For The Better

Astronomers can’t touch the stars they study, but an astrophysicist is using 3-dimensional models that fit in the palm of her hand to unravel the structural complexities of stellar nurseries, the vast clouds of gas and dust where star formation occurs….

Researchers have developed an online tool to help medical staff quickly determine which COVID-19 patients will need help breathing with a ventilator. The tool, developed through analysis of CT scans from nearly 900 COVID-19 patients diagnosed in 2020, …

A team of researchers has identified a novel mechanism by which loss-of-function mutations in the gene PTPN2, found in many patients with inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, affect how intestinal epithelial cells maintain a barrier.

Shifting to a new food freezing method could make for safer and better quality frozen foods while saving energy and reducing carbon emissions, according to a new study. A complete change over to this new method of food freezing worldwide could cut ener…

A new platform housing data from over 100 apple varieties could shave years off of the breeding process and enable data-driven assessments of how to boost the health benefits of America’s favorite fruit.

It has been a mystery why some people live a perfectly normal life until experiencing a potentially deadly cardiac episode. Now, researchers present a possible explanation in a microscopic modification of a protein, which causes a mutation to turn harm…

Researchers have shown that certain immune cells, which are found in people previously exposed to common cold coronaviruses, enhance the body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2, both during natural infection and following vaccination. The researchers also…

Researchers describe the use of ring-shaped molecules known as porphyrins. Such molecules, among the most abundant pigments in nature, are noted for their ability to speed up or catalyze chemical reactions, including important reactions occurring in li…

A study of a geographically, clinically, and socioeconomically diverse, nationally-representative sample of US households — including both adult patients and caregivers of children with food allergy — found that 72 percent did not know what oral immu…

A new paper found that women — as compared to their male counterparts — receive less credit for the work they put into academic publications, more frequently experience disagreements over authorship, and often end up losing out on opportunities for f…

Researchers have conducted the first demonstration of a faster and more accurate way to calibrate certain kinds of microphones. The technique, which uses lasers to measure the velocity at which a microphone’s diaphragm vibrates, performs well enough to…

A new study shows CAR T cells expressing RN7SL1 can activate the body’s natural immune cells against difficult-to-treat cancers.

Researchers demonstrated that the microscopic worm C. elegans uses a retrotransposon called Cer1 to transfer a learned behavior (avoidance of a pathogenic bacterium) between worms.

Using environmental DNA scans of Appalachian streams, researchers found that the effects of mountaintop coal mining in West Virginia are even more widespread than previously reported: Streams from heavily mined watersheds harbor 40% fewer species than …

Vaccinations against human papillomavirus (HPV), a major cause of throat and back of mouth cancers, are expected to yield significant reductions in the rates of these cancers in the U.S., but will not do so until after 2045, according to a new modeling…

A new analysis suggests that, in order to boost freedoms and protect against overwhelming new waves of COVID-19, the pace at which restrictions to reduce spread are lifted must be directly tied to the pace of vaccination.

Medical researchers report that melanoma formation depends on something called ‘oncogenic competence,’ which is the result of a collaboration between the DNA mutations in a cell and the particular set of genes that are turned on in that cell. Cells tha…