Figure 3U-shaped association between percentage of energy from carbohydrate and all-cause mortality in the ARIC and PURE cohort studies. The reference level is 46·4% energy from carbohydrate. ARIC results are adjusted for age, sex, education, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking, physical activity, diabetes, ARIC test centre, and energy intake. PURE results are are adjusted for age, sex, education, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking, physical activity, diabetes, urban or rural location, centre, geographical regions, and energy intake.13 The mean percentage of energy from carbohydrate in ARIC is 49%, and from PURE it is 61%. ARIC=Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities. PURE=Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology.

Eating carbohydrates in moderation seems to be optimal for health and longevity, suggests new rese...

The single-atom transistor that works in a gel electrolyte reaches the limit of miniaturization.
Credit: Group of Professor Thomas Schimmel/KIT

Milestone of energy efficiency in information technology. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), physicist Professor Thomas Schimmel and his team have developed a single-atom transistor, the world’s smallest. This quantum electronics component switches electrical current by controlled repositioning of a single atom, now also in the solid state in a gel electrolyte. The single-atom transistor works at room temperature and consumes very little energy, which opens up entirely new perspectives for information technology. The transistor is presented in Advanced Materials.

Digitization results in a high energy consumption...

Oldest rock on Earth: Acasta River gneiss (stock image). Credit: © Xenomanes / Fotolia

Scientists have found that 4.02-billion-year-old silica-rich felsic rocks from the Acasta River, Canada – the oldest rock formation known on Earth – probably formed at high temperatures and at a surprisingly shallow depth of the planet’s nascent crust. The high temperatures needed to melt the shallow crust were likely caused by a meteorite bombardment around half a billion years after the planet formed. This melted the iron-rich crust and formed the granites we see today. These results are presented for the first time at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston (14 August), following publication in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Geoscience.

The felsic rocks (rocks rich in silica/quartz) found at the Acast...

Raúl Méndez and Eulàlia Belloc from the Translational Control of Cell Cycle and Differentiation Lab at IRB Barcelona.
Credit: IRB Barcelona

The protein CPEB4, which coordinates the expression of hundreds of genes required for neuronal activity, is altered in the brains of individuals with autism, according to new research. Recent years have brought about important breakthroughs in autism research through the genetic analysis of thousands of these individuals. Researchers have been able to find correlations between defects in the expression and/or function of about 200 genes and susceptibility to autism. However, the bases underlying the dysregulation of these genes in subjects with autism were unknown.

An international team headed by José Lucas, researcher at the Spanish National Researc...