Curated News: Nature (journal)

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Researchers from the Nevada Center for Astrophysics at UNLV have discovered compelling evidence suggesting that the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is likely the result of a past cosmic merger. The study, published Sept. 6 in the journal Nature Astronomy, builds on recent observations from the Event Horizon Telescope, which captured the first direct image of Sgr A* in 2022.

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New findings from a global team of expert scientists in academia and industry has generated world-first research quality standards that will help slash costs and reduce the time it takes to develop advanced nanomedicine treatments and make them available for patients.

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Experiment findings will help nuclear industry model, design and construct clean nuclear energy systems, and continue an impressive safety legacy.

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Physical human feats require a high level of coordination between the sensory functions of our skin and motor functions of our muscles. What kind of achievements could robots perform with the same cohesion between sensing and action? In the medical space, researchers have begun to explore the possibilities.

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Alexander Chase and colleagues collect samples from Earth’s oceans using SMIRC, which could be the first step in uncovering compounds that lead to next-generation antibiotics.

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Various forms of arthritis afflict nearly 600 million people worldwide and add $16.5 billion to the United States’ healthcare bill, yet there are few engineered cartilage tissue therapies available to sufferers. In Nature Reviews Rheumatology, University of California, Irvine biomedical engineers shared insights into the effective treatment of severe osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and the clinical trial and regulatory efforts that are going to be necessary to bring products to market.

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Investigators involved in a multicenter study co-led by Cedars-Sinai discovered a pathway by which immune cells prevent the lungs’ protective barrier from healing after viral infections like COVID-19. The findings, published in Nature, may lead to new therapeutic treatment options.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of cancer treatment that helps the immune system attack cancer cells more effectively. One of the key proteins involved in this process is Lymphocyte Activation Gene-3 (LAG3), which suppresses the antitumor immune response.

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WashU Medicine researchers have designed, in mice, an approach to minimizing the damage from a spinal cord injury through the use of engineered immune cells. Mice given the treatment had improved recovery from injuries, demonstrating potential for developing the therapy for people.

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The new approach marks a major step forward in the design of AI tools to support clinical decisions in cancer diagnosis, therapy. The model uses features of a tumor’s microenvironment to forecast how a patient might respond to therapy and to help inform individualized treatments.

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In 2D quantum materials, chiral edge states are 1D conducting channels in which electrons travel only in one direction and electron collisions are strongly suppressed. This means chiral channels act like resistance-free conductors.

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New research has implications for fundamental science, quantum computing and future technological applications.

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A computer model developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers significantly enhances the ability of scientists to detect communication between cells, according to a new study published in Nature Methods.

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New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) uses cryo-electron microscopy to shed new light on the ubiquitin; could help predict the risk of blood clots in cancer patients; reveals why micronuclei burst, accelerating aggressive cancers; and surveys healthcare providers about the benefits and risks of commercial genetic testing.

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A sweat-powered wearable has the potential to make continuous, personalized health monitoring as effortless as wearing a Band-Aid. UC San Diego engineers have developed an electronic finger wrap that monitors vital chemical levels—such as glucose, vitamins, and even drugs—present in the same fingertip sweat from which it derives its energy.

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For the first time since X-rays were discovered, researchers have successfully performed X-ray spectroscopy to identify the element of a single atom at a time. The achievement takes advantage of improvements to synchrotron X-ray light sources.

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In the Aug. 28, 2024 issue of Nature, researchers from University of California San Diego in the laboratory of Dr. Kevin King, associate professor of bioengineering and medicine, and a cardiologist at the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, report the discovery of a novel mechanism of cardiac inflammation that may expand therapeutic opportunities to prevent heart attacks from becoming heart failure.

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Researchers studied gene expression in plant/mycorrhizae symbioses by analyzing the roots of a model plant colonized by fungi and using a combination of techniques to measure gene activity in individual cells and visualize gene expression within two-dimensional sections of roots.

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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report a unique strategy for controlling molecular conductance by using molecules with rigid backbones—such as ladder-type molecules, known as being shape-persistent.