Cambridge researchers have observed a highly unusual behaviour in the endangered freshwater mussel, Unio crassus. In spring, female mussels were seen moving to the water’s edge and anchoring into the riverbed, with their back ends raised above the waterline. Then they squirted out regular water jets, which landed in the water up to a metre away. Squirting cycles lasted 3-6 hours. This behaviour has never been seen in any other mussel species. The jets disturb the river surface and attract ...

The first images from the largest program in the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year show many types of galaxies, including dazzling examples of spiral galaxies, gravitational lensing, and evidence of galaxy mergers. Scientists from the COSMOS-Web program released mosaic images taken in early January by JWST’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). COSMOS-Web aims to map the earliest structures of the universe and will create a wide and deep survey of up to 1 million galaxies. Over the course of 255 hours of observing time, COSMOS-Web ...

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease characterized by progressive scarring in the lungs, killing up to half of patients within five years of a diagnosis. Little is known about whether there are differences in how the condition affects individuals of different ethnicities. New research at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that Black patients with pulmonary fibrosis are significantly younger than their Hispanic and white counterparts across a wide variety of disease metrics, including diagnosis, first hospitalization, lung transplant and death. “Pulmonary fibrosis is a deadly disease, and people are often diagnosed right around the time they retire,” ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Domestic production of solar panels – most of which are now made in Asia – can speed up decarbonization in the U.S., according to new Cornell University research published in Nature Communications. The scientists found that if solar panel manufacturing can return to the U.S. by 2035, the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from panel creation would be reduced by 30% and energy consumption would be cut by 13%, compared to 2020, when the U.S. relied almost entirely on international trading partners. Manufacturing crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels in the U.S. solves logistical challenges and eases greenhouse gas problems, according ...

The research is based on new analyses of stone tools used by long-tailed macaques in the Phang Nga National Park in Thailand. These monkeys use stone tools to crack open hard-shelled nuts. In that process, the monkeys often break their hammerstones and anvils. The resulting assemblage of broken stones is substantial and widespread across the landscape. Moreover, many of these artefacts bear all of the same characteristics that are commonly used to identify intentionally made stone tools in some of the earliest archaeological sites in East Africa. “The ability to intentionally make ...

Advice on improving indoor air quality when cooking is today published by the University of Surrey's Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), with roles of occupants, builders, landlords and local councils across the globe. This global initiative by 34 co-authors from 19 countries included 10 generic and 10 evidence-based targeted measures.   Cooking is the leading contributor to poor indoor air quality, contributing to four million premature deaths each year and is linked to illnesses including ...

As an indispensable tool for observing the microcosmos, optical microscopy has boosted the development of various fields, including biology, medicine, physics, and materials. However, optical diffraction imposes a spatial resolution restriction on optical microscopy, which hampers exploration of finer structures. To overcome the resolution limitation, various super-resolution microscopy techniques based on diverse principles have been proposed. Yet these techniques commonly acquire super-resolution at the expense of reduced imaging speed, so achieving high-speed super-resolution ...

Jewel beetles are striking insects, easily recognized by their vivid colors and metallic sheen. Possessing large, well-developed eyes, jewel beetles use vision and color for a range of different behaviors, including finding mates and host plants. Color vision in insects differs from our own. Special genes allow many insects to see ultraviolet (UV) light as well as blue and green. New research led by Camilla Sharkey, a postdoctoral associate at the Wardill Lab in the College of Biological Sciences, investigated the complex evolutionary history of jewel beetles’ vision.  The research team included Jorge Blanco, formerly with the Wardill Lab ...

East Hanover, NJ – March, 10 2023 – The labor force participation rate reached an all-time high for people with disabilities in February, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). Comparing the year-to-year job indicators, nTIDE experts reported narrowing of the employment gap between people with and without disabilities, consistent ...

Prenatal exposure to an anti-nausea drug commonly used in the 1960s and 1970s has been shown to increase risk of colorectal cancer in adult offspring, according to a study by researchers at UTHealth Houston. The study, led by Caitlin Murphy, PhD, MPH, associate professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, was published today in JNCI Cancer Spectrum. Incidence rates of colorectal cancer are increasing among adults born in and after the 1960s, which Murphy said implicates pregnancy-related exposures introduced at that time as risk factors. Dicyclomine – used to treat spasms caused by irritable bowel syndrome – was initially ...

Diagnostic imaging offers physicians and scientists critical visual representations of internal body structures, greatly enhancing clinical analysis and medical intervention. Researchers continue to break new ground on how various imaging technologies can provide a better understanding of human health. Jitao Zhang, assistant professor of biomedical engineering (BME) at Wayne State University and a scientific member of the Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Molecular Imaging Program, is an award-winning researcher who holds three patents on a novel imaging technique called Brillouin microscopy ...

A University of Texas at Arlington civil engineering researcher is filling in an information gap for the state by determining how much sediment is lost by Texas rivers to the ocean. Yu Zhang, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, received a $150,000 Texas Water Development Board grant to assess the amount of sediment transported from Texas rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. The project is titled “Best Practices in Modeling Sediment Transport and Budget Along Texas Coast.” He and his team will also work with the General Land Office to develop a Sediment Management Plan for the state. Zhang said the Brazos River is ...

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2009 to 2017 determined that approximately 1 in 44 children ages 3-17 are diagnosed with some form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research also has established that children with ASD have an increased risk of obesity, and obesity has been linked to increased risks for cardiometabolic disorders such as diabetes and dyslipidemia (high level of cholesterol or fat in the blood). However, the question of whether or not there is an association between autism, cardiometabolic disorders and obesity remains largely unanswered. To help provide an insight ...

Microorganisms should be ‘weaponised’ to stave off conflicts across the globe, according to a team of eminent microbiologists.  The paper ‘Weaponising microbes for peace’ by Anand et al, outlines the ways in which microbes and microbial technologies can be used to tackle global and local challenges that could otherwise lead to conflict, but warns that these resources have been severely underexploited to date.  Professor Kenneth Timmis, Founding Editor of AMI journals Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology Reports and ...

New analytical methods and approaches to research are enhancing sustainability and materials research with particular reference to engineering science/technology at the University of Freiburg: Dr. Oana Cojocaru-Mirédin is taking on the new Eva Mayr-Stihl Chair for Multi-Scale Characterization of Materials Systems which has been established at the University’s Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH). Cojocaru-Mirédin, who previously researched and taught at RWTH Aachen, specializes in the application of various characterization techniques in the study of materials ...

The enzyme TBK1 is an important component of the innate immune system that plays a critical role in the defense against viruses. Upon mutation-induced loss of TBK1 function, patients show an increased susceptibility to viral infections. Strikingly, if TBK1 is not expressed at all, this clinical effect is not seen. The mechanism behind this supposed discrepancy has now been elucidated by researchers led by Prof. Martin Schlee from the University Hospital Bonn and the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. In the human body, viral particles are ...

INDIANAPOLIS—Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a new therapeutic target that could lead to more effective treatment of glaucoma. Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that causes vision loss and blindness due to a damaged optic nerve. More than 200,000 people are affected by glaucoma in the United States each year. Unfortunately, there is currently no treatment. In a newly published paper in Communications Biology, researchers found neurons use mitochondria for a steady source of energy, and restoring mitochondrial homeostasis in the diseased neurons can protect the optic nerve cells from being damaged. “Age-related ...

Expanding Medicaid-benefit eligibility to cover all people with income below 139 percent of the federal poverty line reduced Black-white disparities in preventable hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits, according to research from Rutgers University and the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The analysis of state-level inpatient and ED data from 2011 to 2018 showed that such disparities fell 10 percent or more in states that expanded eligibility compared to states that continued with older, stricter requirements. Benefit expansion didn’t affect the relatively smaller disparities in preventable hospitalizations and ED visits between ...

A recently published study from Aarhus University may mean a textbook chapter on the immune system will have to be rewritten. In the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers reveal crucial new knowledge about B cells, which form a vital element in the body’s defence system. B cells are the cells that generate protective antibodies when we are vaccinated or have an infection – and it is also the B cells that produce harmful antibodies in connection with allergies or autoimmune diseases. The researchers have examined the earliest step ...

One in 10 adults suffer from the debilitating effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Research around a new breathing device developed by pulmonologists at the University of Cincinnati offers promise for improving their lives. The new device not only improves symptoms of breathlessness and quality of life for people with COPD, it also offers benefits for people dealing with stress and anxiety and those practicing mindfulness, meditation or yoga. The research was published in the journal Respiratory Care. The device, called PEP Buddy, was created by Muhammad Ahsan Zafar, MD, and Ralph Panos, MD. Zafar is an associate professor in the Department of Pulmonary Critical ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of nearly 24,000 individuals suggest that insurance is a modifiable risk factor that plays an important role in the racial and ethnic inequities observed in the diagnosis of advanced-stage cervical cancer. Expanding access to care and improving the quality of services rendered for uninsured patients and those covered by Medicaid may mitigate the known inequities in cervical cancer diagnosis and related outcomes.  Authors: Hunter K. Holt, M.D., M.A.S., of the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: In this study of 4.3 million patients, those who were younger, publicly insured, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic Black had shorter primary care physician visits. Shorter visits were associated with a higher likelihood of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for patients with upper respiratory tract infections and co-prescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines for patients with painful conditions. These findings suggest opportunities for additional research and operational improvements to visit scheduling and quality of prescribing decisions ...

A scientific instrument at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help create a noninvasive cancer treatment derived from a common tropical plant. Pancratistatin is a chemical compound found in the spider lily, a native Hawaiian flower. Unlike traditional treatments, it kills cancer cells while keeping healthy cells intact. Until recently, pancratistatin’s workings have mystified scientists, clouding hope for potential new treatments. But after conducting neutron experiments at ORNL, students from the University of Windsor have ...

Exercising too much and not getting enough rest is bad for your health. A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that the same is true for migratory birds. They need to rest not only to renew their energy levels but also in order to boost their immune system. After a period of physical exertion, vertebrates, including humans, usually need a period of recovery. Apart from the obvious – lowering the heart rate and repairing injured muscles – other, less prominent physiological systems might also need to recover. Intensive physical activity can affect an individual’s basic immune defence. When birds migrate, they regularly stop in one place for a ...

In the issue of the renowned journal Science published today (10.3.23), the team led by Prof. Dr Ulf Peschel reports on measurements on a sequence of pulses that travel thousands of kilometres through glass fibres that are only a few microns thin. The researchers were surprised by the results. “We have found that the light pulses organize themselves after about a hundred kilometres and then behave more like molecules of a conventional gas, such as air, for example”, reports Prof. Ulf Peschel, the head of the group in Jena. In a gas the particles move back ...