Drugs that kill ‘zombie’ cells may benefit some older women, but not all
Drugs that selectively kill senescent cells may benefit otherwise healthy older women but are not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ remedy, Mayo Clinic researchers have found. Specifically, these drugs may only benefit people with a high number of senescent cells,…
Using visible light to make pharmaceutical building blocks
Chemists have discovered a way to use visible light to synthesize a class of compounds particularly well suited for use in pharmaceuticals. The class of compounds, called azetidines, had been previously identified as a good candidate to build therapeut…
UV radiation damage leads to ribosome roadblocks, causing early skin cell death
In a recent study, researchers suggest the cell’s messenger RNA (mRNA) — the major translator and regulator of genetic material — along with a critical protein called ZAK, spur the cell’s initial response to UV radiation damage and play a critical ro…
Precise and less expensive 3D printing of complex, high-resolution structures
Researchers have developed a new two-photon polymerization technique that uses two lasers to 3D print complex high-resolution structures. The advance could make this 3D printing process less expensive, helping it find wider use in a variety of applicat…
Giant clams may hold the answers to making solar energy more efficient
Solar panel and biorefinery designers could learn a thing or two from iridescent giant clams living near tropical coral reefs, according to a new study. This is because giant clams have precise geometries — dynamic, vertical columns of photosynthetic …
Advancing toward a preventative HIV vaccine
A major challenge in developing a vaccine for HIV is that the virus mutates fast — very fast. Although a person initially becomes infected with one or a few HIV strains, the virus replicates and mutates quickly, resulting in a ‘swarm’ of viral strains…
What was behind the 2021-2022 energy crisis within Europe?
A team of researchers had already been working with electricity price data for years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, exploring statistics and developing forecasting methods. Now they zero in on how prices in different countries relate and how coun…
Genetic study points to oxytocin as possible treatment for obesity and postnatal depression
Scientists have identified a gene which, when missing or impaired, can cause obesity, behavioural problems and, in mothers, postnatal depression. The discovery, reported today in Cell, may have wider implications for the treatment of postnatal depressi…
Systematic biases at play in clinical trials
Randomized controlled trials, or RCTs, are believed to be the best way to study the safety and efficacy of new treatments in clinical research. However, a recent study found that people of color and white women are significantly underrepresented in RCT…
Nuclear spectroscopy breakthrough could rewrite the fundamental constants of nature
Raising the energy state of an atom’s nucleus using a laser, or exciting it, would enable development of the most accurate atomic clocks ever to exist. This has been hard to do because electrons, which surround the nucleus, react easily with light, inc…
Optoelectronics gain spin control from chiral perovskites and III-V semiconductors
A research effort has made advances that could enable a broader range of currently unimagined optoelectronic devices.