For The Better

Seagrasses cover large swathes of shallow coastal seas, where they provide a vital habitat. They also remove large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it in the ecosystem. However, seagrasses need nutrients to thrive, particul…

Research on whale feeding highlights how the precipitous decline of large marine mammals has negatively impacted the health and productivity of ocean ecosystems.

The volume of data transferred is constantly increasing, but the absolute security of these exchanges cannot be guaranteed, as shown by cases of hacking frequently reported in the news. To counter hacking, a team has developed a new system based on the…

A new analytical technique is able to provide hitherto unattainable insights into the extremely rapid dynamics of biomolecules. The team of developers is presenting its clever combination of quantum physics and molecular biology. The scientists used th…

A new gene therapy targeting the small brain region where dopamine neurons reside, the substantia nigra, substantially boosts the benefits of the drug levodopa in Parkinson’s. The therapy restored the ability of these neurons to convert levodopa to dop…

Scientists have identified how a protein in the brain uses information about the body’s energy balance to regulate growth rate and the onset of puberty in children.

Researchers have identified a key molecule in certain kinds of breast cancers that prevent immune cells from entering tumors and killing the cancer cells inside. This research could pave the way toward a new treatment for certain kinds of aggressive br…

Researchers report using catalytic pyrolysis to turn plastic wastes into a valuable fuel source. They focused on recycling plastic and upgrading plastic into other products or converting it to a vapor with heat, which met a catalyst and turned into the…

In a breakthrough for the treatment of aggressive solid cancers, researchers have developed a novel cancer therapy that targets proteins inside cancer cells that are essential for tumor growth and survival but have been historically impossible to reach…

Gait disorders manifest themselves in various ways. In many cases, pathological gait patterns are actually accompanying effects or can even be symptomatic of an underlying disease. For this reason, biomechanical gait analysis can be a helpful tool when…

Obesity risk factors of family background are associated with changes in the brain function, finds a new study. The results show that the function of neural networks regulating satiety and appetite is altered already before a person develops obesity.

Spiny mice are known for their ability to heal severe skin wounds without so much as a scar. Now, researchers have discovered that they also can regenerate severely damaged internal organs that, in other mice, would lead to fatal organ failure. The fin…

A therapeutic antibody has been shown to unblock and normalize blood vessels inside cancerous tumors, enabling the more effective delivery of targeted cancer treatments.

They’re born. They live once, erupting for a period that might last for days, years or decades. Then, they go dark and die. This narrative describes the life of a monogenetic volcano, a type of volcanic hazard that can pose important dangers despite an…

Sometimes less is more, at least when it comes to building rapport during interviews. That’s according to new research which reveals that verbal interviewing techniques have a greater impact than nonverbal techniques — and combining the two had a detr…

A new study dives into the explosive physics of what happens when two supermassive black holes collide.

In an effort to understand how a sense of control over others may influence the brain’s decision-making processes, researchers have tested the ability of healthy human subjects to play a bargaining game. For the first time, they found that people used …

Leaving toilet lids open after flushing can disperse contaminated droplets beyond a metre and remain in the air for 30 minutes. This is one of the findings revealed in a global review of the risks of bacterial and viral transmission in public bathrooms.

An international collaboration quantifies spin in a 2D quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI), a promising option for future low-energy nano-electronic and spintronic devices. The team used anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) to reveal the relationship bet…

A new study introduces a novel method to reduce particulate emissions from residential biomass combustion: the high-temperature electric soot collector, HiTESC. In HiTESC, an electrically insulated high-voltage electrode is installed in a combustion ch…