UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Microorganisms — bacteria, viruses and other tiny life forms — may drive biological variation in visible life as much, if not more, than genetic mutations, creating new lineages and even new species of animals and plants, according to Seth Bordenstein, director of Penn State’s One Health Microbiome Center, professor of biology and entomology, and the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Microbiome Sciences. Bordenstein and 21 other scientists from around the world published a paper in the leading journal Science, summarizing research that they said drives a deeper understanding of biological ...

Ghent, November 15, 2024 – Understanding how roots grow can help us develop plants that, for example, are more resistant to drought. Research by Prof. Bert De Rybel’s team (VIB-UGent), in collaboration with the VIB Screening Core and Ghent University, uncovers how roots go through a puberty phase, which could have important implications for developing climate-resilient agriculture. Their work appears in Science.   Plant puberty  Plants, like all living organisms, transition through various developmental stages, starting as a seed, becoming a shoot, and eventually a full-grown, fertile plant. They even go through a sort of ‘puberty’ ...

Hydrogen is set to play an important role in a future low-carbon economy. However, the hydrogen value chain comes with a set of emissions challenges that need to be addressed for hydrogen deployment to help achieve climate goals. A study prepared by the Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS) with support from Environmental Defense Fund Europe evaluates the potential impact of climate-warming emissions in Germany’s future hydrogen economy and provides recommendations for German and EU policymakers on how to avoid them. There are hopes that hydrogen can become a carbon neutral alternative to fossil ...

For decades, Disney animations have shaped perceptions of family relationships and gender roles. Although much focus has traditionally been on princesses and female characters, a new study shifts attention to fatherhood and the evolving ideals of masculinity. "In the history of Disney films, female characters and princess imagery have been widely analyzed, yet the role of masculinity has been explored far less. My research aims to deepen our understanding of the male ideals Disney has constructed and how they reflect ...

Most people think of coffee cups, bathroom tiles or flower pots when they hear the word "ceramic". Not so Frank Clemens. For the research group leader in Empa's Laboratory for High-Performance Ceramics, ceramics can conduct electricity, be intelligent, and even feel. Together with his team, Clemens is developing soft sensor materials based on ceramics. Such sensors can "feel" temperature, strain, pressure or humidity, for instance, which makes them interesting for use in medicine, but also in the field of soft robotics. Soft ceramics – how is that supposed to work? Materials ...

About The Study: This study found significant rate increases for alcohol-induced liver disease-related hospitalizations and liver transplants across sex and age groups between 2005 and 2021. Although older males had the highest absolute increases, the greatest relative increases occurred in younger individuals, particularly females. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Michele Molinari, MD, MSc, email molinarim@upmc.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

About The Study: This systematic review and network meta-analysis found that spinal cord stimulation therapies for treatment of chronic pain in back and/or lower extremities were associated with greater improvements in pain compared with conventional medical management. These findings highlight the potential of spinal cord stimulation therapies as an effective and valuable option in chronic pain management. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Konstantinos Soulanis, M.Sc., email konstantinos.soulanis@iqvia.com. To access ...

Most cancer treatments – from chemotherapies to engineered immune cells – have a host of side effects, in large part because they affect healthy cells in the body at the same time as targeting tumor cells. For the same reason, designing new cancer drugs can be challenging due to the molecular similarities between tumor cells and healthy cells.   Now, UC San Francisco researchers have designed highly customizable biological sensors which can ensure that engineered cells are only activated in certain environments – such as the vicinity of a tumor. This could yield cancer therapies ...

Two conflicting memories can both be activated in a worm’s brain, even if only one memory actively drives the animal’s behaviour, finds a new study by UCL researchers. In the paper published in Current Biology, the researchers showed how an animal’s sex drive can at times outweigh the need to eat when determining behaviour, as they investigated what happens when a worm smells an odour that has been linked to both good experiences (mating) and bad experiences (starvation). The scientists were seeking ...

Scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have uncovered an unexpected role for the molecule netrin1 in organizing the developing spinal cord.  The researchers discovered that netrin1, which is known primarily as a guidance cue that directs growing nerve fibers, also limits bone morphogenetic protein, or BMP, signaling to specific regions of the spinal cord. This boundary-setting function is critical because this signaling activity must be precisely confined to the dorsal region for sensory neurons to develop properly.  Their findings, published in Cell ...

Miami (November 14, 2024) – Researchers are exploring how small airway abnormalities in younger smokers could help identify who is at risk of developing COPD and establish how the chronic lung disease progresses, according to a new article. The article is published in the September 2024 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease, comprising several conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and can be caused ...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST) in partnership with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) successfully completed development of a spaceflight qualified robotics suite capable of servicing satellites in orbit, Oct. 8. Under DARPA funding, NRL developed the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) Integrated Robotic Payload (IRP). This transformative new space capability was delivered to DARPA’s commercial partner, Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics, for ...

An international, phase 3 clinical trial led by investigators at Mass General Brigham could improve the treatment of a rare disease that can cause debilitating symptoms. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that treatment with inebilizumab greatly reduced the symptoms of immunoglobulin G4–related disease (IgG4-RD), compared to placebo. “This is a huge day in the history of this disease,” said lead author John Stone, MD, MPH, a rheumatologist in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. “We are thrilled to have ...

A new multi-national study has revealed that the shape of the heart is influenced in part by genetics and may help predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases.   Researchers from Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, University of Zaragoza and University College London, as well as Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña are first to examine the genetic basis of the heart’s left and right ventricles using advanced 3D imaging and machine learning.   Prior ...

The world appears to be plagued by crises. “The financial crisis, the European debt crisis, the migration crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza… The world seems to be stumbling from one existential crisis to the next, barely recovering from one before the next one hits,” said Stefan Geiß, a professor from the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). However, are there really more crises now than before? Has it always been this way, or is something new happening? And if there are more public crises today ...

NEW ORLEANS (November 14, 2024) — A new study from Uganda provides the first evidence to date that resistance to a lifesaving malaria drug may be emerging in the group of patients that accounts for most of the world’s malaria deaths: young African children suffering from serious infections. The study, presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), documented partial resistance to the malaria drug artemisinin in 11 of 100 children, ages 6 months to 12 years, who were being treated for ...

If you want to seem sincere and receive more responses to your texts, spell out words instead of abbreviating them, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.  Researchers conducted eight experiments with a total of more than 5,300 participants using various methods. Across the experiments, individuals who used texting abbreviations were perceived as more insincere and were less likely to receive replies because they were seen as exerting less effort in text conversations. The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.   “In daily interactions, ...

Highlights: The Atacama Desert is one of the most extreme habitats on Earth. Atacama surface soil samples include a mix of DNA from inside and outside living cells. A new technique allows researchers to separate external and internal DNA to identify microbes colonizing this hostile environment. This approach for analyzing microbial communities could potentially be applied to other hostile environments, like those on other planets.  Washington, D.C.—The Atacama Desert, which runs along the Pacific Coast in Chile, is the driest place on the planet and, largely because of that aridity, hostile to most living things. ...

About The Study: This study found artemisinin partial resistance in Ugandan children with complicated malaria associated with the Pfkelch13 A675V variation and also found suboptimal 28-day efficacy of parenteral artesunate followed by oral artemether/lumefantrine therapy.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Chandy C. John, MD, MS, email chjohn@iu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.22343) Editor’s Note: Please see the ...

Sometimes the holes, or pores, in the molecular structure of a chemical only appear in the presence of certain conditions or other ‘guest’ molecules. This affects the field of separation—one of the most important processes in industry—but researchers have only just begun to unravel this phenomenon Researchers have explored how a particular chemical can selectively trap certain molecules in the cavities of its structure—even though in normal conditions it has no such cavities. This innovative material with now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t holes could lead to more efficient methods for separating ...

A group of South Korean researchers has successfully developed an integrated quantum circuit chip using photons (light particles). This achievement is expected to enhance the global competitiveness of the team in quantum computation research. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that they have developed a system capable of controlling eight photons using a photonic integrated-circuit chip. With this system, they can explore various quantum phenomena, such as multipartite entanglement resulting from the interaction of the photons. ETRI’s extensive research on silicon-photonic quantum ...

Collecting images of suspicious-looking skin growths and sending them off-site for specialists to analyze is as accurate in identifying skin cancers as having a dermatologist examine them in person, a new study shows. According to the study authors, the findings add to evidence that such technology could help to reliably address diagnostic and treatment disparities for lower-income populations with limited access to dermatologists. It may also help dermatologists quickly catch cases of melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer that kills more than 8,000 Americans a year. Their new system, which the researchers call SpotCheck, enables skin cancer specialists ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have identified new roles for a protein long known to protect against severe flu infection – among them, raising the minimum number of viral particles needed to cause sickness. The protein also helps prevent unfamiliar viruses from mutating after they infect a new host, the study found – meaning its absence during an immune response could enable an animal virus spilled over to people to adapt rapidly to human hosts. The combined findings by scientists at The Ohio State University add up to potential trouble for people deficient in the protein, called IFITM3 – especially if an avian or swine flu were to gain ...

Hydrogen is a promising energy source due to its high energy density and zero carbon emissions, making it a key element in the shift toward carbon neutrality. Traditional hydrogen production methods, like coal gasification and steam methane reforming, release carbon dioxide, undermining environmental goals. Electrochemical water splitting, which yields only hydrogen and oxygen, presents a cleaner alternative. While proton exchange membrane (PEM) and alkaline water electrolyzers (AWEs) are available, they face limitations in either cost or efficiency. PEM electrolyzers, for instance, rely on costly platinum group metals (PGMs) as catalysts, whereas ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A “deep learning” artificial intelligence model developed at Washington State University can identify pathology, or signs of disease, in images of animal and human tissue much faster, and often more accurately, than people. The development, detailed in Scientific Reports, could dramatically speed up the pace of disease-related research. It also holds potential for improved medical diagnosis, such as detecting cancer from a biopsy image in a matter of minutes, a process that typically takes ...