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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for April 24, 2019:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | China to build moon station in 'about 10 years'Beijing plans to send a manned mission to the moon and to build a research station there within the next decade, state media reported Wednesday, citing a top space official. |
 | Rapid destruction of Earth-like atmospheres by young starsThe discoveries of thousands of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system has made questions about the potential for life to form on these planets fundamentally important in modern science. Fundamentally important for the habitability of a planet is whether or not it can hold onto an atmosphere, which requires that the atmosphere is not completely lost early in the lifetime of the planet. A new study by researchers based at the University of Vienna and at the Space Research Institute of the ÖAW in Graz has shown that young stars can rapidly destroy the atmospheres of potentially-habitable Earth-like planets, which is a significant additional difficulty for the formation of life outside our solar system. The results will appear soon in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. |
 | Why Pluto is losing its atmosphere: winter is comingThe ominous warning – "winter is coming", popularised by fantasy series Game of Thrones – applies equally well to Pluto. |
 | Rensselaer team developing tool to battle space debrisA team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is building a semi-autonomous trash collector for space, which they have fittingly named OSCaR. (You can see OSCaR here) The acronym stands for "Obsolete Spacecraft Capture and Removal," and it's a creative solution to an increasingly dangerous and costly problem that is literally encompassing the globe. |
 | How would you survive on Mars?The Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats Institute is working to ensure that the first long-term settlement on other planetary bodies are safe from hazards such as a meteoroid colliding with the moon or violent sandstorms on Mars. |
 | Image: New comet viewerFrom a distance of five million kilometres to within 20 metres, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft captured images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from all angles. |
Technology news
 | A first in medical robotics: Autonomous navigation inside the bodyBioengineers at Boston Children's Hospital report the first demonstration of a robot able to navigate autonomously inside the body. In an animal model of cardiac valve repair, the team programmed a robotic catheter to find its way along the walls of a beating, blood-filled heart to a leaky valve—without a surgeon's guidance. They report their work today in Science Robotics. |
 | No assembly required: Researchers automate microrobotic designsAssembling a microrobot used to require a pair of needle-nosed tweezers, a microscope, steady hands and at least eight hours. But now University of Toronto Engineering researchers have developed a method that requires only a 3-D printer and 20 minutes. |
 | Using a printed adversarial patch to fool an AI systemA trio of researchers at the University of KU Leuven in Belgium has found that it is possible to confuse an AI system by printing a certain picture and holding it against their body as the AI system tries to identify them as a human being. Simen Thys, Wiebe Van Ranst and Toon Goedemé have written a paper describing their efforts and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server. They have also posted a video on YouTube showing what they accomplished. |
 | Computer scientists design way to close 'backdoors' in AI-based security systemsIt sounds like a plot out of a spy novel, with a touch of cyberpunk: An agent approaches a secure location, protected by a facial recognition system, accessible only to a head of state or CEO. Flashing an unusually shaped earring, the agent tricks the system into thinking they're that VIP, opening the door and exposing the secrets inside. The key—an undetectable "sleeper cell" was placed inside the AI behind the security system months or years earlier to grant access to anyone wearing the specified jewelry. |
 | Improving security as artificial intelligence moves to smartphonesSmartphones, security cameras, and speakers are just a few of the devices that will soon be running more artificial intelligence software to speed up image- and speech-processing tasks. A compression technique known as quantization is smoothing the way by making deep learning models smaller to reduce computation and energy costs. But smaller models, it turns out, make it easier for malicious attackers to trick an AI system into misbehaving—a concern as more complex decision-making is handed off to machines. |
 | Takes a licking and keeps on storingResearchers at Washington University in St. Louis made an energy storage device that can withstand a hammer striking it more than 40 times. The shatterproof supercapacitor is also nonflammable, unlike lithium-ion batteries. The new work is the cover story of the April 23 issue of the journal Sustainable Energy and Fuels. |
 | Intel 9th-gen processors: Good tidings for gamers and creatorsAn Intel outlay of what's new and spiffy about its 9th generation core processor family grabbed Tuesday's tech-watching observers, who went over the list. |
 | Google-linked firm wins US approval for drone deliveriesWing Aviation, a firm owned by Google parent Alphabet, on Tuesday became the first drone operator to be certified as an airline by US authorities, allowing it to begin commercial deliveries in the country. |
 | Machine teaching: How people's expertise makes AI even more powerfulMost people wouldn't think to teach five-year-olds how to hit a baseball by handing them a bat and ball, telling them to toss the objects into the air in a zillion different combinations and hoping they figure out how the two things connect. |
 | NIST tool enables more comprehensive tests on high-risk softwareWe entrust our lives to software every time we step aboard a high-tech aircraft or modern car. A long-term research effort guided by two researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their collaborators has developed new tools to make this type of safety-critical software even safer. |
 | Get set for take-off in electric aircraft, the next transport disruptionMove aside electric cars, another disruption set to occur in the next decade is being ignored in current Australian transport infrastructure debates: electric aviation. Electric aircraft technology is rapidly developing locally and overseas, with the aim of potentially reducing emissions and operating costs by over 75%. Other countries are already planning for 100% electric short-haul plane fleets within a couple of decades. |
 | OCR4all: Modern tool for old textsHistorians and other humanities' scholars often have to deal with difficult research objects: centuries-old printed works that are difficult to decipher and often in an unsatisfactory state of conservation. Many of these documents have now been digitized—usually photographed or scanned—and are available online worldwide. For research purposes, this is already a step forward. |
Ghana eyes world record in medical drone serviceGhana launched a fleet of drones Wednesday to carry medical supplies to remote areas, with President Nana Akufo-Addo declaring it would become the "world's largest drone delivery service." | |
 | Twitter users younger, better educated than general public: surveyTwitter users in the United States are younger, better educated and more left-leaning than the general population, a survey showed Wednesday. |
 | Facebook profit slumps on set-aside for big US fineFacebook on Wednesday reported quarterly profit sank 51 percent from a year earlier due to setting aside $3 billion for an anticipated fine from US regulators. |
 | Microsoft surges toward trillion-dollar value as profits riseMicrosoft said profits climbed in the past quarter on its cloud and business services as the US technology giant saw its market value close in on the trillion-dollar mark. |
 | Tesla CEO heads down perilous road in pursuit of profitTesla has lost nearly $6 billion since setting out to revolutionize the auto industry 15 years ago, but CEO Elon Musk foresees a profitable future fueled in part by a ride-hailing service made up of electric cars driven by robots. |
 | Shadow of 2 deadly crashes hangs over Boeing's 1Q earningsWhen Boeing releases first quarter results Wednesday, investors will be looking beyond profit and revenue numbers to clues about the fate of the company's best-selling plane and when it might fly again. |
 | Crisis-hit Nissan issues fresh profit warningNissan issued a profit warning on Wednesday, deepening the woes of the Japanese car giant as it seeks to recover from the shock of former boss Carlos Ghosn's arrest. |
 | Hyundai Motor swings back to black with Q1 profitSouth Korea's largest automaker Hyundai Motor bounced back in the first three months from its first quarterly loss in eight years on strong domestic demand for its new sport utility vehicles, the company said Wednesday. |
 | Japan's SoftBank to invest 900 mn euros in Germany's WirecardJapan's Softbank is to invest 900 million euros ($1 billion) in beleaguered German financial technology firm Wirecard, or a stake of about 5.6 percent, Wirecard announced Wednesday. |
 | Britain 'approves' Huawei role in 5G networkBritish Prime Minister Theresa May has reportedly approved a limited role for China's Huawei to help build a 5G network in the UK, shrugging off security warnings from senior ministers and Washington surrounding the telecoms giant, media said Wednesday. |
 | Netflix spared as Academy keeps Oscars rule unchangedThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday voted to not change its rule for a film's Oscars eligibility, sparing Netflix after months of pressure to exclude the streaming titan. |
 | Water Innovation Prize goes to startups targeting methane and wastewaterA startup with a cheap technology for purifying textile wastewater and another with a system to help reduce methane emissions from cattle were named co-winners of the MIT Water Innovation Prize on Thursday. |
 | Slow media: how to renew debate in the age of digital authoritarianismThe rise of a new global, digital and mobile form of capitalism has, since the 1970s, accelerated the pace of our lives. We produce more, consume more, make more decisions and have more experiences. This acceleration is driven by the underlying principles that "time is money", "time is power" and "life is short". |
 | Ford to invest $500M in electric vehicle startup RivianFord is sinking a half-billion dollars into electric vehicle startup Rivian in a deal that has the companies working together on a new Ford electric vehicle based on Rivian underpinnings. |
 | Boeing's troubled jet is costing $1 billion to fix so farBoeing is already estimating a $1 billion increase in costs related to its troubled 737 Max and has pulled its forecast of 2019 earnings because of uncertainty surrounding the jetliner, which remains grounded after two crashes that killed 346 people. |
Foxconn says it's looking for 'flexibility' with WisconsinFoxconn Technology Group insists it remains committed to a $10 billion project in Wisconsin that employs up to 13,000 people, while saying it is also looking for "flexibility" in the deal struck with much fanfare in 2017 and heralded by President Donald Trump as the "eighth wonder of the world." | |
 | AT&T shares slump as more TV customers leaveShares of AT&T slid Wednesday as the wireless and entertainment company reported that its TV customer losses continued in the first quarter. |
Indian court lifts ban on Chinese social media app TikTokAn Indian court on Wednesday lifted its ban on Chinese social media video-sharing app TikTok on the condition that the platform popular with teenagers would not be used to host obscene videos. | |
 | Twitter adds way to report voter-tricking tweetsTwitter on Wednesday began making it easier to report tweets aimed at interfering with people voting, starting first in Europe and India. |
Medicine & Health news
 | Synthetic speech generated from brain recordingsA state-of-the-art brain-machine interface created by UC San Francisco neuroscientists can generate natural-sounding synthetic speech by using brain activity to control a virtual vocal tract—an anatomically detailed computer simulation including the lips, jaw, tongue, and larynx. The study was conducted in research participants with intact speech, but the technology could one day restore the voices of people who have lost the ability to speak due to paralysis and other forms of neurological damage. |
 | Who really hit the basketball out of bounds?The shot clock reads 5, and a win forces a game 7. Two hands outstretched as the players—one in royal blue and yellow, the other black—hurtle towards the edge of the court. The ball sails out of bounds, and the play ends. Both players insist to the referee that the other touched the ball last. The crowd roars. |
 | The mobile game that can detect Alzheimer's riskA specially designed mobile phone game can detect people at risk of Alzheimer's – according to new research from the University of East Anglia. |
 | The neurobiology of noshing: Why is it so easy to overeat calorie-rich tasty foods?When you eat something super tasty, ever wonder why you really don't want to stop even though you know you've eaten enough? Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine may have found the reason. |
 | Exposing cancer's metabolic addictionsCancerous tumors are classified primarily based on their tissue of origin. However, the sequencing of the human genome and the development of powerful and affordable DNA sequencing technologies has ushered in a new era of precision oncology, in which patients are treated with customized therapies designed to target the specific mutations within their tumor. |
 | Stem cells from hair follicles have potential to repair damaged neurons in miceA subset of the stem cells in hair follicles have the potential to regenerate the coating that insulates neurons in mice, reports Thomas Hornyak of the VA Maryland Health Care System and the University of Maryland School of Medicine and colleagues, in a new study published 24th April in PLOS Genetics. The study offers a new direction for finding therapeutic options for certain neurodegenerative diseases. |
 | Could a popular food ingredient raise the risk for diabetes and obesity?Consumption of propionate, a food ingredient that's widely used in baked goods, animal feeds, and artificial flavorings, appears to increase levels of several hormones that are associated with risk of obesity and diabetes, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in collaboration with researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Sheba Medical Center in Israel. |
 | Researchers use machine-learning system to diagnose genetic diseasesResearchers at Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM) have utilized a machine-learning process and clinical natural language processing (CNLP) to diagnose rare genetic diseases in record time. This new method is speeding answers to physicians caring for infants in intensive care and opening the door to increased use of genome sequencing as a first-line diagnostic test for babies with cryptic conditions. |
 | Gifted kids turn 50: Most successful followed heart, not just headNew findings from an ongoing 45-year Vanderbilt study reveal that patterns found in test scores and a psychological assessment measuring the personal values of nearly 700 intellectually gifted adolescents were highly predictive of the distinct fields of eminence they would occupy by age 50. |
 | Stressed, anxious? Ask the brainOur actions are driven by "internal states" such as anxiety, stress or thirst—which will strongly affect and motivate our behaviors. Not much is known about how such states are represented by complex brain-wide circuits, including sub-cortical structures such as the amygdala. In a study recently published in Science, the group of Andreas Lüthi at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) used a deep brain imaging technique to monitor amygdala activity in active mice and revealed the neuronal dynamics encoding behavioral states. |
 | More evidence that blood tests can detect the risk of Alzheimer'sA new study confirms that a simple blood test can reveal whether there is accelerating nerve cell damage in the brain. The researchers analysed neurofilament light protein (NFL) in blood samples from patients with Alzheimer's disease. Recently published in JAMA Neurology, the study suggests that the NFL concentration in the blood could be able to indicate if a drug actually affects the loss of nerve cells. |
 | How light triggers brain activityOptogenetics uses light to control brain processes. It is based on light-controlled proteins such as channelrhodopsin-2, an ion channel that opens when it's exposed to light, thus activating cellular processes. In collaboration with colleagues from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have now shed light on its mode of action. The team headed by Professor Klaus Gerwert and Professor Peter Hegemann has published its report in PNAS on April 19, 2019. |
 | New discovery in how mammals sense the cold could lead to new pain relief drugsResearchers at UCL have shown for the first time that mammals detect different intensities of cold using distinct sensory neuron systems, a finding which could lead to the development of new drugs to treat cold pain. |
 | A new clue in the mystery of ALS, frontotemporal dementiaA special focus on rogue proteins may hold future promise in stopping the progression of nerve cell destruction in people who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or frontotemporal dementia. |
 | Researchers learn how 'bad cholesterol' enters artery wallsUT Southwestern researchers have determined how circulating "bad cholesterol" enters artery walls to cause the plaque that narrows the blood vessels and leads to heart attacks and strokes. |
 | Cannabis addiction influenced by genetic makeupSome people may be more genetically prone to cannabis addiction, finds a new UCL-led study. |
 | Microbial contaminants found in popular e-cigarettesPopular electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) products sold in the U.S. were contaminated with bacterial and fungal toxins, according to new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. |
 | Genetic testing in women diagnosed with breast cancer decreases cost of care nationwideA new study suggests that Oncotype DX-guided treatment could reduce the cost for the first year of breast cancer care in the U.S. by about $50 million (about 2 percent of the overall costs in the first year). The study by Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and National Cancer Institute researchers was published April 24, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. |
 | CBD reduces impairment caused by cannabisThe more cannabidiol (CBD) in a strain of cannabis, the lower the impairment to brain function, finds a new UCL-led brain imaging study. |
 | Smelling with your tongueScientists from the Monell Center report that functional olfactory receptors, the sensors that detect odors in the nose, are also present in human taste cells found on the tongue. The findings suggest that interactions between the senses of smell and taste, the primary components of food flavor, may begin on the tongue and not in the brain, as previously thought. |
 | Reducing care needs of teens with substance-abuse disordersKaiser Permanente researchers find long-term benefits for patients and health organizations that employ screenings, interventions, and referrals. |
 | Study confirms value of exposure therapy for vets with PTSD, alcohol problemsProlonged exposure therapy is more effective at treating PTSD than Seeking Safety, a coping skills therapy, for patients who also have alcohol use disorder, found a VA San Diego Healthcare System study. The findings offer important guidance for clinicians in the VA health care system, which cares for many veterans coping with both PTSD and problem drinking. |
 | Sub-optimal food allergy knowledge and attitudes among restaurant staffA new study of restaurant staff reveals low levels of food allergy knowledge and negative attitudes about serving people with food allergies, while exploring key factors that might influence such knowledge and attitudes. Adrian Loerbroks of the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on April 24, 2019. |
Spinal muscular atrophy drug may help kids with later-onset diseaseThere is now further evidence that a drug that is effective in treating the rare muscle-wasting disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) early in life may be associated with improvement in older children, according to a study published in the April 24, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. | |
 | South Sudan measles outbreak raises questions about vaccinesDespondent, Akon Mathiong points to two small mounds of dirt where she buried her grandsons, 4 and 5 years old, last month. They died after contracting measles in one of the worst-hit areas of South Sudan's latest outbreak. |
 | Proteins stand up to nerve cell regressionA study by Duke-NUS Medical School has found that members of the multiprotein 'Integrator complex', known for its role in gene regulation, are crucial for healthy brain development in fruit flies. The findings have implications for further understanding and treating neurodevelopmental disorders in humans. |
 | Time-restricted eating shows benefits for blood glucoseBy restricting the time period during which they could eat, researchers have seen promising results for controlling blood glucose levels in men at risk of type 2 diabetes. |
 | Time doesn't erase grief, strong emotions connected to the victims of mass shootingsIt was April 1999 when the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado shocked a nation. Video of students desperately sprinting from the school to safety under the watch of armed police flooded televisions across the nation. |
 | How fish brain cells react to Alzheimer's diseaseZebrafish, in contrast to humans, have outstanding regenerative capacities: If brain cells are lost due to illness or injury, they will easily regrow from so-called progenitor cells. With sophisticated methods, researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) have now characterized these progenitor cells in great detail and determined that they consist of eight different sub-populations. In a fish model of amyloid accumulation (a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease), only some of these populations increased proliferation to restore lost cells. Characterizing the molecular basis of these progenitor's proliferative abilities will help identify new candidate target molecules for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in humans. The research is published in Cell Reports. |
 | Simple and fast method for radiolabelling antibodies against breast cancerRadioactive antibodies that target cancer cells are used for medical diagnostics with PET imaging or for targeted radioimmunotherapy. Researchers from the University of Zurich have created a new method for radiolabelling antibodies using UV light. In less than 15 minutes, the proteins are ready-to-use for cancer imaging or therapy. |
 | Team unveils the hidden control architecture of brain networksA KAIST research team identified the intrinsic control architecture of brain networks. The control properties will contribute to providing a fundamental basis for the exogenous control of brain networks and, therefore, has broad implications in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. |
 | 'Sticks and stones...' but words can indeed hurt you, study findsWords can hurt or help a person's psychological well-being, according to a new study from the University of California, Irvine. Researchers found that the effects of negative and positive political rhetoric about immigration – particularly by people from Mexico – elicited a range of corresponding emotions associated with lower or higher levels of stress and overall health in Mexican Americans. |
Patient perspectives on pharmacotherapy to treat alcohol use disorderAlcohol use disorders (AUDs) cause nearly 90,000 deaths a year in the United States, making them the third leading cause of preventable death. Rates of AUD are particularly high among military personnel. According to the 2015 Department of Defense Health Related Behaviors Survey, 35 percent of service personnel met criteria indicative of hazardous drinking or a possible AUD. Because of the acutely high risk among this demographic, the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) mandates FDA-approved pharmacological and psychosocial treatment to veterans with substance use disorders, including AUD. | |
 | Did Anne Boleyn really try to speak after being beheaded?When Jean-Paul Marat's killer, Charlotte Corday, was executed by guillotine in 1793, a man named Francois le Gros allegedly lifted her head and slapped both cheeks. Onlookers claimed that Corday's face took on an angry expression and her cheeks became flushed. There are other reports from history of severed heads that seem to have shown signs of consciousness. Anne Boleyn, for example, apparently tried to speak after being beheaded. But are these stories bogus or is there scientific evidence that the head can remain conscious after it has been separated from the body that sustains it? |
 | Sickly sweet or just right? How genes control your taste for sugarYou might love sugary doughnuts, but your friends find them too sweet and only take small nibbles. That's partly because your genes influence how you perceive sweetness and how much sugary food and drink you consume. |
 | Hospitals must adapt so infants can 'room-in' with opioid-dependent mothersOpioid use in pregnancy has risen dramatically in recent years, along with the opioid epidemic within the general Canadian population. |
 | Psychedelics to treat mental illness? Australian researchers are giving it a goAn estimated one in ten Australians were taking antidepressants in 2015. That's double the number using them in 2000, and the second-highest rate of antidepressant use among all OECD countries. |
 | How the body protects itself from type 2 diabetesA specific group of white blood cells, termed "regulatory T cells," keeps the immune system in balance and suppresses its activity to protect the body against autoimmune diseases. Scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University of Bonn have now discovered a new mechanism by which regulatory T cells inhibit inflammation, specifically in adipose tissue. This mechanism plays an important role in protecting against type 2 diabetes, as an overactive immune system in adipose tissue can promote insulin resistance and thus contribute to this metabolic disease. The study is now published in the journal Immunity. |
 | How lifestyle affects our genesIn the past decade, knowledge of how lifestyle affects our genes, a research field called epigenetics, has grown exponentially. Researchers at Lund University have summarised the state of scientific knowledge within epigenetics linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes in a review article published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism. |
 | Growing up in poverty increases diagnoses of psychosis-spectrum mental illnessesGrowing up in impoverished urban neighborhoods more than doubles your chances over the average person of developing a psychosis-spectrum disorder by the time you reach middle adulthood, according to a new UC Davis and Concordia University study of nearly 4,000 families who were monitored over 30 years. |
 | Tummy timetables: WHO has lifestyle advice for kidsThe United Nations on Wednesday released its first-ever recommendations on physical activity for children under five, with disputed advice on subjects ranging from screen time to "tummy time". |
 | Newly discovered Ebolavirus may not cause severe disease in humansResearchers from the University of Kent's School of Biosciences have provided evidence that a newly discovered Ebolavirus may not be as deadly as other species to humans. |
 | 3 parenting essentials to safeguard kids' well-being(HealthDay)—As a parent, you want to do everything right to nurture your child. Besides serving healthy food and encouraging daily exercise, three other lifestyle habits can have a huge impact on your child's mental and physical well-being and development. |
 | USPSTF urges asymptomatic bacteriuria screen in pregnancy(HealthDay)—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening pregnant women for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) but not nonpregnant women or men. These recommendations form the basis of a draft recommendation statement published online April 23 by the USPSTF. |
 | Targeted therapy proves effective against aggressive rare blood cancerA multi-institutional clinical trial has given good results for a targeted therapy to treat a rare, aggressive blood cancer known as blastic plasmacytoid dendritic-cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Details on the trial, which supported Food and Drug Administration approval of the tagraxofusp therapy in December 2018, have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. |
Parents reassured febrile seizures following vaccination not dangerousNew research from the University of Sydney has found the severity of febrile seizures following vaccination is no different to febrile seizures from another cause, such as from a virus, and that the majority of seizures are short-lived, self-resolving and don't require ongoing treatment. | |
Photoacoustic endoscopy could improve Crohn's disease treatmentA newly developed endoscope could give doctors a better view of intestinal changes caused by Crohn's disease. This additional information would help improve treatment of the painful and debilitating form of inflammatory bowel disease, which currently affects hundreds of thousands of U.S. adults. | |
Study finds differences in storefront tobacco advertising by product typeIn response to U.S. restrictions on where tobacco companies are allowed to advertise their products, the industry now dedicates nearly all of its $9 billion advertising budget to activities occurring in retail settings. A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health fills an important gap by documenting specific characteristics of storefront tobacco advertisements in the context of today's diverse tobacco product landscape. Findings are published online in the journal Preventive Medicine. | |
 | EU curbs trans fats from 2021 to boost heart healthThe EU adopted a regulation on Wednesday to curb trans fat amounts in products like snack food as part of efforts to fight heart disease and strokes in Europe. |
 | Researchers identify neurotransmitter that helps cancers progressUsing human cancer cells, tumor and blood samples from cancer patients, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have uncovered the role of a neurotransmitter in the spread of aggressive cancers. Neurotransmitters are chemical "messengers" that transmit impulses from neurons to other target cells. |
 | Researchers find BRAF protein modification could slow tumor growthThe protein BRAF is a key player in the development of many different types of cancer, including melanoma. Scientists have known that BRAF becomes activated by growth factors and subsequently stimulates downstream proteins that promote cancer cell growth, invasion and survival. However, less is understood about how BRAF is involved in communicating signals from pro-inflammatory cytokines that are released by immune cells in the surrounding tumor environment. Researchers in Moffitt Cancer Center's Donald A. Adam Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center of Excellence have discovered a signaling pathway between cytokines and BRAF that promotes tumor growth. |
 | Preparing for a changing population—what it means to age successfullyA paper by Columbia Mailman School's John Rowe, MD, Julius Richmond Professor of Health Policy and Aging, in the journal Health Affairs outlines the challenges we face as the U.S. becomes an "aging society." This transformation has major implications for our core institutions which were not designed to support this changing population distribution. The paper, "Challenges For Middle-Income Elders In An Aging Society," is published online. |
 | Doctors turning to antibiotic alternatives to treat acne, researchers findPhysicians are scaling back on prescribing antibiotics for long-term acne treatment in favor of a combinations of therapies, according to Rutgers researchers. |
 | Study merges big data and zebrafish biology to reveal mechanisms of human diseaseIn a series of studies that volleyed between large databases and research in zebrafish, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered a link between vascular biology and eye disease. |
 | Scholars: Estimates of food insecurity among college students problematicA growing body of research suggests that food insecurity is prevalent on college campuses. But according to a new paper from a team of University of Illinois experts who study food choice issues, just how many college students struggle with having enough to eat on a consistent basis is a difficult number to pin down. |
 | Despite increase in insurance coverage for depression, growth in spending remains modestA new investigation published in JAMA Psychiatry finds that while insurance coverage for depression has increased, treatment rates are lower than expected, indicating that non-financial barriers to patient care still remain. Jason Hockenberry, Ph.D., associate professor at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health, is the lead author of the study. |
 | Take a deep breath: how to cope with panic attacksWith symptoms that often mimic heart attacks, panic attacks can be extremely scary for people who experience them. To help, Baylor College of Medicine's Dr. Asim Shah gives his recommendations on recognizing the signs of a panic attack and relaxation strategies you can use if you are having one. |
 | Chemotherapy or not? New discoveries help determine who will benefit from chemotherapyCase Western Reserve University researchers and partners, including a collaborator at Cleveland Clinic, are pushing the boundaries of how "smart" diagnostic-imaging machines identify cancers—and uncovering clues outside the tumor to tell whether a patient will respond well to chemotherapy. |
 | Stroke patients receive different amounts of physical therapyMedicare-covered stroke patients receive vastly different amounts of physical and occupational therapy during hospital stays despite evidence that such care is strongly associated with positive health outcomes, a new study by Brown University researchers found. |
 | Blood thinner found to significantly reduce subsequent heart failure risksResearchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that using blood thinners in patients with worsening heart failure, coronary artery disease or irregular heart rhythms was associated with a 17 percent reduced risk of thromboembolic events, such as stroke and heart attack. |
 | US measles cases hit highest mark in 25 yearsMeasles in the U.S. has climbed to its highest level in 25 years, closing in on 700 cases this year in a resurgence largely attributed to misinformation that is turning parents against vaccines. |
 | US pharma bosses charged with fueling opioid crisisTwo former executives of a major US pharmaceutical company were charged Tuesday with fulfilling orders they knew to be fraudulent during the opioid epidemic that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. |
 | Socioeconomic deprivation increases risk of developing chronic kidney disease in EnglandThe George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford investigated whether there was an association between socioeconomic deprivation (measured using the English Index of Multiple Deprivation combining income, employment, health and disability, education, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, crime, and living environment, into a single score by geographical area) and onset of advanced CKD and related outcomes, specifically end-stage renal disease (ESRD). |
 | Why can't we tickle ourselves?Why can't we tickle ourselves? – Florence, aged 12, Cambridgeshire, UK. |
 | Air pollution poses risks for childhood cancer survivorsPoor air quality days significantly increase the risk of hospitalizations for respiratory issues in young survivors of cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) and published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. |
Disorders of sexual development may be more common in newborns than previously thoughtAmbiguous genitalia in newborns may be more common than previously thought, according to a study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of the Endocrine Society. | |
 | Do-it-yourself veggie noodles(HealthDay)—Want to get more veggies into your diet but feeling bored with the same old side dishes? Making noodles from vegetables is the answer. They're a great substitute for high-calorie, low-fiber traditional pasta and work just as well as a base for your favorite sauces. |
 | Los Angeles county measles outbreak under investigation(HealthDay)—A measles outbreak is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health. |
Biology news
 | Zoologists discover two new bird species in IndonesiaZoologists from Trinity College Dublin, working with partners from Halu Oleo University (UHO) and Operation Wallacea, have discovered two beautiful new bird species in the Wakatobi Archipelago of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Details of their discovery—of the Wakatobi white-eye and the Wangi-wangi white-eye—have been published today (April 24) in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, which is the same journal in which Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin published their game-changing original ideas about speciation in 1858. |
 | Can we solve the riddle of the coral reef halos?Coral reefs worldwide are threatened by a variety of human impacts. Fishing is among the most pressing threats to reefs, because it occurs on most reef systems and fundamentally alters food webs. Meanwhile, observing coral reefs, particularly remote, hard-to-access locations such as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), remains notoriously difficult and expensive. But a University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa researcher and her collaborators may have found a mysterious natural phenomenon that can help us observe coral reef health from space. |
 | Classroom crowdscience: UC students challenged to detect schizophrenia genesTeaching big data to future scientists means having them think creatively about ways to harness the terabytes of information available to them. To that end, systems biologist Trey Ideker used his UC San Diego School of Medicine's Biological Networks and Biomedicine graduate course to host a classroom competition tasking students with detecting genes associated with schizophrenia. The winning technique was quick, flexible, and outperformed previously published methods. The details appear April 24 in the journal Cell Systems. |
 | Tomato, tomat-oh!—understanding evolution to reduce pesticide useAlthough pesticides are a standard part of crop production, Michigan State University researchers believe pesticide use could be reduced by taking cues from wild plants. |
 | Chinese-UK project reveals ancient secrets of medicinal mintThe precious chemistry of a plant used for 2000 years in traditional Chinese medicine has been unlocked in a project that raises the prospect of rapid access to a wide array of therapeutic drugs. |
 | Veritable powerhouses—even without DNAWhether human beings or animals, plants or algae: the cells of most life forms contain special structures that are responsible for energy production. Referred to as mitochondria, they normally have their own genetic material, in addition to that found in the nucleus. Uwe John and colleagues at the Alfred Wegener Institute have now identified the first-ever exception to this rule in a single-celled parasite. The mitochondria of the dinoflagellate Amoebophrya ceratii appear to produce energy just like our own mitochondria, but without any genetic material, as the team reports in the journal Science Advances. |
 | In order to recognize spatial structures, bat echolocation uses similar cues as our sense of sightThe sonar system of bats exploits spatial information in a way similar to our sense of sight, despite the different anatomy of eyes and ears. In a new study, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen and the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich have now shown that echoes contain information that allows bats to distinguish differently structured surfaces. On a turbulent water surface for example, a fidgety prey item acoustically stands out even against the clutter of the background waves. |
 | Targeting how fungi 'taste' wheat could be key to controlExploring how a hazardous fungal pathogen 'tastes' its surroundings within a wheat plant to coordinate virulence could be the key to developing new control strategies, scientists believe. |
 | Bacteria reveal strong individuality when navigating a mazeResearchers from ETH Zurich demonstrate that genetically identical cells exhibit differing responses in their motility towards chemical attractants. Average values hide the full picture when it comes to describing the behavior of bacteria. |
 | New chemical tool to block endocytosis in plants identifiedPlant cells absorb many important substances through a process called endocytosis. In plants, endocytosis is essential for nutrient uptake, passing on cellular signals and plant-microbe interactions. However, the vital nature of endocytosis makes it challenging to study using methods from classical genetics. Small molecules targeting this process are a good alternative for such studies but in plants, they are lacking. An international collaborative effort of scientists from several VIB Centers, Ghent University and the Free University of Berlin, coordinated by Prof. Jenny Russinova (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) found a new chemical that blocks endocytosis. |
 | Crabs, lobsters and shrimp now have a family tree dating 500 million yearsResearchers have for the first time traced the roots of crabs, lobsters and shrimp to create the family tree of crustaceans people love to eat. |
 | What the vibrant pigments of bird feathers can teach us about how evolution worksA University of Arizona-led research team has shown that evolution is driven by species interaction within a community. |
 | Immense Pacific coral reef survey shows green sea turtle populations increasingDensities of endangered green turtles are increasing in Pacific coral reefs, according to the first comprehensive in-water survey of turtle populations in the Pacific. The study, by Sarah Becker of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California and colleagues, publishes April 24 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. |
 | Researchers reveal how bacteria can adapt to resist treatment by antibioticsIn a joint collaboration, researchers from Denmark and Switzerland have shown that bacteria produce a specific stress molecule, divide more slowly, and thus save energy when they are exposed to antibiotics. The new knowledge is expected to form the basis for development of a new type of antibiotics. |
 | Plant signals trigger remarkable bacterial transformationThe cycad Cycas revoluta is a palm-like plant that grows on rocky coastal cliffs in the sub-tropics and tropics. It has a symbiotic relationship with the Nostoc species of bacteria that can convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into ammonia, which the host plant can then use for its growth. Scientists knew that cycad roots produce a compound that can induce Nostoc species within the soil to transform into their motile form, hormogonia, and attracting them to the roots. However, nobody has determined what exactly the compound is. |
 | Field trial with neonicotinoids: Honeybees are much more robust than bumblebeesThe insecticide clothianidin affects different species of bees in different ways. While it has no demonstrably negative effect on honeybees, it disrupts the growth of bumble bees and threatens the survival of entire colonies. However, the insecticide does not make either species more susceptible to diseases and pathogens, as a massive field study in Sweden shows. The international team, including scientists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, reports its latest findings in the renowned journal Nature Communications. |
 | Female warblers live longer when they have help raising offspringDeath is, unfortunately, an inevitable consequence of life. In most animals growing old is accompanied by progressive deterioration in health and vitality, leading to an increasing likelihood of death with age. |
 | Antarctica: the final frontier for marine biological invasions?A new study looking at the implications of increased shipping activity and the impact on Antarctic marine biodiversity is published this week in the journal Global Change Biology. The research is an important step in the quest to understand whether invasive species, introduced by shipping, will find the Antarctic marine environment more hospitable as Antarctica's climate changes. |
 | New perennial brome-grass from Iberian Peninsula named after Picos de Europa National ParkPicos de Europa National Park has given its name to a new species of perennial bromegrass, discovered in Spain. Bromus picoeuropeanus belongs to a rather underrepresented on the Iberian Peninsula perennial group within the grass genus Bromus, with the new species being just the fourth of all recognised wild species living in the Iberian territory. |
 | Migrating bats use the setting sunBats weighing no more than 6 grams, migrating over a thousand miles from the Baltic to Britain, could be the key to revealing how migrating mammals navigate. |
 | With flower preferences, bees have a big gap between the sexesFor scores of wild bee species, females and males visit very different flowers for food—a discovery that could be important for conservation efforts, according to Rutgers-led research. |
 | Freshwater fish species richness has increased in Ohio River Basin since '60sThe taxonomic and trophic composition of freshwater fishes in the Ohio River Basin has changed significantly in recent decades, possibly due to environmental modifications related to land use and hydrology, according to a study published April 24 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mark Pyron of Ball State University, and colleagues. |
 | DNA gives insight into prehistoric bonds between dogs and humansDomestic dogs come in all shapes and sizes, but the animals we now regard as man's best friend may have originated from just two populations of wolves, research suggests. The findings, along with studies on other domesticated animals, are providing new insights into how our ancestors' lives and movements transformed these creatures forever. |
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