Earth
Researchers in the Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have generated Rydberg atoms - unusually large excited atoms - near nanometer-thin optical fibers. Their findings, published recently in Physical Review Research, mark progress toward a new platform for quantum information processing, which has the potential to revolutionize material and drug discoveries and provide more secure quantum communication.
Diversity plays a key role in maintaining the stability of plant and animal life in an area. But it's difficult to scale up smaller experiments to understand how changes will impact larger ecosystems.
A new study of North American birds from Washington University in St. Louis finds that the regional stability of ecosystems over time depends on both the total number of species present in a locality and on the variation in species identities among localities.
By blending paints in their palette, artists can create a broad spectrum of colors with subtly different hues. However, scientists who wish to create a similar range of structural colors, like those found on butterfly wings, are much more limited. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have developed a new method for mixing plasmonic red, blue and green to yield a virtually unlimited number of colors that could be used for new types of displays.
BROOKLYN, New York, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - Robots hold promise for a large number of people with neurological movement disorders severely affecting the quality of their lives. Now researchers have tapped artificial intelligence techniques to build an algorithmic model that will make the robots more accurate, faster, and safer when battling hand tremors.
Rutgers engineers have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs.
Their most recent research results, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on some complex medical tasks.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Young children from low-income homes whose mothers reported frequent use of toxic chemicals such as household cleaners were more likely to show delays in language development by age 2, a new study found.
In addition, the children scored lower on a test of cognitive development. These developmental delays were evident even when the researchers took into account factors such as the education and income of mothers, which are also linked to their children's language and cognitive skills.
In the past two decades, death rates after liver transplantation have dropped by more than half in the UK, according to a recent analysis of almost 10,000 liver transplant recipients published in BJS (British Journal of Surgery). During this time period, survival over the first 3 years has improved to 83.1% in 2012-2016 (from 71.7% in 1997-2001) for patients who had transplants for cancer and to 90.7% (from 79.6%) for those transplanted for benign diseases.
March 3, 2020, Alexandria, Va.--The American Association for Dental Research (AADR) released findings of a new research study, "Survey of Dental Researchers' Perceptions of Sexual Harassment at AADR Conferences: 2015-2018" in the Journal of Dental Research (JDR).
Top-down projects for improving the lives of poor farmers were often unsuccessful because they didn't systematically consider the diverse rural households survive and thrive. To tap this local knowledge, scientists and development agencies began surveying households to assure that research and development schemes were on target. But the surveys were not designed to be compared with one another, lacking what scientists call "interoperability" - meaning one organization's household surveys could not be compared with another's. For big-picture analysis, much of the data was of little use.
A woman's mental health during pregnancy has a direct influence on the development of her child's immune system, according to a new study from pediatric researchers at the University of Alberta.
It is estimated that as many as 80% of advanced-stage cancer patients may develop cachexia, a potentially fatal metabolic syndrome characterized by extreme weight loss and muscle wasting, but scientists do not yet fully understand why it is more frequently associated with certain kinds of tumor than others, or why not all cancer patients develop it.
An international team of scientists and engineers, led by University of Minnesota Associate Professor K. Andre Mkhoyan and Professor Emeritus Michael Tsapatsis (currently, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University), have made a discovery that could further advance the use of ultra-thin zeolite nanosheets, which are used as specialized molecular filters. The discovery could improve efficiency in the production of gasoline, plastics, and biofuels.
Irvine, Calif., March 3, 2020 -- With drug resistance a major challenge in the fight against cancer, a discovery by University of California, Irvine biologists could offer new approaches to overcoming the obstacle. Their research reveals that a mechanism enabling the diseased cells to scavenge dead cell debris for nourishment holds a pivotal role. The study by Aimee Edinger, professor of developmental & cell biology, and researcher Vaishali Jayashankar appears in Nature Communications.
The number of treatments for rare diseases affecting children has increased, a new study suggests. But federal incentives intended to encourage drug development for rare conditions are being used more often to expand the use of existing drugs rather than for creating new ones.
Children are estimated to make up half of patients with rare diseases, which includes conditions that affect less than 200,000 Americans. Developing drugs for children with rare diseases is crucial to ensuring new treatment options, but it's not always profitable for drug manufacturers.
Telomerase allows cancer cells to live forever
Researchers develop small molecule that irreversibly inhibits telomerase
Promising new molecular tool is inspired by nature
EVANSTON, Ill. --- One of the hallmarks of cancer is cell immortality. A Northwestern University organic chemist and his team now have developed a promising molecular tool that targets and inhibits one of cell immortality's underlying gears: the enzyme telomerase.