Culture
Philadelphia, November 11, 2020 - Sleep is crucial for consolidating our memories, and sleep deprivation has long been known to interfere with learning and memory. Now a new study shows that getting only half a night's sleep - as many medical workers and military personnel often do - hijacks the brain's ability to unlearn fear-related memories. That might put people at greater risk of conditions such as anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder.
High doses of vitamin C under study for treating COVID-19 may benefit some populations, but investigators exploring its potential in aging say key factors in effectiveness include levels of the natural transporter needed to get the vitamin inside cells.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A new treatment option for lung fibrosis is being developed by Purdue University scientists. Lung fibrosis has been a concern for COVID-19 patients.
People with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have a life expectancy of less than five years. Fibrotic diseases cause organ failure that lead to about 45% of all deaths in the United States. Existing therapies do little to slow progression.
The first mining experiments conducted in space could pave the way for new technologies to help humans explore and establish settlements on distant worlds, a study suggests.
Tests performed by astronauts on the International Space Station suggest that bacteria can extract useful materials from rocks on Mars and the Moon.
The findings could aid efforts to develop ways of sourcing metals and minerals - such as iron and magnesium - essential for survival in space.
There was a time when the idea of growing organs in the lab was the stuff of science fiction. Today, stem cell biology and tissue engineering are turning fiction into reality with the advent of organoids: tiny lab-grown tissues and organs that are anatomically correct and physiologically functional.
The research suggests that teaching materials science, mechanical engineering, computer science, biology and chemistry as a combined discipline could help students develop the skills they need to create lifelike artificially intelligent (AI) robots as researchers.
Before an effective treatment can be devised, we have to be able to understand the specific effect of an anti-cancer substance on the cell type, or even the cell, that produces metastases in the enormous cellular heterogeneity of tumours. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) used a pioneering technique, spiked-scRNAseq, that links the transcriptomic to single cell metastatic phenotypes of colon cancer tumour cells. The importance of the VSIG1 gene involved in intercellular interactions has been identified: it prevents metastases.
Loneliness is a prevalent and serious public health problem impacting health, well-being and longevity. Seeking to develop effective interventions, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine examined the psychological and environmental factors that lead to patterns of loneliness in different age groups.
Researchers used a web-based survey of 2,843 participants, ages 20 to 69 years, from across the United States.
Researchers have developed a neuron-growing ink that uses the body's own electrical signals to precisely guide the growth of nerve cells.
The bioconductive ink can be printed in lines to direct where neurons grow, cracking a major challenge in the emerging field of nerve engineering.
The team of researchers from Australia, India and Bangladesh have tested the ink on a biocompatible scaffold, with their promising lab results published in the journal RSC Advances.
A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has invented an artificial olfactory system that mimics the mammalian nose to assess the freshness of meat accurately.
The 'electronic nose' (e-nose) comprises a 'barcode' that changes colour over time in reaction to the gases produced by meat as it decays, and a barcode 'reader' in the form of a smartphone app powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The e-nose has been trained to recognise and predict meat freshness from a large library of barcode colours.
Radiation esophagitis, characterized by the inflammation of the esophagus, is the most common acute adverse effect of radiation therapy that causes swallowing problems. This eventually causes dehydration and leaves the body unfit for further treatment. Unfortunately, no direct cure currently exists for patients suffering from such conditions. To this, a POSTECH research team has developed esophageal stents that biodegrade in the body using 3D printers, opening up the possibility of treating the condition.
Australian schools are unfairly suspending and excluding students - particularly boys, Indigenous students, and students with a disability - according to new research from the University of South Australia.
Auditing exclusionary policies and practices in Australian schools across 2019, researchers found that discrimination is disturbingly prominent across the Australian education sector.
Of all suspensions and expulsions researchers found that:
Indigenous students received:
In the Netherlands, whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks on 16 mink farms has revealed virus transmission between human to mink, as well as from mink to human. The virus was initially introduced from humans, the study's authors say, and it has since evolved. "More research in minks and other mustelid species is important to understand if these species are at risk of becoming a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2," they write. Although several animals have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the zoonotic origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still unknown.
A team of linguists from RUDN University established that a person's ability to accurately differentiate between vowel sounds of a foreign language correlates with the size of their vocabulary in said language. The results of the study were published in the Language Learning and Development journal.
The sweet taste of sugar is very popular worldwide. In Austria and Germany, the yearly intake per person adds up to about 33 and 34 kilograms, respectively. Thus, sugar plays an increasingly role in the nutrition and health of the population, especially with regard to body weight. However, little is known about the molecular (taste) mechanisms of sugar that influence dietary intake, independently of its caloric load.
Taste receptor and satiety regulation