ITHACA, N.Y. - A tiny, hard-working bacterium – which weighs one-trillionth of a gram – may soon have a large influence on processing rare earth elements in an eco-friendly way. In a new study, Cornell University scientists show that genetically engineering this bacterium could improve the efficiency for the purification of elements found in smartphones, computers, electric cars and wind turbines, and could even boost global economic supply chains. Vibrio natriegens, the bacterium, offers a sustainable ...

A new study Dec. 18 in Nature reports an AI-driven advance in biotechnology with implications for drug development, disease detection, and environmental monitoring. Scientists at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine used software to create protein molecules that bind with exceptionally high affinity and specificity to a variety of challenging biomarkers, including human hormones. Notably, the scientists achieved the highest interaction strength ever reported between a computer-generated biomolecule and its target. Senior author David Baker, professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine, ...

Artificial intelligence developed to model written language can be utilized to predict events in people's lives. A research project from DTU, University of Copenhagen, ITU, and Northeastern University in the US shows that if you use large amounts of data about people's lives and train so-called 'transformer models', which (like ChatGPT) are used to process language, they can systematically organize the data and predict what will happen in a person's life and even estimate the time of death. In a new scientific article, 'Using Sequences of Life-events to Predict Human Lives', published ...

December 18, 2023—(BRONX NY)—Neurologists often diagnose Alzheimer’s disease after evaluating patients during lengthy, in-person office visits. This poses a significant challenge for many groups, particularly people with limited access to specialized care, including people from historically marginalized groups and people living in rural areas. Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $10.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study whether remote neuropsychological testing can substitute for in-person office visits when assessing whether people have Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. “In-person ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2023 — There’s a microscopic battle happening right before our eyes, involving the critical issue of antibiotic resistance. Witness the historical development of antibiotics, from penicillin's accidental discovery to the ongoing battle against superbugs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCR5wFWSGlA Reactions is a video series produced by the American Chemical Society and PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to Reactions at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions and follow us on Twitter @ACSReactions. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is ...

An interdisciplinary team consisting of researchers from the Center for Cognition and Sociality and the Data Science Group within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) revealed a striking similarity between the memory processing of artificial intelligence (AI) models and the hippocampus of the human brain. This new finding provides a novel perspective on memory consolidation, which is a process that transforms short-term memories into long-term ones, in AI systems. In the race towards developing ...

Since 2009, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative has coordinated an annual horizon scan, a well-established method for predicting which threats, changes, and technologies will have the biggest impact on biological conservation in the following year. This year, the 15th horizon scan included 31 scientists, practitioners, and policymakers who developed a list of 96 issues, which they eventually narrowed down to the fifteen most novel and impactful. Their findings, publishing in the journal Trends in Evolution & Ecology ...

Toothbrushing also associated with lower rates of ICU mortality, shorter duration of mechanical ventilation, and shorter ICU length of stay  Researchers say toothbrushing could be a cheap but effective way to help lower rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia  Researchers have found an inexpensive tool that may help reduce rates of pneumonia for hospitalized patients—and it comes with bristles on one end. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute ...

As climate change redistributes terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, the world’s natural capital is expected to decrease, causing a 9% loss of ecosystem services by 2100. That’s according to a study of natural capital published today in the journal Nature led by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Breathable air, clean water, healthy forests and biodiversity all contribute to people’s well-being in ways that ...

About The Study: The results of this study raise concerns that benefit programs may add relative advantages for white children compared with Black and Hispanic children and contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in child protective services investigations. States’ eligibility criteria and distribution practices should be examined to promote equitable effects on adverse child outcomes.  Authors: Henry T. Puls, M.D., of Children’s Mercy Kansas City, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

About The Study: The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 randomized clinical trials with an effective population size of 2,786 patients suggest that daily tooth brushing may be associated with significantly lower rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia, particularly in patients receiving mechanical ventilation, lower rates of intensive care unit (ICU) mortality, shorter duration of mechanical ventilation, and shorter ICU length of stay. Policies and programs encouraging more widespread and consistent toothbrushing ...

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, and the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge, UK, have comprehensively identified the allosteric control sites found in the protein KRAS. These are highly sought after targets for drug development, representing secret vulnerabilities which can be exploited to control the effects of one of the most important causes of cancer. The study presents the first complete control map for any protein and is published today (18 December) in the journal Nature.  KRAS ...

Research pioneer Dr. Daniel Drucker has much to be proud of, as the GLP-1-based diabetes drugs hailing from his early research are named 2023 breakthrough of the year by the Science Magazine. Not only have millions of people with type 2 diabetes benefitted from GLP-1 agonists, but the drugs also produced wide-ranging health benefits beyond weight loss in two recent patient trials. For years, GLP-1 agonists have been known to have a fortuitous side effect of improving metabolic health, but how this is regulated in the body remains unclear. Now Dr. ...

Ecological restoration may save coral atoll islands from the rising seas of climate change, according to an international team of scientists, conservationists, and an indigenous leader.   While global carbon emission reduction is imperative, local measures could be the key to the islands outpacing sea levels, they argue today in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution.   “Far from being doomed, in their natural state most coral atoll islands could adapt to sea level rise”, says Dr Sebastian Steibl from the University of Auckland ...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have published an atlas of zebrafish development, detailing the gene expression programs that are activated within nearly every cell type during the first five days of development, a period in which embryos mature from a single cell into distinct cell types. These diverse cells become tissues and organs that form juvenile fish capable of swimming and looking for food. The findings are published in Developmental Cell. “Perhaps surprisingly, tiny zebrafish provide us with significant insight ...

Estimated to be worth USD 50.1 billion by 2030, a Surrey team of researchers has uncovered the potential of the growing dog-friendly travel market. The Covid-19 pandemic drove an increase in UK household dog ownership, creating a need for tourism providers to adapt to accommodate these four-legged family members.  The Surrey team set out to understand why people travel with their dogs, how they feel about it, and what challenges they face doing so.  Lori Hoy, PhD Researcher and lead author of the study at the University of Surrey, said:  "Some reports suggest that the UK dog population stands at 11 million, with 29% of UK adults having a dog in their ...

In a study comparing human brain communication networks with those of macaques and mice, EPFL researchers found that only the human brains transmitted information via multiple parallel pathways, yielding new insights into mammalian evolution. When describing brain communication networks, EPFL senior postdoctoral researcher Alessandra Griffa likes to use travel metaphors. Brain signals are sent from a source to a target, establishing a polysynaptic pathway that intersects multiple brain regions “like a road with many stops along the way.” She explains that structural brain ...

Photosynthesis refers to the fundamental biological process of the conversion of light energy into chemical energy by chlorophyll (a green pigment) containing plants. This seemingly routine process in plants sustains all the biological life and activities on Earth. First reaction of photosynthesis occurs at a site called photosystem II (PSII), present on the thylakoid membrane in the chloroplast where light energy is transferred to chlorophyll molecules. PSII is made up of a complex group of proteins, including the D1 and D2 reaction center proteins. Light ...

Despite affecting millions worldwide, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has long lacked effective treatments due to a fundamental inadequacy of our understanding of its etiology and pathogenesis. The absence of an integrative theory connecting the molecular origins of AD with disturbances at the organelle and cell levels, changes in relevant biomarkers, and population-level prevalence has hindered progress. Even though most scientists only hope that an integrative theory of AD will emerge soon, scientists from Zarbio and Georgia State University discovered sufficient data to formulate a framework for such a theory. The molecular and cellular ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – In a first-of-its-kind study of aardvarks, Oregon State University researchers spent months in sub-Saharan Africa collecting poop from the animal and concluded that aridification of the landscape is isolating them, which they say could have implications for their long-term survival. “Everyone had heard of aardvarks and they are considered very ecologically important but there has been little study of them,” said Clint Epps, a wildlife biologist at Oregon State. “We wanted to see if we could collect enough data to begin to understand them.” In ...

- Insights from Professor Sakorn Pornprasert, Dean, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences at Chiang Mai University, on raising thalassemia awareness in Thailand. Thalassemia, a genetic disorder affecting hemoglobin production, poses a significant public health challenge in Thailand, with a high prevalence and substantial healthcare costs. According to Thailand's Ministry of Public Health, approximately 18-24 million or 30-40 percent of the Thai population carries the thalassemia gene. Professor Sakorn Pornprasert, Dean, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University, shared his views on BGI Genomics Global 2023 State of Thalassemia Awareness ...

(Denver—December 18, 2023) – Adopting a lung nodule program (LNP) may increase the detection of early lung cancer for patients who are not eligible for lung cancer screening under existing age eligibility criteria, according to a study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. LNPs are established to follow up on lung nodules that are frequently identified during routine imaging for reasons other than suspected lung cancer or lung cancer screening. The research was conducted by a team led by Dr. Raymond U. Osarogiagbon, MBBS, FACP, chief scientist ...

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart defects – the most common birth defects in the United States – is associated with improved outcomes. Despite its importance, however, overall prevalence of prenatal diagnosis is low (12-50 percent). A recent multi-center study surveyed caretakers of infants who received congenital heart surgery in the Chicago area and found that social determinants or influencers of health constitute significant barriers to prenatal diagnosis from the patients’ perspective. In ...

In a new analysis of data spanning more than three decades in the eastern United States, a team of scientists found a concerning trend – an increasing number of wildfires across a large swath of America.  “It’s a serious issue that people aren’t paying enough attention to: We have a rising incidence of wildfires across several regions of the U.S., not only in the West,” said Victoria Donovan, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of forest management at the UF/IFAS ...

Long-term care facilities that scheduled part-time Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) with more hours and more consistently with the same co-workers had reduced turnover, according to research led by Washington State University. The findings could help address staffing challenges that affect millions of patients at long-term care facilities nationwide.  Using a model based on real scheduling data of thousands of nurse aides, the researchers estimated that a one-hour increase in CNAs’ weekly hours worked could reduce turnover by 1.9%. Also, the analysis found that by scheduling ...