For The Better

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…

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…

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.

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 …

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…

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…

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 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…

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.

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…

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…

Researchers have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth.

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…

Research has shed new light on the way malignant cells change their shape and migration techniques to invade different types of tissue.

Biological cells invest much of their resources into the production of enzymes, which catalyze the conversion of substrates into products. An international team of bioinformaticians and biophysicists discovered that these processes are most efficient a…

Thirty years ago, archeologists excavated the tomb of an elite 40–50-year-old man from the Sicán culture of Peru, a society that predated the Incas. The man’s seated, upside-down skeleton was painted bright red, as was the gold mask covering his detac…

Some people are born with hearing loss, while others acquire it with age, infections or long-term noise exposures. In many instances, the tiny hairs in the inner ear’s cochlea that allow the brain to recognize electrical pulses as sound are damaged. As…

Scientists have developed a computer-aided data tool that could improve treatment for a range of illnesses.

A study has found that adults with maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder or a history of sexual abuse have lower brain connectivity in the attention systems known as the ventral and dorsal attention network. These networks enable us to shi…

In 1545, King Henry VIII’s favorite ship, the Mary Rose, capsized and sank in the Battle of the Solent defending England and Portsmouth from a French invasion fleet. The wreck remained on the seabed until 1982 when it was salvaged in a widely viewed te…