It’s important to eat your veggies, but some essential vitamins and nutrients can only be found in animals, including certain amino acids and peptides. But, in a proof-of-concept study published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers developed a method to produce creatine, carnosine and taurine — all animal-based nutrients and common workout supplements — right inside a plant. The system allows for different synthetic modules to be easily stacked together to boost production. Plants can be surprisingly receptive when asked to produce compounds ...

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is excited to announce Pablo Manavella will serve as the next Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Cell. The Plant Cell is a leading international society journal that publishes novel research of special significance in plant biology, especially in the areas of cellular biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, development, and evolution. Manavella is currently a Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) researcher at the Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture (IHSM) in Málaga, Spain. He is the Principal Investigator in a lab focusing on the intricate mechanisms regulating ...

Despite global vaccination efforts, COVID-19 continues to pose significant risks, leading to severe complications and fatalities. These risks are driven by disrupted coagulation, impaired fibrinolysis, which is the process of breaking blood clots, and heightened inflammatory responses. The fibrinolytic system, crucial for maintaining balance within the coagulation cascade, relies on plasmin-mediated fibrin degradation. Plasminogen activators convert plasminogen into plasmin, an enzyme that breaks down ...

SAN FRANCISCO —PLOS today announced that it has received a $1.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a $1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support our mission to drive Open Science forward with meaningful change in scholarly publishing. The funds enable PLOS to embark on an ambitious 18-month research and design project to explore how to tackle two barriers that exclude many researchers from meaningfully participating in Open Science: affordability ...

Researchers at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) have developed technology that can alter, within the body, the recognized identity of proteins. The innovation, published in Nature Communications on October 2, allowed researchers to target mouse tumors with a protein and then transport that protein out of the body. This means that cancer-killing drugs could be sent directly to tumors and then excreted from the body after dropping off their payload. The technology also has the potential to allow multi-purpose drugs that can travel from organ to organ, performing ...

Smoke From Megafires Puts Orchard Trees at Risk Effects Last Months, Reducing Nut Crop Yields By Amy Quinton | October 2, 2023 Long-term smoke exposure from massive wildfires lowers the energy reserves of orchard trees and can cut their nut production by half, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found. The smoke can affect trees for months after a megafire, depressing their bloom and the next season’s harvest. This finding reveals a new danger from wildfires that could affect plant health in both agricultural and natural environments. Nature Plants published ...

Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) are pleased to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today, that formalises a collaborative partnership in healthcare and data science. The partnership will leverage cutting-edge data science and research, with a focus on trustworthy data use to power improvements in healthcare, research and innovation, strengthening existing links between the UK and Singapore. The MoU was signed by Permanent Secretary for National Research and ...

CNIO researchers have discovered that cancer perverts certain brain cells, the astrocytes, and causes them to produce a protein that works in favour of the tumour.   A drug, silibinin, inhibits this protein, and could be used to help treat brain metastasis with immunotherapy. A clinical trial is underway.   The work is published in the American Association for Cancer Research's journal Cancer Discovery.   Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) propose a new treatment for brain metastases that respond poorly, or not at all, to immunotherapy, and provide a biomarker to predict ...

Often overlooked, rechargeable batteries play an important part in contemporary life, powering small devices like smartphones to larger ones like electric vehicles. The keys to creating sustainable rechargeable batteries include having them hold their charge longer, giving them a longer life with more charging cycles, and making them safer. Which is why there is so much promise in all-solid-state batteries. The problem so far is discovering which solid electrolytes offer such potential advantages. In a step toward that goal, an Osaka Metropolitan University research group led by Assistant Professor Kota Motohashi, Associate Professor Atsushi Sakuda, ...

Phones can be useful tools in classrooms to remind students of deadlines or encourage more exchange between students and teachers. At the same time, they can be distracting: Students report using their phones for non-academic purposes as often as 10 times a day. Thus, in many classrooms, phones are not allowed.   Now, researchers in the US have investigated if letting students use their phones for very brief amounts of time – dubbed phone or technology breaks – can enhance classroom performance and reduce phone use. “We show that technology breaks may be helpful for reducing cell phone use in the college classroom,” said Prof Ryan Redner, a ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Oct 2, 2024)—Timely identification and treatment of bothersome hot flashes have the potential to improve the lives of many women and save employers countless days of related absenteeism and lost work productivity. Yet, a new study finds that such symptoms are often not documented in electronic health records (EHRs) or not adequately addressed during primary care visits. The study is published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. Approximately 75% of women experience hot flashes as they go through the menopause transition. Despite the common occurrence of these bothersome ...

New research from Baylor University reveals that coyotes, like domestic dogs, have the ability to produce the famous "puppy dog eyes" expression. The study – "Coyotes can do 'puppy dog eyes' too: Comparing interspecific variation in Canis facial expression muscles," published in the Royal Society Open Science – challenges the hypothesis that this facial feature evolved exclusively in dogs as a result of domestication. The research team, led by Patrick Cunningham, a Ph.D. research student in the Department ...

New research suggests that green turtle hatchlings ‘swim' to the surface of the sand, rather than ‘dig’, in the period between hatching and emergence. The findings have important implications for conserving a declining turtle population globally. Published today in Proceedings B, scientists from UNSW’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, used a small device, known as an accelerometer, to uncover novel findings into the behaviours of hatchlings as they emerge from their nests. Sea turtle eggs are buried in nests 30 – 80cm deep. Once hatched, the newborn turtles make their way to the surface ...

A new analysis of a decade-long collection of wildlife rescue records in NSW has delivered new insights into how humans and reptiles interact in urban environments. Researchers from Macquarie University worked with scientists from Charles Darwin University, and the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to analyse over 37,000 records of snake and lizard rescues in the Greater Sydney region between 2011 and 2021. Their study, Interactions between reptiles and people: a perspective from wildlife rehabilitation records is published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday 2 October. Lead author Teagan Pyne, ...

The cost of fatal falls among older people (45-85+) trump those of firearm deaths in the US, finds research published in the open access journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open. The stark economics and shifting age demographics in the US underscore the urgency of preventive measures, conclude the researchers. Falls account for around 1 in 5 of all injury-related hospital admissions, and the World Health Organization reports that falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, with the over 65s especially vulnerable, highlight the researchers.  Like falls, firearms related injuries ...

Harmful diagnostic errors may be occurring in as many as 1 in every 14 (7%) hospital patients—at least those receiving general medical care—suggest the findings of a single centre study in the US, published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety. Most (85%) of these errors are likely preventable and underscore the need for new approaches to improving surveillance to avoid these mistakes from happening in the first place, say the researchers. Previously published reports suggest that current trigger tools for ...

The magnitude 4.8 Tewksbury earthquake surprised millions of people on the U.S. East Coast who felt the shaking from this largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in New Jersey since 1900. But researchers noted something else unusual about the earthquake: why did so many people 40 miles away in New York City report strong shaking, while damage near the earthquake’s epicenter appeared minimal? In a paper published in The Seismic Record, YoungHee Kim of Seoul National University and colleagues show how the earthquake’s ...

One of the more promising classes of materials for next-generation batteries and electronic devices are the organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors, OMIECs for short. These soft, flexible polymer semiconductors have promising electrochemical qualities, but little is known about their molecular microstructure and how electrons move through them – an important knowledge gap that will need to be addressed to bring OMIECs to market. To fill that void, materials scientists at Stanford recently employed ...

University of Houston researchers are partnering with the Harris County Office of County Administration’s Sustainability Office, the Harris County Energy Management Team and other county staff to develop a comprehensive baseline of energy use and energy-use intensity for county’s assets.  Once established, the baseline will enable the team to track progress and evaluate the effectiveness of energy-saving measures over time, laying the groundwork for programs aimed at reducing energy consumption, maximizing savings, and increasing the use of renewable and resilient ...

A team of Canadian and American scientists has made a promising breakthrough in understanding the origins of a mysterious neurological disorder known as mirror movements.   The discovery was made by Kaiyue Zhang, a doctoral student at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), affiliated with Université de Montréal, and by Karina Chaudhari, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania.   As co-first authors, they published their study today in the journal Science Signaling.   They were led by Frédéric Charron, an UdeM research professor ...

The 2024 Ramona Jones Friends of BrainHealth Luncheon on September 30, 2024 continued the 25th anniversary celebration of Center for BrainHealth – part of The University of Texas at Dallas – and the second year this annual event has been sponsored by founding Advisory Board member Ramona Jones and her family. Staged “Shark Tank”-style” at the Dallas Country Club, the event featured a competition between emerging scientists pitching novel research proposals and vying for $20,000 in seed funding. Event co-chair Nikki Kapioltas opened the event, calling attention to a milestone ...

Researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences and the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in Mexico are using a $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to explore the link between infertility and long-term health issues among Hispanic women of Mexican heritage. According to recent research, female infertility is often associated with greater risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. Hispanic women are up to 70% more likely to experience infertility than white women, yet little is known about their long-term health. “Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, and 60% of Hispanics have Mexican heritage. ...

A new study documents how Southern Californians are chronically being exposed to toxic airborne chemicals called plasticizers, including one that’s been banned from children’s items and beauty products.  Plasticizers are chemical compounds that make materials more flexible. They are used in a wide variety of products ranging from lunchboxes and shower curtains to garden hoses and upholstery.  “It’s not just for drinking straws and grocery bags,” said David Volz, environmental sciences professor at UC Riverside, ...

The Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded a $9 million contract to the University of Maine for research that will significantly expand efforts to quantify snowpack properties, explore the impact of snowmelt on the surrounding terrestrial environments of Alaska and Maine, and expand training opportunities in polar science.  The project is led by School of Earth and Climate Sciences and Climate Change Institute faculty member Seth Campbell, who will collaborate with more than a dozen other scientists from UMaine and other institutions. The effort builds on a related and existing ...

SETI Institute Awards Education Grant through the STRIDE Program   October 1, 2024, Mountain View, CA – The SETI Institute awarded its first education grant through its Support Technology, Research, Innovation, Development and Education (STRIDE) program. The grant supports a new project called Encountering Stars in an Inflatable Planetarium, which will offer immersive astronomy and astrobiology experiences for elementary and middle school students in low-income areas and high school and adult audiences interested in STEM-related experiences. The program also includes a training workshop for K-12 teachers ...