Curated News: Top Clipped Stories

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Older people who have fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides may have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias compared to people who have steady levels, according to new research published in the July 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While the study found a link, it does not prove that fluctuating levels of cholesterol and triglycerides cause dementia.

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The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is beginning the installation phase of an upgrade that will enable new breakthroughs in a variety of sciences.

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A new research finding shows that a likely large Earth-like granite system is present on the Moon. The finding, details of which are published in a Nature paper, may help expand knowledge of geothermal lunar processes.

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Supernovae, the explosive deaths of stars, are some of the universe’s biggest bursts of energy and light. When they erupt, one supernova can shine even brighter than an entire galaxy. It’s a fitting reason for NGC 6946, located 22 million light-years away from Earth, to be nicknamed the Fireworks Galaxy. In the past century, nearly a dozen supernovae have been observed flashing in the arms of this galaxy. This includes Supernova 2004et and Supernova 2017eaw, which researchers are now studying with the James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). 
Their findings have been surprising—MIRI detected large amounts of dust within the ejecta of each of these objects. The mass found by researchers supports the theory that supernovae played a key role in supplying dust to the early universe.

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New theoretical research proves that machine learning on quantum computers requires far simpler data than previously believed. The finding paves a path to maximizing the usability of today’s noisy, intermediate-scale quantum computers for simulating quantum systems and other tasks better than classical digital computers, while also offering promise for optimizing quantum sensors.

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Until now, researchers have been unable to model how deceptively simple tubular structures —called chemical gardens — work and the patterns and rules that govern their formation.

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A twin baby boom has taken over the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, with 10 sets of twins in the unit at the same time. Healthcare workers aren’t sure if it’s an official record, but it sure is close.

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A new, EMBARGOED study suggests that reactivation of an ancient retrovirus from 6 million years ago may be at least partly to blame for the aggressiveness and treatment resistance of some glioblastomas.

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Scientists directly observed a pair-density wave (PDW) in an iron-based superconducting material with no magnetic field present. This state of matter, which is characterized by coupled pairs of electrons that are constantly in motion, had been thought to only arise when a superconductor is placed within a large magnetic field. This exciting result opens new potential avenues of research and discovery for superconductivity.

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A new study published today in The Lancet has revealed the most extensive analysis to date on what led to the eventual heart failure in the world's first successful transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human patient.

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In a June 30 article in the journal Science, the IceCube Collaboration — an international group of more than 350 scientists — presents this new evidence of high-energy neutrino emission from the Milky Way. The findings indicate that the Milky Way produces far fewer neutrinos than the average distant galaxies.

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With the growing popularity of medications like Ozempic® (semaglutide), Trulicity® (dulaglutide), and other glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and weight loss, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) suggests withholding the medication before elective surgery to reduce the risk of complications associated with anesthesia in adults and children.

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A national study of blood ferritin and hemoglobin levels from tween, teen and young adult females suggests routine screening might be needed for iron deficiency and anemia.

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Scientists have taken an important step forward in predicting who will develop Type 1 diabetes months before symptoms appear.

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Woven across our universe is a weblike structure of galaxies called the cosmic web. Galaxies are strung along filaments in this vast web, which also contains enormous voids.

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More than two dozen researchers with ties to West Virginia University have helped unearth evidence of ripples in spacetime that have never been observed before now. This result emerged from 15 years of data acquired by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, or NANOGrav.

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Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts that athletes get from contact sports. However, the definitive diagnosis of the disease can be made only after death through an autopsy.

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Argonne scientists have developed a fluoride-containing electrolyte for lithium metal batteries that could boost the electric vehicle industry. The usefulness of this electrolyte extends to other types of advanced battery systems beyond lithium ion.

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The summit is a good place to be. Staying active on the hiking trails around the southern highlands of Australia, where he retired earlier this year after a career in film marketing, Jon Anderson is feeling there’s little he can’t conquer.

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A new study by Lab scientists finds that as rising global temperatures shift snow to rain, mountains across the Northern Hemisphere will be hotspots for extreme rainfall events that could trigger floods and landslides – potentially impacting a quarter of the world’s population.

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A study of more than 22,000 people with multiple sclerosis has discovered the first genetic variant associated with faster disease progression, which can rob patients of their mobility and independence over time.

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A team led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has filled a major gap in the state’s fossil record – describing the first known Jurassic vertebrate fossils in Texas.

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A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals that household and community poverty may influence brain health in children. Childhood obesity and lower cognitive function may explain, at least partially, poverty’s influence on the brain.

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Parental supply of alcohol is a relatively common practice in Australia, believed by some parents to be an effective means of teaching their children to drink responsibly. New research shows that family and peer factors each play a role in the development of excessive and risky drinking in early adulthood and associated harms. These results and others will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.

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People who have just one or two drinks per day are not protected against endocrine conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Researchers with UC San Diego School of Medicine identified a potential new drug that improved liver fibrosis in patients with NASH by 27%.

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A sense of purpose in life — whether it’s a high-minded quest to make a difference or a simple hobby with personal meaning — can offer potent protection against loneliness, according to a new study co-authored by Patrick Hill, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Artificial intelligence can bring precision and speed to every sector—defense, healthcare, transportation, education, and more. At the same time, AI poses potential risks to people and property, raising social, ethical, geopolitical, even existential questions.

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Carbon compounds form the foundations of all known life, and as such are of a particular interest to scientists working to understand both how life developed on Earth, and how it could potentially develop elsewhere in our universe. As such, the study of interstellar organic (carbon-containing) chemistry is an area of keen fascination to many astronomers. An international team of astronomers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a carbon compound known as methyl cation for the first time. This molecule is important because it aids the formation of more complex carbon-based molecules. It was found in a young star system with a protoplanetary disk, 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.

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Researchers from Empa and Imperial College London are developing a heat-resistant drone that can analyze the source of danger at close range in the event of a building or forest fire. This allows firefighters to optimize the strategy of a high-risk operation before entering the danger zone.

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Influenza A is one of two influenza viruses that fuel costly annual flu seasons and is a near constant threat to humans and many other animals. It’s also responsible for occasional pandemics that, like the one in 1918, leave millions dead and wreak havoc on health systems and wider society. Influenza A was first identified as a health threat nearly a century ago, but only in the last decade have scientists identified one of the virus’s key proteins for infiltrating host cells and short-circuiting their defenses.

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A team led by researchers at Harvard Medical School has developed a new tool that promises to improve the way pathologists see and evaluate a tumor by providing detailed clues about the cancer.

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New research reveals when the candidate field is crowded, voters are more likely to sit out than turnout.

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A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created an app called FeverPhone, which transforms smartphones into thermometers without adding new hardware.

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As men age, some of their cells lose the very thing that makes them biological males—the Y chromosome—and this loss hampers the body’s ability to fight cancer, according to new research from Cedars-Sinai Cancer.

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Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered a gene on the Y chromosome that is upregulated in KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer (CRC), increasing tumor cell invasiveness and reducing anti-tumor immunity in male patients.

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New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York explores how a warming world could impact ecosystems and derail the development of new species.

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When some semiconductors absorb light, the process can create excitons, quasi-particles made of an electron bound to an electron hole. Two-dimensional crystals of tungsten disulfide have unique but short-lived exciton states. Scientists developed a new approach called time-resolved momentum microscopy to create separate images of these individual quantum states. The study found that the coupling mechanisms that lead to mixing of the states may not fully match current theories.

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Certain conditions can make the increased heart rate associated with exercise dangerous: Researchers found that an elevated heart rate can induce a stroke in patients with highly blocked carotid arteries. Contrastingly, for healthy patients and those with only slightly blocked arteries, exercise is beneficial for maintaining healthy blood flow. In healthy patients, an elevated heart rate increases and stabilizes the drag force blood exerts on the vessel wall, reducing stenosis risk. But for patients already experiencing stenosis, it may not be as beneficial.

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An octopus devotes about 70 percent of its brain to vision. But until recently, scientists have only had a murky understanding of how these marine animals see their underwater world. A new University of Oregon study brings the octopus’s view into focus.

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In Physics of Fluids, researchers develop a model to explore the forces and flow structures created by penguin wings underwater. Penguin can adjust swimming posture by active wing feathering, pitching, and flapping and their dense, short feathers can also lock air between the skin and water to reduce friction and turbulence. The hydrodynamic model takes in information about the flapping and feathering of the wings and, using the immersed boundary method, solves for the motion of the wing and the thrust, lift, and lateral forces.

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New research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters showed that the plume emitted by the Hunga Volcano eruption in 2022 created the highest lightning flash rates ever recorded on Earth, more than any storm ever documented.

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has successfully measured the heat radiating from TRAPPIST-1 c, an exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. With a dayside temperature of about 225 degrees Fahrenheit, it is the coolest rocky planet ever characterized using this method. Unfortunately for those hoping that the TRAPPIST-1 system is a true analog to our own, the results are a bit disappointing. While TRAPPIST-1 c is roughly the same size and mass as Venus and receives the same amount of radiation from its star, it appears unlikely to have the same thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. This indicates that the planet, and perhaps the system as a whole, may have formed with very little water. The result is the latest in the quest to determine whether planetary atmospheres can survive the violent environs of a red dwarf star.

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Tummy aches are common among kids, with one in six parents in a new national poll saying their child experiences them at least once a month.

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People who have a pattern of heavy drinking showed less impairment than light drinkers after drinking similar amounts of alcohol — yet this difference depends largely on how much time has elapsed after drinking and may only be evident at moderate intoxication. A study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research found that people who exceed drinking an amount of alcohol that is typical for them showed substantial impairment. And, when heavy drinkers and lighter drinkers were similarly impaired, the heavy drinkers perceived themselves to be less impaired, which may lead to risky decisions.

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A proven and effective medication for osteoporosis, which is currently only available as an injection, can be administered orally using a novel “robotic pill,” according to a study presented Saturday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.

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The percent of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), the leading global cause of liver disease, is increasing in U.S. adults, according to a study presented Friday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.

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The use of thyroid hormones other than the commonly prescribed hormone medicine levothyroxine to treat hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, is increasing, according to a study being presented Friday at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.