Jaw DNA and advanced sensors to pull sharks out of hot water

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 […]

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Five fact-checking tips from disinformation experts

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 […]

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Researchers harness probiotics to deliver Parkinson’s disease treatment

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 […]

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Half of older adults now die with a dementia diagnosis, up sharply

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 […]

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Perseverance records the first ever sounds from Mars

For 50 years, interplanetary probes have returned thousands of striking images of the surface of Mars, but never a single sound. Now, NASA’s Perseverance mission has put an end to this deafening silence by recording the first ever Martian sounds. The scientific team1 for the French-US SuperCam2 instrument installed on Perseverance was convinced that the study of […]

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CRISPR and HIV: New technique in human blood unveils potential paths toward cure

Scientists at Northwestern Medicine are using new advances in CRISPR gene-editing technology to uncover new biology that could lead to longer-lasting treatments and new therapeutic strategies for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The HIV epidemic has been overlooked during the COVID-19 pandemic but represents a critical and ongoing threat to human health with an estimated 1.5 […]

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3D Facial Analysis Shows Biologic Basis for Gender-Affirming Surgery

Gender-affirming facial surgery (GFS) is pursued by transgender individuals who desire facial features that better reflect their gender identity. Until now, there have been few objective guidelines to justify and facilitate effective surgical decision-making for gender-affirming facial surgery. In order to validate surgical decisions for GFS, researchers from the UC San Francisco and the University […]

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Deadly Diets

Carbon copied cornlines up to fill the shelves,a litany of yellowmangled intonauseating rainbowsof our globalised excess.Colours of artifice,carefully arrangedto catch the eye:hydrogenation,moulding,dyes,stabilising,flavours,lies.Nutrients torn from the cob,leaving open woundsfilled with greenbacksacross a landthat could have lastedforever. A selection of ultra-processed foods that now make up our globalised diet (Image Credit: Nico Smit/ Unsplash). This poem is […]

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