186 articles from TUESDAY 28.3.2023

Fast-growing open-access journals stripped of coveted impact factors

Nearly two dozen journals from two of the fastest growing open-access publishers, including one of the world’s largest journals by volume, will no longer receive a key scholarly imprimatur. On 20 March, the Web of Science database said it delisted the journals along with dozens of others, stripping them of an impact factor, the citation-based measure of quality that, although...

Promising Alzheimer’s therapy and related drugs shrink brains

A class of Alzheimer’s drugs that aims to slow cognitive decline, including the antibody lecanemab that was granted accelerated approval in the United States in January , can cause brain shrinkage, researchers report in a new analysis. Although scientists and drug developers have documented this loss of brain volume in clinical trial participants for years, the scientific...

Modeling agriculture matters for carbon cycling

To understand Earth's changing climate, scientists often turn to science-based computer simulations. Researchers strive to make these Earth system models as accurate as possible. Factors such as wind currents, air quality, and weather patterns all play a role. But current modeling has often overlooked one important activity: agriculture.

A wise tool for modifying microbes

A DNA editing tool adapted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists makes engineering microbes for everything from bioenergy production to plastics recycling easier and faster.

Some coastal salt marshes are keeping up with sea level rise—for now

The world's salty, tidal marshes are hotspots of carbon storage and productivity, building up sediments and plant material to stay above sea level. However, as sea level rises at an increasing rate, scientists debate whether it's possible for wetlands to win the race. New research reveals how salt marshes along the U.S. East Coast have responded to accelerating sea level rise by building elevation...

An epigenetic fingerprint as proof of origin for chicken, shrimp and salmon

Free-range organic chicken or factory farming? Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed a new detection method that can reveal such differences in husbandry. The so-called epigenetic method is based on the analysis of the characteristic patterns of chemical markers on the genome of the animals.

Highly charged ions melt nano gold nuggets

Normally, we have to make a choice in physics: Either we deal with big things—such as a metal plate and its material properties, or with tiny things—such as individual atoms. But there is also a world in between: The world of small but not yet tiny things, in which both effects of the macroscopic world and effects of the microscopic world play a role.

New method for fast, efficient and scalable cloud tomography

How do clouds shape the planet's future? Clouds are not just fluffy white shapes in the sky. They are vital for regulating the Earth's climate, as they influence the water cycle, atmospheric dynamics and energy balance. However, studying clouds is not easy. One way to do so is to use spaceborne imagers, but these imagers still face challenges of efficiency and scalability.

Fluorescent visualization and evaluation of NPC1L1-mediated cholesterol absorption at the levels of endocytic vesicles

Excessive cholesterol absorption from intestinal lumen contributes to the pathogenesis of hypercholesterolemia, which is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The absorption of intestinal cholesterol is primarily mediated by Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) protein, which is responsible for about 70% cholesterol absorption. NPC1L1-deficient mice are resistant to...

New EU project will standardise access to biodiversity data to empower policymakers

The magnitude and dynamics of the global biodiversity crisis are hard to quantify and require rapid, reliable and repeatable biodiversity monitoring data which decision makers can use to evaluate policy options. Such information—from local to global level and within timescales relevant to policy—calls for improved integration of data on biodiversity from different sources such as museums,...

Earliest galaxies challenge ideas about star birth in infant universe

Charlotte Mason, an astrophysicist at the University of Copenhagen, had modest expectations 9 months ago, when she and her collaborators began to use JWST, the giant new space telescope, to look back in time for the universe’s first galaxies . Modeling suggested the patch of sky they were examining would hold just 0.2 galaxies—none, in other words, unless they got...

Retinal scans: A non-invasive, inexpensive method to track human aging

Is the eye a window into aging? New research has shown how imaging of the fundus, the blood vessel-rich tissue in the retina, can be used to track human aging, in a way that is noninvasive, less expensive and more accurate than other aging clocks that are currently available. Researchers also did a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to establish the genetic basis for such a clock, which they...

Pulsing ultrasound waves could someday remove microplastics from waterways

Colorful particles of plastic drift along under the surface of most waterways. These barely visible microplastics -- less than 5 mm wide -- are potentially harmful to aquatic animals and plants, as well as humans. Now, a team reports a two-stage device made with steel tubes and pulsing sound waves that removes most of the plastic particles from real water samples.

Modern origami method creates glass shapes by folding

The ancient art of origami is well known for transforming sheets of paper and other foldable materials into complex 3D shapes. But now, chemical engineers have extended the centuries-old practice to produce intricate shapes made of glass or other hard materials. Their thoroughly modern method, which can be combined with 3D printing, could have applications ranging from sculpture to catalysis and...

Candidate found to inhibit malignant melanoma growth

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key factors in the tumor microenvironment, which have been implicated in cancer cell progression. It has also been reported that vesicles called exosomes produced by these CAFs play an important role in cancer progression. A research group investigated the effect of CAF-derived exosomes on the growth of malignant melanoma cells. They found that CAF-derived...

Shedding pounds may benefit your heart -- even if some weight is regained

Weight loss was associated with decreased risk factors for cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes for at least five years -- even if some weight was regained, according to a review of research on behavioral weight loss programs. People who lost weight through an intensive behavioral weight loss program had lower systolic blood pressure levels, total cholesterol-to-good cholesterol ratio and...

Turtles and crocodiles with unique characteristics are more likely to go extinct

New study demonstrates that the most endangered turtles and crocodile species are those that have evolved unique life strategies. Many of the most threatened species carry out important ecosystem functions that other species depend on. Habitat loss was identified as the key overall threat to turtles and crocodiles, followed by climate change and global trade. Unique species faced additional...