A mathematical model to help optimize vaccine development
Scientists are using a mathematical model to better understand the immune response to vaccines.
Science & Technology
Not all acne is equal: Scientists reveal strains of C. acnes that promote skin health
Researchers reveal correlation between ribotype (RT) strains of Cutibacterium acnes, which are found in human skin, and the lifespan of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Strains RT4 and 8, which are associated with acne in human skin, shortened the …
Sweet! How glycogen is linked to heat generation in fat cells
Researchers describe how energy expenditure and heat production are regulated in obesity through a previously unknown cellular pathway.
All about Eve, sophisticated AI
New AI model called EVE outperforms other AI methods in determining whether a gene variant is benign or disease-causing. When applied to more than 36 million variants across 3,219 disease-associated proteins and genes, EVE indicated more than 256,000 h…
Twenty-four trillion pieces of microplastics in the ocean and counting
Based on a total of 8,218 pelagic microplastic samples from the world’s oceans collected between 2000 and 2019, a team of scientists has developed a publicly available dataset for assessing the abundance of microplastics and their long-term trend in th…
Farming reboot could lay seeds for prosperity in poor and food insecure regions
An irrigation re-think in sub-Saharan Africa is improving food security, reducing water waste and lifting people out of poverty.
Scientists create device that uses ‘light tweezers’ to trap and move viruses
A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has created a laser-powered device that can trap and move viruses using light. The device, which has the ability to manipulate light to act as ‘tweezers’, would aid…
Four commonly used medications reverse Alzheimer’s disease in mice
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in Western societies and it is estimated that 24 million people worldwide have this condition. Researchers have managed to reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in mice by administering dru…
Smart sensor equipped chair may help office workers reduce their back pain woes
The chair identifies sitting behavior associated with worsening low back pain, warning workers so they can get up and move around before the pain worsens.
The upside-down orbits of a multi-planetary system
When planets form, they usually continue their orbital evolution in the equatorial plane of their star. However, an international team, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has discovered that the exoplanets of a star …
A novel solution to a combinatorial optimization problem in bicycle sharing systems
Bicycle sharing systems have become an attractive option to alleviate traffic in congested cities. However, rebalancing the number of bikes at each port as time passes is essential, and finding the optimal routing paths for the vehicles in charge of re…
Tuneable catalysis: Solving the particle size puzzle
Chemical reactions can be studied at different levels: At the level of individual atoms and molecules, new compounds can be designed. At the level of tiny particles on the nano and micrometer scale, one can understand how catalyst materials influence c…
A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance
The Earth’s atmosphere has been used as a ‘laboratory’ to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS.
Bone mineral density decreases less than expected after menopause
Bone mineral density at the femoral neck bone in postmenopausal women decreased by an average of 10% during a 25-year follow-up, according to a new study. Being the world’s hitherto longest follow-up of changes in bone mineral density in postmenopausal…
Tiny pterosaurs dominated Cretaceous skies
The newly hatched juveniles of large and gigantic pterosaurs likely out-competed other smaller adult pterosaur species to dominate the Late Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago, a new study has found.
A heart that beats (almost) like our own
Biologists have unraveled how a ‘heart’ in the fruit fly’s head functions. The researchers discovered the fly’s head-heart beats much like a human’s: Its rhythmic pulses are automatically generated by a tiny muscle that runs through the middle of the f…
Cat’s meow: Robotic pet boosts mood, behavior and cognition in adults with dementia
Researchers tested the effectiveness of affordable, interactive robotic pet cats to improve mood, behavior and cognition in older adults with mild to moderate dementia. Mood and behavioral symptoms were measured along with cognition using the Mini Ment…
Making Martian rocket biofuel on Mars
Researchers have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.
Polar bear diet may indicate prey distribution changes due to climate shifts
How are warming temperatures and a loss of sea ice affecting polar bears and their marine mammal prey in the Arctic? A York University-led research team used a novel approach to the question by monitoring what polar bears eat across Nunavut and where t…
Cancer cells change shape, how they move to invade different types of tissue
Research has shed new light on the way malignant cells change their shape and migration techniques to invade different types of tissue.