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To learn more, a research team led by Drs. Asghar Rezaei and Kenton Kaufman of the Mayo Clinic set out to assess gait, balance, and strength in healthy people over age 50. Their study enrolled 40 participants. Half were between ages 50 and 64. The rest were ages 65 or older. In each group, half of the participants were female, and half were male.

Each participant underwent a series of tests in a motion analysis lab. Reflective markers were attached to specific locations on each participant’s feet, thighs, pelvis, head, and more. To assess gait, a 14-camera motion capture system recorded marker movements as people walked back and forth on an eight-meter-long walkway. Force plates on the floor measured ground reaction forces to detect changes in the center of pressure. Balance tests similarly used force plates to record movements and center of pressure data. The balance tests assessed the body’s sway as people stood on one leg with eyes open and on both legs with eyes open and closed. Grip strength and knee strength were measured by using specialized devices. Results were reported on October 23, 2024, in PLOS ONE.

The researchers found that gait characteristics—including walking speed and stride length—were not significantly affected by age. In contrast, several measures of balance and strength showed significant age-related reductions.

Primordial black holes may be exploding throughout the universe. If we can catch them in the act, it could pave the way to new physics, a study suggests.

Scientists have discovered a new way of creating superheavy elements by firing supercharged ion beams at dense atoms. The team believes this method could potentially help synthesize the hypothetical “element 120,” which would be heavier than any known element.

Potentially deadly comets could be spotted many years in advance by following the meteoroid trails they leave near Earth, new research shows.

Anthropic’s Claude AI is purportedly capable of using computers like a human. And apparently, that includes procrastinating.

Minnesota researchers boost semiconductor transparency and speed for high-power devices.

A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota has developed a next-generation transparent and efficient semiconductor material. This breakthrough could have enormous ramifications for improving the efficiency of high-power electronics, especially those that need transparency, like lasers.

Continue reading “Transparent semiconductor material could make electronics faster” »

Adolescents see a greater remission of type 2 diabetes compared to adults.

What

Young people with severe obesity who underwent weight-loss surgery at age 19 or younger continued to see sustained weight loss and resolution of common obesity-related comorbidities 10 years later, according to results from a large clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

For the first time, researchers have observed how bromoform rearranges its atoms in less than a trillionth of a second after it gets hit by an ultraviolet (UV) pulse. The imaging technique captured a long-predicted pathway by which the ozone-layer-damaging molecule transforms its structure upon interaction with light.

A small twist allowed scientists to capture a rare quantum phase that has been under the shadows for decades.

“Wigner molecular crystals are important because they may exhibit novel transport and spin properties that could be useful for future quantum technologies such as quantum simulations,” researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) note.

For the first time, LBL researchers have captured direct images of the Wigner molecular crystal using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) —- an imaging technique that produces high-resolution visuals of materials at the atomic scale.

Continue reading “Scientists capture images of the cold ‘electron ice’ for first time” »