Mindfully Curated
To magnetize an iron nail, one simply has to stroke its surface several times with a bar magnet. Yet, there is a much more unusual method: A team has discovered some time ago that a certain iron alloy can be magnetized with ultrashort laser pulses.
Dental plaque, gut bacteria and the slippery sheen on river rocks are all examples of biofilms, organized communities of microorganisms that colonize our bodies and the world around us. A new study reveals exactly how growing biofilms shape their envir…
On the highway of heat transfer, thermal energy is moved by way of quantum particles called phonons. But at the nanoscale of today’s most cutting-edge semiconductors, those phonons don’t remove enough heat. That’s why researchers are focused on opening…
A preclinical study shows that a specific human genetic variant of a receptor that stimulates insulin release may help individuals be more resistant to obesity. The researchers discovered that this variant behaves differently in the cell which may cont…
Increasing urbanization worldwide is a growing threat to biodiversity. At the same time, flowering plants are often more diverse in cities than in the countryside. This is due to flowering plants and agricultural crops, which are increasingly being gro…
Patients who received the anticoagulant drug warfarin after bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement had lower incidence of mortality and a decreased risk of blood clots, according to a retrospective study.
Despite the Roman Empire’s extensive military and cultural influence on the nearby Balkan peninsula, a DNA analysis of individuals who lived in the region between 1 and 1000 CE found no genetic evidence of Iron Age Italian ancestry. Instead, a new stud…
A groundbreaking study suggests a class of medications used to treat type 2 diabetes may also reduce the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). The findings support the need for clinical trials to determine whether these medications could prevent one of the …
Post-surgery pain relief has shifted away from opioid-containing medications over the past seven years, but the downward trend has slowed since 2020, a new study shows. Overall, the rate of surgery-related opioid prescriptions dropped by 36% from 2016 …
Comparing PET scans of more than 90 adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI), researchers say relatively lower levels of the so-called ‘happiness’ chemical, serotonin, in parts of the brain of those with MCI may play a role in memory pro…
New research has found evidence that a novel stem cell treatment, using mRNA technology encapsulated into nanoparticles (LNP) that was successfully used to produce the COVID-19 vaccines, may boost the natural repair mechanism of the liver to regress th…
Scientists decipher how the antibody response of our immune system reacts to a coronavirus infection and prepares for future infections.
A new study of paper wasps suggests social interactions may make animals smarter. The research offers behavioral evidence of an evolutionary link between the ability to recognize individuals and social cooperation.
An unexpectedly high percentage of children, who were born with HIV and started treatment within 48 hours of life, exhibit biomarkers by 2 years of age that may make them eligible to test for medication-free remission, according to a multinational study.
Modern-day Ciudad Mante, Mexico, could help Tampa, Florida, plan for shifting water and electricity demands due to climate change, according to an international team of researchers. Researchers used utilities data and climate analogs — contemporary ci…
Researchers re-examined a plant fossil found decades ago in Colombia and realized that it wasn’t a plant at all: it’s a fossilized baby turtle. It’s a rare find, because juvenile turtles’ shells are soft and often don’t fossilize well.
The treatment of pancreatic cancer, an aggressive form of cancer associated with high mortality rates, is challenging owing to limited options and anticancer screening models. High mortality has been attributed to the unique tumor microenvironment (TME…
An international team of researchers has identified a protein found in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), discovering a new target for potential treatments for the disease.
An international consortium of geoscientists has reconstructed atmosphereric levels of CO2 going back 66 million years using proxies in the geoloogical record. Today’s concenteration, 420 parts per million, is higher than it’s ever been in 14 million y…
How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding …