SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
A technology that functions like a brain? In these times of artificial intelligence, this no longer seems so far-fetched – for example, when a mobile phone can recognise faces or languages. With more complex applications, however, computers still quickly come up against their own limitations. One of the reasons for this is that a computer … Read more
A team led by researchers of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB, UB-IEEC) and the Besançon Astronomical Observatory have found, analysing data from the Gaia satellite, that a severe star formation burst occurred in the Milky Way about to and three thousand million years ago. In this process, more than … Read more
It is believed that the formation and growth of most galaxies across the history of the universe have been fueled by black holes nested in their very centre. These have been growing together with their host galaxy as they collect matter up to attain millions of solar masses. Chasing the early stages of these extreme … Read more
The Early Investigators Awards were established to assist in the development of early career investigators and to provide greater recognition of their accomplishments in endocrine-related research. “One of the biggest challenges endocrine fellows and junior faculty face is gaining recognition and obtaining access to the resources they need for professional development,” said Society President E. … Read more
As more rain falls on a warming planet, a new computer model shows that it may not take a downpour to cause widespread disruption of road networks. The model combined data on road networks with the hills and valleys of topography to reveal “tipping points” at which even small localized increases in rain cause widespread … Read more
The three trimesters of pregnancy are filled with doctor’s appointments, preparations and careful surveillance of the health of both mom and baby. However, in the months after their baby is born, known as the fourth trimester, priorities often shift for new moms, and their own health can fall to the bottom of their to-do lists. … Read more
A new type of money that allows users to make decisions based on information arriving at different locations and times, and that could also protect against attacks from quantum computers, has been proposed by a researcher at the University of Cambridge. The theoretical framework, dubbed ‘S-money’, could ensure completely unforgeable and secure authentication, and allow … Read more
Several years ago, MIT neuroscientists showed that they could dramatically reduce the amyloid plaques seen Alzheimer’s disease in mice simply by exposing the animals to light flickering at a specific frequency. In a new study, the researchers have found that this treatment has widespread effects at the cellular level, and it helps not just neurons … Read more
Researchers from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan identify the neurons responsible for relaying sweet taste signals to the gustatory thalamus and cortex in mice. While the peripheral taste system has been extensively investigated, relatively little is known about the contribution of CNS gustatory neurons in the sensation of taste. In this new … Read more
A discovery opens the possibility of one day restoring loss of vision by activating the retina’s ability to regenerate. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Texas Heart Institute reveal in the journal Cell Reports that although the mammalian retina – a layer of specialized nerve cells that mediates vision and is located … Read more