GOOD NEWS NETWORK - A new chemical probe protects healthy cells from DNA damage, preserving them from one of the 8 hallmarks of aging. The story of this potentially paradigmatic development begins where so much of human health begins: the mitochondria. These organelles are disrespectfully monikered as “the powerhouses” of the cell, but they do...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - From Alzheimer’s to heart failure, many chronic diseases have been linked to damage in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Now, scientists at the University of California, Riverside, may have found a way to halt the damage before it begins. The team has developed a chemical probe that targets damage in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a...
EARTH.COM - Today’s flagship processor packs more than 100 billion transistors, yet squeezing them any closer is turning design into a wrestling match with quantum physics. As the footprints of silicon switches approach the dimensions of a few dozen atoms, stray electrons tunnel across barriers that once looked rock‑solid, wasting power and scrambling signals. Physicists...
EARTH.COM - Scientists once dismissed a 1958 hypothesis about vitamin B1, or thiamine, as unlikely. The idea was that this vitamin, vital for basic metabolic functions, might turn into a very reactive intermediate during certain biochemical processes. Now, researchers have shown that the hunch was correct. Prof. Vincent Lavallo from the University of California, Riverside...
CHEMISTRY WORLD - A new ‘super-shielded’ carbene is stable in liquid water solutions. The US team that made the carbene claims that it ‘unambiguously confirms’ that it is possible to generate carbenes in an aqueous environment – validating a hypothesis put forward almost 70 years ago by the famed organic chemist Ronald Breslow. In the...
SCIENCEALERT - You often need a lot of patience to be a scientist, and that's certainly been the case for researchers who have now found solid evidence for a hypothesis around vitamin B1 (or thiamine) that was first put forward almost 70 years ago. In 1958, Columbia University chemist Ronald Breslow proposed that vitamin B1...
INSIDE HIGHER ED - A pilot study at the University of California, Riverside, found that more regular testing, as opposed to high-stakes exams, can improve student outcomes in a general chemistry course and close equity gaps for historically disadvantaged learners. Assessment is a key element in higher education courses to track student learning, but some...
STUDYFINDS - In the ongoing battle against aggressive breast cancer, light might become an unexpected ally. Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of California, Riverside have engineered a remarkable new treatment that combines two unlikely partners, a specialized salt and near-infrared light, to target and destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy tissue...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - In organ transplantation, time is of the utmost importance as organs’ quality degrades rapidly during transportation. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a new technique that could extend the lifespan of human tissues for transplantation. ... In this new development, the researchers have developed a method to rapidly and...
NEW ATLAS - A new two-step process that safely rewarms frozen tissues using nanoscale magnetic rods could help preserve donor organs long-term. The procedure provides an alternative to current time-limited methods and paves the way for more life-saving transplantations. The gold-standard method for preserving organs prior to transplantation is static cold storage, which involves flushing...