Depression, dizziness, difficulty focusing the gaze and balance problems. Many professional athletes who have sustained head trauma in sports have lingering symptoms that affect everyday life. Little help has been available as the cause has been unknown. A clinical study from Lund University in Sweden can now show that the problems originate in an injury […]

Prostate cancers remain localized in the majority of cases, giving affected individuals a good chance of survival. However, about 20% of patients develop incurable metastatic prostate cancer, resulting in approximately 5,000 deaths each year in Austria alone. Medical research has not yet adequately explained why metastases occur in some people and not in others. A […]

A team co-led team by the University of Surrey has successfully increased the levels of energy absorbed by wafer-thin photovoltaic panels by 25%. COMMENTS: Let us know what you think via Twitter or Facebook In the Know

A drug used to treat epilepsy patients could help prevent stroke in people whose arteries show signs of atherosclerosis – furring of the arteries – scientists will tell audiences at the Cambridge Festival this week. One of the major causes of stroke, particularly among older individuals and people who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or smoke, is atherosclerosis, hardening and […]

Using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), researchers have observed the piece-by-piece assembly of 2D dynamic covalent polymers – the basic building blocks of covalent organic frameworks (COFs). These detailed images will help understand complex growth mechanisms, potentially paving the way to tailored synthetic stacked structures. ‘The growth of two-dimensional COFs involves complicated chemical conversions, like the […]

An iron ion sandwiched between two cyclotetraphosphide dianions is the closest analogue to an inorganic ferrocene ever created. When ferrocene was discovered in the early 1950s, it caused quite the stir. It was the first compound made only of a transition metal and a hydrocarbon that didn’t spontaneously decompose or burst into flames when it […]

A blue shark (Prionace glauca) off the Azores. © Nuno Rodrigues Sharks have been around for 450 million years, outliving the dinosaurs and soldiering on through several mass extinctions. Yet their numbers in the open oceans have plummeted by an alarming 70% over the past 50 years and many are endangered. More than a third […]

To make good decisions, we need to have good information. © Gorodenkoff, Shutterstock Ahead of the International Fact Checking Day on 2 April, we met with the European Digital Media Observatory which is an EU-wide platform to combat disinformation while protecting the core value of freedom of expression. The modern era of disinformation can be […]

Researchers have engineered probiotic bacteria that can synthesize the dopamine precursor L-DOPA, a powerful mainstay treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Preclinical tests show that the new treatment approach is not only safe and well-tolerated but also eliminates side effects that eventually develop when L-DOPA is taken orally. “We are harnessing the metabolic capability of beneficial microbes […]

Nearly half of all older adults now die with a diagnosis of dementia listed on their medical record, up 36% from two decades ago, a new study shows. But that sharp rise may have more to do with better public awareness, more detailed medical records and Medicare billing practices than an actual rise in the […]