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Engineering24 Feb 2023

Realizing synergy for bots and engineers

By Alistair Jones SMU Office of Research & Tech Transfer – Despite hero moments in movies where fingers clatter at dizzying speed across computer keyboards, not everyone in the real world finds code fascinating, nor algorithms intriguing. In fact, there is a worldwide shortage of skilled data scientists and software engineers. David Lo, a Professor of Computer Science at Singapore Management University (SMU), suggests two reasons for the shortfall. “First, software today is everywhere; organisations, companies, governments ...

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Earth Science23 Feb 2023

How the close dinosaurian relatives of birds evolved gigantic and miniature sizes

An analysis of fossils of non-avialan theropod dinosaurs – a dinosaur clade that includes an array of body sizes – has provided findings that run contrary to expectations regarding the factors that inform the evolution of body size diversity. “Once quantified and analyzed in a phylogenetic framework [like this], we predict that diverse growth strategies will be recognized in other clades,” say the study’s authors. Over evolutionary history, many taxa have evolved very large and very small body sizes, and even closely related species can exhibit widely disparate sizes. ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

How does a person’s ethnicity impact their risk of death?

In the UK, disparities in mortality risk factors exist between ethnic groups, with differences in overall mortality, top causes of mortality and individual mortality risk factors, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by I. King Jordan of Georgia Institute of Technology, US, and colleagues. Despite the progress made in improving mortality rate, life expectancy, and disease survival outcomes in the last century, health disparities between various population ...

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Environment23 Feb 2023

Plastic upcycling to close the carbon cycle

RICHLAND, Wash.—There’s a lot of potentially useful raw materials bound up in used face masks, grocery bags and food wrap. But it has been much cheaper to keep making more of these single-use plastics than to recover and recycle them. Now, an international research team led by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has cracked the code that stymied previous attempts to break down these persistent plastics. They reported their discovery in today’s issue of Science. Low temperature and reaction control Typically, recycling plastics requires ‘cracking’ or ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Evolution of dinosaur body size through different developmental mechanisms

The meat-eating dinosaurs known as theropods that roamed the ancient Earth ranged in size from the bus-sized T. rex to the smaller, dog-sized Velociraptor. Scientists puzzling over how such wildly different dinosaur sizes evolved recently found – to their surprise– that smaller and larger theropod dinosaurs like these didn’t necessarily get that way merely by growing slower or faster. In a new paper published in Science, “Developmental strategies underlying gigantism and miniaturization ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

MoBIE enables modern microscopy with massive data sets

High-resolution microscopy techniques, for example electron microscopy or super-resolution microscopy, produce huge amounts of data. The visualization, analysis and dissemination of such large imaging data sets poses significant challenges. Now, these tasks can be carried out using MoBIE, which stands for Multimodal Big Image Data Exploration, a new user-friendly, freely available tool developed by researchers from the University of Göttingen and EMBL Heidelberg. This means that researchers such as biologists, who rely ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

$3M NIH grant will fund next steps of research on dance and brain health

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Feb. 23, 2023 – Wake Forest University and Wake Forest University School of Medicine will receive $3 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help researchers take the next steps in nearly a decade of research that indicates dance can promote cognitive health. The grant funds a new study called IGROOVE that will help researchers determine what kinds of dance, the frequency of the dance classes and what aspects of the dance class – music, social interaction, cognitive challenge – affect fitness, memory and brain health. The research will be co-led by Christina ...

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Technology23 Feb 2023

UC Irvine researchers create E. coli-based water monitoring technology

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 23, 2023 – People often associate Escherichia coli with contaminated food, but E. coli has long been a workhorse in biotechnology. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated that the bacterium has further value as part of a system to detect heavy metal contamination in water. E. coli exhibit a biochemical response in the presence of metal ions, a slight change that researchers were able to observe with chemically assembled gold nanoparticle optical sensors. Through a machine-learning ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

New $2.9 million grant helps researchers address food insecurity for Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS—With a $2.9 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine are working to improve food insecurity in Indiana and ultimately improve the health of people in Indiana. Individuals who experience food insecurity–inconsistent access to affordable and nutritious food–are more susceptible to a variety of health conditions, including hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes. The FoRKS: Food Resources ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

On the road to better solid-state batteries

A team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Florida State University has designed a new blueprint for solid-state batteries that are less dependent on specific chemical elements, particularly critical metals that are challenging to source due to supply chain issues. Their work, reported recently in the journal Science, could advance solid-state batteries that are efficient and affordable. Touted for their high energy density and superior safety, solid-state batteries could be a game-changer for the electric car industry. ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

National Center to Reframe Aging welcomes 16 to new advisory board

The National Center to Reframe Aging — the nation’s leading organization dedicated to reshaping the conversation about older people — has established a new advisory board with 16 members from such diverse professional backgrounds as communications and public relations, research, policy, and law. These board members were tapped to bring knowledge, strategic thinking, and interpersonal attributes to their role; to identify key organizations and decision-makers who can help advance the initiative; and support activities aligning with National Center project goals. “We look forward to working with this talented group of advisors to grow ...

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Technology23 Feb 2023

Heterostructures developed at Purdue support predictions of counterpropagating charged edge modes at the v=2/3 fractional quantum Hall state

In 2018, a team of physicists at Purdue University invented a device which experimentally showed quasiparticles interfering for the first time in the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor v=1/3. Further development of these heterostructures has allowed the Manfra Group to expand their research to experiments that explore counterflowing charged edge modes at the 2/3 fractional quantum Hall state. They have recently published their findings, “Half-Integer Conductance Plateau at the ν = 2/3 Fractional Quantum Hall State in a Quantum Point Contact,” in Physical Review Letters on February 17, 2023. This ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

Fungi that causes pine ghost canker detected in southern California trees

Fungal pathogens that cause die-back in grape, avocado, citrus, nut and other crops has found a new host and is infecting conifer trees causing Pine Ghost Canker in urban forest areas of Southern California. The canker can be deadly to trees. Scientists from University of California, Davis, first spotted evidence that the pathogens had moved to pines during a routine examination of trees in Orange County in 2018. Over four years, they found that more than 30 mature pines had been infected in an area of nearly 100 acres, according ...

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Technology23 Feb 2023

GIST researchers develop “AMP-BERT”: A new AI-based “finder” of antimicrobial peptides

Over the last few decades, antimicrobial resistance has become a major public health concern globally. This has led to a search for alternative methods of treating microbial infections. One such innovation is the discovery of antimicrobial properties of certain peptides. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short peptides found in most animals, plants, and microorganisms as a natural defense against infections. AMPs combat harmful bacteria via a nonspecific mechanism that prevents them from developing antimicrobial resistance. Despite these exceptional abilities, research on AMPs is being hindered because the existing systems for identifying candidate ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Alternate framework for distributed computing tames Big Data’s ever growing costs

The sheer volume of ‘Big Data’ produced today by various sectors is beginning to overwhelm even the extremely efficient computational techniques developed to sift through all that information. But a new computational framework based on random sampling looks set to finally tame Big Data’s ever-growing communication, memory and energy costs into something more manageable. A paper describing the framework was published in the journal Big Data Mining and Analytics on Jan. 26. The amount of data being produced from social networks, business transactions, the ‘Internet of Things’, finance, healthcare and beyond has exploded ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Insilico Medicine sends first generative AI-designed drug for COVID-19 and variants to clinic

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotech company powered by generative AI, today announces that China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ISM3312, an orally available 3CLpro inhibitor generated and designed with the support of Insilico’s proprietary generative chemistry platform Chemistry42 for the treatment of COVID-19. ISM3312 is a highly selective small molecule inhibitor with a novel molecular structure optimized from compounds which were generated and designed by Chemistry42 based on the structure of 3CL protease. It binds to ...

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Technology23 Feb 2023

Children’s lung capacity improved in cleaner air

As air pollution in Stockholm has decreased, so has the lung capacity of children and adolescents has improved, a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal reports. The researchers from Karolinska Institutet consider the results important, since the lung health of the young greatly affects the risk of their developing chronic lung diseases later in life. “Fortunately, we’ve seen a decrease in air pollutants and therefore an increase in air quality in Stockholm over the past 20 years,” says the study’s last author ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

CityU develops wireless, soft e-skin for interactive touch communication in the virtual world

Sensing a hug from each other via the internet may be a possibility in the near future. A research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently developed a wireless, soft e-skin that can both detect and deliver the sense of touch, and form a touch network allowing one-to-multiuser interaction. It offers great potential for enhancing the immersion of distance touch communication. “With the rapid development of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), our visual and auditory senses are not sufficient for us to create an ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Octapharma USA requests FDA approval for wilate® VWD prophylaxis supplement

PARAMUS, N.J. (Feb. 23, 2023) – Octapharma USA has submitted a Biologics License Application Supplement (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the approval of wilate®, von Willebrand Factor/Coagulation Factor VIII Complex (Human) Lyophilized Powder for Solution for Intravenous Injection, to include routine prophylaxis to reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in children and adults with any type of von Willebrand disease (VWD). “We look forward to working with the FDA on this sBLA for wilate® ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Digital markers near-perfect for predicting dementia

February 23, 2023-- Using ensemble learning techniques and longitudinal data from a large naturalistic driving study, researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have developed a novel, interpretable and highly accurate algorithm for predicting mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older drivers. Digital markers refer to variables generated from data captured through recording devices in the real-world setting. These data could be processed to measure driving behavior, performance and tempo-spatial pattern in exceptional detail. ...

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Social Science23 Feb 2023

Reducing social media use significantly improves body image in teens, young adults

Teens and young adults who reduced their social media use by 50% for just a few weeks saw significant improvement in how they felt about both their weight and their overall appearance compared with peers who maintained consistent levels of social media use, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of body image issues, eating disorders and mental illness,” said lead author Gary Goldfield, PhD, of Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute. “Youth ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Genes reveal kidney cancer’s risk of recurrence

A decade-long international study into kidney cancer has shown that doctors can predict the likelihood of a patient’s disease returning by looking at DNA mutations in their tumours. The research, undertaken by a team of 44 researchers at 23 institutions across Europe and Canada, and published today, is the largest to link the genetic changes that occur in kidney cancer to patient outcomes. More than 400,000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year globally, including 13,000 ...

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Science23 Feb 2023

Getting good sleep could add years to your life

Getting good sleep can play a role in supporting your heart and overall health—and maybe even how long you live—according to new research being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology. The study found that young people who have more beneficial sleep habits are incrementally less likely to die early. Moreover, the data suggest that about 8% of deaths from any cause could be attributed to poor sleep patterns. “We saw ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Hormone therapy for gender dysphoria may raise cardiovascular risks

People with gender dysphoria taking hormone replacements as part of gender affirmation therapy face a substantially increased risk of serious cardiac events, including stroke, heart attack and pulmonary embolism, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s gender identity conflicts with the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender affirmation therapy, part of a process known as transitioning, includes a variety of medical, psychological and behavioral interventions to help ...

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Medicine23 Feb 2023

Heart attack deaths drop over past two decades

The U.S. not only saw a significant decline in the overall rate of heart attack-related deaths in the past 20 years, but also a reduction in racial disparities for heart attack deaths, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology. The gap in the rate of heart attack deaths between White people and African American/Black people narrowed by nearly half over the 22-year period, researchers reported. The ...

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