122 articles from FRIDAY 11.10.2019

Cold temperatures linked to high status

For decades, luxury retailers around the world have conveyed the message that cold temperatures are a sign of status with descriptions like "icy steel Swiss watches," "cool silk scarves" and "icy bling." But researchers have never studied whether people truly associate cold temperatures with status and luxury.

Using industrial waste as insulation for buildings

ETH spinoff FenX transforms industrial waste into a porous foam suitable for building insulation. Unlike other sustainable materials used for the purpose, this type of insulation is non-flammable and inexpensive to produce.

A psychotherapist explains why some adults react badly to young climate strikers

Young climate strikers I spoke to recently are confused and distressed about the things adults are doing. It's not just inaction during the worsening climate crisis that bothers them, but the increasingly bizarre criticism many older people throw at striking schoolchildren, in the media and elsewhere. In the absence of any meaningful attempts to restrain global carbon emissions, the direct action...

The structure of master growth regulator

A team of Whitehead Institute scientists has for the first time revealed the molecular structure of a critical growth regulator bound to its partner proteins, creating a fine-grained view of how they interact to sense nutrient levels and control cell growth. Their findings, described in the October 10th online issue of Science, help answer longstanding questions about how the mTORC1 kinase, and...

Researchers create new glass ceramic material from industrial contaminants

A new glass ceramic material could become a better alternative to use in construction. Miguel Hernández University (UMH) professor Manuel Jordán has contributed to the creation of a new glass ceramic material from sludge contaminated with toxic chromium. This new material has high resistance to bending compared to others of the same class, and once processed, is nontoxic and environmentally...

New material captures carbon dioxide

A new material that can selectively capture carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules and efficiently convert them into useful organic materials has been developed by researchers at Kyoto University, along with colleagues at the University of Tokyo and Jiangsu Normal University in China. They describe the material in the journal Nature Communications.

Alexei Leonov, First Human to Walk in Space, Dies at 85

MOSCOW — Russia’s space agency says Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space 54 years ago, has died in Moscow. He was 85. Roscosmos says in a statement on its website that Leonov died on Friday. It did not provide details. Leonov performed his spacewalk on March 18, 1965, when he exited his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether. Read more: The other giant leap: What happened...

The dangers of DIY genetic testing – Science Weekly podcast

Whether for ancestry or health, millions of us are choosing to have our genetic fingerprints analysed by using direct-to-consumer kits from private companies. But can the results of these tests be trusted in a clinical setting? Senior doctors have called for a crackdown on home genetic-testing kits and this week, Hannah Devlin finds out why Continue...

New genetic link found for some forms of SIDS

Some forms of sudden infant death syndrome stem from a genetic mutation that keeps infants from processing lipids in milk, a new study has discovered. The build-up of unprocessed fatty material disrupts heart functions. While no treatments are yet available, the finding could help in genetic screening. Drugs are also being tested to see if they can help.

A reliable clock for your microbiome

The microbiome is a treasure trove of information about human health and disease, but getting it to reveal its secrets is challenging. A new genetic 'repressilator' circuit acts like a clock that tracks how bacterial growth changes over time with single-cell precision. This tool allows scientists to noninvasively study the dynamics of the microbiome, and also unlocks the potential for complex,...

Jumping genes can cause rare developmental disorders in children

The largest study of its kind into childhood developmental disorders has discovered that jumping genes cause genetic changes in some patients with undiagnosed neurodevelopmental diseases. The research enabled genetic diagnoses for three children with previously undiagnosed rare developmental diseases, enrolled in the Deciphering Developmental Disorders project. Reported in Nature Communications,...