140 articles from WEDNESDAY 5.1.2022

Heat conduction is important for droplet dynamics

For driving in the rain, it's preferable that the raindrops roll or bounce off the windshield instead of coating it or even freezing. A team of engineers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found that conduction of heat plays a larger role than previously thought in the dynamics of droplets on smooth surfaces that repel water.

New research sheds light on the division of labor among genetic switches

The cells of female mammals have a dosage problem, because they have twice as many X chromosomes as are needed in the body. Consequently, one of them is randomly selected and switched off already during early embryonic development. The Xist gene awakens and produces hundreds of RNA molecules, encasing one X chromosome and making it shrink into a small lump.

There's more to learn about Grapevine Pinot gris virus, and new technology can help

Focusing on a specific vineyard in the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region in the Southern part of France, plant pathologists spent 8 years monitoring more than 60 plants for signs of Grapevine Pinot gris virus (GPGV). Contrary to previous observations in Italy, they observed an explosive propagation of the virus, with more than 75 percent of tested plants becoming infected between 2014 and 2015....

Findings open the way to more precise diagnoses and treatments of Alzheimer’s disease

An international team has made a significant breakthrough in understanding why Alzheimer's disease progresses so rapidly in some people that they die within three years. The researchers found a link between strains of misshapen and fast-replicating tau protein and accelerated cognitive decline -- a critical result that illuminates the variations in Alzheimer's disease and could help lead to more...

Engineered nanomaterial captures off-target cancer drug to prevent tissue damage

Standard chemotherapies may efficiently kill cancer cells, but they also pose significant risks to healthy cells, resulting in secondary illness and a diminished quality of life for patients. To prevent the previously unavoidable damage, researchers have developed a new class of nanomaterials engineered to capture chemotherapy drugs before they interact with healthy tissue.

Engineers develop new software tool to aid material modeling research

A new software tool can accelerate materials science research by cutting out tedious background research on material properties. Researchers recently debuted propSym, an open-source software on the programming platform MATLAB, to calculate the fundamental constants needed to describe the physical properties of solids, such as metals, ceramics or composites.

Modern humans developed a more effective protection against oxidative stress

Very few proteins in the body have a change that makes them unique compared to the corresponding proteins in Neanderthals and apes. Researchers have now studied one such protein, glutathione reductase, which protects against oxidative stress. They show that the risk for inflammatory bowel disease and vascular disease is increased several times in people carrying the Neanderthal variant.

Engineers develop new software tool to aid material modeling research

A new software tool can accelerate materials science research by cutting out tedious background research on material properties. Penn State and Sandia National Laboratories researchers recently debuted propSym, an open-source software on the programming platform MATLAB, to calculate the fundamental constants needed to describe the physical properties of solids, such as metals, ceramics or...

Researchers pioneer new method to edit genes in human cells

Over the past decade, the CRISPR genome-editing system has revolutionized molecular biology, giving scientists the ability to alter genes inside living cells for research or medical applications. Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes have fine-tuned an additional system for more efficient gene editing, using molecules called retrons.

Engineered nanomaterial captures off-target cancer drug to prevent tissue damage

Standard chemotherapies may efficiently kill cancer cells, but they also pose significant risks to healthy cells, resulting in secondary illness and a diminished quality of life for patients. To prevent the previously unavoidable damage, researchers, led by Penn State, have developed a new class of nanomaterials engineered to capture chemotherapy drugs before they interact with healthy tissue.

New color-coded test quickly reveals whether medical nanoparticles have successfully delivered their payload

Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed a color-coded test that quickly signals whether newly developed nanoparticles—ultra small compartments designed to ferry medicines, vaccines and other therapies—deliver their cargo into target cells. Historically, nanoparticles have a very low delivery rate to the cytosol, the inside compartment of cells, releasing only about 1%–2% of their...

How dairy farmers can adapt to climate change

Dairy farmers in the Northeast—facing a warming climate that exacerbates nutrient pollution but lengthens the growing season—can reduce the environmental impact of their operations and maximize revenues by double cropping and injecting manure into the soil, rather than broadcasting it.

Division of labor among genetic switches

Two X chromosomes are actually one too many. Female mammalian cells hence switch off one of them – but only when the cells start to specialize into tissues. A research team has now discovered how cells 'count' their chromosomes and at the same time sense which stage of development they are in.

Modern humans developed a more effective protection against oxidative stress

Very few proteins in the body have adaptations that make them unique compared to the corresponding proteins in Neanderthals and apes. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now studied one such protein, glutathione reductase, which protects against oxidative stress. They show that the risk for inflammatory bowel...

Dairy farmers can adapt to climate change

Dairy farmers in the Northeast -- facing a warming climate that exacerbates nutrient pollution but lengthens the growing season -- can reduce the environmental impact of their operations and maximize revenues by double cropping and injecting manure into the soil, rather than broadcasting it.

How a brain networks enables human conversation

A new study has identified a brain circuit that is active while we plan our spoken replies during conversation. The work promises to guide the design of new therapies for the 7.5 million Americans who have trouble using their voices, say the study authors.

Living in outer space: Changes in blood flow volume may be at the heart of worsening eyesight

The long-term risks of living in space include bone loss, cosmic radiation and muscle weakness, so leaving gravity behind certainly has its obstacles -- and yet, that doesn't stop people from venturing out of the stratosphere. Some of these potential hurdles have already been studied extensively or are currently being investigated, but researchers have found an important but underserved area of...

Vaccination as the price for taking part in society | Letters

Guardian readers respond to John Harris’s piece on understanding the reasons behind vaccine hesitancyJohn Harris may be correct to frame the avoidance of vaccination by a significant portion of the UK population as the consequence of mistrust in authority or government (Understanding, not judgment, should shape our response to those who remain unjabbed, 2 January). However, I and many millions...

Incarcerated men's religious beliefs did not improve their reentry-related outcomes

Studies suggest that religion can help prisoners cope with prison life and that it may affect the likelihood of recidivism. A new longitudinal study examined how male prisoners' religious beliefs affected their reentry into the community. The study found that men with stable or increasing religious beliefs did not have better reentry-related outcomes than men with decreasing religious beliefs.

January temperatures linked to immigrant entrepreneurship

The slide into the new year can often be measured by the disappearance of string lights on roofs, a resurgence in gym memberships and perhaps most noticeable—colder winter weather. January holds the title as the chilliest month of the year for most states in the U.S., and now, Iowa State University researchers have discovered an unexpected link between drops in Fahrenheit and immigrant...

Growing algae outside of wastewater

Growing algae in wastewater has been a hot topic in research for years. News reports for decades have touted the latest research as bringing us within reach of new sources of fertilizer or environmentally friendlier biofuel.

California mice eat monarch butterflies

Monarch butterflies possess a potent chemical armor. As caterpillars, they eat plants filled with toxic cardenolides that build up in their bodies and make them unpalatable to most—but not all—predators. In central Mexico, where the largest winter monarch aggregations occur, scientists observed that rodents attack monarchs that fall to the ground. In particular, the black-eared mouse...

Toward a more inclusive definition of green infrastructure

Green infrastructure has been embraced as a tool to help cities achieve sustainability and resilience goals while improving the lives of urban residents. How green infrastructure is defined guides the types of projects that cities implement, with enduring impacts to people and the urban environment. 

Matter and antimatter seem to respond equally to gravity

As part of an experiment to measure—to an extremely precise degree—the charge-to-mass ratios of protons and antiprotons, the RIKEN-led BASE collaboration at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, has found that, within the uncertainty of the experiment, matter and antimatter respond to gravity in the same way.

How LPS prevents or promotes development of asthma and allergic disease by airborne allergens

Many experiments show that exposure to LPS during exposure to environmental allergens protects against developing asthma or allergic disease. Yet other numerous experiments show that the presence of LPS during exposure to environmental allergens does the opposite -- it promotes the development of asthma and other allergic disease. Now researchers detail a series of mechanistic steps that reveal a...

Windows that outsmart the elements

New research takes energy efficient windows a step further by proposing a new "smart window" design that would harvest the sun's energy in the winter to warm the house and reflect it in the summer to keep it cool.

Audiences to be put in hypnotic trance at Swedish film festival

Three screenings at this year’s Göteborg festival will ‘transform the audience’s state of mind’ with a live hypnotist on stageThe Göteborg film festival is no stranger to stunts. It has previously featured screenings for a single audience member at a North Sea lighthouse, as well as “coffin screenings” in which lucky viewers were interred inside a sarcophagus to enhance their sensory...

Controlling self-doping in magnetite with temperature

One of the most abundant iron-containing minerals on Earth, and also the oldest known magnetic material, is magnetite, Fe3O4. Magnetite has applications in many fields, such as the study of paleomagnetism—magnetism in rocks induced at the time of their formation—medicine, and data recording. It was the first known example of a metal that transitions to an insulator, a so-called "Verwey...