Minimally invasive cellular-level target-specific neuromodulation is needed to decipher brain function and neural circuitry. Here nano-magnetogenetics using magnetic force actuating nanoparticles has been reported, enabling wireless and remote stimulation of targeted deep brain neurons in freely behaving animals.
“There is a tremendous amount of interest in what enables wildfire ignitions and what can be done to prevent them,” said Dr. Erica Fleishman. “This database increases the ability to access relevant information and contribute to wildfire preparedness and prevention.”
Can wildfires be predicted in advance to allow for safeguards that can prevent their spread? This is what a recent study published in Earth System Science Data hopes to address as a team of researchers have developed a database to help firefighters and power companies establish protocol for implementing strategies that holds the potential for helping to reduce the spread of a wildfire before it gets too large.
Wildfire closure sign seen in the Oregon Cascades in September 2020. (Credit: Oregon State University)
For the study, the researchers presented a revised database as part of the Fire Program Analysis Fire-Occurrence Database, which was created by the U.S. Forest Service in 2013 and has had been revised five times since its inception. Before this study, the database contained basic information like wildfire size, ignition source, and discovery date. However, this the researchers for this study have updated the database with social and environmental factors designed to incorporate social vulnerabilities and even distances from the ignition source to the nearest road.
Summary: A new experimental cancer drug could ease cognitive difficulties for those with Rett syndrome, a rare autism-linked disorder, by enhancing brain cell functions. The drug, ADH-503, improves the activity of microglia, which are crucial for maintaining neural networks.
Researchers found that healthy microglia restored synapse function in brain organoids mimicking Rett syndrome. This breakthrough suggests potential therapies for Rett syndrome and other neurological conditions.
In this episode of In Conversation, we turn the focus to all things extreme exercise and longevity. Based on the findings of a recent study, which found that a select group of elite runners could live around five years longer on average than the general population, Medical News Today editors Maria Cohut and Yasemin Nicola Sakay discuss the probable biological mechanisms behind how more extreme forms of exercise, such as 4-minute mile running, affect longevity with an expert in cardiology.
Joining the conversation is Michael Papadakis, president of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), professor of cardiology at St George’s, University of London, honorary consultant cardiologist at St George’s University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, and consultant cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic London in the United Kingdom.
Papadakis shares easy-to-follow advice on how to incorporate more physical activity into our daily lives while discussing the potential health risks and benefits of running and similar forms of professional athletic performance.
In a scientific breakthrough, an international research team from Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich and Korea’s IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) developed a quantum sensor capable of detecting minute magnetic fields at the atomic length scale. This pioneering work realizes a long-held dream of scientists: an MRI-like tool for quantum materials.
The research team utilized the expertise of bottom up single-molecule fabrication from the Jülich group while conducting experiments at QNS, utilizing the Korean team’s leading-edge instrumentation and methodological know how, to develop the world’s first quantum sensor for the atomic world.
The diameter of an atom is a million times smaller than the thickest human hair. This makes it extremely challenging to visualize and precisely measure physical quantities like electric and magnetic fields emerging from atoms. To sense such weak fields from a single atom, the observing tool must be highly sensitive and as small as the atoms themselves.
Teleology the return of Aristotle?
The scientific story of who we are is a reductionist, gene-centric model that forfeits natural phenomena like purpose due to its association with intelligent design and a transcendent, intelligent designer. Noble is neutral on religious matters. Yet he sees compelling evidence that purpose may be fundamental to life. He’s determined to debunk the current scientific paradigm and replace the elevated importance of genes with something much more controversial. His efforts have enraged many of his peers but gained support from the next generation of origins-of-life researchers working to topple the reign of gene-centrism. If successful, the shift could not only transform how we classify, study and treat disease, but what it means to be alive.
One of the earliest biomedical computer programmers, Noble created the first model for a working human heart in 1960 on a vacuum tube computer. The project led to his discovery that heartbeats are emergent properties—new phenomena—arising from feedback loops, transforming our understanding of heart function and underpin treatments for heart conditions that we use today. His research on the heart’s pacemaker demonstrates a prioritization of the organism as a whole over its genes alone. “Several genes could individually be knocked out but the process continues,” says Noble. These genes are responsible for heart rhythm, yet other mechanisms can take over to get the job done.
In the 1960s, Noble served as the dissertation examiner for the then-unknown Richard Dawkins—a prominent figure in the New Atheism movement—would go on to author the 1976 classic The Selfish Gene that popularized the gene-centric theory of evolution. Gene-centrism says evolution acts on genes, not individual organisms. We are merely vessels for our genes that are driving evolution by Darwinian natural selection. Noble’s analysis suggests that evolution acts on the organism as a whole, with the organism harnessing randomness and variation to create and heal itself—on purpose. In this re-evaluation, Noble believes that purpose, creativity, and innovation are fundamental to evolution. He argues that we experience these processes as drives, but they are not purely subjective. They also progress non-consciously in other parts of our body. These natural processes harness randomness and unpredictability—stochasticity—to survive, make decisions, and thrive. “Stochasticity is the center of creativity in organisms,” says Noble.
The Nazca Mummies have to be amongst the most controversial topics in recent human history, they have been “debunked” multiple times since they were first discovered by Archeologist Thierry Jamin from Peru’s Inkarri institute. Given that this case needed more eyes from the international community, Thierry and Peruvian journalist Jois Mantilla agreed to associate themselves with Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan. What they wanted became a reality, but the movedidn’t come with not obstacles. Nearly seven years after the bodies were discovered from an undisclosed location in the Nazca region, there are still a majority of scientists and academia members who dismiss these bodies as fake. None of them have studied the specimens in person. So far, every scientist who comes close to these bodies and studies them has stated they are real bodies of once living beings.
Carbon 14 test results confirmed these specimens’ remains are from various times in the distant past, some are 1,000+ years old and others are between 1,500 and 2,000 years old. Despite the Carbon 14 test results, the x-rays, and other types of scans that show incredible evidence. There are still many from the mainstream scientific community who believe we won’t get to prove these bodies are real until we get resuls from an extensive DNA analysis that is taking place in lultiple places around the world. Because Jaime Maussan’s involvement did bring more eyes on these bodies, and multiple labs are already running tests on samples obtained directly from the two sources in Peru that have them.
A new study by scientists at deCODE Genetics shows that sequence variants drive the correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression. The same variants are linked to various diseases and other human traits.
The research is published in the journal Nature Genetics under the title “The correlation between CpG methylation and gene expression is driven by sequence variants.”
Nanopore sequencing is a new technology developed by ONT (Oxford Nanopore Technology), that enables us to analyze DNA sequences in real-time. With this technology, DNA molecules are drawn through tiny protein pores, and real-time measurements of electric current indicate which nucleotides in the DNA have passed through the pores. This allows the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA to be read, while also making it possible to detect chemical modifications of the nucleotides from these same measurements.