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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Newly discovered protein prevents DNA triplication

This is a natural 'anti-failure' mechanism in the DNA copying process, hitherto unknown. The DNA molecule is copied each time a cell divides. If, instead of being copied once, the DNA is copied several times, i.e. tripled or even quadrupled, the likelihood of cancer increases.. The new discovered anti-failure system relies on a protein called RAD51 to prevent DNA that has already been copied from being copied again. Every time a cell divides, its DNA is duplicated so that the two daughter cells have the same genetic material as their parent. This means that millions of times a day ...

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Environment4 Mar 2024

Less ice in the arctic ocean has complex effects on marine ecosystems and ocean productivity

Over the past 25 years, the amount of summer Arctic sea ice has diminished by more than 1 million square kilometers. As a result, vast areas of the Arctic Ocean are now, on average, ice free in summer. Scientists are closely monitoring how this impacts sunlight availability and marine ecosystems in the far north. “Many questions arise when such large areas become ice-free and can receive sunlight. A prevailing paradigm suggests that the Arctic Ocean is rapidly becoming more productive as sunlight becomes ...

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Environment4 Mar 2024

Antarctica’s coasts are becoming less icy

EMBARGOED UNTIL MARCH 4, 2024 AT 3:00PM U.S EASTERN TIME An increase in pockets of open water in Antarctica’s sea ice (polynyas) may mean coastal plants and animals could one day establish on the continent, University of Otago-led research suggests. The research, published in the prestigious international journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, aimed at understanding where open water might allow coastal species to settle in the future. Led by Research Fellow Dr Grant Duffy from Otago’s Department ...

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Social Science4 Mar 2024

New research shows migrating animals learn by experience

THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL MARCH 4, 2024, at 3:00 PM U.S. EASTERN TIME. Research led by scientists from University of Wyoming and Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior shows that migrating animals refine their behavior as they get older, suggesting that experiential learning is an important part of successful migration. While genetics and social behavior are important factors shaping animal migrations, information gained through individual experience also appears to help shape migratory movements, says a research team led by Ellen Aikens. Aikens, ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Modeling the origins of life: New evidence for an “RNA World”

LA JOLLA (March 4, 2024)—Charles Darwin described evolution as "descent with modification." Genetic information in the form of DNA sequences is copied and passed down from one generation to the next. But this process must also be somewhat flexible, allowing slight variations of genes to arise over time and introduce new traits into the population. But how did all of this begin? In the origins of life, long before cells and proteins and DNA, could a similar sort of evolution have taken place on a simpler scale? ...

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Energy4 Mar 2024

Scientists put forth a smarter way to protect a smarter grid

RICHLAND, Wash.—There’s a down side to “smart” devices: They can be hacked. That makes the electric grid, increasingly chock full of devices that interact with one another and make critical decisions, vulnerable to bad actors who might try to turn off the power, damage the system or worse. But smart devices are a big part of our future as the world moves more toward renewable energy and the many new devices to manage it. Already, such tools play a big role in keeping the power humming. The portion of the grid owned by ...

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Science4 Mar 2024

An evolutionary mystery 125 million years in the making

Plant genomics has come a long way since Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) helped sequence the first plant genome. But engineering the perfect crop is still, in many ways, a game of chance. Making the same DNA mutation in two different plants doesn’t always give us the crop traits we want. The question is why not? CSHL plant biologists just dug up a reason. CSHL Professor and HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and his team discovered that tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants can use very different regulatory systems to control the same exact ...

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Technology4 Mar 2024

Data science approach to identifying thermal conductivity-related structural factors in amorphous materials

1. Using data science techniques, a NIMS–Tohoku University research team has discovered that different thermal conductivities exhibited by an amorphous material with the same composition are attributable to the sizes of atomic rings in its atomic structure. This is one of the first studies demonstrating that the structural features of amorphous materials can be correlated with their physical properties. 2. It is already feasible to synthesize amorphous materials with the same compositions but different thermal conductivities. However, the structural factors responsible for differences in thermal conductivity had yet to be identified due to a lack of appropriate analytical ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Deciphering the male breast cancer genome

Male breast cancer has distinct alterations in the tumor genome that may suggest potential treatment targets, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. They have conducted the first whole genome sequencing analysis of male breast cancer, which looked at the complete DNA landscape of tumor samples from 10 patients. This is an important step in viewing breast cancer in men, which represents less than 1 percent of all breast cancer cases each year, as a unique disease. Though most research has focused on women with breast cancer, the incidence in men has increased at a much faster rate than in women over the last 40 years. Also, ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Detection of suicide-related emergencies among children using real-world clinical data: A free webinar from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

According to the CDC, the suicide rate among young people ages 10‒24 increased 62% from 2007 through 2021. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Summary reports that in 2021, 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide during the year and 18% made a suicide plan. These statistics indicate a mental health crisis facing our youth. How can we identify children in crisis? Who is being missed? The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is hosting a free webinar, “Detection of Suicide-Related Emergencies Among ...

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Environment4 Mar 2024

Editor-in-Chief of Sustainability and Climate Change Madhavi Venkatesan named USA TODAY Woman of the Year for Massachusetts for leading plastic bottle ban efforts

Madhavi Venkatesan, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Sustainability and Climate Change and founder of Sustainable Practices, has been named USA TODAY Woman of the Year for the state of Massachusetts in recognition of her outstanding efforts to eliminate single-use plastic bottles across Cape Cod and the Islands. With economics and sustainability at the forefront, Venkatesan established Sustainable Practices in 2016, aiming to address pressing environmental issues through innovative solutions. Since then, she and her nonprofit team have spearheaded ...

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Physics4 Mar 2024

Tests show high-temperature superconducting magnets are ready for fusion

In the predawn hours of Sept. 5, 2021, engineers achieved a major milestone in the labs of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), when a new type of magnet, made from high-temperature superconducting material, achieved a world-record magnetic field strength of 20 tesla for a large-scale magnet. That’s the intensity needed to build a fusion power plant that is expected to produce a net output of power and potentially usher in an era of virtually limitless power production. The test was immediately declared ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Zika vaccine safe, effective when administered during pregnancy

A vaccine against Zika virus is safe and effective when administered both before and during pregnancy, according to new research published in npj Vaccines. The purified, inactivated Zika vaccine (ZPIV) candidate, developed by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), is being evaluated in animal models at Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) in collaboration with WRAIR and Trudeau Institute in New York. The vaccine candidate has previously been shown to effectively block prenatal Zika virus transmission when given to nonhuman primates ...

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Science4 Mar 2024

Firearm ownership is correlated with elevated lead levels in children, study finds

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Childhood lead exposure, primarily from paint and water, is a significant health concern in the United States, but a new study has identified a surprising additional source of lead exposure that may disproportionately harm children: firearms. A team led by researchers at Brown University found an association between household firearm ownership and elevated lead levels in children’s blood in 44 states, even when controlling for other major lead exposure ...

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Social Science4 Mar 2024

Role of African women and young people in agricultural service provision investigated in new CABI-led study

The role of African women and young people engaged in agricultural service provision has been investigated in a new CABI-led study published in the CABI Agriculture and Bioscience journal. By combining a literature review with ongoing action research in Kenya, the scientists provide insights into the main characteristics, benefits, and shortfalls of business models for engaging women and young people in agricultural service provision in Africa. ‘Not a panacea to the challenges faced’ The findings show that the engagement of African women and young people in agricultural service provision is ‘not a panacea to the challenges they face’ such as limited ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

26th International Conference of the Redox Medicine Society Set for June 2024 in Paris, France

The Redox Medicine Society (RMS) is pleased to announce the 26th International Conference of the Redox Medicine, taking place from June 27 to June 28, 2024, in Paris, France. Redox Medicine 2024 will gather the world’s leading experts in redox biology, signaling pathways, and their impact on medicine, promising to highlight the current and future state of Redox Medicine. The influence of redox processes, redox biology, and redox signaling pathways extends across a broad spectrum of physiological and pathological phenomena. A deeper comprehension of the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving these redox interactions is pivotal for the development of innovative ...

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Earth Science4 Mar 2024

Geologists explore the hidden history of Colorado’s Spanish Peaks

If you’ve driven the mostly flat stretch of I-25 in Colorado from Pueblo to Trinidad, you’ve seen them: the Spanish Peaks, twin mountains that soar into the sky out of nowhere, reaching altitudes of 13,628 and 12,701 feet above sea level. In a new study, geologists from the University of Colorado Boulder have laid out a timeline for the emergence of these majestic but isolated mountains. The team’s findings could bring scientists closer to answering one of the most enduring puzzles in Colorado geology: What made ...

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Science4 Mar 2024

Webb unlocks secrets of one of the most distant galaxies ever seen

Looking deeply into space and time, two teams using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old. Initially detected with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, this galaxy — one of the youngest and most distant ever observed — is so bright that it is challenging scientists to understand why. Now, GN-z11 is giving up some of its secrets. Vigorous Black Hole Is Most Distant Ever Found A team studying ...

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Science4 Mar 2024

3D-printed skin closes wounds and contains hair follicle precursors

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Fat tissue holds the key to 3D printing layered living skin and potentially hair follicles, according to researchers who recently harnessed fat cells and supporting structures from clinically procured human tissue to precisely correct injuries in rats. The advancement could have implications for reconstructive facial surgery and even hair growth treatments for humans. The team’s findings published today (March 1) in Bioactive Materials. The U.S. Patent and Trademark ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Discovered a RNA molecule that helps prevent DNA replication errors

Researchers at Cima Universidad de Navarra have discovered that a ribonucleic acid that does not contain information to make proteins (long non-coding RNA) plays a crucial role in signalling and repairing errors in DNA replication during cell division. This finding could lead to the development of new anti-tumour therapies. Scientists have identified an RNA that they named 'lncREST' (long non-coding RNA REplication STress) and uncovered its role in triggering an effective response to the stress induced by rapid cell division. "LncREST localises ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Small and overlooked: Amount of repetitive DNA in blood hints at cancer early

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE People with cancer have different amounts of a type of repetitive DNA — called Alu elements — than people without cancer. Now, machine learning can measure that from a blood draw. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have used this finding to improve a test that detects cancer early, validating and reproducing the results by starting with a sample size tenfold larger than typical of such types of studies. The research was published Jan. 24 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Alu ...

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Space4 Mar 2024

Study determines the original orientations of rocks drilled on Mars

As it trundles around an ancient lakebed on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is assembling a one-of-a-kind rock collection. The car-sized explorer is methodically drilling into the Red Planet’s surface and pulling out cores of bedrock that it’s storing in sturdy titanium tubes. Scientists hope to one day return the tubes to Earth and analyze their contents for traces of embedded microbial life. Since it touched down on the surface of Mars in 2021, the rover has filled 20 of its 43 tubes with cores of bedrock. Now, MIT geologists have remotely determined a crucial property of the rocks collected to date, which will help scientists answer key questions about the planet’s ...

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Medicine4 Mar 2024

Illinois study: Supporting disease-challenged broiler chickens through nutrition

URBANA, Ill. — When broiler chickens are busy fighting the parasitic infection coccidiosis, they can’t absorb nutrients efficiently or put energy toward growth. With consumer sentiment pitted against antimicrobials and other drugs, producers still have some options to ensure optimal growth during inevitable outbreaks. New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests diet changes might help. “Vaccines and anticoccidials are the traditional ways to prevent this disease. Nutrition can't replace all of the pharmaceuticals, but it can be supportive in providing care,” said senior study author Ryan Dilger, ...

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Social Science4 Mar 2024

Communities severed by roads and traffic experience a larger number of collisions in New York City

March 4, 2024- New York City neighborhoods with disrupted community connections, due to traffic, roads, and transport infrastructure, are experiencing an increase in traffic collisions. This increase is seen both in total collisions and for those in which pedestrians or cyclists are injured or killed, according to a new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The findings are reported in the journal Environment International. “Despite recent remarkable progress, road safety remains an urgent urban issue in New York and other U.S. cities. It is important to understand how the spatial configuration of the city enhances ...

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Science4 Mar 2024

Study shows new class of antivirals that works against SARS-CoV-2

EDMONTON — A University of Alberta research team has uncovered a new class of drugs with the potential to prevent or treat infections in a future viral outbreak. In the paper, published this week in Nature, the team reports that SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — activates a pathway in cells that stops the production of peroxisomes and interferon, key parts of the normal immune response. The team successfully tested a new class of antiviral drugs that stimulate interferon production to reverse that effect. Tom ...

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