ScienceDaily: All - September 19, 2023
Today's top research news
Glacier Loss Day indiÂcates record breakÂing glacier melt
In the summer of 2022, one of Tyrol's largest glaciers experienced its most significant loss of mass on record. Last year, the Hintereisferner in Tyrol, Austria, reached its Glacier Loss Day (GLD) earlier than ever before. The GLD serves as an indicator of a glacier's health throughout the year, similar to how the Earth Overshoot Day measures Earth's resource consumption.
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A research team has developed novel crosslinkers utilizing m-xylylene diisocyanate (XDI) or 1,3-bis(isocyanatomethyl)cyclohexane (H6XDI) as hard segments along with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) groups serving as soft segments.
Researchers have grown a high-performing 2D semiconductor to a full-size, industrial-scale wafer. In addition, the semiconductor material, indium selenide (InSe), can be deposited at temperatures low enough to integrate with a silicon chip.
New insight into crosstalk between cancer cells and their environment
Most solid tumors become stiff as the cancer progresses. Although researchers recognize that the environment around the cancer cells influences their behavior, it is unclear how it does so. In a new article researchers have collected gene expression data in response to mechanical stiffness in tumors.
Inflammatory bowel disease linked to atopic dermatitis
Adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) have a 34 percent increased risk of developing new-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared with individuals who do not have the skin condition, and children have a 44 percent increased risk, according to a new study.
Dopamine regulates how quickly and accurately decisions are made
Computer models provide new insight into how the neurotransmitter dopamine controls learning and decision-making processes.
Scientists develop method to detect deadly infectious diseases
Researchers have developed a way of detecting the early onset of deadly infectious diseases using a test so ultrasensitive that it could someday revolutionize medical approaches to epidemics. The test is an electronic sensor contained within a computer chip. It employs nanoballs -- microscopic spherical clumps made of tinier particles of genetic material -- and combines that technology with advanced electronics.
Understanding and treating pain in children
It is often hard to understand the source of pain in babies and children, and if they experience it often or for a long time, it can do severe damage.
Tiny sea creatures reveal the ancient origins of neurons
A new study sheds new light on the origins of modern brain cells. Researchers find evidence that specialized secretory cells found in placozoans, tiny sea creatures the size of a grain of sand, have many similarities to the neuron, such as the genes required to create a partial synapse. From an evolutionary point of view, early neurons might have started as something like these cells, eventually gaining the ability to create a complete synapse, form axons and dendrites and create ion channels that generate fast electrical signals -- innovations which gave rise to the neuron in more complex animals such as jellyfish. Though the complete story of how the first neuron appeared remains to be told, the study demonstrates that the basic building blocks for our brain cells were forming in the ancestors of placozoans grazing inconspicuously in the shallow seas of Earth around 800 million years ago.
Women given new insight into blood clot risk
New research shows an increased risk of blood clots in women who have any combination of a particular gene mutation, estrogen use, or common medical conditions -- specifically: obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and kidney disease.
RNA for the first time recovered from an extinct species
A new study shows the isolation and sequencing of more than a century-old RNA molecules from a Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in a museum collection. This resulted in the reconstruction of skin and skeletal muscle transcriptomes from an extinct species for the first time. The researchers note that their findings have relevant implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including both the Tasmanian tiger and the woolly mammoth, as well as for studying pandemic RNA viruses.
Predictive model could improve hydrogen station availability
Consumer confidence in driving hydrogen-fueled vehicles could be improved by having station operators adopt a predictive model that helps them anticipate maintenance needs, according to researchers.
