Earth
Osaka, Japan - Researchers at Osaka University have identified a fault in the RNA quality control system of cells that leads to the haywire production of toxic proteins in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTLD/ALS). Their new study, published in The EMBO Journal, shows that an abnormality of the C9orf72 gene produces toxic proteins that hinder the cells' ability to destroy defective C9orf72 RNA, which leads to the buildup of more toxic proteins. Ultimately, this creates a vicious cycle that accelerates the disease process.
DALLAS - Aug. 24, 2020 - The immune protein STING has long been noted for helping protect against viruses and tumors by signaling a well-known immune molecule. Now, UT Southwestern scientists have revealed that STING also activates a separate pathway, one that directly kills tumor-fighting immune cells. Among other implications, the finding could lead to development of longer-lasting immunotherapies to fight cancer.
Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have used artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the degree of water repulsion and protein adsorption by ultra-thin organic materials. By enabling accurate predictions of water repulsion and protein adsorption even by hypothetical materials, the team's approach opens up new possibilities for the screening and design of organic materials with desired functions.
Forest restoration is a crucial element in strategies to mitigate climate change and conserve global biodiversity in the coming decades, and much of the focus is on formerly tree-covered lands in the tropics.
But recent forest restoration research rarely acknowledges the social dimensions or environmental justice implications of such projects. A new study finds that nearly 300 million people in the tropics live on lands suitable for forest restoration, and about a billion people live within 5 miles of such lands. Many of these people live in poverty.
A congenital disorder of the fat metabolism can apparently cause chronic hyperreaction of the immune system. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Bonn in a recent study. The results are published in the journal Autophagy.
How can you turn something flat into something three-dimensional? In architecture and design this question often plays an important role. A team of mathematicians from TU Wien (Vienna) has now presented a technique that solves this problem in an amazingly simple way: You choose any curved surface and from its shape you can calculate a flat grid of straight bars that can be folded out to the desired curved structure with a single movement. The result is a stable form that can even carry loads due to its mechanical tension.
The step into the third dimension
Younger teenagers in the South West of England felt less anxious and more connected to school when they were away from it during the COVID-19 global pandemic public lockdown, a first-of-its-kind study has found.
The striking results of research led by the University of Bristol are published today by the National Institute for Health Research School for Public Health Research (NIHR SPHR) in a report which raises questions about the impact of the school environment on young people's mental health and calls for more support to help them when they return to the classroom.
In a first-ever study using ozone data collected by commercial aircraft, researchers from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder found that levels of the pollutant in the lowest part of Earth's atmosphere have increased across the Northern Hemisphere over the past 20 years. That's even as tighter controls on emissions of ozone precursors have lowered ground-level ozone in some places, including North America and Europe.
A new study shows nutrients can aggravate the already negative effects of climate change on corals to trigger mass coral bleaching.
Coral reef environments are typically low in naturally occurring nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous compounds. But ocean currents passing by can bring in a concentration of nutrients from elsewhere. Similarly, nutrients from man-made fertilisers and stormwater runoff enter reefs from adjacent coastlines.
Every year, thousands of people end up in the emergency room or hospital with minor head injuries, often diagnosed as concussions. Concussions usually result from falls, violence, bicycle accidents or sports injuries.
In the first days following a severe concussion, it is common to experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, an increased need for sleep or difficulty sleeping.
To understand how chemical reactions begin, chemists have been using super-slow motion experiments for years to study the very first moments of a reaction. These days, measurements with a resolution of a few dozen attoseconds are possible. An attosecond is 1x10^-18 of a second, i.e. a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - In the first comprehensive study of the link between rising sea levels and inland water tables along the California coast, researchers found an increased threat to populated areas already at risk from rising water tables, and the possibility of flooding in unexpected inland areas.
MADISON, Wis. -- When it comes to climate change, University of Wisconsin¬-Madison forest and wildlife ecology Professor Ben Zuckerberg says birds are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. They are both responsive and sensitive to changes in the environment, including the extreme weather events associated with a warming planet.
Striking images of the California wildfires are seen in these nighttime satellite images taken by the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite on Aug. 20, 2020. At approximately 3:01 am PDT, NOAA-NASA's Suomi NPP was almost directly overhead and imaged the regionusing different bands on its VIIRS (Visible infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument. Large fires are easily visible in this image. Suomi NPP's day/night band clearly showed that lights in the Central Valley were being scattered by the smoke, from both the LNU and the SCU Lightning Complexes.