Womens Fitness Fanatic

Parts produced by some commercial 3D printers are toxic to certain fish embryos, researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found. Their results have raised questions about how to dispose of parts and waste materials from 3D printers. Said William Grover, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the Bourns College of Engineering: “These 3D printers are like tiny factories in a…

Why Romance From Afar Can Fizzle Close Up

In romance, what we think we want and what we actually prefer don’t always line up. For example, someone of greater intelligence may seem attractive when they’re distant or far away in your mind. But they may seem less appealing when they’re right next to you, according to a new study. Says Lora Park, associate professor in the University at Buffalo psychology department and the study’s principal…

Peering at the debris from particle collisions that recreate the conditions of the very early universe, scientists have for the first time measured the force of interaction between pairs of antiprotons. Like the force that holds ordinary protons together within the nuclei of atoms, the force between antiprotons is attractive and strong. The experiments were conducted at the Relativistic Heavy Ion…

Australian scientists have identified a critical molecular ‘feedback loop’ that helps initiate and drive neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system in children that is triggered in embryonal nerve cells. This feedback loop massively accelerates cancer development. Fortunately, the research team has identified an experimental drug, currently in clinical trials for adult cancer, with the…

When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body’s immune system—armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more—is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions with our immune systems have not been well…

Weather patterns in a mysterious world beyond our solar system have been revealed for the first time, a study suggests. Layers of clouds, made up of hot dust and droplets of molten iron, have been detected on a planet-like object found 75 light years from Earth, researchers say. Findings from the study could improve scientists’ ability to find out if conditions in far-off planets are capable of…

When we think of space travel, we tend to picture a massive rocket blasting off from Earth, with huge blast streams of fire and smoke coming out the bottom, as the enormous machine struggles to escape Earth’s gravity. Rockets are our only option for escaping Earth’s gravity well—for now. But once a spacecraft has broken its gravitational bond with Earth, we have other options for powering them.…

Loss of speech from a stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain can be recovered on the back, right side of the brain, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found. The finding contradicts recent notions that the right hemisphere interferes with recovery, and contributes to a debate that has lasted more than 130 years. While the findings will likely not put an immediate end to…

The hippocampus, a brain structure known to play a role in memory and spatial navigation, is essential to one’s ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people- a phenomenon known as recognition memory – according to new research from the departments of Neurosurgery and Psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Recognition memory is…

Diamonds may not be quite as rare as you think, scientists report. Johns Hopkins University geochemist Dimitri A. Sverjensky, whose research on the subject appears in Nature Communications, says: “Diamond formation in the deep Earth—the very deep Earth—may be a more common process than we thought.” The findings “constitute a new quantitative theory” about how diamonds come to be, according to the…

Development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney—a promising alternative to kidney transplantation or dialysis for people with end-stage kidney disease—has received a $6 million boost, thanks to a new grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), one of the National Institutes of Health, to researchers led by UC San Francisco bioengineer Shuvo Roy,…

A new study links taking muscle-building supplements, such as pills and powders with creatine or androstenedione, with an increased risk of testicular cancer. Moreover, says study senior author Tongzhang Zheng, the associated testicular germ cell cancer risk was especially high among men who started using supplements before age 25, those who used multiple supplements, and those who used them for…

Never Mind If They Work, Are Supplements Safe?

Regulation of dietary supplements should focus less on whether vitamins, minerals, and herbal extracts actually do what advocates claim and more on whether they are safe to take, a public health expert and former regulator says. The market for dietary supplements is riddled with unsafe products that may be spiked with pharmaceuticals, poorly manufactured, or even missing ingredients listed on the…

New Protein Nanoparticles Let Scientists Track Cells And Interactions Within

MIT engineers have designed magnetic protein nanoparticles that can be used to track cells or to monitor interactions within cells. The particles, described today in Nature Communications, are an enhanced version of a naturally occurring, weakly magnetic protein called ferritin. “Ferritin, which is as close as biology has given us to a naturally magnetic protein nanoparticle, is really not that…

How Eels And Jellyfish Swim So Efficiently

Previous studies have shown that jellyfish and eels can move using very low amounts of energy that would make a Toyota Prius jealous. In fact, these ocean denizens can go from point A to point B using less energy than any other swimmer, runner or flier ever measured. However the secret behind such amazing energetic efficiency has remained a mystery, until now. A team of scientists led by Dr. Brad…

17-foot-long Dakotaraptor Had Feathered Wings

Scientists have discovered a new giant raptor believed to be the largest specimen ever found with wing feathers. Named Dakotaraptor, the fossil from the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota is thought to be about 17 feet long, making it among the largest raptors in the world. “This new predatory dinosaur also fills the body size gap between smaller theropods and large tyrannosaurs that lived at…