Findings provide further evidence of relationship between the gut and lungs. Daily probiotic use was associated with fewer upper respiratory symptoms in overweight and older people, according to a study that suggests a potential role for probiotics in preventing respiratory infections. The study was selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2021. “This is not necessarily the most intuitive idea, that putting bacteria into your gut might reduce your risk of respiratory infection,” said Benjamin Mullish, MD, a lead researcher on the study and clinical lecturer in the Division of Digestive Diseases, Imperial College London, England, “but it’s further evidence that the gut microbiome has a complex relationship with our various organ systems....

Researchers explored the evolution of metal-binding proteins across billions of years. Addressing one of the most profoundly unanswered questions in biology, a Rutgers-led team has discovered the structures of proteins that may be responsible for the origins of life in the primordial soup of ancient Earth. The study appears in the journal Science Advances. The researchers looked at how basic, non-living materials may have given rise to early life on our planet....

People with PTSD — difficulty recovering from experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event — have traditionally been treated with a combination of trauma-focused psychotherapy and a regimen of medications. Many sufferers have not responded well to that treatment, but new research to be presented by the Medical University of South Carolina’s Dr. Michael Mithoefer and colleagues, at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, suggests that the combination of some psychedelic drugs and traditional psychotherapy holds promise....

In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers from McGill University and the University of California, Davis, used thermal imaging cameras to measure heat dissipation off the bodies and beaks of wild tufted puffins in the minutes after flying. Their data showed that within 30 minutes of landing, the temperature of the puffin beaks dropped by 5°C (25°C – 20°C), while the heat radiating from their backs hardly changed....

This is the second installment in a four-part series of conversations with Paul Geithner Deputy Project Manager – Technical for the James Webb Space telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland about different aspects of the telescope. Using infrared light, the Webb telescope will be able to look farther back in time than previous telescopes, and will allow scientists to look through dust to see stars forming inside....

Imagine a world where people could only talk to their next-door neighbor, and messages must be passed house to house to reach far destinations. Until now, this has been the situation for the bits of hardware that make up a silicon quantum computer, a type of quantum computer with the potential to be cheaper and more versatile than today’s versions. Now a team based at Princeton University has overcome this limitation and demonstrated that two quantum-computing components, known as silicon “spin” qubits, can interact even when spaced relatively far apart on a computer chip....

A blazar is a galaxy whose central nucleus is bright at wavelengths from the low energy radio band to high energy gamma rays (each gamma ray photon is over a hundred million times more energetic than the X-rays seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory). Astronomers think that the blazar nucleus contains a supermassive black hole, similar to a quasar nucleus. The emission results when matter falls onto the vicinity of the black hole and erupts into powerful, narrow jets of radiating charged particles moving close to the speed of light....

First developed as a way of parsing genetic samples to get a snapshot of the mix of bacteria, the genetic analysis tool teases out patterns from volumes of genetic information and can identify whether a virus has genetically changed. They can then use the pattern to categorize viruses with small genetic differences using tags called Informative Subtype Markers (ISM). Applying the same method to process viral genetic data can quickly detect and categorize slight genetic variations in the SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the group reported in a paper recently posted on the preliminary research archive, bioRxiv....

Approximately 25% of a tree is lignin – a biopolymer that glues the cellulose fibers together to form strong and durable wood. During the chemical manufacture of paper pulp this lignin is dissolved in either the sulfate or sulfite process, since the cellulose is the desired component for making paper. Lignin is cheap and readily available. It is a biopolymer that consists of a large number of hydrocarbon chains woven together, which can be broken down in an industrial process to its energy-rich constituent parts, benzenediols....

Resilience can be learned, and can even be reinforced, according to a new study conducted in mice by a team of researchers from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. In the study, which was published in the journal Nature on October 19, scientists placed small mice in close proximity with larger, aggressive mice. They found that a display of defensive behaviors predicted the mice’s ability to be resilient after the stressful event....

Brazilian researchers have conducted a review of over 100 scientific articles on the topic and have concluded that advanced techniques such as genomics should be used to study the impact of antidepressants, particularly sertraline, the most commonly prescribed antidepressant worldwide. Although the safety of using these drugs during pregnancy is supported by scientific evidence, more research is needed to fully understand their effects on fetal neurodevelopment. “Most of the publications we reviewed were reports of observational surveys and studies conducted in the laboratory using cell cultures and animals, whose brain development is very different from that of humans....

The RDRE differs from a traditional rocket engine by generating thrust using a supersonic combustion phenomenon known as a detonation. This design produces more power while using less fuel than today’s propulsion systems and has the potential to power both human landers and interplanetary vehicles to deep space destinations, such as the Moon and Mars. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and primary collaborator IN Space LLC, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, are confirming data from RDRE hot fire tests conducted in 2022 at Marshall’s East Test Area....

Nanoscience is the study of matter at the nanoscale—dimensions between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers or 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. At these incredibly small scales, materials have unique phenomena that enable new applications. In 1959, the famed physicist Richard Feynman said in a prophetic lecture that there was “plenty of room at the bottom.” Feynman meant that exploring and manipulating materials almost atom by atom would create huge opportunities for new science and important new technologies....

According to previous research, a higher reported feeling of personal control over one’s life is linked to improved health and well-being. Romantic relationships and perceptions of control are strongly related; for instance, research points to a connection between perceptions of control and higher levels of relationship satisfaction. The connection between the end of a relationship and changes in perceived control, however, is less well understood. Asselmann and Specht examined data from three time points in a multi-decade study of German households to shed new light....

According to a recent study by Angelina Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine and colleagues, the COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the trajectory of personality across the United States, especially in younger adults, despite the long-held belief that personality traits are largely impervious to environmental pressures. The study was recently published in the journal PLOS ONE. In general, previous research has not shown any links between widespread stressful events—like earthquakes and hurricanes—and personality change....

The study, published in Nature Astronomy, provides new insights into these fascinating waves that were first discovered by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Hannes Alfvén in 1947. The vast potential of these waves resides in their ability to transport energy and information over very large distances due to their purely magnetic nature. The direct discovery of these waves in the solar photosphere, the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere, is the first step towards exploiting the properties of these magnetic waves....

According to a recent study by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the overexpression of a gene linked to cell division and the structure and function of neurons may prevent and protect against cognitive decline in both mice and humans with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This happens despite the presence of amyloid beta (Abeta), the main component of plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. In the past, scientists have focused on the plaques while seeking treatments for the deadly condition....

New structure shows how virus envelope protein hijacks cell-junction protein and promotes viral spread; findings could speed the design of drugs to block severe effects of COVID-19. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have published the first detailed atomic-level model of the SARS-CoV-2 “envelope” protein bound to a human protein essential for maintaining the lining of the lungs. The model showing how the two proteins interact, just published in the journal Nature Communications, helps explain how the virus could cause extensive lung damage and escape the lungs to infect other organs in especially vulnerable COVID-19 patients....

A team from Hokkaido University’s Institute of Low Temperature Science, Arctic Research Center, and Faculty of Fisheries Science, in collaboration with researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research and Aerospace Exploration Agency, produced the findings, which were published in the journal Science Advances. The seas surrounding Antarctica, where a significant quantity of sea ice is created, are critical to world ocean water circulation, connecting the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans....

For the last 2.5 billion years, surface life on Earth has thrived largely due to the evolution of photosynthesis. Surface life is abundant and very successful because of the availability of sunlight, surface water, generally moderate climate conditions, and the protection of our magnetic field. But the planet Mars would have never experienced such habitable conditions at the surface. Michalski and colleagues published results in Nature Astronomy showing that the climate of Mars has probably been extremely cold and dry most of the time....