Earth
An international research team has gained new insights into how water molecules interact. For the first time, the researchers were able to completely observe all of the movements between the water molecules, known as intermolecular vibrations. A certain movement of individual water molecules against each other, called hindered rotations, is particularly important. Among other things, the findings help to better determine the intermolecular energy landscape between water molecules and thus to better understand the strange properties of water.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich biologists have taken a closer look at the subcellular distribution of proteins and metabolic intermediates in a model plant. The results of the study provide new insights into the dynamics of metabolic processes in cells.
"Resurrecting" the ancestors of key proteins yields evolutionary insights into their role in human cells and in most cancers, a new study finds.
The study, published online August 13 in the journal eLife, revolves around the function of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), a protein that determines whether human cells divide and multiply as part of growth.
Given the choice between ice cream and vegetables, for many people it'll be the ice cream. But sometimes it depends on the situation. If you'd eaten ice cream every day for a week, you might prefer the salad. Human preferences for different foods often depend on what's common fare and what's rare.
The 'double whammy' of co-occurring insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a complex problem best managed with non-drug targeted psych interventions, a new Australian study has found.
By following simple new guidelines, people with the concurrent conditions reported great improvement to both their sleep, and their health - with about 50% improvement in global insomnia severity and night-time insomnia after six months.
Scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the University of California San Diego report antibody evidence in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that points to enterovirus (EV) infection as a cause for acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a disease responsible for partially paralyzing more than 560 children in the United States since 2014. Results of the study appear in the journal mBio.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Everywhere you go there are stormwater detention basins built near large construction projects intended to control the flow of rainwater and runoff. Now, those basins might help in controlling nitrogen runoff into rivers and lakes, according to Lauren E. McPhillips, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State.
Brooklyn, NY – A breakthrough study by a SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University research team has identified a specific antibody target implicated in neuropsychiatric symptoms of lupus. These symptoms, including cognitive impairment, mood disorders, seizures, headaches and psychosis, are among the most prevalent manifestations of the disease and occur in as many as 80% of adults and 95% of children with lupus. The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that more than 1.5 million Americans and 5 million people worldwide suffer from some form of lupus, with 90% of cases affecting women.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia among the elderly, is characterized by plaques and tangles in the brain, with most efforts at finding a cure focused on these abnormal structures. But a University of California, Riverside, research team has identified alternate chemistry that could account for the various pathologies associated with the disease.
Wind plays a role in carrying microplastics (shreds of plastic less than five millimeters long) to both the snowy streets of European cities and remote areas of the Arctic Ocean - where ecosystems are already stressed by the effects of climate change. The high concentrations found in snow samples from disparate regions suggest microplastics - which may contain varnish, rubber, or chemicals used in synthetic fabrics - cause significant air pollution.
Since 2011, the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE), the most extensive epidemiological cohort study of Chinese older adults in the United States, has revealed critical health disparities among the growing Chinese American population.
The new-generation sequencing technology has ushered in a new era in medicine, making it easier to identify a sequence of nucleotides in the DNA or a sequence of amino acids in the proteins of a specific individual and use this information for both diagnosis and treatment. Minute alterations in these sequences, mutations can be indicative of a minor disorder and, sometimes, a grave disease.
An international team of scientists, including a professor of chemistry from the University of Bristol, has worked out a way to improve energy storage devices called supercapacitors, by designing a new class of detergents chemically related to laxatives.
Their paper, published today in the journal Nature Materials, explains why these detergents, called ionic liquids, are better electrolytes than current materials and can improve supercapacitors.
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the thinnest optical device in the world--a waveguide that is three layers of atoms thin.
The work is a proof of concept for scaling down optical devices to sizes that are orders of magnitude smaller than today's devices. It could lead to the development of higher density, higher capacity photonic chips. Researchers published their findings Aug. 12 in Nature Nanotechnology.
It's a comment we often hear in response to stories of child neglect: that parenting should require a licence.
Researcher Dr Frank Ainsworth from James Cook University in Australia says that while the suggestion is based on concern for children, it is fraught with problems.
Dr Ainsworth, an adjunct senior principal research fellow with JCU's social work department, reviewed international studies on parental licensing and Australian statistics on children in care.