Science & Technology

Large language model-based chatbots can’t effectively recognize users’ motivation when they are hesitant about making healthy behavior changes, but they can support those who are committed to take action, say researchers.

In the United States, about 30-40% of donor hearts aren’t considered for transplant due to inadequate function in the donor. This leads to a drop in the number of donated hearts that are available to be matched with someone who needs a heart transplant.

In what they believe is a solution to a 30-year biological mystery, neuroscientists say they have used genetically engineered mice to address how one mutation in the gene for the light-sensing protein rhodopsin results in congenital stationary night bl…

Abnormalities in the shape of the sclera, the white of the eye, can cause various complications and lead to blindness. However, techniques to observe the sclera in detail, such as its fibrous structure, are lacking. Now, researchers have used polarizat…

Important brain structures that are key for signaling in the brain are narrower and less dense in females, and more likely to be damaged by brain injuries, such as concussion. Long-term cognitive deficits occur when the signals between brain structures…

B cells can control responses of myeloid cells through the release of particular cytokines (small proteins that control the growth and activity of cells in the immune system), challenging the prevailing view that T cells are the principle orchestrators…

Researchers used generative AI to develop a physics-informed technique to classify phase transitions in materials or physical systems that is much more efficient than existing machine-learning approaches.

A new sensor is giving researchers the best look yet at ATP levels inside living cells, enabling scientists to study in greater detail than ever before how fluctuations in this cellular currency affect the cell and contribute to disease.

To date, approaches to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease have not addressed the contribution of protein insolubility as a general phenomenon, instead focusing on one or two insoluble proteins. Researchers have recently completed a systematic study in …

Why can some people easily stop eating when they are full and others can’t, which can lead to obesity? A new study has found one reason may be a newly discovered structural connection between two regions in the brain that appears to be involved in regu…

Being stressed while witnessing injustice may push your brain towards altruism, according to a new study.

Sea otters are one of the few animals that use tools to access their food, and a new study has found that individual sea otters that use tools — most of whom are female — are able to eat larger prey and reduce tooth damage when their preferred prey b…

Chemotherapy kills cancer cells. But the way these cells die appears to be different than previously understood. Researchers have now uncovered a completely new way in which cancer cells die: due to the Schlafen11 gene. ‘This is a very unexpected findi…

Researchers have determined that a protein prediction technology can yield accurate results in the hunt to efficiently find the best possible drug candidates for many conditions.

A team of chemists has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of chemical synthesis, developing a novel method for manipulating carbon-hydrogen bonds. This groundbreaking discovery provides new insights into the molecular interactions of posi…

In an important step toward more effective gene therapies for brain diseases, researchers have engineered a gene-delivery vehicle that uses a human protein to efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver a disease-relevant gene to the brain in…

Researchers have developed a method to investigate sperm whale communication by determining their vocal style, finding that groups living in close proximity can develop similar styles to each other.

In a groundbreaking study an international team of scientists has investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of sabre teeth, with some unexpected results along the way.

Researchers have investigated how spiders listen to their environments through webs and found that the webs match the acoustic particle velocity for a wide range of sound frequencies. Playing sound ranging from 1 Hz to 50 kHz for the spiders and measur…

Sarcasm is notoriously tricky to convey through text, and the subtle changes in tone that convey sarcasm often confuse computer algorithms as well, limiting virtual assistants and content analysis tools. So researchers have now developed a multimodal a…