A study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège (BE) Institute, using ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI, are providing a better understanding of how sleep is regulated. We've known for a long time that sleep is good for the brain. We also know that light is not just for seeing, but also plays an important role in other aspects such as mood. What we don't know is how all this happens in our brains. Two separate studies, carried out by researchers at the University of Liège using the 7 Tesla MRI on the GIGA-Centre de Recherche du Cyclotron platform, offer the ...

Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our solar system that could potentially harbor conditions suitable for life. Previous research has shown that beneath its water-ice crust lies a salty ocean of liquid water with a rocky seafloor. However, planetary scientists had not confirmed if that ocean contained the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon. Astronomers using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have identified carbon dioxide in a specific region on the icy surface of Europa. Analysis indicates that this carbon likely originated in the subsurface ocean and ...

Local turtles facing extinction within a decade due to urban growth, says uOttawa study. Urban sprawl and insufficient relief measures have left an Ottawa-area freshwater turtle facing extinction within the decade, says new research from the University of Ottawa and Trent University, which tracked changes to the turtle’s habitat over a 10-year period.   Specifically, the development of Terry Fox Drive in the city’s west end has led to a dangerous decline in the Blanding’s turtle’s (Emydoidea blandingii) habitat, leading to a 70% decline in adult population size, despite mitigating measures such as wildlife fencing, new wetlands ...

New research conducted at the University of Liège, using ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRI, provides a better understanding of how light stimulates our brain and could provide new insights into how it works. A research team at the ULiège GIGA Institute tried to understand better how light stimulates our cognition. Light acts like a cup of coffee and helps keep us awake. That's why we recommend not using too much light on our smartphones and tablets in the evening. This can disrupt our sleep. On the other hand, the same light can help us during the day.  Many studies have shown that good lighting can help students in schools, ...

Glass, despite its apparent transparency and rigidity, is a complex and intriguing material. When a liquid is cooled to form a glass, its dynamics slows down significantly, resulting in its unique properties. This process, known as “glass transition”, has puzzled scientists for decades. But one of its intriguing aspects is the emergence of "dynamical heterogeneities," where the dynamics become increasingly correlated and intermittent as the liquid cools down and approaches the glass transition temperature. In a new study, researchers propose a new theoretical framework to explain these dynamical heterogeneities in glass-forming ...

A quantum machine can drastically speed up certain kinds of computation, but only if two or more quantum bits in the machine are entangled---that is, capable of displaying related behavior despite being separated. Seeking a way for users of cloud-based quantum computing services to detect qubit entanglement, Jiheon Seong and Joonwoo Bae of the Korea Advanced Institute of science and Technology developed and tested an entanglement witness circuit. It works to certify entanglement even when the cloud-based service allows only limited control ...

A new research paper published in Science Advances reveals how changes in the size of the Yangtze River watershed may have led to the carving of deep canyons.  In this study, UNC-Chapel Hill professor Eric Kirby and his co-authors explore the impact of drainage basin expansion on the growth of the Yangtze River.  “This study presents a new model for when and how the Yangtze River was born,” said Kirby, “The Yangtze is one of the world’s great rivers, rising on the Tibetan Plateau at altitudes over 17,000 feet and descending ...

When you see a familiar face upright, you’ll recognize it right away. But if you saw that same face upside down, it’s much harder to place. Now researchers who’ve studied Claudio, a 42-year-old man whose head is rotated back almost 180 degrees such that it sits between his shoulder blades, suggest that the reason people are so good at processing upright faces has arisen through a combination of evolution and experience. The findings appear September 22 in the journal iScience. “Nearly everyone has far more experience with upright faces and ancestors whose reproduction ...

Even without a central brain, jellyfish can learn from past experiences like humans, mice, and flies, scientists report for the first time on September 22 in the journal Current Biology. They trained Caribbean box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) to learn to spot and dodge obstacles. The study challenges previous notions that advanced learning requires a centralized brain and sheds light on the evolutionary roots of learning and memory. No bigger than a fingernail, these seemingly simple jellies have a complex visual system with 24 eyes embedded in their bell-like body. Living ...

Jellyfish are more advanced than once thought. A new study from the University of Copenhagen has demonstrated that Caribbean box jellyfish can learn at a much more complex level than ever imagined – despite only having one thousand nerve cells and no centralized brain. The finding changes our fundamental understanding of the brain and could enlighten us about our own mysterious brains. After more than 500 million years on Earth, the immense evolutionary success of jellyfish is undeniable. Still, we've always thought of them as simple creatures with very limited learning abilities. The prevailing opinion is that ...

About The Study: In this study using a behavioral experiment designed to mimic a real-world imposter scam among 644 older adults, a sizable number of older adults engaged without skepticism. The results suggest that many older adults, including those without cognitive impairment, are vulnerable to fraud and scams.  Authors: Lei Yu, Ph.D., of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.35319) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The results of this study of 220,000 American Indian and Alaska Native patients with Medicare insurance suggest a significant burden of cardiovascular disease and cardiometabolic risk factors. These findings highlight the critical need for future efforts to prioritize the cardiovascular health of this population.  Authors: Lauren A. Eberly, M.D., M.P.H., of the Indian Health Service in Gallup, New Mexico, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/ZOONOSES-2023-0031 Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal.  Monkey B virus (BV) infection in humans and other macaque species has a mortality rate of approximately 80%. Because BV infects humans through bites, scratches, and other injuries inflicted by macaques, the simple and rapid diagnosis of BV in field laboratories is of great importance to protect veterinarians, laboratory researchers, and support personnels from the threat of infection. Two recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assays with a closed vertical flow (VF) visualization strip (RPA-VF-UL27 and RPA-VF-US6) were developed that target ...

A research group at the University of Helsinki and its partners have found a promising drug candidate for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor CDNF prolongs the lifespan of and alleviates disease symptoms in rats and mice in animal studies. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressing fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Specifically, a selective degeneration of motoneurons occurs in the spinal cord, leading to muscle atrophy and paralysis. Most patients with ...

Researchers have made a significant finding in determining the genetic background of dilated cardiomyopathy in Dobermanns. This research helps us understand the genetic risk factors related to fatal diseases of the heart muscle and the mechanisms underlying the disease, and offers new tools for their prevention. Researchers from the University of Helsinki and the Folkhälsan Research Center, together with their international partners, have identified the genetic background of dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that enlarges the heart muscle, in dogs and humans. Based ...

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) hold promise as a replacement for fossil fueled engines in heavy-duty vehicles. Reducing the platinum content in catalysts is pivotal for scaling up in such applications. Yet, the degradation patterns of low platinum content catalysts remain poorly understood. A team of scientists conducted experiments to shed light on the degradation mechanisms associated with varying catalyst content, offering valuable insights. Their work is published in the journal Industrial Chemistry & Materials on 11 Aug 2023. In ...

Palm oil is the world's most produced and consumed vegetable oil and everyone knows that its production can damage the environment. But do consumers have the full picture? In fact, replacing palm oil with rapeseed oil would require a four to five-fold increase in the amount of land needed. Research led by the University of Göttingen investigated the attitudes, beliefs and understanding about palm oil of the general public in Germany, and how this links to land use. The researchers show that people find it hard to know the consequences of their buying choices, even when extra information is supplied. The results were published in Sustainable ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Scientists studying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have identified thousands of genetic variants in the genome in the development of this progressive neurodegenerative disease. These variants are predominantly located in genomic regions that do not code for proteins, making it difficult to understand which variants confer individuals’ risk of AD. Non-coding variants were once thought to be “junk DNA” by scientists. In recent years, these variants have been appreciated for playing crucial roles in controlling gene expression across tissues and cell types. However, linking these non-coding variants to the genes they regulate and effects ...

A groundbreaking study conducted by Jun Sun’s research team at the University of Illinois Chicago has revealed a new and critical role of Axin1 in regulating intestinal epithelial development and microbial homeostasis. The research, published in the journal Engineering, highlights the potential therapeutic strategies for human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD, a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract, has been a significant health concern worldwide. The study focused on understanding the role of Axin1, a negative regulator of Wnt/β-catenin ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Fuel cells are attracting attention as a clean energy source technology because the cells do not produce carbon dioxide and emit only water during power generation. However, two contradictory phenomena can hamper their performance: flooding, wherein water remains inside the fuel cell and interferes with power generation, and dry-out, wherein an excess of water is removed and the polymer membrane, through which hydrogen ions permeate, dries out. To detect such issues, various devices and sensors have been used in analyses based on substantial amounts of data. This research team has been investigating a method for detecting and controlling ...

Tsukuba, Japan—For realizing carbon neutrality, the demand for the development of direct methanol/formic acid-fuel cell technology has been increasing. In this technology, methanol or formic acid is used as an e-fuel for generating electricity. The fuel cells generate electricity via proton transfer; however, conventional proton-exchange membranes suffer from the "crossover phenomenon," where the fuel molecules are also transferred between anodes and cathodes. Thereafter, the fuel molecules are unnecessarily oxidized and the electrodes are deactivated. In this study, the researchers developed a new proton-exchange ...

Tsukuba, Japan—The search for functional natural compounds that can improve age-related cognitive decline has recently emerged as an important research focus to promote healthy aging. Trigonelline (TG), a plant alkaloid found in coffee, as well as in fenugreek seed and radish, was anticipated to possess cognitive enhancement properties. In this study, researchers led by the University of Tsukuba investigated the effects of TG on memory and spatial learning (acquiring, retaining, structuring, and applying information related to the surrounding physical environment) from both a cognitive and molecular biology perspective ...

Tsukuba, Japan—In eukaryotes, genomic DNA, which is a very long double helix containing all the genetic information, wraps around a globular protein called a histone and folds it many times before being contained within the nucleus. Various post-translational modifications (for example, addition of chemical groups) occur on histones. Among them, the methylation of residues of lysine, which is one of the amino acids that make up histones, regulates the folding of genomic DNA and acts as a switch to turn gene transcription on and off. The research group has discovered the methylation of histidine residues as a new post-translational ...

This study is led by Dr Cheng-Guo Duan (Center of Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Science). As a conserved epigenetic mark, DNA cytosine methylation at 5’ position (5-mC) plays important roles in multiple biological processes including plant immunity. While, it remains still elusive about the involvement of DNA methylation in the determinants of virulence of phytopathogenic fungi. Verticillium dahliae, one of the major causal pathogens of Verticillium wilt disease that causes great losses in many crops, has a wide host range. Due to the lack of natural disease-resistant ...

This study combined expertise in barley genetics and genomics from the research group led by Dr. Ping Yang (Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences) and that in barley microspore culturing led by Dr. Chenghong Liu (Biotech Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences), in order to address the time- and space-cost issue in developing homozygous induced mutants, which are very important genetic resources in theoretical researches as well as pre-breeding.   The researchers applied chemical mutagenesis (ethyl ...