Highlights
• Loss of IRF4 in BAT causes decreased exercise capacity and a selective myopathy
• IRF4 represses myogenic genes in BAT, including the myokine myostatin
• Neutralizing serum myostatin rescues the ability of BATI4KO mice to exercise normally
•Warming reduces IRF4 in BAT, causing myopathy that is reversed by removal of BAT

Researchers open the door to potential new therapies for certain metabolic and muscular diseases. Now, endocrinologists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown for the first time that brown adipose tissue (BAT), or brown fat, can exert control over skeletal muscle function. Alterations to the brown adipose tissue in mice resulted in a significant and consistent reduction in exercise performance...

A soft robotic device powered by popcorn, constructed by researchers in Cornell’s Collective Embodied Intelligence Lab.
Credit: Image courtesy of Cornell University

Cornell University researchers have discovered how to power simple robots with a novel substance that, when heated, can expand more than 10X in size, change its viscosity by a factor of 10 and transition from regular to highly irregular granules with surprising force.

“Popcorn-Driven Robotic Actuators,” a recent paper co-authored by Steven Ceron, mechanical engineering doctoral student, and Kirstin H. Petersen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, examines how popcorn’s unique qualities can power inexpensive robotic devices that grip, expand or change rigidity.

“The goal of our lab is to try to make very...

Artist’s conception of SIMP J01365663+0933473, an object with 12.7 times the mass of Jupiter, but a magnetic field 200 times more powerful than Jupiter’s. This object is 20 light-years from Earth.
Credit: Caltech/Chuck Carter; NRAO/AUI/NSF

Object is at boundary between giant planet and brown dwarf. Astronomers have detected a possible planetary-mass object with a surprisingly powerful magnetic field some 20 light-years from Earth. It can help scientists better understand magnetic processes on stars and planets. Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have made the first radio-telescope detection of a planetary-mass object beyond our Solar System...

This figure shows cross sectional MRI images are displayed with pixels colour-coded for fat content. In this individual, the high liver fat at baseline (30.4 percent) decreased to 1.3 percent after weight loss. The lower panels, at the level of the pancreas (outlined in white), show the decrease in pancreas fat (8.9 to 7.5 percent) associated with the restoration of first phase and maximal insulin secretion.
Credit: Taylor et al.

A clinical trial recently showed that nearly half of individuals with type 2 diabetes achieved remission to a non-diabetic state after a weight-loss intervention delivered within 6 years of diagnosis...