A researcher is one step closer to demonstrating the potential of a brain molecule called fractalkine to halt and even reverse the effects of multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers injected fractalkine into mice with chemically induced MS. They found the treatment increased the number of new oligodendrocytes -- vital brain and spinal cord cells that produce myelin in...

Recent advances in newborn heart surgery have greatly reduced brain injuries in infants with congenital heart disease, according to a 20-year study.

In the search for new forces and interactions beyond the Standard Model, an international team of researchers has now taken a good step forward. The researchers are using an amplification technique based on nuclear magnetic resonance. They use their experimental setup to study a particular exotic interaction between spins: a parity-violating interaction mediated by a new hypothetical exchange...

Neuroscientists have compiled extensive interdisciplinary findings from neuroscience, psychology, computer modelling and education on the topic of 'learning' in a recent review article. The results of the interdisciplinary review reveal the mechanisms the brain uses to achieve improved learning outcome by combining multiple senses or movements in learning. This kind of learning outcome applies to...

The quail could be the unknown reservoir of the Toscana virus (TOSV) and the Sandfly Fever Sicilian virus (SFSV), mosquito-borne pathogens that can infect domestic animals and also cause disease in humans.

A study found that under more severe climate warming scenarios, the inventory of trees used for timber in the continental United States could decline by as much as 23% by 2100. The largest inventory losses would occur in two of the leading timber regions in the U.S., which are both in the South.

Scientists have identified a previously unknown species of circovirus, provisionally named human circovirus 1 (HCirV-1). Circoviruses are a family of small, highly resistant DNA viruses that were initially identified in 1974 in various animal species, where they can cause respiratory, renal, dermatological and reproductive problems. HCirV-1 is a novel virus that is distant from known animal...

Chess players perform worse when air pollution increases, according to new research.

Insects play crucial roles in almost every ecosystem -- they pollinate more than 80% of plants and are a major source of food for thousands of vertebrate species -- but insect populations are collapsing around the globe, and they continue to be overlooked by conservation efforts. Protected areas can safeguard threatened species but only if these threatened species actually live within the areas we...

Energy-efficient ways of cooling buildings and vehicles will be required in a changing climate. Researchers have now shown that electrical tuning of passive radiative cooling can be used to control temperatures of a material at ambient temperatures and air pressure.

The CT-scanned skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish, pulled from a coal mine in England more than a century ago, has revealed the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain.

MIT physicists have discovered a resonance in colliding ultracold molecules. The findings shed light on the forces that drive molecules to chemically react and suggest scientists could one day harness particles' natural resonances to steer and control certain reactions.

Engineers have developed a new way to make sharper, defect-free displays, which could improve augmented and virtual reality devices. Instead of replacing red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes side by side in a horizontal patchwork, the team stacks the diodes to create vertical, multicolored pixels.

Changing how tightly an antibody binds to a target could improve treatments for cancer.

Astronomers using data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), have made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova -- the ultra-powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about 10 such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky...

Between 2010 and 2020, human ignitions started 76% of the Western wildfires that destroyed structures, and those fires tended to be in flammable areas where buildings are increasingly common. Three times as many homes and other structures burned in these ten years than in the previous decade.

Scientists have discovered a new way to investigate the structure of protons using neutrinos, known as 'ghost particles.'

Electric space propulsion systems use energized atoms to generate thrust. The high-speed beams of ions bump against the graphite surfaces of the thruster, eroding them with each hit, and are the systems' primary lifetime-limiting factor. Researchers used data from low-pressure chamber experiments and large-scale computations to develop a model to better understand the effects of ion erosion on...

A new 'outside-the-box' method of teaching artificial intelligence (AI) models to make decisions could provide hope for finding new therapeutic methods for cancer, according to a new study.

What happened shortly after the universe was born in the Big Bang and began to expand? Bubbles occurred and a previously unknown phase transition happened, according to particle physicists.

Smart voice assistants are a popular way for people to get quick answers or play their favorite music. That same technology could make the laboratory safer for scientists and technicians who handle potentially infectious samples. Researchers now report a small, voice-activated device that can extract and pretreat bacterial DNA, helping protect those on the front lines of disease outbreaks. The...

Computer scientists recently announced a new, predictive model that is capable of accurately forecasting where a migratory bird will go next -- one of the most difficult tasks in biology. The model is called BirdFlow, and while it is still being perfected, it should be available to scientists within the year and will eventually make its way to the general public.

New developments for achieving structural coloring through plasma irradiation of graphite can reduce the reliance upon harmful color dyes. Colors achieved by plasma irradiation are completely erasable and can be manipulated using time exposed to the plasma irradiation, intensity of the irradiation and the thickness of the graphite layer applied. The application of plasma-structural coloring aims...

Most cancer diagnostic techniques rely on uncomfortable and invasive procedures, such as biopsies, endoscopies or mammograms. Blood samples could be a less unpleasant option, though only a few forms of the disease can currently be diagnosed this way. But now, researchers have developed an easy-to-use method that can detect small amounts of cancer-related molecules in exosomes in plasma and...