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32 articles from ScienceDaily

Deep sleep takes out the trash

By examining fruit flies' brain activity and behavior, the researchers found that deep sleep has an ancient, restorative power to clear waste from the brain. This waste potentially includes toxic proteins that may lead to neurodegenerative disease.

Age influences sex-related outcomes after heart attack

Approximately 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes occur every year in men and women in the US. Sex and age play a large part in who experiences a heart attack, the methods used to treat these heart attacks, and the eventual post hospital outcomes of the people who experience heart attacks.

New antifungal compound from ant farms

Attine ants are farmers, and they grow fungus as food. Pseudonocardia and Streptomyces bacteria are their farmhands, producing metabolites that protect the crop from pathogens. Surprisingly, these metabolites lack common structural features across bacteria from different geographic locations, even though the ants share a common ancestor. Now, researchers report they have identified the first...

An anode-free zinc battery that could someday store renewable energy

Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, could help decrease the world's reliance on fossil fuels. But first, power companies need a safe, cost-effective way to store the energy for later use. Massive lithium-ion batteries can do the job, but they suffer from safety issues and limited lithium availability. Now, researchers have made a prototype of an anode-free, zinc-based battery...

Making microwaves safer for children

Researchers worked diligently to document the frequency and severity of burn injuries resulting from removing hot contents from the microwave and young children's vulnerability to them.

Brain cell network supplies neurons with energy

Until recently, oligodendrocytes were primarily thought to be a kind of cellular insulating tape that accelerates the transmission of electrical signals in the brain. A study now shows that they are also important for the energy supply of neurons in some brain regions.

Fastener with microscopic mushroom design holds promise

A fastener with a microscopic design that looks like tiny mushrooms could mean advances for everyday consumers and scientific fields. Currently available fasteners are called hook and loop fasteners and require harder, stiff material. In Biointerphases, researchers describe a design that can use softer materials and still be strong. The team believes a 3D mushroom design can be made with softer,...

Land deals meant to improve food security may have hurt

Large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors, intended to improve global food security, had little to no benefit, increasing crop production in some areas while simultaneously threatening local food security in others, according to researchers who studied their effects.

Exploring the solar wind with a new view of small sun structures

Scientists have combined NASA data and cutting-edge image processing to gain new insight into the solar structures that create the Sun's flow of high-speed solar wind. This first look at relatively small features, dubbed 'plumelets,' could help scientists understand how and why disturbances form in the solar wind.