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Driving in the snow is a team effort for AI sensors

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
A major challenge for fully autonomous vehicles is navigating bad weather. Snow especially confounds crucial sensor data that helps a vehicle gauge depth, find obstacles and keep on the correct side of the yellow line, assuming it is visible. Averaging more than 200 inches of snow every winter, Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is the perfect place to push autonomous vehicle tech to its limits.
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Mouse pups' cries give clues about autism spectrum disorder

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
A researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and colleagues are using machine learning to determine which vocalizations of mouse pups are most predictive of autism spectrum disorder when the mice reach puberty.
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Key early steps in gene expression captured in real time by CSU researchers

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
CSU scientists have, for the first time, observed early RNA transcription dynamics by recording where, when and how RNA polymerase enzymes kick off transcription by binding to a DNA sequence.
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Visits to 'crisis pregnancy centers' common in Ohio

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
An estimated one in seven Ohio women of adult, reproductive age has visited a crisis pregnancy center, a new study has found. In a survey of 2,529 women, almost 14% said they'd ever attended a center. The prevalence was more than twice as high among Black women and 1.6 times as high among those in the lowest socioeconomic group.
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Bacterium causing rabbit fever remains virulent for months in cold water

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Northern Arizona University disease ecologist David Wagner and his collaborators have published study results showing how they were able to prove, by replicating environmental conditions in the lab, that Francisella tularensis can persist for months in cold water without any nutrients and remain fully virulent. Their results provide a plausible explanation for how the deadly pathogen, which causes rabbit fever, can overwinter in the environment outside of a host.
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Engineered defects in crystalline material boosts electrical performance

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Researchers have discovered that engineering one-dimensional line defects into certain materials can increase their electrical performance.
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Partners in crime: Agricultural pest that relies on bacteria to overcome plant defenses

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
The oral secretions of herbivorous insects can activate plant defense mechanisms that protect plant cells from being digested. However, scientists at the Tokyo University of Science have discovered that some larvae "partner up" with bacteria that help interrupt these plant defense mechanisms. This disrupts the plant's defenses before the digestive proteins that the larvae smear on them. These findings may help agricultural scientists devise countermeasures that protect important agricultural species from the larvae.
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Books on health, economic inequalities in Latin America, Caribbean shed light on content, impact of health policies

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
A new article analyzes seven books* that discuss these inequalities, including questions of who gets health care and what interdependent roles societies, social movements, and governments play. To end inequality in the region, the author calls for a universal approach to health care.
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Aging: Clinical trial on potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Aging published "Potential reversal of epigenetic age using a diet and lifestyle intervention: a pilot randomized clinical trial" which reported on a randomized controlled clinical trial conducted among 43 healthy adult males between the ages of 50-72. The 8-week treatment program included diet, sleep, exercise and relaxation guidance, and supplemental probiotics and phytonutrients.
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Exploring optimization of duplex velocity criteria for diagnosis of ICA stenosis

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Published online May 19, 2021 in Vascular Medicine, researchers from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) Vascular Testing division report findings of their multi-centered study of duplex ultrasound for diagnosis of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. The study was developed in response to wide variability in the diagnostic criteria used to classify severity of ICA stenosis across vascular laboratories nationwide and following a survey of members of IAC-accredited facilities supporting efforts toward standardization.
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The new species of bacteria killing palms in Australia

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
While investigating a disease outbreak in a Queensland botanical gardens, researchers discovered a new species of bacteria that causes a fatal disease in palms.
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Three years younger in just eight weeks? A new study suggests yes!

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
A groundbreaking clinical trial shows we can reduce biological age (as measured by the Horvath 2013 DNAmAge clock) by more than three years in only eight weeks with diet and lifestyle through balancing DNA methylation.
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Astonishing quantum experiment in Science raises questions

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Quantum systems are considered extremely fragile. Even the smallest interactions with the environment can result in the loss of sensitive quantum effects. In the renowned journal Science, however, researchers from TU Delft, RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich now present an experiment in which a quantum system consisting of two coupled atoms behaves surprisingly stable.
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Changes in how cholesterol breaks down in the body may accelerate progression of dementia

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
The blood-brain barrier is impermeable to cholesterol, yet high blood cholesterol is associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. However, the underlying mechanisms mediating this relationship are poorly understood. A study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Vijay Varma and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging, suggests that disturbances in the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids may play a role in the development of dementia.
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How more inclusive lab meetings lead to better science

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
A new paper, published recently in PLOS Computational Biology by a team including UMass Amherst researchers, seeks to help scientists structure their lab-group meetings so that they are more inclusive, more productive and, ultimately, lead to better science.
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Seabirds face dire threats from climate change, human activity — especially in Northern Hemisphere

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Many seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere are struggling to breed -- and in the Southern Hemisphere, they may not be far behind. These are the conclusions of a study, published May 28 in Science, analyzing more than 50 years of breeding records for 67 seabird species worldwide.
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Biologists construct a 'periodic table' for cell nuclei

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
One hundred fifty years after Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table classified atomic nuclei, biologists have created a new classification system for cell nuclei - and shown how they can be transmuted from one type into another.
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Managing global climate change--and local conditions--key to coral reefs' survival

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
According to a new study, "Local conditions magnify coral loss after marine heatwaves," published in the journal Science, what's key to coral reefs surviving climate-driven heatwaves and subsequent bleaching is managing global climate change--and local conditions.
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Seabirds' success reveals asymmetry in ocean health

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
In a study that uniquely evaluates marine ecosystem responses to a changing climate by hemisphere, researchers report that the fish-eating, surface-foraging bird species of the Northern Hemisphere suffered greater breeding productivity stresses over the last half-century than their Southern Hemisphere counterparts.
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Seabirds sound alarm: Breeding success corresponds to hemispheric rates of ocean warming

Eurekalert - May 27 2021 - 00:05
Some seabirds are struggling to raise young where the globe is most rapidly warming - in the northern hemisphere, according to a study published in the journal Science. The research was undertaken by an international team of 40 scientists led by Farallon Institute in California.
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