ScienceDaily: All - January 02, 2024
Today's top research news
Is oxygen the cosmic key to alien technology?
Astrophysicists outline the links between atmospheric oxygen and the potential rise of advanced technology on distant planets.
Narin Eungsuwat/shutterstock.com
Combine mindfulness with exercise for mental health boost in 2024
New research shows how combining mindfulness with exercise boosts people's mental health and well-being and could help change exercise habits.
New AI tool brings precision pathology for cancer and beyond into quicker, sharper focus
Researchers developed an artificial intelligence tool to quickly analyze gene activities in medical images and provide single-cell insight into diseases in tissues and tissue micro-environments.
New method illuminates druggable sites on proteins
Scientists develop a new, high-resolution technique for finding potential therapeutic targets on proteins in living cells. The findings could lead to more targeted therapeutics for nearly any human disease.
Evolution might stop humans from solving climate change
Human culture has evolved to allow humans to extract resources and helped us expand to dominate the biosphere. But the same evolutionary processes may counteract efforts to solve new global environmental threats like climate change, according to a new study. Tackling the climate crisis will require worldwide regulatory, technical and economic systems supported by strong global cooperation. However, this new study concludes that the group-level processes characteristic of human cultural evolution, will cause environmental competition and conflict between sub-global groups, and work against global solutions. Adapting to climate change and other environmental problems will, therefore, require human evolution to change.
Understanding climate mobilities: New study examines perspectives from South Florida practitioners
A recent study assessed the perspectives of 76 diverse South Florida climate adaptation professionals. A new study explores the expectations and concerns of practitioners from the private sector, community-based organizations, and government agencies about the region's ability to adapt in the face of increasing sea level rise and diverse consequences for where people live and move, also known as climate mobility.
From NYC to DC and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking
Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year -- a decline at the ocean's edge that well outpaces global sea level rise, confirms new research. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid 'subsidence,' or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines, according to a new study.
Elusive cytonemes guide neural development, provide signaling 'express route'
Discover the first images of cytonemes during mammalian neural development, serving as express routes to establish morphogen gradients and tissue patterning.
Calcium channel blockers key to reversing myotonic dystrophy muscle weakness
New research has identified the specific biological mechanism behind the muscle dysfunction found in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and further shows that calcium channel blockers can reverse these symptoms in animal models of the disease. The researchers believe this class of drugs, widely used to treat a number of cardiovascular diseases, hold promise as a future treatment for DM1.
Influencers' vulnerabilities: A double-edged sword
New research finds that social media platforms and the metrics that reward content creators for revealing their innermost selves to fans open creators up to identity-based harassment.
Designing the 'perfect' meal to feed long-term space travelers
Imagine blasting off on a multiyear voyage to Mars, fueled by a diet of bland, prepackaged meals. As space agencies plan for longer missions, they're grappling with the challenge of how to best feed people. Now, researchers have designed the optimal 'space meal': a tasty vegetarian salad. They chose fresh ingredients that meet male astronauts' specialized nutritional needs and can be grown in space.
Aptamers: lifesavers; ion shields: aptamer guardians
Aptamers, nucleic acids capable of selectively binding to viruses, proteins, ions, small molecules, and various other targets, are garnering attention in drug development as potential antibody substitutes for their thermal and chemical stability as well as ability to inhibit specific enzymes or target proteins through three-dimensional binding. They also hold promise for swift diagnoses of colon cancer and other challenging diseases by targeting elusive biomarkers. Despite their utility, these aptamers are susceptible to easy degradation by multiple enzymes, presenting a significant challenge.
Ants recognize infected wounds and treat them with antibiotics
The African Matabele ants are often injured in fights with termites. Their conspecifics recognize when the wounds become infected and initiate antibiotic treatment.
Reducing inequality is essential in tackling climate crisis, researchers argue
Promoting climate-friendly behaviors will be more successful in societies where everyone has the capacity: financially, physically, and time-wise, to make changes.
A novel switch to turn genes on/off on cue, a promising step toward safer gene therapy
Just like a doctor adjusts the dose of a medication to the patient's needs, the expression of therapeutic genes, those modified in a person to treat or cure a disease via gene therapy, also needs to be maintained within a therapeutic window. Staying within the therapeutic window is important as too much of the protein could be toxic, and too little could result in a small or no therapeutic effect. Researchers now report on a technology to effectively regulate gene expression, a promising solution to fill this gap in gene therapy clinical applications.
First step towards synthetic CO2 fixation in living cells
Three modules forming a new-to-nature CO2 fixation cycle have been successfully implemented in E.coli.
'Nutritional quality must be at the heart of climate smart agriculture' -- researchers
Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa need to diversify away from growing maize and switch to crops that are resilient to climate change and supply enough key micronutrients for the population, according to a major research study. Maize is a staple crop across the region -- where it is grown and consumed in vast quantities.
Global warming intensifies typhoon-induced extreme precipitation over East Asia
Scientists use a 3km high-resolution climate model to reveal expanded extreme rainfall from typhoons.
Unraveling the mysteries of fog in complex terrain
While fog presents a major hazard to transportation safety, meteorologists have yet to figure out how to forecast it with the precision they have achieved for precipitation, wind and other stormy events. This is because the physical processes resulting in fog formation are extremely complex, Now researchers report their findings from an intensive study centered on a northern Utah basin and conceived to investigate the life cycle of cold fog in mountain valleys.
In coastal communities, sea level rise may leave some isolated
Amid the threat of dramatic sea level rise, coastal communities face unprecedented dangers, but a new study reveals that as flooding intensifies, disadvantaged populations will be the ones to experience some of the most severe burdens of climate change.
Breakthrough in organic semiconductor synthesis paves the way for advanced electronic devices
A research team has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of organic semiconductors. Their successful synthesis and characterization of a novel molecule called 'BNBN anthracene' has opened up new possibilities for the development of advanced electronic devices.
Molecules exhibit non-reciprocal interactions without external forces
Researchers have discovered that molecules experience non-reciprocal interactions without external forces. Fundamental forces such as gravity and electromagnetism are reciprocal, where two objects are attracted to each other or are repelled by each other. In our everyday experience, however, interactions don t seem to follow this reciprocal law.
Revolutionary nanodrones enable targeted cancer treatment
A research team has unveiled a remarkable breakthrough in cancer treatment.
Sodium's high-pressure transformation can tell us about the interiors of stars, planets
A new study has revealed the chemical bonding behind sodium's high-pressure transformation from shiny metal to transparent insulator.