ScienceDaily: All - June 24, 2024
Today's top research news
Study identifies first drug therapy for sleep apnea
An international study shows new drug improves sleep, health in patients diagnosed with obesity and sleep apnea.
Image: Blueastro/Shutterstock.com
Simple test for flu could improve diagnosis and surveillance
Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested, in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment. Now researchers have developed a low-cost paper strip test that could allow more patients to find out which type of flu they have and get the right treatment. The test uses CRISPR to distinguish between the two main types of seasonal flu, influenza A and B, as well as seasonal flu subtypes H1N1 and H3N2. It can also identify strains that resist antiviral treatment, and with further work, could potentially detect swine and avian flu strains, including H5N1, which is currently infecting cattle.
Imaging technology captures how neurons communicate with new clarity
Insights from advanced imaging technology show how neurons communicate at the atomic level for the first time.
ChatGPT is biased against resumes with credentials that imply a disability -- but it can improve
Researchers found that ChatGPT consistently ranked resumes with disability-related honors and credentials -- such as the 'Tom Wilson Disability Leadership Award' -- lower than the same resumes without those honors and credentials. But when researchers customized the tool with written instructions directing it not to be ableist, the tool reduced this bias for all but one of the disabilities tested.
Our bone marrow the fatty, jelly-like substance inside our bones is an unseen powerhouse quietly producing 500 billion new blood cells every day. That process is driven by hematopoietic stem cells that generate all of the various types of blood cells in our bodies and regenerating themselves to keep the entire assembly line of blood production operating smoothly.
Study challenges popular idea that Easter islanders committed 'ecocide'
Some 1,000 years ago, a small band of Polynesians sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific to settle one of the world's most isolated places -- a small, previously uninhabited island they named Rapa Nui. Eventually, their numbers ballooned to unsustainable levels, they wrecked the environment, and their civilization collapsed. At least that is the longtime story, told in academic studies and popular books. A new study challenges this narrative of 'ecocide' saying that Rapa Nui's population never spiraled to unsustainable levels.
Menthol sensing appeared long before cold sensing, suggesting distinct activation modes that can be disentangled, paving the way for new pain therapies without adverse thermal side effects.
Boosting biodiversity without hurting local economies
Protected areas, like nature reserves, can conserve biodiversity without harming local economic growth, countering a common belief that conservation restricts development. A new study outlines what is needed for conservation to benefit both nature and people.