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Experts use super-resolution microscopy to observe individual synapse proteins

In the synapses of nerve cells (neurons), there are hundreds of specialized proteins that are important for the functioning of the nervous system. If something goes wrong here, neurological or psychiatric diseases can be the result - Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, depression, and schizophrenia are just a few of them.

6 Nov 2020

Warming climate can affect species that depend on stable, abundant access to food

The climate seems to be getting warmer. This could be bad news for species that depend on stable and abundant access to food at certain times of the year.

6 Nov 2020

Scientists use genomics to track the outbreak of Yellow fever virus in São Paulo

Yellow fever virus is normally confined to the Amazon region, but the virus circulated in the Southeast of Brazil between 2016 and 2018, causing the worst epidemic and epizootic outbreaks there for decades. The Ministry of Health confirmed 2,251 cases of yellow fever in humans and 1,567 cases in monkeys in Brazil between December 2016 and June 2019.

6 Nov 2020

Scientists develop machine learning algorithms to determine oil viscosity

A group of Skoltech scientists developed machine learning (ML) algorithms that can teach artificial intelligence (AI) to determine oil viscosity based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data.

6 Nov 2020

Composition of virus communities is shaped by host genetic factors

Plants can be infected by multiple viruses at once. However, the composition of the pathogen community varies, even if individuals belong to the same species and the same population.

6 Nov 2020

Highly automated device rapidly detects the presence of COVID-19

Throughout the pandemic, infectious disease experts and frontline medical workers have asked for a faster, cheaper and more reliable COVID-19 test.

6 Nov 2020

LipiDiDiet project shows positive effects of nutrient intervention in early Alzheimer’s disease

Trial participants who received a multinutrient formulation over an extended period of time showed a significantly less rapid deterioration in cognitive performance than the patients in a control group, who received only a placebo.

6 Nov 2020

Researchers outline the future effects of global warming on major cancers

Climate change will bring an acute toll worldwide, with rising temperatures, wildfires and poor air quality, accompanied by higher rates of cancer, especially lung, skin and gastrointestinal cancers, according to a new report from UC San Francisco.

6 Nov 2020

Bonfire Night celebrations release high amounts of soot in the atmosphere

Bonfire Night celebrations contaminate our air with hugely elevated amounts of soot, scientists have found.Researchers from the University of Leeds were monitoring air quality to determine whether soot created by fires and fireworks, known as black carbon, could help to create ice in clouds.

6 Nov 2020

Large-diameter trees store the most carbon compared to smaller trees

Older, large-diameter trees have been shown to store disproportionally massive amounts of carbon compared to smaller trees, highlighting their importance in mitigating climate change, according to a new study in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.

6 Nov 2020

A stepwise approach to increase crop yield

GAIN4CROPS is developing novel disruptive technologies to overcome one of the main constraints of photosynthesis: the photorespiration, a process that reduces CO2 assimilation efficiency, and thus biomass yield and agricultural productivity.

6 Nov 2020

Rapid prognosis of SARS-CoV-2 by MALDI-TOF MS

Gomila et al. recently uploaded a study to the preprint server medRxiv* (November 2020), aiming to utilize MALDI-TOF MS to analyze the sera of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a range of disease severity states.

6 Nov 2020

Epigenetic clock predicts the future growth of cancer cells

A team of researchers from IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona has headed an international study to design an epigenetic clock that can track the amount of cancer cells that have multiplied previously.

5 Nov 2020

Researchers create “developmental atlas” to classify the neurons of fruit flies

Using machine learning and gene sequencing, scientists from New York University have designed a “developmental atlas” of gene expression in neurons to classify over 250,000 neurons in the brains of fruit flies.

5 Nov 2020

Study sheds new light on key protein implicated in tumor development

A study headed by the University of Colorado Boulder has revealed a specific protein that is crucial for regulating the growth, proliferation, and function of cells, and how these cells were long implicated in the development of tumors.

5 Nov 2020

Study examines how extremophilic microbes can tolerate drastic space conditions

Since the dawn of space exploration, humankind has been fascinated by survival of terrestrial life in outer space. Outer space is a hostile environment for any form of life, but some extraordinarily resistant microorganisms can survive.

5 Nov 2020

Study shows AI can enhance breast cancer detection on mammography

Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance the performance of radiologists in reading breast cancer screening mammograms, according to a study published in Radiology: Artificial Intelligence.

5 Nov 2020

Researchers reveal identity of the last unknown protein of autophagy

Drs. Nobuo Noda (Director) and Kazuaki Matoba (Senior Researcher) et al. at the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (BIKAKEN, Tokyo, Japan) discovered that Atg9, one of the proteins that function to mediate autophagy, has phospholipid-translocation activity (the lipid scramblase activity) between the two layers of the lipid bilayer and elucidated that the protein's activity brings about autophagosome membrane expansion.

5 Nov 2020

Scientists identify a genetic basis for ANCA-associated vasculitis

Autoimmune disease is fundamentally a mystery: whyever should an organism systematically set out to harm itself? Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have identified a genetic basis for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, an autoimmune systemic disease that damages organs by targeting small blood vessels in a genetic association study.

5 Nov 2020

Scientists detect light-absorbing 'tarballs' in the Himalayan atmosphere

Some people refer to the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau as the "third pole" because the region has the largest reserve of glacial snow and ice outside of the north and south poles.

5 Nov 2020