Latest News

A molecular genetic mechanism for schizophrenia

Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) was identified as a novel gene disrupted by a (1;11)(q42.1;q14.3) translocation that segregated with schizophrenia in a Scottish family. Predicted DISC1 product has no significant homology to other known proteins. Here, Dr. Katayama and colleagues in Osaka, Japan, demonstrated the existence of DISC1 protein and identified fasciculation and elongation protein zeta-1 (FEZ1) as an interacting partner of DISC1 by a yeast two-hybrid study. FEZ1 and its nematode homolog

Families cope better after euthanasia than natural death

The bereaved family and friends of cancer patients who die by euthanasia have less grief symptoms and post-traumatic stress reactions than the bereaved of comparable cancer patients who die a natural death, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers from the Netherlands assessed 189 bereaved family members and close friends of terminally ill cancer patients who died by euthanasia and 316 bereaved family members and close friends of comparable cancer patients who died a natural dea

Tackling Major Risk Factors Simultaneously Key To Improving Global Health

Leading public-health scientists highlight in a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET how confronting major risk factors that lead to poor health could have a substantial effect in reducing premature deaths and morbidity globally-especially in the poorest areas of the world. This preventive approach would also reduce the prevailing health inequalities that exist between the world’s richest and poorest nations.

Majid Ezzati from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA, Christophe

WHO Leader Backs Call To Action For Child Survival Programmes

The new Director-General of WHO is calling for global collaboration to tackle the crisis identified by The Lancet’s Child Survival Series, which concludes in this week’s issue.

The series has highlighted a global public-health disaster: over 10 million children under five years dead every year; the majority from easily preventable causes. In a Commentary in this week’s issue, Dr JW Lee highlights three key priorities for action. He comments: “First, the health of children and mothers must be

Clouds reveal Europe’s ozone future

Forget blue skies research, it is clouds that have focused minds at the University of Leicester where scientists are tackling the causes of ozone depletion.

Atmospheric scientists in the Department of Physics and Astronomy are spearheading the MAPSCORE project, a European Commission Environment project which investigates a major cause of ozone depletion – high altitude polar clouds which activate the chlorine originally from CFCs and lead eventually to severe ozone destruction.

Major innovation opportunities in analytical science identified by UKAP

The UK Analytical Partnership (UKAP), now in its third year, has announced five prime areas for analytical innovation: biomimetic analysis, health sensors, managing the chemical environment, real-time analysis/factory of the future and analysis in design. UKAP will be staging a number of events in the autumn to enable input from parties interested in involvement with these projects.

Richard Bahu of the Oxis Partnership, co-author of this foresight study for UKAP´s Innovation Network w

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Physics and Astronomy

She uses light to modify matter

Part chemist, part physicist and 100% researcher, Niéli Daffé is interested in materials that change colour or magnetism when illuminated. She studies them using X-rays in her SNSF-supported research. From…

Kagome breaks the rules at record breaking temperatures

In case you’re scratching your head, we help break it down. Using muon spin rotation at the Swiss Muon Source SmS, researchers at PSI have discovered that a quantum phenomenon…

NASA’s Hubble, Webb probe surprisingly smooth disk around Vega

In the 1997 movie “Contact,” adapted from Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel, the lead character scientist Ellie Arroway (played by actor Jodi Foster) takes a space-alien-built wormhole ride to the star…

Life Sciences and Chemistry

The heaviest element ever chemically studied

Experiments at GSI/FAIR determine properties of moscovium an. An international team led by scientists of GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, succeeded in determining…

Reconstructing plesiosaur swimming styles with bio-mimetic control

A research group may have unraveled the mystery behind the locomotion of the ancient marine reptile, the plesiosaur, by recreating a bio-inspired control system that accounts for motion adjustment. Extinct…

New findings on heart failure

Dysferlin protein protects and shapes the membrane of heart muscle cells. Researchers from the Heart Center of the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) led by Priv.-Doz. Dr Sören Brandenburg have…

Materials Sciences

Polypropylene recyclates

… best quality at minimum cost thanks to precise stabilisation. Online characterisation, plastic formulations, more profitable. All organic substances, including plastics such as polypropylene (PP), undergo auto-oxidation in the presence…

BESSY II: New procedure for better thermoplastics

Thermoplastic blends, produced by a new process, have better resilience. Now, experiments at the IRIS beamline show, why: nanocrystalline layers increase their performance. Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic…

Off the clothesline, on the grid

MXene nanomaterials enable wireless charging in textiles. Researchers demonstrate printed textile-based energy grid using MXene ink. The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the…

Information Technology

Hard in theory, easy in practice

ISTA researchers investigate why graph isomorphism algorithms seem to be so effective. Graphs are everywhere. In discrete mathematics, they are structures that show the connections between points, much like a…

Expert for Distributed Satellite Systems

Small satellites that find and collect space debris: Mohamed Khalil Ben-Larbi is working towards this goal. He is the new Professor of Space Informatics and Satellite Systems at the University…

Ensuring a bright future for diamond electronics and sensors

Researchers are perfecting processes to grow high-quality diamond material reliably and efficiently. Researchers are developing new ideas about the best ways to make lab-grown diamonds while minimizing other forms of…