K. L. Aplin et al. Solar-Driven Variation in the Atmosphere of Uranus, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075374

Changes in solar activity influence the color and formation of clouds around the planet, researchers at Oxford and Reading universities found. The icy planet is second furthest from the sun in the solar system and takes 84 Earth years to complete a full orbit – one Uranian year. The researchers found that, once the planet’s long and strange seasons are taken into account, it appears brighter and dimmer over a cycle of 11 years. This is the regular cycle of solar activity which also affects sun spots.

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Demyelination by MS. The CD68 colored tissue shows several macrophages in the area of the lesion. Original scale 1:100. Credit: Marvin 101/Wikipedia

Gene expression in specific cells and in specific regions can provide a more precise, neuroprotective approach than traditional treatments for neurological diseases. For multiple sclerosis, increasing cholesterol synthesis gene expression in astrocytes of the spinal cord can be a pathway to repair nerves that affect walking.

MS patients differ markedly from each other regarding which disability affects them the most. Inflammation strips the myelin coating from axons, and connections at the ends of nerves, called synapses, are lost, together disrupting signaling and eventually causing permanent disability depending on where this occurs...

Highlights •Ablation of IRF4 induces transplant acceptance by establishing T cell dysfunction •IRF4 represses PD-1, Helios, and other molecules associated with T cell dysfunction •Irf4‒/‒ T cell dysfunction is initially reversible but later becomes irreversible •Trametinib inhibits IRF4, abrogates EAE development, and prolongs allograft survival

Wenhao Chen, Ph.D., a scientist in the Immunobiology and Transplant Science Center at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his colleagues have identified a critical switch that controls T-cell function and dysfunction and have discovered a pathway to target it...

A sophisticated X-ray scattering technique waa used to visualize and quantify the movement of water molecules in space and time, which provides new insights that may open pathways for liquid-based electronics. Credit: Jason Richards/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy 

A novel approach to studying the viscosity of water has revealed new insights about the behavior of water molecules and may open pathways for liquid-based electronics. A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used a high-resolution inelastic X-ray scattering technique to measure the strong bond involving a hydrogen atom sandwiched between two oxygen atoms...