From Italy and the World

NIMS, Harvard University and the University of Connecticut have designed and fabricated a simple device capable of imaging a gas injected into it in multiple colors in accordance with its gaseous properties, enabling chromatic discrimination of different gases. This user-friendly device converts the pressure generated by an injected gas into…

Published in JAMA Network Open, University of Minnesota Medical School researchers found there is often a disconnect between the medical language used by doctors and patient understanding. This mismatch in clinicians’ intent to speak plainly with the reality that they continue to use confusing terminology is known as jargon oblivion.…

Since the 1960s, researchers have postulated that major depression stems from disruptions in the serotonin neurotransmitter system, but the evidence for that idea, though plentiful, was indirect. In fact, a recent comprehensive analysis of existing studies concluded that there was not strong evidence to support the “serotonin hypothesis.” In its…

Nature-based solutions to fight climate change take a holistic approach that promotes biodiversity and ecosystem preservation. While many efforts have focused on planting trees or restoring wetlands, researchers publishing in Trends in Ecology and Evolution on December 15 advocate for the importance of understanding the carbon sequestration potential of the…

Wheat — the most widely cultivated crop in the world — is under growing attack from harmful toxins. Across Europe, almost half of wheat crops are impacted by the fungal infection that gives rise to these toxins, according to a study led by fungal biologist Dr Neil Brown from the…

The London Underground is polluted with ultrafine metallic particles small enough to end up in the human bloodstream, according to University of Cambridge researchers. These particles are so small that they are likely being underestimated in surveys of pollution in the world’s oldest metro system. The researchers carried out a…

A team led by UdeM astronomers has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are “water worlds,” planets where water makes up a large fraction of the volume. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in the constellation Lyra, are unlike any planets found…

To alleviate hunger and food insecurity, it’s not just the size of the fish catch — it’s about who ultimately is able to put the right fish on the table. A group led by scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) have devised a way to track and measure the true…

Drug overdoses in the United States have risen sharply in the last two decades. Nearly 92,000 people died from overdoses of illegal drugs and prescription opioids in 2020 — more than five times the number of deaths in the year 2000 — and synthetic opioids like fentanyl are one of…

London CNN  —  Central banks in Europe on Thursday joined the US Federal Reserve in slowing down the pace of interest rate hikes as decades-high inflation shows signs of easing. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank both hiked rates by half a percentage point in their final…

Applying either rosin powder made from pine resin or a wax-like sticky substance to a baseball significantly alters the friction between the pitcher’s fingertips and the ball surface, which can in turn influence the rate at which the ball spins. These findings, published in Communications Materials, also highlight how rosin…

A large VA clinical trial found that the blood pressure drug chlorthalidone (CTD) was not superior to hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or non-cancer death. Both drugs are in a class of medications called thiazide diuretics, commonly known as water pills. They are used to help the…

For decades, the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes have provided us with spectacular images of galaxies. This all changed when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched in December 2021 and successfully completed commissioning during the first half of 2022. For astronomers, the universe, as we had seen it,…

As different as they may seem, black holes and Las Vegas have one thing in common: What happens there stays there — much to the frustration of astrophysicists trying to understand how, when and why black holes form and grow. Black holes are surrounded by a mysterious, invisible layer —…

Monash University researchers have demonstrated a new, counterintuitive way to protect atomically-thin electronics — adding vibrations, to reduce vibrations. By ‘squeezing’ a thin droplet of liquid gallium, graphene devices are painted with a protective coating of glass, gallium-oxide. This oxide is remarkably thin, less than 100 atoms, yet covers centimetre-wide…

University of Auckland Business School researcher Dr William Cheung is analysing micro-level data about people and households to examine the effects of moving house on mental well-being and stress. His study, co-authored with business analyst Daniel Wong scrutinises stress levels among adults in the Auckland region, namely homeowners and renters,…

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have shown how adding a tiny resonator structure to an ultrafast electron pulse detector reduced the intensity of terahertz radiation required to characterize the pulse duration. To study proteins — for example, when determining the mechanisms of their biological actions — researchers need to…

Materials scientists at UNSW Sydney have shown that human pluripotent stem cells in a lab can initiate a process resembling the gastrulation phase — where cells begin differentiating into new cell types — much earlier than occurs in mother nature. For an embryo developing in the womb, gastrulation occurs at…

Hunnic peoples migrated westward across Eurasia, switched between farming and herding, and became violent raiders in response to severe drought in the Danube frontier provinces of the Roman empire, a new study argues. Hungary has just experienced its driest summer since meteorological measurements began, devastating the country’s usually productive farmland.…

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology and the National Institute for Fusion Science have clarified the chemical compatibility between high temperature liquid metal tin (Sn) and reduced activation ferritic martensitic, a candidate structural material for fusion reactors. This discovery has paved the way for the development of a liquid metal…

Sea urchin larvae raised in high levels of plastic pollution die due to developmental abnormalities, new research shows. Scientists put fertilised urchin eggs in seawater with varying levels of plastic, and compared the effects of newly made PVC pellets (called nurdles) with fragments collected on beaches. In all three concentrations…

For the longest time, clinicians have treated cardiovascular disease by focusing on diabetes and blood pressure control, reducing cholesterol using medications like aspirin and statins. Despite these measures, heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States, with many patients having heart attacks even after their…

Cell division, i.e., the process through which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells, is fundamental to the growth, repair, and reproduction of living organisms. During cell division, chromosomes are pulled towards opposite spindle poles through the shortening of molecular ropes known as microtubules. Microtubules, which are composed of…

Millions of people across the globe regularly consume arsenic-contaminated water. Exposure to arsenic has previously been associated with the development of various cancers including skin cancer. Research on the underlying molecular mechanisms regulating arsenic-mediated carcinogenesis remains sparse. Using in vitro studies, researchers from Japan demonstrate how calcitriol, or activated vitamin…

Researchers have developed a new all-optical method for driving multiple highly dense nanolaser arrays. The approach could enable chip-based optical communication links that process and move data faster than today’s electronic-based devices. “The development of optical interconnects equipped with high-density nanolasers would improve information processing in the data centers that…

Enhancing the virtual experience with the touch sensation has become a hot topic, but today’s haptic devices remain typically bulky and tangled with wires. A team led by the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) researchers recently developed an advanced wireless haptic interface system, called WeTac, worn on the hand,…

CNN  —  The Senate passed legislation Wednesday evening to ban TikTok from US government devices, in a move designed to limit perceived information-security risks stemming from the social media app. The vote by unanimous consent approved the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, a bill authored by Missouri Republican Sen.…

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if US Patriot missiles are sent to Ukraine, they would be legitimate targets for Russian forces. But he added that the US plan had not been confirmed. Peskov was asked by CNN if he held the same view as former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who…