182 articles from TUESDAY 14.3.2023
Caffeine may reduce body fat and risk of type 2 diabetes, study suggests
Findings could lead to use of calorie-free caffeinated drinks to cut obesity and type 2 diabetes – but more research neededHaving high levels of caffeine in your blood may lower the amount of body fat you carry and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests.The findings could lead to calorie-free caffeinated drinks being used to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes, though further...
Geneticists should rethink how they use race and ethnicity, panel urges
The once widely held notion that humans fall into discrete races has led to geneticists drawing erroneous conclusions about the role of genes in shaping health and traits, and in some cases, to harmful discrimination against some groups. An expert committee is now urging an overhaul of this practice. Most notably, the committee’s report calls for researchers to scrap the term “race”...
Researcher solves nearly 60-year-old game theory dilemma
To understand how driverless vehicles can navigate the complexities of the road, researchers often use game theory—mathematical models representing the way rational agents behave strategically to meet their goals.
GPT-4 is bigger and better than ChatGPT—but OpenAI won’t say why
OpenAI has finally unveiled GPT-4, the San Francisco-based company’s next-generation large language model. Its last surprise hit, ChatGPT, was always going to be a hard act to follow, but the company has made GPT-4 even bigger and better.
Yet how much bigger and why it’s better, OpenAI won’t say. GPT-4 is the most secretive release the company has ever put out, marking its full...
New model provides improved air-quality predictions in fire-prone areas
Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent and destructive, generating a significant amount of smoke that can be transported thousands of miles, driving the need for more accurate air pollution forecasts. A team of Penn State researchers has developed a deep learning model that provides improved predictions of air quality in wildfire-prone areas and can differentiate between wildfires and...
Do COVID-19 vaccine mandates still make sense?
Visitors to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C., receive a clear reminder that, 3 years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 10 March 2020, it’s far from over. Before entering, they must show a guard proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Such demands were common around the world a year ago, with wide support...
Researchers discover way to reverse infertility by reducing HDL cholesterol
Houston Methodist scientists reversed infertility in sterile mice by reducing high-circulating cholesterol with a bacterial protein, showing further evidence that links high cholesterol to female infertility. This is a promising development, with one in every five women of childbearing age in the U.S. unable to get pregnant after trying for a year.
Physicists track sequential 'melting' of upsilons
Scientists using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to study some of the hottest matter ever created in a laboratory have published their first data showing how three distinct variations of particles called upsilons sequentially "melt," or dissociate, in the hot goo. The results, just published in Physical Review Letters, come from RHIC's STAR detector, one of two large particle tracking...
New US standards to limit 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new standards on Tuesday to limit levels of harmful so-called "forever chemicals" in public drinking water.
People of color largely underrepresented among authors published in the American Journal of Archaeology
A new demographic survey of authorship in the American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) reveals that people of color have been largely underrepresented among the scholars published in the journal.
NASA Selects 7 Fundamental Physics Proposals
Artist's concept of a magneto-optical trap and atom chip to be used by NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Fundamental Physics Program has selected seven proposals submitted in response to the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences - 2022 (ROSES-2022) E.6 Fundamental Physics call for proposal....
Webb captures rarely seen prelude to a supernova
A Wolf-Rayet star is a rare prelude to the famous final act of a massive star: the supernova. As one of its first observations in 2022, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope captured the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124 in unprecedented detail. A distinctive halo of gas and dust frames the star and glows in the infrared light detected by Webb, displaying knotty structure and a history of episodic...
Ovarian development of yellow-spined bamboo locust sheds light on emergence and migratory nature of pest
Scientists from the Chinese MARA-CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety have created a model which can estimate adult emergence periods and identify migratory populations of the yellow-spined bamboo locust from their ovarian development.
Innovative approach opens the door to COVID nanobody therapies
COVID is not yet under control. Despite a bevy of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and antivirals, the virus continues to mutate and elude us. One solution that scientists have been exploring since the early days of the pandemic may come in the form of tiny antibodies derived from llamas, which target various parts of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
New study finds early warning signs prior to 2002 Antarctic ice shelf collapse
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:51
In 2002, an area of ice about the size of Rhode Island dramatically broke away from Antarctica as the Larsen B ice shelf collapsed. A new study of the conditions that led to the collapse may reveal warning signs to watch for future Antarctic ice shelf retreat, according to a new scientists.
Humans are leaving behind a 'frozen signature' of microbes on Mount Everest
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:51
Thanks to technological advances in microbial DNA analysis, researchers have discovered that mountaineers' boots aren't the only things leaving footprints on the world's tallest mountain. When someone sneezes on Everest, their germs can last for centuries.
New test quickly identifies patients whose postoperative pain can be effectively treated by hypnosis
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:51
Hypnosis is an effective treatment for pain for many individuals but determining which patients will benefit most can be challenging. Hypnotizability testing requires special training and in-person evaluation rarely available in the clinical setting. Now, investigators have developed a fast, point-of-care molecular diagnostic test that identifies a subset of individuals who are most likely to...
Innovative approach opens the door to COVID nanobody therapies
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:50
The relatively simple and low-cost procedure could empower laboratories in low-resource areas to generate nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2, as well as other viruses.
Air pollution impairs successful mating of flies
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:50
A research team demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful reproduction. The oxidizing effect of ozone causes the carbon-carbon double bonds found in the molecules of many insect pheromones to break down. Therefore, the specific chemical mating signal is...
Solving the Alzheimer's disease puzzle: One piece at a time
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:50
Researchers have uncovered a novel regulatory mechanism in the brain that is essential for making the right kinds of proteins that promote healthy brain function, and its malfunctioning may be an early contributor of the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Game-changing high-performance semiconductor material could help slash heat emissions
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:50
Researchers have engineered a material with the potential to dramatically cut the amount of heat power plants release into the atmosphere.
COVID-19 pandemic has long-lasting effects on adolescent mental health and substance use
- ScienceDaily
- 23/3/14 20:50
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on adolescent mental health and substance use, according to a new population-based study based on survey responses from a sample of over 64,000 13- to 18-year-olds assessed prior to and up to two years into the pandemic.