Latest News

Researchers successfully inhibit spread of cancer in mice

Many types of cancer–like those of the breast and prostate–would not be nearly as deadly if it weren’t for their ability to spread to vital organs. Still, scientists don’t yet fully understand the way in which cancer spreads, or metastasizes, or how to prevent the process.

Now, researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) have used a modified version of a naturally occurring human protein to decrease the spread of human breast cancer implanted in mice.

“We

Ancient pollen yields insight into forest biodiversity

By analyzing data on tree pollen extracted from ancient lake sediments, ecologists have sharpened the understanding of how forests can maintain a diversity of species. Their findings indicate that stabilizing processes have been more important than previously thought, and that the human-caused loss of species could upset that stability in ways that remain poorly understood.

“Quantifying the link between stability and diversity, and identifying the factors that promote species diversity, ha

Study Finds Space Shuttle Exhaust Creates Night-Shining Clouds

Exhaust from the main engines of NASA’s space shuttle, which is about 97 percent water vapor, can travel to the Arctic in the Earth’s thermosphere where it forms ice to create some of the Earth’s highest clouds that literally shine at night, according to a new study led by the Naval Research Laboratory and jointly funded by NASA and the Office of Naval Research.

The thermosphere is the highest layer in our atmosphere, occupying the region above about 55 miles (88 kilometers) altitude. The c

Malaria parasite’s sweet tooth found

A completely new way of killing the malaria parasite has been found by researchers at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. Professor Sanjeev Krishna’s research group is world-renowned in the battle against infectious diseases and has now discovered how to stop the malaria parasite’s sugar transport protein from working. This prevents the parasite growing and multiplying in the red blood cells where it lives. The research is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of S

Bizarre bug wears host’s skin

Oxford scientists have discovered a particularly macabre method one parasite (Strepsiptera) has for disguising itself in its insect host: it wraps itself in a piece of the host’s own body tissue. In this way the strepsipteran masquerades as ‘self’, and is protected from the insect’s immune system.

The mechanism whereby Strepsiptera flourish without interference from the host has so far been a mystery. Scientists have been intrigued by the exceptional diversity of host insects exploited by th

New software helps teams deal with information overload

Penn State researchers have developed new software that can help decision-making teams in combat situations or homeland security handle information overload by inferring teams’ information needs and delivering relevant data from computer-generated reports.
The agent software called CAST (Collaborative Agents for Simulating Teamwork) highlights relevant data. This helps improve a team’s decision-making process as well as enhances members’ collaboration.

“This version of C

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Physics and Astronomy

Parity Anomaly Demonstrated in a Topological Insulator

Experimental and theoretical physicists from the Würzburg Institute for Topological Insulators observed a re-entrant quantum Hall effect in a mercury telluride device and identify it as a signature of parity…

New method to measure entropy production on the nanoscale

Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. An equation developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Heinrich Heine University…

Artificial intelligence to reconstruct particle paths leading to new physics

Particles colliding in accelerators produce numerous cascades of secondary particles. The electronics processing the signals avalanching in from the detectors then have a fraction of a second in which to…

Life Sciences and Chemistry

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Acetylation: a Time-Keeper of glucocorticoid Sensitivity

Understanding the regulatory mechanism paves the way to enhance the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapies and to develop strategies to counteract the negative effects of stress- and age-related cortisol excess. The…

Beating by overheating: new strategy to combat cancer

Paradoxical activation of oncogenic signaling shows surprising results. Many new drugs inhibit the processes that cancer cells need to divide rapidly. So as to inhibit the cancer as a whole….

Materials Sciences

The Sound of the Perfect Coating

Fraunhofer IWS Transfers Laser-based Sound Analysis of Surfaces into Industrial Practice with “LAwave”. Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be…

Customized silicon chips

…from Saxony for material characterization of printed electronics. How efficient are new materials? Does changing the properties lead to better conductivity? The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS develops and…

Elusive 3D printed nanoparticles could lead to new shapeshifting materials

Stanford materials engineers have 3D printed tens of thousands of hard-to-manufacture nanoparticles long predicted to yield promising new materials that change form in an instant. In nanomaterials, shape is destiny….

Information Technology

Memory Self-Test via Smartphone

… Can Identify Early Signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Dedicated memory tests on smartphones enable the detection of “mild cognitive impairment”, a condition that may indicate Alzheimer’s disease, with high accuracy….

Mini satellite wants to take quantum communication to space

Researchers from Jena, Würzburg and Potsdam have successfully developed a design for the smallest system of its kind so far to take highly secure quantum communication to space: Led by…

Engineering household robots to have a little common sense

With help from a large language model, MIT engineers enabled robots to self-correct after missteps and carry on with their chores. From wiping up spills to serving up food, robots…