Ever since Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered the world of bacteria through a microscope in the late seventeenth century, humans have tried to look deeper into the world of the infinitesimally small. There are, however, physical limits to how closely we can examine an object using traditional optical methods. This is known as the ‘diffraction limit’ and is determined by the fact that light manifests as a wave. It means a focused image can never be smaller than half the wavelength of light used to observe an object. Attempts to break this limit with “super lenses” have all hit the hurdle of extreme visual losses, making the lenses opaque. ...

As the COVID-19 pandemic scattered and isolated people, researchers across Virginia Tech connected for a data-driven collaboration seeking improved drugs to fight the disease and potentially many other illnesses. A multidisciplinary collaboration spanning several colleges at Virginia Tech resulted in a newly published study, “Data Driven Computational Design and Experimental Validation of Drugs for Accelerated Mitigation of Pandemic-like Scenarios,” in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The study focuses on using computer algorithms to generate adaptations to ...

A research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and recently published in the journal Nature Communications tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change. Fossil fuels account for approximately 40% of all building energy use in urban city centers in the United States, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential and commercial buildings in U.S. cities are one of the major energy ...

Sweden is far ahead when it comes to promoting open access to scholarly publications. But there is risk of getting stuck in a permanent transformation that favours large commercial publishers. A new report from the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions develops a strategy on how to work in negotiations with the publishers. In 2021, the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (Sveriges universitets- och högskoleförbund, SUHF) convened a “Beyond transformative agreements” working group (the BTA group) to lay the foundation for further advancing the transition to open access. Now, the group ...

The use of e-scooters has increased significantly in recent years, but so has the number of accidents involving this relatively new form of transport. At the same time, knowledge about injury mechanisms in this area was still very limited. In the project SURF, funded by Zukunftsfonds Steiermark, the Vehicle Safety Institute at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) investigated this topic using Human Body Models and derived recommendations to reduce the injury risk in e-scooter accidents. Put on a helmet, decrease speed and get off the pavement As ...

Research conducted by marine biologists from the University of Sydney has found juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish can withstand tremendous heatwaves well above levels that kill coral. These starfish then develop into carnivorous predators that devour reefs just as they begin to regrow. Crown-of-thorns starfish are native to the Great Barrier Reef and found in the Indo-Pacific region, but they are classified as a species of concern because the damage large populations cause to coral is more significant than any other species. ...

Research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine indicates that SARS-CoV-2 infection may worsen lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men. The study included 17,986 men receiving medication for LUTS within the public healthcare system of Hong Kong in 2021–2022, half of whom had SARS-CoV-2 infection. The group with SARS-CoV-2 had significantly higher rates of retention of urine (4.55% versus 0.86%); blood in the urine (1.36% versus 0.41%); clinical urinary tract infection (4.31% versus 1.49%); bacteria in the urine (9.02% versus 1.97%); and addition of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, which are drugs prescribed for enlarged prostate. (0.50% versus 0.02%). These urological ...

New research published in Economic Inquiry reports substantial increases in psychological distress in the UK during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health effects were more pronounced for females; younger individuals; Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities; and migrants. Also, people who had financial worries, loneliness, or were living in overcrowded dwellings experienced significantly worse mental health deterioration during the first wave. The study used data from the UKHLS, also known as Understanding Society, which is a household panel dataset that captures, among other things, information from adults about their economic and social circumstances, ...

Population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns sea star (COTS), a predator of coral, can cause widespread coral mortality. COTS are herbivorous as juveniles but then switch to coral consumption as they grow to adulthood. When researchers exposed juvenile COTS to heat stress scenarios at time and temperature durations designed to reflect conditions that cause coral bleaching and mortality, juveniles exhibited tolerance to heatwave conditions well above levels that kill coral. The findings, which are published in Global Change Biology, indicate that juvenile COTS are likely to persist as major coral predators in reefs already vulnerable to the effects of climate change. “This ...

The various neurological symptoms that patients with COVID-19 have experienced suggest that viral infections may increase the risk of neurodegeneration, which could in turn contribute to the development of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A review in the Journal of Neurochemistry highlights the potential mechanistic links between COVID-19 and AD. The authors note that age is the largest contributing factor to AD and COVID-19, and both appear to enhance the effects of the other, with potentially synergistic effects on neurodegeneration. “I believe over the next several ...

Agricultural management has typically focused on increasing yields, but there is an increasing need for sustainable food production that limits negative impacts on the environment. A new study published in Grassland Research provides insights into the potential benefits of diversifying agricultural practices, revealing how different mixtures of plant species can improve production, quality, and conservation. For the study, investigators planted multiple species in different grassland plots, manipulating plant species richness from one to six species spanning three functional groups ...

Identifying different types of body fluids can help forensic experts reconstruct a crime scene, but it’s difficult to do so. In a study published in Electrophoresis, researchers developed a method using two different types of RNA—called microRNA (miRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA)—to determine five common body fluids. Compared with previously reported single mRNA or miRNA assays, the combination of several mRNAs and miRNAs showed significant advantages for labeling human body fluids. “Our findings indicate that this combined mRNA and miRNA system may provide a scientific ...

It is often claimed that using the snooze button can have negative effects on sleep and cognitive processes, but there has been no direct evidence to this effect. New research from the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University shows that snoozing may actually support the waking process for regular snoozers. It's common to want to stay in bed, potentially even go back to sleep, when the alarm goes off in the morning. The snooze button has been a function in alarm clocks and cell phones for decades and is ...

Now that improvements in technology mean that some robots work alongside humans, there is evidence that those humans have learned to see them as team-mates — and teamwork can have negative as well as positive effects on people’s performance. People sometimes relax, letting their colleagues do the work instead. This is called ‘social loafing’, and it’s common where people know their contribution won’t be noticed or they’ve acclimatized to another team member’s high performance. Scientists at the Technical University of Berlin investigated whether humans social loaf when they work with robots. “Teamwork ...

Proton exchange membrane hydrogen fuel cells (PEMFCs) used in hydrogen vehicles use expensive platinum catalysts to facilitate the oxygen reduction reaction at the anode. There are a vast number of elemental combinations and compositions that need to be explored to develop more efficient and cost-effective catalyst materials than platinum, and researchers are still doing a lot of trial and error in the lab. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok Jin Yoon) announced that Dr. Donghun ...

Collecting accurate weather data in remote and challenging environments like the polar regions and mountains can be extremely difficult. These areas often lack the infrastructure and resources needed for traditional weather stations, and the harsh weather conditions can make it dangerous for humans to access and maintain these stations. Drones can navigate these challenging terrains, gather data, and transmit it to researchers, making them an indispensable tool for addressing these data gaps. Unfortunately, in-cloud flights still pose a challenge, with icing from supercooled cloud droplets that can damage vital drone components, ...

Snoozing, or using intermittent alarms to get in a few more minutes of sleep in the morning, may have benefits for some people, according to research published in the Journal of Sleep Research. In a study of 1,732 adults who described their waking habits, 69% of participants reported using the snooze function or setting multiple alarms at least “sometimes.” In those who snoozed, the average time spent snoozing per morning was 22 minutes, ranging from 1 to 180 minutes. Snoozers tended to be younger than non-snoozers and were more likely to be evening types. Morning drowsiness and shorter sleep were also more common in those who snoozed. In a second ...

A new study led by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the ”la Caixa Foundation” has shed light on the influence that Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) can have on children's growth during their early years. The results, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, show that prenatal exposure to some of these environmental chemicals and their mixtures is linked to accelerated Body Mass Index (BMI) gain from birth to nine years ...

Bottom Line: Of the 198 new oncology drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1998 and 2022, approximately 43% were precision oncology therapies, the use of which is guided by biomarker testing. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Authors: Debyani Chakravarty, PhD, assistant attending molecular geneticist in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and lead scientist of the precision oncology knowledge base OncoKB at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), was the senior author of the study. Sarah P. ...

WASHINGTON — Press registration is now open for the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting, co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), and The Oceanography Society (TOS), in New Orleans, Louisiana 18 to 23 February 2024. The biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting brings together 5,000 scientists, students, policymakers and educators to discuss breaking research across the ocean sciences and critical issues affecting a sustainable future for our oceans. PRESS: REGISTER and BOOK HOTELS Staff, freelance and student journalists are eligible to apply for complimentary press registration through the end of the conference. ...

The stats don’t lie – the overwhelming majority of start-up companies fail. So, what makes the seemingly lucky few not only survive, but thrive? While good fortune and circumstances can play a part, new research reveals that when it comes to start-up success, a founder’s personality – or the combined personalities of the founding team - is paramount. The study, published today in Scientific Reports, shows founders of successful start-ups have personality traits that differ significantly from the rest of the population – and that these traits are more important for success than many other ...

Lugano, Switzerland, 17 October 2023 – Results from highly anticipated phase 3 clinical trials in gynaecological cancers with, among others, new data that cover the entire spectrum of managing patients with cervical cancer, will be presented at the ESMO Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain. The late-breaking studies will be featured in Presidential and Proffered Paper Sessions, and could change the treatment landscape for women with these cancers. The new therapies tested delayed the time to relapse and, in some cases, lengthened survival.  “These ...

University of Otago physicists have used a small glass bulb containing an atomic vapor to demonstrate a new form of antenna for radio waves. The bulb was “wired up” with laser beams and could therefore be placed far from any receiver electronics.   Dr Susi Otto, from the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, led the field testing of the portable atomic radio frequency sensor.   Such sensors, that are enabled by atoms in a so-called Rydberg state, can provide superior performance over current antenna ...

UCLA-led team finds a stem-cell derived mechanism that could lead to regenerative therapies for heart damage A UCLA-led team has identified an essential internal control mechanism that can promote the maturation of human stem cell-derived heart muscle cells, offering a deeper understanding of how heart muscle cells develop from their immature fetal stage to their mature adult form. The findings, published  in the peer-reviewed journal Circulation, could lead to new therapies for heart disease and cardiac damage. The collaborative effort with Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and other institutions identified an RNA splicing ...

Advances in lung cancer treatment highlight importance of tumour testing at diagnosis    Research presented at the ESMO Congress 2023 sets potential major changes in first-line treatment for patients with NSCLC with targetable tumour cell mutations  Lugano, Switzerland, 17 October 2023 – More people with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are likely to benefit from new drugs that target molecular alterations in tumour cells, with less need for chemotherapy, following results of multiple landmark clinical trials reported for the first time in late-breaking presentations at the ESMO Congress 2023 (1-7). Better outcomes were achieved with combinations ...