news 2023

Matabele ants are able to detect and treat infected wounds in their fellow ants. The work carried out at the University of Lausanne's Department of Ecology and Evolution on this African species is the subject of a publication in "Nature Communications" and a documentary.

Light in the evening is thought to be bad for sleep. However, does the colour of the light play a role? Researchers from the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) compared the influence of different light colours on the human body. The researchers' findings contradict the results of a previous study in mice.

Swallowing the device before a meal could create a sense of fullness, tricking the brain into thinking it's time to stop eating. When you eat a large meal, your stomach sends signals to your brain that create a feeling of fullness, which helps you realize it's time to stop eating. A stomach full of liquid can also send these messages, which is why dieters are often advised to drink a glass of water before eating.

Exposure to tears activates human smell receptors and alters aggression-related circuits in the brain All land mammals have tear glands in their eyes, but the human tearing experience was until recently considered unique. After all, we are the only animal to shed a tear while watching Beaches . Now a new Weizmann Institute of Science study reveals that human tears have much more in common with those of other animals than previously thought: They contain chemicals that reduce aggression in others, as do the tears of, for example, mice and blind mole rats.

Research at Göttingen and Warwick Universities reveals how filament interactions affect cellular networks Tiny things matter - for instance, one amino acid can completely alter the architecture of the cell. Researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Warwick investigated the structure and mechanics of the main component of the cytoskeleton of the cell: a protein known as actin.

Toys aren't just sitting under the Christmas tree patiently waiting to be opened, they are also playing a significant role in scientific research at Cardiff University. Right across the University, the gifts old and young might receive this year are helping further our understanding of human development, democratising biomedical research, or helping shed light on some of the universe's unanswered questions.

Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From a simulation to understand why land-cover changes have occurred, to a study that found different antidepressants all target serotonin, here is some quick-read news from across Imperial. Changing landscapes When land-cover changes happen, such as during the expansion of agriculture, there are numerous possible interacting reason for such changes, from environmental to social.

A cheaper water desalination device, a wearable ultrasound scanner, and the discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet were some of MIT News' most popular articles. It has been another prolific year for MIT's research community in 2023. As we close out the year, looks back at some of our most popular stories from the last 12 months.

How are our cells able to detect tiny asperities in their support, the extracellular matrix, which bind them together - By what mechanism - Do they manage to modify their behavior in response to these small reliefs - These are the questions to which a team of cell biology researchers from UNamur and UCLouvain have provided major answers, which have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal Science Advances.

Small Tortoiseshell butterflies (Aglais urticae) are an example of a species with formerly high local abundances that has declined in number. Insect decline is being driven by losses among the locally more common species, according to a new study published in "Nature".

Scientists have developed a new computational tool to detect up to second to third degree cousins using ancient genomes If two persons are biologically related, they share long stretches of DNA that they co-inherited from their recent common ancestor. These almost identically shared stretches of genomes are called IBD ("Identity by Descent") segments.

A first potential therapeutic target for a type of early-onset dementia has been established by a team of scientists, including UCL researchers. The new study, published in Nature , and led by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, identified abnormal aggregates of a protein called TAF15 in the brains of individuals with early-onset dementia, known as frontotemporal dementia, where the cause was not previously known.

Three modules forming a new-to-nature CO2 fixation cycle successfully implemented in E.coli Synthetic biology offers the opportunity to build biochemical pathways for the capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have developed a synthetic biochemical cycle that directly converts CO2 into the central building block Acetyl-CoA.

A new study from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute published in the journal Microbiome has found changes in the microbiome in multiple locations in the body are linked to the formation of kidney stones. The human microbiome comprises trillions of microorganisms, including healthy bacteria.

Scientists at the CNRS and the University of Montpellier 1 have discovered that flowering plants growing in farmland are increasingly doing without insect pollinators. As reproduction becomes more difficult for them in an environment depleted in pollinating insects, the plants are evolving towards self-fertilisation.

Last Updated: 20 Dec 2023 16:00:21 Researchers from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and University of Oxford have led an innovative project investigating the progression of malaria infection and the role of the parasite to better aid the development of an effective malaria vaccine and significantly reduce rates of deaths from the disease.

These compounds can kill methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterium that causes deadly infections. Using a type of artificial intelligence known as deep learning , MIT researchers have discovered a class of compounds that can kill a drug-resistant bacterium that causes more than 10,000 deaths in the United States every year.

Protein organization is key to protein function - but difficult to uncover for membrane proteins. A new Yale-developed method overcomes the biggest challenges. The membrane that encases a biological cell is not simply a barrier; it is chock full of proteins involved in all sorts of critical biological functions.

Researchers have identified a mechanism that promotes the breakdown of harmful protein deposits. If it malfunctions, it can lead to Parkinson's disease. NEMO, a protein that is primarily associated with signaling processes in the immune system, prevents the deposition of protein aggregates that occur in Parkinson's disease.

In a study comparing human brain communication networks with those of macaques and mice, researchers found that only the human brains transmitted information via multiple parallel pathways, yielding new insights into mammalian evolution. When describing brain communication networks, EPFL senior postdoctoral researcher Alessandra Griffa likes to use travel metaphors.