Food allergies affect more than half a billion people worldwide. In severe cases, even a small bite of the wrong food can trigger anaphylaxis — a rapid, body-wide allergic reaction that can cause difficulty breathing, a dangerous drop in blood pressure and even death. Scientists have long understood how injected allergens — like those in…
On New Year’s Day 1995, a monstrous 80-foot wave in the North Sea slammed into the Draupner oil platform. The wall of water crumpled steel railings and flung heavy equipment across the deck — but its biggest impact was what it left behind: hard data. It was the first time a rogue wave had ever…
Stanford Medicine scientists investigating the neurological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder have found that hyperactivity in a specific brain region could drive behaviors commonly associated with the disorder. Using a mouse model of the disease, the researchers identified the reticular thalamic nucleus — which serves as a gatekeeper of sensory information between the thalamus and…
What did long-necked dinosaurs eat – and where did they roam to satisfy their hunger? A team of researchers has reconstructed the feeding behavior of sauropods using cutting-edge dental wear analysis. Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolutionshow that microscopic enamel wear marks provide surprising insights into migration, environmental conditions, and niche distribution within…
What do the rumblings of Iceland’s volcanoes have in common with the now peaceful volcanic islands off Scotland’s western coast and the spectacular basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland? About sixty million years ago, the Icelandic mantle plume — a fountain of hot rock that rises from Earth’s core-mantle boundary — unleashed…
CRISPR gene-editing machinery could transform medicine but is difficult to get into tissues and disease-relevant cells New delivery system loads CRISPR machinery inside spherical nucleic acid (SNA) nanoparticles Particles entered cells three times more effectively, tripled gene-editing efficiency, and decreased toxicity compared to current delivery methods With the power to rewrite the genetic code underlying…
Global sea-level change has now been measured by satellites for more than 30 years, and a comparison with climate projections from the mid-1990s shows that they were remarkably accurate, according to two Tulane University researchers whose findings were published in Earth’s Futurean open-access journal published by the American Geophysical Union. “The ultimate test of climate…
Two MRI scans, showing the person on left with more visceral fat (in red) and subcutaeous fat (in blue). Credit: AMRA Medical Excessive amounts of visceral fat — the hidden fat surrounding organs — is linked with faster aging of the heart, a new study has found. Aging is the biggest risk factor for heart…
