Nylon, the durable and elastic material, is like other plastics made from chemicals found in fossil fuels. Biodegradable plastics based on biomass-derived compounds are attracting attention as an alternative to conventional plastics, and Osaka Metropolitan University scientists have now synthesized biodegradable nylon precursors. Professor Yutaka Amao’s team at the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis previously reported on a method for producing raw materials for biodegradable plastics from biomass-derived compounds. ...

Genetic changes have the ability to alter crop characteristics, and some crop breeding techniques take advantage of this. Conventionally, genetic engineering has relied on natural or artificial mutations. In recent years, genome editing technology has been grabbing attention. Genome editing technology can target and cut specific DNA sequences, causing mutations in target genes. This makes it possible to develop new cultivars efficiently. A common method for creating genome-edited crops involves introducing foreign DNA temporarily that produces an enzyme to cut the target ...

RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL JAN. 22, 12:01 A.M. ET Note to editor: photos and videos are available for download: https://bit.ly/4jkgIqT Survey: While most Americans use a device to monitor their heart, few share that data with their doctor Taking action with your doctor is critical for a proper diagnosis, action plan COLUMBUS, Ohio – Advances in technology have made it increasingly easier for people to self-monitor their heart health whether it’s via a smart device on their wrist or finger or a blood pressure monitor. However, a new national survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical ...

Juvenile dolphins were found to have specialized receptors for fatty acids on their tongues, offering new insights into their growth and feeding habits. Scientists have discovered that juvenile bottlenose dolphins have specialized receptors for detecting the fatty acids in their mother’s milk. These findings, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, offer important insights into how these marine mammals grow, feed, and communicate. The new findings challenge previous assumptions about cetacean sensory systems. Unlike land mammals, dolphins and other marine mammals have limited olfactory capabilities – their sense of smell is largely ...

Background In nature, phenomena in which multiple fluctuations occur in a coupled manner are frequently observed. For example, in large earthquakes, cases of them occurring consecutively in adjacent regions have been reported. When multiple fluctuations occur in this coupled way, compared to a single fluctuation, the coupled ones release more energy, leading to larger-scale phenomena. In fusion plasmas, fluctuations caused by energetic particles exist and are known to degrade the confinement of energetic particles. ...

The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, reached historic low levels in 2022, raising economic, ecological and public health concerns for Utah. New research from Portland State is believed to be the first peer-reviewed study that quantifies the contributing factors to the record low water volume levels, which the researchers say is important for anticipating and managing future lake changes. “The lake has a lot of social and economic relevance for the region and Utah,” said Siiri Bigalke, the lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in PSU’s Earth, ...

DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is converted into mechanical motion by biasing the Brownian motion. The DNA-nanoparticle motor uses the "burnt-bridge" Brownian ratchet mechanism. In this type of movement, the motor is being propelled by the degradation (or "burning") of the bonds (or "bridges") it crosses along the substrate, essentially biasing its motion forward. These nano-sized motors are highly programmable and can be ...

Living with persistent poverty and/or parental mental illness throughout childhood may double the risk of carrying and/or using a weapon and getting on the wrong side of the law by the age of 17, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. These factors may account for nearly 1 in 3 cases of weapon use or carriage and more than a quarter of all police contact among 17 year olds, nationwide, estimate the researchers. Youth crime and violence are common around the world, they note. In England and Wales, for example, around 104,400 first-time offenders were ...

Fizzy water might aid weight loss by boosting blood glucose uptake and metabolism—the rate at which the body uses and converts energy—but the effects are so small, drinking it can’t be relied on alone to shed the pounds, concludes a brief analysis published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health. There are no quick fixes to slimming down and keeping off the weight, says the author: regular physical activity and a healthy balanced diet are still essential, added to which the long term effects of drinking large amounts of carbonated water aren’t known. Because ...

Muscular strength and good physical fitness are linked to a significantly lower risk of death from any cause in people with cancer, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.   Tailored exercise to boost muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with cancer may help boost their chances of survival, suggest the researchers. In 2022 alone, 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer worldwide, and nearly ...

A new peer-reviewed paper from experts at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, highlights the need for a clear framework when it comes to AI research, given the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by children and adolescents using digital devices to access the internet and social media.  Its recommendations are based on a critical appraisal of current shortcomings in the research on how digital technologies’ impact young people’s mental health, and an in-depth analysis of the challenges underlying those shortcomings.   The paper, “From ...

An English literature graduate turned data scientist has developed a new method for large language models (LLMs) used by AI chatbots to understand and analyse small chunks of text, such as those on social media profiles, in customer responses online or for understanding online posts responding to disaster events. In today’s digital world, such use of short text has become central to online communication. However, analysing these snippets is challenging because they often lack shared words or context. This lack of context makes it difficult for AI to find patterns ...

It’s difficult to know what birds ‘think’ when they fly, but scientists in Australia and Canada are getting some remarkable new insights by looking inside birds' heads. Evolutional biologists at Flinders University in South Australia and neuroscience researchers at the University of Lethbridge in Canada have teamed up to explore a new approach to recreating the brain structure of extinct and living birds by making digital ‘endocasts’ from the area inside a bird skeleton’s empty cranial space. Published today in Biology Letters, the study led by the ‘Bones and Diversity Lab’ at Flinders and the Iwaniuk Lab at the University ...

Published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study found that while the baboons noticed and responded to a laser mark shone on their arms, legs and hands, they did not react when they saw, via their mirror reflection, the laser on their faces and ears.  It was the first time a controlled laser mark test has been done on these animals in a wild setting and strengthens the evidence from other studies that monkeys don’t recognise their own reflection.  The researchers observed 120 Chacma ...

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has received two large grants renewing funding for the Human Pangenome Reference Sequencing Project. This ambitious program began in 2019 with the goal of increasing the diversity of human genome sequences that are pooled into the widely used reference genome. A thorough representation of human genetic diversity can help researchers discover how genetic variation contributes to disease and perhaps offer new routes to innovative treatments. Funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute ...

AURORA, Colo. (Jan. 22, 2025) – A breakthrough study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience sheds new light on how brain cells relay critical information from their extremities to their nucleus, leading to the activation of genes essential for learning and memory.  Researchers have identified a key pathway that links how neurons send signals to each other, or synaptic activity, to the expression of genes necessary for long-term changes in the brain, providing crucial insights into the molecular processes underlying memory formation. “These findings illuminate ...

San Francisco—January 21, 2025—DNA replication is happening continuously throughout the body, as many as trillions of times per day. Whenever a cell divides—whether to repair damaged tissue, replace old cells, or simply to help the body grow—DNA is copied to ensure the new cells carry the same genetic instructions. But this fundamental aspect of human biology has been poorly understood, chiefly because scientists lack the ability to closely observe the intricate process of replication. Attempts to do so have relied on chemicals that damage the DNA structure or strategies ...

West Greenland is home to tens of thousands of blue lakes that provide residents drinking water and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Yet after two months of record heat and precipitation in fall 2022, an estimated 7,500 lakes turned brown, began emitting carbon and decreased in water quality, according to a new study.  Led by Fulbright Distinguished Arctic Scholar and University of Maine Climate Change Institute Associate Director Jasmine Saros, a team of researchers found that the combination of extreme climate events in fall 2022 caused ecological change that ...

Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest topics in condensed matter physics today. They’re a bit strange: their surfaces conduct electricity, yet their interiors do not, instead acting as insulators. Physicists consider TIs the materials of the future because they host fascinating new quantum phases of matter and have promising technological applications in electronics and quantum computing. Scientists are just now beginning to uncover connections between TIs and magnetism that could unlock new uses for these exotic materials. A ...

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) wants to emphasize the importance of global partnerships in addressing health threats that impact all of us, as Americans and global citizens. We urge President Trump to reconsider the decision to terminate the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). The most effective way to address emerging health threats is through collaborative efforts with international partners. Eliminating U.S. involvement in the WHO would leave our country—and the world—more vulnerable to infectious diseases and less prepared to manage pandemics, fight emerging health threats, ...

Astronomer Calvin Leung was excited last summer to crunch data from a newly commissioned radio telescope to precisely pinpoint the origin of repeated bursts of intense radio waves — so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) — emanating from somewhere in the northern constellation Ursa Minor. Leung, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient at the University of California, Berkeley, hopes eventually to understand the origins of these mysterious bursts and use them as probes to trace the large-scale structure of the universe, a key to its origin and evolution. He had written most of the computer code that allowed ...

Journal of EMDR Practice and Research (JEMDR), launched in 2007, is devoted to integrative, state-of-the-art papers about EMDR therapy. It is a broadly conceived interdisciplinary journal that stimulates and communicates research and theory about EMDR therapy and its application to clinical practice. The journal publishes articles on all aspects of EMDR therapy and Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) theory. JEMDR is co-lead by Jenny Ann Rydberg, MA, PhdD cand. (University of Lorraine, Nancy, France) and Derek Farrell, PhD, MBE (Northumbria, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK). As a member of the Science Partner Journal program, JEMDR will publish on a continuous basis under ...

Researchers at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and the UF Health Cancer Center have identified a crucial link between a gene mutation and immune system signaling in canine hemangiosarcoma, a discovery that could lead to better treatments for both dogs and humans with similar cancers. The research focuses on hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that forms malignant blood vessels in dogs. This life-threatening condition is difficult to diagnose early, as tumors can grow silently before rupturing without warning, leading to emergencies. ...

Key takeaways Globally, over 600 million people are infected with the skin-penetrating threadworm, Strongyloides stercoralis, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions with poor sanitation infrastructure. Infections are treated with ivermectin, but some nematodes are starting to develop resistance to this first-line drug. UCLA biologists have discovered that the nematodes respond differently to carbon dioxide at different stages in their life cycle, which could help scientists find ways to prevent or cure infections by targeting ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study by researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health found that pregnant women are regularly excluded from clinical drug trials that test for safety, raising concerns for the efficacy of these medications for maternal and child health. The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, analyzed 90,860 drug trials involving women ages 18 to 45 from the past 15 years and found that only 0.8% included pregnant participants. ...