For many years, researchers at MPI-EVA have been collecting and analyzing ancient DNA from humans who lived during the past tens of thousands of years. Analyzing these data has allowed the researchers to trace the movement and mixing of people, and even to uncover ancient pathogens that affected their lives. However, a systematic study of uncommon genetic conditions had not been attempted. One of those uncommon conditions, known as Down Syndrome, affects nowadays around one in 1,000 births. To their surprise, Adam “Ben” Rohrlach and colleagues identified six individuals ...

NEW YORK, NY — The human brain has the extraordinary ability to rapidly discern a stranger from someone familiar, even as it can simultaneously remember details about someone across decades of encounters. Now, in mouse studies, scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute have revealed how the brain elegantly performs both tasks. “These findings are the first evidence that a single population of neurons can use different codes to represent novel and familiar individuals,” said co-corresponding author Stefano Fusi, PhD, professor of neuroscience at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and ...

Kale fans can rest easy knowing pesticides used to grow the hearty greens are unlikely to end up in their salads or smoothies, a new chemical analysis of the superfood suggests.  Conducting novel tests that provide the most complete picture to date of a crop’s chemical makeup, the Johns Hopkins–led team found several pesticides and compounds in Maryland-farmed kale—but no cause for alarm. “We do see minute traces of pesticides in the kale, but the levels we found are so much lower ...

Key takeaways A UCLA-led research team found a correlation between certain aspects of early puberty in first-born daughters and high levels of prenatal stress in their mothers. The researchers did not find the same result in boys or in daughters who were not first-born. This early maturation may enable a first-born daughter to help her mother rear her other children successfully, according to UCLA anthropologist Molly Fox. A UCLA-led team of researchers has found a correlation between early signs of adrenal puberty in first-born daughters ...

The testis is responsible for sperm production and testosterone synthesis. Abnormalities in testis development and function lead to disorders of sex development (DSD) and male infertility. Currently, no in vitro system exists for modeling the testis.   Dr. Nitzan Gonen, a researcher specializing in the process of fetal sex determination, together with research students Aviya Stopel, Cheli Lev and Stav Dahari, has succeeded in creating "laboratory testicles" that may significantly advance understanding of the mechanisms involved in sex determination and provide solutions for male infertility, which affects one in 12 men worldwide.   The artificial testicles ...

In the realm of materials science, electromagnetic (EM) metamaterials have emerged as a revolutionary class of engineered composites capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves in ways never before possible. Unlike their naturally occurring counterparts, EM metamaterials derive their extraordinary properties from their unique structural arrangements, allowing them to exhibit unattainable electromagnetic characteristics in conventional materials. One of the most fascinating characteristics of EM metamaterials lies in the realm of zero-index metamaterials (ZIMs). ZIMs possess the ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In the classic Disney film “Beauty and the Beast,” Lumière, the candelabra character, famously sings with Mrs. Potts, a tea pot, “Be our guest, be our guest. Put our service to the test. Tie your napkin round your neck, Cherie, and we provide the rest.” When the 1991 Oscar-nominated song co-written by Indiana University alumnus Howard Ashman was released, it hardly seemed realistic that a product could sing its own praises and sell itself to consumers. But artificial intelligence today makes ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Ultrahigh-spatial-resolution photon-counting detector CT improved assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD), allowing for reclassification to a lower disease category in 54% of patients, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The technology has the potential to improve patient management and reduce unnecessary interventions. Coronary CT angiography is a first-line test in the assessment of coronary artery disease. However, its diagnostic value is limited in patients with severe calcifications, or calcium ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Annual breast cancer screening beginning at age 40 and continuing to at least age 79 results in the highest reduction in mortality with minimal risks, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death for women in the U.S. Despite research demonstrating that consistent participation in screening mammography can reduce breast cancer deaths by 40%, only 50% or less of eligible women actually participate in annual screening. “There is an ongoing debate over the recommendations for breast cancer screening, specifically ...

Two New York University faculty have been awarded fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: SueYeon Chung, an assistant professor at the Center for Neural Science, and Jinyoung Park, an assistant professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences. The fellowships recognize “exceptional U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders,” the Sloan Foundation said in announcing this year’s ...

A recent study led by Assistant Professor Lindsay Jibb of the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) found that parents of young children with cancer, along with pediatric cancer clinicians are in favour of an app-based solution that Jibb and her team are creating, to help parents manage their child’s cancer pain at home. The study published in PLOS Digital Health showed that parents and clinicians not only found the pain management app to be helpful and safe, but also provided them with a sense of empowerment. “The ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The way companies announce new products or build up hype can often influence their success once those new products hit the market, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. Whether it's an upcoming blockbuster movie or a new rollout from major companies like Coca-Cola or Apple, the new research shows how companies might use this type of preannouncement marketing to their advantage. How often have you watched trailers for an upcoming movie and thought, “I can’t wait to see that,” when it hits theaters ...

Our immune system is remarkably powerful. It quickly assembles teams of cells to eliminate threats inside our bodies. But sometimes, it hits the wrong target. Autoimmune diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis result from friendly fire—immune cells attacking healthy tissues and organs by mistake. New treatments and therapeutic targets are direly needed for these conditions. Now, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Christopher Vakoc may have stumbled upon a new therapeutic target—one hidden in plain sight. Vakoc and his team discovered that IκBζ, a well-studied protein in the immunology ...

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 20, 2024 — Buprenorphine, a life-saving medication for opioid use disorder, is far less accessible in geographic areas of the United States with racially and ethnically diverse populations than in predominantly white areas, according to a new study of pre-pandemic data led by health policy scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health published today in Journal of Addiction Medicine.  The study is among the first to examine buprenorphine access at the local, sub-county level, and the findings point to lack of access to medications for opioid use disorder as a potential ...

In an editorial, Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), calls for the responsible and equitable development of artificial intelligence (AI) and promises to use the agency’s resources to work toward democratizing AI research. NSF spends $800 million on AI research in the public interest each year. Panchanathan summarizes some of the benefits AI can offer to scientific research—from accelerating discovery to automating routine tasks—but emphasizes that AI must be safe and accessible. Toward that end, NSF and its partners launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource ...

Many animals, including apex predators, move in groups. We know this collective behavior is fundamental to the animal’s ability to move in complex environments, but less is known about what drives the behavior because many factors underlie its evolution. Scientists wonder, though, if all these animals share a fundamental drive such as for mating, safety, or perhaps even to save energy. “The keyword is perhaps,” said Yangfan Zhang, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) at Harvard, “because no one has actually measured this and compared it directly across all animal groups, mainly ...

One in three police homicides could have been avoided without endangering police or the public, according to a study. Eight percent of all homicides of adult men in the United States are committed by police. Using data from 2008–2017 from the National Officer-Involved Homicide Database, Josh Leung-Gagné compared police homicide rates across the 711 local police departments serving 50,000 or more residents in the United States. One explanation for differing rates of police killings is that some jurisdictions are riskier than others, which necessitates ...

Research participants who read propaganda generated by the AI large language model GPT-3 davinci were nearly as persuaded as those who read real propaganda from Iran or Russia, according to a study. Josh Goldstein and colleagues identified six articles, likely originating from Iranian or Russian state-aligned covert propaganda campaigns, according to investigative journalists or researchers. These articles made claims about US foreign relations, such as the false claim that Saudi Arabia committed to help fund the US-Mexico border wall or the false claim that the US fabricated reports showing that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons. For each ...

The recent approval of a CRISPR-Cas9 therapy for sickle cell disease demonstrates that gene editing tools can do a superb job knocking out genes to cure hereditary disease. But it's still not possible to insert whole genes into the human genome to substitute for defective or deleterious genes. A new technique that employs a retrotransposon from birds to insert genes into the genome holds more promise for gene therapy, since it inserts genes into a "safe harbor" in the human genome where the insertion won't disrupt essential genes or lead to cancer. Retrotransposons, or retroelements, are pieces of DNA that, when transcribed ...

Cycles of a diet that mimics fasting can reduce signs of immune system aging, as well as insulin resistance and liver fat in humans, resulting in a lower biological age, according to a new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology-led study. The study, which appears in Nature Communications on Feb. 20, adds to the body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD). The FMD is a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Any drug that is taken orally must pass through the lining of the digestive tract. Transporter proteins found on cells that line the GI tract help with this process, but for many drugs, it’s unknown which of those transporters they use to exit the digestive tract. Identifying the transporters used by specific drugs could help to improve patient treatment because if two drugs rely on the same transporter, they can interfere with each other and should not be prescribed together. Researchers at MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Duke University ...

Published today in Nature Climate Change, the study found that exported used vehicles generate at least 13-53% more emissions per mile than those that are scrapped or on the road in Great Britain. The researchers used mandatory annual vehicle inspections – known as MOT tests – of all 65 million used vehicles on British roads between 2005 and 2021 to compare the pollution and emissions intensity of vehicles exported to those scrapped, destroyed, or driven in Great Britain. The data revealed substantially higher rates of carbon dioxide and pollution generation in exported vehicles. ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.— Whether you engage in physical activity on a regular basis or one-to-two days a week, both options produce weight loss suggests a new study published in the journal Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. The study is the first of its kind to examine the association between physical activity patterns and objectively-measured fat tissue mass. Guidelines from the World Health Organization recommend that adults perform at least 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, 75 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity or an equivalent combination of both intensities. ...

People living in the Inuit region of Nunavik in northern Quebec die earlier after a diagnosis of lung cancer than Montreal residents receiving treatment at the same cancer centre, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230682. All inhabitants of Nunavik are investigated and treated for cancer at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in Montreal, more than 1400 km away from Nunavik hospitals, due to limited resources in the region.  Researchers compared lung cancer survival ...

Anorexia nervosa affects males as well as females, and affected males have a sixfold higher mortality rate than males in the general population. A new article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to raise awareness of this life-threatening eating disorder. https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230001 "Early identification and prompt treatment are essential," writes Dr. Basil Kadoura, a specialist in adolescent health, British Columbia Children's Hospital and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, with coauthors.  Five things to know about anorexia nervosa in males: Up to 0.3% of males will be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. ...