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Zachary Schug, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center at The Wistar Institute, has published a new paper in the journal Nature Cancer. Schug’s paper — titled, “Acetate acts as a metabolic immunomodulator by bolstering T-cell effector function and…
A new study looks at the impact of learning environments on the academic success of racialized students. Compared to their peers, these students feel they have less control in their academic environment, less confidence and self-efficacy in their academic abilities, and weaker connections to other students and professors. The University…
Climate change is causing extinctions at an increasing rate, a new study by the University of Arizona researchers shows. They surveyed populations of the Yarrow’s spiny lizard in 18 mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and analyzed the rate of climate-related extinction over time. “The magnitude of extinction we found over…
Although there are some cultural exceptions to the rule, medicines for children are often given in liquid form that is sweetened to make it taste good. But not every child experiences the same medicine in the same way. A multidisciplinary research group specializing in pediatrics, genetics, and psychophysics, co-led by…
As the days get shorter and chillier in the northern hemisphere, those who choose to work out in the mornings might find it harder to get up and running. A new study in PNAS identifies a protein that, when missing, makes exercising in the cold that much harder — that…
Living things act with purpose. But where does purpose come from? How do humans make sense of their relation to the world and realize their ability to effect change? These fundamental questions of agency — acting with purpose — have perplexed some of the greatest minds in history including Sir…
Some 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome, glass vessels carrying wine or water, or perhaps an exotic perfumes, tumble from a table in a marketplace, and shatter to pieces on the street. As centuries passed, the fragments were covered by layers of dust and soil and exposed to a continuous…
Neurons are talkers. They each communicate with fellow neurons, muscles or other cells by releasing neurotransmitter chemicals at “synapse” junctions, ultimately producing functions ranging from emotions to motions. But even neurons of the exact same type can vary in their conversational style. A new study in Cell Reports by neurobiologists…
Adding more natural areas across our towns and cities could cool them by up to 6°C during heatwaves, according to new research from the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE). After a year of monitoring temperatures in four distinct areas of Guildford, England, researchers found that…
A UCSF telecare program that improves outcomes for patients with dementia and lightens the load for unpaid caregivers also has the surprising bonus of cutting Medicare costs, according to UC San Francisco research. In the study, publishing in JAMA Internal Medicine on Sept. 18, 2023, researchers, led by UCSF, compared…
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena are investigating the previously largely unknown biosynthetic pathway that leads to the formation of cardenolides in plants. In a study published in the journal Nature Plants, they present two enzymes from the CYP87A family as key enzymes that catalyze…
New research provides insight about the bedrock scientific principle that mitochondrial DNA — the distinct genetic code embedded in the organelle that serves as the powerplant of every cell in the body — is exclusively passed down by the mother. The study, a collaboration among Oregon Health & Science University…
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can effectively detect and diagnose Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which is the most common hormone disorder among women, typically between ages 15 and 45, according to a new study by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers systematically reviewed published scientific studies that used…
Fledgling technology startups need to hire skilled scientists and engineers to bring their cutting-edge products from the proverbial Silicon Valley garage to the market. But to attract the best and the brightest, startups also must routinely compete with established firms for top talent. Commonly held views on job-choice decision-making would…
Hospital staff spend a significant amount of time working to protect patients from acquiring infections while they are being cared for in the hospital. They employ various methods from hand hygiene to isolation rooms to rigorous environmental sanitation. Despite these efforts, hospital-onset infections still occur — the most common of…
A team including Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Raluca Rufu recently calculated that most of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are at most around 3.4 billion years old and can contain relatively young deposits of water ice. Water resources are considered key for sustainable exploration of the Moon and beyond,…
Many pathogens, including the virus that causes COVID-19, are thought to have originated in wild animals before spilling into human populations. Agriculture is often blamed for accelerating this process, which is known as zoonotic spillover, through deforestation and habitat fragmentation that reduce biodiversity and increase the likelihood of contact between…
In a sign that exposure to certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be playing a role in cancers of the breast, ovary, skin and uterus, researchers have found that people who developed those cancers have significantly higher levels of these chemicals in their bodies. While it does not prove that exposure to…
It’s no longer just about stopping, but how we can live with climate change. To figure this out, we must delve into our cultures, as highlighted in a special issue of The Royal Society. A study by the Complexity Science Hub points out how our history could help guide the…
Researchers from the University of Waterloo completed the first-ever assessment of a Canadian hospital to reveal its total environmental footprint and specific carbon emission hotspots. Studying a hospital in British Columbia during its 2019 fiscal year, the researchers identified energy and water use and purchasing of medical products as the…
Achieving photochemical upconversion in a solid state is a step closer to reality, thanks to a new technique that could unlock vital innovations in renewable energy, water purification and advanced healthcare. Exciton Science researchers based at UNSW Sydney have demonstrated that a key stage in the upconversion process can be…
A team of international researchers, led by experts at the University of Adelaide, has uncovered further clues in the quest for insights into the nature of dark matter. “Dark matter makes up 84 per cent of the matter in the universe but we know very little about it,” said Professor…
Thermoelectrics enable the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy — and vice versa. This makes them interesting for a range of technological applications. In the search for thermoelectric materials with the best possible properties, a research team at TU Wien investigated various metallic alloys. A mixture of nickel and…
New research is challenging the scientific status quo on the limits of the nuclear chart in hot stellar environments where temperatures reach billions of degrees Celsius. The nuclear chart is a way to map out different kinds of atomic nuclei based on their number of protons and neutrons, and the…
Researchers are gaining new insights into neurological diseases by studying circular RNAs (circRNAs) in brain cells. A new study by investigators from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, identified over 11,000 distinct RNA circles that characterized brain cells implicated in Parkinson’s…
A new study published in a Nature Partner Journal, npj Microgravity, finds an engineered compound given to mice aboard the International Space Station (ISS) largely prevented the bone loss associated with time spent in space. The study, led by a transdisciplinary team of professors at the University of California at…
An international team of scientists led by microbiologist Alexander Loy from the University of Vienna has discovered a new intestinal microbe that feeds exclusively on taurine and produces the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide. The researchers have thus provided another building block in the understanding of those microbial processes that have…
Autoimmune diseases are complex illnesses, the causes of which are diverse and have not yet been fully explained. A research team at MedUni Vienna has now discovered an immunoregulatory protein that could be linked to the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The identified component of the immune…
More than 200 years later, historians are still gleaning some unexpected insights from the French Revolution — not about tyranny or liberty — but rather, inflation. “Revolutionary France experienced the first modern hyperinflation,” said Louis Rouanet, Ph.D., assistant professor at The University of Texas at El Paso. “Although it happened…
Weather data from several ships bombed by Japanese pilots at Pearl Harbor has been recovered in a rescue mission that will help scientists understand how the global climate is changing. Crew members aboard various vessels — such as the USS Pennsylvania and the USS Tennessee — died when their battleships…
