For The Better

A new study suggests that persistent exposure to air pollutants in residential communities can impact health outcomes for COVID-19 patients.

In recent years, ribonucleic acid (RNA) has emerged as a powerful tool for the development of novel therapies. RNA is used to copy genetic information contained in our hereditary material, the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and then serves as a template …

A team of physicists working at the intersection of theory and experiment are shedding new light on the ‘teamwork’ of molecular motors — called RNA polymerases (RNAPs) — that mediate DNA transcription. The researchers’ work revealed for the first tim…

Researchers have developed a computational simulator that can help predict whether changes to materials or design will improve performance in new photovoltaic cells.

Neuroscientists have discovered a set of brain cells that influence the motivation of mice to perform tasks for rewards. Increasing the cells’ activity makes a mouse work harder or more vigorously. The neurons come with a feature that prevents the mous…

The discovery of electrical signals in the brain associated with OCD could enable an emerging type of adaptive deep brain stimulation therapy as an improved treatment.

Last year, scientists looked on as a star called EK Draconis ejected a massive burst of energy and charged particles many times more powerful than anything recorded on Earth’s sun. Such explosive events may have been common in the early years of our so…

A large earthquake off the coast of south-central Chile in 1737 may have caused a substantial tsunami that was absent from historical records. Historical records are used to predict how often tsunamis are likely to occur in a region in the future. Unti…

An experimental HIV vaccine based on mRNA — the same platform technology used in two highly effective COVID-19 vaccines — shows promise in mice and non-human primates, according to scientists. Their results show that the novel vaccine was safe and pr…

In the past decade, immunotherapy has helped save the lives of many cancer patients, many with lung cancer, who might have otherwise faced almost certain death sentences. However, only about 20% of patients who received immune therapies — designed to …

Pancreatic cancer cells can exist in, and transition between, three different cell states, according to new research. These states respond differently to a variety of cancer drugs, and altering the tumor microenvironment can drive tumor cells from one …

While climate change is the primary driver of permafrost degradation in Arctic Alaska, a new analysis of 70 years of data reveals that tundra fires are accelerating that decline, contributing disproportionately to a phenomenon known as ‘thermokarst,’ t…

Crop pests and diseases in China have significantly increased, with climate change being one of the relevant drivers, new research finds.

Researchers captured more than 1,000 hours of brain recordings from patients with OCD in the clinic and at home. These data are a key first step towards designing improved deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Advanced molecular imaging technology has now mapped the structure of a drug widely used to treat fungal infections but whose workings have mystified researchers and physicians for nearly 70 years. Researchers now described in atomistic detail the stru…

Citizen scientists have discovered a new object orbiting a Sun-like star that had been missed by previous searches. The object is very distant from its host star — more than 1,600 times farther than the Earth is from the Sun — and is thought to be a …

With an impressive capability of drinking up to three times their body weight in a single blood meal, mosquitoes are formidable parasites. But to reach adulthood, mosquitoes need to be raised in environments where the temperatures are conducive to thei…

Mutations of a gene that regulates formation of blood vessels in the brain of vertebrates can lead to potentially deadly aneurysms in adults. Saccular brain aneurysms affect nearly 3% of the human population. If they rupture, it can cause subarachnoid …

In a study of mice, scientists showed how the activity of one gene, turned on in a newly discovered group of bone-bordering cells, may play an important role in shaping the skull. The skulls of mice that were missing the gene were misshapen and were de…