Eurekalert

Artificial intelligence, interpreting data from a device placed at the brain's surface, enables people who are paralyzed or have severely impaired limb movement to communicate by text.

Scientists have for the first time revealed the structure surrounding important receptors in the brain's hippocampus, the seat of memory and learning. The new study focuses on the organization and function of glutamate receptors, a type of neurotransmitter receptor involved in sensing signals between nerve cells in the hippocampus region of the brain. The study reveals the molecular structure of three major complexes of glutamate receptors in the hippocampus.

Using a brain-computer interface, a clinical trial participant was able to create text on a computer at a rate of 90 characters per minute just by thinking about the movements involved in writing by hand.

Researchers have, for the first time, decoded the neural signals associated with writing letters, then displayed typed versions of these letters in real time. They hope their invention could one day help people with paralysis communicate.

A joint team at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University recently investigated the molecular mechanism by which the ZAR1 resistosome activates plant immunity.

University of Chicago Asst. Prof. Mark Levin and his team have discovered a way to create new molecules by cutting nitrogen atoms from molecules.

An enzyme could make a dream come true for the energy industry: It can efficiently produce hydrogen using electricity and can also generate electricity from hydrogen. The enzyme is protected by embedding it in a polymer. An international research team with significant participation of scientists from Technical University of Munich (TUM) has presented the system in the renowned science journal Nature Catalysis.

A new, patented method called Progressive Mechanoporation makes it possible to mechanically disrupt the membranes of cells for a short time period and let drugs or genes inside cells. In this way, researchers can test new therapies more easily than before.

Scientists have identified the fossil of a giant mosasaur in Morocco that grew up to 8 metres long.

A team of researchers at the Centre for Cognitive Science at TU Darmstadt has developed a computer font that adapts its appearance based on the user's interaction with the text. "AdaptiFont" measures a user's reading speed and interactively changes the font's shape seamlessly and continuously to allow the user to read text more easily. By employing an artificial intelligence algorithm, new personalized fonts are generated on the fly in such a way that they increase an individual reader's reading speed.

Researchers from the ECRC in Berlin, together with scientists from the United States and Canada, have discovered a sugar molecule whose levels are reduced in the blood of patients with particularly severe multiple sclerosis. Their discovery could pave the way for a new therapeutic approach, the team reports in medical journal JAMA Neurology.

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis have designed a drug-like compound which effectively blocks a critical step in the malaria parasite life cycle and are working to develop this compound into a potential first of its kind malaria treatment.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore have created a new class of intelligent materials. It has the structure of a two-dimensional (2D) material, but behaves like an electrolyte - and could be a new way to deliver drugs within the body.

In mathematics, simple equations can generate a complex evolution in time and intriguing patterns in space. One famous example of this is the Mandelbrot set, named after the French-American mathematician of Polish origin, Benoit B. Mandelbrot (1924-2010), the most studied fractal. This set is based on a single quadratic equation with only one parameter and one variable. The fascinating fractal patterns of the Mandelbrot set have attracted attention far beyond mathematics.

Eco-friendly device developed at University of Limerick in Ireland detects real-time pipe damage and could help to save water.

A new study from Trinity College Dublin investigating the impact of the COVID pandemic on young adults finds that they are vastly more affected than older people, and the reverberations of the disruption to some will last decades.

Chemically synthesized short DNA sequences are extremely important ingredients with countless uses in research laboratories, hospitals and in industry, like in detecting COVID-19. Phosporamidites are necessary building blocks in the production of DNA sequences, but break quickly. Researchers from Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) and Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University have developed a new patented way to efficiently manufacture the unstable building blocks immediately before they are to be used and thus streamline DNA production

The multiplexing capability of fluorescence microscopy provides valuable means for interrogating complex intracellular dynamics. Scientists from UC-Berkeley demonstrated that excitation spectral microscopy can integrate multi-target imaging of up to 6 subcellular structures with quantitative imaging of fluorescent biosensors in live cells. Among other results, they elucidated the evolution of the mitochondrial matrix pH in the complex, Parkin-mediated mitophagy pathway. This new spectral imaging scheme provides exceptional opportunities for highly multiplexed, quantitative fluorescence microscopy.

Tuberculosis is a deadly yet curable infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis which remains the second leading cause of infectious death globally. According to the World Health Organization, a total of 1.4 million people died from tuberculosis in 2019.

In a new study from Lund University and the University of Gothenburg, patients were interviewed about their experiences ten years after undergoing obesity surgery. The results show that the effect on eating and weight regulation persisted, whereas other problems, such as feelings of guilt about still not being healthy enough, remained.