VIDEO: Science published on Sept. 25, 2014 the latest developments in Michael Grätzel's laboratory at EPFL in the field of hydrogen production from water. By combining a pair of perovskite solar... Click here for more information. The race is on to optimize solar energy's performance. More efficient silicon photovoltaic panels, dye-sensitized solar cells, concentrated cells and thermodynamic solar plants all pursue the same goal: to produce a maximum amount of electrons ...

A new discovery of thousands of Stone Age tools has provided a major insight into human innovation 325,000 years ago and how early technological developments spread across the world, according to research published in the journal Science. Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, together with an international team from across the United States and Europe, have found evidence which challenges the belief that a type of technology known as Levallois – where the flakes and blades of stones were used to make useful products such as hunting weapons – was invented ...

PITTSBURGH—Electricity and magnetism rule our digital world. Semiconductors process electrical information, while magnetic materials enable long-term data storage. A University of Pittsburgh research team has discovered a way to fuse these two distinct properties in a single material, paving the way for new ultrahigh density storage and computing architectures. While phones and laptops rely on electricity to process and temporarily store information, long-term data storage is still largely achieved via magnetism. Discs coated with magnetic material are locally oriented ...

Two years after its release, the HIV-1 drug Ritonavir was pulled from the market. Scientists discovered that the drug had crystallized into a slightly different form—called a polymorph—that was less soluble and made it ineffective as a treatment. The various patterns that atoms of a solid material can adopt, called crystal structures, can have a huge impact on its properties. Being able to accurately predict the most stable crystal structure for a material has been a longstanding challenge for scientists. "The holy grail of this particular problem is to say, I've written ...

A triple-punch of antibodies both prevented hepatitis C infection and wiped out the disease after it had established itself in laboratory mice, according to a study led by Princeton University researchers. Instead of delivering the three antibodies directly, the researchers administered a genetic "instruction set" that, once in a cell, developed into antibodies that target the portions of the virus that do not mutate. Mice treated with the antibody genetic code resisted becoming infected with hepatitis C when they were exposed to the virus, the researchers reported in ...

The excessive atmospheric carbon dioxide that is driving global climate change could be harnessed into a renewable energy technology that would be a win for both the environment and the economy. That is the lure of artificial photosynthesis in which the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is used to produce clean, green and sustainable fuels. However, finding a catalyst for reducing carbon dioxide that is highly selective and efficient has proven to be a huge scientific challenge. Meeting this challenge in the future should be easier thanks to new research results ...

DETROIT – A new study from researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit finds widespread vitamin D deficiency among patients who undergo a thyroidectomy, potentially putting them at greater risk for developing dangerously low blood calcium levels after surgery. Among the patients in the Henry Ford study, 40 percent had low vitamin D levels prior to surgery. Those more likely to be vitamin D deficient are individuals older than age 50, African Americans, Hispanics and patients undergoing surgery for hyperthyroidism. "The issue of vitamin D deficiency in patients who ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Concrete is the world's most-used construction material, and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Now a new study suggests a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half — and the result would be a stronger, more durable material. The findings come from the most detailed molecular analysis yet of the complex structure of concrete, which is a mixture of sand, gravel, water, and cement. Cement is made by cooking calcium-rich material, usually limestone, ...

(Boston) – When it comes to treating infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) believe the care for these infants should be consistent and objective, with standardized assessment tools and evidence to back up pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment choices. The review paper, which is published online in Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, highlights the need for more research in this field to optimize care for both infants and their mothers. NAS is a collection of signs and symptoms infants ...

(Vienna, October 26, 2014) The transplantation of faecal microbiota from a healthy donor has been shown in recent clinical studies to be a safe and highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection and is now recommended in European treatment guidelines.1,2 Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has emerged as a revolutionary, potentially life-saving treatment for this common, difficult-to-treat infection, and is showing promise in the management of other microbiota-related conditions.3,4 Presenting at the 22nd United European Gastroenterology ...

AUDIO: Editor Karen Carniol interviews Dr. Alla Karpova on her latest Cell paper. Click here for more information. Past experience is usually a reliable guide for making decisions, but in unpredictable and challenging situations, it might make more sense to take risks. A study published by Cell Press September 25th in the journal Cell shows that, in competitive situations, rats abandon their normal tactic of using past experience to make decisions and instead make random choices ...

Tourette syndrome is a developmental disorder characterized by involuntary, repetitive, and stereotyped movements or utterances. Now researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on September 25 have new evidence to explain how those with Tourette syndrome in childhood often manage to gain control over those tics. In individuals with the condition, a portion of the brain involved in planning and executing movements shows an unusual increase compared to the average brain in the production of a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter known as GABA. The paradoxical ...

VIDEO: Salk scientists find that a vitamin D-derivative makes tumors vulnerable to chemotherapy. Click here for more information. LA JOLLA—A synthetic derivative of vitamin D was found by Salk Institute researchers to collapse the barrier of cells shielding pancreatic tumors, making this seemingly impenetrable cancer much more susceptible to therapeutic drugs. The discovery has led to human trials for pancreatic cancer, even in advance of its publication today in the journal ...

Physical exercise has many beneficial effects on human health, including the protection from stress-induced depression. However, until now the mechanisms that mediate this protective effect have been unknown. In a new study in mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show that exercise training induces changes in skeletal muscle that can purge the blood of a substance that accumulates during stress, and is harmful to the brain. The study is being published in the prestigious journal Cell. "In neurobiological terms, we actually still don't know what depression ...

A chemical in the brain plays a vital role in controlling the involuntary movements and vocal tics associated with Tourette Syndrome (TS), a new study has shown. The research by psychologists at The University of Nottingham, published in the latest edition of the journal Current Biology, could offer a potential new target for the development of more effective treatments to suppress these unwanted symptoms. The study, led by PhD student Amelia Draper under the supervision of Professor Stephen Jackson, found that higher levels of a neurochemical called GABA in a part ...

Boston, MA – Normally, the lining of blood vessels, or endothelium, when at rest, acts like Teflon, ignoring the many cells and other factors rushing by in the bloodstream. In response to inflammatory signals, as well as other stimuli, endothelial cells change suddenly and dramatically—sending out beacons to attract inflammatory cells, changing their surface so those cells can stick and enter tissues, and initiating a complex cascade of responses essential to fighting infection and dealing with injury. Unfortunately, these same endothelial responses also promote atherosclerosis, ...

BOSTON –– In an advance against the problem of cancer metastasis, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have shown that a specially developed compound can impede multiple myeloma from spreading to the bones in mice. The findings, published in the Sept. 25 issue of Cell Reports, suggest the technique can protect human patients, as well, from one of the most deadly aspects of cancer. The research involves a new approach to the challenge of cancer metastasis, the process by which tumors spread to and colonize distant parts of the body. Whereas research has traditionally ...

The most comprehensive family tree of meat-eating dinosaurs ever created is enabling scientists to discover key details of how birds evolved from them. The study has shown that the familiar anatomical features of birds – such as feathers, wings and wishbones – all first evolved piecemeal in their dinosaur ancestors over tens of millions of years. However, once a fully functioning bird body shape was complete, an evolutionary explosion began, causing a rapid increase in the rate at which birds evolved. This led eventually to the thousands of avian species that we know ...

Many of the choices we make are informed by experiences we've had in the past. But occasionally we're better off abandoning those lessons and exploring a new situation unfettered by past experiences. Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have shown that the brain can temporarily disconnect information about past experience from decision-making circuits, thereby triggering random behavior. In the study, rats playing a game for a food reward usually acted strategically, but switched to random behavior when they confronted a particularly ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (September 25, 2014) – To coordinate their size and growth with current environmental conditions, cells rely on the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway, which senses cellular stresses, growth factors, and the availability of nutrients, such as amino acids and glucose. For years, Whitehead Institute Member David Sabatini and his lab have been teasing apart the numerous proteins involved in this vital metabolic pathway, in part because mTORC1 function is known to be deregulated in a variety of diseases, including diabetes, epilepsy, ...

An international research team has identified gene mutations causing severe, difficult-to-treat forms of childhood epilepsy. Many of the mutations disrupt functioning in the synapse, the highly dynamic junction at which nerve cells communicate with one another. "This research represents a paradigm shift in epilepsy research, giving us a new target on which to focus treatment strategies," said pediatric neurologist Dennis Dlugos, M.D., director of the Pediatric Regional Epilepsy Program at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and a study co-author. "There is tremendous ...

Scientists have identified a protein in the human intestine that helps to protect against attack from opportunistic bacteria that strike when our defences are down. The protein receptor is activated during illness, producing a force field on the gut's surface made of a sugary substance that encourages the growth of protective bacteria. Scientists deleted the IL-22RA1 gene that produces the receptor protein from the mouse genome. In the absence of this gene, which is associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans, the mice were found to be more susceptible ...

NEW YORK, September 25, 2014— A protein implicated in several cancers appears to play a pivotal role in keeping stem cells in an immature "pluripotent" state, according to a new study by NYU Langone Medical Center scientists. The study is published online today in Cell Reports. Stem cells are the perpetual adolescents of the cellular world, uncommitted to any cell fate. In principle, they can be programmed to differentiate into any mature cell type, holding the promise of regenerating tissues and organs. A fuller understanding of their biology, however, is needed. ...

LA JOLLA, CA—September 25, 2014—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have described how a single family of antibodies that broadly neutralizes different strains of HIV has evolved remarkably diverse structures to attack a vulnerable site on the virus. The findings provide clues for the design of a future HIV vaccine. "In a sense, this antibody family takes more than one shot on goal in order to hit divergent forms of HIV," said Ian A. Wilson, the Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI. "The ...

In the largest collaborative study so far, an international team of researchers, including scientists from VIB and Antwerp University identified novel causes for severe childhood epilepsies. The researchers analyzed the genetic information of 356 patients and their parents. In their analysis, the research teams looked for genes that had acquired new mutations in the children with severe epilepsies when compared to the DNA of the parents. In total, they identified 429 new mutations and in 12% of children, these mutations were considered unequivocally causative for the patient's ...