Protests spread as activists fight telescope in Hawaii

Demonstrations against a giant telescope planned for Hawaii's tallest peak have spread to New York, Las Vegas and Honolulu's tourist mecca of Waikiki as Native Hawaiians push to protect what they say is a sacred place.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/protests-spread-as-activists-fight-telescope-in-hawaii

Multidrug-resistant malaria spreading in Asia

Multidrug-resistant forms of Plasmodium falciparum parasites, the most lethal species causing human malaria, have evolved even higher levels of resistance to antimalarial drugs and spread rapidly since 2015, becoming firmly established in multiple regions of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, where they are causing alarmingly high treatment failure rates to a widely used frontline malaria drug combination.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/multidrug-resistant-malaria-spreading-in-asia

Research shows high prices of healthy foods contribute to malnutrition worldwide

Poor diets are the now the leading risk factor for the global burden of disease, accounting for one-fifth of all deaths worldwide. While the causes of poor diets are complex, new research finds the affordability of more nutritious foods is an important factor.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/research-shows-high-prices-of-healthy-foods-contribute-to-malnutrition-worldwide

Researchers unveil experimental compound to block therapeutic target in blood cancer

Researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a hyperactive cell signal that contributes to tumor growth in an aggressive blood cancer. They also developed an experimental therapeutic to block the signal and slow tumor growth.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/researchers-unveil-experimental-compound-to-block-therapeutic-target-in-blood-cancer

How fat prawns can save lives

Before bite-sized crustaceans like crayfish, shrimp and prawns land on our dinner plates, they first have to get fat themselves—and it turns out they relish the freshwater snails that transmit the parasite that causes schistosomiasis, the second most devastating parasitic disease worldwide, after malaria.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-fat-prawns-can-save-lives

Critical heart drug too pricey for some Medicare patients

An effective drug to treat chronic heart failure may cost too much for senior citizens with a standard Medicare Part D drug plan, said a study co-authored by a John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/critical-heart-drug-too-pricey-for-some-medicare-patients

Obstructive sleep apnea may be one reason depression treatment doesn't work

When someone is depressed and having suicidal thoughts or their depression treatment just isn't working, their caregivers might want to check to see if they have obstructive sleep apnea, investigators say.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/obstructive-sleep-apnea-may-be-one-reason-depression-treatment-doesnt-work

Connection to HIV care helps hardly reached US populations suppress the virus

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and transgender women with HIV, who are not in care, can be engaged in care when reached and connected with HIV treatment services, according to findings from a clinical trial supported by the National Institutes of Health. Nearly half of the study participants achieved and maintained viral suppression by one year, researchers reported today at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) in Mexico City.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/connection-to-hiv-care-helps-hardly-reached-us-populations-suppress-the-virus

Gene test picks out prostate cancers that could respond to 'search-and-destroy' medicine

Testing for genetic weaknesses in repairing DNA could pick out men who may benefit from a new type of targeted nuclear medicine, a new study reports.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/gene-test-picks-out-prostate-cancers-that-could-respond-to-search-and-destroy-medicine

People are more likely to try drugs for the first time during the summer

American teenagers and adults are more likely to try illegal or recreational drugs for the first time in the summer, a new study shows.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/people-are-more-likely-to-try-drugs-for-the-first-time-during-the-summer

Medicare for All unlikely to cause surge in hospital use

As political leaders debate the merits of a future Medicare for All system in the U.S., some analysts predict that implementing universal coverage could cause a sharp, unaffordable increase in hospital use and costs, overwhelming the system. But new research by a team at Harvard Medical School and The City University of New York at Hunter College, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, contradicts that assumption, finding that past insurance expansions did not result in a net increase in hospital use. Instead, researchers found a redistribution of care, with increases in hospital care among those newly insured that was offset by small decreases among healthier and wealthier Americans.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/medicare-for-all-unlikely-to-cause-surge-in-hospital-use

Immune cell therapy shows early promise for patients with pancreatic cancer

A nonengineered, multiantigen-specific T-cell therapy was safe, tolerable, and showed signs of clinical activity in patients who had pancreatic adenocarcinoma, according to preliminary results from a phase I clinical trial presented at the AACR special conference on Immune Cell Therapies for Cancer, held July 19–22.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/immune-cell-therapy-shows-early-promise-for-patients-with-pancreatic-cancer

Waiting for an undersea robot in Antarctica to call home

"Call! Just call!" I think loudly in my head. "Did something happen? Are you okay?"

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/waiting-for-an-undersea-robot-in-antarctica-to-call-home

How public money for science leads to new medicines

Public funding for fundamental research is essential for innovation and the development of new medicines. This is demonstrated by Professor Science Based Business Simcha Jong and his colleague Hsini Huang after studying U.S. federal funding restrictions for stem cell research under President George W. Bush. They published their findings in the July edition of Journal of Management Studies.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-public-money-for-science-leads-to-new-medicines

Sophisticated molecular machines in action

Almost all living organisms from bacteria to humans have gate-like protein complexes in their cell membranes that get rid of unwanted or life-threatening molecules. This is not always advantageous, since in the case of bacteria or cancer cells, these complexes, known as ABC transporters, are also responsible for resistance to antibiotics or chemotherapy. Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt, together with the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, which is also located in Frankfurt, have now succeeded in decrypting all the stages of the transport mechanism.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/sophisticated-molecular-machines-in-action

Imaging the chemical structure of individual molecules, atom by atom

For physicist Percy Zahl, optimizing and preparing a noncontact atomic force microscope (nc-AFM) to directly visualize the chemical structure of a single molecule is a bit like playing a virtual reality video game. The process requires navigating and manipulating the tip of the instrument over the world of atoms and molecules, eventually picking some up at the right location and in the right way. If these challenges are completed successfully, you advance to the highest level, obtaining images that precisely show where individual atoms are located and how they are chemically bonded to other atoms. But take one wrong move, and it is game over. Time to start again.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/imaging-the-chemical-structure-of-individual-molecules-atom-by-atom

LightSail 2 is sending home new pictures of Earth

LightSail 2, the brainchild of the Planetary Society, has released two new gorgeous images of Earth. The small spacecraft is currently in orbit at about 720 km, and the LightSail 2 mission team is putting it through its paces in preparation for solar sail deployment sometime on or after Sunday, July 21st.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/lightsail-2-is-sending-home-new-pictures-of-earth

The 'Mandela effect' and the science of false memories

There's a theory doing the rounds online that nuclear research experiments caused the world to shift into an alternate reality where Donald Trump became president. This might sound stupid, but some people genuinely believe it to be true. And to back up their theory they cite the "Mandela effect," a phenomenon that supposedly occurs when large groups of people believe something happened even though evidence shows it isn't true.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/the-mandela-effect-and-the-science-of-false-memories

How a drilling ship pulls cores from 2.5 miles below the sea

An ocean drilling ship is not an ocean drilling ship without the skilled and experienced personnel that control, execute and overview the drilling operations. The JOIDES Resolution is no exception.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-a-drilling-ship-pulls-cores-from-2-5-miles-below-the-sea

Seeing smaller through cells: A natural single-cell biomagnifier for subwavelength imaging

Optical microscopes and tweezers can image and manipulate objects at the microscale for applications in cellular and molecular biology. The optical resolution is, however, hampered by the diffraction limit and therefore both microscopes and tweezers are unable to image and manipulate nano-objects directly. Emerging techniques in plasmonic/photonic nanoscopes and nanotweezers aim to achieve nanometer-scale resolution, although high-index material structures can easily cause mechanical and photothermal damage to the nanoscale biospecimens.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/seeing-smaller-through-cells-a-natural-single-cell-biomagnifier-for-subwavelength-imaging

Animals' body sizes shrinking from climate change, study finds

University of Cape Town (UCT) researchers have collected clear evidence—over a 23 year period between 1976 and 1999—that climate change is shrinking animals' body sizes.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/animals-body-sizes-shrinking-from-climate-change-study-finds

How do distance learners connect?

In a typical college classroom, social connections are formed through face-to-face interactions. Through informal chats before and after class, group project meetings, and other exchanges, students are able to build community with their classmates and peers that often enrich their academic experience.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/how-do-distance-learners-connect

Is New Zealand's food system unsustainable?

New research from Massey University's College of Health shows overwhelming support for sustainability characteristics to be included in the Eating and Activity Guidelines for New Zealand Adults, set out by the Ministry of Health.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/is-new-zealands-food-system-unsustainable

New hard X-ray eclipsing polar identified

Using ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Swift spacecraft, astronomers have found that a hard X-ray source known as 2PBCJ0658.0-1746 is an eclipsing magnetic cataclysmic variable of the polar type. The finding, presented in a paper published July 11 on arXiv.org, makes the object one of only a handful hard X-ray eclipsing polars known to date.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/new-hard-x-ray-eclipsing-polar-identified

Cuttlefish ink found promising for cancer treatment

Researchers have found that cuttlefish ink—a black suspension sprayed by cuttlefish to deter predators—contains nanoparticles that strongly inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors in mice. The nanoparticles consist mostly of melanin by weight, along with amino acids, monosaccharides (simple sugars), metals, and other compounds. The researchers showed that the nanoparticles modify the immune function in tumors, and when combined with irradiation, can almost completely inhibit tumor growth.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/cuttlefish-ink-found-promising-for-cancer-treatment

Heat and humidity grip East Coast as Midwest gets reprieve

The East Coast on Sunday sweated through another day of extreme heat and humidity as organizers in Boston canceled a benefit run, Delaware Civil War re-enactors got the day off and the New York Police Department implored residents to take it easy.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-news-blog/heat-and-humidity-grip-east-coast-as-midwest-gets-reprieve