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Scientists Offer a Blueprint for Sustainable Food Systems Not Addicted to Growth

The global food system is in the crisis of growth-addicted development. Exploitative of humans and animals, ecologically rapacious, hooked on fossil fuels, and controlled by a small number of multi-national corporations from food to fork, this system produces massive quantities of the wrong foods at incredible social, ecological and economic cost. With food crises again looming on the near horizon, a strategy to tweak and maintain the current growth-driven food system is highly questionable.

New Maps Of Asteroid Psyche Reveal An Ancient World Of Metal And Rock

The varied surface suggests a dynamic history, which could include metallic eruptions, asteroid-shaking impacts, and a lost rocky mantle.

New CRISPR-Based Map Ties Every Human Gene To Its Function

Jonathan Weissman and collaborators used their single-cell sequencing tool Perturb-seq on every expressed gene in the human genome, linking each to its job in the cell.

Three Distinct Brain Circuits In The Thalamus Contribute To Parkinson’s Symptoms

Targeting these circuits could offer a new way to reverse motor dysfunction and depression in Parkinson’s patients.

When Plasma Is Unstable: Physicists Tested Sudden Energy Collapses in a Tokamak

An extensive series of experiments has been carried out by researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS and the international ITER project, which aims to start producing clean and almost inexhaustible energy through the so-called tokamak within the next four years. For the first time, scientists have been able to provide experimental evidence of a physical limit to the electric currents flowing between the plasma and the first reactor wall at a time when the plasma is unstable. The new findings, published in the Nuclear Fusion journal, will help improve computer models for future fusion reactors.

Engineers Develop Nanoparticles That Cross The Blood-Brain Barrier

Tested using a new brain tissue model, the particles may be able to deliver chemotherapy drugs for glioblastoma.

How The Brain Responds To Surprising Events

Unexpected outcomes trigger release of noradrenaline, which helps the brain focus its attention and learn from the event.

New Light-Powered Catalysts Could Aid In Manufacturing

When coated onto plastic tubing, the catalysts could act on chemicals flowing through, helping to synthesize drugs and other compounds.

Protein Named After the Goddess Maia Plays a Key Role in the Origin of Life

A new protein that plays a key role during sperm-egg adhesion and fusion has been discovered by an international team led by Kateřina Komrsková from the Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the BIOCEV Centre and the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague. The researchers also developed special cell cultures for the “production” of human oocyte proteins. In the future, these new findings may help in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and could also lead to better contraceptives.

Chemists Reveal How Tau Proteins Form Tangles

Two types of tau proteins mix together in a nearly random way to generate the tangles seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

DART Spacecraft Conducted the World’s First Full-Scale Planetary Defense Test

Today (September 27, 2022) at 1:14 AM CEST NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft successfully conducted the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test by impacting asteroid moonlet Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”), which orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”). The kinetic impact demonstrated one possible method of asteroid deflection technology. As a part of an international planetary defense strategy, the DART mission proved that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to alter its orbit. DART is accompanied by a small Italian sub-spacecraft called LICIACube, which observed the impact from a distance.

Biotechnology Could Provide An Environmentally More Sustainable Alternative To Egg White Protein Production

Egg white is one of the most important protein ingredients for the food industry. Egg white protein – ovalbumin – produced by precision fermentation reduced land use requirements by almost 90 per cent and greenhouse gases by 31–55 per cent compared to the production of its chicken-based counterpart.

A ‘Biological Mask’ Administered With A Nasal Spray Can Protect Against Coronavirus Infection For Hours

A molecule developed by researchers at the University of Helsinki can inactivate the coronavirus spike protein and offers effective short-term protection against the virus.

Magma Beneath Tectonic Collision Zones Is Wetter Than Previously Thought

New findings may help explain how Earth’s crust forms, the location of ore deposits, and why some volcanoes are more explosive than others.

Thaw Of Permafrost Has Vast Impact On Built Environment

Permafrost has a central role in the sustainable development of the Arctic region. The thaw of permafrost is set to damage buildings and roads, leading to tens of billions of euros in additional costs in the near future, according to an international review coordinated by Finnish geographers.

How The Universe Got Its Magnetic Field

By studying the dynamics of plasma turbulence, MIT researchers are helping to solve one of the mysteries of the origins of cosmological magnetic fields.

Chen He Defends Her Phd Thesis On Entity-Based Insight Discovery In Visual Data Exploration

On Thursday the 27th of January 2022, M.Sc. Chen He defends her doctoral thesis on Entity-Based Insight Discovery in Visual Data Exploration. The thesis is related to research done in the Department of Computer Science and in the Ubiquitous Interaction group.

Early Sound Exposure In The Womb Shapes The Auditory System

Modeling study suggests that the muffled environment in utero primes the brain’s ability to interpret some types of sound.

Research Shows Particles Formed In Boreal Forests Affect Clouds In The Troposphere

In a project coordinated by the University of Helsinki carried out with Finnish Meteorological Insitute, University of Eastern Finland and an international research group, direct observations were made on the interactions between aerosol particles formed in boreal forests and clouds in the atmospheric boundary layer.