Culture
If we can overcome the loss of a process in the brain called "RNA editing", we may be able to slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease and other synaptic disorders, a new study has shown.
RNA editing is a genetic mechanism that modifies proteins essential in the connection between nerve cells in the brain, called synapses. RNA editing is deregulated in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, but whether this can cause disease is unknown.
As much as a third of food produced for human consumption is wasted or lost globally every year. New research published in Frontiers in Microbiology suggests one way to take a big bite out of food waste is to use bread destined for the dumpster as a medium for cultivating microbial starters for the food industry.
Washington, DC - Conspiracies abound in society and can have real world impacts when it leads some people to act, whether that means becoming more engaged politically, or less engaged. Previous research linking conspiracy beliefs and political actions provide mixed results. Some studies show people with a conspiracy worldview are more likely to disengage politically, while others show they are more engaged.
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Emergency physician-led teams are on the frontlines of coronavirus treatment, prevention and response. JACEP Open, a new official open access journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), explores coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns in two new analyses. The first paper explores risk factors for transmission while the second outlines broad public health concerns amplified during an outbreak.
University of British Columbia astronomy student Michelle Kunimoto has discovered 17 new planets, including a potentially habitable, Earth-sized world, by combing through data gathered by NASA's Kepler mission.
Over its original four-year mission, the Kepler satellite looked for planets, especially those that lie in the "Habitable Zones" of their stars, where liquid water could exist on a rocky planet's surface.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- The iconic stripes of zebrafish are a classic example of natural self-organization. As zebrafish embryos develop, three types of pigment cells move around the skin, eventually jostling into positions that form body-length yellow and blue stripes.
Speech and music are two fundamentally human activities that are decoded in different brain hemispheres. A new study used a unique approach to reveal why this specialization exists.
New research appearing in the journal Addiction shows that the number of deaths attributed to opioid-related overdoses could be 28 percent higher than reported due to incomplete death records. This discrepancy is more pronounced in several states, including Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Indiana, where the estimated number of deaths more than doubles - obscuring the scope of the opioid crisis and potentially affecting programs and funding intended to confront the epidemic.
Using mouse models, scientists have discovered a mother's gut microbiota may shape the metabolism of her offspring, by providing environmental cues during pregnancy that fine tune energy homeostasis in the newborn's microbiome. These findings suggest targeting the maternal microbiota - for example, by recommending dietary changes - could offer a preemptive strategy to protect offspring from future metabolic disease.
The shape and growth of plant cells may not rely on increased fluidic pressure, or turgor, inside the cell as previously believed. Rather, a new study shows the swelling of tiny pectin filaments within the cell wall propels these morphological changes. If true, this discovery could overturn the current textbook model for plant cell expansion, and it suggests similar biochemical processes could underlie cell growth in other organisms as well, including animals.
Scientists have discovered new filamentous structures within plant cell walls that influence cell growth and help build complex three-dimensional cell shapes.
Combining two types of high-performance microscopes, the researchers identified pectin nanofilaments aligned in columns along the edge of the cell walls of plants. The filaments, which are 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, had only ever been synthesised in a lab, but never observed in nature until now.
URBANA, Ill. - Only a fraction of conventional row crop farmers grow cover crops after harvest, but a new global analysis from the University of Illinois shows the practice can boost soil microbial abundance by 27%.
The result adds to cover crops' reputation for nitrogen loss reduction, weed suppression, erosion control, and more. Although soil microbial abundance is less easily observed, it is a hugely important metric in estimating soil health.
For the 250,000 Canadians living with type 1 diabetes, the days of desperately trying to keep their blood sugar stable are coming to an end. A team of researchers at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine is working to optimize an artificial pancreas with the ability to minimize the glucose highs and lows that diminish quality of life and contribute to long-term health complications.
Creating smart insulin pumps
Without enough sugar in their diets, bumblebee queens can experience difficulty reproducing and shorter lifespans.
Hollis Woodard, assistant professor of entomology at UCR, has conducted multiple studies showing how loss of plant availability negatively affects the prolific pollinators. Previous research indicates a queen's diet can impact how quickly her brood develops, or whether she's able to live through hibernation.
Each day, humans and animals rely on habits to complete routine tasks such as eating and sleeping. As new habits are formed, this enables us to do things automatically without thinking. As the brain starts to develop a new habit, in as little as a half a second, one region of the brain, the dorsolateral striatum, experiences a short burst in activity. This activity burst increases as the habit becomes stronger. A Dartmouth study demonstrates how habits can be controlled depending on how active the dorsolateral striatum is.