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Environment31 Aug 2023

Study connects greenhouse gas emissions to polar bear population declines, enabling greater protections under Endangered Species Act

New research from the University of Washington and Polar Bears International in Bozeman, Montana, quantifies the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the survival of polar bear populations. The paper, published online Aug. 31 in Science, combines past research and new analysis to provide a quantitative link between greenhouse gas emissions and polar bear survival rates. A warming Arctic is limiting polar bears’ access to sea ice, which the bears use as a hunting platform. In ice-free summer months the bears must fast. While in a worst-case scenario ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Exciting the brain could be key to boosting maths learning, says new study

Exciting a brain region using electrical noise stimulation can help improve mathematical learning in those who struggle with the subject, according to a new study from the Universities of Surrey and Oxford, Loughborough University, and Radboud University in The Netherlands. During this unique study, researchers investigated the impact of neurostimulation on learning. Despite the growing interest in this non-invasive technique, little is known about the neurophysiological changes induced and the effect it has on learning. Researchers found that electrical noise ...

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Space31 Aug 2023

How does “MAD” accretion form around a black hole?

An international scientific team has revealed for the first time the magnetic field transport processes in the accretion flow of a black hole and the formation of a "MAD"—a magnetically arrested disk—in the vicinity of a black hole. The researchers made the discovery while conducting multi-wavelength observational studies of an outburst event of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070, using Insight-HXMT, China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, as well as multiple telescopes. Key to their discovery was the observation that the radio emission from the black hole jet and the optical emission from the outer ...

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Science31 Aug 2023

Mutation rates in whales are much higher than previously reported

An international team of marine scientists, led by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the Center for Coastal Studies in the USA, has studied the DNA of family groups from four different whale species to estimate their mutation rates. The results revealed much higher mutation rates than previously thought, and which are similar to those of smaller mammals such as humans, apes, and dolphins. Using the newly determined rates, the group found that the number of humpback whales in the North Atlantic before whaling was 86 percent lower than earlier studies suggested. The study is the first proof that this method can be used to estimate mutation rates ...

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Physics31 Aug 2023

Peering into nanofluidic mysteries one photon at a time

Researchers at University of Manchester and the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, have revealed an innovative approach to track individual molecule dynamics within nanofluidic structures, illuminating their response to molecules in ways never before possible. Nanofluidics, the study of fluids confined within ultra-small spaces, offers insights into the behaviour of liquids on a nanometer scale. However, exploring the movement of individual molecules in such confined environments has been challenging due to the limitations of conventional microscopy techniques. This obstacle prevented ...

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Social Science31 Aug 2023

Study demonstrates adding complex component of milk to infant formula confers long-term cognitive benefits

LAWRENCE, KANSAS — Breast milk is widely acknowledged as the most beneficial nutrition for infants, but many families face medical or logistical challenges in breastfeeding. In the U.S., just 45% of infants continue to be exclusively breastfed at 3 months of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control. For decades, researchers have sought to create a viable complement or alternative to breast milk to give children their best start for healthy development. New research out of the University of Kansas has shown how a complex component of milk that can be added to infant ...

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Technology31 Aug 2023

Do artificial roosts help bats? Illinois experts say more research needed

URBANA, Ill. — Artificial roosts for bats come in many forms — bat boxes, condos, bark mimics, clay roosts, and cinder block structures, to name a few — but a new conservation practice and policy article from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests the structures haven’t been studied rigorously enough and may harm bats in some scenarios. The article, published in Conservation Biology, lays out potential dangers and encourages more research on the popular conservation practice. “The major emphasis among conservation managers using artificial roosts is how to attract ...

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Technology31 Aug 2023

JMIR Dermatology call for papers theme issue on AI and ChatGPT in dermatology

JMIR Dermatology Editor-in-Chief: Robert Dellavalle, MD, PhD, MSPH and guest editors James A Solomon, MD, PhD, FAAD and Ian Brooks, PhD welcome submissions to a special theme issue examining "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT in Dermatology." JMIR Dermatology welcomes all topics related to diseases of the skin, hair, and nails, with a wide breadth and depth of papers focusing on AI applications. All topics at the intersection of dermatology, AI, and ChatGPT are eligible for this theme issue. The journal ...

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Technology31 Aug 2023

An ‘introspective’ AI finds diversity improves performance

An artificial intelligence with the ability to look inward and fine tune its own neural network performs better when it chooses diversity over lack of diversity, a new study finds. The resulting diverse neural networks were particularly effective at solving complex tasks. “We created a test system with a non-human intelligence, an artificial intelligence (AI), to see if the AI would choose diversity over the lack of diversity and if its choice would improve the performance of the AI,” says William Ditto, professor of physics at North Carolina State University, director ...

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Environment31 Aug 2023

Penn State professor to lead field campaign to study climate in Baltimore area

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kenneth Davis, professor of atmospheric and climate science at Penn State, will lead a team of 23 investigators from 13 research institutions in a new field campaign supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to study surface-atmosphere interactions around Baltimore, Maryland, to see how they influence the city’s climate. The new campaign, called the Coast-Urban-Rural Atmospheric Gradient Experiment (CoURAGE), is expected to start in October 2024 and run through September 2025. CoURAGE will contribute to the Baltimore Social-Environmental ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Covid pandemic may have changed the gut bacteria of infants, research finds

Infants who spent most of their first year in the pandemic have fewer types of bacteria in their gut than infants born earlier, according to a team of developmental psychology researchers. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, showed that infants whose gut microbes were sampled during the pandemic had lower alpha diversity of the gut microbiome, meaning that there were fewer species of bacteria in the gut. The infants had a lower abundance of Pasteurellaceae and Haemophilus—bacteria that live within humans and can cause various infections—and significantly different beta diversity, which tells us how similar or dissimilar the gut microbiome for ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

New blood test gives very high accuracy to screen for Alzheimer’s disease

A new blood test called p-tau217 shows promise as an Alzheimer's disease biomarker, and when used in a two-step workflow very high accuracy to either identify or exclude brain amyloidosis, the most important and earliest pathology. That is an innovation now presented by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues at University of Lund and in Montreal, Canada. In recent years, a lot of effort has been put on developing biomarkers in blood that could potentially help to identify Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Tau protein, ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Antioxidants stimulate blood flow in tumors

Vitamin C and other antioxidants stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in lung cancer tumours, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation shows. The discovery corroborates the idea that dietary supplements containing antioxidants can accelerate tumour growth and metastasis. “We’ve found that antioxidants activate a mechanism that causes cancer tumours to form new blood vessels, which is surprising, since it was previously thought that antioxidants have a protective effect,” says study leader Martin Bergö, professor at the ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Talk therapy with other moms an effective treatment for postpartum depression, McMaster research shows

HAMILTON, ON (Aug. 31, 2023) – An innovative model of care that offers new mothers psychotherapy delivered by other mothers who have also experienced post-partum depression (PPD) should be implemented in clinical practice, according to researchers at McMaster University. Researchers worked with nearly 200 mothers over a year and a half, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and found those receiving treatment from their peers were 11 times more likely to experience remission of their major depressive disorder. The findings of the randomized control trial are published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. PPD and its associated symptoms affect ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Single-dose psilocybin treatment for major depressive disorder

About The Study: In a randomized clinical trial with 104 participants, psilocybin treatment was associated with a clinically significant sustained reduction in depressive symptoms and functional disability, without serious adverse events. These findings add to increasing evidence that psilocybin—when administered with psychological support—may hold promise as a novel intervention for major depressive disorder. Authors: Charles L. Raison, M.D., of Usona Institute in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Deaths due to COVID-19 in patients with cancer during different waves of the pandemic in the US

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that patients with cancer had a disparate burden of COVID-19 mortality during the winter Omicron wave compared with the general U.S. population. With the emergence of new, immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants, many of which are anticipated to be resistant to monoclonal antibody treatments, strategies to prevent COVID-19 transmission should remain a high priority. Authors: Chi-Fu Jeffrey Yang, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding ...

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Earth Science31 Aug 2023

New research reveals Earth's ancient ‘breath’: Study reveals connection between atmospheric changes and mantle chemistry

An international team of scientists have uncovered an important link between Earth’s early atmosphere and the chemistry of its deep mantle. The study, which was led by researchers at the University of Portsmouth and University of Montpellier, sheds new light on the evolution of life on our planet and the rise of atmospheric oxygen. The team investigated magmas formed in ancient subduction zones, where portions of Earth’s crust sink back into the mantle, from a pivotal moment in Earth's history – the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). This event, which is estimated to have happened between 2.1 ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Discovery opens possibility of new ion channel-targeting drugs

Ion channels are attractive drug targets due to their importance in health and disease, but finding ways to target a specific ion channel selectively is a major challenge. Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and RMIT University in Australia have discovered that ion channels called BK channels have unique openings in their sides, which drug molecules may be able to access. The finding, published Aug. 31 in Nature Chemical Biology, could lead to the development of selective drugs that target the BK channel to treat ...

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Technology31 Aug 2023

Analog and digital: The best of both worlds in one energy-efficient system

We live in an analog world of continuous information flow that is both processed and stored by our brains at the same time, but our devices process information digitally in the form of discrete binary code, breaking the information into little bits (or bites). Researchers at EPFL have revealed a pioneering technology that combines the potential of continuous analog processing with the precision of digital devices. By seamlessly integratingultra-thin, two-dimensional semiconductors with ferroelectric materials, the research, published in Nature Electronics, unveils a novel way to improve energy efficiency and add new functionalities in computing. The ...

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Environment31 Aug 2023

Coastal fisheries show surprising resilience to marine heat waves

Rutgers-led research found that marine heat waves – prolonged periods of unusually warm ocean temperatures – haven’t had a lasting effect on the fish communities that feed most of the world. The finding is in stark contrast to the devastating effects seen on other marine ecosystems cataloged by scientists after similar periods of warming, including widespread coral bleaching and harmful algal blooms. “There is an emerging sense that the oceans do have some resilience, and while they are changing in response ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

A new breakthrough in obesity research allows you to lose fat while eating all you want

This is a significant development that brings hope to the one billion individuals with obesity worldwide. Researchers led by Director C. Justin LEE from the Center for Cognition and Sociality (CCS) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have discovered new insights into the regulation of fat metabolism. The focus of their study lies within the star-shaped non-neuronal cells in the brain, known as 'astrocytes'. Furthermore, the group announced successful animal experiments using the newly developed drug 'KDS2010', which allowed the mice to successfully achieve weight loss without resorting ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

New blood test for noncoding RNA significantly improves cancer detection

Cancer is most treatable in its early stages, so finding innovative and non-invasive methods to diagnose cancer early on is crucial for fighting the disease. Liquid biopsies, which require just a simple blood draw, are an emerging technology for non-invasively testing for cancer using DNA or RNA sequencing of a patient’s blood. Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Daniel Kim and his lab are developing more accurate and powerful liquid biopsy technologies that take advantage of signals from RNA “dark matter,” an understudied ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Largest genetic study of epilepsy to date provides new insights on why epilepsy develops and potential treatments

Thursday, 31 August 2023: The largest genetic study of its kind, coordinated by the International League Against Epilepsy, including scientists from FutureNeuro at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, has discovered specific changes in our DNA that increase the risk of developing epilepsy. The research, published today in Nature Genetics, greatly advances our knowledge of why epilepsy develops and may inform the development of new treatments for the condition. Epilepsy, a common brain disorder of which there are many different types, is known to have genetic component and to sometimes run in families. Here, researchers compared the DNA from diverse groups of almost ...

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Medicine31 Aug 2023

Intracellular recycling: the key to surviving potent anti-cancer drugs

Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University（TMDU） determine how cardiomyocytes protect themselves against anti-cancer medication Tokyo, Japan – A cell contains many specialized subunits, called organelles, that carry out important tasks such as energy generation, protein synthesis, and calcium outflux. But what happens when something goes wrong with one of the organelles? In a study recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: CardioOncology, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University（TMDU） have ...

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Physics31 Aug 2023

Growing triple-decker hybrid crystals for lasers

By controlling the arrangement of multiple inorganic and organic layers within crystals using a novel technique, researchers at Duke University and Purdue University have shown they can control the energy levels of electrons and holes (positive charge carriers) within a class of materials called perovskites. This tuning influences the materials’ optoelectronic properties and their ability to emit light of specific energies, demonstrated by their ability to function as a source of lasers. Appearing online August 31 in the journal Nature Chemistry, the research is the result of a close collaboration between several ...

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