Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited and progressive neurological disorder which is currently fatal. Dr James E. Goldman and Dr Osama Al-Dalahmah, both at Columbia University, USA, are utilising new techniques in molecular biology to better understand the brain pathology associated with HD. Their vision is to develop therapeutics that can slow the progression of the disease, and ultimately, treat and even prevent it.
So far, approaches to mapping the density of cities have often been oversimplified, causing them to overlook many key aspects of everyday urban life. Through his research, Dr Elek Pafka at the University of Melbourne introduces two new metrics for measuring urban density, which better capture its complex, multi-scale variations. His research offers deeper insights into how people experience and interact with cities, and could lead to new strategies to make our cities more productive, sustainable...
Antimicrobial resistance (or AMR for short) is a pressing global health challenge that poses significant risks, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The extensive research conducted by Saffiatou Darboe of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, The Gambia, and her colleagues, has been pivotal in understanding and addressing this issue within The Gambia and other regions in sub-Saharan Africa. This episode delves into four comprehensive studies conducted by Darboe and col...
As cannabis prohibition begins to unravel across the world, cannabis use has become more common and normalised. Researchers are assessing the impact of this on vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women. Strikingly, cannabis is among the most commonly used substances during pregnancy, raising serious concerns about its effects on unborn children and the long-term consequences this could have. Prof. Miranda Reed of Auburn University, and colleagues, have assessed how cannabis exposure in the ...
Voluntary Sustainability Standards have emerged as influential tools to promote sustainable practices in global value chains and are becoming increasingly relevant in the context of new legislation by the European Union and other governments for the promotion of sustainable development. A comprehensive review led by Axel Marx at KU Leuven examines the evolution, impacts, and challenges of these standards, offering insights into their role in global governance and sustainable development.
In principle, travelling wave reactors offer a safe, highly efficient approach to generating nuclear power. However, development has been held back by a variety of challenges linked to the need for extensively high burn-up in the reactor core, meaning very high rates of generated energy which can damage the reactor. Inspired by the principles of Tai-Chi, a team led by Di Yun from Xi’an Jiaotong University has shown that with the right approach, a high temperature operation, usually deemed as a t...
Schizophrenia and substance use disorders (or SUDs for short) are two significantly complex conditions that share overlapping symptoms and result in serious complications without treatment. Research suggests that a number of complex features are associated with these disorders, including neurological, physiological and bio-psycho-social. When these conditions occur together, they often create profound experiences of disconnectedness, both with oneself and with others in the support community. An...
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the colon and rectum, leading to symptoms such as severe bloody diarrhoea and abdominal pain. For many patients, the disease can become acute, with symptoms worsening rapidly and requiring hospitalization. In these cases, corticosteroids—powerful anti-inflammatory drugs—are often the first line of treatment. However, the effectiveness of corticosteroids varies significantly among patients, and a considerable number do not re...
Pancreatic cancer, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, stands as one of the most lethal cancers. Despite being only the ninth most common cancer in the United States, it is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. This discrepancy is due to its aggressive nature and the challenge of early diagnosis. By the time symptoms become apparent, the disease is often at an advanced stage, making it difficult to treat effectively. With a five-year survival rate of just 9% for late-stag...
Over the next few decades, the Earth’s urban population is set to explode, with the large majority of growth happening in cities across the Global South. A team of researchers at the Universities of Kassel and Göttingen, led by Prof. Andreas Bürkert and Prof. Nikolaus Schareika, predicts that these changes will be widely characterized by a merging of rural and urban features: a concept defined as ‘rurbanity’ in a recent landmark publication authored by Dr. Ellen Hoffmann and colleagues. By study...
In 2009, astronomers detected a mysterious source of high-energy, chargeless particles, which appeared to originate from the very edge of the solar system. Through fresh analysis, Dr Li Lu and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered that this distance may be an illusion, created by an effect relating to the solar wind as viewed by the commonly used parallax method. If correct, the team’s theory suggests that the as-yet enigmatic signal could actually originate from a source...
In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Indigenous First Australians are partnering with researchers and together they are pioneering a revolutionary approach to environmental planning and management, called ‘Caring for the River Country’. By blending ancient wisdom, Indigenous First Law and science with Western science, they're reimagining our relationship with nature and offering a blueprint for global climate action. Professor Anne Poelina at the University of Notre Dame Australia argue...
Forests are more than just a collection of trees; they are dynamic ecosystems that depend on a variety of factors to thrive. One of the most crucial yet often overlooked components of these ecosystems is the soil. Far from being just a passive foundation, soil is an active, living system that plays a vital role in determining the health and productivity of forests. A recent study by emeritus Professor James Moore of the University of Idaho and his colleagues offers a deep dive into how the geolo...
The Arctic is warming at a rate of three to four times faster than the global average; a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. This is, in large part, a result of warming atmospheric temperatures causing a decline in snow and ice cover at high latitudes. This, in turn, increases the amount of solar energy absorbed by marine and terrestrial surfaces. As a result, near surface temperatures continue to increase, resulting in a further reduction of snow and ice. This represents a positive feedba...
Coral reefs are often admired for their breathtaking beauty and rich biodiversity, but their significance goes far beyond what meets the eye. These vibrant underwater ecosystems are a vital source of food and nutrition for over 500 million people worldwide, particularly in tropical coastal regions where they serve as the backbone of local fisheries. However, coral reefs are under severe threat from the combined forces of climate change and overfishing, posing significant risks to global food sec...
Outdoor swimming pools are enjoyed by millions of us, but it is often challenging to maintain comfortable temperatures across different climates and weather conditions, which can drastically vary the rate of heat transfer away from the water. Through their research, a team led by Prof. Hui Tong Chua from The University of Western Australia has introduced a new empirical model that can accurately predict this transfer of heat, accounting for weather conditions and the surrounding environment. The...
Astronomers know that the nearby Centaurus A galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its centre, but there are several unusual and mind-boggling features in the detailed picture that was recently made of this galaxy’s core, which have yet to be explained. To understand these anomalies, Dr David Anthony Cosandey, an astrophysicist at the Zurich Higher Education Centre, suggests that the galaxy actually contains a pair of supermassive black holes which will eventually merge into a single obje...
Phase 3 clinical trials are the most expensive part of drug development, and the most important hurdle to regulatory approval. More than 95% of phase 3 trials in Alzheimer’s disease fail. The main reason is a poor foundation, namely, inadequate or misleading phase 2 trials. Dr. Donald Berry, Founder of Berry Consultants and Founder and Professor of the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, along with his son Dr. Scott Berry, President of Berry Consulta...
An innovative study reveals how US tariffs on Chinese goods have disproportionately affected low-income American households, challenging the effectiveness of protectionist trade policies. Research from an international team of scholars, Professors Mingzhi Xu at Peking University, Hong Ma at Tsinghua University, Jingxin Ning at UIBE, and Luca Macedoni at Aarhus University, provides compelling evidence for the benefits of free trade and the often-overlooked costs of trade barriers.
An innovative study reveals how US tariffs on Chinese goods have disproportionately affected low-income American households, challenging the effectiveness of protectionist trade policies. Research from an international team of scholars, Professors Mingzhi Xu at Peking University, Hong Ma at Tsinghua University, Jingxin Ning at UIBE, and Luca Macedoni at Aarhus University, provides compelling evidence for the benefits of free trade and the often-overlooked costs of trade barriers.
Darwin identified fire and language as the key elements of human progress. Professor Elliot Berry, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argues that nutrition and food security are equally vital for cultural evolution. He is a Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition – Nutrition and Sustainable Diets, and an Editor of the three volume Encyclopaedia of Food Security and Sustainability. Berry explains that food security supports the development of sociotypes, which describe how individual...
Early adversity, such as family violence, parental depression and low income, puts children at risk for maltreatment and negatively impacts their development. A team of researchers led by Nicole Letourneau at the University of Calgary has evaluated a promising intervention called ATTACH™ (which is short for Attachment and Child Health) that aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable families by enhancing parental reflective functioning.
Inventory management is a key activity in many organizations. Its performance is often measured by the inventory turnover ratio metric, or ITR for short. This is a key performance indicator that managers are incentivised to improve. However, improper measurement of the ITR metric can cause problems in terms of reliability, comparison, and bias. Professor Benjamin Melamed of Rutgers University has proposed novel formulations of Little’s Law. The traditional Little’s Law is used an as approximatio...
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union faced a crisis that demanded a swift and unified response. A new study by Professor Elena Baracani from the University of Bologna examines how Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, used her leadership role to shape the EU's reaction during the crucial first 10 weeks of the conflict.
The full extent of the labour and resources which go into creating a modern house is hidden deeply within the buildings we call home. Professor Mark Jarzombek of MIT and Professor Vikramaditya Prakash of the University of Washington are co-founders of the Office of Uncertainty Research, a research collaboration that is dedicated to rethinking architecture in a modern context. Through their research, Jarzombek and Prakash investigate these hidden stories by exploring the history of a recently bui...
Ever wondered why letters look the way they do? Dr Hana Jee at York St John University in the UK investigates intriguing connections between how languages sound and how they are written. Using a number of methodologies, she has conducted innovative research to quantify these relationships. Her work began with Korean Hangul, a writing system intentionally designed to be highly logical and systematic. Dr Jee has since expanded her research to include diverse scripts like Arabic, English, Hebrew an...
Metabolism is the cornerstone of life, orchestrating the myriad chemical reactions that sustain cells, tissues, and organisms. It drives growth, division, energy production, and cellular maintenance. For scientists, understanding metabolism, particularly during the earliest stages of human development, holds the key to uncovering the origins of various diseases and developmental disorders. However, studying metabolism in human embryos presents formidable challenges due to ethical considerations,...
Childbirth is a remarkable event that brings joy and new beginnings but also poses significant physical challenges to the mother's body. One such challenge is the separation of the pubic symphysis, a joint located between the left and right pubic bones. Dr. Kamalini Das of Regions Hospital, Minnesota, and her colleagues conducted a groundbreaking study to investigate pubic symphysis separation in women who delivered vaginally versus those who had cesarean sections. Their research provides import...
The European Parliament has the ability to play a key role in shaping the European Union's international agreements. But how exactly does it get involved in these complex negotiations? Researcher Marine Bardou from the University of Louvain has conducted a comprehensive study to answer this question, revealing surprising patterns in the Parliament's activities.
Laura Perucchetti and colleagues at the British Museum have uncovered a group of skilfully crafted counterfeit ancient coins that may be one of the earliest examples of forgers using scientific analysis to dupe collectors. By examining the composition of the coins and comparing them with genuine artefacts, experts believe the forgers deliberately used ancient metal to avoid detection. The findings highlight the long history of a cat and mouse game between forgers and analysts, and the need for v...
