American scientists Award

  A medical mystery served as the genesis for a Yale-led study that has promising implications for treating a range of autoimmune diseases . A young girl entered the clinic suffering from blood cell abnormalities, difficulty breathing, and later, diarrhea. She also had been diagnosed with recurrent infections due to low levels of antibody production. Her doctors treated her with corticosteroids to reduce her lung and gut inflammation and immunoglobulin replacement therapy to restore her antibody levels. The lab of  Carrie Lucas, PhD , associate professor of immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, works with children living with rare immune disorders that stem from a single (monogenic) gene mutation with the goal of better understanding the intricate circuitry of human immunology. Through genome sequencing, Lucas discovered that the girl’s symptoms were caused by mutations that created a deficiency in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-gamma (PI3Kγ), a signaling molecule that...

  Katalin Karikó is the 13th woman in history to win a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The scientist, who did her postdoctoral work in Temple’s Department of Biochemistry, recently returned to campus to talk about the experience during the John von Neumann Series of Pure and Applied Sciences at Temple’s Charles Library on March 14. Karikó, jointly with her research partner Drew Weissman,  won the 2023 Nobel Laureate in Medicine  for having developed effective mRNA vaccines that laid the groundwork for the COVID-19 vaccine. Their work together, published in seminal studies in 2005, 2008 and 2010, led to a paradigm change in our understanding of how dendritic cells respond to mRNA vaccines. The finding would later be used for the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2020. Both Karikó, and Weissman were guests of honor at the conference. During the conference, Kariko discussed the experience of receiving the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, showing personal photogra...

  Researchers have developed a new genomic technique that can track the spread of multiple superbugs in a hospital simultaneously , which could help prevent and manage common hospital infections quicker and more effectively than ever before. The proof-of-concept study, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Oslo, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Italy, and collaborators , details a new deep sequencing approach that captures all the common infectious bacteria in a hospital at once. Current methods culture and sequence all pathogens separately which takes longer and requires more work.  Published today (20 August) in the  Lancet Microbe , the study captured the whole population of pathogenic bacteria found in multiple hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and ordinary wards during the first wave of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic . Researchers could see the type of bacteria patients had, including any well-known antibiotic-resistant pathogens found in ho...

  New York: Billionaire entrepreneur  Elon Musk  on Tuesday expressed his willingness to serve after Republican presidential candidate  Donald Trump  hinted that he will consider Elon Musk for cabinet role or advisory post if he wins. "I am willing to serve," posted Musk on his 'X' platform after the Trump in a Reuters interview said that Musk will be welcome to become part of the  US administration  if the Republican candidate wins the US  presidential election  in November. Trump in an interview to the news agency pointed out that if he returns to the White House, he would like to offer Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX a position as an advisor or cabinet member to the head of the US administration, if the entrepreneur is willing to engage in such activities. Asked if he would consider Musk for an advisory role or cabinet job, Trump told Reuters he would consider Musk for such a position "if he would do it, Trump also told Reuters...

  London, U.K. June 20, 2024 .   Clarivate Plc   (NYSE:CLVT), a leading global provider of transformative intelligence , today released the 2024 update to the   Journal Citation Reports ™ (JCR™). The reports provide an essential and comprehensive resource of high-quality journals, ranked by field to enable academic institutions, researchers and publishers to gauge the significance of journals in the global research landscape.  Changes to journal rankings include the addition of the Emerging Sources Citation Index. Only journals that have met the rigorous quality standards for inclusion in the Web of Science Core Collection ™ are featured within the Journal Citation Reports, to ensure that users can confidently rely on the information and descriptive data provided. The annual reports provide a rich array of publisher–independent data, metrics and analysis to enhance user understanding of journal performance, including the widely recognized Journal Impact Factor™...

  A deadly new strain of  mpox  that emerged in Central Africa has spread in the continent and beyond. This year's major outbreak started with Democratic Republic of Congo - killing at least 450 people - and spread to other areas in Central and East Africa. The  Clade 1B  strain that is behind the current outbreak is now spreading its wings to countries outside Africa. Sweden and Pakistan recorded their first cases of the highly infectious form of mpox, earlier known as  monkeypox . The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing  mpox outbreak  in Africa a global health emergency, which is the highest level of alarm under international health law. Before that Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had declared a public  health emergency  for the continent. The last time mpox was declared a global health emergency was in the year 2022. There are two main strains of the virus, known as Clade I and Clade II. The 2022 ou...

  Climate anxiety is very real, but these good news stories from 2024 prove there is hope for our planet. Eco-anxiety, climate doom, environmental existential dread - as green journalists, we see these terms used a lot - and often feel them ourselves. While there's a lot to be worried about when it comes to the climate and nature crises, we must not lose hope - because hopelessness breeds apathy. The media has an important role to play in combatting climate doom. It's our job to be truthful and accurate in our reporting, not trying to downplay or greenwash the situation . But it's also our job to show that there is hope. In 2023, as part of our ongoing effort to tackle eco-anxiety (both that of our readers and our own), we kept track of all the positive environmental news throughout the year. We racked up over 200 stories of eco-innovation, green breakthroughs and climate wins - more than double the number in 2022 and a sure sign of momentum. In 2024, we're confident ...

  The ozone layer sits in the stratosphere between 15 km and 30 km above the earth and shields us and other living things from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation . Ozone layer depletion could have serious effects on human health and the environment. Depletion of stratospheric ozone  occurs over both hemispheres of the Earth. However, this phenomenon is more pronounced in the Southern Hemisphere (Antarctica) than in the Northern Hemisphere (Arctic). This is the case because the formation of the ozone hole is directly linked to the stratosphere's temperature. Once temperatures drop below -78°C, polar stratospheric clouds tend to form, which exacerbate ozone depletion. In the Antarctic, long presence of low  temperatures in the stratosphere  is stimulating their formation, whereas the Arctic is characterised by larger year-to-year meteorological variability. Dobson Units (DU) measure how much ozone is in the air above us. On a global scale, the average total ozon...

  UChicago chemists hope to lay foundation for greener chemistry As the world moves away from gas towards electricity as a greener power source, the to-do list goes beyond cars. The vast global manufacturing network that makes everything from our batteries to our fertilizers needs to flip the switch, too. A study from UChicago chemists found a way to use electricity to boost a type of chemical reaction often used in synthesizing new candidates for pharmaceutical drugs. “What we want to do is understand what’s happening at the fundamental level at the electrode interface , and use that to predict and design more efficient chemical reactions,” said Anna Wuttig, UChicago Neubauer Family Assistant Professor and the senior author on the paper. “This is a step towards that eventual goal.” Chemical complexity In certain chemical reactions, electricity can boost the output—and because you can get the needed electricity from renewable sources, it could be part of making the worldwide chemi...

Space exploration is in the midst of a transformative era marked by groundbreaking missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Public and private space actors are revolutionizing the industry with cost-effective, reusable launch vehicles and ambitious missions. Here's how we can ensure space activities are conducted in a way that safeguards the interests of future generations. Space exploration also encourages international cooperation and inspires future generations. There have never been so many space exploration missions venturing into our solar system. In recent months, six missions have been launched to the Moon.  India  and  Japan  became the fourth and fifth nations, respectively, to achieve successful 'soft' lunar landings alongside a private mission. China  has recently returned the first-ever samples from the lunar “farside”. Additionally, more than 150 l unar and cislunar exploration missions are planned until 2033, supported by both government and commerc...