EurekAlert! News by Subject: Chemistry & Physics

Chemistry & Physics

16-Aug-2022

Social connection drives learning in bird brain

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers identify a brain circuit that helps a young bird to identify ‘real’ songs its teacher demonstrates.

Journal: Nature Communications

16-Aug-2022

CNIC scientists uncover opposing roles of p38 proteins in cardiac hypertrophy

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (F.S.P.)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in eLife shows that inhibition of p38γ/δ is a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but that this strategy has yet to be explored because of the lack of specific inhibitors for these p38 family members.

Journal: eLife
Funder: Mineco-FEDER, American Heart Association, Lilly European Diabetes Research, Comunidad de Madrid IMMUNOTHERCAN-CM, Instituto Nacional de Corazón, Pulmón y Sangre, “la Caixa” Foundation, Fundación La Marató TV3, FP7 Marie Curie Programme, EFSD Rising Star prize

16-Aug-2022

A virtual trip to the museum can improve the health of seniors stuck at home

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Social isolation can have devastating health effects, especially for elderly people. A number of studies have shown that art is not only good for the soul, but can also improve both physical and mental well-being. Researchers in Canada investigated whether these art-based benefits could be delivered digitally through virtual museum tours. They found that indeed older adults who attended weekly guided tours online felt less frail – offering a public health model to promote healthy aging.

Journal: Frontiers in Medicine
Funder: Fonds de recherche du Québec-Société et culture, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

15-Aug-2022

Pain is no joke in labour, but withdrawing laughing gas has no ill effects

University of South Australia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Women giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic have been denied nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for pain relief due to fears of virus transmission from the aerosol-generating procedure. A new study in a South Australian hospital says withholding the gas has had no adverse effects.

Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

15-Aug-2022

Aging | New research: Volume 14, Issue 15

Impact Journals LLC
Business Announcement

Aging (abbreviated as “Aging (Albany NY)” by Medline/PubMed and “Aging-US” by Web of Science) published a new issue of the latest research on aging in Volume 14, Issue 15.

15-Aug-2022

Statistical tool finds ‘gaps’ in DNA data sets shouldn’t be ignored

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A simple statistical test shows that contrary to current practice, the “gaps” within DNA protein and sequence alignments commonly used in evolutionary biology can provide important information about nucleotide and amino acid substitutions over time.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: National Science Foundation, Korea Polar Research Institute

15-Aug-2022

Delays in contact tracing impeded early COVID-19 containment

University of Texas at Austin
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Contact tracing programs were deployed around the globe to slow the spread of COVID-19, but these programs could not prevent the multiple waves of transmission and loss of life that have occurred since March 2020. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin found that a five-day delay between identifying a case and isolating contacts was the Achilles’ heel of a contact tracing program in a large U.S. city.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Dell Medical School