Новости за 17.05.2022

Researchers have developed a new method for designing large-scale metasurfaces that uses techniques of machine intelligence to generate designs automatically. The method will enable new metasurface designs that can make an impact on virtual or augmented reality, self-driving cars, and machine vision for embarked systems and satellites.

Taking multiple prescription drugs and supplements can be fraught with risk, a new study suggests -- but it's hard for many people to part with their medications.

Different types of brain damage caused by a concussion may lead to similar symptoms in children, according to new research. A new way of studying concussions could help develop future treatments.

Researchers have discovered that Type I interferon (IFN) plays a key role in helping the immune system effectively target viruses, while stopping white blood cells from 'going rogue' and attacking the body's own organs. This opens the way to potential new treatments that can save many lives.

Older breast cancer survivors with cardiometabolic risk factors who restricted food intake to eight hours during the weekday, followed by 16 hours of fasting, lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) after a few weeks, according to a new research letter.

Statins have been hailed as a wonder drug; the cholesterol-lowering drugs have been prescribed to tens of millions of people since their approval in the late 1980s to prevent heart attack and stroke. But the drugs may yet have additional benefits, some research has hinted, including on mental health. Now, a new study examines the influence of statins on emotional bias, a marker for risk of depression.

Scientists saw for the first time hallmarks of concussions and other head trauma in the brains of deceased headbutting animals -- muskoxen and bighorn sheep. The results may contradict the commonly-held belief that ramming animals do not suffer brain injuries and support the notion that studies on animals with brains evolutionarily similar to those of humans may help researchers understand and reduce traumatic brain injuries.

Researchers have identified a previously unknown function for the fragile X protein, the loss of which is the leading inherited cause of intellectual disability. The researchers showed that the protein modulates how neurons in the brain's memory center process information, a central part of learning and memory.

A new study partially explains why tuberculosis infections easily take hold in the host's lungs and suggests that boosting T cell response is key to creating a therapy that can shut down the infection at its onset.

People who practice intensive meditation report memories of states in which their sense of self dissolves. Is this at all possible?

Adolescent athletes with high motivation for school also have high motivation for sports. Male students tend to be less interested in school than their female peers, a new study shows.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) secreted from sensory neuron-interneuron crosstalk is key to the spreading of inflammation across joints, acting as a neurotransmitter and inflammation enhancer.

Scientists determined that by increasing the accuracy of weather forecasts over the last decade, consumers netted at least $384 million in energy savings. The researchers based their predictions on NOAA's High Resolution Rapid Refresh model, which provides daily weather forecasts for every part of the U.S. These include wind speed and direction data, which utilities can use to gauge how much energy their turbines will produce.

A team has described and characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other 'client' proteins. The findings shed light on the public health issue of zinc deficiency and open an entirely new area of biology for exploration.

Researchers have developed a desktop air curtain system that blocks all incoming aerosol particles. An air curtain, or air door, is a fan-powered ventilation system that creates an air seal over an entryway, but one challenge in developing smaller air curtains is fully blocking emitted aerosol particles over time because it is difficult to maintain the air wall over a long distance.

Australia has suffered a significant drop in teenage maths proficiency in the past 20 years -- sliding from 11th in the OECD rankings to 29th place out of 38 countries, prompting widespread debate over potential curriculum changes. One researcher says hand gestures could stop the slide.

A recent study confirmed that scent detection dogs can be taught to identify individuals with a coronavirus infection from skin swabs. In the experimental set-up at Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, the accuracy of the dogs in identifying the samples was 92 percent.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a malignant disease associated with a particularly high mortality rate. According to a new multicenter study, SCLC can be divided into several subgroups in terms of clinical behavior. These subtypes respond differently to chemotherapeutics and targeted drugs. This opens up possibilities for personalized treatment for this type of cancer as well.

The capabilities of complex microbial communities are used for numerous biotechnological processes. This requires special compositions of the microbial communities. However, these are often unstable and susceptible to disruption. Researchers have now developed a 'mass transfer method with a loop' that can stabilize microbial communities in the long term.

Evidence of structured vocal sequences in wild chimpanzee communication provides insights into human language evolution.

Agriculture, loss of habitat or wastewater effluents -- human stressors negatively impact biodiversity in streams and rivers. Very little is known yet about the extent to which their capacity for self-purification and other essential ecosystem services are also impacted. An international research team has synthesized the globally available research on this topic in a meta-analysis. This study provides new initiatives for improved water management.

Efficient and environmentally friendly solar cells are required for a transition to a fossil-free energy supply. Researchers at have now mapped how energy flows in organic solar cells, something that previously had been unknown.

Several in-hospital treatments and post-discharge therapies for people who have had an intracerebral hemorrhage, or a bleeding stroke, are not as effective as health care professionals once thought. Compression socks or stockings, anti-seizure medicines and steroid treatment are among treatments with uncertain effectiveness. Studies show that minimally invasive surgical procedures may be a useful addition to treating some bleeding strokes.

Seasonal imbalance between the solar energy absorbed and released by the planet Mars could be a cause of the Red Planet's dust storms, according to new research. Understanding how the system works on Mars could help scientists predict how climate change could affect Earth.

The vaccinia virus uses its own machinery and not that of the cell it infects to repair ultraviolet radiation-caused damage to its DNA, according to new research. The virus repurposes an enzyme it uses for copying its DNA to repair the damage. Blocking that enzyme disrupts both the copying and repairing of viral DNA, resulting in a dramatic reduction in new virions.