In this Research article, Benjamin D. Philpot & team establish a multimodal dual-reporter mouse that accelerates AngelmanSyndrome therapeutic development through scalable cell-based screening, high-resolution whole-brain mapping, non-invasive live imaging, and sorting neurons with unsilenced paternal Ube3a.
2Animal Models Core.
3Department of Genetics, and.
4Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Now online! The E3-ome defines the human repertoire of ubiquitin E3 ligases, creating a unified resource that maps their diversity across the ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like systems. By consolidating fragmented knowledge, this framework provides a foundation for studying ubiquitin signaling and accelerating discovery.
Researchers at Cranfield University have created WANDER-bot, a low-cost, 3D-printed robot that is powered by wind energy. Designed to spend long durations in hostile, windy environments such as certain deserts, polar regions or even other planets, WANDER-bot doesnât need a battery to power movement, enabling longer operations without having to pause and recharge.
Movement accounts for around 20% of battery use in most robots, so running on natural energy makes WANDER-bot an efficient solution for long-term exploration or mapping of unknown terrains. As a result, any electronic elements added to future versions for data collection or transmission purposes could have their own smaller, lighter power source. Using natural energy also counters the issue of performance degradation over time in traditional power sources, such as solar cells and radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Designed by Dr. Saurabh Upadhyay and Sam Kurian, Research Associate in Space Engineering, the robot uses parts that are entirely 3D printed, with the design deliberately simple to allow for quick repair and replacement. This means that, in theory, you could print and construct WANDER-bot anywhere and make replacement parts in situ as needed, removing the need for time-consuming and costly resupply missions.
Recent technological advances facilitate the reconstruction of complete brain connectomes in small organisms and partial connectomes in mammals, involving the mapping of the network of neurons and synaptic connections. Accurate cell typing of these connectomes aids in interpreting circuit functions and comparing brain organization across species.
Traditionally, cell typing relied on manual morphological classification by expertsâa slow process that required detailed anatomical information. However, morphology can be deceptive or inadequate in many brain regions, especially in circuits with repeated cell types, where neurons can share very similar morphology despite differing in connectivity.
How do scientists come up with new ideas? Brain scans show that scientific creativity requires the brainâs imagination, control, and switching networks to actively communicate to generate and evaluate novel hypotheses.
Using the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, an international team of astronomers has observed C-19âan extremely metal-poor stellar stream in the Milky Wayâs halo. Results of the observational campaign, published March 11 on the arXiv pre-print server, provide crucial insights into the properties of this stellar stream.
Stellar streams are remnants of dwarf galaxies or globular clusters (GCs) that once orbited a galaxy but have been disrupted and stretched out along their orbits by tidal forces of their hosts. Observations show that many stellar streams are elongated debris of tidally disrupted globular clusters.
Studies of galactic stellar streams could answer some crucial questions about the Milky Way. For instance, they could help us understand the large-scale mass distribution of the galactic dark matter halo. Moreover, the investigation of stellar streams could confirm whether or not our galaxy contains low-mass dark matter subhalos.
Researchers at Pointcloud GmbH in ZĂŒrich, Switzerland, have packed advanced 4D sensing technology â once too bulky for everyday use â onto a single silicon chip.
Itâs a 4D imaging sensor that maps the physical world while simultaneously clocking the speed of every object it sees. It offers a low-cost, high-speed vision solution for everything from autonomous drones to future smartphones.
âThis result demonstrates the capabilities of FMCW LiDAR FPA sensors as enablers of ubiquitous, low-cost, compact coherent 4D imaging cameras,â the researchers wrote in the study paper.
Researchers have identified a distinct and reproducible gene expression program associated with neurotransmission in the living human brain, offering unprecedented insight into the molecular mechanisms that support human cognition, emotion, and behavior. The findings were published February 19 in Molecular Psychiatry.
Neurotransmission-the electrical and chemical signaling between neurons-is fundamental to all brain function. Until now, most gene expression studies of the human brain have relied on postmortem tissue, limiting scientistsâ ability to understand which genes are actively involved in real-time neuronal communication.
In this study, investigators integrated gene expression profiling from the prefrontal cortex with direct intracranial measures of neurotransmission collected from the brains of more than 100 individuals as they underwent neurosurgical procedures. By combining molecular data with real-time physiological recordings, the team identified a coordinated set of genes whose activity tracks with neuronal signaling-a transcriptional program associated with neurotransmission.
Does the universe need observers to exist? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary OâReilly explore questions about entropy, spontaneous symmetry breaking, spectroscopy and more with astrophysicist Charles Liu.
Does the universe require observers for information to exist? From Niels Bohr and the Copenhagen interpretation to modern neuroscience and philosophy, the crew explores whether measurement creates reality or reveals it. How does the double-slit experiment fit into this? Are wave and particle behaviors determined by how we measure them?
The conversation turns to information itself. What do physicists mean by âinformationâ? How is entropy connected to hidden information in a system? We discuss entropy through everyday examples like coin flips, burning wood, and boiling water. How does this relate to quantum computing? We explore how astronomers separate cosmic redshift from stellar motion using spectroscopy, how interstellar dust and extinction curves complicate observations, and why mapping that dust is both a challenge and a source of discovery.
We discuss why the Big Bang didnât form a black hole, how spontaneous symmetry breaking may have split the fundamental forces, and whether science can meaningfully investigate the universeâs earliest moments. Wrapping up, the team looks ahead to multi-messenger astronomy, next-generation telescope technology, exotic ideas about the speed of light, and how information continues to reshape what we know about the cosmos.
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A stunning new map of the Milky Way reveals a dramatic magnetic flip hiding in plain sight. Deep inside the Milky Way, an invisible force is quietly holding everything together â its magnetic field. Now, researchers have created one of the most detailed maps ever of this hidden structure, revealing surprising twists in how it flows through our galaxy.
For generations, scientists have studied the stars and planets to better understand how our galaxy works. Now, Dr. Jo-Anne Brown, PhD, is focused on charting something we cannot see at all: the Milky Wayâs magnetic field.
âWithout a magnetic field, the galaxy would collapse in on itself due to gravity,â says Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.
