When biologist Elizabeth Carlen pulled up in her 2007 Subaru for her first look around St. Louis, she was already checking for the squirrels. Arriving as a newcomer from New York City, Carlen had scrolled through maps and lists of recent sightings in a digital application called iNaturalist. This app is a popular tool for reporting and sharing sightings of animals and plants. People often start using apps like iNaturalist and eBird when they get interested in a contributory science project (also sometimes called a citizen science project). Armed with cellphones equipped with cameras and GPS, app-wielding volunteers can submit geolocated data that iNaturalist then translates into user-friendly ...

HOUSTON – (March 5, 2024) – Nai-Hui Chia, an assistant professor of computer science at Rice University, has won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to develop a new theoretical framework to facilitate the development of efficient quantum algorithms for a range of problems in quantum physics and computer science as well as enhance the security of quantum cryptography. The highly competitive grants are awarded each year to a selective cohort of about 500 early career faculty across all disciplines engaged in pathbreaking research and committed to growing their field through outreach and education. “Quantum computing holds immense ...

WHAT: The monthly dapivirine vaginal ring and daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine were each found to be safe for HIV prevention among cisgender women who started using one of them in their second trimester of pregnancy, according to findings presented today at the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Denver. Pregnant people are estimated to be three times more likely to acquire HIV through sexual intercourse than similarly aged people who ...

Michelson Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) and Human Immunome Project (HIP) have awarded Dr. Siyuan Ding (Washington University in St. Louis), Dr. Claire Otero (Weill Cornell Medicine), and Dr. Dennis Schaefer-Babajew (Rockefeller University) the Michelson Prizes: Next Generation Grants, the organizations announced today.  The $150,000 research grants are awarded annually to support early-career scientists advancing human immunology, vaccine discovery, and immunotherapy research for major global ...

Since more than a decade it has been possible for physicists to accurately measure the location of individual atoms to a precision of smaller than one thousandth of a millimeter using a special type of microscope. However, this method has so far only provided the x and y coordinates. Information on the vertical position of the atom – i.e., the distance between the atom and the microscope objective – is lacking. A new method has now been developed that can determine all three spatial coordinates of an atom with one single image. This method – developed by the University of Bonn and University of Bristol ...

CLEVELAND – New Cleveland Clinic-led research points to sildenafil (Viagra) as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The study provides evidence from computational models, insurance claims data and observations from brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.   Sildenafil is the main component of drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction (Viagra) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (Revatio). “Our findings provide further weight to re-purposing this existing FDA-approved drug as a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s, which is in great need of new therapies,” ...

Antarctic researchers hitched a lift on a cruise ship, and recommend this eco-friendly, collaborative approach to remote ocean science.  #### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000348 Article Title: New methods of undertaking marine science in Antarctica using tourism vessels Contact:  Matthew Mulrennan; matt@kolossal.org Author Countries: Canada, United States Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. END ...

March 5, 2024, Mountain View, CA – The moon lander Odysseus, known as Odie, touched down on the Moon's surface on February 22, becoming the first time the U.S. has landed on the Moon in more than 50 years and the first commercial moon lander to successfully land on the Moon. Along with its science payload, the spacecraft also brought along a fusion of art and space exploration, SETI Institute's Artist in Residence (SETI AIR), Felipe Pérez Santiago's Earthling Project, a collection of global musical compositions representing Earth's cultural ...

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology researchers Jonathan Sweedler, a professor of chemistry, and Fan Lam, a professor of bioengineering, outlined how spatial omics technologies can reveal the molecular intricacy of the brain at different scales. Their research appeared this month in Nature Methods. The researchers and their colleagues used a biochemical imaging framework integrated with deep learning to create 3D molecular maps with cell specificity to better understand how the brain functions in health and disease. Their research is supported by a $3 million grant from ...

WHAT: A weekly injection of semaglutide was safe and reduced the amount of fat in the liver by 31% in people with HIV and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), according to a presentation today at the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Denver. This is the first clinical trial of semaglutide for MASLD in people with HIV. The research was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted in the United States and Brazil by ACTG, a global clinical trials network focused on HIV and other infectious diseases. ...

The Lancet: Experts warn about the overmedicalisation of menopause and call for a new approach to how society views menopause and supports women as they age Menopause is a life stage for half the world’s population and is generally depicted in a negative way. However, women’s experiences of menopause are unique and vary hugely.  The Lancet 2024 Series on menopause argues that an over-simplified narrative of menopause as a health problem to be solved by replacing hormones is not based on evidence and deflects attention from the need for substantial societal shifts in how menopause, and midlife/older women in general, are viewed and treated around the world. The ...

A new review paper from authors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and collaborators concludes that menopause does not uniformly elevate the risk of depression and other mental health conditions. Menopause has long been thought to cause psychological distress, but a new review suggests that this is not always the case. The review, written by experts from Brigham Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and international collaborators, is the third in a series of menopause-themed papers published in The ...

1. A research team consisting of NIMS and the Tokyo Institute of Technology has identified materials capable of catalyzing the conversion of ortho-hydrogen to para-hydrogen. These catalysts should be essential to the spread of mass-transportation/storage of liquid hydrogen. 2. Hydrogen is becoming widely accepted as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels. Its liquefaction (at temperatures below -253°C under pressures higher than one atmosphere) can dramatically reduce its volume, making it suitable for transportation and storage. Hydrogen molecules (H2)—each composed of two hydrogen atoms—exist in two isomeric forms: ortho- and para-H2. Under normal conditions, ...

Retirement is a major transition that can have a significant impact on a person’s life. For some, retirement evokes thoughts of slowing down, relaxing, and enjoying more of what life has to offer. For others, ending a regular work schedule can create stress and uncertainties about being able to pay necessary bills and maintain adequate medical care. A new study by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health examines how retirement affects mental health and related inpatient mental health care among female workers in China, ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: LEVI GADYE (628) 399-1046 Levi.Gadye@ucsf.edu  Subscribe to UCSF News A Smart Molecule Beats the Mutation Behind Most Pancreatic Cancer  Scientists discover a new way to disarm a deadly protein that also appears in cancers of the lung, breast and colon. UC San Francisco researchers have designed a candidate drug that could help make pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, a treatable, perhaps even curable, condition. The new molecule permanently modifies a wily cancer-causing ...

In a new Nature Communications study, Columbia Engineering researchers report that they have built highly conductive, tunable single-molecule devices in which the molecule is attached to leads by using direct metal-metal contacts. Their novel approach uses light to control the electronic properties of the devices and opens the door to broader use of metal-metal contacts that could facilitate electron transport across the single-molecule device.  The challenge As devices continue to shrink, their electronic ...

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (03/05/2024) – Boston College researchers used a mild charge of electricity to precisely modify proteins, a new tool that can be used to develop novel biotherapeutics and protein-based research tools, the team reported recently in the journal Nature Chemistry. The team, led by BC professors of chemistry Abhishek Chatterjee and Eranthie Weerapana, developed and optimized a novel electrochemical protein labeling reaction called "eCLIC", that enables precise modification of site-specifically incorporated 5-hydroxytryptophan (5HTP) residues on many different proteins including full-length therapeutic antibodies. “We used this strategy to generate ...

There are plenty of reasons to worry about the quality of contemporary Canadian journalism, beyond shrinking newsrooms and attention spans. Once considered a vital pillar of a healthy democracy, the country’s biggest newspapers have been embracing the type of content critics refer to as “infotainment,” which uses entertainment-style methods to communicate politically relevant information. In a new paper published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, PhD candidate Robert Marinov examines, measures and evaluates the scope and nature ...

AMES, Iowa – At a Biotechnology Council event a few years ago, Nicole Valenzuela’s ears perked up when she heard what a group of researchers in Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine had in the works: a method for creating a lab-grown, simplified mimic of dog intestines. “I told them, ‘Oh! I want to do that but with turtles. Is it doable?” said Nicole Valenzuela, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State. It is indeed doable, new research from a team led by Valenzuela shows. The three-dimensional clusters ...

Parkinson’s disease patients who experience freezing of gait (a sudden inability to initiate or continue movement, often resulting in a fall) wake up several times during the night, feel sleepy during the day, and have REM sleep behavior disorder. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep plays a role in the maintenance of many cognitive processes.  These are key findings of a study supported by FAPESP and conducted by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil and Grenoble Alps University (UGA) in France. An article on the study is published in ...

PITTSBURGH, March 5, 2024 -- Results of the third and final cohort of the DELIVER (MTN-042) Phase IIIb study found no safety concerns with use of the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring beginning during the second trimester of pregnancy and up to the time of delivery, researchers reported today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) in Denver. With this latest data, the researchers believe there is now sufficient evidence that the dapivirine ring is safe to use ...

TORONTO, March 5, 2024 – Will ice floating in the Arctic Ocean move faster or slower over the coming decades? The answer to this question will tell us whether marine transportation can be expected to get more or less hazardous. It might also have important implications for the rate of ice cover loss, which is hugely consequential for Northern Indigenous communities, ecosystems, and the global climate system.   While observational data suggest the trend has been towards faster sea ice speeds, ...

The Lundbeck Foundation has announced the recipients of The Brain Prize 2024, the world’s largest award for outstanding contributions to neuroscience. This year’s award recognizes the pioneering work of three leading neuroscientists – Professor Larry Abbott at Columbia University (USA), Professor Terrence Sejnowski at the Salk Institute (USA), and Professor Haim Sompolinsky at Harvard University (USA) and the Hebrew University (Israel). Theoretical and computational neuroscience permeates neuroscience today ...

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed a new catheter-based device that combines two powerful optical techniques to image the dangerous plaques that can build up inside the arteries that supply blood to the heart. By providing new details about plaque, the device could help clinicians and researchers improve treatments for preventing heart attacks and strokes. Atherosclerosis occurs when fats, cholesterol and other substances accumulate on the artery walls, which can cause these vessels to become thick ...

(Boston)—Each year, approximately 2,000 people die annually of gallbladder cancer (GBC) in the U.S., with only one in five cases diagnosed at an early stage. With GBC rated as the first biliary tract cancer and the 17th most deadly cancer worldwide, pressing attention for proper management of disease must be addressed. For patients diagnosed, surgery is the most promising curative treatment. While there has been increasing adoption of minimally invasive surgical techniques in gastrointestinal malignancies, including utilization of laparoscopic ...