127 articles from MONDAY 25.10.2021

‘Nanozyme’ therapy prevents harmful dental plaque build-up

FDA-approved iron oxide nanoparticles, delivered in a mouth rinse, can suppress the growth of dental plaque and kill bacteria responsible for tooth decay, according to a new study. The nanoparticles act as enzymes to activate hydrogen peroxide in a way that precisely targets harmful microbes and spares normal tissue.

Urban areas across the US are undercounting greenhouse gas emissions

Methane emissions from the distribution and use of natural gas across U.S. cities are 2 to 10 times higher than recent estimates from the Environmental Protect Agency, according to a new study. In Boston, methane emissions from the natural gas system are six times higher than recent estimates by the Massachusetts DEP and have not significantly changed in eight years, despite legislation aimed at...

Call-and-response circuit tells neurons when to grow synapses

Brain cells called astrocytes play a key role in helping neurons develop and function properly, but there's still a lot scientists don't understand about how astrocytes perform these important jobs. Now, a team of scientists has found one way that neurons and astrocytes work together to form healthy connections called synapses. This insight into normal astrocyte function could help scientists...

Tiny microscopic hunters could be a crystal ball for climate change

Tiny unicellular creatures called protists could keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere by gobbling up bacteria that emit CO2, researchers say. Now, a study finds that a few simple measures of a protist's size and shape can be powerful predictors of how they might respond to global warming themselves.

Topological valley Hall edge solitons in photonics

A research team recently discovered a novel kind of topological edge soliton that is independent of magnetic field. The valley Hall edge soliton inherits its topological protection from its linear counterpart and does not require any external magnetic field. The result is a light beam that is robust, localized, and maintains its shape during propagation over distance.

Nearly 500 ancient ceremonial sites found in southern Mexico

A team of international researchers reported last year that they had uncovered the largest and oldest Maya monument -- Aguada Fénix. That same team has now uncovered nearly 500 smaller ceremonial complexes that are similar in shape and features to Aguada Fénix. The find transforms previous understanding of Mesoamerican civilization origins and the relationship between the Olmec and the Maya...

Study finds nearly 500 ancient ceremonial sites in southern Mexico

A team of international researchers led by the University of Arizona reported last year that they had uncovered the largest and oldest Maya monument—Aguada Fénix. That same team has now uncovered nearly 500 smaller ceremonial complexes that are similar in shape and features to Aguada Fénix. The find transforms previous understanding of Mesoamerican civilization origins and the relationship...

Study explores how climate change may affect rain in U.S. Corn Belt

Air humidity is more important than soil moisture in influencing whether it rains in the United States Corn Belt, an agricultural area in the Midwest, stretching from Indiana to Nebraska and responsible for more than 35% of the world's most important grain crop, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.

The human GID complex engages two independent modules for substrate recruitment

A new paper by the Peter group of the ETH Zurich's Institute of Biochemistry (IBC) finds that the human GID E3 ubiquitin ligase forms a tetrameric complex with two distinct substrate-recruitment modules, namely WDR26-RanBP9 and GID4-ARMC8a. Although the shorter ARMC8b isoform stably assembles into the hGID complex, it lacks the ability to recruit the GID4 substrate-receptor.

Biophysics analysis made easy with an online tool

EMBL Hamburg's García Alai Team has released eSPC, a freely available online platform for analyzing molecular biophysics data from a range of experimental techniques. The tool enables scientists around the world to easily analyze their data without the need to travel to the laboratory where the data was generated.

One plus one does not equal two: Research team investigates receptors that form pairs on the surface of cells

There are a number of G protein-coupled receptors in human cells. As an important component of the cell membrane, these proteins are responsible for detecting different stimuli in the surroundings of a cell within the body and transferring this information to the cell interior. They may act individually or in pairs, and this can have a crucial effect on their function. Together with colleagues...

Sloshing electrons in a charge density wave

In the latest edition of Physical Review B, UvA Ph.D. candidate Xuanbo Feng (QuSoft and IoP) and colleagues write about their recent experiments on a material that can go from a normal metal state to a more exotic state known as a "charge density wave state."

New study finds black spruce trees struggling to regenerate amid more frequent arctic fires

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), finds that black spruce trees—a key species on the boreal landscape for millennia—are losing their resilience and capacity to regenerate in the face of warming temperatures and increasingly frequent Arctic wildfires. A continuation of this trend could result in a landscape-wide ecological shift that would...

David Frost says EU close to breaching Brexit deal over science programme

Minister ‘quite concerned’ about delay to finalising UK’s participation in €80bn Horizon Europe schemeA fresh Brexit row has been blown open with Brussels after David Frost accused the EU of being close to breaching the trade deal struck last Christmas.He said the UK was “getting quite concerned” about Brussels delaying ratification of the UK’s participation in the €80bn (£67bn)...

New molecule targets, images and treats lung cancer tumors in mice

Lung cancer can be elusive to spot and difficult to treat because the markers for it are found in other tissues, too. Now, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a finely tuned molecular agent that can target lung and other cancer cells for imaging and treatment.

Maskless ministers are peddling dangerous nonsense | Letters

Dr Karen Postle says Tory MPs’ views on masks would be mildly amusing if it weren’t for the gravely serious consequences, while Susannah Kipling despairs that ‘virtue’ is being hijacked as a term of abuse. Plus letters from Emma Blashford-Snell, Mike Terry, Rosemary Gill and Christine GallagherAre Tory ministers vying with one another in a contest to portray the most libertarian, populist...

Aquatic fungus has already wiped amphibians off the map and now threatens survival of terrestrial frogs

A water-borne fungus that has led to the extinction of several species of amphibians that spend all or part of their life cycle in water is also threatening terrestrial amphibians. In Brazil, researchers supported by FAPESP detected unprecedented mortality among a genus of tiny frogs known as pumpkin toadlets that live in the Atlantic Rainforest far from any aquatic environments. The animals were...

Saudi Arabia to Start Investment Fund for Carbon Capture

Saudi Arabia said Middle Eastern economies will be boosted by efforts to cut planet-warming gases and announced a fund to invest in carbon-capture technology. “Climate change is an economic opportunity for individuals and the private sector,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in Riyadh on Monday at a forum attended by several heads of state. Reducing emissions will “create...