From Italy and the World

Mathematical modeling can show how to safely blend hydrogen with natural gas for transport in existing pipeline systems. A secure and reliable transition to hydrogen is one of the proposed solutions for the shift to a net-zero-carbon economy. “Mixing hydrogen into a natural gas pipeline changes how the gases flow,…

In a new study co-led by investigators at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, a global team of scientists conducted one of the largest genetic association studies on heart failure to date. Using genomic…

A bitter taste in the mouth is often a symptom or side effect of illness, which may be the result of how the body reacts to pathogens. A new study published in iScience, by Hong Wang, PhD, an Associate Member at the Monell Chemical Sense Center, and colleagues sheds light…

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed a large dark spot in Neptune’s atmosphere, with an unexpected smaller bright spot adjacent to it. This is the first time a dark spot on the planet has ever been observed with a telescope on Earth. These occasional features in the…

Researchers from the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), a joint venture between Boston University and Boston Medical Center, have discovered a novel approach for engrafting engineered cells into injured lung tissue. These findings may lead to new ways for treating lung diseases, such as emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19. The…

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a muscle degeneration disorder caused by mutations affecting the dystrophin gene. On August 24th in the journal Stem Cell Reports, researchers show how a dual CRISPR RNA method restored dystrophin protein function in induced pluripotent stem cells derived from DMD patients. The approach worked by…

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered a functional role for KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer and rapidly translated these findings into a novel therapeutic approach combining a KRAS G12D inhibitor with immune checkpoint inhibitors for early- and late-stage KRAS G12D-mutant pancreatic cancer. The combination…

For many patients, the internet serves as a powerful tool for self-education on medical topics. With ChatGPT now at patients’ fingertips, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, assessed how consistently the artificial intelligence chatbot provides recommendations for cancer treatment that…

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have uncovered a connection between the topography of the human genome and the presence of mutations in human cancer. They found that certain regions of the genome, which exhibit unique features, act as hotspots for the accumulation of mutations. The findings, published…

The first three weeks of July 2023 have been the hottest global three-week period so far. In the summer months of 2023, twice as many people in Germany were exposed to daily temperatures of 35 degrees and higher than the average from 1980 to 1999. This is obvious from a…

Gene therapy that induces the body to create microRNA-22 (miR-22), a naturally occurring molecule, successfully treated mice with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer. The miR-22 treatment also reduced liver inflammation and produced better survival outcomes with no observable toxicity compared to the FDA-approved liver cancer treatment…

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a flexible battery as thin as a human cornea, which stores electricity when it is immersed in saline solution, and which could one day power smart contact lenses. Smart contact lenses are high-tech contact lenses capable of displaying visible information…

Women with ME/CFS tend to have more symptoms and co-occurring conditions than men, according to initial results from the world’s largest study of the disease. It has long been known that women are more likely to have ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) but the DecodeME study has shown for the…

Preterm babies given a supplement with a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids have better visual function by the age of two and a half. This has been shown by a study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, covers 178…

Parents are spending considerable amounts of energy thinking about and mitigating the risks associated with their kids using mobile phones and the internet. The impacts of too much screen time on children’s physical and mental health, development and education are common concerns among parents. New research by the University of…

Just like our hands, certain organic molecules relate to each other like an image and its reflection — a phenomenon that chemists call “chirality” or “handedness.” The two mirror images of the same molecule, namely both enantiomers, often possess different biological properties. For example for drug discovery, many times only…

A new study led by Dr. Xuekun Lu from Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with an international team of researchers from the UK and USA has found a way to prevent lithium plating in electric vehicle batteries, which could lead to faster charging times. The paper was published…

In the form of DNA, nature shows how data can be stored in a space-saving and long-term manner. Bioinformatics specialists are developing DNA chips for computer technology. Researchers show how a combination of molecular biology, nanotechnology, novel polymers, electronics and automation, coupled with systematic development, could make DNA data storage…

A relatively simple, inexpensive method of filtering urban stormwater runoff dramatically boosted survival of newly hatched coho salmon in an experimental study. That’s the good news for the threatened species from the Washington State University-led research. The bad news: unfiltered stormwater killed almost all of them. The findings, published in…

Parents with children in adolescence know this all too well: one minute “the little ones” are just up to your shoulder, and all of a sudden, they’re growing over your head. Until now, it was assumed that such pubertal growth spurt in body length only occurs in humans, but not…

Lithium-ion batteries are the powerhouse of modern-day electronics, and fuel cells are a promising candidate for sustainable energy devices. An important factor affecting the performance of both lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells is the dispersibility of carbon slurries, suspensions made of conductive carbon particles dispersed in a solvent. They can…

Livestock farming will become increasingly difficult in many tropical countries if emissions remain high — but rapidly cutting emissions and limiting cattle expansion would reduce the impacts by 50-84%. More than 1 billion cows around the world will experience heat stress by the end of the century if carbon emissions…

The virulence of a rice-wrecking fungus — and deployment of ninja-like proteins that help it escape detection by muffling an immune system’s alarm bells — relies on genetic decoding quirks that could prove central to stopping it, says research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A Nebraska team helmed by Richard…

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered how proteins work in tandem to regulate ‘treadmilling’, a mechanism used by the network of microtubules inside cells to ensure proper cell division. The findings are published today in the Journal of Cell Biology. Microtubules are long tubes made of…

Fungi-eating orchids were found for the first time to offer their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in exchange for pollination, which is the first evidence for nursery pollination in orchids. This unique new plant-animal relationship hints at an evolutionary transition towards mutualistic symbiosis. Orchids are well known to trick their…

Emperor penguin colonies experienced unprecedented breeding failure in a region of Antarctica where there was total sea ice loss in 2022. The discovery supports predictions that over 90% of emperor penguin colonies will be quasi-extinct by the end of the century, based on current global warming trends. In a new…

CNN  —  Ukrainian forces have carried out their most complex and ambitious operations to date against Russian military facilities in the occupied region of Crimea, officials in Kyiv have said. Special forces landed on the western shore of Crimea, near the settlements of Olenivka and Mayak, in a joint operation…