Category Biology/Biotechnology

A smartphone’s glow is often the first and last thing we see as we wake up in the morning and go to sleep at the end of the day. It is increasingly becoming an extension of our body that we struggle to part with. In a recent study in Computers in Human Behavior, scientists observed that staying away from smartphones can even change one’s brain chemistry.

The researchers recruited young adults for a 72-hour smartphone restriction diet where they were asked to limit smartphone use to essential tasks such as work, daily activities, and communication with their family or significant others.

During these three days, the researchers conducted psychological tests and did brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of restricting phone usage...

Research into immunotherapy against cancer typically focuses on better recognition of cancer cells by the body’s own immune system. Researchers at Amsterdam UMC and Moffitt Cancer Center have taken a different approach.

They investigated how cancer affects the energy management of a patient’s T cells and showed for the first time that contact with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells leads to a serious energy crisis in these cells.

These findings are published in Cellular & Molecular Immunology, building on a publication in the Blood Journal.

CLL is the most common type of leukemia in the Western world and mainly affects the elderly. Despite new therapies, the disease remains incurable, and treatments are becoming increasingly expensive.

Some c...

Each year, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), millions of people in the U.S. are affected by spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, along with neuro-developmental and degenerative diseases such as ADHD, autism, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Assistant Professor Pabitra Sahoo, of Rutgers University-Newark’s Department of Biological Sciences, has made it his life’s work to understand how our neurological system becomes damaged by these injuries and conditions, and when and how neurons in our central and peripheral nervous systems re...

Recent advances in astronomical observations have found a significant number of extrasolar planets that can sustain surface water, and the search for extraterrestrial life on such planets is gaining momentum. A team of astrobiologists has proposed a novel approach for detecting life on ocean planets. By conducting laboratory measurements and satellite remote sensing analyses, they have demonstrated that the reflectance spectrum of floating vegetation could serve as a promising biosignature...