Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and other institutions report that a new laboratory test that induces cancer cells to squeeze through narrow spaces has the potential to accurately predict which breast cancers and other solid tumors are likely to spread, or metastasize, to other sites. The test, they say, might also help clinicians select the best drugs to prevent cancer's spread.
Novel approach reveals vaping's effect on endothelial cells and the most harmful flavors.
A geothermal energy project triggered a damaging earthquake in 2017 in South Korea. A new analysis suggests flaws in some of the most common ways of trying to minimize the risk of such quakes when harnessing Earth's heat for energy.
Physics researchers and literature researchers have joined together to better understand the rare natural phenomenon of white and red auroras fanning across the night sky in Japan. Armed with drawings and descriptions dating back to the 1700s, microfilm from the 1950s, and today's spectral image data, they've confirmed the accuracy of the older depictions. They've also started to understand how the fan-shaped auroras appear, both in the sky and to the eye.
NCCR MARVEL researchers have developed a novel microscopic theory that is able to describe heat transport in very general ways, and applies equally well to ordered or disordered materials such as crystals or glasses and to anything in between. This is not only a significant first, it also shows, surprisingly, that heat can tunnel, quantum-mechanically, rather than diffuse away, like an atomic vibration. The new equation will also allow the accurate prediction of the performance of thermoelectric materials for the first time.
A group of scientists from Russia and Ireland found out how quality of tissue-engineered biomeshes (biological 'frame' which is used for tissue repair) is affected by various chemical fixatives (cross-linkers). Such compounds form chemical 'bridges' between biomesh polymers and change its mechanical and functional properties. It will help to select cross-linkers for treatment of certain transplants. The research results are published in the official journal of the International Xenotransplantation Association.
A genome-wide association study has identified five new genetic risk loci that can pass on risk for harmful alcohol use from parents to children, and confirmed one previously identified risk locus. The findings were published in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier.
The global spread of antibiotic resistance is undermining decades of progress in fighting bacterial infections. Due to the overuse of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, we are on the cusp of returning to a pre-antibiotic era in which minor infections can once again become deadly. Therefore, countering the fall in antibiotic efficacy by improving the effectiveness of currently available antibiotics is a crucial goal.
A new study resolves a long-standing debate about what happens at the microscopic level when matter transitions into a superconducting or superfluid state.Correlations between pairs of atoms in an ultra-cold gas were found to grow suddenly as the system was cooled below the transition temperature.The experiments at Swinburne University of Technology used gases of lithium atoms cooled to temperatures below 100 nano-Kelvin (less than a millionth of a degree above Absolute Zero).
In a bid to reveal even more distinctive differences and similarities, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Genetic Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Department of Neuroscience developed two new artificial intelligence methods that decipher complex gene activity controlling cell fate decisions in retina development and relate this gene activity to what occurs in other tissues and across different species.
Osaka University researchers developed a cable-free recording method that can measure brain activity associated with social behavior in mice. The method was based on a bioluminescent indicator of membrane voltage called 'LOTUS-V', which was delivered to cells via a gene expression system; it is therefore minimally invasive. LOTUS-V enabled cable-free detection of brain activity in freely moving mice. Activation in the primary visual cortex was found during social interaction.
Tiny channels between nerve cells are involved in a newly discovered mechanism of how Parkinson's disease can spread throughout the brain, according to new research from Linköping University, Sweden. The results demonstrate that harmful protein aggregates, or deposits, can bind and 'hitch a lift' with channel-forming proteins, and in this way spread to healthy cells. The study has been published in Acta Neuropathologica.
Monsoon and arid regions in the Asia-Africa-Australia realm occupy more than 60% of the total area of these continents. What are their origins, evolutions, causes and regional differences? A new study indicates that the monsoon and arid regions in Asia, Africa and Australia were formed in different geological periods of the Cenozoic, mainly controlled by continental drift and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau to varying degrees depending on their locations.
Xianhui Chen's group at University of Science and Technology of China observed an electric-field controlled reversible transition from superconductor to ferromagnetic insulator in (Li,Fe)OHFeSe thin flake using the latest SIC-FET gating technique. This work offers a unique platform to study the relationship between superconductivity and ferromagnetism in Fe-based superconductors, and it also demonstrates the superior performance of SIC-FET in regulating the physical properties of layered crystals... Читать дальше...
Scientists from the University of Bonn and the Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand have identified two new dinosaur species. They analyzed fossil finds that were already discovered 30 years ago in Thailand. Both species are distant relatives of T. rex, but with a somewhat more primitive structure. They were efficient predators. The results have now been published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
Psychologists and philosophers had long suggested that simulation is the mechanism whereby humans understand the minds of others. However, the neural basis of this complex process had not been identified. The amygdala is involved in various functions related to social behaviour as well as in autism. However, it was not known whether the amygdala neurons contributed to advanced social knowledge, such as simulating the decisions of other individuals.
The researchers of the Nanoscience Center (NSC) at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and in the Xiamen University, China, have discovered how copper particles at the nanometer scale operate in modifying a carbon-oxygen bond when ketone molecules turn into alcohol molecules.
Climate change caused by humans impacts species diversity and ecosystems. Marine ecosystems are no exception. In order to assess exactly how climate change affects ecosystems, their current state has to be compared with the situation before human influence. Researchers from MARUM at the University of Bremen, and from the ICBM of the University of Oldenburg, have now shown that the associations of marine plankton in the present are markedly different from those of pre-industrial times.
Scientists from Skoltech, Moscow State University (MSU) and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have proposed a new approach to replacing carbon atoms with nitrogen atoms in the supercapacitor's crystal lattice and developed a novel capacity enhancement method based on carbon lattice modification with the aid of plasma. Their findings can help create the next generation of power sources for portable electronics. The results of their study were published in Scientific Reports.
Researchers of the Schliesser Lab at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have pushed the precision of force and position measurements into a new regime. Their experiment is the first to surpass the so-called 'Standard Quantum Limit,' or SQL, which arises in the most common (and successful) optical techniques for ultra-precise position measurements. The result and underlying experiment have potential implications for gravitational wave astronomy techniques, as well as force microscopy with biological applications.
Seasonal allergies to different types of grass or tree pollen are more common in people with anxiety disorders, while patients with depression are more likely to suffer from perennial allergies triggered by allergens such as animal hair. These are the findings of a team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Conversely, food and drug allergies were unaffected by these psychosocial disorders.
Researchers from EPFL have found the mechanism that lies behind a mysterious physics phenomenon in fluid mechanics: the fact that turbulence in fluids spontaneously self-organizes into parallel patterns of oblique turbulent bands -- an example of order emerging spontaneously from chaos. In so doing, they solved a problem that had stumped generations of physicists.
During the modern period, the buildings that used the traditional sloping roofs with tiles, draining the waters as quickly as possible, have begun to give way to the well-known 'waterproof flat roofs.' In spite of delivering a clean aesthetic to the project, allowing the use of the last slab as a space for living and contemplation, this solution can become a headache for its occupants if its execution and design are not careful. It is no accident that there have been infiltrations in famous modern buildings... Читать дальше...
Through a systematic review of published studies going back 50 years, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have identified a distinct subtype of primary central nervous system (PCNS) lymphoma that should be considered for surgical removal, suggesting a major shift in how this type of tumor is evaluated and managed.
Caltech researchers discover a process that turns carbon dioxide into molecular oxygen.