Large placebo-controlled trial confirms safety of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)

For patients taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to treat gastroesophageal disease (GERD) or other acid-related conditions, new research puts safety concerns to rest. In a large, multi-year, randomized trial studying the safety of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), researchers find no evidence to support claims that PPIs cause serious health issues such as pneumonia, chronic kidney disease, diabetes and dementia. This research is published in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association, as an article in press.

* This article was originally published here

Discovery sheds light on synthesis, processing of high-performance solar cells

Halide perovskite solar cells hold promise as the next generation of solar cell technologies, but while researchers have developed techniques for improving their material characteristics, nobody understood why these techniques worked. New research sheds light on the science behind these engineering solutions and paves the way for developing more efficient halide perovskite solar cells.

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Decoding Beethoven's music style using data science

EPFL researchers are investigating Beethoven's composition style using statistical techniques to quantify and explore the patterns that characterize musical structures in the Western classical tradition. They confirm what is expected against the backdrop of music theory for the classical music era, but go beyond a music theoretical approach by statistically characterizing the musical language of Beethoven for the first time. Their study is based on the set of compositions known as the Beethoven String Quartets, and the results are published in PLOS ONE.

* This article was originally published here

The deep learning dive: how cells regulate division

Combining tissue imaging and artificial intelligence, Hollings Cancer Center researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina probed deeper into how cell division cycles are regulated, in this study released online in the May 2019 issue of Cell Reports.

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Scientists propose a fresh look at the role of ferroptosis in the development of cancer

Despite significant advances in medicine, cancer remains the second leading cause of death worldwide (WHO, 2018). One of the main approaches to the destruction of cancer cells, along with cancer immunotherapy, is to initiate cell death through chemo- and radiotherapy. In their article in Nature Reviews Cancer, several researchers have proposed a new look at the role of ferroptosis (a type of cell death) in the development of cancer.

* This article was originally published here

Changing minds: How do you communicate with climate change skeptics?

Warming oceans. Shrinking ice sheets. Intense rainfall events. Rising sea levels.

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Just a phage? How bacteria's predators can shape the gut microbiome

The gut microbiome is a complex, interconnected ecosystem of species. And, like any ecosystem, some organisms are predators and some are prey. A new study led by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Wyss Institute investigates the impact of bacteriophage, viruses that infect and kill bacteria. They find that phage can have a profound impact on the dynamics of the gut microbiome, not only affecting certain species directly but also having a cascading effect on others. Phage may also be impacting their human host by modulating metabolites, including chemical substances found in the brain. The team, which includes first author Bryan Hsu, Ph.D., and co-corresponding senior author Pamela Silver, Ph.D., at the Wyss Institute, and Lynn Bry, MD, Ph.D., at the Brigham and director of the Massachusetts Host-Microbiome Center, has published its results in Cell Host & Microbe.

* This article was originally published here

Name an exoplanet

In recent years, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets and planetary systems orbiting around nearby stars. Some are small and rocky like the Earth, whilst others are gas giants like Jupiter. It is now believed that most stars in the Universe could have planets orbiting them and that some of them may have physical characteristics that resemble those of the Earth. The sheer number of stars in the Universe, each potentially with orbiting planets, along with the ubiquity of pre-biotic compounds, suggests that extraterrestrial life may be likely.

* This article was originally published here

Earthquake, flood, hurricane: Google Maps adds tools to help you navigate a crisis

Google is adding tools to Google Maps and search to help you survive a natural disaster.

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Here comes the sun

It's no surprise Western Australia has a lot of sunshine. But what are we doing with it?

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First-of-its-kind platform aims to rapidly advance prosthetics

A new open-source, artificially intelligent prosthetic leg designed by researchers at the University of Michigan and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is now available to the scientific community.

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Many plant species at risk of extinction—and we're blind to danger this poses to life on Earth

Up to 1 million species may go extinct due to human activity according to a recent report, some within decades. We all know the mammals in trouble—polar bears, giant pandas and snow leopards—but how many of us could name an endangered plant? A 2019 report assessed 28,000 plant species and concluded that about half of them were threatened with extinction.

* This article was originally published here

Driverless cars: once they're on the road, human drivers should be banned

Self-driving cars could revolutionise people's lives. By the end of the next decade, or perhaps even sooner, they could radically transform public spaces and liberate us from the many problems of mass car ownership. They'll also be much better behaved than human drivers.

* This article was originally published here

Making computers, mobile devices more energy-efficient

A computer's cache is a part of the memory where frequently used items are stored to speed up processing. If you visit the same websites on your phone frequently, for example, your phone might save information about those sites so your browser or app doesn't need to re-download it each time.

* This article was originally published here

Mojo Vision shows off display technology for augmented reality

What meets the eye is important—but in the case of entering the realm of augmented reality, how it meets the eye is an issue. A California company is on that case. They have technology to let AR users keep in the flow eyes-up. Hands-free.

* This article was originally published here

Breathing in black carbon from polluted air linked to alterations in lung blood vessels

Evidence that breathing in tiny particles of black carbon, typically a result of burning diesel, is linked to an increased volume of peripheral, smaller blood vessels in the lungs has been observed for the first time in new research published in the European Respiratory Journal.

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To see how invading predators change an ecosystem, watch the prey, say researchers

Invading predators can devastate an ecosystem. In fact, a leading cause of extinction is the introduction of predators into an isolated system like an island or a lake. The destruction is usually blamed on the predator's eating choices, but sometimes the key lies in the prey animals' responses, according to an international team of researchers led by Princeton's Robert Pringle.

* This article was originally published here