“Our results show that children of elementary school age can learn more items within a given period of time than adults, making learning more efficient in children,” said Takeo Watanabe of Brown University. According to the study, children experienced a rapid increase in GABA during visual training, which lasted even after the training ended. In contrast, GABA concentrations in adults remained constant during training. These findings suggest that children’s brains are more responsive to training, allowing them to quickly and efficiently consolidate new learning....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Shelley Taylor, psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues examined how people in two age groups perceived the photos of faces that had been pre-rated for trustworthiness and approachability. These faces conveyed well-known cues of trustworthiness, such as a direct gaze and a sincere smile that turns up fully towards the eyes....

Since they were introduced in the 1960s, and after decades of research and development, successful commercialization of laser diodes (LDs) was finally achieved for a number of applications with wavelengths ranging from infrared to blue-violet. Examples of this technology include optical communications devices with infrared LDs and blue-ray discs using blue-violet LDs. However, despite the efforts of research groups around the world, no one could develop deep ultraviolet LDs. A key breakthrough only occurred after 2007 with the emergence of technology to fabricate aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates, an ideal material for growing aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) film for UV light-emitting devices....

Another innovative feature has been added to the world’s first practical “artificial leaf,” making the device even more suitable for providing people in developing countries and remote areas with electricity, scientists reported here today. It gives the leaf the ability to self-heal damage that occurs during production of energy. Daniel G. Nocera, Ph.D., described the advance during the “Kavli Foundation Innovations in Chemistry Lecture” at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society....

Startingly, two previously thought to be harmless species of Listeria have recently been found to possess a number of characteristics that may be harmful to humans. A Whole Genome Sequencing study in South Africa, from a team of researchers with first author Dr. Thendo Mafuna at the University of Johannesburg, shows some of the changing characteristics of Listeria found in the country. The study shows that Listeria innocua strains are developing resistance to temperature, pH, dehydration, and other stresses; as well as hypervirulence genetically identical to that of Listeria monocytogenes....

“It’s an important step forward in understanding the migratory behavior of the commercially important European eel and in expanding our knowledge of the orientation mechanisms that fish use to migrate,” said Alessandro Cresci, a Ph.D. student at the UM Rosenstiel School and first author of the paper. “This research should provide awareness that tiny young eels can accomplish incredible tasks to migrate.” The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a migratory species that crosses the Atlantic Ocean twice during its life....

The paper by Dr. Jonathan Gratus from Lancaster University and Dr. Paul Kinsler and Professor Martin McCall from Imperial College London demonstrates how the laws of physics break down in a black hole or “singularity.” “As the place where “physics breaks down” in a black-hole, we have the sense that anything might happen at a singularity. Although perhaps most useful as a plot device for science fiction stories, should we as concerned physicists nevertheless check what conservation laws might no longer hold?...

According to a report in the journal Science Advances, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered how individuals perceive the passing of time. The majority of research participants (65%) reported feeling that time was moving more slowly at the conclusion of the first month of social isolation, which occurred in May 2020. This perception was termed by the researchers as “time expansion,” and they discovered that it was linked to feelings of isolation and a lack of enjoyable activities throughout the time period....

According to the scientists, the artificial crystal of lithium niobate is the preferred platform for these technologies because of its superior performance and advancements in manufacturing techniques. RMIT University’s Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell and University of Adelaide’s Dr. Andy Boes led this team of global experts to review lithium niobate’s capabilities and potential applications in the journal Science. The international team, including scientists from Peking University in China and Harvard University in the United States, is working with industry to make navigation systems that are planned to help rovers drive on the Moon later this decade....

One in three young people say their mental health and wellbeing improved during COVID-19 lockdown measures, with potential contributing factors including feeling less lonely, avoiding bullying, and getting more sleep and exercise, according to researchers at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, many countries imposed strict lockdown measures, with workplaces and businesses closing and people forced to remain at home. Measures also included school closures, with exceptions for young people whose parents were classified as essential workers and those considered ‘vulnerable’, for example children under the care of social services and those in families or social situations deemed by schools to be of concern....

The end of 2014 marks two decades of data from a NASA mission called Wind. Wind – along with 17 other missions – is part of what’s called the Heliophysics Systems Observatory, a fleet of spacecraft dedicated to understanding how the sun and its giant explosions affect Earth, the planets and beyond. Wind launched on November 1, 1994, with the goal of characterizing the constant stream of particles from the sun called the solar wind....

The human sleep-wake cycle is dictated by a roughly 24-hour biological clock called the circadian rhythm. In addition to making us sleepy at night, the circadian rhythm affects digestion, hormone secretion, body temperature, and hunger. When this cycle is disrupted by shift work, travel, childcare, Daylight Savings, or any number of factors present in the modern world, many systems in the body can become dysregulated. Here are five simple ways to regulate your circadian rhythm to improve sleep and overall health: While the importance of a well-regulated circadian rhythm can feel overwhelming, it’s nothing to lose sleep over....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Science. The ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland have been melting at an ever-quickening pace. The melting has contributed to an 11-millimeter rise in the oceans. The two polar regions are losing mass three times faster than 20 years ago and Greenland is shedding ice at five times the rate observed in the early 1990s. This latest study uses data from 32 years of ice-sheet simulations and 20 years of satellite data....

Wheat, the most commonly grown crop globally, is facing an increasing threat from harmful toxins. A study led by Dr. Neil Brown, a fungal biologist from the University of Bath in the UK and in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Exeter, has found that almost half of the wheat crops in Europe are affected by a fungal infection that leads to the production of these toxins. The fungus that causes Fusarium Head Blight, a disease affecting wheat and other cereals in the field, produces mycotoxins, which are causing problems....

In 2015, scientists for the first time detected gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that occur when major cosmic events—like the collision and merging of two black holes—disrupt the cosmos. The observation of these waves confirmed Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which predicted such waves would occur if space-time worked as he believed it did. In the seven years since, nearly 100 merging black holes have been detected by observing the gravitational waves that these extraterrestrial events emit....

The find, reported online today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, adds to the intriguing story of planet PDS 70 c, a still-forming gas giant about 370 light years from Earth that was first revealed last month in visible light images. Using the massive 66-antenna Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, Rice University astronomer Andrea Isella and colleagues collected millimeter wave radio signals that revealed the presence of dust grains throughout the star system where PDS 70 c and its sister planet, PDS 70 b, are still forming....

Plundervolt, Zombieload, Foreshadow: in the past couple of years, Intel has had to issue quite a few patches for vulnerabilities that computer scientists at KU Leuven have helped to expose. “All measures that Intel has taken so far to boost the security of its processors have been necessary, but they were not enough to ward off our new attack,” says Jo Van Bulck from the Department of Computer Science at KU Leuven....

Mice lacking ADORA2B in their blood exhibit accelerated aging, including poor memory and hearing deficits. Research conducted by Qiang et al has discovered a link between a protein in red blood cells and age-related decline in cognitive performance. Published in the open access journal PLOS Biology on June 17th, 2021, the study shows that depleting mouse blood of the protein ADORA2B leads to faster declines in memory, delays in auditory processing, and increased inflammation in the brain....

The study, published on October 21, 2019, in Nature Climate Change, warns that winter carbon dioxide loss from the world’s permafrost regions could increase by 41% over the next century if human-caused greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current pace. Carbon emitted from thawing permafrost has not been included in the majority of models used to predict future climates. Permafrost is the carbon-rich frozen soil that covers 24% of the Northern Hemisphere land area, encompassing vast stretches of territory across Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Greenland....

Despite the achievements of the second child, test results show that most U.S. students struggle to meet grade-level writing standards. Puranik is working to improve children’s performance on the page. She studies the early development of writing skills and how educators can effectively nurture good writers. She received $3 million last year from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to study a writing intervention program she developed in which children help teach one another....