Earth
Plants have veins that transport nutrients throughout their whole body. These veins are organized in a highly ordered manner. The plant hormone auxin travels directionally from cell-to-cell and provides cells with positional information, coordinating them during vein formation and regeneration. Until now, it remained a mystery how cells translate auxin signal into a formation of a complex system of veins.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., October 28, 2020--A new study confirms the success of a natural-gas leak-detection tool pioneered by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists that uses sensors and machine learning to locate leak points at oil and gas fields, promising new automatic, affordable sampling across vast natural gas infrastructure.
A group of Moscow scientists has discovered and explained the activity mechanism of a new anti-cancer molecule -- diphenylisoxazole. This molecule has been shown to be effective against human cancer cells. The research, published in the journal Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, makes it possible to produce an affordable cancer treatment drug. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960894X20307198?via%3Dihub
A recent study at the University of Helsinki reveals how gene control mechanisms define the identity of developing neurons in the brainstem. The researchers also showed that a failure in differentiation of the brainstem neurons leads to behavioural abnormalities, including hyperactivity and attention deficit.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers have demonstrated that they can attract, capture and destroy PFAS - a group of federally regulated substances found in everything from nonstick coatings to shampoo and nicknamed "the forever chemicals" due to their persistence in the natural environment.
Immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitor drugs, have made worlds of difference for the treatment of cancer. Most clinicians and scientists understand these drugs to act on what's known as the adaptive immune system, the T cells and B cells that respond to specific threats to the body.
New research from an international team co-led by George Hajishengallis of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine suggests that the innate immune system, which responds more generally to bodily invaders, may be an important yet overlooked component of immunotherapy's success.
Between 1992 and 2015, the world's most biologically diverse places lost an area more than three times the size of Sweden when the land was converted to other uses, mainly agriculture, or gobbled up by urban sprawl.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Many patients with pancreatic cancer have only about a 10% chance of survival within five years of their diagnosis because they tend to become resistant to chemotherapy, past studies have indicated.
A "time machine" that Purdue University engineers designed to observe pancreatic cancer behavior over time suggests a new drug testing approach that could help scientists better catch resistance.
Nucleus accumbens in the brain play a central role in the risk-reward circuit. Their operation is based chiefly on three essential neurotransmitters: dopamine, which promotes desire; serotonin, whose effects include satiety and inhibition; and glutamate, which drives goal-directed behaviors and responses to reward-associated cues and contexts.
As progress in traditional computing slows, new forms of computing are coming to the forefront. At Penn State, a team of engineers is attempting to pioneer a type of computing that mimics the efficiency of the brain's neural networks while exploiting the brain's analog nature.
Modern computing is digital, made up of two states, on-off or one and zero. An analog computer, like the brain, has many possible states. It is the difference between flipping a light switch on or off and turning a dimmer switch to varying amounts of lighting.
SASKATOON - Researchers with the University of Saskatchewan's Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies are part of a global team that has found that the smoke cloud pushed into the stratosphere by last winter's Australian wildfires was three times larger than anything previously recorded.
Scientists at Linköping University, Sweden, have simulated what happens in ecosystems when the habitats of different species disappear. When plants and animals lose their habitats, predator species at the top of the food chain die out first. The results have been published in Ecology Letters, and may provide information for and strengthen initiatives to preserve biodiversity.
The gravitational force in the Universe under which it has evolved from a state almost uniform at the Big Bang until now, when matter is concentrated in galaxies, stars and planets, is provided by what is termed 'dark matter'. But in spite of the essential role that this extra material plays, we know almost nothing about its nature, behaviour and composition, which is one of the basic problems of modern physics.
Membraneless compartments--models for a potential step in the early evolution of cells--have been shown to persist or form, disappear, and reform in predictable ways through multiple cycles of dehydration and rehydration. Such wet-dry cycles were likely common conditions during the early development of life on Earth and could be a driving force for reactions important for the evolution of life.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University Foundation Professor Guowei Wei wasn't preparing machine learning techniques for a global health crisis. Still, when one broke out, he and his team were ready to help.
The group already has one machine learning model at work in the pandemic, predicting consequences of mutations to SARS-CoV-2. Now, Wei's team has deployed another to help drug developers on their most promising leads for attacking one of the virus' most compelling targets. The researchers shared their research in the peer-reviewed journal Chemical Science.