Zebra Finches Defy Age-Related Learning Limits. We all know the adage, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” As we age, our ability to learn new skills, like mastering a foreign language or picking up a musical instrument, seems to fade. The culprit? A decline in brain plasticity—the brain’s capacity to rewire itself and adapt to new challenges. But what if we could rewind the clock on this age-related decline? A new study led by Daniela Vallentin at the…
Darwin was puzzled by cooperation in nature—it ran directly against natural selection and the notion of survival of the fittest. But over the past decades, evolutionary mathematicians have used game theory to better understand why mutual cooperation persists when evolution should favour self-serving cheaters. At a basic level, cooperation flourishes when the costs to cooperation are low or the benefits large. When cooperation becomes too costly, it disappears—at least in the realm of pure mathematics. Symbiotic relationships between species—like those…
Chemists at the University of Amsterdam have developed a method to furnish a range of molecules with a trifluoromethyl group attached to a sulphur, nitrogen or oxygen atom. Their procedure, which has just been published in Science, avoids the use of PFAS reagents. It thus provides an environmentally friendly synthesis route for pharmaceutical and agrochemical compounds that rely on the presence of the trifluoromethyl group. The straightforward and effective method was developed at the Flow Chemistry group at the Van…
Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, implement modifications to their high-speed atomic force microscopy that simultaneously improve resolution and speed, while enabling direct measurements of 3D structures to provide conclusive evidence of a contested hydration layer forming as calcite dissolves. Understanding the dissolution processes of minerals can provide key insights into geochemical processes. Attempts to explain some of the observations during the dissolution of calcite (CaCO3) have led to the hypothesis that a hydration layer forms, although…
High-Resolution 3D Tracking of Coral Reef Fish. A study by the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) is employing new methods in coral reef research. Under the leadership of fish ecologist Dr Julian Lilkendey, an international research team utilised innovative AI technologies to analyse the movements of reef fish in the Red Sea with high precision. The recently published study in the journal “Ecology and Evolution”, which also involved researchers from the Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics…
Simple Ingredients for a Chemical Hydrogen Storage System. Researchers are still looking for an ideal way to safely and stably store hydrogen, the beacon of hope for the energy transition. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock, LIKAT, and the company H2APEX report on how this volatile and combustible gas can be tamed safely and with simple “ingredients” in the latest issue of NATURE COMMUNICATION.* Together, they developed a homogeneous catalyst system with which they can bind hydrogen…
Spatial orientation mechanisms surprisingly similar to our own. Researchers are turning to zebrafish to unlock the secrets of place cells, which play a crucial role in forming mental maps of space, social networks, and abstract relationships. Until now, place cells have only been found in mammals and birds, leaving the question of how other species internally represent the external world largely unanswered. A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics has now found the first compelling…
Study finds that our natural killer cells instinctively recognise and attack a protein that drives cancer growth. Scientists are on the verge of a cancer breakthrough after working out how the body’s immune system targets cells devastated by the disease. A new study has discovered that our natural killer cells, from the immune system which protect against disease and infections, instinctively recognise and attack a protein that drives cancer growth. The experts say that by hijacking this protein, known as…
Researchers from Würzburg and Berlin present a new molecule for visualising the sphingomyelin metabolism. This offers prospects for innovative therapeutic approaches in infection research. At the end of the 19th century, the German pathologist Ludwig Thudichum isolated previously unknown fatty substances (lipids) from the brain. He named the new class of molecules sphingolipids – after the Greek mythical creature Sphinx, out of respect for “the many riddles it posed to the researcher”. Since then, many diseases have been discovered that…
Christina Zielinski and her team find evidence that sodium chloride can increase the activity of certain immune cells against cancer. Salt could help to boost the immune defense against cancer. This is suggested by the research findings of a team led by Prof. Dr. Christina Zielinski, who holds the Chair of Infection Immunology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. The group presents its findings in “Nature Immunology”. Sodium chloride, commonly known as “table salt”, was a valuable commodity in…
Chemical engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new treatment that traps and treats PFAS substances—widely known as “forever chemicals”—in a single, integrated system. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used in manufacturing consumer goods like waterproof clothing due to their resistance to heat, water and stains. However, they are also pollutants, often ending up in surface and groundwater worldwide, where they have been linked to cancer, liver damage and other health issues. “PFAS are notoriously…
Research team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena discovers ‘impossible’ unicellular organism. All higher organisms such as fungi, plants, animals and humans consist of eukaryotic cells. These are cells that have a nucleus and organelles such as mitochondria. Mitochondria supply eukaryotic cells with energy. In contrast to eukaryotes, prokaryotes are unicellular organisms. They have a simpler structure and are mostly significantly smaller than eukaryotes. They have no cell nucleus and no organelles such as mitochondria. The origin of eukaryotes is considered…
DNA methylation is a process in which a methyl group is attached to the cytosine base of the DNA molecule, and a major way that DNA is epigenetically marked. Epigenetic modifications can act as on-off switches to regulate gene expression and help generate diverse cell types without changing the underlying DNA sequence. It is how the body ensures that brain-related genes don’t get turned on in heart cells, for example. For this reason, maintenance of the DNA methylation pattern is…
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have developed a novel, automated device capable of diagnosing glioblastoma, a fast-growing and incurable brain cancer, in less than an hour. The average glioblastoma patient survives 12-18 months after diagnosis. The crux of the diagnostic is a biochip that uses electrokinetic technology to detect biomarkers, or active Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFRs), which are overexpressed in certain cancers such as glioblastoma and found in extracellular vesicles. Notre Dame Professor Hsueh-Chia Chang. Photo by…
Organic redox-active molecules (ORAMs) are abundant and diverse, offering significant potential for cost-effective and sustainable energy storage, particularly in aqueous organic flow batteries (AOFBs). However, ensuring the stability of the ORAMs during the charge and discharge process is critical, as side reactions can deactivate them and eliminate their redox activity. Air stability remains a challenge for many ORAMs, complicating their practical use. A pilot-scale naphthalene-based flow stack. Credit: DICP Recently, a research group led by Prof. LI Xianfeng and Prof….
As electronic devices continue to get smaller and smaller, physical size limitations are beginning to disrupt the trend of doubling transistor density on silicon-based microchips approximately every two years according to Moore’s law. Molecular electronics—the use of single molecules as the building blocks for electronic components—offers a potential pathway for the continued miniaturization of small-scale electronic devices. Devices that utilize molecular electronics require precise control over the flow of electrical current. However, the dynamic nature of these single molecule components…
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