Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have made strides forward in realizing industrial conversion of bicarbonate solution made from captured carbon to a formate solution, a green fuel. Their new electrochemical cell, with a porous membrane layer in between the electrodes, overcomes major issues suffered in reactive carbon capture (RCC) and achieves performances rivaling energy-hungry gas-fed methods. Processes like theirs directly add value to waste streams and are key to realizing net zero emissions.   Carbon capture technology ...

Lakes can tip the scales from healthy to potential environmental hazard quickly when they become eutrophic. In this state, an abundance of nutrients accelerates algae growth, which then crowd the water’s surface and block light from reaching organisms below. Without light, they can’t make oxygen and life in the water begins to die off. Luckily, researchers can monitor inland lakes for eutrophication with remote sensing technologies; however, those technologies could be adjusted to make more accurate assessments, according to researchers based in China. The team published their evaluation of the technologies, as well as recommended paths ...

While planting trees may seem like an easy win to combat climate change, planted forests often encroach on natural forests, wetlands, and grasslands. This can reduce biodiversity, disturb the natural environment, and disrupt carbon and water cycling. While there has been a global increase in forest cover, it’s hard to know if this forest is the regeneration and growth of natural forests or if it is planting new trees. Accurately mapping these forests with remote sensing technology could help. However, comprehensive maps of planted forests and natural forests are lacking even though it is possible to distinguish planted forests and natural forests on satellite images ...

CHICAGO—September 13, 2024—The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology has been awarded the prestigious Zero Energy Design Designation (ZEDD) from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) for it Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture programs. This recognition highlights the college’s commitment to sustainability, carbon neutrality, and zero-energy design practices in a world of escalating extreme weather and climate change.  The ...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 13, 2024) – Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has notoriously struggled to create consistent images, often getting details like fingers and facial symmetry wrong. Moreover, these models can completely fail when prompted to generate images at different image sizes and resolutions. Rice University computer scientists’ new method of generating images with pre-trained diffusion models ⎯ a class of generative AI models that “learn” by adding layer after layer of random noise to the images they are trained on and then generate new images by removing the added noise ⎯ could help correct ...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established a pandemic preparedness research network to conduct research on high-priority pathogens most likely to threaten human health with the goal of developing effective vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. Currently, many of the diseases caused by these pathogens have no available vaccines or therapeutics, and investing in this research is key to preparing for potential public health crises—both in the United States and around the world. NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) expects to commit approximately ...

University of Virginia professor Mathews Jacob has secured a $3.9 million grant to advance his innovative research on detecting Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages. Jacob, who specializes in electrical and computer engineering, is teaming up with researchers from the University of Iowa and the University of California-San Francisco to push the boundaries of imaging technology that tracks the brain’s metabolic changes — offering a fresh perspective on studying neurodegenerative disorders. Their focus is on advancing magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Unlike standard MRI, which primarily highlights structural changes, ...

Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes – a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.   The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms.  Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, ...

Men are three times more likely than women to commit traffic violations while driving and to be involved in accidents. Moreover, they are more likely to create situations on the road that are highly dangerous to others. Men are also twice as likely to drive under the influence and nearly one-third more likely to receive a prison sentence for reckless driving. Perhaps it comes down to cultural norms and the different attitudes men and women have toward driving. These are the conclusions reached by Anton Kazun, Assistant Professor at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, and Research Assistant Mikhail Belov. There is a stereotype that women are worse driver than men; female drivers are ...

Researchers at University of California San Diego have published new guidelines that could help scientists significantly improve their results when quantifying the interactions between DNA and proteins. Understanding these interactions is critical to our understanding of human biology in general, and can also help scientists develop new treatments for a wide range of diseases, including many cancers. The researchers focused on spike-in normalization, a widely-used molecular biology technique that helps ensure accurate and reliable results. Spike-in normalization involves adding a known quantity of chromatin (DNA and the associated proteins) to a sample before it ...

As the global population grows and traditional livestock production increasingly strains environmental resources, there is a rising interest in alternative protein sources. Edible insects, particularly grasshoppers, are abundant in regions like Cameroon and provide essential nutrients, including proteins, amino acids, and minerals vital for health and growth. Addressing these challenges calls for in-depth studies on the nutritional benefits of insects such as Ruspolia nitidula. Conducted by the University of Dschang, Cameroon, and published (DOI: 10.26599/FSAP.2024.9240068) in the journal Food Science of ...

A new study sheds light on a promising approach using machine learning to more effectively allocate medical treatments during a pandemic or any time there’s a shortage of therapeutics.   The findings, published today in JAMA Health Forum, found a significant reduction in expected hospitalizations when using machine learning to help distribute medication using the COVID-19 pandemic to test the model. The model proves to reduce hospitalizations relatively by about 27 percent compared to actual and observed care. “During the pandemic, the healthcare system was at a breaking point and many health care facilities relied on a first-come, first-serve or a patient’s ...

Island breeze, blue lagoon, dew drop—these aren’t the names of scented candles on display at your local home goods store. They’re flavors of synthetic nicotine used in e-cigarettes, often advertised with neon-electric colors and bright lettering to make them look like boxes of candy or fruit juice. But underneath all the flair, a specific label written clearly in black text on a white background is required by law to be there: a warning that says the product contains nicotine and that nicotine is an addictive substance.  Even though health warnings need to be written on physical products sold in stores ...

Mount Sinai researchers have identified a key driver of a blood vessel disorder known as fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) which affects up to five percent of the adult population and can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke. In a study published September 13 in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the team said changes in the gene UBR4 played an important role as a key driver of FMD. They suggested the discovery could be an important step toward developing a therapeutic approach for the disorder. “Although fibromuscular dysplasia was first recognized more than 80 years ago, until now ...

About The Study: From 2019 to 2022, overall prescription volumes for stimulant and antidepressant medications increased, while prescription volume for opioids decreased. Concurrently, the proportion of telehealth prescriptions climbed across medications, increasing by a factor of 188 in opioids and more than 20 for antidepressants. These findings align with existing research highlighting the shift toward telehealth and the rise in stimulant and opioid telehealth prescribing during the pandemic. While in-person prescribing remains the most common, increasing telehealth ...

About The Study: In this retrospective cohort study of 3,389 patients with obesity, weight reduction at 1 year was associated with the medication’s active agent, its dosage, treatment indication, persistent medication coverage, and patient sex. Future research should focus on identifying the reasons for discontinuation of medication use and interventions aimed at improving long-term persistent coverage.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Hamlet Gasoyan, PhD, email gasoyah@ccf.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: This study’s results suggest discrepancies between preferred and actual sources of contraceptive information for assigned female at birth adolescents and young adults in the U.S. Findings underscore the role of clinicians in supporting informed contraceptive decision-making among adolescents and young adults. Clinicians were the most commonly preferred source, and receiving information from them was associated with having sufficient information to choose a contraceptive method; however, clinicians were the source with the largest discrepancy between preferred and actual use.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of synthetic nicotine brand Instagram accounts, 87% of sampled posts did not adhere to FDA health warning requirements in tobacco promotions. Enforcement of FDA compliant health warnings on social media may reduce youth engagement with tobacco marketing.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Traci Hong, PhD, email tjhong@bu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.34434) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

UNDER EMBARGO Friday, September 13, 2024, 11 a.m. ET, CLEVELAND: A Cleveland Clinic study identified key factors that can impact the long-term weight loss of patients with obesity who were prescribed injectable semaglutide or liraglutide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes or obesity. The study was published in JAMA Network Open.    “In patients with obesity who were prescribed semaglutide or liraglutide, we found that long-term weight reduction varied significantly based on the medication’s active agent, treatment indication, dosage and persistence with the medication,” said Hamlet Gasoyan, Ph.D., lead author of the study ...

Osaka, Japan – Autoimmune diseases are widespread and notoriously difficult to treat. In part, this is because why the immune system attacks its own tissues in patients with these conditions remains poorly understood. In a study recently published in Cell, researchers from Osaka University have revealed that the body’s own proteins with unusual structure trigger immune cells to unleash a wave of inflammation that leads to autoimmunity. Autoimmune diseases develop when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues instead of fighting off foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses. However, it has long been a mystery why this happens, as ...

Scientists have developed new potential therapies that selectively remove aggregated tau proteins, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and improve symptoms of neurodegeneration in mice. The team of scientists, from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC LMB) in Cambridge, UK, and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at the University of Cambridge, say this promising approach could also be applied in future to other brain disorders driven by protein aggregation inside cells, ...

Fighting cancer is exhausting for T cells. Hostile tumor microenvironments can drain their mitochondrial activity, leading to a condition known as T cell exhaustion. This phenomenon also hinders adoptive cell therapies, in which healthy, tumor-targeting T cells are infused into patients with cancer. A novel method to boost mitochondrial activity and charge up T cells is needed. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, in collaboration with colleagues at Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy in Germany, have developed a way to “supercharge” T cells by supplying them with extra mitochondria ...

As the global demand for energy storage solutions grows, the limitations of current lithium-ion batteries, such as safety concerns and high costs, have driven the exploration of alternative technologies. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as a promising candidate due to their inherent safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. However, challenges like zinc dendrite growth continue to hinder their widespread adoption. Due to these challenges, there is a pressing need to delve deeper ...

Trastuzumab deruxtecan shows substantial anti-cancer activity in brain metastases in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer in major international clinical trial Results confirm findings of previous, smaller studies BARCELONA, Spain - A drug that delivers chemotherapy directly to tumors has shown impressive activity against some of the hardest-to-reach cancer cells: those that have spread to the brain in patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. The findings, from an international clinical trial led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers, reinforce earlier findings of the benefits ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Though a founding concept of ecology suggests that the physical environment determines where organisms can survive, modern scientists have suspected there is more to the story of how microbial communities form in the soil. In a new study, researchers have determined through both statistical analysis and in experiments that soil pH is a driver of microbial community composition – but that the need to address toxicity released during nitrogen cycling ultimately shapes the final microbial community. “The physical environment is affecting the nature of microbial interactions, and that affects the assembly of the community,” ...