Earth
Probiotic supplements are widely available and are sometimes promoted as a general way to support the gut microbiome and promote health. But a higher bar for probiotic use exists in medical settings, where probiotics are more apt to be used for specific purposes.
A new study by researchers from Waseda University and the University of Tokyo found that orbital ordering in a vanadate compound exhibits a clear nucleation-growth behavior.
Warming ocean temperatures and acidification drastically reduce the skeletal strength and filter-feeding capacity of glass sponges, according to new UBC research.
The findings, published in Scientific Reports, indicate that ongoing climate change could have serious, irreversible impacts on the sprawling glass sponge reefs of the Pacific Northwest and their associated marine life - the only known reefs of their kind in the world.
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have uncovered how cancer cells protect themselves from viruses that are harmful to tumours but not to healthy cells. These findings could lead to improved viral treatments for the disease.
In their study, published in Nature Cell Biology, the researchers identified a mechanism that protects cancer cells from oncolytic viruses, which preferentially infect and kill cancer cells.
The Mesopelagic zone, or Twilight zone, contains the largest and least exploited fish reserves in the oceans. It is crucial for the sustainability of the oceans and for the elimination of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its storing in the deep oceans for centuries or more. Despite its importance in the balance of the oceans and the global carbon cycle, it is a little understood zone, physically, biochemically and ecologically.
Pregnant women who take extra choline supplements may mitigate the negative impact that viral respiratory infections, including COVID-19, can have on their babies, according to a new study from researchers in the Departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Choline is a vitamin B nutrient found in various foods and dietary supplements, and is critical to fetal brain development.
You've never seen a pair of snake skin shoes like this before.
Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and MIT have developed pop-up shoe grips, inspired by snake skin, that can increase friction between the shoe and the ground. The assistive grips could be used, among other things, to reduce the risk of falling among older adults.
The research is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Humans are unusual, even among primates, in the length of our "extended childhood." Scientists think that this period of childhood and adolescence, which gives us lots of time to explore, create, and learn, is a key reason why we are smart enough to learn skills that take years to master. But humans are not the only species with an extended childhood. Elephants, some bats, whales, dolphins, and some birds - especially corvids - also have them. But does an extended childhood make other species smart too, and if so, what is the role of parenting?
Children and adolescents are likely to experience high rates of depression and anxiety long after current lockdown and social isolation ends and clinical services need to be prepared for a future spike in demand, according to the authors of a new rapid review into the long-term mental health effects of lockdown.
At the atomic level, a glass of water and a spoonful of crystalline salt couldn’t look more different. Water atoms move around freely and randomly, while salt crystals are locked in place in a lattice. But some new materials, recently investigated by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, show an intriguing propensity to sometimes behave like water and sometimes like salt, giving them interesting transport properties and holding potential promise for applications like mixing and delivery in the pharmaceutical industry.
Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopy is an extension of circular dichroism spectroscopy into the infrared and near-infrared regions where vibrational transitions occur in the ground electronic state of a molecule. The method offers the advantage of studying the chiroptical properties of a wide range of molecules in non-crystalline states. However, due to the weakness of the signals, one measurement requires several hours to yield reliable results. Accordingly, its target was limited to a stable molecule in a solution.
Smart windows that automatically change colors depending on the intensity of sunlight are gaining attention as they can reduce energy bills by blocking off sun's visible rays during summer. But what about windows that change colors depending on the humidity outside during the monsoon season or on hot days of summer?
Recently, a Korean research team has developed the source technology for smart windows that change colors according to the amount of moisture, without needing electricity.
The Neolithic lifestyle, including farming, animal domestication and the development of new technologies, emerged in the Near East around 12,000 years ago and contributed profoundly to the modern way of life. The Neolithic spread rapidly across Europe, mainly along the Danube valley and the Mediterranean coastline, reaching the Atlantic coast around 5000-4500 BCE. The existing archaeogenetic data from prehistoric European farmers indicates that the spread of farming is due to expanding populations of early farmers who mixed little, if at all, with indigenous hunter-gatherer groups.
What The Study Did: Potential tissue targets and routes of entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the central nervous system and reported neurological complications of COVID-19 are identified in this narrative review.
Authors: Serena Spudich, M.D., of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.2065)
Previous pandemics have often disproportionately impacted ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. While early evidence suggests that the same may be occurring in the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, research into the subject remains limited.