A study of gene changes in the retina has brought closer the day when drugs may be able to stop or reverse the development of nearsightedness, or myopia, a common condition expected to affect half the world’s population by 2050. We may soon be able to treat myopia with drugs. Dr. Andrei Tkatchenko, of Columbia … Read more
In heart failure, the heart is unable to pump blood effectively throughout the body. One key factor in the development of this condition is calcium dysregulation. A newly discovered molecule that may be able to address this issue could become the next therapeutic target for this heart condition. Will a newly discovered molecule become the … Read more
Parts of the world’s largest ice sheet would melt if Antarctic warming of just 2°C is sustained for millennia, according to international research. University of Queensland scientist Dr Kevin Welsh was part of a team that used evidence from warm periods in Earth’s history to see how the East Antarctic Ice Sheet might react to … Read more
Reduced entropy in a three-dimensional lattice of super-cooled, laser-trapped atoms could help speed progress toward creating quantum computers. A team of researchers at Penn State can rearrange a randomly distributed array of atoms into neatly organized blocks, thus performing the function of a “Maxwell’s demon” — a thought experiment from the 1870s that challenged the … Read more
A new study led by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) reveals that up to 20% of genes classified as coding (those that produce the proteins that are the building blocks of all living things) may not be coding after all because they have characteristics that are typical of non-coding or pseudogenes (obsolete coding … Read more
With threats of sea level rise, storm surge and other natural disasters, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science are turning to nature to protect humans from nature. They are developing innovative ways to guard coastlines and prevent scouring and erosion from waves and storms using bioinspired materials that mimic mangrove … Read more
A geographic profiling tool used to catch serial criminals could help reduce the casualties of human-tiger conflict, according to scientists who collaborated on an innovative conservation research study. The results of their research, published in Nature Communications, help explain how villagers in Sumatra coexist with tigers. If used pre-emptively it could have helped cut attacks … Read more
