From Italy and the World

Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine CNN  —  For Dima, the silence away from the horrors can be harder to bear. A fireman in what is perhaps currently the worst-bombed town on earth – Orikhiv, right in the throes of Ukraine’s counteroffensive – Dima’s daily job involves pulling the living from the burning rubble…

A person walks past the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa on August 19. James Oatway/Reuters Members of the BRICS economic group of major emerging economies are meeting this week in South Africa for a summit that could determine the future of the bloc — and how hard it…

A new study projects nearly 1 billion people will be living with osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, by 2050. Currently, 15% of individuals aged 30 and older experience osteoarthritis. The research, published today in The Lancet Rheumatology. , analyzes 30 years of osteoarthritis data (1990-2020) covering more than…

The REIMAGINE study, published today in BMJ Oncology, is the first study to use MRI scans with prostate specific antigen (PSA) density to assess the need for further standard NHS tests. Of the 29 participants found to have serious prostate cancer, 15 had a ‘low’ PSA score that would have…

Korea is regarded as a “water-stressed nation.” Although the country receives an annual precipitation of approximately 1,300mm, it is characterized by concentrated periods and specific regions, thereby giving rise to challenges stemming from water scarcity. The lack of drinking water extends beyond mere inconvenience, posing life-threatening implications for certain individuals.…

Early data on activities that will be unsafe to undertake in automated vehicles has been released. From doing work to watching the world, from social media to resting — preliminary results are in. Research led by RMIT University looked at what happens if a driver is suddenly required to take…

CNN  —  Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says he is in Africa “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even freer,” in a video circulating on pro-Russian military blogs Monday. In the clip, Prigozhin is seen holding a rifle in a desert area while wearing camouflage. Behind him,…

For many, the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic seems over. However, for patients whose immune systems are compromised by cancer or by cancer therapies, fear of COVID-19 infection and severe disease remains very real. Currently, CDC guidance recommends that immunocompromised patients receive COVID-19 booster shots “as needed.” While this flexibility…

The world needs greener ways to make chemicals. In a new study, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers demonstrate one potential path toward this goal by adapting hydrogen fuel cell technologies. These technologies are already used to power some electric vehicles, laptops and cell phones. “The chemical industry is a massive energy…

Since the 17th century, when Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens first debated the nature of light, scientists have been puzzling over whether light is best viewed as a wave or a particle — or perhaps, at the quantum level, even both at once. Now, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology…

Markers that indicate the presence of Parkinson’s disease in patients on average seven years before clinical presentation have been identified by a UCL and Moorfields Eye Hospital research team. This is the first time anyone has shown these findings several years before diagnosis, and these results were made possible by…

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is disruption to the body’s circadian rhythm, the internal biological clock that regulates many of our physiological processes. Nearly 80% of people with Alzheimer’s experience these issues, including difficulty sleeping and worsening cognitive function at night. However, there are no existing treatments for…

When a sabertooth tiger called out, what noise did it make — a mighty roar or a throaty purr? A new study from North Carolina State University examined the data behind the arguments for each vocalization and found that the answer was more nuanced than they thought — and that…

Two Georgia Tech researchers, Alex Robel and Shi Joyce Sim, have collaborated on a new model for how water moves under glaciers. The new theory shows that up to twice the amount of subglacial water that was originally predicted might be draining into the ocean — potentially increasing glacial melt,…

A simple blood test may predict the risk of progressive heart and kidney disease in people with Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation. “High levels of certain biomarkers are indicators of heart and kidney complications and…

Children’s views of inequality may be influenced by how its causes are explained to them, finds a new study by a team of psychology researchers. The work offers insights into the factors that affect how larger social issues are perceived at a young age and points to new ways to…

In a recent study in PNAS, a team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, shows that a single mutation that has immediate effects on plant fitness is maintained over the long term in natural plant populations, despite theories predict the contrary. The researchers…

A research team at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, MIT, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has developed a new approach that integrates a minimally invasive, painless microneedle platform capable of absorbing the cell-surrounding, biomarker-containing fluid from deeper layers of the skin with an ultra-sensitive, single-molecule detection method…

A new study from the University of Minnesota is the first to demonstrate the ability for gene therapy to repair neural connections for those with the rare genetic brain disorder known as Hurler syndrome. The findings suggest the use of gene therapies — an entirely new standard for treatment —…

To understand the full relationship between brain activity and behavior, scientists have needed a way to map this relationship for all of the neurons across a whole brain — a so far insurmountable challenge. But after inventing new technologies and methods for the purpose, a team of scientists in The…

Applying ground-up silicate rock to Midwestern farm fields can capture significant amounts of carbon dioxide and prevent it from accumulating in the atmosphere, according to a new study that successfully quantified those climate benefits for the first time. Working with Eion Corp., researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and…

Social risk factors such as financial instability and housing insecurity are increasingly recognized as influencing health. But unlike diagnosis codes, prescription information, lab or other test reports, social risk factors do not adhere to standardized, controlled terminology in a patient’s electronic medical record, making this information difficult to extract from…

As children head back to school, two issues have climbed higher on their parents’ list of concerns: the role of social media and the internet in kids’ lives. Over half of parents also rate mental health issues as leading health concerns for children and teens, according to the University of…

Struggling with a teenager who refuses to ditch digital devices at night and wakes up grumpy? Boarding school could be the answer. A new study by University of South Australia researchers shows that boarders get 40 minutes more sleep most nights than day students, due to fixed bedtimes and stricter…

Various medical circumstances, including heart attacks and extreme cases of COVID-19, necessitate the use of anticoagulants, medicines that prevent blood clots. But the most commonly used, heparin, can induce potentially fatal side effects by making the blood clots worse rather than better. This only happens in a minority of patients…

Anti-estrogenic therapies can suppress the growth of cancer that does not express estrogen receptors; when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, they halt tumor progression in mice models. Estrogen, a group of female hormones, is known to be involved in cancer progression, especially breast cancer. About 75 % of breast…

In recent years, pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) have emerged as promising actuators for simulating human-like movements, with prominent applications in various industries including robotics, rehabilitation, and prosthetics. PAMs are usually composed of rubber and covered with braided yarn and can mimic the mechanics of human muscles. They can stiffen and…