How sound reduces pain in mice: Newly identified brain circuits may point to more effective pain therapies
An international team of scientists has identified the neural mechanisms through which sound blunts pain in mice. The findings, which could inform development of safer methods to treat pain, were published in Science. The study was led by researchers at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR); the University of Science and Technology […]
‘You are what you eat,’ and now researchers know exactly what you’re eating: Matching blood or stool samples to a reference database of foods reveals how much of our body chemistry is traceable to what we consume
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California San Diego, report a new method called untargeted metabolomics to identify the vast number of molecules derived from food that were previously unidentified, but that appear in our blood and our stool. The method, described in the July 7, 2022 issue of Nature […]
Researchers expand understanding of vortex spread in superfluids
An international team of scientists featuring Florida State University researchers has developed a model that predicts the spread of vortices in so-called superfluids, work that provides new insight into the physics that govern turbulence in quantum fluid systems such as superfluid neutron stars. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers created a […]
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 […]
Bacterial cellulose could enable microbial life on Mars: Research team studies kombucha cultures under simulated extraterrestrial conditions
An international research team including the University of Göttingen has investigated the chances of survival of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures — a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Although the simulated […]
A 3400-year-old city emerges from the Tigris River
A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists have uncovered a 3400-year-old Mittani Empire-era city once located on the Tigris River. The settlement emerged from the waters of the Mosul reservoir early this year as water levels fell rapidly due to extreme drought in Iraq. The extensive city with a palace and several large buildings could […]
Where do ‘Hawaiian box jellies’ come from?
An insightful cross-disciplinary team of University of Hawai’i (UH) at Manoa researchers, working for over a decade, published a study recently revealing that a key number of hours of darkness during the lunar cycle triggers mature “Hawaiian box jellyfish” (Alatina alata) to swim to leeward O’ahu shores to spawn. Led by Angel Yanagihara, associate research […]
Modifying the body’s immune system to help treat Type 1 diabetes
In a new study, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, Georgia Tech and Harvard University has demonstrated the successful use of a novel Type 1 diabetes treatment in a large animal model. Their approach involves transplanting insulin-producing pancreas cells — called pancreatic islets — from a donor to a recipient, without the […]
Higher wheat yields and protein content on the horizon
A team of international researchers has discovered a way to produce higher quality wheat. The scientists from the University of Adelaide and the UK’s John Innes Centre have identified a genetic driver that improves yield traits in wheat, which unexpectedly can also lead to increasing protein content by up to 25 per cent. “Little is […]
Scientists study links between obesity, age and body chemistry
A team of Clemson University scientists is making inroads in understanding the relationship between certain enzymes that are normally produced in the body and their role in regulating obesity and controlling liver diseases. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data collected in 2017-18, more than 42% of U.S. adults and 19% of […]