news 2024

Preclinical study suggests the compound could restore lost muscle for patients with the rare degenerative disorder A novel drug holds promise for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic disorder that causes severe muscle degeneration. McGill researchers have discovered that an experimental compound called K884 can boost the natural repair abilities of muscle stem cells.

To fight the virus that causes influenza, one of the avenues being explored by scientists is the development of drugs capable of destabilising its genome, made up of eight RNA 1 molecules.

Sensors developed by SMART researchers are capable of detecting pH changes in plant xylem enable farmers to detect drought stress up to 48 hours before visible physical symptoms manifest. Have you ever wondered if your plants were dry and dehydrated, or if you're not watering them enough? Farmers and green-fingered enthusiasts alike may soon have a way to find this out in real-time.

MIT study confirms the climate impacts of hydrogen, recommends leak prevention be a priority as infrastructure for handling this clean-burning fuel is built. As the world looks for ways to stop climate change, much discussion focuses on using hydrogen instead of fossil fuels, which emit climate-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs) when they're burned.

When Bloomingdale's opened its first "Bloomie's- store in 2021, it seemed like a natural evolution. After all, loyal customers had affectionately used the nickname for years. But new research suggests this marketing strategy - known as nickname branding - might actually harm brand performance and customer perception.

HFC-125 is a greenhouse gas becoming a major contributor to global warming, and in the first study to use satellites to measure its concentration in the atmosphere, researchers found it has increased exponentially in the past 20 years. The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment, a research group at the University of Waterloo, and under contract with the Canadian Space Agency, is the first to measure from space the atmospheric concentration of HFC-125, a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) commonly found in fire extinguishers and commercial cooling systems.

Cancer is one of the four most likely conditions for clinicians to consider in older men who go to their GP with new-onset fatigue, a study led by UCL researchers has found. For the study, published in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) , researchers analysed the health records of more than a quarter of a million people in England whose doctor noted that they were tired.

Scientists from our Geography department have made a major breakthrough in understanding one of the most powerful forces shaping the ocean floor: turbidity currents. These dense, fast-moving underwater flows of sediment and water carve out deep-sea canyons and transport vast amounts of sediment, organic carbon, and nutrients across the ocean floor to the deep-sea.

Scientists from the Kavli Institute of Delft University of Technology and the IMP Vienna Biocenter discovered a new property of the molecular motors that shape our chromosomes. While six years ago they found that these so-called SMC motor proteins make long loops in our DNA, they now discovered that these motors also put significant twists into the loops that they form.

A high-energy gamma-ray flare from the super-massive black hole in the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy was observed in 2018 for the first time in nearly a decade, thanks to an international effort involving McGill researchers. This discovery has yielded important insights into the physics of black hole jets, which are among the most efficient engines for distributing energy from the inside of a galaxy to the expanse of the Universe.

McGill researchers have discovered how certain microbes create potent drugs like antibiotics and anti-cancer therapies. Their surprising findings could change the way scientists approach drug discovery and pave the way to the designing of next-generation medications, explained Martin Schmeing, principal investigator and professor in McGill's Department of Biochemistry and Centre for Structural Biology.

University of Bonn Researcher Involved in Sensational Find in Frankfurt University of Bonn Researcher Involved in Sensational Find in Frankfurt Inscription on 3rd-century amulet capsule highly significant, says Professor Wolfram Kinzig Some time ago, archaeological excavations in the Praunheim district of Frankfurt am Main uncovered a burial ground from the 3rd century.

The energy network in the Netherlands is overcrowded and the demand for new connections cannot be kept up with. So if there is still space to be found, a network company like Alliander wants to know exactly where and when that space is available. Data scientists from Alliander and Radboud University worked together on a system to better map this out.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and CSIC have developed an innovative technique that combines ion implantation and femtosecond lasers to create advanced optical nanocomposites. The work, published in Materials Today Nano , lays the groundwork for a new generation of customizable materials with applications in optics, sensors and photonics.

The Ignaz Semmelweis Institute will start work at the beginning of 2025.

A new review by researchers from Oxford Population Health and the University of Iceland, published in Nature Aging , reveals how your DNA shapes reproductive health, fertility, and even life expectancy. Led by researchers from the University of Oxford's Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and the University of Iceland, the review explores how genetic variations can explain differences in reproductive health and longevity.

International research team describes for the first time the structure and function of the Zorya system, a highly specialized antiviral protection mechanism against bacteria. Bacteria are constantly infected by viruses, so-called phages, which use the bacteria as host cells. However, in the course of evolution, bacteria have developed a variety of strategies to protect themselves from these attacks.

How did the Fukushima disaster occur in 2011 and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure in the long term? These questions surrounding the Tohoku earthquake are the focus of an expedition involving a scientist from RWTH Aachen University. The Tohoku earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan on March 3, 2011.

The black box of the human brain is beginning to open. Although animal models are crucial for our understanding of the mammalian brain, the less frequently collected human data reveal important peculiarities. In a recent paper published in the journal Cell, a team led by the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and the Medical University of Vienna has shed light on the human hippocampal region CA3, which is central to memory storage.

To achieve net zero, we need to reduce our CO2 emissions quickly and efficiently. An EU project involving Empa has selected Zurich as one of three pilot cities in Europe to accurately measure and model their carbon dioxide emissions. The findings will help cities to achieve their climate targets. Cities are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the world.