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University of Guelph researchers have created a first-ever vaccine for gut bacteria common in autistic children. The groundbreaking study by Brittany Pequegnat and Guelph chemistry professor Mario Monteiro appears this month in the journal Vaccine. They developed a carbohydrate-based vaccine against the gut bug Clostridium bolteae. C. bolteae is known to play a role in gastrointestinal disorders, and it often shows up in higher numbers in the GI tracts of autistic children than in those of healthy kids....

Ovarian follicles are the basic functional unit of the ovary and consist of an oocyte, the immature egg, which is surrounded by granulosa cells. Besides being crucial to the development of follicles, studies have shown that granulosa cells possess plasticity that shows stem cell-like properties. “The thing about in vitro fertilization is that they only use the oocyte for the procedure,” says senior author Lin Liu, of the College of Life Sciences at Nankai University....

Planetary scientists from Brown University have proposed a new scenario for the formation of ancient clay minerals on Mars that, if shown to be true, could rewrite the early history of the red planet. There are thousands of ancient phyllosilicate outcrops on the Martian surface. Phyllosilicates, or clays, are formed by the interaction of water with volcanic rock, leading many scientists to conclude that there must have been sustained surface water, groundwater or active hydrothermal systems at some point in Martian history....

Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with colleagues at the École Polytechnique in France, have conclusively identified Auger recombination as the mechanism that causes light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be less efficient at high drive currents. Until now, scientists had only theorized the cause behind the phenomenon known as LED “droop”—a mysterious drop in the light produced when a higher current is applied. The cost per lumen of LEDs has held the technology back as a viable replacement for incandescent bulbs for all-purpose commercial and residential lighting....

Most of the world’s leopards are endangered and generally, the number of these shy and stunning cats is decreasing. However, according to a recent study by a researcher from University of Copenhagen and colleagues from China, leopard populations in northern China are on the mend. Discover why below. Leopards are fascinating animals. In addition to being sublime hunters that will eat nearly anything and can survive in varied habitats from forests to deserts, they are able to withstand temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius during winter to plus 40 degrees in summer....

Imagine a field of wheat that extends to the horizon, being grown for flour that will be made into bread to feed cities’ worth of people. Imagine that all authority for tilling, planting, fertilizing, monitoring, and harvesting this field has been delegated to artificial intelligence: algorithms that control drip-irrigation systems, self-driving tractors, and combine harvesters, clever enough to respond to the weather and the exact needs of the crop. Then imagine a hacker messes things up....

The asteroid Ryugu may look like a solid piece of rock, but it’s more accurate to liken it to an orbiting pile of rubble. Given the relative fragility of this collection of loosely bound boulders, researchers believe that Ryugu and similar asteroids probably don’t last very long due to disruptions and collisions from other asteroids. Ryugu is estimated to have adopted its current form around 10 million to 20 million years ago, which sounds like a lot compared to a human lifespan, but makes it a mere infant when compared to larger solar system bodies....

Weizmann Institute scientists have demonstrated for the first time a photonic router – a quantum device based on a single atom that enables routing of single photons by single photons. This achievement, as reported in Science magazine, is another step toward overcoming the difficulties in building quantum computers. At the core of the device is an atom that can switch between two states. The state is set just by sending a single particle of light – or photon – from the right or the left via an optical fiber....

The largest known marine turtles, such as the extinct genus Archelon, which could reach up to 4.6 meters in length and weigh up to 3.2 tons, lived in the seas around North America during the Cretaceous period. No known European marine turtle, either extinct or living, has exceeded a shell length of 1.5 meters. Àngel H. Luján, Albert Sellés, and colleagues describe the remains of a new marine turtle specimen ­ – which they name Leviathanochelys aenigmatica – found in the Cal Torrades locality, Northeastern Spain, which appeared nearly as large as Archelon....

The research team suspected that the way genes are annotated, or categorized, within the genome has limited the identification of genes with the potential to code proteins. To test their theory, the researchers used mice models to study the interaction between RNA and ribosomes, which are minute structures that turn RNA into proteins. They also used a technique called ribosome profiling to investigate how ribosomes relate to RNA. With the combined techniques, the researchers found a number of genes previously identified as non-protein-coding that were actively making proteins....

Schizophrenia is an often devastating disorder causing huge human suffering. Genetic studies have linked hundreds of genes to schizophrenia, each contributing a small part to the risk of developing the disease. The great abundance of identified genes have made it difficult to design experiments. Scientists have been struggling to understand what is linking the genes together and whether these genes affect the entire brain diffusely or certain components more. By combining new maps of all the genes used in different cell types in the brain with detailed lists of the genes associated with schizophrenia, scientists in the current study could identify the types of cells that underlie the disorder....

The study, recently published in the journal Nature Genetics, analyzed data from over a million individuals and calculated polygenic risk scores based on the genetic data. The scores were able to predict atrial fibrillation, as well as the risk of stroke and mortality, in individuals who were at risk. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart beats rapidly and irregularly, causing blood to pool in the atria. This increases the risk of blood clots forming in the heart and then traveling to the brain where they can block blood flow and cause a stroke....

Which areas of the brain help us to perceive our world in a self-reflective manner is difficult to measure. During wakefulness, we are always conscious of ourselves. In sleep, however, we are not. But there are people, known as lucid dreamers, who can become aware of dreaming during sleep. Studies employing magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) have now been able to demonstrate that a specific cortical network consisting of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the frontopolar regions and the precuneus is activated when this lucid consciousness is attained....

The cooldown would be the result of what scientists call a grand minimum, a periodic event during which the Sun’s magnetism diminishes, sunspots form infrequently, and less ultraviolet radiation makes it to the surface of the planet. Scientists believe the event is triggered irregularly by random fluctuations related to the Sun’s magnetic field. Scientists have used reconstructions based on geological and historical data to attribute a cold period in Europe in the mid-17th Century to such an event, named the “Maunder Minimum....

The oriole conundrum began with the birds long considered to be two distinct species. But the discovery that they interbreed caused the Bullock’s and Baltimore Orioles to be lumped together under the name Northern Oriole in 1983, much to the consternation of birders and some biologists who felt that these birds were each highly distinct. In 1995, the American Ornithological Union reversed course and split them back into their two separate species....

The decline shows that significantly more organic carbon was buried in the extinction event than had been previously believed, and it may have contributed to the mass extinction, which resulted in the loss of up to 90% of species in the oceans. The findings were recently published in the journal AGU Advances. “This research tells us more about what was happening with molybdenum during this extinction event, but we also take it a step further,” said Jeremy Owens, an associate professor in FSU’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science and a paper co-author....

Coastal populations worldwide are already bracing for rising seas. However, planning for counter-measures to prevent inundation and other damages has been extremely difficult since the latest climate model projections presented in the 6th assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) do not agree on how quickly the major ice sheets will respond to global warming. Melting ice sheets are potentially the largest contributor to sea level change, and historically the hardest to predict because the physics governing their behavior is notoriously complex....

When that single dose is given is key, however. The study found rhesus macaque newborns did not develop the monkey form of HIV, called SHIV, when they received a combination of two antibodies 30 hours after being exposed to the virus. Delaying treatment until 48 hours, on the other hand, resulted in half of the baby macaques developing SHIV when they were given four smaller doses of the same antibody cocktail....

Sitting somewhere on the spectrum between ordinary and active galaxies is another class, known as low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) galaxies. While LINERs are relatively common, accounting for roughly one-third of all nearby galaxies, astronomers have fiercely debated the main source of light emission from LINERs. Some argue that weakly active galactic nuclei are responsible, while others maintain that star-forming regions outside the galactic nucleus produce the most light. A team of astronomers observed six mild-mannered LINER galaxies suddenly and surprisingly transforming into ravenous quasars—home to the brightest of all active galactic nuclei....

The scientists published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. A speed limit of 14 mph, down from the current speeds of 25 to 29 mph would cut nitrogen oxides by 55% and soot by 70%. It would also reduce carbon dioxide by 60%. There are 100,000 ships carrying 90% of the world’s cargo, and the resulting air pollution is problematic for people living near ports. The ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/New Jersey are already part of a voluntary monitoring program and this has already cut down emissions significantly in those areas....