ATLANTA – Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) of UL Research Institutes confirmed its commitment to protecting environmental and human health when it opened its new research laboratories supporting scientific studies of environmental exposure and its societal health impact. At a ribbon cutting today, CIRI introduced the Center for Exposure Science; the Center for Toxicology and Human Health; and the Center for Advanced Measurements, each with a designated, cutting-edge laboratory. Using the latest tools for measuring nanosized particles and parts per billion levels of chemicals and developing high-throughput cellular techniques for measuring human toxicity, ...

The brain is widely considered the most complex organ in the human body. The intricate mechanisms through which it processes sensory information and how this information affects and is affected by motor control have captivated neuroscientists for more than a century. Today, thanks to advanced laboratory tools and techniques, researchers can use animal models to solve this puzzle, especially in the mouse brain. During the 20th century, experiments with anesthetized mice proved that sensory inputs primarily define neuronal activity in the primary ...

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the start of a period ripe with political, economic, and societal changes. In many former Soviet countries, these abrupt and turbulent transformations posed massive challenges to healthcare systems. Together with spikes in job losses and economic hardships, this led to a steep increase in mortality rates that would later come to be known as the “post-Soviet mortality crisis.”   However, this crisis did not affect all former Soviet countries equally. In particular, former Soviet countries in Central Asia, which include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, saw a ...

Every day, a significant amount of data related to weather, traffic, and social media undergo real-time processing. In traditional cloud computing, this processing occurs on the cloud, raising concerns about issues such as leaks, communication delays, slow speeds, and higher power consumption. Against this backdrop, “edge computing” presents a promising alternative solution. Located near users, it aims to distribute computations, thereby reducing the load and speeding up data processing. Specifically, edge AI, which involves AI processing at the edge, is expected to find applications in, for example, self-driving ...

Fukuoka, Japan—In a study published in Science Advances, a group of researchers led by Associate Professor Nobuhiro Yanai from Kyushu University's Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with Associate Professor Kiyoshi Miyata from Kyushu University and Professor Yasuhiro Kobori of Kobe University, reports that they have achieved quantum coherence at room temperature: the ability of a quantum system to maintain a well-defined state over time without getting affected by surrounding disturbances This breakthrough was made possible by embedding a chromophore, ...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Researchers have taken the first steps toward finding liquid solvents that may someday help extract critical building materials from lunar and Martian-rock dust, an important piece in making long-term space travel possible.   Using machine learning and computational modeling, Washington State University researchers have found about half a dozen good candidates for solvents that can extract materials on the moon and Mars usable in 3D printing. The work, reported in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B, is led by Soumik Banerjee, associate professor in WSU’s School of Mechanical ...

Where we live and work, our age, and the conditions we grew up in can influence our health and lead to disparities, but these factors can be difficult for clinicians and researchers to capture and address. A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham demonstrates that large language models (LLMs), a type of generative artificial intelligence (AI), can be trained to automatically extract information on social determinants of health (SDoH) from clinicians’ notes which could augment efforts to identify patients who may benefit from ...

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a neural implant that provides information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface. The implant is made up of a thin, transparent and flexible polymer strip that is packed with a dense array of graphene electrodes. The technology, tested in transgenic mice, brings the researchers a step closer to building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that provides high-resolution data about deep neural activity by using recordings from the brain surface. The work was published on Jan. 11 in Nature Nanotechnology. “We are expanding the spatial ...

Cities play a key role in climate change and biodiversity and are one of the most recognizable features of the Anthropocene. They also accelerate innovation and shape social networks, while perpetuating and intensifying inequalities. Today over half of all humanity lives in cities, a threshold which will rise to nearly 70% by the mid-21st century. Yet despite their importance for the Anthropocene, cities are not a recent phenomenon. In a new study, an interdisciplinary team of authors from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology ...

Francis Crick Institute press release Under strict embargo: 10:00hrs GMT 11 January 2024 Peer reviewed Observational study People      First prehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from the Iron Age Earliest known person with Jacob’s syndrome identified from Early Medieval Period Individuals with Klinefelter syndrome identified across a range of time periods New technique developed to measure number of chromosomes in ancient genomes more precisely Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, working with University of Oxford, University of York ...

Researchers have linked a decade-long decline in the blood lead levels of American Indian adults to long-term cardiovascular health benefits, including reduced blood pressure levels and a reduction in a marker associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. The research team, supported by the National Institutes of Health, found that adults who had the greatest reductions in blood lead levels saw their systolic blood pressure fall by about 7 mm Hg, an amount comparable to the effects of blood pressure-lowering medication. Lead exposure is known to harm the health of children by damaging the brain and nervous system and slowing growth and development. It has also been associated ...

Through the Strong Heart Family Study, National Institutes of Health-supported researchers found that small declines in blood lead levelswere associated with long-term cardiovascular health improvements in American Indian adults. Participants who had the greatest reductions in blood lead levels saw their systolic blood pressure fall by about 7 mm Hg, an amount comparable to the effects of blood pressure-lowering medication.   The findings as reported from researchers at Columbia ...

A multi-national team of scientists (China, USA, New Zealand, Italy, and France) analyze the temperature of the Earth annually. These scientists have found a fever that increases every year. For the past decade, each year has been hotter than the prior year in the ocean. And there are other changes in the ocean that also matter. The ocean is an important part of the Earth's climate system – it covers 70% of the planet and absorbs about 90% of the heat from global warming. The ocean helps control the atmosphere – a warmer ocean leads to a warmer and moister atmosphere with wilder weather. The ocean also controls ...

In a new study, environmentally benign inverse-perovskites with high energy conversion efficiency have been reported by Tokyo Tech scientists with potential for practical application as thermoelectric materials (TEMs). Addressing the limitations typically faced with TEMs, such as insufficient energy conversion efficiency and environmental toxicity due to heavy elements, the new TEMs provide a suitable alternative to TEMs based on toxic elements with better thermoelectric properties than conventional eco-friendly TEMs.  Thermoelectric materials (TEMs) capable of converting thermal energy to electrical energy and vice versa have become an essential part of our world, which needs ...

Humans learn which behaviors pay off and which don’t from watching others. Based on this, we may draw conclusions about how to act – or eat. In the case of the latter, people may use each other as guides to determine what and how much to eat. This is called social modelling and is one of the most powerful social influences on eating behavior. In a new study, researchers in the UK investigated whether observing others’ facial expressions while eating raw broccoli influenced young women’s liking and desire to ...

Osaka, Japan – Approximately 5% of global carbon emissions are attributable to producing the chemicals that are essential to modern life. Creating a sustainable solution to one chemical reaction in particular – the autoxidation of aldehydes – has challenged researchers for decades. Now, in a study recently published in Green Chemistry, researchers from Osaka University, Shizuoka Institute of Science & Technology, and collaborating partners have solved this problem. Through reaction kinetics and mathematical ...

Controlling the direction of magnetization using low electric field is necessary for developing efficient spintronic devices. In spintronics, properties of an electron’s spin or magnetic moment are used to store information. The electron spins can be manipulated by straining orbital magnetic moments to create a high-performance magnetoelectric effect. Japanese researchers, including Jun Okabayashi from the University of Tokyo, revealed a strain-induced orbital control mechanism in interfacial multiferroics. In multiferroic material, the magnetic property ...

Study Finds Hospital Surfaces Can Harbor Harmful Microbes Even After Routine Disinfection Microbial contamination, including harmful pathogens, was found on bed rails, workstations, and other frequently-touched surfaces Arlington, Va. — January 11, 2024 — A new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) reports microbial contamination — including pathogenic and potentially pathogenic bacteria — on high-touch hospital surfaces despite compliance with recommended disinfection protocols. The findings shed light on the persistent challenge of reducing healthcare-associated infections ...

In a study published in Nature Biotechnology, GAO Caixia's group from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a series of new prime editors based on the Cas12a protein, further expanding the targeting scope and applications of precision genome editing. Prime editing (PE) enables precise, targeted DNA insertions, deletions, and replacements. To date, all efficient prime editors have been based on Cas9. However, the Cas9 has certain disadvantages that limit the broad application of prime editors. For example, it is too large, experiences higher levels of off-target editing, and has limited effectiveness ...

Exploring advanced combustion mode with high efficiency and low emissions has been the dream of successive generations of researchers. Conventional diesel engines have high compression ratios thus with thermal efficiencies of 35%–45%, but the diffusion combustion characteristics of diesel make NOx and soot emissions high. Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is an advanced combustion mode in the field of internal combustion engines, which combines the advantages of the high efficiency of diesel engines and the low emissions of gasoline engines.  Although the GCI mode ...

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have matured to commercial level. Yet, their widespread market adoption is hindered due to high costs and complicated device architecture. Researchers are actively exploring innovative device engineering strategies to circumvent these issues. Narayanan Unni and co-workers have tried to address the above challenges by exploiting a concept called exciplex. Exciplex emission is possible at the interface of two different materials which may not be luminescent themselves. This provides an opportunity to use relatively cheaper materials instead of costly fluorescent or phosphorescent emitter materials. They ...

OAKLAND, CA – The California Energy Commission (CEC) has selected PSE Healthy Energy to support their development of social cost and non-energy benefit metrics for the deployment of clean energy resources. These metrics will be used to evaluate scenarios for achieving California’s clean energy goals, including through California’s 100 percent clean energy target, as defined in Senate Bill 100 (SB100). “Transitioning to 100 percent renewable and zero-carbon electricity resources by 2045 will reshape California’s energy systems,” ...

People taking medical cannabis for chronic pain have a slightly increased risk of arrhythmia, according to research published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Thursday). Arrhythmia is when the heart beats too slowly, too quickly or irregularly. It includes conditions like atrial fibrillation.   Recreational use of cannabis has been linked to cardiovascular disease but there has been very little research on the side effects of medical cannabis.   Researchers say the new study is important as a growing number of countries now permit medical cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain.   The study was ...

Researchers from The University of Queensland have launched the world’s biggest drug survey, to gain insight into drug use around the globe. The Global Drug Survey was founded by Professor Adam Winstock from University College London and has been running annually since 2012. This year the survey is led by Dr Cheneal Puljevic from UQ’s School of Public Health. “The aim of the Global Drug Survey is to make drug use safer for people, regardless of the drug’s legality,” Dr Puljevic said. “We hope to gain insight ...

Sixty percent of US physicians serving as panel and task force members for the American Psychiatric Association’s official manual of psychiatric disorders received payments from industry totalling $14.24m, finds a study published by The BMJ. Because of the enormous influence of diagnostic and treatment guidelines, the researchers say their findings “raise questions about the editorial independence of this diagnostic manual.” Often referred to as the ‘bible’ of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR) ...