Curated News: Nature (journal)

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Insights into how nature converts carbon dioxide into sugar could help scientists develop crops that produce fuels and other products.

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Researchers from the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University have developed a theoretical model of how the primary gustatory cortex can mediate the expectation of receiving a taste.

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A new type of pocket-sized antenna, developed at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, could enable mobile communication in situations where conventional radios don’t work, such as under water, through the ground and over very long distances through air.

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A University of Arkansas researcher is part of a team of astronomers who have identified an outburst of X-ray emission from a galaxy approximately 6.5 billion light years away, which is consistent with the merger of two neutron stars to form a magnetar -- a large neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field. Based on this observation, the researchers were able to calculate that mergers like this happen roughly 20 times per year in each region of a billion light years cubed.

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Combining a high-fat diet with a drug that raises blood pressure gave UT Southwestern researchers a “two-hit” model, like a one-two punch to heart failure.

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One of the most promising clean energy technologies just got even better. Researchers from the University of Delaware have developed the most powerful, durable hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cell components on record.

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Scientists developed a new version of a gene drive that spreads favorable genetic variants, also known as “alleles,” throughout a population. The new “allelic drive” is equipped with a guide RNA that directs CRISPR to cut undesired variants of a gene and replace them with a preferred version.

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In a first-of-its-kind observation, researchers from the University of New Hampshire Space Science Center have documented a unique event that occurs in clouds before a lightning flash happens. Their observation, called “fast negative breakdown,” documents a new possible way for lightning to form and is the opposite of the current scientific view of how air carries electricity in thunderstorms.

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Detailed 3D images show how nanoparticles change in reactions that purify contaminated water or power recyclable geochemical batteries.

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In the 1960s animated sitcom The Jetsons, George Jetson commutes to work in his family-size flying car, which miraculously transforms into a briefcase at the end of the trip.

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Think of reindeer on Norway's Svalbard archipelago as the arctic equivalent of sloths. It's not a perfect analogy except that like tropical sloths, Svalbard reindeer move as little as possible to conserve energy.

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In the first global test of the idea, scientists have found evidence that some woodpeckers can evolve to look like another species of woodpecker in the same neighborhood.

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BIDMC's Cancer Center researchers identified a new pathway that offers promising targets for preventing lung tumor relapse.

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Irvine, Calif., April 8, 2019 — Both genetic codes and postal codes influence children’s physical and mental health and behavioral and social outcomes, according to a new study led by Candice Odgers, University of California, Irvine professor of psychological science, and Dan Belsky, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

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Researchers at Mount Sinai have developed a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy, injecting immune stimulants directly into a tumor to teach the immune system to destroy it and other tumor cells throughout the body.

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A team of biologists and computer scientists has mapped out a network of interactions for how plant genes coordinate their response to nitrogen, a crucial nutrient and the main component of fertilizer.

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The immune system is an important defender against cancer. Immune cells continuously search the body for disease and use their anti-tumor cell properties to target and destroy defective cells. However, most cancer patients have an impaired immune system that allows cancer cells to go undetected. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have discovered a mechanism by which one type of immune cell, CD8+ T cells, can become dysfunctional, impeding its ability to seek and kill cancer cells.

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Johns Hopkins neuroscientists have found that the psychedelic drug MDMA reopens a kind of window, called a “critical period,” when the brain is sensitive to learning the reward value of social behaviors. The findings, reported April 3 in Nature, may explain why MDMA may be helpful in treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Scientists have developed a novel fabrication method to create dyed threads that change color when they detect a variety of gases. Woven into clothing, smart, gas-detecting threads could provide a reusable, washable, and affordable safety asset in medical, workplace, military and rescue environments. The study describes the fabrication method and its ability to extend to a wide range of dyes and detection of complex gas mixtures.

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In a recent study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, chemists have identified a way to convert cyclohexane to cyclohexene or cyclohexadiene, important chemicals in a wide range of industrial processes.