New research from the laboratory of Ozgur Sahin, associate professor of biological sciences and physics at Columbia University, shows that materials can be fabricated to create soft actuators — devices that convert energy into physical motion — that are strong and flexible, and, most important, resistant to water damage. “There’s a growing trend of making…
Native Americans’ use of fire to manage vegetation in what is now the Eastern United States was more profound than previously believed, according to a Penn State researcher who determined that forest composition change in the region was caused more by land use than climate change. “I believe Native Americans were excellent vegetation managers and…
The disruption of our internal clocks seems to play a significant role in the explosion of metabolic diseases observed in recent decades, and particularly of diabetes. Indeed, if the importance of day-night alternation on the effect of insulin and on the body’s glycaemic management is beginning to be known, what about the mechanisms involved? How…
In many social animal species individuals share child-rearing duties, but new research from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, finds that bonobo mothers go the extra step and actually take action to ensure their sons will become fathers. This way bonobo mothers increase their sons’ chance of fatherhood three-fold. “This is…
Physical activity, including walking and muscle-strengthening activities, were associated with significantly reduced risk of cirrhosis-related death, according to research presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2019. Chronic liver disease is increasing, partly due to the obesity epidemic, and currently there are no guidelines for the optimal type of exercise for the prevention of cirrhosis-related mortality.…
People with HIV who drink too much were more likely to reduce drinking after undergoing an approach to care known as integrated stepped alcohol treatment, according to a Yale-led study. The finding supports greater use of this treatment model in HIV clinics to improve outcomes for patients with both HIV and drinking problems, the researchers…
A new study shows a drug developed in conjunction with investigators at Indiana University School of Medicine to alleviate symptoms of a rare musculoskeletal condition is significantly more effective than conventional therapies. The findings are published in Lancet. X-linked hypophosphatemia, or XLH, is a phosphate-wasting disease that causes rickets and osteomalacia, or softening of the…
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have found a way to charge up the fight against bacterial infections using electricity. Work conducted in the laboratories of the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering, Chandan Sen, PhD and Sashwati Roy, PhD has led to the development of a dressing that uses an electric field…
Many parents express concerns about privacy and online safety in technology designed for their children. But we know much less about what children themselves find concerning in emerging technologies. Now University of Washington researchers have defined for the first time what children mean when they say technology is “creepy.” Kids in a new study described…
An app that allows parents and doctors to monitor a child’s asthma has a big impact on managing the disease. When families monitored symptoms with eAsthma Tracker and adjusted care accordingly, children had better asthma control and made fewer visits to the emergency department. Using the app also meant that children missed fewer days of…