This bedtime snack swap could rewire your gut and help prevent diabetes

A small wooden bowl overflowing with pistachios and topped with sprigs of mint
Eating pistachios as a nightly snack for 12 weeks altered which bacteria lived in the digestive system of people with prediabetes, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State. Credit: Jose Calatrava Cano/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Eating pistachios every night for 12 weeks altered bacteria in the gut, according to new study. A new study reveals that swapping a typical nighttime carbohydrate snack for pistachios may beneficially alter gut bacteria in people with prediabetes. Conducted by Penn State researchers, the 12-week clinical trial found that pistachio consumption increased beneficial gut microbes like Roseburia and reduced harmful ones such as Blautia hydrogenotrophica...

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Quantum tunneling mystery solved after 100 years—and it involves a surprise collision

Spatiotemporal trajectory of an electron tunneling through Coulomb barrier under strong laser field. Credit: POSTECH

For the first time ever, scientists have watched electrons perform a bizarre quantum feat: tunneling through atomic barriers by not just slipping through, but doubling back and slamming into the nucleus mid-tunnel. This surprising finding, led by POSTECH and Max Planck physicists, redefines our understanding of quantum tunneling—a process that powers everything from the sun to your smartphone.

Recently, Professor Dong Eon Kim from POSTECH’s Department of Physics and Max Planck Korea-POSTECH Initiative and his research team have succeeded in unraveling for the first time the mystery of the ‘electron tunneling’ process, a core concept in quantum mechanics, and confirm...

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Ghost particles may secretly decide the fate of collapsing stars

illustration of blue
Left Panel: When neutrinos scatter with themselves via standard model interactions the collapsing core of the massive star is relatively cold, and the neutrinos are mostly all electron flavor. In this scenario we may get a supernova explosion leaving, usually, a neutron star remnant
Right Panel: If neutrinos have “secret” interactions with themselves, then electron neutrinos can be converted to all flavors. This leads to rapid heating, the “melting” of nuclei, and the rapid conversion of most protons to neutrons. We might get a black hole instead of a neutron star remnant. It is not yet clear if we get a supernova explosion.
(cr: George Fuller lab / UC San Diego)

Neutrinos are cosmic tricksters, paradoxically hardly there but lethal to stars significantly more massive than the sun...

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Human CLOCK gene enhances brain connectivity and mental flexibility in mice, study finds

Human CLOCK gene enhances brain connectivity and mental flexibility in mice, study finds
Example images of excitatory neurons from the cerebral cortexes of humanized mice showing how the neurons from the humanized mice grew more dendrites. Credit: Dr. Yuxiang Liu

Clock genes are a set of genes known to contribute to the regulation of the human body’s internal 24-hour cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm. One of these genes is the so-called CLOCK gene, a protein that regulates the activity of other genes, contributing to recurrent patterns of sleep and wakefulness.

Past findings suggest that this gene is also expressed in the neocortex, a brain region that supports important cognitive abilities, including reasoning, decision-making and the processing of language. However, the gene’s possible contribution to these specific brain functions remains poorly understood.

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