New study shows that a genetic variant inherited from Neandertals impairs the function of a key enzyme involved in muscle performance   To the point Reduced enzyme activity: The Neandertal variant in AMPD1 decreases its enzymatic activity by 25 percent in laboratory-produced proteins and by up to 80 percent in the muscles of genetically engineered mice.

An extra ultrasound scan for pregnant women who think their baby's movements have reduced results in fewer complications in labour, according to an international study by experts in the Netherlands and Manchester. The findings - based on the scans of 1,684 women - could make the difficult task of determining whether labour should be induced in the final stages of pregnancy easier, resulting in fewer complications, say the researchers.

An international research team led by scientists from SickKids Hospital in Toronto, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Dalhousie University, the University of Exeter (UK) and the Medical University of Vienna has uncovered a previously unknown protective strategy of cells. The study, published in the top journal Science, shows how two cell compartments - mitochondria and peroxisomes - work directly together to defend themselves against so-called "oxidative stress factors".

Error loading page resources Please try to reload the page to display it correctly. A team of McGill researchers, working with colleagues in the United States and South Korea, has developed a new way to make high-performance lithium-ion battery materials that could help phase out expensive and/or difficult-to-source metals like nickel and cobalt.

More than half of people who have given birth are not using contraception two months later despite the risk that back-to-back pregnancies can pose, a new UCL study shows. The research, published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, also found that those who were satisfied with professional contraception advice were more likely to use contraception sooner after giving birth.

For the first time, researchers at ETH Zurich have successfully produced hundreds of different types of nerve cell from human stem cells in Petri dishes. In the future, it will thus be possible to investigate neurological disorders using cell cultures instead of animal testing. Nerve cells are not just nerve cells.

The extreme summer high water of July 2021 showed how vulnerable and unpredictable the Meuse (Maas) is. Researchers from Wageningen University & Research (Hermjan Barneveld and Ton Hoitink) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Willem Toonen), among others, discovered that the bottom of the Maas changed drastically in a short time.

International research team study surrounding landscapes, biodiversity and human well-being Villages, often separated from larger towns and cities, consist of clusters of households and a few public buildings. Despite their long history, the biodiversity of European villages is not well understood compared to urban areas, forests, grasslands, or farmland.

A new study has shown that as early as the Stone Age, people in Africa traveled long distances to procure colorful stone, forming the raw material for the manufacture of tools. The study was led by Gregor D. Bader from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of.

Researchers at the University of Basel have developed mechanical models that can predict how effectively the different layers of a deep neural network transform data. Their results improve our understanding of these complex systems and suggest better strategies for training neural networks. Deep neural networks are at the heart of artificial intelligence, ranging from pattern recognition to large language and reasoning models like ChatGPT.

Caltech scientists have found a fast and efficient way to add up large numbers of Feynman diagrams, the simple drawings physicists use to represent particle interactions. The new method has already enabled the researchers to solve a longstanding problem in the materials science and physics worlds known as the polaron problem, giving scientists and engineers a way to predict how electrons will flow in certain materials, both conventional and quantum.

A research team led by Gregor Weihs has developed a method for the deliberate control of dark excitons in quantum dots. Using chirped laser pulses and a magnetic field, the physicists succeeded in controlling these optically inactive quasiparticles and harnessing their unique properties for the storage and processing of quantum states.

A research team at the Medical University of Vienna has systematically described the safety and efficacy of targeted immunotherapy in refractory idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) for the first time.

To curb global plastic pollution and to make plastics safer and more sustainable, countries are currently negotiating a global treaty. A new study with participation from Eawag and Empa published in Nature provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of all chemicals that can be present in plastics, their properties, uses, and hazards.

Error loading page resources Please try to reload the page to display it correctly. From ill-fitting instruments to assumptions about competence, surgical culture sidelines women, first Canadian study of its kind suggests Women now make up over half of medical students in Canada, but only one-third of practising surgeons.

Research shows drones offer a practical option to thwart invasive weed species, and the potential to accelerate ecological recovery in wetland habitats New research from the University of Waterloo show s that a single, targeted herbicide application from a Remotely Piloted A ircraft System (RPAS) suppress common reed in vasions with more than 99% effectiveness.

Researchers at Radboud University and the Radboudumc found that mothers with postpartum depression benefit from oxytocin nasal spray. The oxytocin causes mothers to respond more positively to their newborn child. 'Although extra oxytocin does not affect mothers' caregiving behavior and stress levels, it does contribute to better contact between mother and child.' Mothers with postpartum depression or a lighter form of it often feel sad, tired or anxious after the birth of their child.

How major organs work together to manage extreme physiological stresses such as lack of oxygen and sleep has been mapped for the first time by researchers from UCL and the University of Portsmouth. The study, published in the Journal of Physiology , aimed to find out what happens inside the body when people are tired, out of breath, or oxygen-deprived, by mapping how different parts of the body communicate during stress, potentially paving the way for earlier illness diagnosis.

Scientists have produced the first detailed characterisation of the changes that weight loss causes in human fat tissue By analysing hundreds of thousands of cells, the team found a range of positive effects, including clearing out of damaged, ageing cells, and increased metabolism of harmful fats. The researchers say the findings help to better understand how weight loss leads to health improvements at a molecular level, which in the future could help to inform the development of therapies for diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

A new paper published in Nature Communications reveals how the way tree species are arranged in a forest can help optimise ecosystem functioning and productivity. The study was conducted using empirical field data combined with advanced computer models and simulations by researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).