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The chances of intelligent life emerging in our universe—and in any hypothetical ones beyond it—can be estimated by a new theoretical model which has echoes of the famous Drake Equation.

This was the formula that American astronomer Dr. Frank Drake came up with in the 1960s to calculate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy.

More than 60 years on, astrophysicists led by Durham Uni...

One of the most powerful assets of the brain is that it can store information as memories, allowing us to learn from our mistakes. However, some memories remain vivid while others become forgotten. Unlike computers, our brains appear to filter which memories are salient enough to store.

Researchers from Tohoku University have discovered that part of the memory selection process depends on the function of astrocytes, a special type of cell that surrounds neurons in the brain. They showed that artificially acidifying the astrocytes did not affect short-term memory but prevented memories from being remembered long-term.

The findings are published in the journal Glia.

The researchers implemented a technique called “optogenetics” to manipulate the astrocytes by shining light onto ...

Scientists from Vilnius University’s (VU) Life Sciences Center (LSC) have discovered a unique way for cells to silence specific genes without cutting DNA. This research, led by Prof. Patrick Pausch and published in the journal Nature Communications, reveals a new way to silence genes that is akin to pressing a “pause” button on certain genetic instructions within cells.

The research team, including doctoral student Rimvydė Čepaitė, Dr. Aistė Skorupskaitė, undergraduate Gintarė Žvejyte and Prof. Pausch at Vilnius University, working alongside an international team, uncovered how cells use a specific system to locate and silence unwanted DNA. This system, which could eventually enable safer gene modifications, shows promise for repairing faulty genes that cause diseases.

“U...

It’s common knowledge that our brains—and, specifically, our brain cells—store memories. But a team of scientists has discovered that cells from other parts of the body also perform a memory function, opening new pathways for understanding how memory works and creating the potential to Enhance Learning and to Treat Memory-related Afflictions.

“Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and brain cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can learn and form memories, too,” explains New York University’s Nikolay V. Kukushkin, the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications.

The research so...