… show the calculations of researchers. An international team of researchers has used an extensive dataset of more than 2,000 coral reef sites to determine how fish populations and diversity of fish species are faring on the world’s ocean reefs. One finding of the study, recently published in Nature Communications, is that nearly two-thirds of the sites studied are overfished below reference points aimed at maximizing catch. Fishing has been going on in coral reefs for thousands of years. As…
Opportunities for cancer treatment and wound healing. Cells are stimulated by robots measuring just 30 micrometers (µm) Technological platform developed to produce microrobots Ion channel mechanisms can be influenced A group of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed the world’s first microrobot (“microbot”) capable of navigating within groups of cells and stimulating individual cells. Berna Özkale Edelmann, a professor of Nano- and Microrobotics, sees potential for new treatments of human diseases. A group of researchers at…
In living organisms, cells have a very high capacity to process and communicate information by moving molecules or ions through tiny channels that span the cell membrane. UC Santa Cruz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Marco Rolandi’s lab and collaborators at MIT have created a device that mimics this biological concept in order to detect disease. Using their bioprotonic system, a device that integrates electronic components with biological components and uses electrical currents of protons, the researchers can detect…
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new type of material that could offer a sustainable and eco-friendly solution to clean pollutants from water. Dubbed an “engineered living material,” it is a 3D-printed structure made of a seaweed-based polymer combined with bacteria that have been genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that transforms various organic pollutants into benign molecules. The bacteria were also engineered to self-destruct in the presence of a molecule called theophylline, which is…
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory developed a new machine learning model for discovering critical-element-free permanent magnet materials. The model predicts the Curie temperature of new material combinations. It is an important first step in using artificial intelligence to predict new permanent magnet materials. This model adds to the team’s recently developed capability for discovering thermodynamically stable rare earth materials. High performance magnets are essential for technologies such as wind energy, data storage, electric vehicles, and magnetic refrigeration….
Scientists investigate the unique absorption spectra of myelinated nerves as a way to visualize and differentiate them from their surroundings. Invasive medical procedures, such as surgery requiring local anesthesia, often involve the risk of nerve injury. During operation, surgeons may accidentally cut, stretch, or compress nerves, especially when mistaking them for some other tissue. This can lead to long-lasting symptoms in the patient, including sensory and motor problems. Similarly, patients receiving nerve blockades or other types of anesthesia can suffer…
Dresden researchers link excessive pressure in the bile transport network of the liver to the formation of liver cell rosettes, which are observed in many liver diseases. The liver produces bile, which the intestine uses for digestion. For the transport of bile, the liver relies on a network of microscopic tubings, known as bile canaliculi, formed by liver cells called hepatocytes. When the outflow of bile to the intestine is blocked, it collects in the liver and can lead to…
Genetic cluster in root fungus found to be the “on/off” switch for disease-causing behavior. Mold and diseases caused by fungi can greatly impact the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. However, some fungi benefit their hosts by aiding plant survival. Colletotrichum tofieldiae (Ct) is a root mold which typically supports continued plant development even when the plant is starved of phosphorus, an important nutrient for photosynthesis and growth. Researchers studied a unique pathogenic strain of the fungi, called Ct3, which…
ERC Starting Grant for Daniel Keefer. Whether solar cells or photosynthesis in plants: The interaction of light with molecules often plays a crucial role in chemical and physical processes. In many cases, however, the exact quantum mechanical processes are not sufficiently understood. It is difficult to investigate them experimentally, because some signals emitted by the molecules are hidden by signals that are superimposed on them. Daniel Keefer, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, has now obtained…
Salk researchers identified new set of molecules that drive growth of human pancreatic cancer cell lines, potentially leading to new therapeutic targets. Pancreatic cancers are among the most aggressive, deadly tumor types and, for years, researchers have struggled to develop effective drugs against the tumors. Now, Salk researchers have identified a new set of molecules that fuel the growth of tumors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common type of pancreatic cancer. The new research, published in Nature Communications…
CISPA researcher Dr. Rebekka Burkholz receives ERC Starting Grant. Rebekka Burkholz wants to democratize machine learning. Her starting point: Making artificial neural networks smaller and at the same time more efficient, so that they can eventually be developed on all devices and be available to more users. The European Research Council (ERC) is now funding her research project, called SPARSE-ML, for five years with an ERC Starting Grant totaling 1.5 million euros. Machine learning is a rapidly growing area of…
…could provide insight into vaccine development. In a new study, University of Missouri biochemist Steven Van Doren examines the properties of a key part of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to understand how infection occurs. Although the COVID-19 pandemic was the first time most of humanity learned of the now infamous disease, the family of coronaviruses was first identified in the mid-1960s. In a new study, molecular biologist Steven Van Doren, a scientist in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food…
Freeze casting processes can be used to produce highly porous and hierarchically structured materials that have a large surface area. They are suitable for a wide variety of applications, as electrodes for batteries, catalyst materials or in biomedicine. Now a team led by Prof. Ulrike G. K. Wegst, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA and Dr. Francisco García Moreno from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have now used the newly developed X-ray tomoscopy technique at the Swiss Light Source of the Paul Scherrer…
Using a standardized assessment, researchers in the UK compared the performance of a commercially available artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm with human readers of screening mammograms. Results of their findings were published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Mammographic screening does not detect every breast cancer. False-positive interpretations can result in women without cancer undergoing unnecessary imaging and biopsy. To improve the sensitivity and specificity of screening mammography, one solution is to have two readers…
… begins its transfer to the US for the scheduled 2024 launch. To observe the space environment landing on the low-latitude Reiner Gamma region on the near side of the Moon. The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Jong-Ho Lee, hereinafter referred to as ‘MSIT’) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Director Young-Deuk Park, hereinafter referred to as ‘KASI’) announced the beginning of the transfer of the lunar space environment monitor, ‘LUSEM'(Lunar Space Environment Monitor) that will be…
A UNIGE team has identified a key mechanism in the regulation of microtubules, the internal communication pathways of our cells. Cancers, degenerative diseases: deregulation of our cells’ internal communication pathways is at the root of many conditions. Microtubules – microscopic protein filaments – play a crucial role in controlling these exchanges. However, their mechanisms remain poorly understood. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has identified a new mechanism, involving two proteins, that governs their growth. The discovery opens…
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