ANN ARBOR—Bright, twisted light can be produced with technology similar to an Edison light bulb, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown. The finding adds nuance to fundamental physics while offering a new avenue for robotic vision systems and other applications for light that traces out a helix in space. "It's hard to generate enough brightness when producing twisted light with traditional ways like electron or photon luminescence," said Jun Lu, an adjunct research investigator in chemical engineering at U-M and first author of the study on the cover of this week's Science.  "We ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A cell protein previously believed only to provide a scaffolding for DNA has also been shown to directly influence DNA transcription into RNA – the first step of the process by which an organism’s genetic code expresses itself. The fundamental breakthrough was discovered in apple cells but is relevant to all living organisms made of nucleus-containing cells, including humans. The finding, published Dec. 20 in Plant Cell, was co-authored by Cornell researchers and colleagues from the University of California, Davis, and Shandong Agricultural University in Shandong, China. Every cell in an organism ...

Understanding the boundary between classical and quantum physics has long been a central question in science. While thermal light fields have traditionally been viewed as classical, the team fragmented these fields into smaller multiphoton subsystems. Surprisingly, they uncovered quantum coherence—features such as particle interference previously thought unique to quantum systems—within a classical light source.   By using a sophisticated technique involving photon-number-resolving detection and orbital angular momentum (OAM) measurements, the researchers projected a classical pseudothermal light field into isolated multiphoton ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – December 23, 2024) Signals relayed to motor neurons from the brain enable muscle movement, but these signals typically pass through spinal interneurons before they reach their destination. How the brain and this highly diverse group of “switchboard operator” cells are connected is poorly understood. To address this, scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital created a whole-brain atlas visualizing regions of the brain that send direct inputs to V1 interneurons, a group of cells necessary for movement. The resulting atlas and accompanying three-dimensional interactive website provide a framework to further understand ...

2021’s Marshall Fire became the most destructive fire in Colorado history, burning nearly 1,000 homes and forcing more than 37,000 residents of Boulder County to evacuate.  New research by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder found compromised indoor air quality in homes near the burnt area for weeks after the fire, similar to pollution levels recorded in urban Los Angeles in the 1990s. According to the researchers, the findings can help individuals weigh their options when returning ...

Six months after the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 houses in Boulder County, Colo., more than half of residents of surviving homes in the area reported physical symptoms— including headaches, sore throats or a strange taste in their mouth— that they attributed to poor air quality, a new CU Boulder study has found. A companion study showed that the air quality inside one home post-fire equaled that of downtown Los Angeles in the 1990s on a high pollution day, with hazardous gases lingering for weeks. “Our research suggests that there could be important health impacts for people returning ...

Background and objectives Shenqi Fuzheng (SQ) is a widely used Chinese medicine formula known for its immune-enhancing and Qi-supplementing properties. However, the blood-absorbed components of SQ and their pharmacokinetics remain underexplored. This study aimed to comprehensively analyze the chemical constituents of SQ and investigate their absorption and pharmacokinetic behavior in rat plasma. Methods Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (hereinafter referred to as UPLC-Triple-TOF/MS) ...

Glass ceilings comprising gender norms and practices can prevent women from advancing in organizational hierarchies, but glass fences may also be limiting — especially to Japanese female faculty who must navigate strong cultural gender expectations, according to a new study by Megumi Watanabe, associate professor at Hiroshima University. Watanabe, who teaches family sociology courses at HU’s Department of Integrated Global Studies, found that glass fences — a term coined by sociologist Kathrin Zippel to represent the invisible gendered barriers preventing female researchers ...

Vector winds play a crucial role in triggering and maintaining convective weather, such as squall lines and typhoons, as well as the effective utilization of wind energy resources. The mesoscale model of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA-MESO) and the highest-resolution model of the European Center for Medium Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) are widely used in weather forecasting. However, little attention has been paid to the ability of such models to simulate vector winds. Moreover, the modeled wind field is often divided ...

NEW YORK, NY, December 23, 2024 — Researchers with the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have unveiled a critical mechanism that links cellular stress in the brain to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study, published in the journal Neuron, highlights microglia, the brain's primary immune cells, as central players in both the protective and harmful responses associated with the disease. Microglia, often dubbed the brain's first responders, are now recognized ...

About The Study: Between 2020 and 2023, buprenorphine dispensing increased among adolescents but decreased among young adults. The increases likely reflect successful outreach to pediatricians, enhanced prescribing through telehealth, and elimination of waiver requirements; these changes might differentially affect young adults, who might be less likely to access health care. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Andrew Terranella, MD, MPH, email aqt1@cdc.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.24121) Editor’s ...

Patients in emergency departments who are treated by physicians with a high propensity to admit those they see into the hospital are more likely to be discharged after only a short stay, suggesting a possible unnecessary admission, while they are no less likely to die, new research suggests. The findings suggest that differences in physicians’ skill or risk aversion may come into play when they make admitting decisions, said Dr. Dan Ly, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, U.S. youths ages 0 to 19 years experienced important disparities in firearm and motor vehicle crash fatality rates and increases over time when considering the intersectionality by age group, sex, race, and ethnicity. These findings suggest that a multipronged strategy focused on individual, community, and policy level approaches for specific high-risk groups for each injury mechanism is necessary to address these leading causes of death in U.S. youths. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH, email lois.lee@childrens.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

About The Study: In this longitudinal cohort study, medical cannabis laws were associated with increased cannabis use disorder and cannabis poisoning diagnoses, and recreational cannabis laws were associated with increased cannabis poisoning in adults ages 18 to 64 with employer-sponsored health insurance. Communities with increased access to cannabis may experience increased health care use and costs due to increases in cannabis poisoning and cannabis use disorder, and new clinical and policy interventions are needed to curb these rising diagnoses.  Corresponding ...

About The Study: In this study, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia were associated with an increased risk of new-onset migraine, headache, epilepsy, sleep disorder, or mental fatigue within months to years after giving birth. Guidelines recommend follow-up after delivery for women with gestational hypertension and preeclampsia for their increased risk of cardiovascular disease. At these visits, caregivers should also pay attention to persisting or new-onset of neurological symptoms, since this group of women ...

Hospitals that have adopted the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) “hospital-at-home” program, which serves as an alternative to admission to brick-and-mortar facilities, are concentrated in large, urban, not-for-profit, and academic hospitals, new research suggests. The findings are among the first to portray the landscape of hospitals participating in this rapidly growing care model, said Dr. Hashem Zikry, a participant in the National Clinician Scholars Program at UCLA and lead author on the paper, which will be published in the peer-reviewed JAMA. “If CMS’ goal is to continue to expand hospital-at-home, these findings suggest ...

When making decisions about nutrition and diet, the focus is often on the potential impacts to the heart or brain; and gut health can frequently end up an afterthought despite a whole industry revolving around probiotics and digestive aids. With its direct link to those two important organs, should gut health be prioritized more? Imagine an entire civilization of trillions of microorganisms living in harmony inside of your digestive system. This microbiome is unique to each individual and varies greatly based on many genetic and environmental factors. The complexity of gut health can often make diagnosis of maladies difficult, especially when new ...

Quantum sensing is a rapidly developing field that utilizes the quantum states of particles, such as superposition, entanglement, and spin states, to detect changes in physical, chemical, or biological systems. A promising type of quantum nanosensor is nanodiamonds (NDs) equipped with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. These centers are created by replacing a carbon atom with nitrogen near a lattice vacancy in a diamond structure. When excited by light, the NV centers emit photons that maintain stable spin information ...

Key Takeaways An expert workgroup representing primary and specialty care has developed new guidelines for comprehensive evaluation of patients who may have cognitive impairment or dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease or a related disease. Current guidelines for a comprehensive evaluation process are more than 20 years old. Results of the evaluation should be a three-step diagnostic formulation, summarizing the patient’s overall level of impairment, a brief summary of the symptoms they are experiencing, and the likely underlying brain disease(s) and/or conditions contributing to their ...

Atlantic and Baltic herring are typical plankton-eating fish of central importance for the northern Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea ecosystems. A new study published in Nature Communications led by scientists from Uppsala University (Sweden) documents the discovery of the evolution of genetically distinct, fish-eating herring in the Baltic Sea, a young water body that has only existed since the end of the last glaciation. Atlantic and Baltic herring have a key role in the ecosystem, acting as a critical link between plankton production and other organisms, like predatory fish, sea birds, sea mammals, and humans. Previous research from the Uppsala group has documented that herring is subdivided ...

Floating wind power offers enormous potential for deepwater offshore energy development. However, the management and secure exchange of data between stakeholders represents a key challenge for its evolution. A new cryptographic framework, proposed by researchers Claudia Bartoli (IMDEA Software) and Irene Rivera-Arreba (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU), presented at WindTech 2024 Conference, tries to solve this problem with a data sharing scheme that guarantees data integrity without compromising privacy. This breakthrough seeks to foster collaboration between industries and academia, driving innovation in floating wind technologies. Context Floating wind power ...

In a recent analysis of data from more than a dozen studies, coffee and tea consumption was linked with lower risks of developing head and neck cancer, including cancers of the mouth and throat. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer worldwide, and rates are rising in low- and middle-income countries. Many studies have assessed whether drinking coffee or tea is associated with head and neck cancer, with inconsistent results. To provide additional insight, investigators examined data from 14 studies by different scientists associated with the International Head and ...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in individuals over 65, characterized by abnormal changes in the macular, resulting in reduced vision and distorted objects. Dry AMD accounts for 90% of all AMD cases, with relatively mild vision impairment; however, approximately 30% progress to the severe vision loss associated with wet AMD within 10 years. The only FDA-approved treatments for dry AMD as of 2023 are two injectable drugs, which are limited by concerns over complications from intravitreal injections and modest ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that around 15 days of dry weather can trigger the flowering of durian. Observations of 110 durian plants revealed that flowering occurred around 50 days after an approximately 15-day dry spell, independent of whether the plant was grafted or grown from a seed. The team’s work might not only impact the production of a valuable agricultural asset but deepen our understanding of tropical ecosystems.   Known in many countries as the “king of fruits,” the durian is known for its distinctive strong odor, large size, ...

As NASA’s Europa Clipper embarks on its historic journey to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, Dr. Matt Powell-Palm, a faculty member at Texas A&M University’s J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, has unveiled groundbreaking research that could transform our understanding of icy ocean worlds across the solar system. The study published in Nature Communications, co-authored with planetary scientist Dr. Baptiste Journaux of the University of Washington, introduces a novel thermodynamic concept called the “centotectic” and investigates the stability of liquids in extreme conditions - critical ...