SciPod

Although nuclear power is a clean alternative to fossil fuel combustion, this industry often causes uranium pollution in the local environment. The generation of metatorbernite, a solid material containing uranium, is one promising way to remove dissolved uranium atoms from industrial wastewater. However, before this remediation technology can be widely applied, we need a deeper understanding of t...

The molecules within plant tissues can tell us about how they can withstand harsh environmental conditions. The Agave [ah-gah-vay] tequilana [tuh-keel-AH-nah] plant, native to Mexico, has a high concentration of fructan molecules throughout its tissues. Alongside his colleagues, Dr José Ordaz-Ortiz [hoe-ZAY or-dass or-teece] at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechn...

Measurement of CD4 T cell-mediated immunity requires functional tests to be conducted with viable peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMC. Recently, scientists at CTL successfully developed a positive control that not only verifies the functionality of CD4 T cells in PBMC, but also that the antigen-presenting cell compartment is unimpaired in the test sample as well.

Led by Dr. Eric Buckland , Translational Imaging Innovations, Inc. (TII) provides purpose-driven software systems that drive such ophthalmic research forward. The TII image management platform provides researchers with the tools to manage multifaceted imaging workflows and efficiently organize and analyse complex sets of images and data to accelerate the development of new diagnoses and treatments...

Rapid-fire rallies of short, fast shots are a defining feature of professional table tennis – but for many audiences, the excitement of these matches isn’t easily conveyed on the TV screen. Using a combination of computer simulations and statistical analysis, Professor Ralf Schneider and his colleagues at the Institute of Physics of the University of Greifswald, Germany, explore how slight changes...

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common birth defects across the globe. Although prospects and survival rates are improving, there is scant understanding or help available to get children with CHD active. Many believe physical activity is risky or outright dangerous, and as a result, children with CHD are at risk of obesity and other chronic conditions later in life. Dr Marta Erla...

Stress is inherently prevalent in our lives and can have seriously deleterious impacts on individual health and well-being, as well as society more broadly. Dr Joseph Arpaia a psychiatrist in private practice in the USA, and colleague Dr Judith P. Andersen of the University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada, have proposed a new theoretical account of stress that has the potential to revolutionise c...

Rabies is transmitted from animals to humans through the bite of an infected animal, all too often with fatal consequences, particularly in the developing world. Dr Joanne Maki, Technical Director for the Veterinary Public Health Centre at Boehringer-Ingelheim Animal Health, has worked in rabies prevention for 30 years. With extensive background and experience gained in the rabies vaccine industry...

Dr Pierre Galanaud, an immunologist from Paris-Saclay University and Inserm UMR 996, analysed historical tax records to investigate the impact of epidemics on recent emigrants who experienced the 15th century plagues in Dijon, France. His research highlights the vulnerability of emigrants with low economic status to epidemic-related mortality. More broadly, his work demonstrates the important role...

Dr Anne Hansen is the Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Associate Chief of the Division of Newborn Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. With her colleagues, Dr Hansen has developed and tested a low cost, non-electrical warming mattress called the ‘Dream Warmer’ to help prevent and treat neonatal hypothermia in countries with limited medical resources. Her team has conduct...

When a supposedly healthy infant passes away, it can be hard to understand why. Juan Lavista Ferres (Microsoft), Dr Jan-Marino Ramirez and Dr Tatiana Anderson (both from Seattle Children’s Research Institute), and Professor Edwin Mitchell (University of Auckland), form the core of a novel collaboration to conduct vital and extensive research into the risk factors and mechanisms behind sudden unexp...

The destruction of jungle and forest habitats is a serious issue threatening species across the globe. Dr LaRoy Brandt and Maggie Singleton of Lincoln Memorial University studied one such threatened species, Baird’s tapir, in Costa Rica. By identifying the tapir’s tracks and deploying remote trail cameras, the team caught rare glimpses of this threatened species, indicating a return of the native...

Confronting Challenges to the Uptake ofDigital healthcare promises a wealth of benefits for current healthcare systems, yet its uptake has been remarkably slow across Europe. Taking the example of the UK in particular, Paola Mattei, Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Milan, Italy, has recently considered the explanations for the slow uptake of digital healthcare and prov...

Adverse environmental factors in the mother’s womb and/or during the first years of life have traditionally been thought to be responsible for an increased risk of cardiometabolic disease for children later in life. Dr Gunn-Helen Moen [MO-en] at the University of Oslo in Norway and her collaborators used sophisticated statistical and genetic techniques to identify whether there is a causal effect...

Bacterial growth depends on the complex interactions of a multitude of chemical components. Microbiologists have long attempted to predict bacterial growth according to culture media components, and have employed a variety of mathematical and computational models to this end. Dr Bei-Wen Ying and her colleagues at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, successfully applied machine learning to understand...

On the 26th of June 2015, the US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage across the USA, allowing same-sex couples to be legally recognised as married in all 50 states. In a study conducted one year later, Dr Kristina B. Wolff at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, explored some of the benefits and costs of this legalisation for LGBTQ+ communities living in the USA...

The 20th Century philosopher Hannah Arendt grounded ethics in aesthetics because she viewed art as a way of understanding how the world appears to different people. In her recent work, Professor Andreea Deciu [day-chew] Ritivoi [ree-tee-voy] of Carnegie Mellon University highlights Arendt’s rich repertoire of literary writings, as she believes that they deserve to be considered alongside other pop...

Interstellar space may seem like the last place you would look when searching for the chemical origins of life. Yet on the surfaces of tiny dust grains within this vast expanse, complex chemical reactions are continually occurring, which likely played a key role in establishing the rich diversity of complex molecules we observe in the solar system today. In a new study, astrochemists in Spain and...

Cellular senescence [suh-NEH-Sns] is the process by which cells age and permanently stop dividing but do not die. While the process of senescence creates a barrier to tumour formation, it can still be overcome by cancer cells. Sebastian Igelmann, a PhD student supervised by group leader Dr Gerardo Ferbeyre at the University of Montreal, has identified a group of enzymes that work together to repro...

Despite their numerous side effects, opioid drugs and morphine-like agents have remained a pillar in the medical management of pain. Most clinically used opioid drugs act through mu opioid receptors. Dr Ying-Xian Pan and his team from the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, USA, studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of mu opioid receptors and aim to develop novel strategies and opioid analg...

Identifying the cause of an illness in a sick baby or child is not always easy, particularly if the disease is rare. Throughout his career, Dr Michael Wangler , at the Baylor College of Medicine and Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, has investigated rare childhood diseases. Combining his expertise in paediatrics and genetics, Dr Wangler utilises genomics, metabolomics and the hum...

Glioblastoma multiforme is an aggressive and life-threatening form of brain cancer. Although some treatments are available to provide comfort and prolong life, it remains an incurable and devastating disease. With the goal of advancing diagnostics and treatments for glioblastoma, Dr Hernando Lopez-Bertoni is carrying out exciting research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Taking...

By asking their students to complete self-assessment exercises, educators can encourage the development of their students. These methods rely on a student’s ability to evaluate their own skills, knowledge, and other qualities, and use their self-assessment to make improvements. Professor Heidi L. Andrade [An-drah-day] at the University of Albany recently reviewed 76 empirical studies focusing on s...

One of the main priorities of the United Nations and other international organisations is to encourage the sustainable economic, social, and environmental development of all countries worldwide. Education plays a crucial role in these efforts, as it allows individuals to become more knowledgeable about matters of public interest, while potentially improving their life skills. Researchers at Purdue...

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) communities have a long history of exclusion and underrepresentation of women, African American, Latinx, American Indian and LGBTQIA+ students. In order for our STEM enterprise to be truly equitable, everyone that wants to become a scientist must have an equitable opportunity to do so, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation...