Eurekalert

Researchers at the University of Leicester have developed a new method to recycle electric vehicle batteries using a ground-breaking new approach that many will have experienced in the dentist's chair.

A new technique established by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Massachusetts reveals the fundamental physics of how a polymer such as DNA threads through holes 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

This is one of the results of the third Social Perception Survey on scientific aspects of COVID-19 conducted by FECYT and presented at the MUNCYT headquarters in Alcobendas. The first survey was conducted between June 25 and July 15, 2020, and the second between Jan. 4-22, 2021. With the results obtained from both, the research on the Evolution of Social Perception of Scientific Aspects of COVID-19 was carried out.

A stimulating environment keeps the 'hippocampus' -- which is the brain's memory control center -- young, so to speak. Causes of this are molecular mechanisms that affect gene regulation. These current findings from studies in mice provide clues as to why an active, varied life can help preserve mental fitness in old age. Researchers from the DZNE and the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at the Technische Universität Dresden report on this in the journal Nature Communications.

A group of UK-Chinese scientists collaborated, finding clues as to why the 2020 summer meiyu season was so unique.

Pioneering research has revealed the erosion of ancient sediments found deep beneath Antarctic ice could be a vital and previously unknown source of nutrients and energy for abundant microbial life.

Russian scientists have experimentally proved the existence of a new type of quasiparticle -- previously unknown excitations of coupled pairs of photons in qubit chains. This discovery could be a step towards disorder-robust quantum metamaterials. The study was published in Physical Review B.

Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from Russia and the UK investigated the safety and efficacy of new chemistry in antisense oligonucleotides used to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a debilitating genetic disease.The new findings will help develop drugs with less toxicity and fewer injections needed thanks to prolonged action. Nusinersen, an approved drug for the treatment of SMA, is administered several times a year via an injection into the spinal canal, so fewer injections would improve the quality of life for patients with SMA.

Earthworms are special because they keep our soil healthy. From the outside they appear inconspicuous. But what earthworms look like from the inside, from their organs to the microbes and parasites that colonize them, has been difficult to grasp. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have developed a method to visualize anatomical structures including products of an earthworm's metabolism. Now published in the US-American Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have shown how RNA-binding proteins modulate synaptic responses that mediate the transmission of nerve cell impulses.

Body axes are molecular coordinate systems along which regulatory genes are activated. These genes then activate the development of anatomical structures in correct locations in the embryo. Thus, the body ensures that we do not develop arms on our heads or ears on our backs. In many organisms, the main body axis is regulated by the β-catenin signaling pathway.

Researchers have revealed that praying mantis (mantids) infected with parasitic hairworms are attracted to horizontally polarized light that is strongly reflected off the surface of water, which causes them to enter the water. In a world-first, these results demonstrate that parasites can manipulate the host's specific light perception system to their advantage, causing the host to behave in an abnormal manner.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba confirmed the proton jumping phenomenon in crystals of imidazolium hydrogen succinate. Advanced computational results corresponded to experimental data. Such chemistry will be useful in upcoming fuel cell technologies that reliably provide primary and backup power.

An international team of researchers has identified a novel mechanism in barley plants, which could help crop growers achieve high yields as temperatures rise.

Scientists (UNIGE/HUG) explored a technique called 'neurofeedback,' which enables ADHD patients to train their attention, based on instant feedback from the level of their brain activity. The team of neuroscientists found that not only did the training have a positive effect on patients' concentration abilities, but also that the attention improvement was closely linked to an enhanced response from the brain -- the P3 wave -- which is known to reflect integration of information in the brain.

Patients with mild COVID-19 infections experience a significantly increased longer lasting reduced sense of taste and smell. This is also the case for long-term shortness of breath, although relatively few people are affected. And women and the elderly are particularly affected. This is shown by new research findings from Aarhus University Aarhus University Hospital and Regional Hospital West Jutland.

Although rare, medulloblastoma is the most common and deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. Metastasis to the lining of the brain or spinal cord is responsible for virtually all deaths. New USC research shines a light on how medulloblastoma spreads and may provide clues to new strategies for targeting deadly medulloblastoma metastases. An enzyme called GABA transaminase (ABAT) aids metastases in surviving the hostile environment around the brain and spinal cord and in resisting treatment.

An international research team reports their success in using urea and sodium hydroxide (NaOH, commonly known as lye or caustic soda) as a pretreatment of algae, which breaks down cellulose and more than doubles biogas production under their initial experimental conditions.

Cancer treatments can cause premature ovarian failure (POI) including in girls who want to become mothers eventually. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) provides a future fertility option but is invasive, has risks and evidence indicates that most girls don't develop POI. So, doctors face the dilemma of how to offer OTC appropriately. An assessment tool has been found to help predict correctly which female cancer patients aged under 18 years will develop POI and should therefore be offered OTC.

What The Study Did: Researchers describe myocarditis presenting after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in 23 patients within the Military Health System.