Curated News: PNAS

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Newswise: Two thirds of the world's biodiversity lives in the soil
Released: 8-Aug-2023 2:05 PM EDT
Two thirds of the world's biodiversity lives in the soil
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

Soil is the most species-rich habitat on earth. This is the conclusion of an overview study by a Swiss research team. According to the study, two thirds of all known species live in the soil.

2-Aug-2023 2:00 PM EDT
Carbon dioxide – not water – triggers explosive basaltic volcanoes
Cornell University

Geoscientists have long thought that water – along with shallow magma stored in Earth’s crust – drives volcanoes to erupt. Now, thanks to newly developed research tools at Cornell, scientists have learned that gaseous carbon dioxide can trigger explosive eruptions.

Newswise: Sensing and controlling microscopic spin density in materials
Released: 3-Aug-2023 5:30 PM EDT
Sensing and controlling microscopic spin density in materials
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Electronic devices typically use the charge of electrons, but spin — their other degree of freedom — is starting to be exploited.

Newswise: The very hungry Caterpillar: 60 Million-year-old Feeding Traces. Sharing of food plants as a driving force for insect diversity
Released: 1-Aug-2023 2:00 PM EDT
The very hungry Caterpillar: 60 Million-year-old Feeding Traces. Sharing of food plants as a driving force for insect diversity
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Researchers from the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt and the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center Frankfurt have uncovered the factors that determine the enormous diversity of herbivorous insects.

Released: 30-Jul-2023 11:05 AM EDT
New genetic clues uncovered in largest study of families with multiple children with autism
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

UCLA Health researchers have published the largest-ever study of families with at least two children with autism, uncovering new risk genes and providing new insights into how genetics influence whether someone develops autism spectrum disorder.

Released: 28-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
How Breast Milk Boosts the Brain
Tufts University

A new study by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University suggests that a micronutrient in human breast milk provides significant benefit to the developing brains of newborns, a finding that further illuminates the link between nutrition and brain health and could help improve infant formulas used in circumstances when breastfeeding isn’t possible.

Released: 27-Jul-2023 2:25 PM EDT
Lab on a chip technologies to improve the assessment of stored red blood cells
Massachusetts General Hospital

Lab-on-a-chip technologies can ensure a more successful transfusion workflow by enabling objective assessment of stored RBC units using quality metrics identified by -omics and machine learning.

   
Newswise: Yale Scientists Identify Immune Cells Critical for Immunologic Memory for Melanoma
Released: 27-Jul-2023 12:30 PM EDT
Yale Scientists Identify Immune Cells Critical for Immunologic Memory for Melanoma
Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors have become the standard of care for patients with advanced melanoma to improve survival, but only some patients respond to this immunotherapy and have long-term benefits. The lack of a long-lasting response, researchers say, is related to failure of antitumor immunologic memory. Treatment options for advanced melanoma are limited for patients who do not respond to this type of therapy.

Newswise: Transcription Factors Contribute to Subtypes of Colorectal Cancers
Released: 27-Jul-2023 11:05 AM EDT
Transcription Factors Contribute to Subtypes of Colorectal Cancers
Johns Hopkins Medicine

New research in colorectal cancers directed by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center suggests that expression of transcription factors — proteins that help turn specific genes on or off by binding to nearby DNA — may play a central role in the degree of DNA methylation across the genome, contributing to the development of different subtypes of these cancers. Methylation is a process in which certain chemical groups attach to areas of DNA that guide genes’ on/off switches.

Newswise: Does Dust from the Sahara Help Remove Dangerous Atmospheric Methane?
Released: 26-Jul-2023 3:00 PM EDT
Does Dust from the Sahara Help Remove Dangerous Atmospheric Methane?
Stony Brook University

A new study published in PNAS evaluates the effects of Saharan dust clouds on atmospheric methane. An international research team found that when mineral dust that mixes with sea-spray to form Mineral-Dust-Sea Spray Aerosol (MDSA), this MDSA is activated by sunlight to produce an abundance of chlorine atoms ultimately mitigating methane totals.

Released: 25-Jul-2023 5:30 PM EDT
Sahara dust can enhance removal of methane
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

The study incorporates a proposed new mechanism whereby blowing mineral dust mixes with sea-spray to form Mineral Dust-Sea Spray Aerosol (MDSA).

Newswise: Study: An inverse model for food webs and ecosystem stability
Released: 25-Jul-2023 5:00 PM EDT
Study: An inverse model for food webs and ecosystem stability
Santa Fe Institute

In a new study published, authors invert a classical approach to modeling food webs.

Newswise: Pioneering study signals new era of environment-friendly programmable bioelectronics
Released: 25-Jul-2023 7:20 AM EDT
Pioneering study signals new era of environment-friendly programmable bioelectronics
University of Bristol

Researchers have created a unique microscopic toolkit of ‘green’ tuneable electrical components, paving the way for a new generation of bioelectronic devices and sensors.

Newswise: New study reveals why defense against brain corrosion declines in people with Alzheimer’s disease
Released: 24-Jul-2023 12:05 PM EDT
New study reveals why defense against brain corrosion declines in people with Alzheimer’s disease
Case Western Reserve University

A new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University revealed that the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be slowed by suppressing a specific protein in the brain that causes corrosion.

Newswise: Picky green sea turtle has travelled to the same place to eat for generations
Released: 17-Jul-2023 3:05 PM EDT
Picky green sea turtle has travelled to the same place to eat for generations
University of Groningen

For approximately 3,000 years, generations of green sea turtles have returned to the same seagrass meadows to eat.

Newswise: Bacterial Protein Found in the Urogenital Tract May Contribute to Reduced Fertility, Birth Defects
12-Jul-2023 2:45 PM EDT
Bacterial Protein Found in the Urogenital Tract May Contribute to Reduced Fertility, Birth Defects
Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine

A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology published new findings that emphasize the crucial role of the urinary and genital tract microbiota in adverse pregnancy outcomes and genomic instability that originate in the womb during fetal development.

Newswise:Video Embedded catalyst-s-ability-to-mimic-liver-enzyme-could-broaden-scope-of-pharmaceutical-drug-discovery
VIDEO
Released: 12-Jul-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Catalyst’s ability to mimic liver enzyme could broaden scope of pharmaceutical drug discovery
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at Merck & Co. developed a rapid and efficient method of making large quantities of metabolites directly from a drug or drug precursors via carbon-hydrogen oxidation catalysis.

   
Newswise: The structure of a protein bound to DNA reveals how the toxicity of the cholera bacterium is activated
Released: 11-Jul-2023 8:20 AM EDT
The structure of a protein bound to DNA reveals how the toxicity of the cholera bacterium is activated
Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona

A team led by Dr. Miquel Coll at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), in collaboration with researchers led by Dr. Eric Krukonis at the University of Detroit Mercy in the USA, has revealed the atomic structure of the ToxR protein bound to the DNA of two promoters of the genes that cause the virulence of this bacterium.

   
Released: 7-Jul-2023 10:55 AM EDT
Machine learning enhances X-ray imaging of nanotextures
Cornell University

Using a combination of high-powered X-rays, phase-retrieval algorithms and machine learning, Cornell researchers revealed the intricate nanotextures in thin-film materials, offering scientists a new, streamlined approach to analyzing potential candidates for quantum computing and microelectronics, among other applications.

Newswise: Preclinical Studies Led by Johns Hopkins Medicine Researchers Advance Potential New Target to Treat HIV Infection
Released: 6-Jul-2023 12:05 PM EDT
Preclinical Studies Led by Johns Hopkins Medicine Researchers Advance Potential New Target to Treat HIV Infection
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at the National Institutes of Health, report that two new studies in mice with a humanized immune system and human cell lines have identified an enzyme that plays a critical role in the late stages of HIV replication.

Newswise: Scientists Design a Nanoparticle That May Improve mRNA Cancer Vaccines
Released: 28-Jun-2023 9:30 AM EDT
Scientists Design a Nanoparticle That May Improve mRNA Cancer Vaccines
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have developed a nanoparticle — an extremely tiny biodegradable container — that has the potential to improve the delivery of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based vaccines for infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and vaccines for treating non-infectious diseases including cancer.

Newswise:Video Embedded orangutans-can-make-two-sounds-at-the-same-time-similar-to-human-beatboxing-study-finds
VIDEO
22-Jun-2023 1:00 PM EDT
Orangutans can make two sounds at the same time, similar to human beatboxing, study finds
University of Warwick

Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a study led by the University of Warwick.

Newswise: Study reveals workings of promising copper deficiency drug
Released: 21-Jun-2023 12:55 PM EDT
Study reveals workings of promising copper deficiency drug
Argonne National Laboratory

Research at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source has revealed a key mechanism behind a promising drug for copper deficiency disorders.

   
Released: 19-Jun-2023 12:05 PM EDT
Scientists use Argonne supercomputer to detail HIV protein mechanism crucial for drug development
Argonne National Laboratory

Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago used the Theta supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility to run simulations on and determine the molecular mechanisms behind the ways that new HIV antivirals could work.

   
Released: 16-Jun-2023 7:55 PM EDT
Research hints at how fungus farming ants keep their gardens healthy
University of Connecticut

People rely on sight to identify weeds but ants grow fungus underground in the dark and must have other ways to sense undesirable garden denizens. A team led by Jonathan Klassen, Ph.D., at the University of Connecticut and Marcy Balunas, Ph.D., at the University of Michigan has found that the ants sniff out diseased fungus by detecting chemicals called peptaibols.

Released: 15-Jun-2023 12:55 PM EDT
In a first, researchers image adaptive immune systems at work in fish
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison offers a first-of-its-kind visual of a non-mammal species' adaptive immune system in action. The advance holds potential implications for a range of scientific aims, from improving wildlife vaccines to better understanding fundamental disease processes and possibly the evolution of adaptive immunity itself.

Released: 13-Jun-2023 2:55 PM EDT
CHOP Researchers Develop Universal MHC Molecules that Can be Produced Rapidly at Scale
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have engineered stable, universal MHC-I molecules that can be produced rapidly at scale, allowing researchers not only to develop vaccines and immunotherapies more quickly but also to identify molecules that can work broadly across the population. The findings were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Released: 12-Jun-2023 8:35 PM EDT
New study finds connection between long-standing gender and racial gaps in voting for Democrats
New York University

The persistent gender gap in voting for Democrats versus Republicans is, in part, because a higher proportion of women than men voters are Black and because Black voters have historically voted overwhelmingly Democratic, according to a new study by a team of sociologists.

Newswise: Evolutionary fuel: Researchers study maintenance of an ancient chromosomal inversion
Released: 12-Jun-2023 8:30 PM EDT
Evolutionary fuel: Researchers study maintenance of an ancient chromosomal inversion
Utah State University

Genetic variation is the ultimate fuel for evolution, says Utah State University evolutionary geneticist Zachariah Gompert. But, over centuries, that fuel reservoir gets depleted in the course of natural selection and random genetic drift.

Released: 12-Jun-2023 8:00 PM EDT
Study identifies potential treatment target for prostate cancer resistant to hormone therapy
University of Houston

Prostate cancer is the most-commonly diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States. In its ever-indelicate world, the stubborn disease can continue to grow even when the amount of testosterone in the body is reduced to very low levels, thus earning the clumsy name: castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Newswise:Video Embedded treadmill-for-microswimmers-allows-closer-look-at-behavior
VIDEO
Released: 12-Jun-2023 3:55 PM EDT
Treadmill for microswimmers allows closer look at behavior
Washington University in St. Louis

A new acoustic microfluidic method offers opportunities to conduct experiments with swimming cells and microorganisms. With it, ultrasonic waves like those used for imaging are able to hold a cell’s body in place without affecting the way it swims.

   
Released: 12-Jun-2023 3:30 PM EDT
Human-caused climate change to blame for increase in California’s wildfires
University of California, Irvine

In the quarter century between 1996 and 2020, wildfires in California consumed five times more area than they did from 1971 to 1995. Researchers at the University of California and other international institutions have concluded that nearly all of the increase in scorched terrain can be blamed on human-caused climate change.

Newswise: Human-caused climate change at the center of recent California wildfires
8-Jun-2023 3:10 PM EDT
Human-caused climate change at the center of recent California wildfires
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

A new study by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators shows that nearly all the recent increase in summer wildfire burned area in California is attributable to human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change. Anthropogenic simulations yielded burn areas an average of 172% higher than natural variation simulations.

Newswise: Curly hair kept early humans cool
Released: 8-Jun-2023 12:25 PM EDT
Curly hair kept early humans cool
Loughborough University

Tightly curled scalp hair protected early humans from the sun’s radiative heat, allowing their brains to grow to sizes comparable to those of modern humans. Loughborough University researchers in the UK worked with Penn State University to study heat transfer through human hair wigs and the environment to examine how diverse hair textures affect heat gain from solar radiation.

Released: 6-Jun-2023 11:45 AM EDT
One-third of galaxy’s most common planets could be in habitable zone
University of Florida

Our familiar, warm, yellow sun is a relative rarity in the Milky Way. By far the most common stars are considerably smaller and cooler, sporting just half the mass of our sun at most. Billions of planets orbit these common dwarf stars in our galaxy.

Newswise: Human factors affect bees’ communication, researchers find
5-Jun-2023 7:05 AM EDT
Human factors affect bees’ communication, researchers find
University of Bristol

Human influences have the potential to reduce the effectivity of communication in bees adding further stress to struggling colonies, according to new analysis.

Released: 31-May-2023 3:05 PM EDT
How the flu virus hacks our cells
Université de Genève (University of Geneva)

A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has identified how the influenza A virus manages to penetrate cells to infect them.

Released: 30-May-2023 7:45 PM EDT
Advances in technology are driving popularity of EVs
Yale University

New research by Gillingham, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that recent adoption of EVs is driven overwhelmingly by technological advances, while general consumer preferences for EVs has changed little.

Newswise: Lung infection may be less transmissible than thought
Released: 30-May-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Lung infection may be less transmissible than thought
Harvard Medical School

Study suggests person-to-person transmission may not be the dominant mode of infection for an aggressive lung pathogen. Findings shed light on the behavior and mutation tendencies of a little-known microbe. The results should ease fears that the lung bacterium poses a grave threat for spread between individuals with compromised lung function who are waiting for lung transplants.

24-May-2023 2:00 PM EDT
Low-Flavanol Diet Drives Age-Related Memory Loss, Large Study Finds
Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Age-related memory loss is caused, in part, by lack of flavanols—nutrients found in certain fruits and vegetables—according to a large study in older adults.

Newswise: New Method Predicts Extreme Events More Accurately
Released: 24-May-2023 10:05 AM EDT
New Method Predicts Extreme Events More Accurately
Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

A new study used global storm-resolving simulations and machine learning to create an algorithm that can deal with two different scales of cloud organization. This new approach addresses the missing piece of information in traditional climate model parameterizations and provides a way to predict precipitation intensity and variability more precisely.

Released: 23-May-2023 6:35 PM EDT
Researchers treat depression by reversing brain signals traveling the wrong way
Stanford Medicine

Powerful magnetic pulses applied to the scalp to stimulate the brain can bring fast relief to many severely depressed patients for whom standard treatments have failed. Yet it’s been a mystery exactly how transcranial magnetic stimulation, as the treatment is known, changes the brain to dissipate depression. Now, research led by Stanford Medicine scientists has found that the treatment works by reversing the direction of abnormal brain signals.

Released: 22-May-2023 9:20 PM EDT
Ozone treaty is delaying first ice-free Arctic summer
University of Exeter

A 1987 global deal to protect the ozone layer is delaying the first ice-free Arctic summer by up to 15 years, new research shows.

19-May-2023 4:45 PM EDT
Montreal Protocol Is Delaying First Ice-Free Arctic Summer
Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

A new study led by climate researchers at Columbia Engineering and the University of Exeter demonstrates that the treaty’s impact reaches all the way into the Arctic: its implementation is delaying the occurrence of the first ice-free Arctic by as much as 15 years.

Released: 18-May-2023 7:05 PM EDT
Smart material prototype challenges Newton’s laws of motion
University of Missouri, Columbia

For more than 10 years, Guoliang Huang, the Huber and Helen Croft Chair in Engineering at the University of Missouri, has been investigating the unconventional properties of “metamaterials” — an artificial material that exhibits properties not commonly found in nature as defined by Newton’s laws of motion — in his long-term pursuit of designing an ideal metamaterial.

Released: 17-May-2023 2:55 PM EDT
Curved spacetime in a quantum simulator
Vienna University of Technology

The theory of relativity works well when you want to explain cosmic-scale phenomena - such as the gravitational waves created when black holes collide. Quantum theory works well when describing particle-scale phenomena - such as the behavior of individual electrons in an atom.

Released: 17-May-2023 1:15 PM EDT
New Computational Tool Identifies Novel Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a computational platform capable of discovering tumor antigens derived from alternative RNA splicing, expanding the pool of cancer immunotherapy targets. The tool, called “Isoform peptides from RNA splicing for Immunotherapy target Screening” (IRIS), was described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Newswise: Emissions reductions of Chinese EVs
Released: 16-May-2023 7:35 PM EDT
Emissions reductions of Chinese EVs
PNAS Nexus

Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) drive larger emissions reductions over time, due to increased operating efficiency and a greener electricity mix, according to a study.

Released: 16-May-2023 6:40 PM EDT
Scientists reveal breakthrough that could lead to cleaner hydrogen energy
University of Kansas

Chemists at the University of Kansas and U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have taken a big step toward splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules to make pure hydrogen — without using fossil fuels.

Newswise: Insight into brain’s waste clearing system may shed light on brain diseases
Released: 16-May-2023 2:35 PM EDT
Insight into brain’s waste clearing system may shed light on brain diseases
Washington University in St. Louis

Impairments in the lymphatic system may contribute to brain diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases and stroke. Researchers have found a noninvasive and nonpharmaceutical method to influence glymphatic transport using focused ultrasound, opening the opportunity to use the method to further study brain diseases and brain function.



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