Culture

A war between India and Pakistan using less than 1 percent of nuclear weapons worldwide could lead to the worst global food losses in modern history, according to a Rutgers co-authored study that is the first of its kind.

Sudden global cooling from a limited nuclear war along with less precipitation and sunlight "could disrupt food production and trade worldwide for about a decade - more than the impact from anthropogenic climate change by late (21st) century," the study says.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Brown University have developed new approaches that significantly improve the accuracy of an important material testing technique by harnessing the power of machine learning.

A powerful Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) collaboration has revealed that a bacterial superbug can prevent stem cells in the gut from carrying out their vital role of regenerating the inner lining of the intestine. This causes potentially severe disease, particularly in the elderly.

While concerns loom over an impending recession caused by the spread of COVID-19, policymakers and business leaders have implemented radical strategies, such as slashing interest rates to invigorate the U.S.'s weakened economy. Research and Development (R&D) has long been key in the nation's economic prospects and according to new research from the University of California San Diego, the country's ability to maintain its competitive edge in this area largely depends on managers in R&D being less averse to risk.

ITHACA, N.Y. - When you smell an orange, the scent is most likely combined with several others: car exhaust, garbage, flowers, soap. Those smells bind simultaneously to the hundreds of receptors in your brain's olfactory bulb, obscuring one another, yet you can still recognize the smell of an orange, even when it's blended with a totally different pattern of other scents.

NEW YORK, NY (March 16, 2020) - CRISPR-based genetic screens have helped scientists identify genes that are key players in sickle-cell anemia, cancer immunotherapy, lung cancer metastasis, and many other diseases. However, these genetic screens are limited in scope: They can only edit or target DNA. For many regions of the human genome, targeting DNA may not be effective, and other organisms, such as RNA viruses like coronavirus or flu, cannot be targeted at all with existing DNA-targeting CRISPR screens.

Children's museums can be a challenging environment for parents who feel the urge to explain the science behind all the novel activities that dazzle youngsters.

Sometimes that impulse goes awry, as when a well-meaning parent offers a detailed explanation that interrupts a youngster's exploration and dampens the fun--and the learning.

New research suggests that timing is key to supporting children's learning in these environments.

New Rochelle, NY, March 16, 2020--Physicians describe the standardized procedure of surgical anesthesia for patients with COVID-19 infection requiring emergency surgery to minimize the risk of virus spread and reduce lung injury in a Letter to the Editor published in Surgical Infections, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers.

A new paper including research from a Utah State University scientist provides a framework for understanding how light and noise pollution affects wildlife. The framework is the product of an effort among worldwide experts in ecology and physiology and reveals the presence of "sensory danger zones," or areas where sensory pollutants influences animal activity. The study is published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. The paper is a collaborative work with principal investigator Neil Carter, assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability.

Protein aggregation and misfolding underpins several neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntingdon's and Alzheimer's. Proteins can also become aggregated or denatured under conditions of stress, such as extreme heat.

Maternal obesity increases the risk for obesity and metabolic perturbations in their offspring, but what are the mechanisms? In a new study published March 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Sebastien Bouret of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Lille, France, and colleagues show that a key step in the process is the triggering of stress in a complex membrane system within all cells called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating infectious disease in swine and has been catastrophic for the global pig industry. In 2018, ASFV was transmitted to pigs in China and ten other Asian countries, which mauled heavily pig industry in these areas. The fact demonstrates that ASF is hard to be controlled by culling infected pigs alone in China, and the development and application of an efficacious vaccine is urgently needed. Different vaccine strategies for ASF have been evaluated in the past decades.

Scientists have discovered a possible link between Parkinson's disease and a gene impacted by a neurotoxin found in blue-green algae.

University of Queensland scientist Dr Jacob Gratten said the findings increased the understanding of the environmental risk factors of Parkinson's disease.

"We looked for a link between Parkinson's and changes in the human genome that control how genes are turned on and off, because these changes can be influenced by the environment," Dr Gratten said.

Young adults don't know what's in the products they vape and often don't know what brand of vaping products they use, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The findings come from a study of California residents that will be published online March 16 in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study asked 445 participants, ages 17-24, about their use of pod-based e-cigarettes, including specific questions about products made by Juul, Suorin Drop, Phix and Myblu.

What The Study Did: Data collected from 155 adult transgender women and 55 transgender men were used to identify the earliest age at which gender dysphoria was experienced in this patient population seeking genital gender-affirming surgery at a California hospital.

Authors:  Maurice M. Garcia, M.D., M.A.S., of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is the corresponding author.

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