Neuroengineer Silvestro Micera develops advanced technological solutions to help people regain sensory and motor functions that have been lost due to traumatic events or neurological disorders. Until now, he had never before worked on enhancing the human body and cognition with the help of technology. Now in a study published in Science Robotics, Micera and his team report on how diaphragm movement can be monitored for successful control of an extra arm, essentially augmenting a healthy individual with a third – robotic – arm. “This study opens up new and exciting opportunities, ...

The high-altitude hero of the Himalayas, yak are among the few large animals that can survive the extremely cold, harsh and oxygen-poor conditions of the Tibetan Plateau. In the mountainous regions of Asia, yak and yak-cattle hybrids serve as vital sources of meat, milk, transportation and fuel. However, little is known about their history: when or where yak were domesticated. In a study published Dec. 13 in Science Advances, an international team of researchers that includes archaeologists at Washington University in St. Louis report archaeologically and genetically confirmed evidence for domestic yak, dating back 2,500 years, by far the oldest record. The researchers ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Computational models that mimic the structure and function of the human auditory system could help researchers design better hearing aids, cochlear implants, and brain-machine interfaces. A new study from MIT has found that modern computational models derived from machine learning are moving closer to this goal. In the largest study yet of deep neural networks that have been trained to perform auditory tasks, the MIT team showed that most of these models generate internal representations ...

WASHINGTON — For the first time, researchers have shown that 3D-printed polymer-based micro-optics can withstand the heat and power levels that occur inside a laser. The advance enables inexpensive compact and stable laser sources that would be useful in a variety of applications, including the lidar systems used for autonomous vehicles. “We significantly reduced the size of a laser by using 3D printing to fabricate high-quality micro-optics directly on glass fibers used inside of lasers,” said research team leader Simon Angstenberger from the 4th Physics Institute at University of Stuttgart ...

PHILADELPHIA—(Dec. 13, 2023)—Wistar researchers successfully tested a simple intervention that could unlock greater anti-tumor power in therapies that use T cells — an approach known as “cell-based therapy,” which uses specially designed T cells to fight cancer. Led by Dr. Hildegund C.J. Ertl — a professor in The Wistar Institute’s Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center — the team has proven an exciting concept: that the common cholesterol drug fenofibrate can boost T cells’ ability to destroy human tumors, as described in their new paper, “Treatment ...

This holiday season brings surprising news about your Christmas tree. Scientists just discovered that globally, trees growing in wetter regions are more sensitive to drought. That means if your tree hails from a more humid clime, it’s likely been spoiled for generations. Scientists have long debated whether arid conditions make trees more or less resilient to drought. It seems intuitive that trees living at their biological limits will be most vulnerable to climate change, since even just a little extra stress could tip them past the brink. On the other hand, these populations have adapted to a harsher setting, so they might be more capable of withstanding a drought. According ...

URBANA, Ill. — When a sweet corn breeder reached out in 2021 to report severe injury from the herbicide tolpyralate, Marty Williams hoped it was a fluke isolated to a single inbred line. But two years later, after methodical field, greenhouse, and genetic testing, his new Pest Management Science study not only confirms sensitivity to tolpyralate in 49 sweet corn and field corn lines, but also reveals a new genetic vulnerability that may affect corn more generally. Tolpyralate is a relatively new ...

The Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), the highest institution of its kind in South Korea, announced Charles Lee, Ph.D., FACMG, as a newly inducted fellow of the Academy. This recognition is given to scientists and engineers who have been active in their field for more than 20 years and made significant contributions during that time.   Lee is the scientific director and professor at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, and is the Robert Alvine Family Endowed Chair. He was awarded the KAST honor in recognition of his extensive global contributions to human genomics research.  Dr. Lee is one of 33 newly appointed fellows to the academy ...

Maternity-related employment gaps may cause job candidates to be unfairly screened out of positions for which they are otherwise qualified, according to new research from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.   A research team led by Siddharth Garg, Institute Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, examined bias in Large Language Models (LLMs) – advanced AI systems trained to understand and generate human language –  when used in hiring processes.  The team will present its findings in a paper presented at NeurIPS ...

A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign advances fundamental knowledge about the role of solvation in ion binding and presents a new pathway for electrochemically controlling ion selectivity. The study was published in JACS Au. The team, led by Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering professor Xiao Su and recently graduated Ph.D. student Raylin Chen, is building on their prior work exploring electrochemical separations of ions, which has revealed that a critical mechanism for binding ions is solvation. Here, the researchers set out to control solvation of a polymer and use that to bind different ...

Philadelphia, December 13, 2023 – Diet quality among adolescents in the United States is among the worst across all age groups, putting young people at risk for heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, among other cardiometabolic diseases later in life. The research brief shared in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, used the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and medical testing to assess a group of youth aged 10-16 years. This study examined data from the Translational Investigation of Growth and Everyday Routine in Kids cohort. This study measured physical activity, sleep, and overall dietary guidelines for youth living in metropolitan areas ...

The American Physical Society (APS) has awarded Stuart Parkin of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics the 2024 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research. Parkin will be recognized “for major discoveries in spintronics leading to a revolution in data storage and memory” at a ceremony during the APS Annual Leadership Meeting in January 2024. “Stuart Parkin is a luminary whose incisive experiments and major discoveries in spintronics led to a revolution in data storage and memory,” said APS President-Elect Young-Kee Kim, who chaired the medal’s selection committee. “His indomitable ...

WASHINGTON, DC, December 13, 2023 –With a severe shortage of affordable housing in the United States, renters living along the East and Gulf coasts are uniquely vulnerable to hurricane disasters. Two new studies based on data from 2009 to 2018 show that renters living along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States face rent increases, higher eviction rates, and a lack of affordable housing in the aftermath of a hurricane. The research will be presented in December at the annual meeting of the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Conference ...

There appears to be a common understanding that there is a mental health crisis among young people, but has society understood why?   As presented at the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Conference, Gabriel Rubin from Montclair State University conducted 40 interviews with members of Gen Z (as of publication) in an ongoing study about risk factors that have led to the current mental health crisis in young people. So far, this study has identified risk factors such as mass shootings, school lockdown drills, parental pressure, social media and the climate crisis.   Despite risk analysis research demonstrating that we ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (December 13, 2023) – As we head into the new year, some issues may be coming into sharper focus for those involved in allergy-immunology issues. The current issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, focuses its attention on a key problem affecting those with allergic conditions and the world today: climate change. “We recognize that climate change affects the global population, and that many people feel they as individuals don’t have much control,” says allergist Donald Leung, MD, PhD, Senior Executive Editor of Annals. “But ...

Infusions of potentially therapeutic cells derived from the heart are safe for people with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a form of high blood pressure that occurs in the blood vessels of the lungs and typically affects middle-aged women, according to a study led by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The Phase I clinical trial results are published in the peer-reviewed journal eBioMedicine, a Lancet journal. “Although several drugs are approved for pulmonary arterial hypertension, mortality remains high,” said Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, executive director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, the Mark S. Siegel Family Foundation ...

Elika Bergelson, associate professor of psychology at Harvard University, studies how infants and toddlers learn language from the world around them. The developmental psychologist specifically strives to parse the various theories that account for the onset and eventual mastery of language comprehension and production. Bergelson’s latest paper, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, represents a more global approach to developing and testing such theories.  Written ...

DALLAS, Dec. 13, 2023 — The winter holidays can turn deadly as research shows that more people die from heart attacks during the last week of December than at any other time of the year. While being aware of the signs of a heart attack and taking steps to reduce your risk are important all year long, the American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health for all, says that’s especially critical during the next few weeks. A number of scientific studies confirm ...

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments at MD Anderson include a novel blood-based test to predict lung cancer relapses, improved detection of genes associated with complex traits, insights into how B cell activity influences immunodeficiency, novel targets that drive treatment ...

The most comprehensive analysis of Indigenous Australians’ genomes collected to date has revealed an “abundance” of DNA variations – some of which have never been reported anywhere else in the world – paving the way for new, personalised treatments that address health inequities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A team of Australian researchers, led by scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), found DNA differences between Indigenous Australians living in the Tiwi Islands and Indigenous peoples living in the Australian ...

Researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have proposed a new “nano-micro composite” delivery concept for vaccines. Based on this idea, they have developed a single-dose, dry-powder, inhalable vaccine platform using nano-micro composite multilevel structures, which has been successfully prepared in the laboratory, and the vaccine has been shown to be effective in blocking respiratory viral infection and transmission in animal models. This platform holds great promise for combating future emerging and epidemic infectious diseases. This ...

Cannabis use for medicinal or recreational purposes is now permitted is most states in the U.S. Many of the products sold in dispensaries contain delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (better known as “THC”), and are thus classified as Schedule I drugs, making them illegal under federal law. However, there is a parallel market for products derived from hemp—defined as cannabis containing less that 0.3 percent THC—spurred in part by the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed hemp-derived cannabinoids from the federal Controlled Substances Act. A new U-M study published in JAMA Network Open examines past-year use of some of these hemp-derived ...

PHILADELPHIA— New research reveals that neurons in the preoptic hypothalamus—the region of the brain that regulates sleep and body temperature—are rhythmically activated during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). Stress activates these brain cells out of turn, causing “microarousals,” that interrupt sleep cycles and decrease the duration of sleep episodes, according to research from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published today in Current Biology. While our bodies are at rest when we are asleep, ...

By Jake Siegel Imagine you’re teaching a dog to play fetch. You throw a ball, and your dog sprints after it, picks it up, and runs back. You then reward your panting pup with a treat. But now comes the real trick for your dog: figuring out which part of that sequence earned the treat. Scientists call this the 'credit assignment problem' in the brain. It's a fundamental question about understanding which actions are responsible for the positive outcomes we experience.   Dopamine, a key chemical ...

LA JOLLA (December 14, 2023)—Salk Institute researchers, as part of a worldwide initiative to revolutionize scientists’ understanding of the brain, analyzed more than 2 million brain cells from mice to assemble the most complete atlas ever of the mouse brain. Their work, published December 14, 2023 in a special issue of Nature, not only details the thousands of cell types present in the brain but also how those cells connect and the genes and regulatory programs that are active in each cell. The efforts were coordinated by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or the BRAIN Initiative®, ...