Artificial intelligence (AI) may attempt to mimic the human brain, but it has yet to fully grasp the complexity of what it means to be human. While it may not truly understand feelings or original creativity, it can help us better understand ourselves — especially our physical bodies in health and in disease, according to a series of articles recently published by the journal Quantitative Biology.   The peer-reviewed papers — a variety of editorials, perspectives and commentaries on AI for life science — assess the rapid development of AI and recent attention ...

CureSHANK will award a total of $250,000 aimed at stimulating research on SHANK3-related epilepsy, prevalent in PMS patients.  The grants, CureSHANK Research to Cure Grant: Epilepsy (R2C Epilepsy), will provide targeted funding to support SHANK3-related epilepsy research projects.  The awards aim to improve mechanistic and clinical knowledge of SHANK3-related epilepsy.    The PMS community lives under the long shadow of epilepsy: it is responsible for many deaths of both children and young adults with PMS, and it is among the disorder's most distressing symptoms. Nearly one-third of individuals living with PMS are diagnosed with epilepsy, often evolving ...

HOUSTON ― Incorporating navy beans into the diet of colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors has the potential to positively impact both gut and host health by modulating markers linked to obesity and disease, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  The findings published today in eBIOMedicine, part of The Lancet family of journals, revealed BE GONE trial participants who added a cup of navy beans daily to their regular meals saw positive changes in their gut microbiome, which is associated with cancer prevention and improved treatment outcomes. Changes included an increase ...

In early November of this year, aurora borealis were observed at surprisingly low latitudes, as far south as Italy and Texas. Such phenomena indicate the impacts of a solar coronal mass ejection on the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. Far more dramatic than this recent light show was, it was nothing compared to a huge solar storm in February 872. The resulting auroral display from that event ringed the globe and produced auroras observed in sites as close to the equator as Bombay and Khartoum. An international team consisting of scientists from nine counties has now published a detailed study of this historically important event, tracing its ...

Writing in the journal Nature ahead of COP28, a team of Met Office scientists has emphasised that – surprisingly – there is currently no formally agreed way of defining the current level of global warming relevant to the Paris Agreement. They have proposed a solution. While the global average temperature in a particular year is well-known, this will not be suitable as an indicator of whether the “Paris 1.5” has been breached or not, because the Paris Agreement refers to long-term warming, not individual years. But no alternative has yet been formally agreed. Without ...

Results of a qualitative research study into the uptake of PrEP - a drug which stops HIV infecting the body - suggests that more needs to be done to breakdown barriers to access for the potentially lifesaving medication. Research published in the Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion from a team at the University of Bath finds that knowledge and awareness among young men who have sex with other men about the drug is low and there is often stigma associated with being prescribed PrEP. Pre-exposure prophylaxis ‘PrEP’ refers to a pill that prevents HIV contraction in HIV-negative individuals. PrEP ...

A researcher from The University of Texas at Austin has received a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study how changing aerosol pollution could influence climate change in the United States in the coming decades. Aerosols are tiny solid particles and liquid droplets that contribute to smog and are emitted from industrial factories, power plants and vehicle tailpipes, as well as natural sources like volcanic eruptions. These small particles can influence the Earth’s climate by reflecting or absorbing sunlight and changing the behavior of clouds. Geeta ...

Announcements in June 2022 of possible realignments of major east-west athletic conferences raised concern among many sleep and circadian physicians and scientists across the United States. As a result of such changes, student-athletes would suffer the negative consequences of increased travel—especially with travel that that crosses time zones and induces jet lag. Because of the concern over the demise of the Pac12, leading to more east-west trips, a group of sleep and circadian scientists and physicians have published a white paper ...

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Arizona State University (ASU) have agreed to expand their joint efforts in clean energy research for the next five years. An agreement signed in October establishes a framework for both institutions to develop low-carbon processes for the energy and manufacturing sectors. One joint project works to improve and decarbonize methods to extract critical minerals needed for renewable energy generation, energy storage and high-tech electronics. Another effort will develop solutions to electrify process heating, a major pathway to decarbonizing heavy manufacturing. Researchers from INL and ASU have previously ...

Born tail first, bottlenose dolphin calves emerge equipped with two slender rows of whiskers along their beak-like snouts – much like the touch-sensitive whiskers of seals. But the whiskers fall out soon after birth, leaving the youngster with a series of dimples, known as vibrissal pits. Recently Tim Hüttner and Guido Dehnhardt, from University of Rostock, Germany, began to suspect that the dimples may be more than just a relic. Could they allow adult bottlenose dolphins to sense weak electric fields? Taking an initial close look, they realised that the remnant pits resemble ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Possessing more than two complete sets of chromosomes can be a hindrance to long-term survival of a plant lineage, yet scientists are also finding evidence it’s likely behind some evolutionary innovation.  Sudden inheritance of whole suites of extra gene copies can add redundancy to an organism's regular sets of functions, actually permitting some of those copies to evolve and express in entirely new ways.  In the case of the East Asian pitcher plant, this mutational freedom may have even fine-turned its ability to capture prey and satisfy its appetite for “meat.” That’s just one of the findings ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the first time, scientists have begun to figure out why the disfiguring skin lesions caused by cutaneous leishmaniasis don’t hurt. Researchers analyzed leishmaniasis lesions on mouse skin to detect metabolic signaling pathways that differed from uninfected mice. Results suggested the parasites that cause the disease change pain perception – presumably as a way to delay treatment and promote their own survival. “No one knows why these lesions are painless – ...

“In this article, we describe for the first time the impact of chronological aging on EVs production by human keratinocytes.” BUFFALO, NY- November 30, 2023 – A new research paper was published on the cover of Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 22, entitled, “Chronological aging impacts abundance, function and microRNA content of extracellular vesicles produced by human epidermal keratinocytes.” The disturbance of intercellular communication is one of the hallmarks of aging. In their new study, researchers ...

As part of its ongoing quest to advance better brain health and performance, new research led by Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas investigated neural biomarkers associated with improvements on a brain health index. The study, “Toward Precision Brain Health: Accurate Prediction of a Cognitive Index Trajectory Using Neuroimaging Metrics,” was recently published in Cerebral Cortex A total of 48 participants aged 21–65 completed a simple task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session, then once ...

Researchers at UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center have shown that inhibiting a specific protein using gene therapy can shrink hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in mice. Silencing the galectin 1 (Gal1) protein, which is often over-expressed in HCC, also improved the anti-cancer immune response and increased the number of killer T cells inside tumors. The study was published in Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B. “We’ve long known that Gal1 is a biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma,” said ...

EL PASO, Texas (Nov. 30, 2023) – Space near earth is teeming with objects, whether natural, like meteors and comets, or manmade, like satellites, spacecraft and rocket debris. But experts still need a clearer picture of the location and state of these objects, which can threaten space-based assets, such as GPS, weather-monitoring and communication satellites. “The United States is dependent economically and militarily on space assets,” said Miguel Velez-Reyes, Ph.D., chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at The University of Texas at El Paso. “For ...

Research has shown that social media can negatively impact people's mental health. But can it affect people’s beliefs about mental health treatment? Yes, according to researchers at Union. In one of the first studies to examine the impact of social media on people’s perceptions of mental health care, researchers discovered that viewing just a few social media posts that mock mental health treatment can have a profound impact on some people's attitudes toward treatment. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Social Media + Society. For the study, 186 participants viewed 10 tweets. The gender ...

New research from Northern Arizona University has explained coast redwood’s remarkable ability to recover from very severe fire, a rare sign of optimism amid a landscape increasingly scarred by severe fires. The study, published today in Nature: Plants, examined recovery after the catastrophic CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which began in August 2020 and burned thousands of acres of redwoods in Big Basin State Park in California, some more than 1,500 years old. Researchers from NAU’s Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss) and the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) found, however, that many trees were not dead, as they first appeared. Redwoods ...

The American Institute of Biological Sciences is pleased to announce Dr. Nyeema C. Harris as the 2023 winner of its Inspiring Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Acceptance, and Learning (IDEAL) Leadership Award. The IDEAL Award recognizes commendable leadership in advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, acceptance, accessibility, and learning in the biological sciences community. The award was presented by past awardee Dr. Steward T. A. Pickett on 30 November 2023 at AIBS's Council of Member Societies and Organizations meeting, entitled "Expanding the ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Flames roared through Santa Barbara County in late 2017. UC Santa Barbara canceled classes, and the administration recommended donning an N95, long before the COVID pandemic made the mask a household item. Smoke and ash choked the air, but the Thomas Fire’s effects weren’t restricted to the land and sky. Huge amounts of ash settled into the oceans, leaving researchers to wonder what effect it might have on marine life. Now scientists at UC Santa Barbara have discovered that wildfire ash adds nutrients to marine systems, ...

Transitioning away from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which offer water- and oil-repelling properties on the outer shells of firefighter turnout gear, could bring potential performance tradeoffs, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study showed that turnout gear without PFAS outer shell coatings were not oil-repellent, posing a potential flammability hazard to firefighters if exposed to oil and flame, said Bryan Ormond, assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at NC State and corresponding author of ...

Kidney stones affect nearly 10% of the global population. For more than three decades, thiazide diuretics, a common medication used for high blood pressure, have been the standard of care for kidney stone prevention because they reduce the excretion of urinary calcium.     However, recent clinical trials have raised doubts about their efficacy in preventing kidney stones. The NOSTONE trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in March 2023, failed to find a protective effect of thiazide diuretics on kidney stone disease.     A ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. --- Scleractinian corals, or hard corals, have been disappearing globally over the past four decades, a result of climate change, pollution, unsustainable coastal development and overfishing. However, some Caribbean octocorals, or soft corals, are not meeting the same fate. During a two-year survey of soft corals in the Florida Keys, Mary Alice Coffroth,  professor emerita of geology at the University at Buffalo, along with a small team of UB researchers, identified three species of octocorals that have survived heat waves. While the coral animal itself may be ...

Researchers at Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute have created tiny biological robots that they call Anthrobots from human tracheal cells that can move across a surface and have been found to encourage the growth of neurons across a region of damage in a lab dish. The multicellular robots, ranging in size from the width of a human hair to the point of a sharpened pencil, were made to self-assemble and shown to have a remarkable healing effect on other cells. The discovery is a starting point for the researchers’ vision to use patient-derived ...

It’s a story that’s become all too familiar — high winds knock out a power line, and a community can go without power for hours to days, an inconvenience at best and a dangerous situation at worst. UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Yu Zhang and his lab are leveraging tools to improve the efficiency, reliability, and resilience of power systems, and have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) -based approach for the smart control of microgrids for power ...