11% of destroyed moist tropical forests could be restored to boost climate, environment

In a peer-reviewed report released today, researchers have identified more than 100 million hectares of lost lowland tropical rain forests—restoration hotspots—spread out across Central and South America, Africa and Southeast Asia that present the most compelling opportunities for restoration to overcome rising global temperatures, water pollution and shortages, and the extinction of plant and animal life. Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, India and Colombia have the largest accumulated area of restoration hotspots; six African countries—Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Togo, South Sudan, and Madagascar—are home to the areas presenting the best restoration opportunities on average.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/11-of-destroyed-moist-tropical-forests-could-be-restored-to-boost-climate-environment

Scent composition data reveal new insights into perfume success

Mathematical analysis of online perfume data shows how the unique scent combinations found in different perfumes contribute to product popularity and consumer ratings. Vaiva Vasiliauskaite and Tim Evans of Imperial College London, U.K., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on July 3, 2019.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/scent-composition-data-reveal-new-insights-into-perfume-success

Molecular thumb drives: Researchers store digital images in metabolite molecules

DNA molecules are well known as carriers of huge amounts of biological information, and there is growing interest in using DNA in engineered data storage devices that can hold vastly more data than our current hard drives. But new research shows that DNA isn't the only game in town when it comes to molecular data storage.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/molecular-thumb-drives-researchers-store-digital-images-in-metabolite-molecules

During first year of university, poor diet and weight gain greater in male students

In students' first year of university, poor diet is linked to unhealthy weight gain with males affected more than females. The research publishing July 3 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Kayleigh Beaudry and colleagues at Brock University, Canada also suggests that sex-specific strategies and interventions could improve dietary habits during the move to university.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/during-first-year-of-university-poor-diet-and-weight-gain-greater-in-male-students

Ancient DNA sheds light on the origins of the Biblical Philistines

An international team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition have retrieved and analyzed genome-wide data from people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Ages (~3,600 to 2,800 years ago) in the ancient port city of Ashkelon, one of the core Philistine cities during the Iron Age. The team found that a European-derived ancestry was introduced in Ashkelon around the time of the Philistines' estimated arrival, suggesting that ancestors of the Philistines migrated across the Mediterranean, reaching Ashkelon by the early Iron Age. This European genetic component was subsequently diluted by the local Levantine gene pool over the succeeding centuries, suggesting intensive admixture between local and foreign populations. These genetic results, published in Science Advances, are a critical step toward understanding the long-disputed origins of the Philistines.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/ancient-dna-sheds-light-on-the-origins-of-the-biblical-philistines

Mechanism of scorpion toxin inhibition of K+ channel elucidated using high-speed AFM

Agitoxin-2 (AgTx2) from scorpion venom is a potent blocker of K+ channels. Researchers have now observed the binding dynamics of AgTx2 to the KcsA channel using high-speed atomic force microscopy. Single-molecule kinetic analyses revealed that the affinity of the channel for AgTx2 increased during persistent binding and decreased during persistent dissociation. The researchers propose a four-state model with relevant rate constants. An induced-fit pathway was dominant and accelerated binding by 400 times.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/mechanism-of-scorpion-toxin-inhibition-of-k-channel-elucidated-using-high-speed-afm

Pain signaling in humans more rapid than previously known

Pain signals can travel as fast as touch signals, according to a new study from researchers at Linköping University in Sweden, Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K., and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. The discovery of a rapid pain signaling system challenges our current understanding of pain. The study is published in the scientific journal Science Advances.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/pain-signaling-in-humans-more-rapid-than-previously-known

More 'reactive' land surfaces cooled the Earth down

There have been long periods of cooling in Earth's history. Temperatures had already fallen for more than 10 million years before the last ice age began about 2.5 million years ago. At that time, the northern hemisphere was covered with massive ice masses and glaciers. A geoscientific paradigm, widespread for over 20 years, explains this cooling with the formation of the large mountain ranges such as the Andes, the Himalayas and the Alps. As a result, more rock weathering has taken place, the paradigm suggests. This in turn removed more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, so that the greenhouse effect decreased and the atmosphere cooled. This and other processes eventually led to the ice Age.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/more-reactive-land-surfaces-cooled-the-earth-down

First complete wiring diagram of an animal's nervous system

In a study published online today in Nature, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe the first complete wiring diagram of the nervous system of an animal, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, used by scientists worldwide as a model organism. The study includes adults of both sexes and reveals substantial differences between them.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/first-complete-wiring-diagram-of-an-animals-nervous-system

Ovarian and breast cancer research finds new ways BRCA1 gene functions

Research led by the University of Birmingham has found important new ways that the BRCA1 gene functions which could help develop our understanding of the development of ovarian and breast cancers.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/ovarian-and-breast-cancer-research-finds-new-ways-brca1-gene-functions

Magnetic monopoles make acoustic debut

University College Cork (UCC) & University of Oxford Professor of Physics, Séamus Davis, has led a team of experimental physicists in the discovery of the magnetic noise generated by a fluid of magnetic monopoles.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/magnetic-monopoles-make-acoustic-debut

Experiments show dramatic increase in solar cell output

In any conventional silicon-based solar cell, there is an absolute limit on overall efficiency, based partly on the fact that each photon of light can only knock loose a single electron, even if that photon carried twice the energy needed to do so. But now, researchers have demonstrated a method for getting high-energy photons striking silicon to kick out two electrons instead of one, opening the door for a new kind of solar cell with greater efficiency than was thought possible.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/experiments-show-dramatic-increase-in-solar-cell-output

With little training, machine-learning algorithms can uncover hidden scientific knowledge

Sure, computers can be used to play grandmaster-level chess (chess_computer), but can they make scientific discoveries? Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that an algorithm with no training in materials science can scan the text of millions of papers and uncover new scientific knowledge.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/with-little-training-machine-learning-algorithms-can-uncover-hidden-scientific-knowledge

Immune cells invade aging brains, disrupt new nerve cell formation

A study by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators has revealed that immune cells infiltrate the rare newborn nerve-cell nurseries of the aging brain. There's every reason to think those interlopers are up to no good. Experiments in a dish and in living animals indicate they're secreting a substance that chokes off new nerve cell production.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/immune-cells-invade-aging-brains-disrupt-new-nerve-cell-formation

A tasty way to get your omega-3s

(HealthDay)—It's well known that omega-3 fatty acids, or omega-3s for short, are important anti-inflammatory nutrients that, along with many other functions, reduce heart disease risk. What's unclear is whether you can get these benefits from a capsule. Studies involving supplements have recently been called into question.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/a-tasty-way-to-get-your-omega-3s

'We know better than this': As Ebola outbreak rages, the world just watches

The Ebola outbreak raging through Congo has sickened thousands of people and killed more than 1,500—and the number of new victims continues to climb.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/we-know-better-than-this-as-ebola-outbreak-rages-the-world-just-watches

Toxic algae increases in Florida's Lake Okeechobee

Recent tests results show that toxic amounts of blue-green algae have surfaced in Lake Okeechobee, according to data released by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/toxic-algae-increases-in-floridas-lake-okeechobee

Team discovers control of cell signaling using a cobalt (III)-nitrosyl complex

Two professors' joint research team has discovered how to synthesize new materials to deliver nitric oxide, which controls the cell activation signal. The cell signaling control is expected to contribute positively to the development of treatment for cardiovascular diseases.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/team-discovers-control-of-cell-signaling-using-a-cobalt-iii-nitrosyl-complex

New high blood pressure guidelines could increase detection of gestational hypertension

Gestational hypertension—high blood pressure during pregnancy—can have persisting adverse effects on the health of mothers and their infants. In 2017, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) released clinical guidelines for hypertension in non-pregnant adults, which lowered the blood pressure threshold to diagnose hypertension, compared to previously established ones. However, the new ACC/AHA guidelines have not been adapted or applied to pregnant women. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues conducted the first-ever study to evaluate the impact these guidelines could have on detecting gestational hypertension. The results of the retrospective cohort study were published today in the journal Circulation Research.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/new-high-blood-pressure-guidelines-could-increase-detection-of-gestational-hypertension

Physicists develop model that describes length growth in biological systems

"Grandmother, why do you have such big ears?" is one of the most well-known questions in literature, posed of course by Red Riding Hood as she hesitantly observes the wolf dressed in her Grandmother's clothes. Had Red Riding Hood been a physicist, she might well have asked: "Grandmother, why are your two ears exactly the same length?"

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/physicists-develop-model-that-describes-length-growth-in-biological-systems

Activity of fuel cell catalysts doubled

An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has built platinum nanoparticles for catalysis in fuel cells: The new size-optimized catalysts are twice as potent as the best process commercially available today.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/activity-of-fuel-cell-catalysts-doubled

Cool new wearable devices can do miracles for your health

From a small light-up pad that makes your bruise fade faster to a strip of gel that minimizes scars, new innovations to improve your health needs are on their way.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/cool-new-wearable-devices-can-do-miracles-for-your-health

Hospitals address opioid crisis via stewardship with strong pharmacist involvement

As hospitals look for ways to stem the opioid crisis, a survey of health-system pharmacy directors released today found that most large health systems have active stewardship programs to prevent the misuse of opioids—with pharmacists playing a key role in detecting drug diversion and identifying strategies to encourage appropriate opioid prescribing. The findings are part of the National Survey of Pharmacy Practice in Hospital Settings, published in the AJHP, the journal of ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists). The survey also explores the expanding role of hospital and health-system pharmacists in drug therapy monitoring and providing care in outpatient clinics.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/hospitals-address-opioid-crisis-via-stewardship-with-strong-pharmacist-involvement

Researchers step back to mannequin viral wave to explore depth

Who said the viral craze called Mannequin Challenge (MC) is done and dusted? Not so. Researchers have turned to the Challenge that won attention in 2016 to serve their goal. They used the MC for training a neural network that can reconstruct depth information from the videos.

* This article was originally published here

Unraveling the brain's reward circuits

To some, a chocolate cake may spark a shot of pleasure typically associated with illicit drugs. A new study by Penn biologists offers some insights into that link, revealing new information about how the brain responds to rewards such as food and drugs.

* This article was originally published here

It's dog eat dog on the canine social ladder

Climbing the social ladder is a ruff business for dogs, new research shows.

* This article was originally published here

The world needs a global agenda for sand

What links the building you live in, the glass you drink from and the computer you work on? The answer is smaller than you think and is something we are rapidly running out of: sand.

* This article was originally published here