Researchers from Leipzig published a gigantic digital map displaying the full diversity of life through thousands of photos. The so-called LifeGate encompasses all 2.6 million known species of this planet and shows their relationship to each other. The interactive map can now be accessed free of charge at https://lifegate.idiv.de. Joint press release of Leipzig University (Botanical Garden) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) If you want to find out which places are close to Quito, you search…

New stamp-sized ultrasound adhesives produce clear images of heart, lungs, and other internal organs. Ultrasound imaging is a safe and noninvasive window into the body’s workings, providing clinicians with live images of a patient’s internal organs. To capture these images, trained technicians manipulate ultrasound wands and probes to direct sound waves into the body. These waves reflect back out to produce high-resolution images of a patient’s heart, lungs, and other deep organs. Currently, ultrasound imaging requires bulky and specialized equipment…

Tiny imaging device lays groundwork for high-resolution 3D imaging during clinical procedures. Researchers have created a photoacoustic imaging endoscope probe that can fit inside a medical needle with an inner diameter of just 0.6 millimeters. Photoacoustic imaging, which combines light and sound to create 3D images, can provide important clinical information, but until now the instruments have been either too bulky or too slow for practical use as forward-viewing endoscopes. “Traditional light-based endoscopes can only resolve tissue anatomical information on…

An ancient metal used for its microbial properties is the basis for a materials-based solution to disinfection. A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University, and University at Buffalo developed an antimicrobial spray that deposits a layer of copper nanowires onto high-touch surfaces in public spaces. The spray contains copper nanowires (CuNWs) or copper-zinc nanowires (CuZnNWs) and can form an antimicrobial coating on a variety of surfaces. This research was initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the…

A Nagoya University research group has developed an AI algorithm that accurately and quickly diagnoses idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease. The algorithm makes its diagnosis based only on information from non-invasive examinations, including lung images and medical information collected during daily medical care. Doctors have waited a long time for an early means of diagnosing idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a potentially fatal disease that can scar a person’s lungs. Except for drugs that can delay the disease’s progression, established therapies…

An advanced form of cardiac MRI, developed by academics at UCL in collaboration with the Royal Free Hospital, has for the first-time enabled clinicians to measure the effectiveness of chemotherapy in patients with the life-limiting condition ‘stiff heart syndrome’. Researchers say the breakthrough, published in the European Heart Journal, means doctors will now be able to better guide treatment strategies and, by doing so, improve patients’ prognosis. Light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (stiff heart syndrome) occurs when plaques of protein called amyloid build up…

Novel molecular beam scattering apparatus that uses a liquid flat jet can study chemical reactions at the gas liquid interface of volatile liquids. The Science The interface between gases and liquids is found throughout nature. It is also important to many industrial processes. To improve understanding of the gas-liquid interface, researchers have developed an apparatus to study reactions between gas molecules and highly volatile liquids with new levels of detail. It uses a molecular beam that is directed onto a…

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) in Göttingen, Germany, and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, have developed a new theoretical method to study mixtures consisting of many different molecules. They analyzed how the molecules interact to reliably form different droplets, as happens continuously in living cells. With this model, particular droplet formation based on many interacting molecules can be predicted for the first time. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal PNAS….

Specialized cell movement may explain progression of cancer and cystic fibrosis. Researchers at the University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University have discovered that certain cells move surprisingly faster in thicker fluid – think honey as opposed to water, or mucus as opposed to blood – because their ruffled edges sense the viscosity of their environment and adapt to increase their speed. Their combined results in cancer and fibroblast cells – the type that often creates scars in…

COVID-19 often leads to neurological symptoms, such as a loss of taste or smell, or cognitive impairments (including memory loss and concentration difficulties), both during the acute phase of the disease and over the long term with “long COVID” syndrome. But the way in which the infection reaches the brain was previously unknown. Scientists from Institut Pasteur and CNRS laboratories have used state-of-the-art electron microscopy approaches to demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 hijacks nanotubes, tiny bridges that link infected cells with neurons….

New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York offers a second life for CDs: Turn them into flexible biosensors that are inexpensive and easy to manufacture. In a paper published this month in Nature Communications, Matthew Brown, PhD ’22, and Assistant Professor Ahyeon Koh from the Department of Biomedical Engineering show how a gold CD’s thin metallic layer can be separated from the rigid plastic and fashioned into sensors to monitor electrical activity in human hearts and muscles…

… Performs PCR Faster than Similar Tests on the Market. Researchers at Columbia Engineering and Rover Diagnostics team up to develop a low-cost, portable platform that gives RT-PCR results in 23 minutes that match laboratory-based tests. For more than 30 years, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been the gold standard in molecular diagnostic testing, detecting genetic material, such as those from a virus or from human DNA. But PCR, including reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), is mostly done at…

For patients with lymphoma, multiple myeloma, or certain types of leukemia, treatment with chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells) is sometimes the last chance of overcoming the cancer. The treatment involves taking T cells from the patient’s blood and adding artificial receptors – the CARs – to them in the lab. As the guards of our immune system, T cells are on permanent patrol in our blood vessels and tissues, where they hunt down foreign structures. Equipped with CARs, T cells can also…

Colorectal tumors are swarming with white blood cells, but whether these cells help or hinder the cancer is hotly debated. While some studies have shown that white blood cells heroically restrict tumor growth and combat colorectal cancer, equally compelling evidence casts the white blood cells as malignant co-conspirators—bolstering the tumor and helping it spread. Now, new research clarifies the role of these intestinal white blood cells, known as 𝛄𝛅 T cells, in colorectal cancer. It turns out that the cells…

To act as a robust barrier against pathogens while also absorbing needed nutrients, the lining of the intestines must regenerate on a daily basis to remain equal to the task. The intestine’s resident stem cells are responsible for meeting this need for constant repair and replenishment, but each stem cell faces decisions that depend on the overall conditions of the intestine and the needs of the moment. Bad decisions and poor coordination could result in intestinal diseases or cancer. A…

How communication between lysosomes and mitochondria controls Salmonella growth in macrophages. Macrophages are key cells of our innate immune response. By populating almost all tissues in our body, these cells have an essential role in maintaining our organs in a healthy state, as they constantly remove dying cells or eliminate microbes that have invaded tissues. As cells specialized in eating and devouring, macrophages are exceptionally well adapted to take up, digest and destroy foreign material. However, certain microorganisms and bacteria…