The SEIS seismometer package from the Mars InSight lander has collected its first continuous Martian year of data, revealing some surprises among the more than 500 marsquakes detected so far. At the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2021 Annual Meeting, Savas Ceylan of ETH Zürich discussed some of the findings from The Marsquake Service, the part of the InSight ground team that detects marsquakes and curates the planet's seismicity catalog. Marsquakes differ from earthquakes in a number of ways, Ceylan explained. To begin with, they ...

How can I prepare myself for something I do not yet know? Scientists from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin and from the Technical University of Munich have addressed this almost philosophical question in the context of machine learning. Learning is no more than drawing on prior experience. In order to deal with a new situation, one needs to have dealt with roughly similar situations before. In machine learning, this correspondingly means that a learning algorithm needs to have been exposed to roughly similar data. But what can we do if there is a nearly infinite amount of possibilities so that it is simply impossible to generate data ...

Cardiovascular disease, the most common cause of death, is the result of oxygen deprivation as blood perfusion to affected tissue is prevented. To halt the development of the disease and to promote healing, re-establishment of blood flow is crucial. Researchers at Uppsala University have now discovered that one of the most common immune cells in the human body, macrophages, play an important role in re-establishing and controlling blood flow, something that can be used to develop new drugs. The classic function of immune cells is to defend the body against attacks from microorganisms and tumour cells. Macrophages are immune cells specialised in killing and consuming microorganisms but they have ...

How primates get from A to B gives vital information about their cognitive evolution, say researchers in a new study looking at the travel paths of animals in the wild. Using data from 164 wild primate populations, the global survey examines the mental abilities that primates, including ourselves, use to know where and when to travel in the most efficient way. A birds eye view Co-author Miguel de Guinea, expert in Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University commented: "Imagine looking down on a huge outdoor market from high in the sky, perhaps from a drone hovering quietly above. The people below move in different ways. Some wander haphazardly among the stalls: they are learning what's available but are clearly not busy. Others take bee-line routes ...

In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launching of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the renowned observatory at a brilliant "celebrity star," one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy, surrounded by a glowing halo of gas and dust. The price for the monster star's opulence is "living on the edge." The star, called AG Carinae, is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. The expanding shell of gas and dust that surrounds the star is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to the nearest star beyond the Sun, Proxima Centauri. The huge ...

Now that teens and young adults across the country account for an increasing share of COVID-19 cases, and many have become eligible for vaccination, several recently published studies based on polls of this age group provide insights into the kinds of messaging that might work best for both preventing transmission and vaccine uptake. Using data from text-message polls of people between the ages of 14 and 24 taken at several points in 2020, researchers from the University of Michigan find a clear theme: that most young people are taking COVID-19 seriously and trying to follow public health guidance, and that many of them they are motivated by the desire to protect ...

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- Army and Arizona State University researchers identified a set of approaches to help scientists assess how well autonomous systems and humans communicate. These approaches build on transformational scientific research efforts led by the Army's Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, which evolved the state of robots from tools to teammates and laid the foundation for much of the service's existing research into how humans and robots can work together effectively. As ideas for autonomous systems evolve, and the possibilities ...

Researchers from the Faraday Institution's SOLBAT project have made a significant step in understanding how and why solid-state batteries (SSBs) fail. A paper, published in Nature Materials on 22 April, provides answers to one important piece of the scientific puzzle. To make step changes in electric vehicle (EV) battery range and safety at a lower cost, new battery chemistries that are "beyond lithium ion" must be developed. SSBs are one such promising technology, but mass market adoption has been held back by several key technical challenges that cause the battery to fail when charged and discharged. SSBs can short circuit after repeating charging and discharging. One well-recognised cause of battery failure is the growth of dendrites, branching networks of lithium that ...

An evolutionary biologist from the University of Bonn brought a new octopus species to light from depths of more than 4,000 meters in the North Pacific Ocean. The sensational discovery made waves in the media a few years ago. Researchers in Bonn have now published the species description and named the animal "Emperor dumbo" (Grimpoteuthis imperator). Just as unusual as the organism is the researchers' approach: in order to describe the new species, they did not dissect the rare creature, but instead used non-destructive imaging techniques. The results have now been published in the prestigious journal BMC Biology. In the summer of 2016, Dr. Alexander ...

A continental-scale network of conservation sites is likely to remain effective under future climate change scenarios, despite a predicted shift in key species distributions. New research, led by Durham University and published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, investigates the impacts of potential climate change scenarios on the network of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) across the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The research was carried out in collaboration with Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, BirdLife International and the National Audubon Society. IBAs are sites identified as being internationally important for the conservation of bird populations, with over 13,000 ...

There are many different types of cancer, but they all have one thing in common: errors in the signals that control normal cell behaviour can cause uncontrolled cell growth and cell division, leading to a tumour. An enzyme called SHP2 plays a key role in this regard. SHP2 is a signalling molecule that in its activated state stimulates cell proliferation. In a normal healthy body, the rates of cell proliferation and cell death are balanced and tumours do not develop. However, if SHP2 becomes too active, the number of cells being created outweighs the number that die, which can lead to the formation of dangerous tumours. Enhanced SHP2 activity resulting from genetic ...

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say a regulatory protein found in skeletal muscle fiber may play an important role in the body's fight or flight response when encountering stressful situations. The protein, fast skeletal myosin binding protein-C (fMyBP-C), plays a foundational role in the proper regulation of contractile structure and function in the body's fast twitch muscles -- these muscles produce sudden bursts of power to sprint into action, jump or lift heavy objects. Fast skeletal myosin binding protein-C modulates the speed and force of fast skeletal muscle contraction. "This response ...

People with type 2 diabetes tend to have poorer muscle function than others. Now a research team at Lund University in Sweden has discovered that in type 2 diabetes, a specific gene is of great importance for the ability of muscle stem cells to create new mature muscle cells. The findings are published in Nature Communications. "In people with type 2 diabetes, the VPS39 gene is significantly less active in the muscle cells than it is in other people, and the stem cells with less activity of the gene do not form new muscle cells to the same degree. The gene is important when muscle cells absorb sugar from blood and build new muscle. Our study is the first ever to link this gene to type 2 diabetes", says Charlotte Ling, professor of epigenetics at Lund University who led ...

Recently study on synthetic approaches toward polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as graphene with a well-defined structure has attracted much attention. A research group in Ehime University has been studying the synthesis and fundamental properties of pyrrole-fused azacoronene (HPHAC), a nitrogen-containing PAH. HPHACs are composed of electron-rich pyrroles, which are easily oxidized, and their dicationic species in particular exhibit unique features such as global aromaticity based on macrocyclic π-conjugation. However, all the compounds reported so far have bulky ...

An interdisciplinary group of Spanish scientists, bringing together biologists and chemists from the Universities of Seville, Huelva, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Institute of Marine Sciences of Andalusia of the CSIC in Cadiz, have just published the results of their pioneering research studying the management of marinas. The group of scientists, led by the US professor José Manuel Guerra García, studied in detail the sediments in Andalusia's marinas and has proposed a new index, the MEPI (Marinas Environmental Pollution Index) to quantify the level of contamination in these ports. There has been a proliferation of marinas in recent ...

The giant star featured in this latest Hubble Space Telescope anniversary image is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. The star, called AG Carinae, is surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust -- a nebula -- that is shaped by the powerful winds of the star. The nebula is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to our nearest star, Alpha Centauri. The huge structure was created from one or more giant eruptions several thousand years ago. The star's outer layers were blown into space, the expelled material ...

How do the billions of cells communicate in order to perform tasks? The cells exert force on their environment through movement - and in doing so, they communicate. They work as a group in order to infiltrate their environment, perform wound healing and the like. They sense the stiffness or softness of their surroundings and this helps them connect and organize their collective effort. But when the connection between cells is distrubeddisturbed, a situation just like when cancer is initiated, can appear. Assistant Professor Amin Doostmohammadi at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen has investigated the mechanics of cell movement and connection ...

Etrasimod 2 mg treatment group achieved statistical significance in the percentage change in weekly peak pruritis (PP-NRS), in the change in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and in the change in Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) Etrasimod 2 mg was generally well tolerated, consistent with data in previous trials Park City, Utah, April 23, 2021 - Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) today announced data at a late-breaking session at the American Academy of Dermatology VMX Experience. Etrasimod, a novel investigational drug candidate to treat moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD), demonstrated statistical significance in both clinician and patient reported outcomes in the ADVISE Phase 2b clinical trial. Etrasimod is a highly selective, once-daily, oral sphingosine ...

Paper Title: Safety of Tranexamic Acid in Hip and Knee Arthroplasty in High-risk Patients Journal: Anesthesiology Authors: Jashvant Poeran MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Clinical and Outcomes Research, and Associate Professor of Population Health Science & Policy and Orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Calin S. Moucha, MD, Chief of Adult Reconstruction & Joint Replacement Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, and Associate Professor of Orthopedics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and other coauthors. Bottom Line: The use of the drug tranexamic acid is commonplace in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery to reduce blood loss. However, this drug works by promoting clotting and safety concerns exist when used in certain high-risk ...

By Karina Toledo | Agência FAPESP – Can a high dose of vitamin D administered on admission to hospital improve the condition of patients with moderate or severe COVID-19? The answer is no, according to a Brazilian study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The article reports a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, the kind of study considered the gold standard to evaluate drug efficacy. It was conducted with FAPESP’s support by researchers at the University of São Paulo’s ...

DURHAM, N.H.-- Corals and sponges are important foundations in ocean ecosystems providing structure and habitats that shelter a high number of species like fish, crabs and other creatures, particularly in the seamounts and canyons of the deep sea. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have discovered that when it comes to climate change not all deep-sea corals and sponges are affected the same and some could be threatened if average ocean temperatures continue to increase in the deep sea of the Northwest Atlantic. "These deep-sea corals and sponges are ecologically important because they are foundational ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - House finches are locked in a deadly cycle of immunity and new strains of bacterial infection in battling an eye disease that halved their population when it first emerged 25 years ago, according to new research from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. House finch eye disease causes red, swollen, watery or crusty eyes. Afflicted birds can recover, but may die because they cannot see well enough to find food or avoid predators. The latest analyses, based on the observations of Project FeederWatch participants from eight Northeast states, addresses the long-term ...

A recently published article in the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions journal provides new evidence that pathogens are hijacking the plant immune system to cause disease while providing insights into a newly discovered mechanism. A large variety of pathogens infect plants and cause different diseases, which can lead to reduced crop yields. During infection, pathogens secrete effector proteins into the plant cell. Some of these proteins target plant proteasomal degradation machinery, which is responsible for recycling proteins to regulate cell processes. Some E1, E2 and E3-ligase proteins have been identified as playing a role in plant susceptibility ...

PHILADELPHIA, PA - The first National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical study examining stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in the treatment of oligometastatic breast, prostate, and non-small cell lung (NSCLC) cancers displayed evidence that SBRT can be safely used to treat patients who have multiple metastases. These results were recently published in JAMA Oncology. The results of the Phase I NRG-BR001 trial, conducted by the NCI National Clinical Trials Network group NRG Oncology, indicate that SBRT treatment in ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--April 22, 2021--In their effort to understand the very earliest stages of life and how they can go wrong, scientists are confronted with ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryos. The use of animal embryos is also subject to restrictions rooted in ethical considerations. To overcome these limitations, scientists have been trying to recreate early embryos using stem cells. One of the challenges in creating these so-called synthetic embryos is to generate all the cell types normally found in a young embryo before it implants into the wall of the uterus. Some of these cells eventually give rise to the placenta. Others become the amniotic sac in which the fetus grows. Both the placenta and the amniotic sac are crucial for the survival of the fetus, and defects ...