A novel artificial intelligence (AI) tool has revealed how disease-linked proteins misfold into harmful structures, a key advance in understanding neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The study, led by Mingchen Chen of the Changping Laboratory and Rice University’s Peter Wolynes, introduces RibbonFold, a new computational method capable of predicting the structures of amyloids.

University of Cincinnati researchers, in collaboration with end users in the community, have received a $200,000 grant from Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) to design a user-centered, easy-to-use assistive device to help restore hand grasping motions for people with spinal cord injuries/diseases.

Fiber optic cable deployed on a Swiss glacier detected the seismic signals of crevasses opening in the ice, confirming that the technology could be useful in monitoring such icequakes, according to a report at the Seismological Society of America’s Annual Meeting.