Globally, lightning is responsible for over 4,000 fatalities and billions of dollars in damage every year; Switzerland itself weathers up to 150,000 strikes annually. Understanding exactly how lightning forms is key for reducing risk, but because lightning phenomena occur on sub-millisecond timescales, direct measurements are extremely difficult to obtain. Now, researchers from the Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab, led by Farhad Rachidi, in EPFL’s School of Engineering have for the first time directly measured an elusive phenomenon that explains a lot about the birth of a lightning bolt: X-ray radiation. In a collaborative study with the University of Applied Sciences of Western ...

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form. Below is a selection of articles published early online recently. Some articles are open-access; to view others, members of the media can contact kpflaumer@ametsoc.org for press login credentials. Routine Climate Monitoring in the State of Hawai‘i: Establishment of State Climate Divisions Bulletin of the American Meteorological ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (04/26/2024) — Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering co-led a new study by an international team that will improve the detection of gravitational waves—ripples in space and time.  The research aims to send alerts to astronomers and astrophysicists within 30 seconds after the detection, helping to improve the understanding of neutron stars and black holes and how heavy elements, including gold and uranium, are produced. The findings were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal.   Gravitational ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (04/26/2024) — University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers have constructed a robot that uses machine learning to fully automate a complicated microinjection process used in genetic research.  In their experiments, the researchers were able to use this automated robot to manipulate the genetics of multicellular organisms, including fruit fly and zebrafish embryos. The technology will save labs time and money while enabling them to more easily conduct new, large-scale genetic experiments that were not possible previously using manual techniques The research is featured on the cover of the ...

The University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy has announced the appointments of two leading scientists as endowed GSK research chairs. These appointments represent the collaborative efforts between the two organizations to advance the field of pharmacy and drive positive change in patient care. Anna Tadio, professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, and senior associate scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is the inaugural holder of the GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools.   Bowen Li, ...

Athens, Greece – 26 April 2024:  A study in more than 3,000 US counties, with 315 million residents, has suggested that air pollution is linked with stress and depression, putting under-65-year-olds at increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. The research is presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 “Our study indicates that the air we breathe affects our mental well-being, which in turn impacts heart health,” ...

Light-driven molecular motors were first developed nearly 25 years ago at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. This resulted in a shared Nobel Prize for Chemistry for Professor Ben Feringa in 2016. However, making these motors do actual work proved to be a challenge. A new paper from the Feringa lab, published in Nature Chemistry on 26 April, describes a combination of improvements that brings real-life applications closer. First author Jinyu Sheng, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), adapted a ‘first generation’ light-driven molecular ...

Researchers have developed tiny, flexible devices that can wrap around individual nerve fibres without damaging them. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, combined flexible electronics and soft robotics techniques to develop the devices, which could be used for the diagnosis and treatment of a range of disorders, including epilepsy and chronic pain, or the control of prosthetic limbs. Current tools for interfacing with the peripheral nerves – the 43 pairs of motor and sensory nerves that connect the brain and the spinal cord – are outdated, bulky and carry a high risk of nerve injury. However, the robotic nerve ‘cuffs’ ...

Study led by Brigham investigators suggests heart rate may be a useful tool to determine where to stimulate the brains of individuals with depressive disorders when brain scans aren’t available A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, suggests a common brain network exists between heart rate deceleration and depression. By evaluating data from 14 people with no depression symptoms, the team found stimulating some parts of the brain linked to depression with transcranial magnetic stimulation ...

Singapore, 26 April 2024 – A team of clinician-scientists and scientists from the University of Nottingham (Malaysia campus), National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), Cancer Research Malaysia, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), University of Malaya, University of Cambridge, A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and other institutions, have conducted the largest study done to date of BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer Gene 1 and 2) carriers in an Asian population and refined breast and ovarian cancer risk estimates for this population. The findings, ...

Almost a quarter of US children with symptoms of a brain injury or concussion are not checked for the condition, with younger children particularly likely to be overlooked, a new national study finds. The peer-reviewed US research, which is published in the journal Brain Injury, also shows that children with symptoms or a diagnosis of a brain injury or concussion were more likely to have symptoms of depression than other youngsters. They also found it harder to make friends. Routine checks would help ensure such children receive the care that they need, says ...

Fungal disease Fusarium head blight (FHB) is on the rise due to increasingly humid conditions induced by climate change during the wheat growing season, but a fundamental discovery by University of Adelaide researchers could help reduce its economic harm. While some types of wheat are resistant to FHB thanks to the action of the TaHRC gene at the Fhb1 locus, how this gene functions in wheat cells was unknown until now. Collaborating with Nanjing Agriculture University, the University of Adelaide research team has shown TaHRC works in the nucleus of wheat cells, ...

Heteroatom tin compounds (SSn, OSn, NSn, PSn) composed of heteroatoms S, O, N, P and tin atoms have attracted intense attention due to their wide applications in organic synthesis and pharmaceutical fields. The current methods for synthesis of such compounds, such as metathesis reactions, addition reactions, and free radical reactions, exhibit drawbacks including narrow substrate scope and harsh conditions. Therefore, it is important to develop efficient synthetic systems to construct heteroatom-tin bond. Tetrahydroquinoline, as an important ...

Professor Yong-Young Noh from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), along with Dr. Ao Liu and Dr. Huihui Zhu, postdoctoral researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering at POSTECH and now professors at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Dr. Yong-Sung Kim from Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, and Dr. Min Gyu Kim from the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, collaborated on the development of a tellurium-selenium composite oxide semiconductor material. Their efforts led to the successful creation of a high-performance and highly ...

Indigenous aquaculture systems in Hawaiʻi, known as loko iʻa or fishponds, can increase the amount of fish and fisheries harvested both inside and outside of the pond. This is the focus of a study published by a team of researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). Today, aquaculture supplies less than 1% of Hawaiʻi’s 70 million pounds of locally available seafood, but revitalization of loko i‘a has the potential to significantly increase locally available seafood.  According to historical accounts, loko ...

The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) have signed a letter of intent to work towards establishing an international research lab and agreeing on comprehensive academic collaboration. The signing ceremony took place during the opening session of the OIST-CNRS Joint Symposium on West Pacific Marine Biology on April 23. Dr. Karin Markides, President and CEO, and Professor Vincent Laudet were among the speakers from OIST, and they were joined by representatives from CNRS, namely Dr. André ...

In the last several decades, large forest fires have increasingly threatened communities across the Mediterranean. Climate change is expected to make these fires larger, hotter, and more dangerous in the future. But fire management lessons from the past could help to improve the resilience of local landscapes.  The latest research paper from environmental anthropologist and University of California, Santa Cruz Professor Andrew Mathews explores these issues in the Monte Pisano region of Central Italy. In particular, Mathews found that peasant women, who historically collected ...

Living at higher altitudes in India is linked to an increased risk of stunted growth, with children living in homes 2000 metres or more above sea level 40% more at risk than those living 1000 metres below, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.   Children living in rural areas seem to be the most vulnerable, prompting the researchers to advocate prioritising nutritional programmes in hilly and mountainous regions of the country. Despite ...

A healthy liver filters all the blood in your body, breaks down toxins and digests fats. It produces collagen to repair damaged cells when the liver is injured. However, a liver can produce too much collagen when an excess accumulation of fat causes chronic inflammation, a condition called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). In an advanced state, MASH can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver-related death.   The cells that produce collagen in livers are called hepatic stellate cells (HSC). In a new paper published in Cell ...

1. A collaborative research team from NIMS and Tokyo University of Science has successfully developed a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) device that executes brain-like information processing through few-molecule reservoir computing. This innovation utilizes the molecular vibrations of a select number of organic molecules. By applying this device for the blood glucose level prediction in patients with diabetes, it has significantly outperformed existing AI devices in terms of prediction accuracy. 2. With the expansion of machine learning applications in various industries, there's an escalating demand for AI devices that are not only highly ...

**ECCMID has now changed its name to ESCMID Global, please credit ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID, Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April) in all future stories** In global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that scientists step forward to engage with the public and help deliver medical and scientific advice in a friendly, digestible and open format. While the traditional way for scientists to do this is by responding to media requests, alternatives, including collaborating with illustrators and local communities, will be discussed in a new ...

During epidemics of Ebola, COVID-19, Zika and other public health emergencies, effective communication of public health messages is crucial to control the spread of disease, maintain public trust, and encourage compliance with health measures. In a new evidence review to be given at this year’s ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April), Dr Benjamin Djoudalbaye from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (AFRICA CDC) in Ethiopia, will discuss the challenges and lessons learnt from public health communication strategies during multiple epidemics across ...

Hospital-related infections resistant to carbapenems, considered the antibiotics of last resort for treating severe infections, remain at least 35% higher than before the pandemic. Findings also reveal that during the pandemic, hospitals experiencing surges due to high volumes of severely ill COVID-19 patients had the greatest increases in hospital-acquired antimicrobial-resistant infections, as did larger hospitals with increased bed capacity. **ECCMID has now changed its name to ESCMID Global, please credit ...

Findings underscore need for rational antibiotic use especially during viral pandemics like COVID-19. *ECCMID has now changed its name to ESCMID Global, please credit ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID, Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April) in all future stories** Antibiotic treatment of adults hospitalised with moderate COVID-19 is associated with clinical deterioration, despite the drugs being given to over 40% of patients, according to new research being presented at this year’s ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April) The findings underscore the need to discourage indiscriminate prescribing ...

Targeting specific protein regions offers a new treatment approach in medulloblastoma Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovered a new compound that selectively targets parts of a cancer-related protein, EP300/CBP, in Group 3 medulloblastoma. (MEMPHIS, Tenn. – April 25, 2024) Medulloblastoma (the most common malignant childhood brain tumor) is separated into four molecular groups, with Group 3 bearing the worst prognosis. By studying EP300 and CBP, critical proteins in Group 3 medulloblastoma cells, scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital designed a way to enhance anti-tumor ...