Culture
Our brains are notoriously bad at regenerating cells that have been lost through injury or disease. While therapies using neural stem cells (NSCs) hold the promise of replacing lost cells, scientists need to better understand how NSCs behave in the brain in order to develop effective treatments.
Now research led by the University of Plymouth helps to shed new light on the mechanisms used by NSCs to 'wake up' - going from their usual dormant state to one of action.
A new protein involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been identified by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS). CAPON may facilitate the connection between the two most well-known AD culprits, amyloid plaques and tau pathology, whose interactions cause brain cell death and symptoms of dementia. This latest finding from the Takaomi Saido group at RIKEN CBS uses a novel mouse model of AD. The study was published in Nature Communications on June 3.
Forest conservation can be a source of tension between competing priorities and interests from forestry, science, administration and nature conservation organisations. The different stakeholders can create the public impression of disagreement with regard to the objectives and measures in forest conservation.
Although we tend to think of them as solitary sojourners of the world, bacteria are actually very social organisms. In fact, the vast majority of bacteria live on surfaces by forming "biofilms": three-dimensional communities hosting thousands to millions of bacteria of such bustling activity that scientists describe them as "bacterial cities".
Galaxies with no dark matter are impossible to understand in the framework of the current theory of galaxy formation, because the role of dark matter is fundamental in causing the collapse of the gas to form stars. In 2018, a study published inNature magazine announced the discovery of a galaxy that lacked dark matter, which made a strong impact, and occupied the covers of popular scientific magazines.
Halide perovskite solar cells hold promise as the next generation of solar cell technologies, but while researchers have developed techniques for improving their material characteristics, nobody understood why these techniques worked. New research sheds light on the science behind these engineering solutions and paves the way for developing more efficient halide perovskite solar cells.
Nematodes, worms found in virtually all environmental habitats, are among the most studied model organisms. They reproduce quickly and their genome contains nearly the same number of genes as the human genome.
A new Tel Aviv University study finds a mechanism exhibited in nematodes allows the nervous system cells -- neurons -- to communicate with germ cells, the cells that contain the information (genetic and epigenetic) that is transmitted to future generations. The research identifies the mode by which neurons transmit messages to these future generations.
Findings from a sweeping global study conducted by SFU Health Sciences professor Scott Lear, among others, reveal a direct correlation between socioeconomic status and one's susceptibility to heart attacks and strokes.
Lear, who holds the Pfizer/Heart & Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul's Hospital, is the principal investigator of the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study site in Vancouver. The latest findings of the study have been published in leading international health journal The Lancet: Global Health.
Sudden hearing loss can be experienced in highly stressful situations, usually lasting a short time. Researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil, collaborating with colleagues at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, have reported a discovery that contributes to a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.
Sloths once roamed the Americas, ranging from tiny, cat-sized animals that lived in trees all the way up to massive ground sloths that may have weighed up to six tons. The only species we know and love today, however, are the two-toed and three-toed sloths--but paleontologists have been arguing how to classify them, and their ancestors, for decades.
LOS ANGELES (June 6, 2019) -- Scientists can't make a living copy of your brain outside your body. That's the stuff of science fiction. But in a new study, they recreated a critical brain component, the blood-brain barrier, that functioned as it would in the individual who provided the cells to make it. Their achievement - detailed in a study published today in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell - provides a new way to make discoveries about brain disorders and, potentially, predict which drugs will work best for an individual patient.
Just as a computer requires code to work, our bodies are regulated by molecular "programs" that are written early in life and then have to do their job properly for a lifetime. But do they? It's a question that has intrigued researchers for years.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Females who identify as sexual minorities face an increased risk of substance use that shows up as early as age 13, suggesting early adolescence is a critical period for prevention and intervention efforts, a new study from Oregon State University has found.
The odds of substance use among females who identify as sexual minorities - an umbrella term for those who identify with any sexual identity other than heterosexual or who report same-sex attraction or behavior - is 400% higher than their heterosexual female peers.
For birds, differences in personality are a function of both age and experience, according to new research by University of Alberta biologists.
The study examined the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and winters in North Western Europe. The researchers studied 90 birds over a two year period, comparing behavioural and physiological traits of two age cohorts: adult and juvenile birds. Studying two age groups allowed the researchers to determine which changes were due to age versus time in captivity.