108 articles from FRIDAY 6.1.2023

FDA approves new antibody to slow Alzheimer’s disease, even as safety concerns linger

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a controversial Alzheimer’s disease treatment for broad use—with caveats. The drug, an antibody called lecanemab, is the first to clearly slow cognitive decline in patients with early-stage disease, fueling excitement in the Alzheimer’s field and hope for patients and families. But its benefits appear modest, and it...

Maya calendar may be more than 3000 years old, laser mapping reveals

In the western, volcano-ringed highlands of Guatemala, Willy Barreno Minera keeps watch over the skies. As an ajq’ij , a daykeeper and spiritual guide, the stars and landscape help him keep track of the 260-day calendar that has ruled the life of his Maya K’iche’ community—an Indigenous group of about 1.6 million people—in Quetzaltenango for generations....

FDA approves breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug Lecanemab

Drug works with the body’s immune system to clear amyloid protein buildup from the brainThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lecanemab, a breakthrough drug to treat Alzheimer’s, that is manufactured by biotechnology companies Biogen and Eisai.The drug is an intravenously administered humanized monoclonal antibody that targets amyloid, the toxic protein in the brain linked to...

Scientists may have found magic ingredient behind ancient Rome’s self-healing concrete

The ancient Roman Empire still makes its presence felt throughout Europe. Bathhouses, aqueducts, and seawalls built more than 2000 years ago are still standing—thanks to a special type of concrete that has proved far more durable than its modern counterpart. Now, researchers say they have figured out why Roman concrete remains so resilient: Quicklime used in the mix may have given the...

133 Days on the Sun

This video chronicles solar activity from Aug. 12 to Dec. 22, 2022, as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). From its orbit in space around Earth, SDO has steadily imaged the Sun in 4K x 4K resolution for nearly 13 years. This information has enabled countless new discoveries about the workings of our closest star and how it influences the solar system. With a triad of...

Scientists get fungi to spill their secrets

Using multiplex base-editing, an approach that simultaneously modifies multiple sites in fungal genomes, chemical and biomolecular engineers coax fungi into revealing their best-kept secrets, ramping up the pace of new drug discovery.

Artificial intelligence could aid in evaluating parole decisions

Over the last decade, there has been an effort by lawmakers to reduce incarceration in the United States without impacting public safety. This effort includes parole boards making risk-based parole decisions—releasing people assessed to be at low risk of committing a crime after being released.

Compound extreme heat and drought will hit 90% of world population

More than 90% of the world's population is projected to face increased risks from the compound impacts of extreme heat and drought, potentially widening social inequalities as well as undermining the natural world's ability to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere—according to a study from Oxford's School of Geography.

Researchers uncover key codon repeats regulating chilling tolerance in rice

A recent study by Prof. Chong Kang's group from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has revealed a novel cold domesticated repair mechanism for DNA damage in rice, providing corresponding elite modules for the improvement of the chilling tolerance trait in rice with the codon repeats at a single site.

Strong solar flare erupts from Sun

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 7:57 p.m. EDT on Jan. 5, 2023. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Interfaces play important role in condensate behavior

Before mixing an oil-and-vinegar-based salad dressing, the individual drops of vinegar are easily seen suspended in the oil, each with a perfectly circular boundary that delineates the two liquids. In the same way, our cells contain condensed bundles of proteins and nucleic acids called condensates delineated by clear boundaries. The boundaries are known as interfaces and given that condensates...

‘He will always be stardust’: New Zealanders find connection with space burials

Memorial spaceflights offer people in New Zealand a new way to say goodbye, sending tokens holding their ashes into orbitOn 19 January, Keryn Townsley will be hoping for a clear night sky. Her family will gather at their home in Wellington, New Zealand, to watch a live stream of a rocket launching in the US – a tradition they have observed many times in the past. But this time will be different....

‘Self-healing’ Roman concrete could aid modern construction, study suggests

Research finds secret of durability of buildings such as the Pantheon could be in the techniques used at the timeThey have stood through the fall of an empire, the carnage of great wars and the foundation of a new country. But quite why structures made using Roman concrete are so durable has remained something of a mystery.Now researchers say they have discovered one possible explanation: the...

New super I-mode obtained on EAST

A new plasma operation scenario Super I Mode was discovered and demonstrated on the Experiment Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The new high-confinement and self-organizing mechanism represents the reliability and advancement of the machine itself but also offers insights into how to better maintain the plasma and its operating stability.

International nuclear fusion project may be delayed by years, its head admits

Facility in France still far from being able to show feasibility of generating carbon-free energy despite recent breakthrough in USAn international project in nuclear fusion may face years of delays, its boss has said, weeks after scientists in the United States announced a breakthrough in their own quest for the coveted goal.The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) project...

Marine plankton tell the long story of ocean health, and maybe human too

Using samples from an almost century-old, ongoing survey of marine plankton, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine suggest that rising levels of manmade chemicals found in parts of the world's oceans might be used to monitor the impact of human activity on ecosystem health, and may one day be used to study the connections between ocean pollution and land-based rates...

Indigenous territories and protected areas are key to forest conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, study shows

A study led by researchers with the Center for Earth Observation and Modeling at the University of Oklahoma analyzed time series satellite images from 2000 to 2021, revealing the vital role of Indigenous territories and protected areas in forest conservation in the Brazilian Amazon. The study results, recently published in Nature Sustainability, called attention to the negative impacts of weakened...

Cooling 100 million degree plasma with a hydrogen-neon mixture ice pellet

At ITER—the world's largest experimental fusion reactor, currently under construction in France through international cooperation—the abrupt termination of magnetic confinement of a high temperature plasma through a so-called "disruption" poses a major open issue. As a countermeasure, disruption mitigation techniques, which allow to forcibly cool the plasma when signs of plasma instabilities...

Ultrathin vanadium oxychloride demonstrates strong optical anisotropic properties

The optical, electrical and mechanical properties of some materials change depending on the direction or orientation of the material. Depending on how wood is cut, for example, the orientation of the wood grain can result in a stronger or weaker material with different appearances. This same principal applies to ultrathin, two-dimensional (2D) materials with unique properties such as magnetism.

Modern tools reveal the brutality of death by multiple sword blows 700 years ago

A team of researchers from the University of Insubria and the University of Siena, both in Italy, has used modern tools to reconstruct the events that led to the death of a young man approximately 700 hundred years ago, in what is now Italy. In their paper published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the group describes how they used three-dimensional X-ray scans, computed tomography...