Fukuoka, Japan— Microfluidic technology has become increasingly important in many scientific fields such as regenerative medicine, microelectronics, and environmental science. However, conventional microfabrication techniques face limitations in scale and in the construction of complex networks. These hurdles are compounded when it comes to building more intricate 3D microfluidic networks. Now, researchers from Kyushu University have developed a new and convenient technique for building such complex 3D microfluidic networks. Their tool? Plants and fungi. The team developed a ‘soil’ medium using nanoparticles of glass (silica) and a cellulose ...

A different mix of fuels with enhanced properties could overcome some of the major barriers to making fusion a more practical energy source, according to a new study.  The proposed approach would still use deuterium and tritium, which are generally accepted as the most promising pair of fuels for fusion energy production. However, the quantum properties of the fuel would be adjusted for peak efficiency using an existing process known as spin polarization. In addition to spin polarizing half the fuels, the percentage of deuterium would be increased from the usual amount of roughly 60% or more.  Models created by scientists at the U.S. Department ...

The American Pediatric Society (APS) is pleased to announce Beth A. Tarini, MD, MS, MBA, as the 2025 Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award recipient for her considerable contributions to pediatric science. The award will be presented to Dr. Tarini during the APS Presidential Plenary at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2025 Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 24 – April 28. The award was created in honor of one of the world’s leading nephrologists, Norman J. Siegel, MD, FASN. Dr. Siegel was an outstanding ...

Approximately 16% of the global population, or about 890 million people, suffer from obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized obesity as a significant health issue and highlighted its impact on the quality of life and overall health of individuals across the world. In response to this, the World Institute of Kimchi, South Korea, has been publishing a series of articles on the anti-obesity effects of kimchi in international journals. These articles, based on research studies on the subject, indicate that the regular consumption of kimchi, a traditional ...

Researchers delved deep into the regulation of cobalt active sites to enhance the selectivity of propylene to improve scalability and affordability of the production of this important chemical.   Chemical reactions are not always naturally optimized to yield the products in the quantities needed, especially on the scale needed for the amount of industry in the world today. Researchers from East China University of Science and Technology explored the options available to develop a more cost-effective, scalable and straightforward ...

A recent study published in the Journal of Translational Internal Medicine (https://doi.org/10.1515/jtim-2024-0017) reveals significant insights into the broader impact of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) on cardiovascular health. By using a rigorous bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, the research provides compelling evidence that GERD—a condition traditionally recognized as a digestive disorder characterized by acid reflux and heartburn—may influence key cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure, lipid ...

Repeated exposure to lies online may influence the beliefs of professional content moderators, with consequences for online platforms. Hundreds of thousands of content moderators, typically based in non-Western countries, identify and weed out problematic and false content on social platforms. However, constant exposure to misinformation could convince some content moderators that false claims are true, in what is known as the “illusory truth effect.” Hause Lin and colleagues assessed the extent of this effect among professional content moderators in India and the Philippines and explored whether encouraging an accuracy mindset reduces the effect. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While comics have become a culturally popular and widely studied art form in recent decades, one format remains overlooked: the single-panel comic.   Comics like “The Family Circus,” “Ziggy” and “Little Lulu” are often seen as simplistic and not worthy of critical attention, argues Michelle Ann Abate, author of the new book Singular Sensations: A Cultural History of One-Panel Comics in the United States.   “There tends to be a belief there ...

PULLMAN, Wash. — Unlike kids in the United States, hunter-gatherer children in the Congo Basin have often learned how to hunt, identify edible plants and care for babies by the tender age of six or seven. This rapid learning is facilitated by a unique social environment where cultural knowledge is passed down not just from parents but from the broader community, according to a new Washington State University-led study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research helps explain how many cultural traits have been preserved for thousands of years among ...

US Latinos who rely on social media in Spanish for their news are more vulnerable to political misinformation than those who use English-language social media, according to a study. Misinformation swirls on social media in every language, but social media companies struggle to combat disinformation circulating in Spanish on major social media platforms. In a study done in partnership with Jonathan Nagler of NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics as part of the group’s Bilingual Election Monitor project, Marisa Abrajano and colleagues surveyed over 1,000 English-dominant, bilingual, and Spanish-dominant Latino users of ...

A new study led by RMIT University in Australia measuring access to nature for eight major global cities found most still have inadequate canopy cover, despite access to an abundance of trees. Less than 30% of buildings in New York City, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Denver, central Sydney and central Melbourne were in neighbourhoods with adequate canopy cover. New York and Amsterdam both scored almost 0% for canopy cover despite 92% and 50% of buildings having views of at least three trees, respectively. The research, a collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, studied over 2.5 million buildings across ...

Genes aren’t the sole driver instructing cells to build multicellular structures, tissues, and organs. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut and Caltech computational biologist Matt Thomson characterize the influence of another important developmental driver: cell density, or how loosely or tightly cells are packed into a given space. In both computational models and laboratory experiments, the team of scientists used cell density as an effective tool for controlling how mouse cells pattern themselves into complex structures.  “This paper represents progress towards our big picture goal of engineering synthetic ...

Bethesda, MD (Nov. 15, 2024) — The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released a new clinical guideline on the pharmacological management of moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, published today in Gastroenterology. This guideline groups the 12 currently available advanced treatments based on efficacy, to simplify the decision-making process for gastroenterologists and the approximately 1.25 million patients in the U.S. living with ulcerative colitis.  “Since the first biologic ...

Cell-to-cell communication through nanosized particles, working as messengers and carriers, can now be analyzed in a whole new way, thanks to a new method involving CRISPR gene-editing technology. The particles, known as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), play an important role in the spread of disease and as potential drug carriers. The newly developed system, named CIBER, enables thousands of genes to be studied at once, by labeling sEVs with a kind of RNA “barcode.” With this, researchers hope to find what factors are involved in sEV release from ...

A new study shows land in California’s San Joaquin Valley has been sinking at record-breaking rates over the last two decades as groundwater extraction has outpaced natural recharge.  The researchers found that the average rate of sinking for the entire valley reached nearly an inch per year between 2006 and 2022. Researchers and water managers have known that sinking, technically termed “subsidence,” was occurring over the past 20 years. But the true impact was not fully appreciated because the total subsidence had not been quantified. This was in part due to a gap in data. Satellite radar systems, which provide the most precise measure of elevation changes, ...

LA JOLLA (November 19, 2024)—Deep breath in, slow breath out… Isn’t it odd that we can self-soothe by slowing down our breathing? Humans have long used slow breathing to regulate their emotions, and practices like yoga and mindfulness have even popularized formal techniques like box breathing. Still, there has been little scientific understanding of how the brain consciously controls our breathing and whether this actually has a direct effect on our anxiety and emotional state. Neuroscientists ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – A speed record has been broken using nanoscience, which could lead to a host of new advances, including improved battery charging, biosensing, soft robotics and neuromorphic computing. Scientists at Washington State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a way to make ions move more than ten times faster in mixed organic ion-electronic conductors. These conductors combine the advantages of the ion signaling used by many biological systems, including the human body, with the electron signaling used by computers. The new development, detailed in the journal ...

Tallinn, Estonia – 19th November 2024, 10 AM CET – Haut.AI, a pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) company for skincare and beauty applications, has published an exciting scientific review—one that explores state-of-the-art developments in skin fluorescence photography and its applications, focusing on combining it with AI algorithms for non-invasive skin diagnostics. The study highlights the power of AI to enhance skin fluorescence photography, allowing early, non-invasive detection of skin conditions. This approach allows skincare experts to diagnose underlying issues ...

A study published today in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that centimetre-sized plastic fragments are increasing much faster than larger floating plastics in the North Pacific Garbage Patch [NPGP], threatening the local ecosystem and potentially the global carbon cycle.   The research, which draws from not-for-profit The Ocean Cleanup’s systematic surveys of the NPGP between 2015 and 2022, found an unexpected rise in mass concentration of plastic fragments that are ...

A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon.  Research at the University of Birmingham, published in Physical Review Letters, explores the nature of photons (individual particles of light) in unprecedented detail to show how they are emitted by atoms or molecules and shaped by their environment.  The nature of this interaction leads to infinite possibilities for light to exist and propagate, or travel, through its surrounding environment. This limitless ...

A new paper in Biology Methods and Protocols, published by Oxford University Press, shows that scientists can train artificial intelligence models to distinguish brain tumors from healthy tissue. AI models can already find brain tumors in MRI images almost as well as a human radiologist. Researchers have made sustained progress in artificial intelligence (AI) for use in medicine. AI is particularly promising in radiology, where waiting for technicians to process medical images can delay patient treatment. Convolutional neural networks are powerful tools that allow researchers to train AI models on large image datasets to recognize ...

TAMEST is pleased to announce Lyda Hill and Lyda Hill Philanthropies as the recipients of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Distinguished Service Award.  TAMEST is recognizing Lyda Hill and her team for empowering and enabling groundbreaking research in science and nature that profoundly impacts society. Lyda Hill, a successful businesswoman and world-renowned philanthropist, believes science can solve many of the world’s most challenging issues and has chosen to donate all of her estate to philanthropy and scientific research.  Aligned with this mission, Lyda Hill is committed to advancing science and public ...

Red river hogs (RRHs) (Potamochoerus porcus), a wild species of Suidae living in Africa, have grabbed much attention as an animal that harbors African swine fever virus (ASFV) as natural hosts. When ASFV infects domestic pigs and wild boars, it proliferates within macrophages, a type of immune cells, and infected pigs rapidly die suffering from symptoms such as fever and hemorrhage. On the other hand, ASFV infection in RRHs is asymptomatic and does not cause death, suggesting that RRH macrophages may have a protective mechanism against ASFV infection.   In vitro cell cultures of porcine macrophages are generally ...

The more lottery tickets you buy, the higher your chances of winning, but spending more than you win is obviously not a wise strategy. Something similar happens in AI powered by deep learning: we know that the larger a neural network is (i.e., the more parameters it has), the better it can learn the task we set for it. However, the strategy of making it infinitely large during training is not only impossible but also extremely inefficient. Scientists have tried to imitate the way biological brains learn, which is highly resource-efficient, by providing machines with a gradual training process that starts with ...

Planned suburban residential neighborhoods in metropolitan areas known as new towns were initially developed in England. The new town movement spread from Europe to East Asia, such as to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In Japan alone, 2,903 New Towns were built, but many experienced rapid population decline and aging in the 40 years after their development. Therefore, they changed into old new towns and had to transform their facilities. Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan ...