Pandemic-related stressors have physically altered adolescents’ brains, making their brain structures appear several years older than the brains of comparable peers before the pandemic. This is according to a new study from Stanford University that was published on December 1, 2022, in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. In 2020 alone, reports of anxiety and depression in adults rose by more than 25 percent compared to previous years. The new findings indicate that the neurological and mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents may have been even worse....

This finding could have potential impact on everything that involves mixtures of gases exposed to a shock wave, for example, during combustion in an engine. This is also relevant for conventional and nuclear explosions, supersonic jets, gas-cooled nuclear reactor plants, and inertially-confined fusion. The results were published recently in the paper “Dalton’s and Amagat’s Laws Fail in Gas Mixtures with Shock Propagation” in Science Advances. Authors on the paper are Patrick Wayne, Daniel Freelong, Gregory Vigil, Timothy Clark, Peter Vorobieff, and C....

This is surprising because until now, scientists thought that other processes, such as exploding stars called supernovae, were largely responsible for regulating the formation of stars. But SOFIA’s observations suggest that infant stars generate stellar winds that can blow away the seed material required to form new stars, a process called “feedback.” The Orion Nebula is among the best observed and most photographed objects in the night sky. It is the closest stellar nursery to Earth, and helps scientists explore how stars form....

Dr. Evelien Van Assche recently presented the work at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress in Vienna. She elaborates on her work, “We discovered that perceived harsh parenting, with physical punishment and psychological manipulation, can introduce an additional set of instructions on how a gene is read to become hard-wired into DNA. We have some indications that these changes themselves can predispose the growing child to depression. This does not happen to the same extent if the children have had a supportive upbringing....

The prominent red color of these images is due to the phenomenon of atmospheric refraction. As the Moon approaches the horizon, its reflected light must traverse more and more of the atmosphere before reaching our eyes, meaning that scattering becomes more prominent — in other words, there is more air for the light to push through, and more light is scattered. Of all the colors of visible light, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters and refracts red light the least due to its longer wavelength, casting sunsets and moonsets in a characteristic orange-red hue....

Researchers urge continued screening for all toddlers, while recommending changes to M-CHAT screening method to improve accuracy, address disparities. Philadelphia — In the first large, real-world study of universal screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in toddlers, researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that the most widely used and researched screening tool is less accurate than shown in previous studies conducted in research laboratory settings. The new study also revealed significant disparities in detecting early autism symptoms in minority, urban and low-income children....

When we see somebody suffering, we normally feel uneasy and want to help. However, this feeling can be reversed. When we know someone behaved in an antisocial manner, we can remain unsympathetic even though we know they are hurt. It is known from previous studies that we perceive the perpetrator’s pain as a just punishment and a tool to penalize misbehavior. Moreover, we feel a sense of spite when we witness the disciplinary measure....

Flowers’ methods of communicating are at least as sophisticated as any devised by an advertising agency, according to a new study, published today in Science Express by researchers from the University of Bristol. However, for any advert to be successful, it has to reach, and be perceived by, its target audience. The research shows for the first time that pollinators such as bumblebees are able to find and distinguish electric signals given out by flowers....

Months before the world turned its eye toward Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics, an astronaut on the International Space Station captured this image of the Japanese megacity. The photograph offers a distinctive, high-resolution view of the city’s structure via its nighttime light. Many cities are oriented around a center. In most modern cities, this is a bright downtown. In Tokyo, it’s the Imperial Palace. Strings of light emanate from the palace and follow Tokyo’s major expressway system outward....

After Hubble was launched, the astronomers and engineers operating the telescope found that the images it returned were fuzzy, as if it were out of focus. In fact, that was exactly what was happening. Hubble’s primary mirror functions like a satellite dish; its curved surface reflects all the light falling on it to a single focal point. However, the mirror suffered from a defect known as a spherical aberration, meaning that the light striking the edges of the mirror was not traveling to the same point as the light from the center....

Polystyrene is used in packaging containers, disposable cups and insulating materials. When thrown in landfills or littered in the environment, the plastic takes several hundred years to completely break down. Recently, several studies have found that mealworms and superworms can ingest and degrade polystyrene within a few weeks. In mealworms, this ability was linked to a certain strain of polystyrene-degrading bacteria in the worms’ gut. Jiaojie Li, Dae-Hwan Kim and colleagues wanted to search for similar bacteria in superworms....

A new study led by researchers from King’s College London has shown that humans, mice and flies share the same fundamental genetic mechanisms that regulate the formation and function of brain areas involved in attention and movement control. With these new findings scientists can potentially better understand the subtle changes that can occur in genes and brain circuits that can lead to mental health disorders such as anxiety and autism spectrum disorders....

The abrupt slowdown is the most dramatic change in a comet’s rotation ever seen. NASA’s Swift satellite detected an unprecedented slowdown in the rotation of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák when it passed nearest to Earth in early 2017. Watch to learn more. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center “The previous record for a comet spindown went to 103P/Hartley 2, which slowed its rotation from 17 to 19 hours over 90 days,” said Dennis Bodewits, an associate research scientist at the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park who presented the findings Wednesday, Jan....

Researchers from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) are the first to report that synthetic silicate nanoplatelets (also known as layered clay) can induce stem cells to become bone cells without the need of additional bone-inducing factors. Synthetic silicates are made up of simple or complex salts of silicic acids, and have been used extensively for various commercial and industrial applications, such as food additives, glass and ceramic fillers, and anti-caking agents....

A new study, published in Nature Communications and led by Imperial College London researchers, provides the first evidence of a protective role for these T cells. While previous studies have shown that T cells induced by other coronaviruses can recognize SARS-CoV-2, the new study examines for the first time how the presence of these T cells at the time of SARS-CoV-2 exposure influences whether someone becomes infected. The researchers also say their findings provide a blueprint for a second-generation, universal vaccine that could prevent infection from current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron....

UCSF Cardiology researchers report no link between coffee consumption and arrhythmia. In the largest study of its kind, an investigation by UC San Francisco has found no evidence that moderate coffee consumption can cause cardiac arrhythmia. In fact, each additional daily cup of coffee consumed among several hundred thousand individuals was associated with a 3 percent lower risk of any arrhythmia occurring, including atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contractions, or other common heart conditions, the researchers report....

The medical records of 26 stroke patients who identify as sexual and gender minorities were reviewed by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and were compared with 78 stroke patients of the same age who did not identify as sexual and gender minorities. The findings of this study were recently published in Neurology Clinical Practice. While stroke subtypes and traditional stroke risks, such as smoking, hypertension, and diabetes, were similar for both groups, the sexual and gender minority patients were more likely to have “non-traditional stroke risks....

Crew-5 is safely back on Earth … And a look at a possible Moon mission spacesuit … A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! The President’s Budget Request for NASA The Biden-Harris Administration’s recently released Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 includes a $27.2 billion request for NASA. This represents a strong show of support for the agency to continue its efforts on behalf of all humanity....

A commercial crew spacecraft’s historic test mission … Recognizing the leadership of our James Webb Space Telescope team … And a small spacecraft prepares for a unique mission around the Moon … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s Historic Test Mission “Approaching the International Space Station …”—Commentator On May 20, Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on the Orbital Flight Test-2 or OFT-2 mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program....

The world’s first-ever planetary defense test is a big hit … A major hurricane spotted from space … And moving NASA’s mega Moon rocket back inside ahead of that storm … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Successful Impact for First-Ever Planetary Defense Test On September 26, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART spacecraft successfully impacted Dimorphos – the asteroid the spacecraft had been on a collision course with for about 10 months....