Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have created a device that acts like a synapse in the living brain, storing information and gradually forgetting it when not accessed for a long time. Known as a second-order memristor,…
Author: sarah Jonas
A face for Lucy’s ancestor
Researchers discover remarkably complete 3.8-million-year-old cranium of Australopithecus anamensis
Canadian astronomers determine Earth’s fingerprint
Canadian astronomers determine Earth’s fingerprint in hopes of finding habitable planets beyond the
Narrowing risk of preeclampsia to a specific phenotype
By studying lipoproteins in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes, MUSC researchers aim to understand
NASA finds wind shear affecting Tropical Depression Erin
Visible and infrared imagery from NASA’s Terra satellite revealed that strong wind shear was adversely affecting Tropical Depression Erin, located about 200 miles off the Carolina coast. On Aug. 27, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s…
Clues to early social structures may be found in ancient extraordinary graves
Elaborate burial sites can provide insight to the development of socio-political hierarchies in early human communities, according to a study released August 28, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by an international team of archaeologists, anthropologists and neuroscientists of…
Music-based biofeedback shows promise in improving deadlift technique
Musical feedback achieves similar effectiveness to instructor feedback in small study
Some vaccine doubters may be swayed by proximity to disease outbreak, study finds
An individual’s trust in institutions such as the CDC, and how close they live to a recent measles outbreak, may affect their attitudes on measles vaccination, according to a study published August 28, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE…
Clickbait secrets exposed! Humans and AI team up to improve clickbait detection
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Humans and machines worked together to help train an artificial intelligence — AI — model that outperformed other clickbait detectors, according to researchers at Penn State and Arizona State University. In addition, the new AI-based solution…
Cancer cells ‘corrupt’ their healthy neighbors
The healthy cells immediately surrounding a tumor become more stem cell-like and support cancer grow
Stretchable wireless sensor could monitor healing of cerebral aneurysms
A wireless sensor small enough to be implanted in the blood vessels of the human brain could help clinicians evaluate the healing of aneurysms — bulges that can cause death or serious injury if they burst. The stretchable sensor, which…
Floods are impacted by a changing climate
A large international research project led by the Vienna University of Technology has demonstrated,
A new drug could revolutionize the treatment of neurological disorders
The international team of scientists from Gero Discovery LLC, the Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca, and Nanosyn, Inc. has found a potential drug that may prevent neuronal death through glucose metabolism modification in stressed neurons. The positive results obtained…
Addition of growth factors to unique system helps new bone formation
The development of new bone can be a multistep process: first, stem cells differentiate into cartilage cells. Next, the cartilage cells become bone cells. But that’s not all: the cells must experience some mechanical stresses during the transformation in order…
Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain’s blood vessels
Magnetically controlled device could deliver clot-reducing therapies in response to stroke or other
UCI-led study: Plankton are more resilient to nutrient stress than previously thought
Interdisciplinary team produces first high-resolution map of ocean surface phosphate
Ecopipam reduces stuttering symptoms in proof-of-concept trial
UC Riverside-led open-label pilot study leads to a double-blind clinical trial to further test ecopi
What we don’t know about prenatal opioid exposure
U study finds sparse data on how children fare after prenatal opioid exposure
Brain stem cells have a good memory
By successfully rejuvenating brain progenitor cells, researchers at UNIGE reveal an unsuspected role
A dual imaging approach may improve diagnosis and monitoring of prostate cancer
A new platform that combines two established imaging methods can peer into both the structure and molecular makeup of the prostate in men with prostate cancer. The technology is more sensitive and comprehensive compared to current “gold standard” methods, indicating…
Southern Ocean circulation patterns that keep the lid on stored carbon are more complex than previou
Reframing the carbon cycle of the subpolar Southern Ocean
Phenomenal growth and future directions of pervasive computing highlighted at UbiComp 2019
Three-day event inlcudes international symposium on wearable computers
AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco: Press registration open
WASHINGTON–Discover the latest Earth and space science news at Fall Meeting 2019 this December, when more than 25,000 attendees from around the globe are expected to assemble for the largest worldwide conference in the Earth and space sciences. This year,…
New DNA sequencer method achieves early-stage and broad-range detection of wheat diseases
Plant diseases, especially those caused by fungal pathogens, jeopardize global crop biosecurity and preventing them requires rapid detection and identification of causal agents. Traditional methods for crop disease diagnosis rely on the expertise of pathologists who can identify diseases by…
Clostridium difficile infections may have a friend in fungi
Washington, DC – August 28, 2019 – The pathogen Clostridium difficile , which causes one of the most common hospital-acquired infections in the United States, may have accomplices that until now have gone largely unnoticed. This week in mSphere ,…
Baylor College of Medicine issues position statement on youth smoking and vaping
Baylor College of Medicine has issued a statement to address and help prevent the harms of youth smoking and vaping. As e-cigarette use rises rapidly among younger generations, Baylor calls on the public to educate their legislators, policy makers and…
Changing climate linked to major changes in flooding across Europe
Multinational study shows significant regional differences in severity of floods
A 3.8-million-year-old fossil from Ethiopia reveals the face of Lucy’s ancestor
Researchers discover ‘remarkably complete’ cranium of Australopithecus anamensis
New sequencing study provides insight into HIV vaccine protection
RNA-sequencing reveals B cell gene signature associated with protective efficacy of SIV and HIV vacc
Molecular big data, a new weapon for medicine
Experts will meet in Switzerland in September
More rain yet less water expected for up to 250 million people along the Nile
Climate and population overwhelm precipitation on the world’s longest river
High-protein bedtime snacks no problem for active women
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Physically active women who have foresworn bedtime snacks should feel no fear cracking open the cupboards after sundown for a protein-rich treat, according to new Florida State University-led research. In a study of women weight lifters, nutrition…
AI learns to model our Universe
Researchers have successfully created a model of the Universe using artificial intelligence, reports a new study. Researchers seek to understand our Universe by making model predictions to match observations. Historically, they have been able to model simple or highly simplified…
Cell biology — Potential drop signals imminent danger
Misfolded proteins must be promptly eliminated as they can form toxic aggregates in cells. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich biologists have studied how this process is triggered in mitochondria and identified a general alarm signal that activates it. Proteins can perform…
Could marriage stave off dementia?
Dementia and marital status could be linked, according to a new Michigan State University study that found married people are less likely to experience dementia as they age. On the other hand, divorcees are about twice as likely as married…
How your brain remembers motor sequences
Hierarchical, yet flat
Signal blocks stem cell division in the geriatric brain
Scientists from Basel have investigated the activity of stem cells in the brain of mice and discovered a key mechanism that controls cell proliferation. According to the researchers, the gene regulator Id4 controls whether stem cells remain in a state…
Popular pain medication associated with greater risk of hypoglycemia
Tramadol, an opioid, is widely used to treat moderate or severe pain, but patients may be at risk of
Isotopes in poop show where secretive jaguars hunt
Isotopic analysis gives scientists a noninvasive way of recording the habitat needs and geographic r
Millennials, think you’re digitally better than us? Yes, according to science
Study one of the first to examine IT switching prowess phenomenon in the ‘net generation’ with some
Unusual mucous-like substance found buried within seafloor sediment
When Friederike Gründger and her team cracked open the long, heavy cylinders of black sediment drawn from the ocean floor, they were surprised to find pockets of yellowish-green slime buried within two of the samples. The average person may not…
Fresh water found in the Norwegian Sea
When we the found fresh water leaking from the seabed, we were very surprised,’ explains scientist and marine geologist Wei-Li Hong at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU). A remote-controlled vehicle, deployed from research vessel G.O. Sars, collected and measured…
Probiotic Use Can Lead to Major Economic and Health Savings Related to Flu-like Illnesses
General probiotic use in the U.S. could save the health care payer and the economy around $1.4 billion in medical bills and lost productivity due to acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs), a new study found. The researchers developed an economic model to estimate the cost savings by simulating a population representative of the national demographics. The savings included the cost of averted antibiotic prescriptions, RTI episodes and sick days causing productivity loss.
Researchers develop new information tool to standardize clinical outreach to unsheltered homeless an
HOUSED BEDS acronym can help outreach workers better assess unsheltered homeless patients to treat t
Parental burnout can lead to harmful outcomes for parent and child
When the daily stress of parenting becomes chronic it can turn into parental burnout, an intense exhaustion that leads parents to feel detached from their children and unsure of their parenting abilities, according to research published in Clinical Psychological Science…
Scientists call for infiltration to be better incorporated into land surface models
Soil scientists can’t possibly be everywhere at once to study every bit of soil across the planet. Plus, soils are constantly changing. Conditions like weather and land use have a major impact on soil over time. So, to understand everything…
Nuclear winter would threaten nearly everyone on Earth
Second study of its kind confirms extreme impacts from US vs. Russia nuclear war
Waist size, not body mass index, may be more predictive of coronary artery disease
Study investigates association between obesity type and obstructive artery disease in postmenopausal
Using artificial intelligence to track birds’ dark-of-night migrations
In a first, UMass Amherst, Cornell use AI to mine big migration data on massive scale
Europe warming faster than expected due to climate change
WASHINGTON – Climate change is increasing the number of days of extreme heat and decreasing the number of days of extreme cold in Europe, posing a risk for residents in the coming decades, according to a new study. Temperatures in…