Eurekalert

It can be easy to forget that the human skin is an organ. It's also the largest one and it's exposed, charged with keeping our inner biology safe from the perils of the outside world. Michigan State University's Sangbum Park is someone who never takes skin or its biological functions for granted. He's studying skin at the cellular level to better understand it and help us support it when it's fighting injury, infection or disease.

Why do some babies react to perceived danger more than others? According to new research from Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, part of the answer may be found in a surprising place: an infant's digestive system.

Since Jan. 1, 2021, hospitals in the US have been required by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide pricing information online about items and services. A team of researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear leveraged the newly available data to analyze price transparency and price variation for the treatment of thyroid cancer.

A Swansea University academic is part of a team investigating how green tea could give rise to a drug capable of tackling Covid-19.Dr Suresh Mohankumar carried out the research with colleagues in India during his time at JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research Their findings suggest that one of the compounds in green tea could combat the coronavirus behind Covid-19.

The antibody's altered structure helps explain an enduring mystery of dengue--why only a fraction of those infected will develop severe disease.

A study of over 59,000 Icelandic adolescents by a team of Icelandic and North American behavioral and social scientists found that COVID-19 has had a significant, detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, especially in girls. The study is the first to investigate and document age- and gender-specific changes in adolescent mental health problems and substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic, while accounting for upward trends that were appearing before the pandemic.

A UMass Lowell geologist is among the researchers who have discovered a new type of manmade quasicrystal created by the first test blast of an atomic bomb.

Among adults with kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis in New York City, Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to develop symptomatic COVID-19 than White patients. Neighborhood-level social vulnerability factors were associated with COVID-19 incidence among White patients, but these factors did not explain racial/ethnic disparities.

Freiburg researchers show how extreme drought and plant invasion impact ecosystems in the Mediterranean region

New research suggests that African American families living in public housing are a "hidden population" when it comes to national suicide prevention efforts.

Engaged listening techniques such as eye contact, nodding and using key words to praise openness helps teenagers when they admit bad behaviour and share hurt feelings with their parents, a new study has shown.

From touch screens and advanced electronic sensors to better drug delivery devices, graphene has become one of the most promising new materials in recent decades. In an effort to produce cheap, defect-free graphene in larger quantities, researchers from the Technical University of Munich have been using GCS HPC resources to develop more efficient methods for producing graphene at the industrial scale.

Scientists at Leipzig University, in collaboration with colleagues from Germany and England, have succeeded in reversibly slowing down cellular processes. A team of biophysicists led by Professor Josef Alfons Käs and Dr Jörg Schnauß were able to show in experiments that cells can be transferred into slow motion without changing the temperature. From a physical point of view, such possibilities have so far only been available in the context of the theory of relativity.

A genetic link has been discovered explaining why some people catch Covid but don't get sick. The gene is found three times as often in people who are asymptomatic. This is the first clear evidence of genetic resistance because the study compared severely affected people with an asymptomatic COVID group and used next generation sequencing to focus in detail and at scale on the HLA genes which are packed together on chromosome 6.

Scientists are developing data assimilation methods for Numerical Weather Prediction models that will increase the quality of initialization data from satellites. The Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is designed to use data assimilation to investigate the potential impact of future atmospheric observing systems. Traditional OSSE processes require significant effort to compute, simulate, and calibrate information, then assimilate the data to produce a forecast. Therefore, model meteorologists are working to make this process more efficient.

Our proteome is much bigger than our genome because one gene produces several variants of proteins called protein isoforms, whose disbalance is implicated in many diseases. A new bioengineered reporter system developed at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich now allows for the first time to follow protein isoform expression over time in live cells. The method helps to decipher the underlying regulatory mechanisms and enables screening for potential molecular interventions.

Researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology, Keio University, and the University of Tokyo investigated audio-tactile multisensory integration near the body using touch detection with task-irrelevant approaching and receding sounds in all directions: front, rear, left, and right. They found that the tactile stimulus was detected faster near the body space than far from it when a sound approached from any direction. Thus, peripersonal representations exist with approaching sound, irrespective of direction.

The cost of offsetting corporate carbon emissions needs to increase ten-fold to drive meaningful climate action, says a landmark report by Trove Research and UCL.

A new study shows that two-thirds of Californians don't know about a law designed to prevent a person at risk of hurting themselves or others from possessing or purchasing firearms or ammunition. More than 80% of survey participants were supportive once they read about this law.

This survey study in California assesses what the public knows about extreme risk protection orders and if people are willing to use them to prevent firearm-related harm, both in general and when a family member is at risk, and if not, why not. The orders temporarily suspend firearm and ammunition access by individuals a judge has deemed to be at substantial risk of harming themselves or others.