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USC researchers have created what could be a key building block for assembling a synthetic kidney. In a new study, Zhongwei Li and his colleagues describe how they generate rudimentary kidney structures, known as organoids, that resemble the collecting duct system that helps maintain the body's fluid and pH balance by concentrating and transporting urine. The organoids provide a way to study kidney disease that could lead to new treatments and regenerative approaches for patients.

A previously unreported anatomical structure named the 'cantil' has been described in the popular plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana. Scientists from The Pennsylvania State University, USA, reveal that the cantil forms between the stem and flower-bearing stalk when flowering is delayed. Published in the journal Development, this study highlights that there are still discoveries to be made, even in some of the most meticulously studied species, and provides new clues for understanding conditional growth in plants.

Combustion engines can develop high frequency oscillations, leading to structural damage to and unsafe operating conditions. In Physics of Fluids, research clarifies the feedback processes that give rise to these oscillations. The investigators studied simulated combustion events in a computational model of a rocket combustor and their analysis involved sophisticated techniques, including symbolic dynamics and the use of complex networks to understand the transition into oscillatory behavior.

To counter the effects of climate change on drylands, a new study suggests that global access to water should be managed in a more integrated way.

The influx of warmer water masses from the North Atlantic into the European marginal seas plays a significant role in the marked decrease in sea-ice growth, especially in winter.

New research led by the University of Kent has found that there is no link between bed sharing, infant-mother attachment, and infant behavioral outcomes.

Pesticides safeguard agricultural yields by controlling insects, fungi, and weeds. However, they also enter streams and damage the aquatic communities. In a nationwide monitoring program, scientists led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research have shown that the governmental thresholds for pesticides are too high and that these levels are still exceeded in over 80% of water bodies. The loss of biodiversity can only be halted if the environmental risk assessment of pesticides is revised.

Local rice varieties in Vietnam could be used to help breed improved crops with higher resilience to climate change, according to a new study published in Rice. Earlham Institute researchers are part of an international collaboration with genebanks and rice breeders in Vietnam -- championed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to help abolish world poverty and hunger -- are aiming to identify varieties that can survive an increasingly unpredictable climate.

An extended epidemic model that accounts for uncertainty and the latest data can better predict the evolution of pandemics.

Stem cell biologist Hugo Vankelecom (KU Leuven) and his colleagues have discovered that the pituitary gland in mice ages as the result of an age-related form of chronic inflammation. It may be possible to slow down this process or even partially repair it. The researchers have published their findings in PNAS.

Marine scientists assessed the risk posed by small-scale fisheries to all 72 species of toothed whales found throughout the world's oceans. They found that this risk was highest in the Central Indo-Pacific, Temperate Northern Pacific, Temperate South America and the Western Indo-Pacific.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified two subgroups of adolescents who self-harm and have shown that it is possible to predict those individuals at greatest risk almost a decade before they begin self-harming.

Although stimulated-emission depletion (STED) microscopy was a true breakthrough for observing the morphology of live neurons at higher resolution, there is still room for improvement. In a recent study published in Neurophotonics, a team of scientists led by Dr. U. Valentin Nägerl from Université de Bordeaux developed a simple yet effective calibration method that allows for more precise STED imaging at higher tissue depths.

Scientists developed layered double hydroxide (LDH) membrane with high hydroxide conductivity and ion selectivity for alkaline-zinc iron flow battery.

Solar activities, such as CME(Coronal Mass Ejection), cause geomagnetic storm that is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere. Geomagnetic storms can affect GPS positioning, radio communication, and power transmission system. Solar explosions also emit radiation, which can affect satellite failures, radiation exposure to aircraft crew, and space activity. Therefore, it is important to understand space weather phenomena and their impact on the Earth.

Researchers have succeeded for the first time in demonstrating the role of hypothalamic astrocytes in obesity-related hypertension. In addition, they showed that the hormone leptin is involved in the increase of blood vessels in the hypothalamus of obese mice, contributing of hypertension. Helmholtz Zentrum München led the study and collaborated with Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Technical University of Munich and the German Diabetes Center.

The biological and historical diversity in museum collections is staggering, with specimens collected across centuries by some of the most famous scientists in history. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen successfully revived museal fungal specimens that were more than 250 years old and used the live cultures for whole genome sequencing and physiological experiments.

New results allow the development of novel therapies for hereditary forms of intestinal cancer.

Researchers from Osaka University used innovative imaging techniques to demonstrate symmetric collective alignment of nuclei in the muscle cells of the anterior midgut of the Drosophila embryo. This 'collective nuclear behavior' further influences bilateral asymmetry in the development of internal organs. A clear understanding of the factors that influence the shape and location of viscera will help inform future research into experimental, and eventually therapeutic, organ regeneration technology.

Rising numbers of liver cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has led experts at Flinders University to call for more programs, including mobile liver clinics and ultrasound in rural and remote Australia. The Australian study just published in international Lancet journal EClinicalMedicine reveals the survival difference was largely accounted for by factors other than Indigenous status - including rurality, comorbidity burden and lack of curative therapy.