Solving a Biological Puzzle: How Stress causes Gray Hair

Scientists uncover link between the nervous system and stem cells that regenerate pigment. Scientists have found evidence to support long-standing anecdotes that stress causes hair graying. Researchers found that in mice, the type of nerve involved in the fight-or-flight response causes permanent damage to the pigment-regenerating stem cells in the hair follicle. The findings advance knowledge of how stress impacts the body, and are a first step toward blocking its negative effects.

The study, published in Nature, advances scientists’ knowledge of how stress can impact the body...

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Less may be more in Next-Gen Batteries

Rice University engineers built lithium-ion batteries with silicon anodes and an alumina layer to protect cathodes from degrading. Illustration courtesy of the Biswal Lab

Lab tests cells with silicon anodes, aluminum coatings that protect cathodes. Engineers build full lithium-ion batteries with silicon anodes and an alumina layer to protect cathodes from degrading. By limiting their energy density, the batteries promise excellent stability for transportation and grid storage use.

The process of developing better rechargeable batteries may be cloudy, but there’s an alumina lining.

A slim layer of the metal oxide applied to common cathodes by engineers at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering revealed new phenomena that could lead to batteries that are better geared towa...

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Inner Complexity of Saturn Moon, Enceladus, revealed

Artistic representation of Enceladus's core with plumes coming from the bottom of the planet
Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Using new geochemical models, SwRI scientists found that CO2 in Enceladus’ ocean may be controlled by chemical reactions at the seafloor. Integrating this finding with previous discoveries of H2 and silica suggests geochemically diverse environments in the rocky core. This diversity has the potential to create energy sources that could support life.

Enceladus’ subsurface ocean composition hints at habitable conditions. A Southwest Research Institute team developed a new geochemical model that reveals that carbon dioxide (CO2) from within Enceladus, an ocean-harboring moon of Saturn, may be controlled by chemical reactions at its seafloor...

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Zebrafish teach Researchers more about Atrial Fibrillation

Stock photo of a zebrafish, which has not been part of the study. Photo: Colourbox
Stock photo of a zebrafish, which has not been part of the study. Photo: Colourbox

Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences have shown a possible link between a genetic variation and the widespread type of cardiac arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation.

The scientists conducted the study in zebrafish, which is a recognised scientific animal model within cardiac research.

Here, researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and the Max Planck Institute in Germany put special focus on the gene pitx2c. The result came as a surprise to them, says Assistant Professor Pia Lundegaard from the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

‘It seems that we may also have to think of atrial fibrillation as an atrial cardiomyopathy – that is, a challenged heart – rather than...

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