Feed aggregator

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, demonstrates how the horseradish flea beetle regulates the accumulation of mustard oil glucosides in its body. The beetles have special transporters in the excretory system that prevent the excretion of mustard oil glucosides. This mechanism enables the insect to accumulate high amounts of the plant toxins in its body, which it uses for its own defense.

Susceptibility of their microbial partners to the herbicide may be an underestimated weak spot of insects that could add to their decline.

A team has come up with a way to solve two longstanding puzzles: the ages of individual fluid-bearing diamonds, and the chemistry of their parent material. The research has allowed them to sketch out geologic events going back more than a billion years--a potential breakthrough not only in the study of diamonds, but of planetary evolution.

The first comprehensive comparison of 'degrowth' scenarios with established pathways to limit climate change highlights the risk of over-reliance on technological innovation to support continued global growth - which is assumed in established global climate modelling. Findings include: Technologically less risky 'degrowth' limits global warming to 1.5C while global GDP declines by 0.5% annually; a maximum 2C warming can be achieved with 0% GDP growth using available technology (i.e. in line with technological trends).

Targeting a heat production 'brake' on fat tissues may be a safer way to treat obesity than current medication.

MIT researchers have generated what they describe as the most complete gene annotation of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. In their study, they confirmed several protein-coding genes and found that a few others that had been suggested as genes do not code for any proteins.

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new material that prevents infections in wounds - a specially designed hydrogel, that works against all types of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant ones. The new material offers great hope for combating a growing global problem.

Aqueducts are very impressive examples of the art of construction in the Roman Empire. Even today, they still provide us with new insights into aesthetic, practical, and technical aspects of construction and use. Scientists investigated the longest aqueduct of the time, the 426-kilometer-long Aqueduct of Valens supplying Constantinople, and revealed new insights into how this structure was maintained back in time.

About 42% of rural school districts in the U.S. offered fully in-person instruction as of February, compared with only 17% for urban districts, according to a new RAND Corporation survey of school district leaders. The opposite pattern held for fully remote learning: 29% of urban districts offered fully remote instruction compared with 10% of rural districts and 18% of suburban districts.

A new paper in the Journal of the European Economic Association indicates that distrust generated by a 2011 CIA-led vaccination campaign ruse designed to catch Osama Bin Laden resulted in a significant vaccination rate decline in Pakistan.

Skeletal muscles undergo atrophy, or wasting, under conditions of reduced gravity, such as during spaceflight. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba explored the effects of microgravity and artificial gravity (1 g) on mice housed at the International Space Station for 35 days. Artificial gravity successfully prevented the gross and molecular changes observed in the muscles of mice subjected to microgravity.

Largest genomic study of E.coli has tracked the rise of multi-drug resistance (MDR) in Norway.

A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal has found that the risk of delayed acute complications after non-hospitalised SARS-CoV-2 infection is low, but persistent symptoms in this group could lead to increased visits to general practitioners or outpatient clinics in the six months following infection. The study assessed only those complications that led to contact with hospitals.

New research presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (held online, 10-13 May) reveals an association between increasing body mass index (BMI) and the risk of testing positive SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. The study is by Dr Hadar Milloh-Raz, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-HaShomer, Ramat-Gan, Israel, and colleagues.

New research presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (held online, 10-13 May) shows that fat around the waist (abdominal obesity) is more important than general obesity as shown by body mass index (BMI) in predicting the severity of chest X-ray results in patients with COVID-19.

In some countries of the WHO European Region, 1 in 3 children aged 6 to 9 years is living with overweight or obesity. Mediterranean countries have the highest rates of obesity, but the situation there is starting to improve. These are some of the findings of a new WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) report presented at this week's European Congress on Obesity.

As more private data is stored and shared digitally, researchers are exploring new ways to protect data against attacks from bad actors. Current silicon technology exploits microscopic differences between computing components to create secure keys, but artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be used to predict these keys and gain access to data. Now, Penn State researchers have designed a way to make the encrypted keys harder to crack.

Scientists have made major advances in understanding and developing treatments for many cancers by identifying genetic mutations that drive the disease. Now a team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) has developed a machine learning technique for detecting other modifications to DNA that have a similar effect.

For the first time, researchers at Penn Medicine created organoids of the arcuate nucleus (ARC),providing an atlas of cell types in the human hypothalamus, which will be a blueprint to further understanding the development of brain disorders, such as certain causes of obesity and autism.

Since it debuted in 2011, the Get SET Early program, which provides pediatricians and parents with a relatively simple process to screen for indicators of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children as young as age 1, has steadily grown in use and validation. Early screening and identification of ASD has been linked to more effective treatment.