Earth
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A study led by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research sheds new light on the body's initial response to dengue virus (DENV) infection, describing the molecular diversity and specificity of the antibody response. These results, published in EBioMedicine, a journal published by The Lancet, identify a heretofore unappreciated role for DENV-reactive IgA antibodies.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- More than a thousand years ago, people from across the Southeast regularly traveled to a small island on Florida's Gulf Coast to bond over oysters, likely as a means of coping with climate change and social upheaval.
JUPITER, Fla.--May 1, 2020--Many people with Parkinson's disease eventually develop debilitating movements called dyskinesia, a side effect of their much-needed dopamine replacement medication. The mechanism underlying this unwanted side effect has been unknown, until now. An international collaboration led by Scripps Research, Florida has found a key cause, and with it, potentially, a new route to providing relief.
Crystals can be made artificially but a lot of energy is used to melt the ingredients together, and this can make them expensive. This problem can be overcome by using appropriate solvents. Called the flux method, crystals are grown in a crucible that contains solvents that allow the crystal to form with less energy because dissolution will happen easier. Imagine having table salt, and wanting to form crystals of a desirable structure.
LA JOLLA--(May 1, 2020) Salk and Scripps Research Institute scientists, along with collaborators at the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, identified two genes that can regulate levels of healthy fats, called FAHFAs, in mice. The team found that the loss of the two genes led to higher-than-normal levels of the beneficial FAHFAs, while blocking the genes' activity with an experimental drug also increased FAHFA levels.
The new development, recently reported in the scientific journal Nature Communications, was led by Christopher Li, PhD, a professor in Drexel's College of Engineering whose research has centered around engineering polymer structures for special applications, in collaboration with Bin Zhao, PhD, a professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Researchers have discovered a system of ridges spread across the nearside of the Moon topped with freshly exposed boulders. The ridges could be evidence of active lunar tectonic processes, the researchers say, possibly the echo of a long-ago impact that nearly tore the Moon apart.
Using the most advanced Earth-observing laser instrument NASA has ever flown in space, a team of scientists led by the University of Washington has made precise measurements of how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years.
The extent to which solar activity (and thus the number of sunspots and the solar brightness) varies can be reconstructed using various methods - at least for a certain period of time. Since 1610, for example, there have been reliable records of sunspots covering the Sun; the distribution of radioactive varieties of carbon and beryllium in tree rings and ice cores allows us to draw conclusions about the level of solar activity over the past 9000 years. For this period of time, scientists find regularly recurring fluctuations of comparable strength as during recent decades.
Rochester, MN, April 30, 2020 - According to a new study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, published by Elsevier, taking cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) into account along with traditional risk factors such as age, sex, blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking, improves the accuracy of mortality risk assessment.
Microplastic particles entering the sea surface were thought to settle to the seafloor directly below them, but now, a new study reveals that slow-moving currents near the bottom of the ocean direct the flow of plastics, creating microplastic hotpots in sediments of the deep sea. Importantly, these "bottom" currents supply oxygen and nutrients to deep sea creatures, and so, by following the same route, these toxic microplastics may be settling into biodiversity hotspots, increasing the chance of ingestion by creatures of the deep.
Ice sheet losses from Greenland and Antarctica have outpaced snow accumulation and contributed approximately 14 millimeters to sea level rise over 16 years (2003 to 2019), a new analysis of data from NASA's laser-shooting satellites has revealed. By combining data from the first polar-orbiting space laser, ICESat, and next-generation ICESat-2, scientists here were able to account for even subtle changes in ice masses, which had been previously overlooked and resulted in small, yet significant biases on ice mass changes.
An international research project has revealed the highest levels of microplastic ever recorded on the seafloor, with up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer covering just 1 square metre.
Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year. Floating plastic waste at sea has caught the public's interest thanks to the 'Blue Planet Effect' seeing moves to discourage the use of plastic drinking straws and carrier bags. Yet such accumulations account for less than 1% of the plastic that enters the world's oceans.
A new study by researchers from IIASA and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the first time systematically explored and compared the use of the Human Life Indicator as a viable alternative to the conventional Human Development Index as a means of measuring progress in development.
Apoptosis is a form 'cell suicide', in which a series of programmed molecular steps in a cell lead to its death. "When a cell senses that something is wrong, it can commit 'suicide', or apoptosis, to prevent itself from dividing and spreading the problem. This is a normal mechanism present in all cells of the body and one way by which the body gets rid of unneeded or abnormal cells.