From Italy and the World

The sequencing of the human genome promised a revolution in medicine, but scientists soon realized that a genetic blueprint alone does not show the body in action. That required understanding the proteome — all the proteins, expressed by our genes, forming the cellular machinery that performs the bulk of the…

An international team of scientists has successfully conducted large-scale helicopter-based observations along the coast of East Antarctica and has identified pathways through which warm ocean water flows from the open ocean into ice shelf cavities for the first time. During six days of observations, the team was able to retrieve…

Parkinson’s disease, characterized by various motor dysfunctions, is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world. It is known that specific gene mutations that are passed down through families are responsible for some cases of Parkinson’s disease. But now, researchers from Japan have found that this might open the…

Root hairs represent a low-cost strategy to enhance nutrient uptake because they can significantly increase the nutrient-acquiring surface of plant roots. While primary and lateral roots are stimulated to elongate when plants grow under mild nitrogen deficiency, the existence of such a foraging response for root hairs and its underlying…

Having a hobby is linked to fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of happiness, self-reported health and life satisfaction among people aged 65 and over, and this holds true across 16 countries on three continents, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The study, published…

New research suggests that hospital electronic health records (EHRs) that are difficult to use are also less likely to catch medical errors that could harm patients. As clinicians navigate EHR systems, alerts, reminders, and clinical guidelines pop up to steer decision making. Yet a common complaint is that these notifications…

As the universe evolves, scientists expect large cosmic structures to grow at a certain rate: dense regions such as galaxy clusters would grow denser, while the void of space would grow emptier. But University of Michigan researchers have discovered that the rate at which these large structures grow is slower…

Researchers in UC Santa Barbara professor Yasamin Mostofi’s lab have proposed a new foundation that can enable high-quality imaging of still objects with only WiFi signals. Their method uses the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction and the corresponding Keller cones to trace edges of the objects. The technique has also enabled,…

Scientists have detected new strains of malaria-causing parasites in Ethiopia that are both resistant to current treatments and escape detection by common diagnostic tests — a development that could increase cases and deaths from malaria and make eliminating the persistent disease an even greater challenge. The authors detailed their findings…

Hadal trenches, with their deepest locations situated in the so-called hadal zone, the deepest parts of the ocean in water depth >6km, are the least-explored environment on Earth, linking the Earth’s surface and its deeper interior. For the first time, an international team conducted deep-subsurface sampling in a hadal trench…

As researchers around the world race against time to develop new strategies and technologies to fight climate change, a team of scientists at the University of Houston is exploring one possible way to directly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment: Negative emissions technologies (NETs). Mim Rahimi, assistant…

New research from Rice University finds that antidepressants may actually reduce negative memories in individuals suffering from depression while improving overall memory function. The study, “Perceived antidepressant efficacy associated with reduced negative and enhanced neutral mnemonic discrimination,” appears in the latest edition of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. It examines how…

Agriculture relies on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which is made using energy- and carbon-intensive processes and creates nitrate-containing runoff. Researchers have long sought solutions to reduce emissions from the industry that accounts for 3% of energy consumption each year. A collaboration between two labs at Northwestern University, partnering with the University…

A new investigation with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide. Webb’s discovery adds to recent studies suggesting that K2-18 b could be a Hycean exoplanet, one which has…

A herring in the North Sea, a crab in the Wadden Sea or an anemone fish on a coral reef, … biologists like to think in terms of individual species that all have their own place within food webs in ecosystems across the world. “But that is surely too simplistic…

In the movie Avengers, superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor each contribute their unique superpower and charm. When they unite as a team, their synergy becomes a formidable force. This analogy is akin to recent findings in semiconductor research, where collaborations resembling the remarkable teamwork of…

Elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos are predicted to interact unexpectedly with photons under extreme conditions. Research at Hokkaido University has revealed that elusive particles called neutrinos can interact with photons, the fundamental particles of light and other electromagnetic radiation, in ways not previously detected. The findings from Kenzo Ishikawa, Professor…

The sun and the sea — both abundant and free — are being harnessed in a unique project to create vertical sea farms floating on the ocean that can produce fresh water for drinking and agriculture. In what is believed to be a world first, University of South Australia researchers…

Using laser light, researchers have developed the most robust method currently known to control individual qubits made of the chemical element barium. The ability to reliably control a qubit is an important achievement for realizing future functional quantum computers. This new method, developed at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for…

Jackdaws ditch old friends and make new ones if it helps them get rewards — but stick with family through thick and thin, new research shows. Scientists from the universities of Exeter and Bristol presented wild jackdaws with a task where access to tasty mealworms depended on which individuals visited…

Scientists have long suspected two species of sea stars — commonly referred to as starfish — along rocky European and North American coastlines of crossbreeding in the cool waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Now, according to recently analyzed genomic data, hybrid starfish are living and thriving, from the shores…

Researchers of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the University of Konstanz in Germany as well as of Tohoku University in Japan have been able to increase the diffusion of magnetic whirls, so called skyrmions, by a factor of ten. In today’s world, our lives are unimaginable without computers. Up until…

Tea contains flavonoids such as catechins, which have numerous health benefits. Now, researchers from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, reveal that the glazing on ceramic tea sets plays a crucial role in retaining the beneficial components of tea. By examining the effects of different glazes on the catechin content in…

Archaeologists have discovered a major Palaeolithic cave art site, arguably the most important found on the Eastern Iberian Coast in Europe. Over a hundred ancient paintings and engravings, thought to be at least 24,000 years old, have been found in a 500 metre-long cave in ‘Cova Dones’ or ‘Cueva Dones’…

A new Europe-wide study investigated the prevalence of protozoans, bacteria and viruses potentially pathogenic to humans and domestic animals in birds and bats in varying climatic conditions. The prevalence of many of these pathogens was associated with temperature or rainfall. The new study compiled information on the occurrence of over…

Using artificial intelligence applications to help craft a message to a friend is not a good idea — at least if your friend finds out about the use of AI, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people in the study perceived that a fictional friend who used AI assistance…