Violence was a consistent part of life among ancient communities of hunter-gatherers, according to a new study co-authored by a Tulane University researcher that looked for signs of trauma on 10,000-year-old skeletal remains from burial sites in northern Chile. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE. Archaeological research has shown that interpersonal violence and warfare played an important role in the lives of hunter-gatherer groups over time. Still, many questions remain about the factors that influence such violence. The record of human populations in northern Chile extends across 10,000 years, providing a valuable opportunity to study patterns in violence over time. John ...

Children are taught to leave wild mushrooms alone because of their potential to be poisonous. But trees on the other hand depend on fungi for their well-being. Look no further than ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are organisms that colonize the roots of many tree species where the boreal ecosystem (zone encompassing Earth’s northernmost forests) and the temperate ecosystem (zone between the tropical and boreal regions) meet. This area features a mix of boreal trees including needle-leaved evergreens and temperate tree species including maple and oak. Just like a healthy human relationship, trees and fungi work well together because they help one another. When the ectomycorrhizal ...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 21, 2023) – To make a gene-editing tool more precise and easier to control, Rice University engineers split it into two pieces that only come back together when a third small molecule is added. Researchers in the lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Xue Sherry Gao created a CRISPR-based gene editor designed to target adenine ⎯ one of the four main DNA building blocks ⎯  that remains inactive when disassembled but kicks into gear once the binding molecule is added. Compared to the intact original, the split editor is more precise and stays active for a narrower window of time, ...

It sounds like magic: photoelectrodes could convert the greenhouse gas CO2 back into methanol or N2 molecules into valuable fertiliser - using only the energy of sunlight. An HZB study has now shown that diamond materials are in principle suitable for such photoelectrodes. By combining X-ray spectroscopic techniques at BESSY II with other measurement methods, Tristan Petit's team has succeeded for the first time in precisely tracking which processes are excited by light as well as the crucial role of the surface of the diamond materials. At first glance, lab-grown diamond materials ...

Under normal circumstances, tau protein is part of the brain’s infrastructure, important for stabilizing neurons into their proper shapes. But sometimes tau gets knotted up into tangles and turns toxic, injuring brain tissue and causing tauopathies, a group of brain diseases characterized by problems with learning, memory and movement. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common tauopathy, but the group also includes Parkinson’s disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and several rare genetic conditions. In search of ways to prevent these destructive ...

A study has revealed new details about a key population of immune system cells critical to successful vaccination against the pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and New York Genome Center, the current study focused on T cells, which along with B cells, compose the human immune system’s response to invading viruses and bacteria. A subset of T cells, labeled with the surface protein CD8, produce molecules that directly kill infected cells. B cells produce antibody proteins that neutralize and label infected cells for removal from the body. Without risking ...

Psychological loss can occur when someone loses a job, loses a sense of control or safety or when a spouse dies. Such loss, which erodes well-being and negatively impacts quality of life, may be a common experience but little is known about the molecular process in the brain that occurs because of loss. New research from the University of Cincinnati explores those mechanisms through a process known as enrichment removal (ER). The study highlights an area of the brain that plays a key role in psychological loss and identifies new molecular targets that may alleviate its impact. The research was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The research was led by Marissa Smail, a ...

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, is pleased to announce that Cardiff University has chosen Figshare from Digital Science’s flagship products to enhance its researcher support services, as it continues its work as a leading research institution. Cardiff University – already excelling in the production of high-quality, innovative research that translates into benefits for the city, Wales and worldwide – has signed a two-year deal to utilize Figshare as its data repository and to form an integral ...

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. Understanding the role of exceptional research as a driving force behind progress in its mission to end cancer, MD Anderson is proud to support World Cancer Research Day, Sept. 24, which calls for global efforts to promote cancer ...

About The Study: In this study that included data from Kaiser Permanente Southern California of individuals age 19 and younger, the incidence of type 1 diabetes slightly increased overall and type 2 diabetes significantly increased after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic youth. These findings suggest the need for further evaluation of physiologic and behavioral risk factors preceding new-onset diabetes during the pandemic.  Authors: Matthew T. Mefford, Ph.D., of Kaiser Permanente Southern ...

About The Study: This analysis of assessments of 2,708 emergency medicine residents found evidence of sex-specific ethnoracial disparities in ratings on the Milestones assessments. These disparities increased over time across multiple Milestones assessments and were most severe for female residents of ethnoracial groups that are underrepresented in medicine.  Authors: Elle Lett, Ph.D., M.A., M.Biostat., of the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle, is the corresponding author.  To ...

Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) was discovered decades ago in Drosophila, where it was found to be a key controller of developmental genes. Further analyses showed that PRC2 modifies chromatin and silences target gene expression. However, the ancestral function of PRC2 - as functioning primarily to control genes during development - was called into question when researchers discovered that PRC2 also plays a role in unicellular species, in which no development takes place. A first hint at PRC2’s original role came from studies in red algae, which found PRC2 left its methylation mark on transposons – jumping genes that ...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials that contain nano-sized pores. These pores give MOFs record-breaking internal surface areas, which make them extremely versatile for a number of applications: separating petrochemicals and gases, mimicking DNA, producing hydrogen, and removing heavy metals, fluoride anions, and even gold from water are just a few examples. In the gas-separation domain, MOFs are particularly interesting for separating hydrogen from nitrogen, which is crucial for clean energy production, fuel cell efficiency, ammonia synthesis, and various ...

The team, led by Imperial College London researchers, uncovered the wiring in mouse brains that leads them to begin nesting in preparation for sleep. Published today in Nature Neuroscience, the study reveals that preparing properly for sleep is likely a hard-wired survival feature – one often neglected or overridden by humans. We all need to sleep, but since we are unconscious when we do so, it makes sense to fall asleep in a safe and warm place. For some animals this is especially important, as a burrow or nest provides a haven from ...

Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. These vaccines alert the patient's immune system to proteins that are carrying cancer-typical alterations. Physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now treated adult patients with advanced midline gliomas, difficult-to-treat brain tumors, with a peptide vaccine for the first time. The vaccine mimicked a mutational change in a histone protein typical of this type of cancer. The vaccine proved to be safe and induced the desired immune responses directed ...

If you happen to come across plants of the Balanophoraceae family in a corner of a forest, you might easily mistake them for fungi growing around tree roots. Their mushroom-like structures are actually inflorescences, composed of minute flowers. But unlike some other parasitic plants that extend an haustorium into host tissue to steal nutrients, Balanophora induces the vascular system of their host plant to grow into a tuber, forming a unique underground organ with mixed host-parasite tissue. This ...

An international research team led by scientists in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center has singled out mutations in 11 genes that are associated with aggressive forms of prostate cancer. These findings come from the largest-scale prostate cancer study ever exploring the exome — that is, the key sections of the genetic code that contain the instructions to make proteins. The scientists analyzed samples from about 17,500 prostate cancer ...

Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather evolution.     Previous studies suggested that ancient feathers had a different composition to the feathers of birds today. The new research, however, reveals that the protein composition of modern-day feathers was also present in the feathers of dinosaurs and early birds, confirming that the chemistry of feathers originated much earlier than previously thought.  The research, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, was led by palaeontologists ...

MicroRNAs are small molecules that regulate gene activity by binding to and destroying RNAs produced by the genes. More than 60% of all human genes are estimated to be regulated by microRNAs, therefore it is not surprising that these small molecules are involved in many biological processes including diseases such as cancer. To discover the function of a microRNA, it is necessary to find out exactly which RNAs are targeted by it. While such methods exist, they require a lot of material typically in order of millions of cells, to ...

A new form of agricultural pest control could one day take root—one that treats crop infestations deep under the ground in a targeted manner with less pesticide. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed nanoparticles, fashioned from plant viruses, that can deliver pesticide molecules to soil depths that were previously unreachable. This advance could potentially help farmers effectively combat parasitic nematodes that plague the root zones of crops, all while minimizing costs, pesticide use and environmental toxicity. Controlling infestations caused by root-damaging nematodes has long been a challenge in agriculture. One reason is that the types of pesticides ...

A research team led by Prof. LIN Nan from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that during sentence processing, the neural activity of two canonical language areas, i.e., the left ventral temporoparietal junction (vTPJ) and the lateral anterior temporal lobe (lATL), is associated with social-semantic working memory rather than language processing per se. The study was published in Nature Human Behaviour on Sept. 21. Language and social cognition are two deeply interrelated abilities of the human species, but have traditionally been studied ...

On September 17th, 2023, Carbon Future, an international interdisciplinary journal sponsored by Tsinghua University, has been officially inaugurated.   Carbon Future is an open access, peer-reviewed and international interdisciplinary journal that reports carbon-related materials and processes, including carbon materials, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, as well as low carbon emission process and engineering. The journal is published quarterly by Tsinghua University Press, and publicly released on SciOpen, an internationally digital ...

In a groundbreaking study published in Engineering, researchers have developed a revolutionary method for data storage using DNA. The paper titled “Engineering DNA Materials for Sustainable Data Storage Using a DNA Movable-Type System” introduces a novel approach that utilizes DNA fragments, referred to as “DNA movable types,” for data writing, thereby eliminating the need for costly and environmentally hazardous DNA synthesis. DNA molecules have long been recognized as green materials ...

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a three-year, nearly $6 million grant to lead one of three national contraceptive research centers. The grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund the Weill Cornell Medicine Contraception Development Research Center. Led by Drs. Jochen Buck and Lonny Levin, both professors of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine, the center will focus on developing an on-demand male contraceptive. “It’s an honor to be selected for a second time for this award,” Dr. Levin ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Frailty is a serious concern in later-life adults due to its association with additional health risks including disability, falls, hospitalization and mortality. The prevalence of frailty has risen over time; about 15 percent of those aged 65 years and older are considered frail. In one of the first studies to analyze the mediating effects of social relationships in the relationship between childhood experiences and frailty, Regenstrief Research Scientist Monica M. Williams-Farrelly, PhD, has found ...