Researchers design an innovative strategy to fight obesity through gene therapy
A scientific team from the University of Barcelona and the CIBERobn has designed a strategy to fight obesity and diabetes in mice through ex vivo gene therapy which consists of implanting cells that have been manipulated and transformed in order to treat a disease. This is the first study to apply the ex vivo gene […]
Plan for More Oversight of Pathogen-Related Research Passes Hurdle
On Friday, federal advisors endorsed new recommendations for improving the biosecurity oversight of scientific research involving potential pandemic-causing pathogens. The board of directors of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) voted to approve a proposed framework requiring federal departments to review any research that could potentially enhance the transmissibility or virulence of a […]
Why Do People Keep Falling for Things That Don’t Work?
[embedded content] In this video, Rohin Francis, MBBS, discusses the nuances of scientific information. The following is a partial transcript of this video; note that errors are possible. Francis: I talk about the different cognitive biases on this channel fairly frequently that we all exhibit. And what’s interesting about them is that everybody is affected, […]
Biofinder advances detection of extraterrestrial life
An innovative scientific instrument, the Compact Color Biofinder, developed by a team of University of Hawai’i at Manoa researchers, may change the game in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life. Most biological materials, for example, amino acids, fossils, sedimentary rocks, plants, microbes, proteins and lipids, have strong organic fluorescence signals that can be detected […]
Scientific-Integrity Watchdog Slaps Lawsuit on Maker of Homeopathic Pills
A nonprofit scientific advocacy group sued Boiron last week for deceptively marketing its homeopathic products, legal documents show. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) filed the lawsuit Thursday against Boiron, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer that sells homeopathic treatments, claiming that the company deceives customers about the nature and effectiveness of its products. The complaint alleges that Boiron […]
Key brain mechanisms for organizing memories in time: Convergence research project integrated neurobiology with data science techniques
In a scientific first, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have discovered fundamental mechanisms by which the hippocampus region of the brain organizes memories into sequences and how this can be used to plan future behavior. The finding may be a critical early step toward understanding memory failures in cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s […]
The Science Supporting the U.S. Case for COVID Boosters
U.S. health officials laid out the scientific rationale for a third dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for all U.S. adults on Wednesday, relying on published and unpublished CDC data, as well as a preprint study. Overall, they said that there is evidence that vaccine effectiveness against infection — both symptomatic and asymptomatic — has […]
New method developed to solve plastics sustainability problem
Plastics sustainability has come a long way in recent years thanks in large part to scientific advances. But even as plastics become more and more environmentally friendly, the world continues to be polluted as many industries rely on them for their widely used products. The latest research from Dr. Junpeng Wang, assistant professor in UA’s […]
Have you ever wondered how many species have inhabited Earth?
Professors in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences explored whether or not the scientific community will ever be able to settle on a ‘total number’ of species of living vertebrates, which could help with species preservation. By knowing what’s out there, researchers argue that they can prioritize places and groups on which to concentrate […]
Impairments found in neurons derived from people with schizophrenia and genetic mutation
A scientific team has shown that the release of neurotransmitters in the brain is impaired in patients with schizophrenia who have a rare, single-gene mutation known to predispose people to a range of neurodevelopmental disorders. Significantly, the results from the research with human-derived neurons validated previous and new experiments that found the same major decrease […]