Feed aggregator

Scrap for cash before coins

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
How did people living in the Bronze Age manage their finances before money became widespread? Researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and Rome have discovered that bronze scrap found in hoards in Europe circulated as a currency. These pieces of scrap - which might include swords, axes, and jewellery broken into pieces - were used as cash in the late Bronze Age, and in fact complied with a weight system used across Europe. Results were published in Journal of Archaeological Science.
Categories: Content

Scientists discover how to trick cancer cells to consume toxic drugs

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
New research led by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital points to a promising strategy to boost tumors' intake of cancer drugs, thereby increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments.
Categories: Content

Penn study reveals how opioid supply shortages shape emergency department prescribing behaviors

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
A new study published in the Journal of Medical Toxicology reveals that opioid prescribing behavior can also be decreased by external factors, such as a supply shortage. In this case, the shortage was of parenteral morphine and hydromorphone, as a result of supply chain disruptions caused by Hurricane Maria in 2018.
Categories: Content

Molecular analysis identifies key differences in lungs of cystic fibrosis patients

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
A team of researchers from UCLA, Cedars-Sinai and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has developed a first-of-its-kind molecular catalog of cells in healthy lungs and the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis.
Categories: Content

Swiping, swabbing elevates processing plant food safety

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
By swiping surfaces in commercial food processing plants with specially designed rapid-testing adenosine triphospate (ATP) swabs - which produce a light similar to the glow of fireflies in the presence of microorganisms - spoilage and foodborne illness could diminish, according to a new study from Cornell University food scientists.
Categories: Content

Transforming atmospheric carbon into industrially useful materials

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Plants are unparalleled in their ability to capture carbon from the air, but this benefit is temporary. Researchers have proposed a more permanent, and even useful, fate for this captured carbon by turning plants into a valuable industrial material called silicon carbide (SiC). A new study from Salk scientists quantifies this process with more detail than ever before.
Categories: Content

Feeling younger buffers older adults from stress, protects against health decline

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
People who feel younger have a greater sense of well-being, better cognitive functioning, less inflammation, lower risk of hospitalization and even live longer than their older-feeling peers. A study published by the American Psychological Association suggests one potential reason for the link between subjective age and health: Feeling younger could help buffer middle-aged and older adults against the damaging effects of stress.
Categories: Content

PCB contamination in Icelandic orcas: a matter of diet

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
A new study from McGill University suggests that some Icelandic killer whales have very high concentrations of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in their blubber. But it seems that other orcas from the same population have levels of PCBs that are much lower. It mainly depends on what they eat.
Categories: Content

Why do some neurons degenerate and die in Alzheimer's disease, but not others?

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have uncovered molecular clues that help explain what makes some neurons more susceptible than others in Alzheimer's disease. In a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists present evidence that neurons with high levels of the protein apolipoprotein E (apoE) are more sensitive to degeneration, and that this susceptibility is linked to apoE's regulation of immune-response molecules within neurons.
Categories: Content

Pandemic-driven telehealth proves popular at safety net health system

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
As state and federal authorities decide whether to continue reimbursing for telehealth services that were suddenly adopted last spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a new study out of UC San Francisco has found that clinicians in the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) overwhelmingly support using these services for outpatient primary care and specialty care visits.
Categories: Content

Researchers develop mathematical model predicting disease spread patterns

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
A team of environmental engineers, alerted by the unusual wealth of data published regularly by county health agencies throughout the pandemic, began researching new methods to describe what was happening on the ground in a way that does not require obtaining information on individuals' movements or contacts. In a recently published paper, they presented their results: a model that predicts where the disease will spread from an outbreak, in what patterns and how quickly.
Categories: Content

Story tip from Johns Hopkins experts on COVID-19

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Story tip from Johns Hopkins experts on COVID-19.
Categories: Content

Physicists unveil the condensation of liquid light in a semiconductor one-atom-thick

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
An international team of physicists has shown experimentally for the first time how a Bose-Einstein condensate - tens of thousands of quanta of 'liquid light' - is formed in the thinnest monatomic film of a semiconductor crystal. The team includes the head of the Spin Optics Laboratory at St Petersburg University, Professor Alexey Kavokin. This discovery will help create new types of lasers capable of producing qubits - the main integral parts of quantum computers of the future.
Categories: Content

Researchers develop new metal-free, recyclable polypeptide battery that degrades on demand

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
The introduction of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has revolutionized technology as a whole, leading to major advances in consumer goods across nearly all sectors. Battery-powered devices have become ubiquitous across the world. While the availability of technology is generally a good thing, the rapid growth has led directly to several key ethical and environmental issues surrounding the use of Li-ion batteries.
Categories: Content

Skin and immune cells coordinate defenses against assault

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
As the human body's largest organ, the skin is responsible for protecting against a wide range of possible infections on all fleshy surfaces, from head to toe. So how exactly does the skin organize its defenses against such an array of threats?
Categories: Content

In graphene process, resistance is useful

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Rice scientists adapt laser-induced graphene to make conductive patterns from standard photoresist material for consumer electronics and other applications.
Categories: Content

Surprising sand fly find yields new species of bacteria

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Researchers made a surprising finding while examining areas where sand flies rear their young: a new species of bacteria that is highly attractive to pregnant sand flies. The findings could advance the production of ecologically safe baits or traps to reduce sand fly populations.
Categories: Content

Cancer patients lonely and depressed during COVID

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for cancer patients these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a new UCSF study.
Categories: Content

Organ transplant recipients remain vulnerable to COVID-19 even after second vaccine dose

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
In a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers show that although two doses of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes COVID 19 -- confers some protection for people who have received solid organ transplants, it's still not enough to enable them to dispense with masks, physical distancing and other safety measures.
Categories: Content

Online learning doesn't improve student sleep habits, research suggests

Eurekalert - May 06 2021 - 00:05
New research from Simon Fraser University suggests that students learning remotely become night owls but do not sleep more despite the time saved commuting, working or attending social events.
Categories: Content