Curated News: PNAS

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Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have discovered how levels of a protein could be used in the future as a blood-based diagnostic aid for schizophrenia.

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The human body is essentially made up of trillions of living cells.

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A new study, led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities engineering researchers, shows that the stiffness of protein fibers in tissues, like collagen, are a key component in controlling the movement of cells. The groundbreaking discovery provides the first proof of a theory from the early 1980s and could have a major impact on fields that study cell movement from regenerative medicine to cancer research.

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A new GW study of COVID-19 shutdowns in the United States reveals pronounced disparities in air pollution — with disenfranchised, minority neighborhoods still experiencing more exposure to a harmful air pollutant compared to wealthier, white communities.

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A Special Feature of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that when government or nonprofit organizations encourage a community’s involvement in the managing of local environmental resources, the accountability of local leaders to the citizenry increases and the overexploitation of “common pool” natural resources such as forests and water decreases.

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Boker Tachtit in the Negev is a crucial archaeological site for studying the spread of Homo sapiens out of Africa and the subsequent demise of Neanderthals. Using techniques so sophisticated that they can date grains of sand, Weizmann’s Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto and colleagues have shown that previous dating of the site was incorrect – and that early humans and Neanderthals cohabitated at the site.

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The hydrothermal vent fluids from the Gorda Ridge spreading center in the northeast Pacific Ocean create a biological hub of activity in the deep sea. There, in the dark ocean, a unique food web thrives not on photosynthesis but rather on chemical energy from the venting fluids. Among the creatures having a field day feasting at the Gorda Ridge vents is a diverse assortment of microbial eukaryotes, or protists, that graze on chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea.

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An international research group, led by Jamey Marth, Ph.D., a professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys, has shown that the Neuraminidase 3 (Neu3) enzyme is responsible for the onset and progression of colitis—a chronic digestive disease caused by inflammation of the colon.

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Nanofiber-based treatments stimulate the body to mount its own biological attack on immune disorders.

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This pandemic year has seen us confined to our homes and restricted from travelling the world. Not so for some microscopic bacteria in the ocean: Throughout the globe, they partner up with clams from the family Lucinidae, which live unseen in the sand beneath the shimmering blue waters of coastal habitats. This partnership is the clams' passport to their extensive global reach.

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A massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia about 74,000 years ago likely caused severe climate disruption in many areas of the globe, but early human populations were sheltered from the worst effects, according to a Rutgers-led study.

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Researchers at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) and the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP) at Rice University in Houston, Texas, have demonstrated that a technology with favorable biological attributes known as phage display could be a viable platform for the development of new vaccines to protect against COVID-19.

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ORNL story tips: Powered by nature, get on the bus, accelerating methane, helping JET soar, charged up planning and building a better thermostat

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A study led by Michael Moore at Washington University in St. Louis finds that dragonfly males have consistently evolved less breeding coloration in regions with hotter climates. The work reveals that mating-related traits can be just as important to how organisms adapt to their climates as survival-related traits.

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Researchers know that electricity can help speed up bone healing, but “zapping” fractures has never really caught on, since it requires surgically implanting and removing electrodes powered by an external source. Xudong Wang’s latest invention may make electrostimulation a much more convenient option to speed up bone healing.

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A new University of Kentucky College of Medicine study suggests that time-restricted eating may be able to help people with Type 2 diabetes reduce nocturnal hypertension, which is characterized by elevated blood pressure at night.

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University of Colorado Boulder researchers have discovered that minuscule, self-propelled particles called "nanoswimmers" can escape from mazes as much as 20 times faster than other, passive particles, paving the way for their use in everything from industrial clean-ups to medication delivery.

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Scientists from the University of Bristol and the John Innes Centre have discovered how plants manage to live alongside each other in places that are dark and shady.

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The compound TA-C is metabolized by TB bacteria – weakening the germ from within like a ‘Trojan horse’ attack

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Immunologists at McMaster University have discovered a previously unknown mechanism which acts like a spider web, trapping and killing pathogens such as influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.

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COVID-19’s socio-economic effects will likely cause another severe production crisis in the coffee industry, according to a Rutgers University-led study.

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A new analysis of Venus’ surface shows evidence of tectonic motion in the form of crustal blocks that have jostled against each other like broken chunks of pack ice.

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By combining wind speed data with the measured accelerations of a golden eagle outfitted with GPS tracking instruments, researchers suggest that, rather than hindering flight, turbulence is a source of energy that birds may use to their advantage.

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The observation of a previously undetected biological mechanism for closing gaps in living tissue improves basic understanding of the wound-healing process and may one day inform strategies to speed healing after surgery and could hold other medical benefits, according to a team of Penn State and Singapore researchers.

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Summer picnics and barbecues are only a few weeks away! As excited as you are to indulge this summer, Escherichia coli bacteria are eager to feast on the all-you-can-eat buffet they are about to experience in your gut. However, something unexpected will occur as E. coli cells end their journey through your digestive tract. Without warning, they will find themselves swimming in your toilet bowl, clinging to the last bits of nutrients attached to their bodies.

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A new study based on evidence from Germany and on a model of the dynamic nature of people’s resistance to COVID-19 vaccination sounds an alarm: mandating vaccination could have a substantial negative impact on voluntary compliance.

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Slow-moving arctic soils form patterns that, from a distance, resemble those found in common fluids such as drips in paint and birthday cake icing.

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Building lights are a deadly lure for the billions of birds that migrate at night, disrupting their natural navigation cues and leading to deadly collisions. But even if you can’t turn out all the lights in a building, darkening even some windows at night during bird migration periods could be a major lifesaver for birds.

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By sequencing the RNA of individual cells within multiple benign and cancerous kidney tumors, researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have identified the cells from which different subtypes originate, the pathways involved and how the tumor microenvironment impacts cancer development and response to treatment.

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Research reveals that phage viruses that undergo special evolutionary training increase their capacity to subdue bacteria. The results provide hope for the antibiotic resistance crisis, a rising threat as deadly bacteria continue to evolve to render many modern drugs ineffective.

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Scientists studied what happens when very short pulses of laser light strike a magnetic material. Understanding how magnetic correlations change over short timescales is the first step in being able to control magnetism for applications.

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Researchers have developed antibodies that can bind to phosphohistidine, an unstable molecule that’s linked to cancer. To learn how the two bind together, the team turned to the powerful X-rays at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source. These new insights into its structure will help scientists design better antibodies for potential treatments.

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Men are more likely to make extreme choices and decisions than women, according to new research on economic decision-making, led by an international team of scientists.

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Very high atmospheric CO2 levels can explain the high temperatures on the still young Earth three to four billion years ago. At the time, our Sun shone with only 70 to 80 per cent of its present intensity.

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An emotion regulation strategy known as cognitive reappraisal helped reduce the typically heightened and habitual attention to drug-related cues and contexts in cocaine-addicted individuals, a study by Mount Sinai researchers has found.

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Just in time for picnic-table trivia, a new study published rewrites the origins of domesticated watermelons.Using DNA from greenhouse-grown plants representing all species and hundreds of varieties of watermelon, scientists discovered that watermelons most likely came from wild crop progenitors in northeast Africa.

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Researchers discovered how individual phytochrome isoforms respond differently to light intensity and temperature, enabling land plants to colonize the planet many millions of years ago -- and allowing plants to acclimate to a wide array of terrestrial environments.

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Researchers at Georgia Tech have uncovered differences in itch on hairy versus non-hairy skin that could lead to more effective treatments for patients with persistent skin itching.

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Cornell University scientists have worked with the University of California, Davis, to identify the DNA markers that determine grape flower sex. In the process, they also pinpointed the genetic origins of the perfect flower.

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Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Maryland scientists, who are also members of the Global Virus Network (GVN), a coalition comprised of human and animal virologists from 63 Centers of Excellence and 11 Affiliates in 35 countries, and colleagues today published a perspective proposing that live attenuated vaccines (LAVs), such as those for tuberculosis, measles, and polio, may induce protective innate immunity that mitigate other infectious diseases, triggering the human body’s natural emergency response to infections including COVID-19 as well as future pandemic threats.

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A team of researchers including Ira S. Cohen, MD, PhD, of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, has identified a compound that prevents the lengthening of the heart’s electrical event which can cause a lengthening of the EKG’s Q-T interval and a sometimes deadly arrhythmia.

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Researchers compared responses to open-ended versus list-based choices, and found that when asked to name as many favorite brands as they could, people seemed to forget to mention items they liked best, choosing less-preferred, but more easily remembered items instead.

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A team led by researchers including Jianmin Cui, professor of biomedical engineering, discovered a compound that prevents and even reverses the underlying physiological change that can lead some drugs to cause heart problems.

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A newly discovered quasicrystal that was created by the first nuclear explosion at Trinity Site, N.M., on July 16, 1945, could someday help scientists better understand illicit nuclear explosions and curb nuclear proliferation.

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In an important step toward the clinical application of synthetic biology, Rice University researchers have engineered a bacterium with the necessary capabilities for diagnosing a human disease.

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New research from the University of Georgia suggests a component of bacteria’s cell walls may hold the key to crushing the antibiotic-resistant microbes.

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Responsive neurostimulation is becoming increasingly effective at probing neural circuit function and treating neuropsychiatric disorders, such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. A new approach from Columbia Engineering researchers shows great promise in improving the limitations of current bulky devices. They have built a high-performance implantable system that enables reading and manipulation of brain circuits in real time.

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UC San Diego researchers report that one kind of perceptual learning can occur in memory-impaired persons who do not actually remember what they learned.

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Researchers used microscopy and machine learning to distinguish tau protein aggregates occurring as part of healthy functions from those occurring in disease

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Bats' "supersense" of time