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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for November 22, 2019:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | Spacewalking astronauts slice into cosmic ray detector (Update)Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Friday for the second week in a row to repair a cosmic ray detector, this time actually cutting into the $2 billion instrument. |
 | Chemistry in the turbulent interstellar mediumOver 200 molecules have been discovered in space, some (like Buckminsterfullerene) very complex with carbon atoms. Besides being intrinsically interesting, these molecules radiate away heat, helping giant clouds of interstellar material cool and contract to form new stars. Moreover, astronomers use the radiation from these molecules to study the local conditions, for example, as planets form in disks around young stars. |
 | Boeing names space test dummy Rosie after WWII riveterSpaceX had Ripley. Now Boeing has Rosie. |
 | Image: Shimmering skies signal space weatherThe Aurora, seen here dancing above Svalbard in Norway, is the most beautiful result of space weather on Earth. |
 | Starship Mk1 blows its top during testingSpaceX has been on a roll lately. With the completion of tethered and untethered flight tests with the Starship Hopper, SpaceX founder Elon Musk unveiled the newly completed Starship Mk1 prototype and announced that orbital test flights would commence in a few months. Meanwhile, the Starlink constellation got started with the launch of its first 60 satellites followed by 60 more upgraded versions. |
 | Spacewalk excursion to extend the life of a powerful spectrometerOne of the largest human-made permanent magnets in space resides on the International Space Station (ISS), and it's helping scientists better understand the origins of our universe. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is an observatory that is collecting data from measurements of cosmic rays, nuclei from hydrogen up to iron, as well as electrons and positrons that pervade all of our universe. |
 | New model will help predict several solar phenomenaAn international group of scientists, in cooperation with a research scientist from Skoltech, has developed a model to describe changes in solar plasma. This will help comprehend solar dynamics and gives clues to understanding how to predict space weather events. The results have been published in the Astrophysical Journal. |
 | Image: Hubble eyes an emitting galaxyFor this image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope turned its powerful eye toward an emission-line galaxy called NGC 3749. |
Ethiopia says its 1st satellite will launch next monthEthiopian officials say the country will launch its first ever satellite next month. | |
 | Image: Hera scans DidymoonHera is a candidate ESA mission be presented to ESA's Space19+ meeting next week as part of the Agency's Space Safety programme, where Europe's space ministers will take a final decision on flying it. |
Technology news
 | A model to classify cyberattacks using swarm intelligenceIn recent years, new technological advances have led to a growing number of devices, ranging from more conventional computers to other gadgets and smart home appliances, communicating and sharing data with one another. Despite its advantages, this growing interconnection between devices, known as the Internet of Things (IoT), poses serious security threats. |
 | Stainless steel, broken glass and buzz, Tesla makes a pickup (Update)The much-hyped unveiling of Tesla's electric pickup truck went off script Thursday night when supposedly unbreakable window glass shattered twice when hit with a large metal ball. |
 | Tunnel vision for delivery vehicles could cut pollutionDecarbonizing vans that carry Internet-ordered deliveries: if it is a good idea then why not? A company's effort in the UK to do so might show the rest of the world that this is the way to go as we try to find solutions for a greener planet. |
 | Scientists help soldiers figure out what robots knowAn Army-led research team developed new algorithms and filled in knowledge gaps about how robots contribute to teams and what robots know about their environment and teammates. |
 | Autonomous car tester offers guide for first respondersGoogle spinoff Waymo is trying to educate emergency responders on how to deal with its autonomous vehicles. |
 | Google shifts rules for political ads, pressuring FacebookGoogle's tightening of its political ad policy could help reduce the spread of misinformation on election campaigns, but at a cost for lesser-known candidates. |
 | Isolated Iceland newly vulnerable to computer scams"Hi, I hope you are not busy?" |
 | On TV, political ads are regulated—but online, anything goesWith the 2020 election just a year away, Facebook is under fire from presidential candidates, lawmakers, civil rights groups and even its own employees to provide more transparency on political ads and potentially stop running them altogether. |
 | Clothing development software: Computer model calculates heat dissipation beneath clothingWhether for sports, at work or in the living room—depending on activity and environment, our clothing has to meet different demands. Empa scientists have developed a model that predicts how well a given garment will keep us warm. The crucial factor is the air gap between our body and the outermost layer of clothing. |
 | UK households support a return to hydrogen as a domestic fuelHouseholds in the U.K. would support a return to the use of hydrogen as a domestic fuel and believe it would have a positive environmental impact, research shows. |
 | Snapchat Time Machine is a selfie-altering feature that lets you 'age' before your eyesSnapchat is picking up where Face App left off by rolling out a new tool that tries to show you what you look like at every phase of life. |
| Google admits its 'dark skin' face scan project violated internal policy, leading to overhaulGoogle is working to save face. |
 | US FCC blocks China's Huawei, ZTE from subsidy programAmerican regulators on Friday unanimously branded Chinese telecoms firms ZTE and Huawei as threats to national security and blocked them from accessing $8.5 billion in federal funds for services and equipment. |
 | Bombshell GM lawsuit has bribes, backdoor schemesGeneral Motors' bombshell lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler reads like a crime novel, with jaw-dropping bribes, a custom-made Italian watch, and splurges on a luxury wedding and $7,000 feasts at upscale restaurants. |
German robotics set to shrink for first time in decadeGermany's prized industrial robotics and automation sector is expecting a drop in sales this year for the first time since the global financial crisis, an industry body said on Friday. | |
 | Ant-based troll detectionUncovering trolls and malicious or spammy accounts on social media is increasingly difficult as the miscreants find more and more ways to camouflage themselves as seemingly legitimate. Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, researchers in India have developed an algorithm based on ant-colony optimization that can effectively detect accounts that represent a threat to normal users. |
 | Are you a Tinder or a Bumble type of person? The clichés of 'big dating'From the way we count our steps to the measures we take to get noticed online, Silicon Valley has transformed the everyday life of the average American. How and what platform we choose to date hasn't escaped this reality. |
 | British Airways 'welcomes' breakthrough in pilot pay disputeFlagship carrier British Airways on Friday welcomed as a "positive step" a media report that it had reached a pay agreement with its pilots' union following damaging strikes. |
Medicine & Health news
 | Cancer linked with a more than doubled risk of dying from strokePeople living with or beyond cancer are more likely to die from stroke than the general public, according to new Penn State research, and certain types of cancer may boost the risk even more. |
 | Scientists identify underlying molecular mechanisms of Alexander diseaseScientists have known that genetic mutations leading to the production of a defective protein called GFAP cause Alexander disease (AxD), a debilitating neurodegenerative condition that can present during infancy, adolescence, or adulthood. Many people with the rare condition die within the first few years, but some survive for several decades. Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers are learning about the differences in the underlying biology of patients with severe and milder forms of AxD. Led by Natasha Snider, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell biology, an international group of scientists has discovered that the mutant form of GFAP undergoes different chemical modifications, depending on time of onset of symptoms. |
 | Get moving! Four in five adolescents don't exercise enough: WHOFour in five adolescents worldwide do not get enough physical activity, to the detriment of their health, the World Health Organization said Friday, warning that girls especially need more exercise. |
 | Why music makes us feel, according to artificial intelligenceYour heart beats faster, your palms sweat and part of your brain called the Heschl's gyrus lights up like a Christmas tree. Chances are, you've never thought in such a detailed way about what happens to your brain and body when you listen to music. |
 | New study shows how cancer survivors develop opioid addictionsOpioids play an important role in how cancer patients manage pain, but the ongoing opioid epidemic has raised concerns about their potential for abuse. |
 | Sensory processing difficulties adversely affect functional behavior in multiple sclerosisA team of researchers published new findings about the role of sensory processing and disease characteristics in the functional status of individuals with multiple sclerosis. This is one of the first studies to look at the implications of sensory processing deficits in this population. The article, "The role of sensory processing difficulties, cognitive impairment, and disease severity in predicting functional behavior among patients with multiple sclerosis", was epublished on August 27, 2019 by Disability and Rehabilitation. |
 | Wound healing in mucous tissues could ward off AIDSWound healing events in mucous tissues during early infection by Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, or SIV, guard some primate species against developing AIDS, a recent study has learned. The research looked at why certain species can carry the virus throughout their lives, and still avoid disease progression. |
Postpartum women are getting prescribed more opioids than neededNew University of Minnesota Medical School research finds postpartum women are generally getting prescribed more narcotics than they need. | |
 | How an AI solution can design new tuberculosis drug regimensWith a shortage of new tuberculosis drugs in the pipeline, a software tool from the University of Michigan can predict how current drugs—including unlikely candidates—can be combined in new ways to create more effective treatments. |
 | Fighting opioids with an unlikely supplemental painkiller: Anti-itch medicinePain is a mosaic. From a distance, it looks like one big "ouch." But if you step closer, many types of pain—like tiles of different shades—emerge. A headache doesn't feel like a papercut. The sting of denim against a sunburn is nothing like the jolt of ice against a sensitive tooth. |
 | Lack of sleep may explain why poor people get more heart diseaseInsufficient sleep is one reason why disadvantaged groups have more heart disease. That's the finding of a study published today in Cardiovascular Research, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). |
 | Survey: Most teenagers in legalized states see marijuana marketing on social mediaDespite restrictions on paid advertising cannabis on social media, most teenagers reported seeing marijuana marketing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, according to a public health study authored by University of Massachusetts Amherst injury prevention researcher Jennifer Whitehill. |
Samoa's measles death toll rises to 20The death toll from a measles epidemic in Samoa has risen to 20 as the outbreak rages out of control, with hundreds of new cases emerging daily, official data released Friday showed. | |
 | COPD death rates are falling in many countries but the total number of deaths is increasingChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) death rates fell in most countries between 1995 and 2017, but the total number of COPD deaths increased in many countries over the past 20 years, according to a new international analysis of World Health Organization (WHO) data. |
 | New study assesses different HPV vaccines and vaccine schedules in adolescent girls and boysNew evidence published in the Cochrane Library today provides further information on the benefits and harms of different human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and vaccine schedules in young women and men. |
 | Smartphone app to screen for early signs of dementiaTesting for dementia among elderly could one day be as simple as talking into a smartphone thanks to speech-analyzing technology being developed by engineers at UNSW Sydney. |
 | Breast and kidney cancer drugs approved on NHS ScotlandTwo new cancer treatment options have been accepted for use in Scotland for some patients living with breast and kidney cancer. |
 | Looming crisis for older family carersIncreasing numbers of older family carers, some in their 80s and 90s, are providing care to support adult children with severe learning disabilities or autism, according to a significant new report published today (Wednesday 20 November 2019). |
 | Non-opioid drug death rates are also on the riseDrugs overdoses in the United States have been on the rise, and studies have paid particular attention to prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. But University of Virginia researcher Christopher Ruhm fears the scrutiny on opioids is diverting attention from the rise in non-opioid-related drug deaths; in the 17-year period from 1999 to 2016, such deaths increased by 274 percent, according to his calculations. |
 | Study finds most Australian teens not doing enough physical activityNearly 90 percent of Australian children aged 11 to 17 are not meeting current recommendations on daily physical activity, according to an international study by researchers at the World Health Organization. |
 | Nature versus nurture: How modern science is rewriting itThe question of whether it is genes or environment that largely shapes human behavior has been debated for centuries. During the second half of the 20th century, there were two camps of scientists—each believing that nature or nurture, respectively, was exclusively at play. |
 | A new targeted insomnia treatmentInsomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders, and is most commonly treated with hypnotics. However, hypnotics have motor and cognitive side effects. According to new findings from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, suvorexant, which is a recently approved and more targeted treatment, has fewer physical side effects. |
 | Need a self-image boost? Researchers say stop checking the mirrorWomen worried about their appearance could boost their self image by reducing certain behaviors such as mirror checking, according to a new study by Florida State University researchers. |
 | Five ways parents can help their kids take risks—and why it's good for themMany parents and educators agree children need to take risks. In one US study, 82% of the 1,400 parents surveyed agreed the benefits of tree-climbing outweighed the potential risk of injury. |
 | A short, shaky history of curing with vibrationsYou might remember how Gwyneth Paltrow's health and well-being website Goop was selling "medical" products with no proven measurable health benefits. |
 | Training the brain to quit smokingIn many ways, the decline of smoking is one of America's great public health success stories. Before the Surgeon General released a damning report on smoking and health in 1964, more than 40 percent of American adults smoked. Today, just 14 percent do. But the number of smokers isn't the only thing that's changed. There's also been a major shift in who is smoking. |
 | First-in-human imaging study shows improved heart attack predictionDoctors need better ways to detect and monitor heart disease, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers with support from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has developed an improved optical imaging technique that found differences between potentially life-threatening coronary plaques and those posing less imminent danger for patients with coronary artery disease. Their method may give cardiologists additional data to identify patients at higher risk of future heart attacks and help them improve medical therapy. |
 | Study shows kids get more exercise at school than at homeIn a study of the activity level of grade 5 students at 60 schools across Alberta, researchers observed that children are more active on school days than on weekends and holidays when the weather turns bad. |
 | Firearm violence impacts young people disproportionatelyAlthough the magnitude of firearm deaths has remained constant since 2001, a new study has found that deaths have increased since 2014. |
 | Commercial prognostic tests for prostate cancer may not be accurate in African American menCommercial gene expression tests that guide treatment decisions for prostate cancer may not accurately predict risk of disease progression in African American patients, according to results published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. |
 | Sleep problems in children with genetic condition linked to multiple health issueszScientists from Cardiff University have studied the sleep patterns of children and adolescents with one of the most common genetic conditions—22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q). |
 | Breastfeeding and infant mortalityA new study published by the Journal of Pediatrics shows increased rates of implementation of hospital-based breastfeeding initiatives are associated with decreased rates of infant deaths in the first six days after birth, dispelling speculation that such practices might increase infant death. |
 | Efforts to move the needle on flu shot rates get stuckIt's free and available everywhere. Yet most Americans skip the annual flu shot—with the number of dispensed vaccines barely changed in the past decade, despite government removal of cost and access obstacles. |
 | 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine no longer routinely recommended for adults 65 and olderThe 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is no longer recommended for routine use among adults aged ≥65 years, according to research published in the Nov. 22 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. |
 | Stable asthma patients and satisfied parents thanks to the Puffer appAround 1,000 children with asthma are being treated at the Medisch Spectrum Twente. Young asthma patients visit the hospital for their check-ups three times a year on average. But that is a thing of the past at MST. Boony Thio, who is a pediatric pulmonologist at MST says, "We can now offer a good quality of care remotely thanks to technology." |
 | The science behind the flavors of a Thanksgiving mealAmericans will eat millions of pounds of turkey, cranberries, potatoes, pies and other favorites for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. |
 | Videos, ebooks help parents decide when children need to go to ERThe best way to inform parents of the latest evidence on the diagnosis and treatment of childhood illnesses is to tell them a story, according to the researchers behind an innovative program at the University of Alberta. |
 | One hand and two hemispheres: How both sides of the brain get involved post-amputationPsychologists have shown, for the first time, how our brains' plasticity and ability to adapt, extends across both sides of the brain. |
 | Early removal of slow-growing brain tumors dramatically improves survivalA shift in surgical practice over the last decade towards the earlier removal of a type of slow-growing but ultimately fatal brain tumor has led to dramatic improvements in survival and seizure control for patients, a study at UCLH and UCL has found. |
 | Increased use of antibiotics may predispose to Parkinson's diseaseHigher exposure to commonly used oral antibiotics is linked to an increased risk of Parkinson's disease according to a recently published study by researchers form the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. |
 | Virtual reality would make attending therapy easier for stroke survivorsResearchers have created a virtual reality clinic to make it easier for stroke survivors to attend their physical and occupational therapy sessions. Results from a proof-of-concept study suggest that the technology—and the social connection it facilitates—are effective at encouraging therapy participation. |
 | Americans bankrupted by health care costs: 4 questions answeredMedical bankruptcy has been a talking point for many Democratic candidates as they make their individual cases for health care reform. This begs a few questions about how widespread these bankruptcies are and what causes them. |
 | Biosimilar for HER2+ breast cancer: Overall response rate matches reference trastuzumabThe trastuzumab biosimilar HLX02 achieved similar overall response rate to reference trastuzumab in women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) recurrent or previously untreated metastatic breast cancer, according to a large, randomised phase III study reported at the ESMO Asia 2019 Congress. |
 | Combination of immunotherapy and VEGF inhibitor improves survival in HCCCombination therapy with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab significantly improves overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to standard of care, showed results from a phase 3 study reported at the ESMO Asia 2019 Congress. |
 | Discovery paves the way for blocking malaria transmission in BrazilThe bacteria that form the gut microbiota influence important processes of the human body, such as digestion, nutrient absorption, and defense against pathogens. The same type of relationship is present in most animals, including in the Anhopheles darlingi mosquito, the main vector of malaria in Brazil. |
 | New study provides insight into the mechanisms of blood clots in cancer patientsResearchers have identified a potential new signaling pathway that may help further the understanding of blood clot formation in cancer patients and ultimately help prevent this complication from occurring. |
 | CDC: Nearly half of TBI-related deaths categorized as intentional(HealthDay)—From 2015 to 2017, 44 percent of traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related deaths were categorized as intentional injuries, according to research published in the Nov. 22 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. |
 | Obesity prevalence decreased modestly for children in WIC(HealthDay)—During 2010 to 2016, there were modest decreases in obesity prevalence among children aged 2 to 4 years enrolled in 73 percent of 56 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) state or territory agencies, according to research published in the Nov. 22 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. |
 | Treatment beneficial for nonagenarians with lung cancer(HealthDay)—Receiving treatment is associated with better survival for nonagenarians with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with the greatest survival benefit for stage I patients, according to a study published online Nov. 18 in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. |
 | Policies limit medicaid payment for transplant in alcoholic liver disease(HealthDay)—Restrictive Medicaid policies are associated with a reduced proportion of payment by Medicaid for liver transplantation (LT) for alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) since 2011, according to a study published online Nov. 8 in Hepatology. |
 | Calquence approved to treat CLL, SLL(HealthDay)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted supplemental approval to Calquence (acalabrutinib) for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), the agency announced Thursday. |
 | Serious heart defects increase heart failure risk in early adulthoodBabies born with serious heart defects are surviving to adulthood in greater numbers, but new research shows they face another hurdle when they get there: heart failure. |
 | Philadelphia medical schools try alternative therapies to help students cope with stressful professionFor dozens of first-year students at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, a recent afternoon of stretching was a welcome break from their studies. |
Q&A: Treating melasmaDear Mayo Clinic: Years ago, I had some patches of melasma on my face removed with IPL treatment. When I went to make an appointment with my dermatologist recently for the same condition, I was told IPL should not be used for melasma. Why is this? What treatment should be used? | |
 | Breast cancer recurrence after lumpectomy and RT is treatable with localized RT without mastectomyApproximately 10% of breast cancer patients treated with lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery [BCS]) and whole-breast radiation (WBI) will have a subsequent in-breast local recurrence of cancer (IBTR) when followed long term. The surgical standard of care has been to perform mastectomy if breast cancer recurs following such breast-preserving treatment. However, a new multi-center study led by Douglas W. Arthur, MD, Chair of the Department of Radiation at the Virginia Commonwealth University/Massey Cancer Center provides the first evidence that partial breast re-irradiation is a reasonable alternative to mastectomy following tumor recurrence in the same breast. Unlike WBI, which exposes the entire breast to high-powered X-ray beams, partial-breast irradiation targets a high dose of radiation directly on the area where the breast tumor is located and thus avoids exposing the surrounding tissue to radiation. |
 | Do obesity and smoking impact healing after wrist fracture surgery?Both obesity and smoking can have negative effects on bone health. A recent study led by a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) examined whether they also impact healing in patients who have undergone surgery for fractures of the wrist, or the distal radius, which are among the most common bone fractures. Such fractures account for 5 percent to 20 percent of all emergency room fracture visits, and affected patients can experience challenges with daily living as well as potentially serious and costly complications. |
 | Predicting vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease and deliriumMarked by acute temporary confusion, disorientation and/or agitation, postoperative delirium is the most common post-surgical complication in older adults, striking as many as half of adults older than 65 who undergo high-risk procedures such as cardiac surgery or hip replacements. Postoperative delirium is also tightly linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although each can occur independently, Alzheimer's is a leading risk factor for delirium, and an episode of delirium puts patients at increased risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. However, the physiological mechanisms linking delirium and Alzheimer's disease remain largely unknown. |
 | New model for predicting kidney injury after common heart procedureA Yale-led group of doctors has developed a new mathematical model that can predict the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing a common heart procedure. |
 | Health groups urge Trump to move ahead with e-cig flavor banHealth advocates are encouraging President Donald Trump to move forward with a federal ban on thousands of flavors used in e-cigarettes. |
Dengue infections dive where Wolbachia established in mosquitoes in parts of Asia, Australia, and BrazilAmid a global surge of infections with dengue and fears climate change will make it worse, an international alliance of researchers presented new evidence today showing reports that the disease fell dramatically in communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Australia. The reduction in dengue cases occurred in communities where they had released lab-grown mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria that prevents mosquitoes from transmitting infections when they bite humans. | |
 | Exploring how lipids and cholesterol relate to Alzheimer'sProfessor Jing Xu and her students study extremely tiny motor proteins, but their work could make a huge contribution to the growing body of knowledge about Alzheimer's and other diseases that progressively destroy brain tissue. |
 | Insecurity threatens chance to end DRC Ebola outbreak: WHOThe opportunity to quickly end the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo could be lost due to violence in the country's east, the United Nations said Friday. |
 | How the brain decides to punish or notOksana Zinchenko, Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, has conducted a meta-analysis of 17 articles to find out which areas of the brain are involved in decision-making for rendering social punishment. It would appear that in the case of both victims of violations as well as witnesses, punishment decisions activate the brain regions responsible for focusing one's attention, processing information, and responding effectively to social interaction. The findings of the study were published in Scientific Reports. |
Pennsylvania to fund research into fracking health dangersPennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday his administration will spend $3 million on a pair of studies to explore the potential health effects of the natural gas industry, taking action after months of impassioned pleas by the families of pediatric cancer patients who live in the most heavily drilled region of the state. | |
 | Federal addiction treatment dollars off-limits for marijuanaThe U.S. government is barring federal dollars meant for opioid addiction treatment to be used on medical marijuana. |
Michigan halts sale of marijuana vape products, orders testsMichigan has temporarily halted the sale of marijuana products intended for vaping so that they can be tested for a compound linked to lung illnesses. | |
Biology news
 | A deep learning-based model DeepSpCas9 to predict SpCas9 activityIn a new report on Science Advances, Hui Kwon Kim and interdisciplinary researchers at the departments of Pharmacology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Medical Sciences, Nanomedicine and Bioinformatics in the Republic of Korea, evaluated the activities of SpCas9; a bacterial RNA-guided Cas9 endonuclease variant (a bacterial enzyme that cuts DNA for genome editing) from Streptococcus pyogenes. They used a high-throughput approach with 12,832 target sequences based on a human cell library to build a deep learning model and predict the activity of SpCas9. |
 | Groundbreaking cohesin study describes the molecular motor that folds the genomeNew insights into the process of DNA looping have changed old perspectives about how the genome is organized within cells. Discoveries by IMP researchers have now elucidated a fundamental mechanism of life and settle a decade-long scientific dispute. |
 | Motherly poison frogs shed light on maternal brainFor most frogs, motherhood begins and ends with the release of hundreds of eggs into a sizable body of water and then hopping or swimming away. |
 | How primordial germ cells commence sperm and egg production in the embryonic gonadEarly in mammalian embryonic development, long before the organism's ultimate form has taken shape, a precious subset of its cells are set aside for future use in creating offspring. This task bestows on that subset of cells a special kind of immortality. While the majority of the embryo's cells go on to construct the growing body, and their journey begins and ends in that body, the cells that are set aside, called primordial germ cells (PGCs), will eventually produce sperm and eggs, which will in turn produce a new body—and so the circle of life continues. |
 | Scientists unravel mysteries of cells' whiplike extensionsCilia, or flagella—whiplike appendages on cells—perform diverse tasks required to keep the body healthy. When cilia malfunction, the consequences can be devastating, causing a range of problems, from blindness, to lung and kidney diseases, to congenital heart defects. Now, scientists have revealed the first detailed look at the inner structure of cilia. |
 | DNA repeats—the genome's dark matterExpansions of DNA repeats are very hard to analyze. A method developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin allows for a detailed look at these previously inaccessible regions of the genome. It combines nanopore sequencing, stem cell, and CRISPR-Cas technologies. The method could improve the diagnosis of various congenital diseases and cancers in the future. |
 | In a first for cell biology, scientists observe ribosome assembly in real timeA team of scientists from Scripps Research and Stanford University has recorded in real time a key step in the assembly of ribosomes—the complex and evolutionarily ancient "molecular machines" that make proteins in cells and are essential for all life forms. |
 | New disease hits coralsThe emergence of a new coral disease in Micronesian reefs, termed grey-patch disease, is reported in the open access journal Microbiome. The disease alters the community of microbes found on the host coral and measuring these changes may be a useful tool for monitoring coral health across reefs. |
 | Monsanto pleads guilty to using banned pesticide on research cropBiotech giant Monsanto on Thursday agreed to plead guilty to illegally using a banned and highly toxic pesticide on research crops at one of its facilities on the Hawaiian island of Maui and to pay $10 million in fines. |
 | Scientists find a place on Earth where there is no lifeLiving beings, especially microorganisms, have a surprising ability to adapt to the most extreme environments on Earth, but there are still places where they cannot live. European researchers have confirmed the absence of microbial life in hot, saline, hyperacid ponds in the Dallol geothermal field in Ethiopia. |
 | The filaments that structure DNAThey play a leading role not only in muscle cells: Actin filaments are one of the most abundant proteins in all mammalian cells. The filigree structures form an important part of the cytoskeleton and locomotor system. Cell biologists at the University of Freiburg are now using cell cultures to show how receptor proteins in the plasma membrane of these cells transmit signals from the outside to actin molecules inside the nucleus, which then form threads. |
 | Dangerous bacteria communicate to avoid antibioticsA bacterial infection is not just an unpleasant experience—it can also be a major health problem. Some bacteria develop resistance to otherwise effective treatment with antibiotics. Therefore, researchers are trying to develop new types of antibiotics that can fight the bacteria, and at the same time trying to make the current treatment with antibiotics more effective. |
 | Interaction with fungus containing nitrogen-fixing endobacteria improves rice nitrogen nutritionResearchers Karnelia Paul of the University of Calcutta (India), Chinmay Saha of the University of Kalyani (India), and Anindita Seal of the University of Calcutta (India) designed research to study nitrogen nutrition in rice. Nitrogen supply limits crop yields, but application of excess nitrogen fertilizer can pollute water and is expensive. Therefore, scientists are looking for beneficial microbes that could assist in providing plants with nitrogen by fixing nitrogen—converting atmospheric nitrogen to forms that plants can use. Such "green fertilizers" could improve grain yields without the need for application of chemical nitrogen fertilizers. Legumes such as soybeans have symbiotic bacteria that fix nitrogen, but most important grain crops, including rice, lack these bacteria. |
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