— By Michael Matz The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and several collaborating institutions have successfully demonstrated a machine-learning technique to accelerate discovery of materials for film capacitors — crucial components in electrification and renewable energy technologies. The technique was used to screen a library of nearly 50,000 chemical structures to identify a compound with record-breaking performance. The other collaborators from University of Wisconsin–Madison, Scripps Research Institute, University of California, ...

Researchers from Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience have discovered a new pathway to forming long-term memories in the brain. Their work suggests that long-term memory can form independently of short-term memory, a finding that opens exciting possibilities for understanding memory-related conditions. A New Perspective on Memory Formation Our brain works diligently to record our experiences into memories, creating representations of our daily events that stay with us for short time periods. Current scientific theories of memory formation suggest that short-term memories are stored in what we can imagine as a temporary art exhibition in our ...

• A research team led by the UAB has made exceptional discoveries on prehistoric archery from the early Neolithic period, 7,000 years ago. • The well organic preservation of the remains of the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, made it possible for scientists to identify the oldest bowstrings in Europe, which were made from the tendons of three animal species. • The use of olive and reed wood and birch bark pitch in the making of arrows reveals an unprecedented degree of precision and technical mastery, as highlighted in the study, published in Scientific Reports. ...

EMBARGOED: NOT FOR RELEASE UNTIL 00.01 UK TIME ON THURSDAY 5 DECEMBER 2024 Tyrannosaur teeth discovered in Bexhill-on-Sea with help of retired quarryman Spinosaur and Velociraptor-like predators also roamed East Sussex 135 million years ago Research led by the University of Southampton has revealed that several groups of meat-eating dinosaur stalked the Bexhill-on-Sea region of coastal East Sussex 135 million years ago. The study, published today [5 December 2024] in Papers in Palaeontology, has discovered a whole community of predators belonging to different ...

TORONTO - New research published by a team of researchers from the University of Toronto in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Alberta has found that women who have had both ovaries surgically removed before the age of 50 and carry a variant of the apolipoprotein gene, the APOE4 allele, are at high risk of late-life Alzheimer disease (AD).  Use of hormone therapy mitigates this risk. Why does this matter? By 2050, Alzheimer’s disease is projected to affect 12.7 million individuals 65 and older with women comprising two-thirds of that number. It is still unclear why Alzheimer’s disease is more prevalent in women than in men, but it may have to do with ...

BALTIMORE, Dec. 5, 2024:  Obesity affects a staggering 40 percent of adults and 20 percent of children in the United States. While some new popular therapies are helping to tackle the epidemic of obesity, there is still so much that researchers do not understand about the brain-body connection that regulates appetite. Now, researchers have discovered a previously unknown population of neurons in the hypothalamus that regulate food intake and could be a promising new target for obesity drugs. In a study published in the Dec. 5 issue of Nature, a team of researchers from the Laboratory ...

When a forest is lost to development, some effects are obvious. Stumps and mud puddles across the landscape, a plowed field or houses a year after that. But deforestation isn’t just a loss of trees; it’s a loss of the countless benefits that forests provide—one of which is control of disease. Now, a startling new global study shows that a widespread malaria-fighting strategy—bed nets—becomes less effective as deforestation rises. The research underscores how important a healthy environment can be for human health. Insecticide-treated ...

Polarization photodetectors (pol-PDs) have widespread applications in geological remote sensing, machine vision, and biological medicine. However, commercial pol-PDs usually require bulky and complicated optical components and are difficult to miniaturize and integrate. Chinese researchers have recently made important progress in this area by developing an on-chip integrated polarization photodetector. This study, published in Science Advances on Dec. 4, was conducted by Prof. Li Mingzhu’s group from the Technical ...

Researchers from Singapore and China have used a superconducting quantum processor to study the phenomenon of quantum transport in unprecedented detail. A better understanding of quantum transport, which can refer to the flow of particles, magnetisation, energy or information through a quantum channel, could propel advances in technologies such as nanoelectronics and thermal management. “We’re quite excited because this is, practically, a new paradigm of doing quantum transport experiments,” says Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) Fellow Dario Poletti, whose co-corresponding authors for the new work published in Nature ...

An international team of researchers including The University of Tokyo Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU, WPI) has found evidence showing that old elliptical galaxies in the universe can form from intense star formation within early galaxy cores. This discovery will deepen our understanding of how galaxies evolved from the early Universe, reports a new study in Nature. Galaxies in today’s Universe are diverse in morphologies and can be roughly divided into two categories: younger, disk-like spiral galaxies, ...

Bamboo invasion has been widely observed across Asia (e.g., China, Japan, and India), North America, South America (e.g., Brazil and Peru) and Africa. Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), a large-running bamboo species native to subtropical China, is known for its invasive nature and ability to encroach upon adjacent communities, particularly derived forests. While some plot-based studies exist, our understanding of how forest structural dynamics and diameter–height allometric relationships respond to bamboo invasion has remained limited. In a study published in the KeAi journal Forest Ecosystems, researchers from China ...

Developing reliable methods to replace dead or damaged tissue is one of the primary goals of regenerative medicine. With steady advances in tissue engineering and biomedicine, we are almost at a point where growing cell sheets in the lab and transplanting them onto damaged or diseased organs is becoming a reality rather than fiction. Notably, myoblast cell sheets have already been used to successfully treat severe heart failure, demonstrating the potential of this technology. However, there are still a few unsolved challenges ...

Earth's tropical rain belt, responsible for monsoons that sustain billions of people and vibrant ecosystems, has long been a reliable feature of the planet's climate. But new research reveals this vital system wasn't always so dependable. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that during the early Eocene—the hottest period in the last 65 million years—the rain belt's seasonal shifts weakened dramatically. These ancient changes could offer critical warnings about the impact of modern global warming. A Greenhouse Climate 50 Million Years ...

Rice paddies, responsible for approximately 10% of global anthropogenic methane (CH₄) emissions, are increasingly recognized as a key contributor to global warming. Reducing emissions from rice cultivation is essential to achieving international climate goals, especially in light of commitments to carbon neutrality and peak emissions targets. A team led by Prof. LI Tingting from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has validated an independently developed methane emission model, CH4MOD, at the global scale. This research highlights the advantages of process-based models over the commonly ...

Women who experience infertility but do not use fertility treatments have a higher risk of developing a group of conditions called systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD) in the nine years after a naturally conceived birth compared to women without fertility problems.   The new research, published today (Thursday) in Human Reproduction [1], one of the world’s leading reproductive medicine journals, found that this was true even after accounting for higher rates of pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy), preterm birth ...

Colorful auroras appeared around Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido islands on May 11, 2024, sparked by an intense magnetic storm. Usually, auroras observed at low latitudes appear red due to the emission of oxygen atoms. But on this day, a salmon pink aurora was observed throughout the night, while an unusually tall, blue-dominant aurora appeared shortly before midnight.   Smartphone videos and amateur photos captured the event, enabling scientists to combine public data with their own research and study the phenomenon.   In a ...

Higher rates of certain cancers in countries, such as the UK, may be linked to two particular strains of bacteria. Targeting these with treatments or vaccines could help reduce the risk of colorectal, bladder, and prostate cancers. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Helsinki, and collaborators investigated the differences in cancer incidence for colorectal, bladder and prostate cancers, and compared these to global data tracking Escherichia coli (E.coli) strains. Specifically, they looked at the dominant two E.coli strains that produce a substance that has been previously identified as a risk factor for colorectal cancer. Their ...

Embargoed for release: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 6:30 PM ET Key points: Study participants who consumed at least five servings of any chocolate per week showed a 10% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to those who rarely or never ate chocolate. Dark chocolate had an even bigger impact: Participants who consumed at least five servings of this chocolate per week showed a 21% lower risk of T2D. Consumption of milk chocolate, but not dark chocolate, was not associated with T2D risk; it was associated ...

Eating five servings of dark chocolate a week is associated with a reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a long-term US study published by The BMJ today. Global rates of type 2 diabetes are set to rise to 700 million by 2045. Chocolate contains high levels of flavanols (a natural compound found in fruits and vegetables) which have been shown to promote heart health and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. But the link between chocolate consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes remains controversial due to inconsistent results. In addition, most previous studies have not looked at whether eating dark and milk chocolate – which have different ...

An investigation published by The BMJ today reveals widespread influence of food and drink brands in schools and nurseries – through breakfast clubs, nutrition guidance, and healthy eating campaigns - while rates of obesity in the UK have worsened. Experts say the tactics are “subtle but very problematic” and require much greater scrutiny and pushback. Organisations influencing food provision and education in schools include Kellogg’s, Greggs, Nestle, and the British Nutrition Foundation, a “policy development” charity ...

Better information and regulation are essential to protect consumers from potential harms of tests advertised directly to consumers, argue experts in The BMJ today. Emma Gram at the University of Copenhagen and colleagues warn that consumers are at risk of buying products that do more harm than good and say the public needs high quality information and effective communication to protect consumers from unbalanced and misleading marketing. Advances in diagnostic technology and digital health have increased the variety and volume of direct-to-consumer (DTC) tests, ...

The recent conflict in Lebanon has deepened a national education crisis in which children have already lost up to 60% of school time over the past six years, new research warns. The report, which will be launched on 5 December by the Centre for Lebanese Studies and the University of Cambridge’s REAL Centre, is the first to assess the state of education since Israel began its ground offensive in Lebanon in October. Using surveys and interviews with parents and teachers, it provides a snapshot of the situation a few weeks before the new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The study stresses that even ...

Spotted lanternflies—invasive insects that first landed in the United States a decade ago—are emerging earlier and staying active later each year, according to an analysis of citizen-science data by researchers at New York University. This longer life cycle and shift in activity may be driven in part by cities and their warmer climates. The spotted lanternfly, native to parts of Asia, was first found in the US in 2014 in eastern Pennsylvania. Since then, the population has spread across the Northeast and into the Midwest and Southeast, sparking concerns about its impact on local plants and agriculture.  The ...

Armed with a net and trident, fisherman gladiators were a staple of Rome’s gladiatorial games. Their best chance of survival was to quickly entangle a heavily armed opponent with their weighted net. Remarkably, some spiders use much the same strategy. Slingshot, or ray spiders (Theridiosoma gemmosum) pull the centre of their flat web back, to form a cone with the spider at the tip, keeping the net in place by holding on to a taut anchor thread. They release this thread to let the web fly, catapulting it forward when an ...

SAN ANTONIO — December 4, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) collaborated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to characterize the chemical makeup of 81 common household items. Researchers also evaluated the potential risk to users. Exposure to chemicals can cause negative health effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Building on previous research to identify chemicals in consumer goods, SwRI and EPA also analyzed how samples of rubber, plastic, clothing, upholstery and fabric responded to environmental factors, such as a hot car or being worn. The study, published in the Environmental Science & Technology ...