Culture
Wind energy is considered to be one of the most promising forms of renewable energy. Yet, each year, wind turbines are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of airborne animals such as bats which die from collisions with turbine blades. To find a constructive way out of this "green-green" dilemma, companies building and running wind turbines might have to work together with environmental experts and conservationists. Yet a lack of trust between them is likely to hinder effective and creative collaboration.
Changes in a few small molecules involved in a cell's metabolism seem to indicate whether a restricted "life extension" diet will actually extend, shorten, or have no effect on lifespan, a study of fruit flies has found.
The findings suggest that analyzing the level of small molecules in cells, an approach called metabolomics, may help us understand how calorie-restricted diets affect aging, and how genes, environment, and other factors influence an individual's response to calorie restriction.
The benefits of using inhalers and nebulisers containing steroids outweigh the risks despite warnings to the contrary during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by University of Huddersfield researchers has found.
A warning issued by WHO in March advised that steroids used in inhalers and nebulisers could have a negative effect on a user's immunity system, leaving them more susceptible to COVID-19. The concern was that regular steroid use could leave users vulnerable to contracting the virus, or developing a more severe version than non-users.
HERSHEY, Pa. -- Women who deliver their first child by cesarean section (C-section) are less likely to conceive a second child than those who deliver vaginally, despite being just as likely to plan a subsequent pregnancy, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The team followed more than 2,000 women for three years after they delivered their first child.
A person's sensitivity to external stimuli depends not only on the state of their nervous system, but also on their cardiac cycle. Usually we do not notice our heartbeat, paying attention to it only in unusual situations, such as in moments of excitement before a performance or while experiencing arrhythmia. The brain actively suppresses the perception of our heartbeat, but as a result, our perception of other sensory stimuli may also be affected.
Microbial cells are found in abundance in marine sediments beneath the ocean and make up a significant amount of the total microbial biomass on the planet. Microbes found deeper in the ocean, such as in hydrocarbon seeps, are usually believed to have slow population turnover rates and low amounts of available energy, where the further down a microbe is found, the less energy it has available.
Bats are often considered patient zero for many deadly viruses affecting humans, including Ebola, rabies, and, most recently, the SARS-CoV-2 strain of virus that causes coronavirus.
Although humans experience adverse symptoms when afflicted with these pathogens, bats are remarkably able to tolerate viruses, and, additionally, live much longer than similar-sized land mammals.
What are the secrets to their longevity and virus resistance?
Aquaculture, the relatively young but fast-growing industry of farming of fish and other marine life, now produces around half of all seafood consumed by humans. A new paper from American University published today examines the economics of an aquaculture industry of the future that is simultaneously environmentally sustainable and nutritious for the nearly 1 billion people worldwide who depend on it for health and livelihoods.
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - Teva Pharmaceutical Europe B.V. has presented results from a pooled analysis of three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 studies assessing AJOVY® ▼ (fremanezumab), indicated for the preventative treatment of migraine in adults, which demonstrate clinically significant reductions in headache and migraine-related disability in the majority of patients studied.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a new face mask that they believe could stop viral particles as effectively as N95 masks. Unlike N95 masks, the new masks were designed to be easily sterilized and used many times.
One could say that mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles inside every human cell, dance to their own beat. After all, they have their own genome - a set of DNA-containing chromosomes - completely separate from the genome of the cell's nucleus.
Researchers from Bentley University, in partnership with Pine Street Inn, New England's largest homeless shelter, have been exploring the ideas of process modeling to better understand and improve triage practices at homeless shelters. Conventional wisdom places the sequencing of standard tasks at the center of process models. In contrast, work in homeless shelters requires customizing work processes in response to individual guests.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have added fresh evidence that early exposure to vaccine-, bacterial- or microbiota-derived antigens has a dramatic effect on the diversity of antibodies an adult mammal will have to fight future infections by pathogens. This antibody diversity is called the clonal repertoire -- basically different single cells with distinct antibody potential that can multiply into a large clone of cells, all producing that distinct antibody.
A study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago found that children with a MED-EL Synchrony cochlear implant device can undergo MRI safely, with no discomfort and reduced need for sedation or anesthesia. Findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Laryngoscope.
Scientists from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and Temple University (Philadelphia, U.S.) have demonstrated that a Salmonella biofilm protein can cause autoimmune responses and arthritis in animals.