALL-E, two commonly used AI programs that generate ...

In a groundbreaking study published in Engineering, a collaborative team of researchers from Shanghai University and international experts have unveiled a cutting-edge approach to optimizing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) inspection routes and schedules for engineering projects. The research, led by Lu Zhen, Zhiyuan Yang, Gilbert Laporte, Wen Yi, and Tianyi Fan, introduces an innovative mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model combined with a variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithm, constructing a new approach in the field of engineering management. The rapid development and adoption of UAV technology have opened new horizons for various industries, particularly ...

Basic Human–Robot Interaction by Dr David O Johnson offers practical guidance and insights for conducting experiments in Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) and publishing the results in scientific journals. It includes a detailed explanation of how to conduct an HRI experiment and what to do and what not to do to get an article accepted for publication. It is tailored to those seeking to deepen their understanding of HRI methodologies, statistical measurements, and research design. The book begins with an overview of HRI, unravelling the basics of how robots function, with a specific focus on the verbal and non-verbal aspects of influencing their interactions ...