Lifeboat Foundation

These clocks promise to measure biological age and help identify anti-aging drugs, but there are lingering questions over their accuracy.

Bacteria draw from an arsenal of weapons to combat the drugs intended to kill them. Among the most prevalent of these weapons are ribosome-modifying enzymes. These enzymes are growing increasingly common, appearing worldwide in clinical samples in a range of drug-resistant bacteria.

Now scientists have captured the first images of one important class of these enzymes in action. The images show how the enzymes latch onto a particular site on the bacterial ribosome and squeeze it like a pair of tweezers to extract an RNA nucleotide and alter it. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the findings, led by scientists at Emory University.

The advanced technique of cryoelectron microscopy made the ultra-high-resolution, three-dimensional snapshots possible.

Brain age was estimated using an algorithm that combined multiple measures of brain structure obtained through MRI scans when the participants were 45 years old. This algorithm quantified the difference between estimated brain age and the participants’ chronological age, referred to as brain age gap estimate.

If the estimated brain age is higher than the chronological age, it suggests that the brain’s structural characteristics are more similar to those of an older individual. Conversely, if the estimated brain age is lower than the chronological age, the brain’s structural characteristics resemble those of a younger individual.

Lay-Yee and his colleagues also adjusted their analyses for various potential confounding factors. These included socio-demographic factors like sex and socio-economic status, as well as family factors (teen-aged mother, single parent, change in residence, maltreatment) and child-behavioral factors (self-control, worry/fearfulness).

The authors used a long-read nanopore method to study chromatin accessibility and DNA methylation of the highly repetitive centromeres, telomeres, and ribosomal DNA arrays in both wildtype and DNA methylation mutants of Arabidopsis.

A new discovery by the Polytechnic University of Milan opens up new perspectives in the field of sustainable chemical synthesis, promoting innovative solutions that allow chemicals to be created in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Synthesis.

Using the innovative technique of dispersing isolated atoms on carbon nitride supports, the team developed a catalyst that is more active and selective in esterification reactions. This is an important reaction in which carboxylic acids and bromides are combined to form products used in the manufacture of medicines, food additives, and polymers.

The revolutionary feature of this new catalyst is that it reduces the use of rare metals, a significant step towards conserving critical resources and making processes more sustainable. In addition, the catalyst can be activated by sunlight, eliminating the need for energy-intensive methods. This discovery holds enormous potential in reducing dependence on finite resources and lowering the environmental impact of catalytic processes.

Physicist Luke MacQueen combines tissue engineering with stem cell technologies to produce synthetic meat whose texture mimics that of natural meat.

Winston Churchill—the well-known wartime leader and lesser-known Nobel Laureate in Literature—published an essay in 1931 in The Strand Magazine in which he imagined the future “Fifty Years Hence.” Many of his predictions turned out to be prophetic—wireless telephones, television, and nuclear power—while others read like science fiction. But one of his futuristic ideas—growing meat in a lab—may just be a few years away, if Luke MacQueen of Harvard University has his way.

Stem cells are special kinds of cells in our body that can become any other type of cell. They have huge potential for medicine, and trials are currently under way using stem cells to replace damaged cells in diseases like Parkinson’s.

One way to get stem cells is from human embryos, but this has ethical concerns and practical limitations. Another way is to turn adult cells from the skin or elsewhere into what are called “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPS cells).

However, these cells sometimes carry a “memory” of the kind of cell they used to be, which can make them less predictable or efficient when we try to turn them into other types of cells.

Scientists have used advanced imaging techniques to identify brain activity and regions linked to cognitive motor dissociation (CMD), or ‘hidden consciousness’. CMD is a state in which a person appears comatose and unresponsive while inwardly showing signs of conscious brain activity.

The findings, reported by a team from Columbia University in the US, may help doctors more easily identify CMD in the future, and better tailor treatments for people who can understand what’s being said to them but can’t respond to it.

CMD happens in around 15–25 percent of people with brain injuries from head trauma, brain hemorrhage, or cardiac arrest. In these patients, something breaks between the instructions coming from the brain and the muscles needed to carry those instructions out.

The machine complements the work of skilled doctors without replacing them.

Surgical robots that can assist in medical procedures are increasingly gaining traction as they help doctors perform better and allow patients to heal faster.

There’s the famous DaVinci Surgery system that is equipped with highly dexterous robot arms that can be manipulated to complete precise cutting and stitching. In the UK, robots are helping thousands of women plagued by the painful womb condition endometriosis while in Canada robot-assisted deep brain stimulation surgeries are aiding patients suffering from epilepsy.