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Much like a supply truck crossing the countryside, the misfolded proteins that damage neurons in Alzheimer's disease travel the "roads" of the brain, sometimes stopping and sometimes re-routing to avoid roadblocks, reports a study published in Science Advances by researchers at Van Andel Institute and University of Pennsylvania.

Researchers from Skoltech have designed and conducted experiments measuring gas permeability under various conditions for ice-containing sediments mimicking permafrost. Their results can be useful both in tracing methane emission in high latitudes and in modeling and testing techniques for gas production from Arctic reservoirs.The study also showed that the dissociation of gas hydrates can lead to permeability increase. This, in turn, will lead to methane emissions into the atmosphere, causing a variety of environmental and technological impacts.

An exploratory investigation into the behavior of materials with desirable electric properties resulted in the discovery of a structural phase of two-dimensional (2D) materials. The new family of materials are electrides, wherein electrons occupy a space usually reserved for atoms or ions instead of orbiting the nucleus of an atom or ion. The stable, low-energy, tunable materials could have potential applications in nanotechnologies.

With the increase in demand for flexible wearable electronics, researchers have explored flexible energy storage devices, such as flexible supercapacitators, that are lightweight and safe and easily integrate with other devices. Printing electronics has proved to be an economical, simple, and scalable strategy for fabricating FSCs. In Applied Physics Reviews, researchers provide a review of printed FSCs in terms of ability to formulate functional inks, design printable electrodes, and integrate functions with other electronic devices.

Saliva samples are easier to collect than nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 testing but can be mixed with mucus or blood, and some studies have found they produce less accurate results. A team of researchers has found that an innovative protocol that processes saliva samples with a bead mill homogenizer before real-time PCR (RT-PCR) testing results in higher sensitivity compared to NPS samples. Their protocol appears in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier.

Randy Nelson -- chair of the WVU Department of Neuroscience and director of basic science research for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute -- and his colleagues reviewed some of the most frequently cited neuroscience studies and determined most didn't take time of day into account.

Plants are constantly exposed to microbes: pathogens that cause disease, commensals that cause no harm or benefit, and mutualists that promote plant growth or help fend off pathogens. For example, most land plants can form positive relationships with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve nutrient uptake. How plants fight off pathogens without also killing beneficial microbes or wasting energy on commensal microbes is a largely unanswered question.

A new study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who use cell phones while driving are more likely to engage in other risky driving behaviors associated with "acting-without-thinking," a form of impulsivity. These findings suggest the importance of developing new strategies to prevent risky driving in young adults, especially those with impulsive personalities.

China's Chang'e-4 probe marked the first soft-landing of a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, which always faces away from Earth. To communicate with ground stations, Chang'e-4 relies on Queqiao, a relay communication satellite that orbits a point behind the Moon and bridges Earth and Chang'e-4. In a recent review, researchers explain the design of Queqiao and depict the future of lunar relay communication systems.

Many animals have evolved camouflage tactics for self-defense, but some butterflies and moths have taken it even further: They've developed transparent wings, making them almost invisible to predators. A team led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) scientists studied the development of one such species, the glasswing butterfly, Greta oto, to see through the secrets of this natural stealth technology.

As deadly as it is, cancer metastasis is a poorly understood process. A new study led by Penn's Kamen Simeonov and Christopher Lengner describes a cutting-edge tool for tracing the lineage and gene expression of thousands of individual metastatic cancer cells. Their findings open new angles for investigating the processes that drive metastasis.

Plant species with thick and dense roots are more likely to occur in warm climates, while species with thin and low density roots are more likely to occur in cold climates -- a classic trade-off. By contrast, forest species with large-diameter roots and high root tissue density were more commonly associated with dry climates, but species with the opposite trait values were not associated with wet climates. Instead, a diversity of root traits occurred in warm or wet climates.

The research team led by Monica Gori at the IIT- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia has recently published a study, which shows for the first time how children aged from 3 to 5 years old have problems in recognising the emotions of people wearing surgical masks. This collateral effect of the preventive measures linked to the Covid-19 health emergency could influence the correct development of children's capabilities of social interaction.

New findings from the University of Minnesota Medical School are helping uncover why some people are more likely to be overweight and develop Type 2 diabetes -- and it starts in the womb.

Researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the UPV/EHU are studying and optimising the mechanical and thermal properties of new mortars and concrete made using industrial by-products, such as lime mud from the paper industry, brass fibres and furnace slag, with the aim of reducing the consumption of energy and natural resources and fostering the circular economy.

An international team of researchers have shed new light on the early stages of viral evolution.

Pairing sky-mapping algorithms with advanced immunofluorescence imaging of cancer biopsies, researchers at The Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging at Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy developed a robust platform to guide immunotherapy by predicting which cancers will respond to specific therapies targeting the immune system.

The human heart contracts about 70 times per minute, while that of a rat contracts over 300 times; what accounts for this difference? In a new study publishing 10th June in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, led by Michael Geeves and Mark Wass of the University of Kent and Leslie Leinwand from the University of Colorado Boulder, reveal the molecular differences in the heart muscle protein beta myosin that underly the large difference in contraction velocity between the two species.

Some four months ago, a devastating flood ravaged the Chamoli district in the Indian Himalayas, killing over 200 people. The flood was caused by a massive landslide, which also involved a glacier. Researchers at the University of Zurich, the WSL and ETH Zurich have now analyzed the causes, scope and impact of the disaster as part of an international collaboration.

Freiburg researchers clarify another step in the mechanism of reduction of carbon monoxide through nitrogenase