112 articles from FRIDAY 24.6.2022

Changed gene expression after heart surgery extends cardiomyocyte regeneration

While lower vertebrates can repair their adult hearts after a heart attack, mammals -- including humans -- cannot. The ability to regenerate dead muscle tissue in mammalian hearts disappears just a few days after birth because the heart muscle cells, called cardiomyocytes, exit the cell cycle. In 2020, researchers reported that surgery to remove the left ventricle apex of the heart of pigs, one...

Flexing the power of a conductive polymer

For decades, field-effect transistors enabled by silicon-based semiconductors have powered the electronics revolution. But in recent years, manufacturers have come up against hard physical limits to further size reductions and efficiency gains of silicon chips. That has scientists and engineers looking for alternatives to conventional metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors.

Microscopy technique enables 3D super-resolution nanometer-scale imaging

Over the last two decades, microscopy has seen unprecedented advances in speed and resolution. However, cellular structures are essentially three-dimensional, and conventional super-resolution techniques often lack the necessary resolution in all three directions to capture details at a nanometer scale. A research team has now investigated a super-resolution imaging technique that involves...

Our global food supply is at risk when high gas prices limit the creation of fertiliser | Andrew Whitelaw

We need synthetic fertilisers to produce enough food for the world’s population – there are no other alternatives yetSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityIf water is the source of life, fertiliser is the source of scaleable food production.The increasing cost of fertiliser is one of the largest contributors to a...

Arsenic in private well water contributes to low birth weight even at low levels

In the largest epidemiologic study of arsenic and birth outcomes to date, researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and collaborating institutions estimated arsenic levels in U.S. private well water sources by county and compared estimates to documented birth outcomes. They found an association between estimated groundwater arsenic concentration and risk of low birth weight.

In the Balkans, researchers mobilize to protect a wild river

Five years ago, researchers from across Europe converged on a cold, fast-moving river in the highlands of Albania for a week of intensive fieldwork. Their mission: to kick off a multiyear effort to assemble a detailed ecological portrait of the Vyosa River, one of Eastern Europe’s last free-flowing waterways. They hoped to draw public attention to the river’s rich wildlife and...

Theories on socio-political evolution put to the test

During the past 10,000 years—the Holocene—human societies became larger and ever more complex. An international team of scientists led by Peter Turchin from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) set out to test various theories on what drove this process. According to its analyses of data from Seshat: Global History Databank, the best explanation for the evolution of socio-cultural...

NASA Announces Launch Delay for Psyche Asteroid Mission

Portal origin URL: NASA Announces Launch Delay for Psyche Asteroid MissionPortal origin nid: 480893Published: Friday, June 24, 2022 - 13:41Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: NASA announced Friday that the Psyche asteroid mission – the agency’s first mission designed to study a metal-rich asteroid – will not make its planned 2022 launch...

Red flag laws to prevent mass shootings: What does the research show?

Mass shootings are a source of shared anguish and outrage among Americans and are becoming more frequent. Extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs), also known as gun violence restraining orders or "red flag" laws, are designed to help prevent these shootings. Below, UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) experts explain what is currently known about mass shootings, how ERPOs work and...