Sciworthy

How the brain recognizes blocked objects – Sciworthy Researchers conducted a series of experiments with mice to determine how their brains fill in missing visual information.

Researchers at Berkeley studied how neurons in mice’s brains fill in missing visual information, a process called "sensory inference."
#SciComm #SciNews #Neuroscience
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Has Earth received any radio signals from aliens? – Sciworthy Scientists with the SETI@home project analyzed 14 years of radio wave data collected by the Arecibo Telescope and identified 92 signals that warrant further investigation.

Scientists affiliated with the SETI@home project identified 92 incoming radio signals that could potentially be from alien technology. The 4th in our series of articles for IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures!
#SciComm #SciNews
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“Radical mundanity” could explain why we haven’t met aliens – Sciworthy An astronomer recently argued that if aliens are similar to humans, they may face logistical limitations that prevent them from contacting Earth.

Where are all the aliens? One researcher argued that alien civilizations could be too technologically limited to make contact with humans. The 3rd in our series of articles for IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures!
#SciComm #SciNews
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Are aliens receiving radio signals from Earth? – Sciworthy Scientists calculated the maximum distance at which extraterrestrials could detect radio signals from Earth.

Astronomers calculated that extraterrestrials with modern human-level technology could detect radio signals from Earth from up to 100 trillion miles away. The second in our series of articles for IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures!
#SciComm #SciNews
sciworthy.com/are-aliens-r...

These gases could signify intelligent life beyond Earth – Sciworthy Astronomers proposed new industrial gases that could provide measurable signs of advanced technology on distant exoplanets.

Scientists led by Sara Seager at MIT proposed the industrial gases nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as ideal technosignatures to search for intelligent life on distant planets.
#SciComm #SciNews
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JWST reveals properties of dusty star-forming galaxies – Sciworthy Astronomers used new JWST data to unravel the structures of 22 dusty star-forming galaxies that previous telescopes couldn’t see.

Scientists used high-resolution data from JWST to discern the internal properties of distant star-forming galaxies.
#SciComm #SciNews
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The European ant that clones another species – Sciworthy European ant queens can lay eggs of a different species to mate with them and create a separate set of workers.

Researchers from France demonstrated that one species of ants, Messor ibericus, can naturally produce offspring of another species, challenging scientists’ assumptions about reproductive biology.
#SciComm #SciNews #evobio
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New packaging can warn you when meat has spoiled – Sciworthy Scientists designed color-changing carbon dot biosensors that can detect spoiled meat in sealed packages in real-time.

Researchers from China developed color-shifting carbon nanodots that detect spoiled food. When incorporated into food packaging, these sensors enable contactless real-time assessment of meat freshness using only UV light and a smartphone.
#SciComm #SciNews
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Hidden bacteria dominate Earth’s deep soils – Sciworthy Scientists showed that an understudied bacterium is widespread in deep soils worldwide and adapted to life with very little energy.

Researchers from China and the US found a phylum of bacteria, CSP1-3, with genes for a streamlined metabolism and low-energy survival that are adapted to life in deep, nutrient-poor soils.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠🧫
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Finding cancer cells in a cocktail of complex tissues – Sciworthy Scientists used technology similar to ChatGPT to develop a tool that can differentiate between the DNA of cancer cells and healthy cells in a patient’s tissue samples.

Researchers from Germany developed a new AI tool, MethylBERT, that can identify cancer DNA in data from any sequencing platform.
#SciComm #SciNews #CanSky #OncoSky
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Jellyfish from NOAA Ocean Exploration & Research is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Scientists have shown that adding easily digestible carbon to soils increases microbes’ appetite for other, more difficult-to-degrade stuff. But does the same hold for microbes in the deep sea?
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
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Editing genes to fight prion disease – Sciworthy Scientists used a newly developed gene-editing technique to create RNA strands that block the production of misfolded proteins.

Researchers from Harvard used CRISPR to fix faulty RNA, correcting protein mistakes that cause fatal diseases.
#SciComm #SciNews #medsky 🩺⚕️
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Unzipping bamboo to make better plastics – Sciworthy Scientists developed a recyclable plastic from bamboo that is stronger and more biodegradable than conventional petroleum-based products.

Scientists from China have developed a new bamboo-based bioplastic using a scalable and sustainable manufacturing process.
#SciComm #SciNews
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Dental floss delivers vaccines through the gums – Sciworthy Scientists triggered a strong immune response in mice by using vaccine-coated dental floss to access their leaky gums.

What if you could get a flu vaccine without any needles? Researchers recently discovered a solution to this question in the form of dental floss.
#SciComm #SciNews #immunosky
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Gases power diverse microbial life in caves – Sciworthy Researchers found that cave-dwelling microbes use atmospheric trace gases like methane and carbon monoxide as sources of energy and carbon.

Researchers from Australia have shown that atmospheric trace gases are crucial energy sources for cave-dwelling microbes, supporting a diverse microbial population.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
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Scientists at Columbia University designed a new method to fight cancerous tumors using a combination of bacteria and viruses.
#SciComm #SciNews #CanSky #OncoSky
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Is the most profitable fertilizer level also safe for the environment? – Sciworthy Researchers in the Midwest measured how much nitrogen corn plants used versus how much remained in the soil for a range of fertilizer levels.

Scientists across 8 states in the Midwest compiled data on cornfield fertilization levels to test whether current economic guidelines restrict fertilizer use enough to protect the environment as well as profits.
#SciComm #SciNews #agriecon #PlantScience #Botany
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Scientists test new life-saving customized gene therapy – Sciworthy Researchers fixed an infant’s potentially fatal digestive issue using a gene-editing technique to help break down toxic ammonia in his liver.

Scientists at Penn Medicine recently used the DNA-editing technology CRISPR to modify the genes of a baby with a fatal liver disease. After 2 rounds of treatment, they found that his liver function and metabolism were improving.
#SciComm #SciNews #medsky 🧬
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Fungi could reshape the next generation of smart materials – Sciworthy Scientists dispersed living fungal fibers into mixtures that can act as fast-responding smart materials in food, packaging, and electronics.

Could living fungus someday power our electronics, weave our textiles, or reinvent plastic as we know it? Researchers used fungal mixtures to develop self-stabilizing emulsifiers, tunable films, and fast-responding smart materials.
sciworthy.com/fungi-could-...
#SciComm #SciNews #fungi #mushrooms

Removing this gene improves Alzheimer's in mice – Sciworthy Scientists deleted a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease in mice, which reduced protein buildup and cognitive decline.

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute and UC-San Francisco showed that removing the protein APOE4 from the nerve cells of mice can reduce brain issues related to Alzheimer’s.
#SciComm #SciNews #dementia #alzheimers #alzsky #medsky
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Spacecraft microbes “sleep” to survive sterilization – Sciworthy A bacterium discovered in NASA’s spacecraft assembly facilities can enter a hibernation state that helps it survive sterilization.

Scientists at the University of Houston studied a bacterium that enters a dormant state to survive sterilization procedures used in NASA cleanrooms!
#SciComm #SciNews
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A better way to detect canine cancer – Sciworthy Scientists developed new genetic protocols to detect different types of cancer in dogs from veterinary clinics.

Genetic cancer therapy could provide veterinarians with a valuable new tool for directing treatment and improving the quality of life for canine patients!
#SciComm #SciNews #AnimalWelfare #VetMed #CanSky
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Astronomers classify near-Earth asteroids – Sciworthy A team of astronomers studied the sizes, rotational speeds, and chemical compositions of 39 asteroids orbiting the Sun near Earth.

Astronomers from Brazil and Argentina found that about half the near-Earth asteroids they studied were made of material similar to Earth, and many were rotating almost fast enough to break apart!
#SciComm #SciNews
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Nanoplastics could promote Parkinson’s disease – Sciworthy Scientists demonstrated that nanoplastics cause proteins associated with Parkinson's disease to accumulate in mice’s brains.

Researchers at Duke University have shown that polystyrene nanoplastics speed up the spread and aggregation of the brain protein Ɑ-synuclein in mice, triggering neurological symptoms such as tremors and slowed movement.
#SciComm #SciNews #Medskies
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The fate of massive rotating stars – Sciworthy Researchers showed that massive stars at the end of their lives are more likely to collapse into black holes than to explode into supernovae.

Massive stars can collapse into black holes or explode into supernovae. But what characteristics determine which?
#SciComm #SciNews
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Metal-tolerant plants could change the future of mining – Sciworthy Researchers found that some plant species store high amounts of nickel in their biomass, making them good candidates for “phytomining.”

Researchers from France and the Netherlands demonstrated that the plant Bornmuellera emarginata can hyperaccumulate nickel with minimal stress, even in extremely high nickel concentrations.
#SciComm #SciNews #PlantScience #PlantBiology #Botany
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Artificial cells that reproduce without biology – Sciworthy Researchers used simple molecules to create cell-like bubbles that grow and divide on their own, without the need for DNA or enzymes.

Chemists from Harvard have synthesized non-biochemical self-reproducing systems that could explain how early protocells functioned before life evolved.
#SciComm #SciNews #alife⚙️🧫
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How did Mars get its moons? – Sciworthy Astronomers found that as many as 1 in 50 large objects nearing Mars get captured in orbit, which may explain how it got its moons.

Astronomers think that two small objects flying towards Mars were once captured by its gravitational field, forming the moons Phobos and Deimos. This "gas-drag capture hypothesis" could explain why Mars' moons are made of different material!
#SciComm #SciNews
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Lava tubes contain unknown “microbial dark matter” – Sciworthy Researchers discovered that lava tubes on Mauna Loa contain previously unknown microorganisms that could thrive on Mars.

Researchers discovered novel microbes in lava tube caves that could aid astrobiologists in understanding potential life in similar environments on Mars.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
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