Although today’s Martian surface is barren, frozen, and inhabitable, a trail of evidence points to a once warmer, wetter planet, where water flowed freely. The conundrum of what happened to this water is long-standing and unsolved. However, new research published in Nature suggests that this water is now locked in the Martian rocks. Scientists at Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences, propose that the Martian surface reacted with the water and then absorbed it, increasing the rocks’ oxidation in the process, making the planet uninhabitable....

Scientists at Duke University have developed an RNA-based editing tool that targets individual cells, rather than genes. It is capable of precisely targeting any type of cell and selectively adding any protein of interest. Researchers said the tool could enable modifying very specific cells and cell functions to manage disease. Using an RNA-based probe, a team led by neurobiologist Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D. and postdoctoral researcher Yongjun Qian, Ph.D. demonstrated they can introduce into cells fluorescent tags to label specific types of brain tissue; a light-sensitive on/off switch to silence or activate neurons of their choosing; and even a self-destruct enzyme to precisely expunge some cells but not others....

The universe was created about fourteen billion years ago in a blaze of light known as the big bang. After about 380,000 years or so, once matter had cooled enough for neutral atoms (mostly hydrogen atoms) to form, light was able to travel through space relatively freely. We see that light today as the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). The light is extremely uniform across the sky, but not perfectly so: Astronomers have discovered that the radiation actually has very faint ripples and bumps in it at a level of only about one part in ten thousand....

This study demonstrates how cocaine usage promotes the growth of gut bacteria, which in turn consume glycine, a chemical that contributes to normal brain function. As levels of glycine become depleted, mice exhibit a stronger response to cocaine with behavior abnormalities, such as substantially increasing drug-induced locomotion and seeking behaviors. In addition, by supplementing glycine back systemically or using a genetically modified bacteria that cannot use glycine, the response of the mice to cocaine falls back to normal levels....

The findings could help researchers understand the origin of the Moon’s water and how easy it would be to use as a resource. If the Moon has enough water, and if it’s reasonably convenient to access, future explorers might be able to use it as drinking water or convert it into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel or oxygen to breathe. “We find that it doesn’t matter what time of day or which latitude we look at, the signal indicating water always seems to be present,” said Joshua Bandfield, a senior research scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the new study published in Nature Geoscience....

Edith Cowan University’s landmark study found that a better education has a strong genetic connection and a protective causal association on several gut disorders. Previously, the university’s Centre for Precision Health discovered a genetic relationship between gut health and Alzheimer’s Disease, but could not determine the cause and effect. This study breaks new ground by finding that a higher level of education protects against gut disorders. CPH Director and study supervisor Professor Simon Laws said these findings build upon the center’s previous work to provide further evidence of the strong links between the brain and gut, known as the gut-brain axis....

A key component in quantum computers are coaxial cables and waveguides – structures that guide waveforms, and act as the vital connection between the quantum processor, and the classical electronics which control it. Microwave pulses travel along the waveguides to the quantum processor, and are cooled down to extremely low temperatures along the way. The waveguide also attenuates and filters the pulses, enabling the extremely sensitive quantum computer to work with stable quantum states....

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is shining a bright spotlight on vaccine development. As numerous vaccines race through clinical trials, physicians and researchers continue to work on developing new vaccine technologies to generate the most effective vaccines with the fewest side effects. A new proof-of-concept study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Duke University demonstrates the potential for one such platform, using self-assembling peptide nanofibers tagged with antigens to prime the immune system against a potential invasion....

Cancer researchers have recognized the potential of neoantigens as vaccine targets, and in animal models and early human clinical trials, they succeeded in identifying and creating cocktails of neoantigens to vaccinate patients against their own cancers. Generating effective vaccines, however, is still a challenging and cumbersome endeavor, as neoantigen-containing vaccine components often require complex chemical or physical modifications, and the neoantigens can be cleared from the body rapidly, which potentially limits their presentation to DCs....

New research suggests nightmares may become common several years or even decades before the characteristic memory and thinking problems of dementia set in. The study will be published today (September 21, 2022) in The Lancet journal, eClinicalMedicine. “We’ve demonstrated for the first time that distressing dreams, or nightmares, can be linked to dementia risk and cognitive decline among healthy adults in the general population,” said Dr. Abidemi Otaiku, of the University of Birmingham’s Center for Human Brain Health....

People with Down syndrome have less-frequent viral infections. However, when present, these infections lead to more severe disease. New research findings show that this is caused by increased expression of an antiviral cytokine type I interferon (IFN-I), which is partially coded for by chromosome 21. Elevated IFN-I levels lead to hyperactivity of the immune response initially, but the body overcorrects for this to reduce inflammation, leading to increased vulnerability later in the viral attack....

An international team of scientists discovered that the formation of magnetic vortices in ferromagnetic nanodisks is an asymmetric phenomenon, contradicting previous beliefs and adding a new twist to its use for data storage purposes. The phenomenon in ferromagnetic nanodisks of magnetic vortices – hurricanes of magnetism only a few atoms across – has generated intense interest in the high-tech community because of the potential application of these vortices in non-volatile Random Access Memory (RAM) data storage systems....

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder in which a chemical in the brain called dopamine is gradually reduced. This process results in slowly worsening symptoms that include tremors, stiff limbs, slowed movements, impaired posture, walking problems, poor balance, and speech changes. “Ping-pong, which is also called table tennis, is a form of aerobic exercise that has been shown in the general population to improve hand-eye coordination, sharpen reflexes, and stimulate the brain,” said study author Ken-ichi Inoue, M....

The Perseid meteor shower is here! With Comet NEOWISE making its way out of the solar system, it is time for a celestial show caused by a different comet. Perseid meteors, caused by debris left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle, began streaking across the skies in late July and will peak in the pre-dawn hours of August 12. The Perseid meteor shower is often considered to be one of the best meteor showers of the year due to its high rates and pleasant late-summer temperatures....

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have created a device that acts like a synapse in the living brain, storing information and gradually forgetting it when not accessed for a long time. Known as a second-order memristor, the new device is based on hafnium oxide and offers prospects for designing analog neurocomputers imitating the way a biological brain learns. The findings are reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces....

For decades, it was unknown whether quasiparticles could undergo Bose-Einstein condensation in the same way as real particles, and it now appears that they can. This discovery is set to have a significant impact on the development of quantum technologies including quantum computing. A paper describing the process of creation of the substance, which was achieved at temperatures just a tiny bit above absolute zero, was published recently in the journal Nature Communications....

Scientists at the University of Bath have found a way to bind together two photons of different colors, paving the way for important advancements in quantum-electrodynamics – the field of science that describes how light and matter interact. In time, the team’s findings are likely to impact developments in optical and quantum communication, and precision measurements of frequency, time, and distances. Apple and wave: they both have a mass An apple falling from a tree has velocity and mass, which together give it momentum....

The Sun is the source of energy that sustains all life on Earth but much remains unknown about it. However, a group of researchers at Queen’s have now unlocked some mysteries in a research paper, which has been published in Nature Physics. In 1942, Swedish physicist and engineer Hannes Alfvén predicted the existence of a new type of wave due to magnetism acting on a plasma, which led him to obtain the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970....

Intracranial hemorrhage occurs when blood vessels within the brain rupture, releasing blood into the brain tissue. In a delayed traumatic intracranial hemorrhage, bleeding in the brain occurs after the initial trauma, usually within 48 hours, after an initial negative head CT. High blood pressure, head injury and the use of blood thinners are known causes of intracranial hemorrhage. As the population ages, the prevalence of patients taking blood thinners is increasing....

The lab, which is the size of a credit card, can diagnose infectious diseases such as coronavirus, malaria, HIV, or Lyme disease or countless other health conditions like depression and anxiety. The patient simply puts a single-use plastic lab chip into his or her mouth and then plugs that into a slot in the box to test the saliva. The device automatically transmits results to the patient’s doctor through a custom app UC created for nearly instant results....