How children learned for 99% of human history

Unlike kids in the United States, hunter-gatherer children in the Congo Basin have often learned how to hunt, identify edible plants and care for babies by the tender age of six or seven. This rapid learning is facilitated by a unique social environment where cultural knowledge is passed down not just from parents but from the broader community. The research helps explain how many cultural traits have been preserved for thousands of years among hunter-gatherer groups across a wide range of natural environments in Africa.

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Spinning fusion fuel for efficiency

A new method to increase fusion-fuel efficiency would involve aligning the quantum spin of deuterium and tritium and changing the mix of the two fuels. The approach could boost tritium-burn efficiency by up to 10 times, reducing tritium needs and lowering fusion system costs. The technique could lead to safer, more compact fusion systems, making fusion energy more practical and affordable.

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Earlier diabetes diagnosis linked to dementia risk

People diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at a younger age are at a higher risk for developing dementia than those diagnosed later in life, according to a new study. The findings show that the increased risk is especially pronounced among adults with obesity.

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How jetlag can disrupt our metabolism

Have you ever felt sluggish and out of sorts after a long-haul flight or a late-night shift? A new study has found that disruptions to our body clock, such as those experienced during jetlag, impact our metabolism -- but to a lesser extent than sleepiness and the primary clock in the brain.

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Confinement may affect how we smell and feel about food

New research found confined and isolating environments changed the way people smelled and responded emotionally to certain food aromas. The team in this study compared 44 people's emotional responses and perception of eight food aromas in two environmental scenarios: sitting in reclined chairs that mimic astronauts' posture in microgravity; and then in the confined setting of the International Space Station (ISS), which was simulated for participants with virtual reality goggles. The research builds on previous work by the team and aims to help explain why astronauts report meals taste different in space and struggle to eat their normal nutritional intake over long missions, which has been reported in the news recently.

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Machine learning and supercomputer simulations help researchers to predict interactions between gold nanoparticles and blood proteins

Researchers have used machine learning and supercomputer simulations to investigate how tiny gold nanoparticles bind to blood proteins. The studies discovered that favorable nanoparticle-protein interactions can be predicted from machine learning models that are trained from atom-scale molecular dynamics simulations. The new methodology opens ways to simulate efficacy of gold nanoparticles as targeted drug delivery systems in precision nanomedicine.

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How optogenetics can put the brakes on epilepsy seizures

In what could one day become a new treatment for epilepsy, researchers have used pulses of light to prevent seizure-like activity in neurons.

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Gaming for the good!

It turns out gaming is good for you! New research indicates massive multiplayer online gamers learn by gaming and their skills in the workplace are enriched by those seemingly endless hours previously thought of as frittering away time.

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Climate change and eye maladies

Clinical visits by patients suffering ocular surface eye conditions more than doubled during times when ambient particulate matter from air pollution was in the atmosphere, signaling a possible association between climate change and ocular health, according to a new study.

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Achilles heel of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

To stem the surging antibiotic resistance public health crisis, scientists seek solutions inside the mechanics of bacterial infection. A new study has found a vulnerability related to magnesium availability. This limitation potentially could be exploited to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance.

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