The Indian superbug NDM-1, which has a gene that encodes an enzyme conferring resistance to almost all known antibiotics, has been found in the USA in a household cat. Pets with NDM-1 could be a dangerous vector of infection, since people have close contact with them. The finding was announced by Rajesh Nayak, a research scientist at the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Arkansas. The gene, blaNDM, was found in isolates of E....

This accomplishment is critical to developing and proposing a much larger future experiment—with approximately a ton of detectors—to study the nature of neutrinos. These electrically neutral particles interact only weakly with matter, making their detection exceedingly difficult. “The excess of matter over antimatter is one of the most compelling mysteries in science,” said John Wilkerson of ORNL and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Wilkerson leads the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, which involves 129 researchers from 27 institutions and 6 nations....

Nearly two dozen experimental therapies targeting the immune system are in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, a reflection of the growing recognition that immune processes play a key role in driving the brain damage that leads to confusion, memory loss, and other debilitating symptoms. Many of the immunity-focused Alzheimer’s drugs under development are aimed at microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, which can injure brain tissue if they’re activated at the wrong time or in the wrong way....

New scenes from a frigid alien landscape are coming to light in recent radar images of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Cassini obtained the views during a close flyby of Titan on July 25, when the spacecraft came as close as 607 miles (976 kilometers) from the giant moon. The spacecraft’s radar instrument is able to penetrate the dense, global haze that surrounds Titan, to reveal fine details on the surface....

By understanding the details of this motion, one can determine the amount of energy needed to transform reactants into products in a chemical reaction, or the color of light absorbed by a molecule, and ultimately accelerate the design of new drugs and materials, better catalysts, and more efficient energy sources. The work, led by Piotr Piecuch, university distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry and adjunct professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Natural Science, was published recently in Physical Review Letters....

The growing demand for selfie-ready smiles has made tooth whitening one of the most popular dental procedures. Treatments at a dentist’s office are effective, but they use high-concentration hydrogen peroxide (30–40%). Home bleaching products contain less peroxide (6–12%), but they usually require weeks of treatment and don’t work as well. When a bleaching gel is applied to teeth, hydrogen peroxide and peroxide-derived reactive oxygen species (mainly the hydroxyl radical) degrade pigments in stains....

Investigators used a range of laboratory techniques to show that two domestic cats from households with suspected cases of COVID-19 were infected with SARS-CoV-2. “These findings indicate that human-to-cat transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, with the infected cats displaying mild or severe respiratory disease. Given the ability of the coronavirus to infect companion animals, it will be important to monitor for human-to-cat, cat-to-cat and cat-to-human transmission,” said lead author Margaret Hosie, PhD, of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research....

Known as deuterium metabolic imaging, or DMI, the technique uses MRI scanning technology to create three-dimensional images of how fuels like glucose are metabolized in the brain and other organs. To test the technique, the researchers applied DMI to rats and human subjects that had consumed glucose labeled with deuterium — a nonradioactive or stable isotope of hydrogen. Brain scans revealed distinct differences in the metabolism of glucose in normal tissue versus tumor tissue....

Cornell researchers have developed a new method of generating terahertz signals on an inexpensive silicon chip, offering possible applications in medical imaging, security scanning and wireless data transfer. Terahertz radiation, the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light, penetrates cloth and leather and just a few millimeters into the skin, but without the potentially damaging effects of X-rays. Terahertz scanning can identify skin cancers too small to see with the naked eye....

Supernovae are important events in the evolution of stars and galaxies, but the details of how the explosions occur are still unknown. This research, led by Takehito Hayakawa, a visiting professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, found a method to investigate the role of electron anti-neutrinos in supernovae. By measuring the amount of 98Ru (an isotope of Ruthenium) in meteorites, it should be possible to estimate how much of its progenitor 98Tc (a short-lived isotope of Technetium) was present in the material from which the Solar System formed....

Engineers at MIT and Caltech have demonstrated an ingestible sensor whose location can be monitored as it moves through the digestive tract, an advance that could help doctors more easily diagnose gastrointestinal motility disorders such as constipation, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and gastroparesis. The tiny sensor works by detecting a magnetic field produced by an electromagnetic coil located outside the body. The strength of the field varies with distance from the coil, so the sensor’s position can be calculated based on its measurement of the magnetic field....

Working with mice, a team of scientists at Yale University developed a new vaccination model that offers a promising vaccination strategy against the herpes simplex virus and other STIs such as HIV-1. Yale researchers have developed a new model for vaccination against genital herpes, a disease for which there has been no cure and no effective immunization. Their study appears in the Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature. Genital herpes, known formally as herpes simplex virus (HSV), is a mostly sexually transmitted infection (STI) that accounts for significant disease and morbidity....

Researchers at Linköping University have developed a molecule that absorbs energy from sunlight and stores it in chemical bonds. A possible long-term use of the molecule is to capture solar energy efficiently and store it for later consumption. The Earth receives many times more energy from the sun than we humans can use. This energy is absorbed by solar energy facilities, but one of the challenges of solar energy is to store it efficiently, such that the energy is available when the sun is not shining....

Astronomers were puzzled earlier this year when NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spotted an overabundance of dark matter in the heart of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520. This observation was surprising because dark matter and galaxies should be anchored together, even during a collision between galaxy clusters. Astronomers have abundant evidence that an as-yet-unidentified form of matter is responsible for 90 percent of the gravity within galaxies and clusters of galaxies....

This new study reinforces previous research in this area. In this investigation with 29 human volunteers, researchers examined the impact of consuming whole grape powder – equivalent to 2 ¼ cups of grapes per day – for 14 days against photodamage from UV light. Subjects’ skin response to UV light was measured before and after consuming grapes for two weeks by determining the threshold dose of UV radiation that induced visible reddening after 24 hours – the Minimal Erythema Dose (MED)....

The researchers analyzed a panel of antibodies generated by people in response to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and found that delta was unable to evade all but one of the antibodies they tested. Other variants of concern, such as beta, avoided recognition and neutralization by several of the antibodies. The findings, published August 16 in the journal Immunity, help explain why vaccinated people have largely escaped the worst of the delta surge....

Ariel Deutsch, a graduate student at Brown University’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences in Providence, Rhode Island, and the study’s lead author, says that constraining the ages of the deposits is important both for basic science and for future lunar explorers who might make use of that ice for fuel and other purposes. “The ages of these deposits can potentially tell us something about the origin of the ice, which helps us understand the sources and distribution of water in the inner solar system,” Deutsch said....

Until now. A research team led by Dr. Marcus Robinson and Professor David Tarlinton from Monash University’s Immunological Memory Laboratory has shown in real time how immune memory cells are stored in the bone marrow at a rate of around one cell per hour for several weeks following vaccination. The findings were recently published in the journal Science Immunology. The researchers utilized a genetic system in mice to map the gradual accumulation of these cells....

Three new station crew members are adapting to living and working in space after a short trip to the orbiting lab in their Soyuz MS-17 crew ship on Wednesday. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov are each beginning their second mission in microgravity. The experienced pair, including fellow crewmate and new space-flyer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov from Roscosmos, will conduct their space research mission until April of next year....

According to a recently published study that analyzed data from the HUNT Study health surveys in Nord-Trøndelag, being married continuously for a prolonged period during mid-life can decrease the likelihood of developing dementia in old age. “Being married can have an influence on risk factors for dementia,” says Vegard Skirbekk at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH/FHI). Over a span of 24 years, from age 44 to 68, the researchers examined various marital statuses among individuals and explored the potential correlation between these statuses and clinical diagnoses of dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) after the age of 70....