Scientists finally find superconductivity in place they have been looking for decades

Scientists prove a well-known model of material behavior applies to high-temperature superconductors, giving them a new tool for understanding how these materials conduct electricity with no loss. Simulations suggest we might be able to toggle superconductivity on and off in certain materials by tweaking their chemistry so electrons hop from atom to atom in a particular pattern – as if hopping to the atom diagonally across the street rather than to the one next door.

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Researchers uncover molecular changes associated with treating lymphatic filariasis

The Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis delivers mass drug administration to 500 million people each year, and adverse events are common following treatment. Now, researchers have reported that certain changes in gene expression are associated with these adverse events.

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Human kidney map charts our growing immune defense

The first cell atlas of the human kidney's immune system has been created after scientists mapped nearly 70,000 individual kidney cells from early life and adults. Researchers generated the atlas and used it to map immune cells in the kidney. This shows for the first time how the kidney's immune system develops during early life, and strengthens after birth and as we mature into adults, with implications for tackling kidney disease and transplant rejection.

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Virtual human hand simulation holds promise for prosthetics

Animating human hands has long been considered one of the most challenging problems in computer graphics. That's because it has been impossible to capture the internal movement of the hand in motion — until now. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a technique inspired by the visual effects industry, researchers have developed the world's most realistic model of the human hand's musculoskeletal system in motion. Applications include computer graphics, prosthetics, medical education, robotics, virtual reality.

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Neurons' response to seizure-induced stress reduces seizure severity

In response to seizures, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a network of flattened tubes in the cell that packages and transports proteins, triggers a stress response that reduces brain activity and seizure severity. The new findings may have important implications for the development of new epilepsy therapies.

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Scientists connected fragments of pine savanna and new species keep showing up

By connecting small, restored patches of savanna to one another via habitat corridors at an experimental landscape within the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a nearly 20-year-long study has shown an annual increase in the number of plant species within fragments over time, and a drop in the number of species disappearing from them entirely.

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