Feed aggregator

'Bad fat' suppresses killer T cells from attacking cancer

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Salk researchers have identified how tumors cause immune cells to lose their ability to fight cancer, by producing harmful fats the energy-hungry immune cells ingest, impairing their functionality. The understanding opens new avenues for novel immunotherapies for cancer.
Categories: Content

Sealed, signed and delivered

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
A team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) made a rare discovery when they unearthed a small clay seal impression dating back some 7,000 years. The impression, with two different geometric stamps imprinted on it, was discovered in Tel Tsaf, a prehistoric village located in Israel's Beit She'an Valley up north.
Categories: Content

Trapping DNA damage

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
The delicate strands that carry life's genetic code take a beating as they jumble about in the course of their work. If left untreated, errors accumulate, with fatal consequences for the organism. This is where two key proteins come to the rescue: PARP acts as a marker for a trouble spot, allowing XRCC1 to zoom in and begin a repair.
Categories: Content

Study of harvey flooding aids in quantifying climate change

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Fathom Bristol used a hydraulic model to consider the degree to which human-caused climate change may have affected flooding in Houston in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey. Resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center were used to quantify the increase in Houston flood area and depth and to host a portal where other scientists and the public can access and explore the resulting data.
Categories: Content

The survivability of animal species depends on the number of offspring

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
The researchers found incompatibilities between mammals and amphibians in the relation between body size and extinction risk.The researchers found that the females of smaller amphibians, such as rain frogs (Eleutherodactylus), produce a smaller number of offspring per clutch.
Categories: Content

Ion and lipid transporters specialize for their niche

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Cell viability require that a variety of functions at the cell membrane are maintained properly. P-type ATPases translocate substrates across the membrane, and they have evolved into different types taking care of specific substrates within a diverse range. Now, key structural aspects have been described on how two different types of P-type ATPases -- a Ca2+ transporting Ca2+-ATPase and a lipid transporting P4-ATPase - have adapted to different substrates and physical environments.
Categories: Content

A new mechanism behind continuous stem cell activity in plants

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
An inter-university research group has succeeded in constructing the gene expression network behind the vascular development process in plants. They achieved this by performing bioinformatics analysis using the 'VISUAL' tissue culture platform, which generates vascular stem cells from leaf cells. In this network, they also discovered a new BES/BZR transcription factor, BEH3, and illuminated its role in vascular cell maintenance.
Categories: Content

Clearer and refocused SEM images

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
POSTECH and Korea Institute of Materials Science joint research team develops an AI-based technique that improves the quality of SEM images that requires no human oversight.
Categories: Content

Lunar sample tells ancient story with help of Curtin's world-class facilities

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Curtin University researchers have helped uncover the four billion year old story of a lunar sample brought from the Moon to Earth, by the manned Apollo 17 mission more than 50 years ago.
Categories: Content

Nicotinamide can 'immunize' plants to protect from fungal disease

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
A team led by Kanazawa University, Japan, discovered that applying the vitamin nicotinamide (NIM) to plants prevents development of fungal disease. Pre-treatment with NIM activates the plant immune response and increases amounts of antimicrobial compounds that suppress the growth of the fungus. The results could lead to novel approaches to tackling crop diseases, potentially replacing toxic fungicide sprays with new, safer ways to stimulate the plant's own defense systems.
Categories: Content

When physics meets financial networks

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Financial institutions are linked together in a global web of interactions whose structure can be analyzed quantitatively by means of network theory. Today, 15 years after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the role of networks for monitoring financial stability is widely recognized. Both policymakers and researchers agree that systemic risk has to be studied and managed by adopting a network perspective.
Categories: Content

IPBES/IPCC: Tackling the biodiversity and climate crises together, and their combined social impacts

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) launch a peer-reviewed report based on a 4-day virtual workshop on addressing the biodiversity and climate crises together involving 50 jointly-selected international experts.
Categories: Content

Prostate cancer linked to obesity

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Abdominal obesity appears to be associated with a greater risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. This link was demonstrated in a study led by Professor Marie-Élise Parent of Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control.
Categories: Content

Climate protection: Deep decarbonization by 2050 currently not plausible

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
The study represents the first systematic attempt to investigate whether a climate future with net-zero carbon emissions is not only possible but also plausible. They conclude that the efforts need to be far more ambitious. The results imply that global surface warming of less than 1.7° Celsius by 2100 is not plausible, but nor is a rise of more than 4.9 degrees.
Categories: Content

Beyond Remission: From Alcohol Dependence to Optimal Mental Health

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
New research published online in the journal Substance Use & Misuse is good news for those struggling with alcohol dependence: the possibility of ending this dependency gets easier with age. Moreover, more than half of individuals who have been dependent on alcohol are free of any addictions or mental illness, and nearly 40% are in excellent mental health.
Categories: Content

Largescale brain epigenetics study provides new insights into dementia

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
The team looked in different regions of the brain, which are affected in Alzheimer's disease before looking for common changes across these cortical regions. They identified 220 sites in the genome, including 84 new genes, which showed different levels of DNA methylation in the cortex in individuals with more severe Alzheimer's disease, which weren't seen in the cerebellum.
Categories: Content

Drug commonly used as antidepressant helps fight cancer in mice

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
A new study by UCLA researchers suggests that the group of antidepressants commonly known as MAOIs may help the immune system attack cancer. Their findings are reported in two papers, which are published in the journals Science Immunology and Nature Communications.
Categories: Content

Say goodbye to your camera bump: uOttawa researchers miniaturize optics by discovering counterpart to lens

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Can you imagine one day using a telescope as thin as a sheet of paper, or a much smaller and lighter high-performance camera? Or no longer having that camera bump behind your smartphone? In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Ottawa have proposed a new optical element that could turn these ideas into reality by dramatically miniaturizing optical devices, potentially impacting many of the applications in our lives.
Categories: Content

Losing nature impacts Black, Hispanic, and low-income Americans most

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
When nature vanishes, people of color and low-income Americans disproportionally lose critical environmental and health benefits--including air quality, crop productivity and disease control--a new study in Nature Communications finds. The research is the first national study to explore the unequal impacts on American society--by race and income--of projected declines in nature and its benefits.Researchers find multiple natural benefits will drop for people of color by an average of 224%-111% between 2020-2100, as white communities see gains.
Categories: Content

Lodgers on manganese nodules: Sponges promote a high diversity

Eurekalert - Jun 10 2021 - 00:06
Deep down in the ocean, valuable raw materials are stored, such as nodules of manganese. These resources could help meeting our increasing demand for rare metals. In addition to the nodules, there is another treasure down there: A complex ecosystem we barely understand. Researchers from Bremen and the Netherlands have discovered that sponges settling on the nodules provide a home for many other animals. Without nodules, diversity in these deep-sea regions would be significantly lower.
Categories: Content