184 articles from TUESDAY 20.9.2022

China bets big on brain research with massive cash infusion and openness to monkey studies

After 5 years of planning and debate, China has finally launched its ambitious contribution to neuroscience, the China Brain Project (CBP). Budgeted at 5 billion yuan ($746 million) under the latest 5-year plan, the CBP will likely get additional money under future plans, putting it in the same league as the U.S. Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN)...

China Report: What’s up with all of Biden’s executive orders on China?

Welcome to the very first China Report newsletter! I’m Zeyi Yang, and every Tuesday I’ll bring you news about China’s technology industry. This week, let’s unpack recent actions on China from the Biden administration. Lately, President Biden has been getting busy with executive orders that are, without naming China, very related to China. In the past three weeks, there have been at...

Fundamental research improves understanding of new optical materials

Research into the synthesis of new materials could lead to more sustainable and environmentally friendly items such as solar panels and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Scientists from Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University have developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material. They...

Did life get its start in micaceous clay?

In mythologies and origin stories around the world, various cultures and religions point to clay as the vessel of life, the primordial material that creator gods imbued with a self-sustaining existence. Nowadays we have biology to explain how life comes to be, but could these tales of old hit closer to the mark than we think?

Proving that quantum entanglement is real: Researcher answers questions about his historical experiments

In the 1930's when scientists, including Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger, first discovered the phenomenon of entanglement, they were perplexed. Entanglement, disturbingly, required two separated particles to remain connected without being in direct contact. Einstein famously called entanglement "spooky action at a distance," since the particles seemed to be communicating faster than the...

Fundamental research improves understanding of new optical materials

Research into the synthesis of new materials could lead to more sustainable and environmentally friendly items such as solar panels and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Scientists have developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material and study the surface chemistry of the nanocrystals.

Fish can help in the search for multiple sclerosis drugs

The zebrafish should be known to many aquarium enthusiasts, mainly because of its striking pigmentation. However, the characteristic black-blue stripes, to which the animal owes its name, only form over time. Its eyelash-sized larvae, on the other hand, are still more or less transparent. Many developmental processes in their bodies can therefore be observed under the light microscope. For this...

From the atom to natural killer cell: The story of an unexpected protein structure

The discovery of a peculiar protein structure and the quest to confirm it has led to the description of interacting receptor clusters on natural killer (NK) cells. The study by the research team of Dr. Ondřej Vaněk from the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University, and his colleagues from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in the center...

Statistical analysis aims to solve Greek volcano mystery

One of the largest volcanic eruptions in the Holocene epoch—as measured by the volume of material ejected—occurred on the Greek island of Santorini, traditionally known as Thera. It is considered a pivotal event in the prehistory of the Aegean and East Mediterranean region, with the city of Akrotiri, buried some 1,600 years before Pompeii, becoming one of the key archaeological sites of the...

Lack of public appreciation contributes to loneliness in farming, study shows

A lack of public appreciation for farmers, and an understanding of the work they do and the pressures they're under contributes to feelings of loneliness, according to a new study. The paper, "It's a lonely old world": Developing a multidimensional understanding of loneliness in farming," is published in the journal Sociologia Ruralis.

Fish to help in search for MS drugs

The zebrafish serves as a model organism for researchers around the world: it can be used to study important physiological processes that also take place in a similar form in the human body. It is therefore routinely used in the search for possible active substances against diseases. Researchers have now described an innovative way to do this. In this process, the larvae fish are made a bit more...

Drumming in woodpeckers is neurologically similar to singing in songbirds

Researchers led by Matthew Fuxjager at Brown University, U.S. and Eric Schuppe at Wake Forest University, U.S. have found regions in the woodpecker forebrain that show characteristics that until now have only been associated with vocal learning in animals and language in humans. Publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on September 20, the study shows that instead of being related to...