Tech
(BOSTON) -- Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have become the go-to vehicle for delivering therapeutic gene cargo to target tissues for the recent wave of gene therapies that are in development in academic and biotechnology laboratories. However, natural AAVs do not specifically target diseased cells and tissues, and they can be recognized by the immune system in ways that limit therapeutic success.
Growing nanoscale polymer brushes on materials' surfaces overcomes a key challenge in surface chemistry, researchers report, creating a new way to fabricate a diverse array of materials that could hold advanced uses in catalysis or chemical separation applications, for example.
Scientists at the University of Maryland (UMD) have developed a novel elastocaloric cooling material, comprised of a nickel (Ni)-titanium (Ti) alloy and sculpted using additive technology, that is highly efficient, eco-friendly and easily scaled-up for commercial use. The study was published in the journal Science on November 29.
A simple urine test under development for prostate cancer detection can now use urine samples collected at home - according to new research from University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
Scientists pioneered the test which diagnoses aggressive prostate cancer and predicts whether patients will require treatment up to five years earlier than standard clinical methods.
MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves -- with no electricity needed. The advance takes a step toward practical magnetic-based devices, which have the potential to compute far more efficiently than electronics.
Boston, MA -- HIV infection among infants remains an enormous global health challenge. Each day, 300 to 500 infants in sub-Saharan Africa become infected with the virus. HIV progresses much faster in infants than in adults because of their weaker immune systems. While antiretroviral drugs are highly effective at suppressing HIV in newborns and infants, these drugs are typically not administered immediately after birth, at least not in most countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic.
Birds of a feather may flock together, but the feathers of birds differ altogether.
New research from an international team led by USC scientists set out to learn how feathers developed and helped birds spread across the world. Flight feathers, in particular, are masterpieces of propulsion and adaptation, helping penguins swim, eagles soar and hummingbirds hover.
For species trying to boost their chances of avoiding predation, it could be a classic case of 'it's not what you know, it's who you know that matters,' according to new research.
Seeing groups of different wild animals hanging out together on the plains of Africa is not unusual, but why and how these social groups form has puzzled ecologists for many years.
For four years, a team of zoologists from the universities of Liverpool and York has been studying the formation of mixed groups of herbivore species on the African savannahs in Masai Mara, Kenya.
Short term exposure to fine particulate matter in the air (known as PM2.5) is associated with several newly identified causes of hospital admissions, even at levels below international air quality guidelines, finds a US study published by The BMJ today.
The study also confirms several previously established causes of hospital admission associated with short term exposure to PM2.5 including heart and lung diseases, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and diabetes.
Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have shown how it is possible that objects stand out less when they are surrounded by similar objects. This surround-suppression effect is caused by feedback from higher visual brain areas. The results of this research are important for a better understanding of the way in which the brain transforms incoming light into a cohesive image. The paper has been published in the scientific journal Current Biology.
Animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, before diversifying into 30 or 40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how animal ancestors made the transition from single-celled microbes to complex multicellular organisms has been the focus of intense debate.
The choices we make in large group settings -- such as in online forums and social media -- might seem fairly automatic to us. But our decision-making process is more complicated than we know. So, researchers have been working to understand what's behind that seemingly intuitive process.
Now, new University of Washington research has discovered that in large groups of essentially anonymous members, people make choices based on a model of the "mind of the group" and an evolving simulation of how a choice will affect that theorized mind.
Analysis of the impact craters on Ryugu using the spacecraft Hayabusa 2's remote sensing image data has illuminated the geological history of the Near-Earth asteroid.
A research group led by Assistant Professor Naoyuki Hirata of the Department of Planetology at Kobe University's Graduate School of Science revealed 77 craters on Ryugu. Through analyzing the location patterns and characteristics of the craters, they determined that the asteroid's eastern and western hemispheres were formed at different periods of time.
A new study proposed a scheme to achieve ultrahigh reduced transition temperature, up to Tc/TF ~ 1, in two-component atomic Fermi gases, a system that mimic high Tc superconductors, via a tunable pairing interaction strength, using mixed dimensions where one component is in a deep one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice with a large lattice spacing, while the other remains in 3D free space.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich biologists Marcel Dann and Dario Leister have demonstrated for the first time that cyanobacteria and plants employ similar mechanisms and key proteins to regulate cyclic electron flow during photosynthesis.