Curated News: Staff Picks

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Current testing for Lyme disease, called the standard 2-tiered approach or the STT, involves running two complex assays (ELISA and western blot) to detect antibodies against the bacterium, and requires experienced personnel in a lab, and a few hours to carry out and interpret. Columbia biomedical engineers have developed a rapid microfluidic test that can detect Lyme disease with similar performance as the STT in a much shorter time—15 minutes.

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Population aging projections across the US show a divide between cities and rural areas, which could lead to pockets of vulnerability to climate change.

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Researchers at the University of Utah have published an article in the October edition of the American Journal of Bioethics posing the powerful moral conflict between physician aid-in-dying and suicide prevention. In the article, Brent Kious, assistant professor of psychiatry, and Margaret Battin, distinguished professor of philosophy, ask the question, if the practice of PAD for terminal illness is permissible, then should it be justifiable for those who suffer from psychiatric illness, since the suffering can be equally severe?

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For nearly two decades, Brent Seales has doggedly labored to do the impossible — reveal the elusive texts within the carbonized Herculaneum scrolls. Now, he believes new scans are the best chance yet at revealing the mysterious contents.

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A new liquid-cell technology allows scientists to see biological materials and systems in three dimensions under an electron microscope (EM), according to researchers at Penn State, Virginia Tech and Protochips Inc

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Researchers have identified brain circuitry differences that might be associated with suicidal behavior in individuals with mood disorders. The study, published in Psychological Medicine, provides a promising lead toward tools that can predict which individuals are at the highest risk for suicide.

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A study published by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that polystyrene, one of the world’s most ubiquitous plastics, may degrade in decades or centuries when exposed to sunlight, rather than thousands of years as previously thought. The study published October 10, 2019, in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters.

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If you're looking for health and fitness story ideas, view this research highlight from Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise®, ACSM’s flagship research journal.

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Biologists looked at the European corn borer moth and pinpointed variation in two circadian clock genes – per and Pdfr – that enable different populations of the moth to adapt their seasonal transitions to climate change

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There may be a connection between food comas—resting after eating—and the formation of long-term memories, a team of neuroscientists concludes based on its study on brain activity in sea slugs.

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The human foetus is considered to be particularly sensitive to environmental contaminants. A team led by Benedikt Warth from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna and Tina Bürki from the Swiss Materials Science and Technology Institute, Empa, has now been able to demonstrate for the first time how the widespread food estrogen zearalenone behaves in the womb.

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The stereotype that associates being “brilliant” with White men more than White women is shared by children regardless of their own race, finds a team of psychology researchers. By contrast, its study shows, children do not apply this stereotype to Black men and women.

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Not wearing helmets contributes to traumatic injuries in off-road vehicle crashes in urban areas, but motorcycle use is still deadlier

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Racial disparities at every level of the criminal justice system in America are well documented. Now, a new study by Florida State University researchers reveals it also exists at the initial level of arrest, even when the crime is committed by a diverse pair of co-offenders.

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MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) at the San Diego Supercomputer Center have used machine learning to identify "serial hijacking" of IP addresses.

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Contrary to popular belief, cartilage in human joints can repair itself through a process similar to that used by creatures such as salamanders and zebrafish to regenerate limbs, researchers at Duke Health found.

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Young adults with depression whose diet is usually unhealthy showed significantly fewer symptoms of depression after eating a healthy diet for three weeks, according to a study published October 9, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Heather Francis from Macquarie University, Australia, and colleagues.

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Fossils discovered in Thailand represent a new genus and species of predatory dinosaur, according to a study released October 9, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Duangsuda Chokchaloemwong of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University, Thailand and colleagues.