Culture
New York, NY--April 17, 2019--Engineering bacteria to intelligently sense and respond to disease states, from infections to cancer, has become a promising focus of synthetic biology. Rapid advances in genetic engineering tools have enabled researchers to "program" cells to perform various sophisticated tasks. For example, a network of genes can be wired together to form a genetic circuit in which cells can be engineered to sense the environment and modulate their behavior or produce molecules in response.
A new learning system developed by MIT researchers improves robots' abilities to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a learning-based particle simulator, could give industrial robots a more refined touch -- and it may have fun applications in personal robotics, such as modelling clay shapes or rolling sticky rice for sushi.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A team that studies how biological structures such as cactus spines and mantis shrimp appendages puncture living tissue has turned its attention to viper fangs. Specifically, the scientists wanted to know, what physical characteristics contribute to fangs' sharpness and ability to puncture?
They report their findings in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Philadelphia, April 17, 2019 - To improve the treatment of children with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), investigators have developed a sophisticated way to analyze the microbial and metabolic contents of the gut.
Star Trek's Spock would not be surprised: People are "illogical." New research exploring American liberals and conservatives shows that regardless of political affiliation, tribal instincts kick in and people's ability to think logically suffers when it comes to arguments related to their political belief systems. When confronted with the unsound reasoning of opposing groups, people become better able to identify flawed logic.
The research was recently published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
(San Antonio, April 17, 2019) -- Only about one in four people diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) survive five years after the initial diagnosis. To improve that survival rate, researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center created an online atlas to identify and classify protein signatures present at AML diagnosis.
Researchers from Drexel University and Trinity College in Ireland, have created ink for an inkjet printer from a highly conductive type of two-dimensional material called MXene. Recent findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that the ink can be used to print flexible energy storage components, such as supercapacitors, in any size or shape.
LA JOLLA, CALIF. - April 17, 2019 - Lying within our muscles are stem cells, invisible engines that drive the tissue's growth and repair. Understanding the signal(s) that direct muscle stem cells to spring into action could uncover new ways to promote muscle growth. However, these mechanisms are poorly understood.
A novel type of body awareness training helps women recover from drug addiction, according to new research from the University of Washington. People in the study made marked improvement, and many improvements lasted for a year.
It's the first time the mindfulness approach has been studied in a large randomized trial as an adjunct treatment. The training helps people better understand the physical and emotional signals in their body and how they can respond to these to help them better regulate and engage in self-care.
UBC researchers have determined the majority of men struggle when it comes to understanding the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Professors Joan Bottorff and John Oliffe are scientists with UBC's Men's Health Research Program. Together, while studying men's knowledge or literacy of prostate cancer, they realized many are in the dark when it comes to what they know about the disease. And, more importantly, what direction to take after diagnosis.
The narratives we tell about the past often feature a cast of familiar main characters: kings and rulers, warriors and diplomats -- men who made laws and fought wars, who held power over others in their own lands and beyond. When women enter our stories, we rarely afford them much agency. But across the globe in a variety of societies, royal women found ways to advance the issues they cared about and advocate for the people important to them.
A large, multi-ethnic genome-wide association study (GWAS) of asthma identified novel associations with potential relevance for asthma susceptibility in older adults of diverse racial backgrounds. The study, "Large-scale, multi-ethnic genome wide association study identifies novel loci contributing to asthma susceptibility in adults," appears in the April issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
A multi-disciplinary team of scientists has issued a series of findings and recommendations on the safety of using dispersal agents in oil spill clean-up efforts in a report published this month by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
Indicators of despair--depression, suicidal ideation, drug use and alcohol abuse--are rising among Americans in their late 30s and early 40s across most demographic groups, according to new research led by Lauren Gaydosh, assistant professor of Medicine, Health and Society and Public Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University. These findings suggest that the increase in "deaths of despair" observed among low-educated middle-aged white Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) in recent studies may begin to impact the youngest members of Generation X (born 1974-1983) more broadly in the years to come.
A gene that enables bacteria to be highly resistant to linezolid, an antibiotic that is used as a last resort for treating infections in humans, has been found in bacterial samples [1] from cats and a dog at a small-animal hospital in the UK for the first time. The new research is being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, Netherlands (13-16 April).