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    GMRT discovers a Gigantic Ring of Hydrogen Gas around a distant galaxy

    January 3, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The optical image from the CFHT telescope with the distribution of neutral hydrogen in the form of a large ring shown in red as observed by the GMRT. The other two red blobs show the distribution of neutral hydrogen around two other galaxies which are in the vicinity of the ring. Credit: O. Bait (NCRA-TIFR/GMRT), Duc (ObAS/CFHT)

    A team of astronomers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) in Pune, India have discovered a mysterious ring of hydrogen gas around a distant galaxy, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The ring is much bigger than the galaxy it surrounds and has a diameter of about 380,000 light-years (about 4 times that of our Milky Way).

    The galaxy (named AGC 203001), is located about 260 million light-years away from us...

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    Researchers build a Particle Accelerator that fits on a Chip, miniaturizing a technology that can now find new applications in research and medicine

    January 2, 2020, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical

    This image, magnified 25,000 times, shows a section of an accelerator-on-a-chip. The gray structures focus infrared laser light (shown in yellow and purple) on electrons flowing through the center channel. By packing 1,000 channels onto an inch-sized chip, Stanford researchers hope to accelerate electrons to 94 percent of the speed of light. (Image credit: Courtesy Neil Sapra

    On a hillside above Stanford University, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory operates a scientific instrument nearly 2 miles long...

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    Delivering TB vaccine Intravenously dramatically Improves Potency, study shows

    January 2, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    3D PET CT scans of monkey lungs showing inflammation (red and yellow) from TB infection. The top row were vaccinated the usual way with a shot into the skin The bottom row received the vaccine intravenously.
    CREDIT
    JoAnne Flynn, Ph.D., Alexander White, Pauline Maiello, and Mario Roederer, Ph.D.

    Worldwide, more people die from tuberculosis (TB) than any other infectious disease, even though the vast majority were vaccinated. The vaccine just isn’t that reliable. But a new Nature study finds that simply changing the way the vaccine is administered could dramatically boost its protective power.

    Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) discovered that intravenous TB vaccination is highly protecti...

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    Objective Subtle Cognitive Difficulties predict Amyloid Accumulation and Neurodegeneration

    January 2, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A rendering of amyloid protein plaques accumulating between neurons in the brain
    A rendering of amyloid protein plaques accumulating between neurons in the brain. Credit: National Institute of Aging

    Rresearchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System report that accumulating amyloid – an abnormal protein linked to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) – occurred faster among persons deemed to have “objectively-defined subtle cognitive difficulties” (Obj-SCD) than among persons considered to be “cognitively normal.”

    Classification of Obj-SCD, which has been previously shown to predict progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, is determined using non-invasive but sensitive neuropsychological measures, including measures of how efficiently someone learns ...

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