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“Our study found that regular consumption of a self-reported diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat was associated with increased levels of LDL cholesterol— or “bad” cholesterol—and a higher risk of heart disease,” said Iulia Iatan, MD, PhD, attending physician-scientist at the Healthy Heart Program Prevention Clinic, St. Paul’s Hospital and University of British Columbia’s Centre for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada, and lead author of the study....

Stationed at the bottom of the skin’s epidermis, melanocytes produce UV-absorbing pigment that protects keratinocytes, other skin cells found in the topmost layer. In exploring this process, Simon and Rachel Belote, a graduate student in the lab, noticed a mode of communication they didn’t think such cells were capable of. “We saw that keratinocytes wrap around melanocytes, forming intimate connections that reminded us of neurons,” says Simon. “And when we added a calcium sensor to the melanocytes, we saw spikes of activity, just like you see with nerve cells....

Although largely obsolete in modern weaponry, gunpowder, also known as black powder, is still used in historical weapons, fireworks, and pyrotechnics. The explosive is a combination of varying ratios of potassium nitrate (or “saltpeter”), sulfur, and charcoal. Medieval recipes sometimes included interesting additives, such as camphor, varnish, or brandy, with obscure purposes. Dawn Riegner, Cliff Rogers, and their team of chemists and historians wanted to analyze the energetics of medieval gunpowder recipes to help understand the intent of master gunners in creating these formulas, as well as to provide important technical information about early gunpowder manufacturing....

This new approach, led by University of California San Diego engineers, enables charging of lithium-metal batteries in about an hour, a speed that is competitive against today’s lithium-ion batteries. The UC San Diego engineers, in collaboration with UC Irvine imaging researchers, published this advance aimed at developing fast-charging lithium-metal batteries today (February 9, 2023) in the journal Nature Energy. To grow lithium metal crystals, the researchers replaced the ubiquitous copper surfaces on the negative side (the anode) of lithium-metal batteries with a lithiophobic nanocomposite surface made of lithium fluoride (LiF) and iron (Fe)....

Researchers hope the model can inform public health decision-making amid the pandemic. A new model for predicting COVID-19’s impact using artificial intelligence (AI) dramatically outperforms other models, so much so that it has attracted the interest of public health officials across the country. While existing models to predict the spread of a disease already exist, few, if any, incorporate AI, which allows a model to make predictions based on observations of what is actually happening—for example, increasing cases among specific populations—as opposed to what the model’s designers think will happen....

Study shows toxin from anthrax microbe affects pain in mice. Anthrax has a scary reputation. Widely known to cause serious lung infections in humans and unsightly, albeit painless, skin lesions in livestock and people, the anthrax bacterium has even been used as a weapon of terror. Now the findings of a new study suggest the dreaded microbe also has unexpected beneficial potential—one of its toxins can silence multiple types of pain in animals....

Flame retardant chemicals, which are designed to slow household fires from burning through homes, have been found in worrisome quantities in US homes, long after some of these were banned because of suspected links to cancer and other conditions. The scientists published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology in two studies. Some of the more controversial chemicals, used to fire-proof sofas and foam baby products like high-chair seats, have been replaced, but the new generation of chemicals can also have unknown health effects....

Observations from the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) and other NASA science instruments will be part of a global survey of point-source emissions of methane from solid waste sites such as landfills. The multiyear effort is being developed and conducted by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper organization. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the source of roughly a quarter to a third of global warming caused by humans. The aim of the new initiative is to establish a baseline assessment of global waste sites that emit methane at high rates....

Following its last close flyby of Saturn’s moon Rhea, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured these raw, unprocessed images of the battered icy moon. They show an ancient, cratered surface bearing the scars of collisions with many space rocks. Scientists are still trying to understand some of the curious features they see in these Rhea images, including a curving, narrow fracture or a graben, which is a block of ground lower than its surroundings and bordered by cliffs on either side....

Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have revealed Saturn’s moon Titan likely harbors a layer of liquid water under its ice shell. Researchers saw a large amount of squeezing and stretching as the moon orbited Saturn. They deduced that if Titan were composed entirely of stiff rock, the gravitational attraction of Saturn would cause bulges, or solid “tides,” on the moon only 3 feet (1 meter) in height. Spacecraft data show Saturn creates solid tides approximately 30 feet (10 meters) in height, which suggests Titan is not made entirely of solid rocky material....

Scientists may have observed, for the first time, the destruction of a young planet or planets around a nearby star. Observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory indicate that the parent star is now in the process of devouring the planetary debris. This discovery gives insight into the processes affecting the survival of infant planets. Since 1937, astronomers have puzzled over the curious variability of a young star named RW Aur A, located about 450 light years from Earth....

In a surprising turn, the research team utilized an unusual, long-neglected compound called a cyclic allene to control a critical stage in the chemical reactions required to create a usable form of the molecule in the laboratory. This breakthrough, according to the team, has the potential to be beneficial in the development of other complicated molecules for pharmaceutical studies. Their findings are published in the journal Science. “The vast majority of medicines today are made by synthetic organic chemistry, and one of our roles in academia is to establish new chemical reactions that could be used to quickly develop medicines and molecules with intricate chemical structures that benefit the world,” said Neil Garg, UCLA’s Kenneth N....

Recent research employed eye-tracking technology to demonstrate that children’s attention roamed all over a computer screen while attempting to perform a task – even though adults immediately realized they could finish the assignment more efficiently by concentrating on certain things. But having a wandering eye helped 4- and 5-year-olds when the task suddenly shifted – and they noticed critical details on the screen that adults were missing. “The ability of adults to focus their attention is usually very helpful in everyday life,” said Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at The Ohio State University....

Newburgh is co-author of a pair of new studies from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a radio telescope built in 2017 and located in British Columbia. The studies appear on January 9 in the online edition of the journal Nature. One of the studies reports on the discovery of 13 FRBs, seven of which were recorded at the lowest frequency thus far — 400 megahertz. The other study reports on the detection of an FRB with six repeat bursts, all of them originating from the same location 1....

Researchers have created tiny chip-based optical tweezers that can be used to optically levitate nanoparticles in a vacuum. Optical tweezers — which employ a tightly focused laser beam to hold living cells, nanoparticles, and other objects — can be used for a variety of precision measurements and sensing applications. However, these optical traps are usually produced with bulky optical components. “By using an ultrathin metalens, we reduced the diameter of the focusing lens from about 25 mm to about 0....

A combined treatment strategy targeting SARS-CoV-2 symptoms and severe lung tissue injury is essential to minimize lung sequelae—chronic complications resulting from COVID-19 infection, according to a review published this week in Clinical Microbiology Reviews, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Therapy using lung epithelial stem and progenitor cells shows promise for mitigating the potentially lethal and highly damaging virus-induced inflammatory storm that can occur in severe cases of COVID-19, said Huaiyong Chen, Ph....

A new study has found that venoms found in snakes and mammals share a common originResearchers traced the origin of a class of toxins, called kallikrein serine proteases, to a salivary protein found in a common ancestorResults from the evolutionary tree also showed that non-toxic salivary kallikreins in mammals, including those found in mice and human saliva, also evolved from the same ancestral geneThe study provides strong evidence for the hypothesis that venom evolved from a common group of genes with toxic potential that existed in the ancestor of snakes and mammals...

Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna have experimentally demonstrated what was previously only a theoretical possibility. Together with quantum physicists from the University of Science and Technology of China, they have succeeded in teleporting complex high-dimensional quantum states. The research teams report this international first in the journal “Physical Review Letters”. In their study, the researchers teleported the quantum state of one photon (light particle) to another distant one....

ESRI Director Andrew Barron, also a professor at Rice University in the USA, and his team have figured out how to get nanotubes clean enough to obtain reproducible electronic measurements and in the process not only explained why the electrical properties of nanotubes have historically been so difficult to measure consistently, but have shown that there may be a limit to how “nano” future electronic devices can be using carbon nanotubes....

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range or HDR images are a set of techniques that allow a better dynamic range of luminance between lighter and darker areas in an image than can be achieved by standard digital imaging techniques or other photographic methods. HDR photography allows for obtaining images that are more similar to those seen by the human eye. By adjusting the iris and other methods, the human eye adjusts constantly to adapt to a wider range of luminance present in the environment....