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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a type of white blood cell that have been genetically engineered to recognize and attack cancer cells expressing specific proteins on their surface. They have been successfully used to treat patients with B cell lymphomas and are currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of many other types of blood cancer. “However, the clinical activity of CAR T cells in patients or animal models with solid tumors has been modest,” says Jonathan S....

The research paper describes the potential of vast underground salt formations to act as storage facilities for hydrogen, transfer heat to geothermal power plants, and impact CO2 storage. It emphasizes the role that industries with extensive experience in working with salt, such as solution mining, salt extraction, and oil and gas exploration, could play in supporting this transition. “We see potential in applying knowledge and data gained from many decades of research, hydrocarbon exploration, and mining in salt basins to energy transition technologies,” said lead author Oliver Duffy, a research scientist at the bureau....

Researchers urge UK to keep EU ban on pesticide which has detrimental effect on pollinators. Just like us, many insects need a decent night’s sleep to function properly, but this might not be possible if they have been exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides, the most common form of insecticide used worldwide, suggests research by academics at the University of Bristol. Two studies by scientists at Bristol’s Schools of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Biological Sciences have shown these insecticides affect the amount of sleep taken by both bumblebees and fruit flies, which may help us understand why insect pollinators are vanishing from the wild....

As the digital revolution has now become mainstream, quantum computing and quantum communication are rising in the consciousness of the field. The enhanced measurement technologies enabled by quantum phenomena, and the possibility of scientific progress using new methods, are of particular interest to researchers around the world. Recently two researchers at Tampere University, Assistant Professor Robert Fickler and Doctoral Researcher Markus Hiekkamäki, demonstrated that two-photon interference can be controlled in a near-perfect way using the spatial shape of the photon....

“We believe that the interplay between an individual’s genetics and the environment is a key to answering questions like, ‘Why do some drugs work well for some people but not others?’ or ‘Why does pollution affect people differently?’” says David Reif, associate professor of biology at NC State and corresponding author of the study. “We wanted to address two related problems: Of all the tens of thousands of chemicals to which we are exposed, do some elicit differential sensitivity?...

But a new study says that some of what we’re seeing aren’t loops at all. Instead, they’re a type of optical illusion. Do we know the Sun as well as we think we do? The Sun’s corona is the outermost layer of its atmosphere. It’s made of plasma, which contains lots of charged particles. That means that it readily responds to electromagnetic fields. The Sun has a powerful magnetic field that varies by place and time....

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys have identified a set of human genes that fight SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus that causes COVID-19. Knowing which genes help control viral infection can greatly assist researchers’ understanding of factors that affect disease severity and also suggest possible therapeutic options. The genes in question are related to interferons, the body’s frontline virus fighters. The study was published in the journal Molecular Cell. “We wanted to gain a better understanding of the cellular response to SARS-CoV-2, including what drives a strong or weak response to infection,” says Sumit K....

Pregnant women with COVID-19 are more likely to have complications with pregnancy and birth compared to those without, according to research publishing today (November 30th, 2021) in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. The study looks at hospitalization for births in France during the first six months of the pandemic and suggests that vaccination may be useful to protect women and their babies, particularly for women at a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 infections....

Journal of the American College of Cardiology focus seminar looks at history of COVID-19, plus relationship with cardiometabolic syndrome, myocardial injury, and arrhythmias. Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the virus on the heart has become more prevalent, with clinicians acting in real time to effectively help heart disease patients and those at higher risk who contract coronavirus. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has issued a three-part focus seminar on COVID-19 in 2020 to address the complex relationship between COVID-19 and the heart....

A new study published in The American Journal of Medicine has identified a link between vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 and increased risks of traffic accidents. Researchers found that individuals who neglect health recommendations for vaccination may also neglect basic road safety measures. The study suggests that raising awareness about the connection between vaccination and road safety may encourage more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This is the first study that explores the possible relationship between vaccine hesitancy and traffic crashes, which are a major cause of injury and death, and can be made worse by other underlying health conditions....

The work, conducted in the laboratory of Michael Elowitz, professor of biology and bioengineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and executive officer for Biological Engineering, is described in a paper in the February 8 issue of Cell. In particular, the scientists studied a key communication system called “Notch,” which is used in nearly every tissue in animals. Malfunctions in the Notch pathway contribute to a variety of cancers and developmental diseases, making it a desirable target to study for drug development....

In this color-filled image, blue represents oxygen (O III), green is hydrogen (H-alpha), orange is nitrogen (N II), and red is sulfur (S II). This Hubble Space Telescope image was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which gave it its distinctive stair-shape. One of the camera’s four detectors provided a magnified view, which would be shrunk down in the final image to match the other three, creating the unique shape....

When LIGO’s twin detectors first picked up faint wobbles in their respective, identical mirrors, the signal didn’t just provide first direct detection of gravitational waves — it also confirmed the existence of stellar binary black holes, which gave rise to the signal in the first place. Stellar binary black holes are formed when two black holes, created out of the remnants of massive stars, begin to orbit each other. Eventually, the black holes merge in a spectacular collision that, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, should release a huge amount of energy in the form of gravitational waves....

People with lower incomes and who experienced multiple COVID-related stressors were more likely to feel the toll of the pandemic, as the socioeconomic inequities in mental health continue to widen. Depression among US adults persisted—and worsened—throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). Published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, the first-of-its-kind study found that 32....

Antibiotics save countless lives each year from harmful bacterial infections — but the community of beneficial bacteria that live in human intestines, known as the microbiome, frequently suffers collateral damage. Peter Belenky, an assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Brown University, studies ways to minimize this side effect, which can lead to C. diff infections and other life-threatening imbalances in the microbiome. In a new study published on Thursday, September 12, 2019, in Cell Metabolism, Belenky and his colleagues found that antibiotics change the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiome in mice, and that a mouse’s diet can mitigate or exacerbate these changes....

Face masks made of various cloth materials can filter nanoscale aerosol particles — such as those released by a cough or sneeze — potentially helping to reduce the spread of diseases, including COVID-19. But live bacteria and viruses on the surface of the mask could still be contagious. Peixin Tang, Gang Sun, Nitin Nitin and colleagues wanted to develop a new cotton fabric that would release reactive oxygen species (ROS) when exposed to daylight, killing microbes attached to the fabric’s surfaces while being washable, reusable, and safe for the wearer....

For the first time caught on video, Korean-based scientists witnessed a group of dolphins trying to help another dying dolphin by forming a “life raft.” Details of the behavior are reported in the journal Marine Mammal Science. [Video is no longer available. yybpbXYCaZw] Reference: “An unusual case of care-giving behavior in wild long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis) in the East Sea” by Kyum J. Park, Hawsun Sohn, Yong R. An, Dae Y....

What to look for in December 2022: Mars disappears, and Pegasus rides to adventure. Viewers in most of the U.S. and Europe can watch Mars slip behind the Moon on December 7, and everyone can find the winged horse constellation Pegasus. December 1 – Look in the southwest this evening to find the Moon only a couple of finger-widths apart from the brilliant planet Jupiter.December 7 – Full moonDecember 7 – The Moon occults, or covers up, Mars tonight....

In their youth, stars are surrounded by a rotating disk of gas and dust from which planets are born. Studying the behavior of the material that makes up these disks can reveal new details about planet formation, and the evolution of a planetary system as a whole. The disk around a young star called HD 163296 is known to include several rings and gaps. Using 3-D visualizations taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA—a radio telescope made up of 66 antennas—Bae teamed with University of Michigan’s Richard Teague and Ted Bergin to determine the velocities of some of the gas spinning in this disk....

Using publicly available data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found that six percent of red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets. Since red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, the closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away. “We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an Earth-like planet. Now we realize another Earth is probably in our own backyard, waiting to be spotted,” said Harvard astronomer and lead author Courtney Dressing (CfA)....