A new study shows that the infant immune system is stronger than most people think, and beats the adult immune system at fighting off new pathogens. The infant immune system has a reputation for being weak and underdeveloped when compared to an adult, but the comparison isn't quite fair, says Donna Farber, PhD, professor of microbiology & immunology and the George H. Humphreys II professor of surgical sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and...
Could technology play a role in making women feel safer on our streets? Since the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, the WalkSafe app has had a surge in popularity, and is the fastest-growing safety app in the U.K. Founder Emma Kaye came up with the concept after experiencing harassment, groping, and flashing. "Our app is really bitter-sweet because, of course, we love that we're busy. However, we really wish it didn't have to exist. No...
Security experts around the world are racing today to patch one of the worst computer vulnerabilities discovered in years, a critical flaw in open-source code widely used across industry and government in cloud services and enterprise software, reports Tech Xplore. "I'd be hard-pressed to think of a company that's not at risk," said Joe Sullivan, chief security officer for Cloudflare. New Zealand's computer emergency response team was among the first to report that the...
Inflammatory processes are associated with a large range of human diseases, including rheumatic diseases and allergies. Protein biomarkers are measurable molecules that can have a prognostic value in patients, be used to diagnose disease, or indicate severity of disease. Today, a large number of plasma proteins have been identified as potential biomarkers for inflammatory diseases, where they are often highly expressed in patients. However, the causal relationship between a protein biomarker and inflammatory diseases is generally unknown. The protein could...
A computer scientist who claims he invented Bitcoin has won a court case allowing him to keep his cache of cryptocurrency worth billions of dollars, the BBC reports. A jury rejected claims that Craig Wright's former business partner was due half of the assets. As a result, Wright will retain 1.1 million Bitcoin, worth about $54 billion. He will pay $100 million to his late partner's company for intellectual property infringement. The family of Dave Kleiman, a computer...
When it comes to toxic microbial warfare, the stronger microbe does not always win. A new Cornell University-led study battled strains of yeast manipulated to release different toxins at tunable and controlled rates, finding that the strain with the stronger toxin can only defeat another if its initial invading population exceeds a critical frequency or size. The research, published Dec. 6 in the journal eLife, has implications for human health since our bodies play host...
Sexual frequency is declining in the United States, according to a study by Indiana University researchers. "Our study adds to a growing body of research that has reported on declines in sex," said Jane Fu, a research associate at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, who co-led the study. "The declines in partnered sexual activity seen in our study are consistent with findings from studies in the U.K., Australia, Germany, and Japan." Debby Herbenick,...
The idea of spending millions on non-existent land may sound ludicrous, but feverish predictions of a virtual reality future are pushing investors to bet big on digital real estate. This week, New York-based company Republic Realm announced it had spent a record-breaking $4.3 million on digital land through The Sandbox, one of several "virtual world" websites where people can socialize, play games, and even attend concerts, reports Tech Xplore. That came on the heels of...
The Higgs boson doesn't stick around for long. Once it is created in particle collisions, the famed particle lives for less than a trillionth of a billionth of a second or, more precisely, 1.6 x 10-22 seconds. According to theory, that is, for so far experiments have only been able to set bounds on the value of the particle's lifetime or to determine this property with a large uncertainty. Until now. In a new study, the...
A multi-institutional team of astrophysicists headquartered at Boston University (BU) has made a breakthrough in our understanding of the cosmic forces that shape the protective bubble surrounding our solar system – a bubble that shelters life on Earth and is known by space researchers as the heliosphere. Astrophysicists believe the heliosphere protects the planets within our solar system from powerful radiation emanating from supernovas, the final explosions of dying stars throughout the universe. They...
