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| Experimental gene therapy reverses sickle cell disease for years Posted: 13 Dec 2021 01:01 PM PST An experimental gene therapy for sickle cell disease restored blood cells to their normal shape and eliminated severe pain crises for years after treatment, a multicenter study has found. |
| With fuzzy nanoparticles, researchers reveal a way to design tougher ballistic materials Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:22 AM PST Researchers have discovered a new method to improve the toughness of materials that could lead to stronger versions of body armor, bulletproof glass and other ballistic equipment. The team produced films composed of nanometer-scale ceramic particles decorated with polymer strands (resembling fuzzy orbs) and made them targets in miniature impact tests that showed off the material's enhanced toughness. Further tests unveiled a unique property not shared by typical polymer-based materials that allowed the films to dissipate energy from impacts rapidly. |
| Research demonstrates that cells with cancer-associated mutations overtake human tissue with age Posted: 13 Dec 2021 10:33 AM PST Recently published research has found that most cancer-free individuals over age 60 carry at least 100 billion cells harboring at least one oncogenic, or tumor-causing, mutation. |
| Potential cure for tropical parasitic disease found in soil Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:19 AM PST Combining two agents to block a parasitic worm's life cycle boosted survival from a potentially deadly tropical disease to 85% in animal models, far better than either treatment alone, according to a proof-of-concept study. |
| Climate change record in clam shells Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:19 AM PST The tiny, pale surf clam about the size of a fingernail that most people have seen and collected on beaches around the world holds clues in its shell to Earth's past. For the first time, researchers have been able to identify the monthly, and even weekly, ocean temperatures recorded in these smooth clam shells. Because ancient civilizations consumed these ubiquitous clams and left the shells at archeological sites, researchers now have a new way to reconstruct climate and its fluctuations from nearly 3,000 years ago. |
| Want to limit carbon and curb wildfire? Create a market for small trees Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Thinning treatments reduce the risk of wildfire and provide ecological benefits for California's forests, but they also generate wood residues that are often burnt or left to decay, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A new analysis shows how incentivizing industries that convert wood residues into useful products -- including biofuels and construction-quality engineered lumber -- could fund forest thinning treatments while preventing the release of carbon. |
| 'Supermeres' may carry clues to cancer, Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19 Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Researchers have discovered a nanoparticle released from cells, called a 'supermere,' which contains enzymes, proteins and RNA associated with multiple cancers, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and even COVID-19. |
| Tooth cavities provide unique ecological insight into living primates and fossil humans Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Tooth decay is a common and unfortunate problem for many of us, but two University of Otago studies show it is also an issue for other primates, as well as our fossil relatives and ancestors. |
| Warm-bodied ties between mammals and birds more ancient than previously recognized Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST The evolutionary origin of endothermy (the ability to maintain a warm body and higher energy levels than reptiles), currently believed to have originated separately in birds and mammals, could have occurred nearly 300 million years ago. |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Researchers have looked at what limits the efficiency of a promising solar material to reveal the nature of multiple different kinds of defects, their varied roles in device efficiency and their responses to treatment. |
| New copper surface eliminates bacteria in just two minutes, scientists report Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST A new copper surface that kills bacteria more than 100 times faster and more effectively than standard copper could help combat the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. |
| Scientists give new lease of life to e-waste plastics Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Plastics found in electronic waste (e-waste) are rarely recycled due to their complex composition and hazardous additives, but scientists have now developed a new use for them -- by repurposing them as an alternative to the plastics used in laboratory cell culture containers, such as petri dishes. |
| Losing isn’t always bad: Gaining topology from loss Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Losing particles can lead to positive, robust effects. An international collaboration has demonstrated a novel topology arising from losses in hybrid light-matter particles, introducing a new avenue to induce the highly-prized effects inherent to conventional topological materials, which can potentially revolutionise electronics. The study represents an experimental observation of a non-Hermitian topological invariant in a semiconductor in the strong light-matter coupling regime supporting formation of exciton-polaritons. |
| New inexpensive method to detect lime in soil Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST Scientists have developed a new simple, inexpensive and fast method to detect and measure very low concentrations of agricultural lime in soils, which is generally a time consuming and difficult exercise. |
| Experiment gives rise to social conventions between baboons Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:18 AM PST A research team has demonstrated that members of a group of baboons can establish shared social conventions -- in this case, by all agreeing on how to solve a problem in order to get a reward faster. This is the first time that such conventions have been studied experimentally in an animal species. |
| Technique speeds up thermal actuation for soft robotics Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:17 AM PST Researchers have come up with a new design for thermal actuators, which can be used to create rapid movement in soft robotic devices. |
| New hope for people living with a genetic cause of autism Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:17 AM PST Researchers report they were able to ameliorate Fragile X syndrome symptoms after inserting the Fmr1 gene into the brains of very young transgenic mice that had been genetically engineered to lack this gene. When the researchers measured brain activity for signs of anxiety and hyperactivity in response to stimuli such as stresses and sounds, they found that the reactivation of the gene in these mice had led them to no longer show Fragile X syndrome symptoms. |
| Gunfire or plastic bag popping? Trained computer can tell the difference Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:13 AM PST Engineering researchers have developed a gunshot detection algorithm and classification model that can discern similar sounds such as gunfire or a plastic bag popping. Discerning between a dangerous audio event like a gun firing and a non-life-threatening event, such as a plastic bag bursting, can mean the difference between life and death. Additionally, it also can determine whether or not to deploy public safety workers. Humans, as well as computers, often confuse the sounds of a plastic bag popping and real gunshot sounds. |
| Quantum algorithms bring ions to a standstill Posted: 13 Dec 2021 09:12 AM PST Laser beams can do more than just heat things up; they can cool them down too. That is nothing new for physicists who have devoted themselves to precision spectroscopy and the development of optical atomic clocks. But what is new is the extremely low temperature that researchers at the QUEST Institute at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have been able to reach with their highly charged ions -- this type of ion has never been cooled down as far as 200 µK before. The team working on this succeeded by combining their established methods which include the laser cooling of coupled ions and methods from the field of quantum computing. The application of quantum algorithms ensured that ions that are too dissimilar for traditional laser cooling to work effectively could be cooled down together after all. This means that we are getting closer to an optical atomic clock with highly charged ions, and this clock might have the potential to be even more accurate than existing optical atomic clocks. |
| Challenging Einstein’s greatest theory with extreme stars Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:17 AM PST Researchers have conducted a 16-year long experiment to challenge Einstein's theory of general relativity. The international team looked to the stars - a pair of extreme stars called pulsars to be precise -- through seven radio telescopes across the globe. And they used them to challenge Einstein's most famous theory with some of the most rigorous tests yet. The study reveals new relativistic effects that, although expected, have now been observed for the first time. |
| Discovery of ‘split’ photon provides a new way to see light Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST Nearly a century after Italian physicist Ettore Majorana laid the groundwork for the discovery that electrons could be divided into halves, researchers predict that split photons may also exist. The finding advances the fundamental understanding of light and how it behaves. |
| Super-bright stellar explosion is likely a dying star giving birth to a black hole or neutron star Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST A powerful cosmic burst dubbed AT2018cow, or 'the Cow,' was much faster and brighter than any stellar explosion astronomers had seen. They have now determined it was likely a product of a dying star that, in collapsing, gave birth to a compact object in the form of a black hole or neutron star. |
| Farmed seafood supply at risk if we don’t act on climate change Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST The supply of farmed seafood such as salmon and mussels are projected to drop 16 per cent globally by 2090 if no action is taken to mitigate climate change, according to a new study. Ocean-farmed seafood or mariculture is often seen as a panacea to the problems of depleted stocks of wild fish and growing human demand, and is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. But the new modelling study highlights the industry is as vulnerable to the effects of climate change as any other. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate, the amount of seafood such as fish or mussels able to be farmed sustainably will increase by only eight per cent by 2050, and decline by 16 per cent by 2090. |
| Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST COVID-19 convalescent plasma showed a likely benefit for patients early in the pandemic before remdesivir and corticosteroids were in use, according to results of a landmark study. |
| Climate-driven disease devastates seagrass health Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:16 AM PST In an oceanic omen for climate change's intensifying effects, new research shows that seagrass suffers from a lesion-filled wasting disease through large swaths of intertidal meadows in the Pacific Northwest. The grasses' once-vibrant plant root systems are deteriorating, too. |
| Fecal transplant discovery could improve care for dangerous infections Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:50 AM PST New research sheds light on why a fecal transplant can benefit patients with dangerous recurrent C. difficile infections -- and suggests a way to improve patient outcomes. |
| Cannabis use could cause harmful drug interactions Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:50 AM PST Using cannabis alongside other drugs may come with a significant risk of harmful drug-drug interactions, new research suggests. The researchers looked at cannabinoids--a group of substances found in the cannabis plant -- and their major metabolites found in cannabis users' blood and found that they interfere with two families of enzymes that help metabolize a wide range of drugs prescribed for a variety of conditions. As a result, either the drugs' positive effects might decrease or their negative effects might increase with too much building up in the body, causing unintended side effects such as toxicity or accidental overdose. While more research needs to be done, the authors said one early takeaway from these studies is that it's important to be careful when using cannabis with other prescription drugs. |
| Wind turbines kill mostly female and juvenile bats Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:49 AM PST Many bats die at wind turbines when colliding with the spinning blades. Currently it is unclear whether all age cohorts or sexes are equally vulnerable. A comparison of age, sex and geographic origin of Nathusius' pipistrelles killed at wind turbines and living conspecifics from nearby populations now reveals that juveniles are killed more frequently than adults compared to their proportion in local populations. Females are killed more frequently than males -- yet in line with their higher proportion in local populations. The high number of killed females and the elevated vulnerability of juveniles may have a negative effect on the long-term survival of populations, indicating that the current practice of wind energy production may not be ecologically sustainable. |
| Ultrarapid cooling enables the observation of molecular patterns of life Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST Fluorescence light microscopy has the unique ability to observe cellular processes over a scale that bridges four orders of magnitude. Yet, its application to living cells is fundamentally limited by the very rapid and unceasing movement of molecules that define its living state. What is more, the interaction of light with fluorescent probes that enables the observation of molecular processes causes their very destruction. Ultrarapid cryo-arrest of cells during live observation on a microscope now circumvents these fundamental problems. The heart of the approach is the cooling of living cells with enormous speeds up to 200,000 °C per second to -196 °C. This enables an unprecedented preservation of cellular biomolecules in their natural arrangement at the moment of arrest. In this low temperature state, molecular movement and light-induced destruction is stopped, enabling the observation of molecular patterns of life that are otherwise invisible. |
| From flashing fireflies to cheering crowds -- Physicists unlock secret to synchronization Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST Physicists have unlocked the secret that explains how large groups of individual 'oscillators' -- from flashing fireflies to cheering crowds, and from ticking clocks to clicking metronomes -- tend to synchronize when in each other's company. This new discovery has a suite of potential applications, including developing new types of computer technology that uses light signals to process information. |
| Computer-, smartphone-based treatments effective at reducing symptoms of depression Posted: 13 Dec 2021 06:48 AM PST Computer- and smartphone-based treatments appear to be effective in reducing symptoms of depression, and while it remains unclear whether they are as effective as face-to-face psychotherapy, they offer a promising alternative to address the growing mental health needs spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research. |
| Life arose on hydrogen energy, researchers suggest Posted: 13 Dec 2021 05:41 AM PST How did the first chemical reactions get started at the origin of life and what was their source of energy? Researchers have reconstructed the metabolism of the last universal common ancestor, LUCA. They found that almost all chemical steps used by primordial life to piece together the molecular building blocks of cells are energy releasing reactions. This identified the long-sought source of energy needed to drive these reactions forward, which has been hiding in plain sight. The energy required to synthesize the building blocks of life comes from within metabolism itself, as long as one essential starting compound is included. The secret ingredient that releases the energy from within at life's origin is the cleanest, greenest, newest and oldest of all energy carriers: Hydrogen gas, H2. |
| A missing genetic switch at the origin of malformations Posted: 13 Dec 2021 05:41 AM PST Embryonic development follows delicate stages: for everything to go well, many genes must coordinate their activity according to a very meticulous scheme and tempo. This precision mechanism sometimes fails, leading to more or less disabling malformations. By studying the Pitx1 gene, one of the genes involved in the construction of the lower limbs, a team has discovered how a small disturbance in the activation process of this gene is at the origin of clubfoot, a common foot malformation. Indeed, even a fully functional gene cannot act properly without one of its genetic switches. |
| Significant energy savings when electric distribution vehicles take their best route Posted: 13 Dec 2021 05:41 AM PST Range anxiety with electric commercial vehicles is real, since running out of battery can have serious consequences. Researchers have developed tools to help electric delivery-vehicles navigate strategically to use as little energy as possible. The secret lies in looking beyond just the distance traveled, and instead focusing on overall energy usage -- and has led to energy savings of up to 20 per cent. |
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