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Upcycling plastic bags into battery parts

Feb 14, 2019 09:24 AM EST

Plastic bag pollution has become a huge environmental problem, prompting some cities and countries to heavily tax or ban the sacks. But what if used plastic bags could be made into higher-value products? Now, researchers have reported a new method to convert plastic bags into carbon chips that could be used as anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

New machine learning method could spare some women from unnecessary breast surgery

Feb 13, 2019 09:23 AM EST

Dartmouth researchers have found a machine learning method that can predict the likelihood that a high-risk type of breast lesion is cancerous, potentially saving some women from unnecessary surgeries and overtreatment

Human brain protein associated with autism confers abnormal behavior in fruit flies

Feb 12, 2019 09:01 AM EST

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A mutant gene that encodes a brain protein in a child with autism has been placed into the brains of fruit flies. Fruit flies hosting that gene produce the variant human brain protein and show abnormal behaviors of fear, repetitive activity and altered social interaction, reminiscent of autism impairments.

T cell marker a potential functional HIV cure

Feb 08, 2019 10:31 AM EST

Mason researcher helps identify a T cell marker that could help lead to improved treatment for HIV, cancer patients.

How men continually produce sperm -- and how that discovery could help treat infertility

Feb 06, 2019 08:48 AM EST

Using a leading-edge technique, researchers define the cell types in both newborn and adult human testes, opening a path for new strategies to treat male infertility with stem cells

Microbes help make the coffee

Feb 04, 2019 09:03 AM EST

When it comes to processing coffee beans, longer fermentation times can result in better taste, contrary to conventional wisdom. Lactic acid bacteria play an important, positive role in this process. Other species of microbes may play a role in this process as well, but more research is needed to better understand their role. The research is published February 1 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Mars rover Curiosity makes first gravity-measuring traverse on the Red Planet

Feb 01, 2019 02:18 PM EST

ASU graduate student is on a team that found Mars rocks less compacted, more porous than scientists expected

Study finds correlation between eviction rates in the US and high number of STIs

Jan 23, 2019 01:12 PM EST

A study published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases outlines a correlation researchers found between America's eviction crisis and the high rate of sexually transmitted infections.

Widely available food in US workplaces: Perk or hazard?

Jan 22, 2019 09:17 AM EST

Offering more healthful foods at work could be a promising opportunity to improve wellness, according to a new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Unexpected link found between feeding and memory brain areas

Jan 22, 2019 09:09 AM EST

The search for a mechanism that could explain how the protein complex NCOR1/2 regulates memory has revealed an unexpected connection between the lateral hypothalamus and the hippocampus, the feeding and the memory centers of the brain, respectively.

Our genes affect where fat is stored in our bodies

Jan 21, 2019 10:21 AM EST

A recent study from Uppsala University has found that whether you store your fat around the trunk or in other parts of your body is highly influenced by genetic factors and that this effect is present predominantly in women and to a much lower extent in men.

How staying in shape is vital for reproductive success

Jan 21, 2019 10:17 AM EST

New research reveals that cells must keep their shape and proportions to successfully reproduce through cell division

3,000-year-old eastern North American quinoa discovered in Ontario

Jan 19, 2019 10:33 AM EST

A mass of charred seeds found while clearing a home construction site in Brantford, Ontario, has been identified as ancient, domesticated goosefoot (C. berlandieri spp. jonesianum), a form of quinoa native to Eastern North America.

How gut bacteria affect the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Jan 19, 2019 10:31 AM EST

Patients with Parkinson's disease are treated with levodopa, which is converted into dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. In a study published on 18 January in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from the University of Groningen show that gut bacteria can metabolize levodopa into dopamine.

Europe looks to cells for a healthier future

Jan 17, 2019 08:43 AM EST

The two largest European research organizations - Germany's Helmholtz Association and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France - are playing a major role in understanding the constant changes within cells and their relationships to one another, thus creating the foundation for the precision medicines of the future.