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With only a small percentage of plastics recycled, determining the best way to recycle and reuse these materials may enable higher adoption of plastics recycling and reduce plastic waste pollution. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) examined the benefits and trade-offs of current…
Choline, an essential nutrient produced in small amounts in the liver and found in foods including eggs, broccoli, beans, meat and poultry, is a vital ingredient for human health. A new study explores deficiency in dietary choline adversely affects the body and may be a missing piece in the puzzle…
Many genetic diseases are caused by diverse mutations spread across an entire gene, and designing genome editing approaches for each patient’s mutation would be impractical and costly. Investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) recently developed an optimized method that improves the accuracy of inserting large DNA segments into a genome.…
A trapped mountaineer survived after enduring 16 frigid hours wedged in a crevasse on Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska. His long and difficult rescue in frigid conditions and care in the critical aftermath are examined in the current issue of the Wilderness Medical Society’s official journal, Wilderness & Environmental Medicine,…
Research on fungi underway at the University of Kansas has helped transform tough-to-recycle plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean into key components for making pharmaceuticals. The chemical-biological approach for converting polyethylene uses an everyday soil fungus called Aspergillus nidulans that has been genetically altered. The results were reported recently in…
An internal circadian clock controls the distinctive concentric rings of flowering in sunflowers, maximizing visits from pollinators, a new study from plant biologists at the University of California, Davis shows. The work is published Jan. 13 in eLife. A sunflower head is made up of hundreds of tiny florets. Because…
The ultraviolet nail polish drying devices used to cure gel manicures may pose more of a public health concern than previously thought. Researchers at the University of California San Diego studied these ultraviolet (UV) light emitting devices, and found that their use leads to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in…
Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a better way to measure how fast sediment flows in rivers — information that can help scientists and planners better prepare for flooding and weather-related events, understand salmon activity and even restore rivers. Their solution,…
Scientists continue to expand the technological frontiers of CRISPR, along with its enormous potential, in areas ranging from human health to global food supplies. Such is the case with CRISPR-based gene drives, a genetic editing tool designed to influence how genetic elements are passed from one generation to the next.…
A recent paper published in the Journal of Physiology deepened the case for the youthfulness-promoting effects of exercise on aging organisms, building on previous work done with lab mice nearing the end of their natural lifespan that had access to a weighted exercise wheel. The densely detailed paper, “A molecular…
A new study shows that global atmospheric dust — microscopic airborne particles from desert dust storms — has a slight overall cooling effect on the planet that has hidden the full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gases. The UCLA research, published today in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, found…
Acute Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a life-threatening complication after leukemia treatment with allogeneic stem cell transplantation, i.e. the transplantation of cells from another person. GvHD occurs when the transplanted immune cells are overly active and damage the receiving patient’s healthy tissue. Researchers from the University Medical Center Freiburg and the…
China records first population decline in 60 years while birth rate falls to record low Source link
CNN — French nun Sister André, the world’s oldest known person, died on Tuesday at the age of 118 in the southern city of Toulon. The city’s mayor, Hubert Falco, announced the news of her death on Twitter, writing that “it is with immense sadness and emotion that I learnt…
CNN — Here’s a look at the life of award-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave. Birth date: January 30, 1937 Birth place: London, England Birth name: Vanessa Redgrave Father: Sir Michael Redgrave, actor Mother: Rachel Kempson, actor Marriage: Tony Richardson (April 29, 1962-April 28, 1967, divorced) Children: with Franco Nero: Carlo Gabriel…
Brasilia, Brazil CNN — A police sniper peeked out of a helicopter as it performed a low flyby just a few meters above the Ministries Promenade in Brasilia. He was one of hundreds of officers deployed to secure the enormous grass patch – which sits in front of the Brazilian…
New York CNN — A four-year old tweet from Elon Musk has the Tesla CEO back in court starting Tuesday. Musk, Tesla and other Tesla directors are facing a shareholder lawsuit over his now-infamous 2018 tweet, which said that he was thinking about taking Tesla private at a price of…
CNN — An arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with murder was issued Tuesday in the death of his wife Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts mother of three who had been missing since the new year, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey announced. Walshe, 47, pleaded not guilty last week to misleading investigators…
Although most public attention surrounding deepfakes has focused on large propaganda campaigns, the problematic new technology is much more insidious, according to a new report by artificial intelligence (AI) and foreign policy experts at Northwestern University and the Brookings Institution. In the new report, the authors discuss deepfake videos, images…
The cerebellum, or our little brain, is mainly responsible for our motor skills. Furthermore, the structure is important for behavior and cognition. The cerebellum is a part of your brain located at the back of your head, just above and behind where your spinal cord connects to your brain itself.…
Physicists at Leipzig University have once again gained a deeper understanding of the mechanism behind superconductors. This brings the research group led by Professor Jürgen Haase one step closer to their goal of developing the foundations for a theory for superconductors that would allow current to flow without resistance and…
A promising approach to control Staphylococcus aureus bacterial colonization in people — using a probiotic instead of antibiotics — was safe and highly effective in a Phase 2 clinical trial. The new study, reported in The Lancet Microbe, found that the probiotic Bacillus subtilis markedly reduced S. aureus colonization in…
Cells jostling for a spot in a germinal center face a cutthroat admissions process. Formed after exposure to a pathogen or vaccine, germinal centers act as a kind of immune system training academy, helping B cells refine their response to the threat. Only B cells with the highest affinity for…
CNN — Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been detained by German police at a protest over the expansion of a coal mine in the west German village of Lützerath. This is the second time Thunberg has been detained at the site, police spokesperson Christof Hüls told CNN Tuesday. She was…
CNN — Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona have been given committee assignments for the new Congress, after being booted from their committees by Democrats and some Republicans for their incendiary remarks, sources told CNN. The House GOP Steering Committee on Tuesday agreed to…
Bakhmut, Ukraine CNN — An excavator gouges huge chunks of rich brown earth by the roadside, depositing the dirt at the edge of the lengthening trench. Soldiers shovel more dirt out of the trench, well inside the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The officer in charge, who…
CNN — Senior House Republicans are moving swiftly to build a case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they strongly weigh launching rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary, a plan that could generate sharp backlash from GOP moderates. Key committee chairmen are already preparing to hold hearings on…
Tropical forests are crucial for sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But they’re also subject to intense storms that can cause “windthrow” — the uprooting or breaking of trees. These downed trees decompose, potentially turning a forest from a carbon sink into a carbon source. A new study finds…
We’ve all been there. You made a promise you couldn’t keep. Or something came up, and you didn’t follow through on what you said you’d do. It turns out children pay attention to what we say when we don’t deliver. A new study shows that by the time they reach…
Is the inside of a plant cell more like a liquid or a solid? While this may sound like an odd question, research carried out at the University of Amsterdam demonstrates it can be either, depending on how much light you shine on it. Chloroplasts within plant cells constitute an…
