Biophysicists have designed a new cell-like transport system that represents an important milestone on the road to artificial cells. Creating artificial cells with life-like characteristics out of a minimal set of components is a major goal of synthetic biology. Autonomous motion is a key capability here, and one that is difficult to reproduce in the test tube. A team led by physicist Erwin Frey, Professor of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU, and Petra Schwille from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, has now made ...

Every year, more than 40,000 women die of ovarian cancer in Europe. Ovarian cancer is a genetically very heterogeneous disease, which makes it exceptionally difficult to study and treat. The prognosis is particularly poor in ovarian high grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), a subtype of ovarian cancer. Less than 40% of patients with this subtype survive five years after their diagnosis. The researchers were able to classify HGSC tumours into three groups on the basis of genomic changes. The groups differ in the intracellular signalling pathways, the ways in which the tumours grow, and response ...

The Collaborative Research Centre, to be known as HYP*MOL, will bring together 29 professors and early career researchers from both universities, as well as other external research partners, to study electron and nuclear spin hyperpolarization in molecular systems. “This funding is both a cause for celebration and a great incentive for everyone involved,” says Professor Eva Inés Obergfell, Rector of Leipzig University. “Hyperpolarization is an exciting and rapidly evolving field of research. I believe that our research team will contribute new insights that will be appreciated at an international level.” Leipzig University is now involved ...

The never-ending demand for carbon-rich fuels to drive the economy keeps adding more and more carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. While efforts are being made to reduce CO2 emissions, that alone cannot counter the adverse effects of the gas already present in the atmosphere. So, scientists have come up with innovative ways to use existing atmospheric CO2 by transforming it into useful chemicals such as formic acid (HCOOH) and methanol. A popular method for carrying out such conversions is to use visible ...

Evolutionary reinforcement learning is an exciting frontier in machine learning, combining the strengths of two distinct approaches: reinforcement learning and evolutionary computation. In evolutionary reinforcement learning, an intelligent agent learns optimal strategies by actively exploring different approaches and receiving rewards for successful performance. This innovative paradigm combines reinforcement learning's trial-and-error learning with evolutionary algorithms' ability to mimic natural selection, ...

Advanced electronic devices require high-quality materials such as metal halide phosphors that can effectively convert light into measurable signals. Toxic element-free copper-based iodides such as cesium copper iodide (Cs3Cu2I5: CCI) are particularly promising in this regard. CCI is an efficient blue light-emitting material that can convert almost all the absorbed energy into detectable light, making them ideal for use in deep-UV photodetectors and γ-ray scintillators for detecting ionizing radiation, ...

Oscillatory dynamics in fundamental biological processes, such as circadian clocks, segmentation, and transcription factor responses, requires precise quantitative control for proper cell regulation and fate decisions. Many biological oscillators are influenced by multiple oscillatory signals, and their behavior is understood through the framework of Arnold tongues. However, this approach simplifies the situation to a single external signal and one internal oscillator, which oversimplifies real biological systems. Our understanding of ...

The short-term effects of corruption are often obvious. Numerous sources, both in Russia and in the West, consider the military's endemic corruption one of the main reasons of the logistical problems, very low troop morale, and massive casualties of the Red Army in Ukraine. In late 2016, a corruption scandal cost the first woman elected head of state in an Asian country, South Korea's Park Geun-hye, impeachment.   We can well imagine that the ongoing “Qatargate,” a political scandal raised by the suspicion ...

PHILADELPHIA—Penn Medicine is launching a new community mental health hub at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — Cedar Avenue (HUP Cedar), co-locating inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care with a new crisis response center (CRC) at the facility. The multi-year plan will put crucial psychiatric and substance use care in easy reach for West and Southwest Philadelphia residents, at a time when both mental illness and drug and alcohol dependence are surging in the city. The project will begin with moving inpatient psychiatric and drug and alcohol detoxification units from Penn Presbyterian ...

Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”), a clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that it combined two rapidly developing technologies, quantum computing and generative AI, to explore lead candidate discovery in drug development and successfully demonstrated the potential advantages of quantum generative adversarial networks in generative chemistry.  The study, published May 13 in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, a leading journal in computational modeling, was led by Insilico’s Taiwan and UAE centers which focus on pioneering ...

HOUSTON – (May 19, 2023) – Researchers from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine are hoping a first-of-its-kind “glyco-immune” checkpoint inhibitor could be the key to stopping bone cancer metastasis for breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer often migrates to other organs. As many as 40% of breast cancer survivors are diagnosed with metastatic cancer, sometimes years after their initial treatment. Bone metastasis is involved in more than two-thirds of those cases, and bone metastatic lesions are known to “seed” metastatic cancer in other organs of the body. Rice chemist Han Xiao and Baylor biologist ...

Researchers at Chalmers’ Division of Applied Acoustics have conducted a laboratory study in which test subjects took concentration tests while being exposed to background traffic noise. The subjects were asked to look at a computer screen and react to certain letters, then to assess their perceived workload afterwards. The study shows that the subjects had significantly poorer results on the performance test, and also felt that the task was more difficult to carry out, with traffic noise in the background. “What is unique about our study is that we were able to demonstrate a decline in performance at noise levels as low as 40 dB, which ...

The Johanna Spyri and Heidi archives in Zurich have been added to UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register. The decision by the Executive Board of UNESCO acknowledges the collections' universal importance. The University of Zurich will be working with both institutions to promote the academic study of the collections. Heidi is important to Switzerland’s cultural heritage and has influenced art and popular culture around the world for more than a century. The documentary heritage ...

Researchers have observed the X-ray emission of the most luminous quasar seen in the last 9 billion years of cosmic history, known as SMSS J114447.77-430859.3, or J1144 for short. The new perspective sheds light on the inner workings of quasars and how they interact with their environment. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Hosted by a galaxy 9.6 billion light years away from the Earth, between the constellations of Centaurus and Hydra, J1144 is extremely powerful, shining 100,000 billion times brighter ...

Sounds that we hear around us are defined physically by their frequency and amplitude. But for us, sounds have a meaning beyond those parameters: we may perceive them as pleasant or unpleasant, ominous or reassuring, and interesting and rich in information, or just noise. One aspect that affects the emotional ‘valence’ of sounds – that is, whether we perceive them as positive, neutral, or negative – is where they come from. Most people rate looming sounds, which move towards them, as more unpleasant, potent, arousing, and intense than receding sounds, ...

Burlington, VT, USA, 19 May 2023 – Limited accuracy and transparency of national greenhouse gas emission inventories are curbing climate action, especially in the agriculture and land use sector. Inconsistent and inadequate reporting by low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), uncertainties in reported data, and a lack of robust activity data and locally specific emission factors have been found to curb effective policy action. GHG inventories are the foundation for accounting and tracking progress toward mitigation goals and decision-makers must have access to reliable, legible, and consistent data to make informed decisions. A review of UNFCCC country-reported agricultural ...

Sensors that detect changes in atmospheric pressure due to ground shaking can also obtain data about large earthquakes and explosions that exceed the upper limit of many seismometers, according to new research. The sensors, which detect inaudible infrasounds carried through the air, could improve tsunami warnings and other emergency responses while also lowering costs. Research by University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute scientists shows that infrasound sensors can improve magnitude determinations. An initial ...

PHOENIX (May 18, 2023) – Today during the SCAI 2023 Scientific Sessions in Phoenix, SCAI President Sunil V. Rao, MD, FSCAI recognized outstanding SCAI members for their ongoing contributions to the field of interventional cardiology, the Society, and patient care. Honorees span a broad spectrum of practitioners, all of whom have demonstrated a commitment to excellence throughout their careers, helping to shape the Society as well as the lives of patients, mentees, and colleagues. The following awards were presented: Mason Sones Award for Distinguished Service J. ...

Women’s health experts from the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will present new research and surgical techniques at the 2023 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Baltimore, Md. from May 19–21. Please let me know if you would like to coordinate an interview about their forthcoming work. These obstetricians and gynecologists are also available to comment on breaking news and other trending topics about prenatal care and women’s ...

Physicist Jin Hu has been awarded a second Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, this time from the National Science Foundation. The new award of $579,527 comes two years after Hu received a $750,000 CAREER Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.  NSF and DOE CAREER awards are considered the most competitive and prestigious awards to honor faculty members in the early stages of their careers. The awards support research and education activities. It is rare for an investigator to receive two CAREER awards.  Hu, an assistant professor of physics in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, leads the Quantum Materials group at ...

Extreme environments in several critical industries – aerospace, energy, transportation and defense – require sensors to measure and monitor numerous factors under harsh conditions to ensure human safety and integrity of mechanical systems. In the petrochemical industry, for example, pipeline pressures must be monitored at climates ranging from hot desert heat to near arctic cold. Various nuclear reactors operate at a range of 300-1000 degrees Celsius, while deep geothermal wells hold temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius. Now a team of University of Houston researchers has developed ...

Artificial intelligence has exploded across our news feeds, with ChatGPT and related AI technologies becoming the focus of broad public scrutiny. Beyond popular chatbots, biologists are finding ways to leverage AI to probe the core functions of our genes. Previously, University of California San Diego researchers who investigate DNA sequences that switch genes on used artificial intelligence to identify an enigmatic puzzle piece tied to gene activation, a fundamental process involved in growth, ...

Simple initiatives to help people select lower-calorie options when ordering takeaways in delivery apps could help tackle the obesity epidemic, suggest three randomised trials being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Dublin, Ireland (17-20 May). The research, which involved using a simulated food delivery app, found that interventions which positioned lower-calorie foods and restaurants more prominently, pre-selected smaller portions by default, and displayed calorie labels, all significantly reduced the ...

Feeling safe where you live may be key to weight loss, the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Dublin, Ireland (17-20 May) will hear. Preliminary Dutch research has shown that the feeling of safety in one's neighbourhood is linked to greater weight loss when taking part in lifestyle interventions. The term “neighbourhood safety” covered four dimensions: not feeling afraid of crime or harassment while walking through the neighbourhood, feeling safe while walking or cycling due to heavy traffic, adequate street lighting during ...

A new analysis of SURMOUNT-1, the first Phase 3 study of tirzepatide in adults for chronic weight management shows that tirzepatide improves body composition across a range of adult age groups. The analysis is presented by Dr Louis Aronne, Comprehensive Weight Control Center, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA, and colleagues. The efficacy and safety of tirzepatide, a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) ...