Hepatitis B: Unusual virus discovered in shrews

The discovery of an unusual hepatitis B virus from shrews offers new opportunities of better understanding the chronic progression of the disease. International research teams were able to demonstrate that an important protein which is essential for the development of a chronic course of infection is not present in this virus. DZIF scientists at the Charite—Universitaetsmedizin Berlin and the University of Giessen are leading the research.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/hepatitis-b-unusual-virus-discovered-in-shrews

Perception disorders may throw those affected off balance

Many patients with functional dizziness look back on a long odyssey to numerous doctors, because no organic causes could be found. Now for the first time, an experiment at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has identified possible causes of the disorder: problems with the processing of sensory-motor signals in the brain that resemble those associated with dizziness due to organic causes.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/perception-disorders-may-throw-those-affected-off-balance

Manufacture of light-activated proteins

A new strategy for designing light-sensitive proteins has been developed by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). Such proteins, also known as optogenetic tools, can be switched on and off through light impulses, thus triggering specific cellular processes. They can, for example, be used to analyze and control how signals are transmitted by nerve cells. So far, researchers developing optogenetic tools have been pretty much forced to resort to trial-and-error. A combination of computer-aided and experimental methods has now paved the way for a more targeted approach.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/manufacture-of-light-activated-proteins

Caterpillars of the peppered moth perceive color through their skin

It is difficult to distinguish caterpillars of the peppered moth from a twig. The caterpillars not only mimic the form but also the color of a twig. In a new study, researchers of Liverpool University in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany demonstrate that the caterpillars can sense the twig's color with their skin. Caterpillars that were blindfolded changed the color of their bodies to match their background. When given the choice of which background to rest on, the blindfolded caterpillars still moved to the background that they resembled. The researchers also found that genes that are required for vision were expressed not only in the eyes of the caterpillars but also in their skin. The study is published in Communications Biology.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/caterpillars-of-the-peppered-moth-perceive-color-through-their-skin

Antineutrino detection could help remotely monitor nuclear reactors

Technology to measure the flow of subatomic particles known as antineutrinos from nuclear reactors could allow continuous remote monitoring designed to detect fueling changes that might indicate the diversion of nuclear materials. The monitoring could be done from outside the reactor vessel, and the technology may be sensitive enough to detect substitution of a single fuel assembly.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/antineutrino-detection-could-help-remotely-monitor-nuclear-reactors

Team uses AI to detect fast radio bursts

A Swinburne Ph.D. student has built an automated system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise our ability to detect and capture fast radio bursts (FRBs) in real-time.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/team-uses-ai-to-detect-fast-radio-bursts

Eye-controlled soft lens paves way to soft human-machine interfaces

A research team led by the University of California San Diego has developed a soft robotic lens whose movements are controlled by the eyes—blink twice and the lens zooms in and out; look left, right, up or down and the lens will follow.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/eye-controlled-soft-lens-paves-way-to-soft-human-machine-interfaces

Setting the stage for fuel-efficient fertilizer

Ammonia, the primary ingredient in nitrogen-based fertilizers, has helped feed the world since World War I. But making ammonia at an industrial scale takes a lot of energy, and it accounts for more than one percent of the world's total energy-related carbon emissions.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/setting-the-stage-for-fuel-efficient-fertilizer

For the presidential race, 'electability' could decide who wins and who loses

In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was deemed "electable" by analysts just four years after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney carried the same label in the race against President Barack Obama, a contest that Romney lost. This election, pundits have dubbed former Vice President Joe Biden as the most "electable" Democrat among a field of more than 20 candidates, in large part because early polls, including the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll, indicate he is the favorite so far.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/for-the-presidential-race-electability-could-decide-who-wins-and-who-loses

Archaeologist works with tribe to explore its history and to repair historic injustices

Archaeology Professor Matthew Liebmann has been collaborating with the Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico for two decades, having served as tribal archaeologist and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act program director for the Jemez Department of Natural Resources. Author of "Revolt: An Archaeological History of Pueblo Resistance and Revitalization in 17th Century New Mexico," Liebmann took a group of undergraduate and graduate students to Jemez this summer to help members of the tribe excavate the site of two mission churches. Liebmann sat down with the Gazette to talk about his research, how his field has reckoned with the past, and how both influence his teaching.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/archaeologist-works-with-tribe-to-explore-its-history-and-to-repair-historic-injustices

Asteroid's surprise close approach illustrates need for more eyes on the sky

On 25 July, an asteroid the size of a football field flew by Earth, coming within 65 000 km of our planet's surface during its closest approach—about one fifth of the distance to the Moon.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/asteroids-surprise-close-approach-illustrates-need-for-more-eyes-on-the-sky

Looking for warm dark matter

In the last century, astronomers studying the motions of galaxies and the character of the cosmic microwave background radiation came to realize that most of the matter in the universe was not visible. About 84% of the matter in the cosmos is dark, emitting neither light nor any other known kind of radiation. Hence it is called dark matter. One of its other primary qualities is that it only interacts with other matter via gravity: it carries no electromagnetic charge, for example. Dark matter is also "dark" because it is mysterious: it is not composed of atoms or their usual constituents like electrons and protons. Particle physicists have imagined new kinds of matter, consistent with the known laws of the universe, but so far none has been detected or its existence confirmed. The Large Hadron Collider's discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 prompted a burst of optimism that dark matter particles would soon be discovered, but so far none has been seen and previously promising classes of particles now seem to be long-shots.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/looking-for-warm-dark-matter

500 years on, how Magellan's voyage changed the world

Ferdinand Magellan set off from Spain 500 years ago on an epoch-making voyage to sail all the way around the globe for the first time.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/500-years-on-how-magellans-voyage-changed-the-world

Australia cancer sufferer first to use new assisted dying law

A 61-year-old cancer patient has become the first person in over two decades to die under controversial assisted dying laws in Australia, a charity said.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/australia-cancer-sufferer-first-to-use-new-assisted-dying-law

In French mountains, bear attacks leave shepherds skittish

As day breaks over the Pyrenees mountains, hundreds of sheep scuttle up a valley, the clanging of their neck bells echoing around the hills that fringe the French-Spanish border.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/in-french-mountains-bear-attacks-leave-shepherds-skittish

Ecological land grab: food vs fuel vs forests

The overlapping crises of climate change, mass species extinction, and an unsustainable global food system are on a collision course towards what might best be called an ecological land grab.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/ecological-land-grab-food-vs-fuel-vs-forests

New Zealand government plans to ease abortion restrictions

New Zealand's government announced Monday that it plans changes to the country's abortion laws that would treat the procedure as a health issue rather than a crime.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/new-zealand-government-plans-to-ease-abortion-restrictions

Long-term declines in heart disease and stroke deaths are stalling, research finds

Heart disease and stroke mortality rates have almost stopped declining in many high-income countries, including Australia, and are even increasing in some countries, according to new research.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/long-term-declines-in-heart-disease-and-stroke-deaths-are-stalling-research-finds

MSI detection via liquid biopsy shows high concordance with results from tissue samples

Bottom Line: Incorporation of pan-cancer microsatellite instability (MSI) detection into the 74-gene panel Guardant360 liquid biopsy assay showed high concordance with matched tissue samples in nearly 1,000 patients.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/msi-detection-via-liquid-biopsy-shows-high-concordance-with-results-from-tissue-samples

Transgender women case study shows sperm production is possible but not certain

Scientists at Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI), collaborating with clinicians at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh report two cases in which young transgender women attempted to recover their fertility after starting and stopping gender-affirming medications.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/transgender-women-case-study-shows-sperm-production-is-possible-but-not-certain

Recursive language and modern imagination were acquired simultaneously 70,000 years ago

A genetic mutation that slowed down the development of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in two or more children may have triggered a cascade of events leading to acquisition of recursive language and modern imagination 70,000 years ago.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/recursive-language-and-modern-imagination-were-acquired-simultaneously-70-000-years-ago

Whole body vibration shakes up microbiome, reduces inflammation in diabetes

In the face of diabetes, a common condition in which glucose and levels of destructive inflammation soar, whole body vibration appears to improve how well our body uses glucose as an energy source and adjust our microbiome and immune cells to deter inflammation, investigators report.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/whole-body-vibration-shakes-up-microbiome-reduces-inflammation-in-diabetes

TV crews capture first evidence of leopard seals sharing food

Drone footage captured by crews filming the Netflix series Our Planet—narrated by Sir David Attenborough—has shown never-before seen behaviour of two leopard seals sharing food.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/tv-crews-capture-first-evidence-of-leopard-seals-sharing-food