Many people associate aging with a decline in cognitive function, health issues, and reduced activity. Uncovering mental processes that can boost the well-being of the older adults could be highly beneficial, as it could help to devise more effective activities aimed at improving their quality of life.

Researchers at University of Brescia and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart recently carried out a study investigating the contribution of creativity and humor to the well-being of the elderly. Their findings, published in Neuroscience Letters, show that these two distinct human experiences share common psychological and neurobiological processes that promote well-being in older adults.

“Our recent study belongs to a line of research ai...

Researchers at the University of Bristol have made an important breakthrough in scaling quantum technology by integrating the world’s tiniest quantum light detector onto a silicon chip. The paper, “A Bi-CMOS electronic photonic integrated circuit quantum light detector,” was published in Science Advances.

A critical moment in unlocking the information age was when scientists and engineers were first able to miniaturize transistors onto cheap micro-chips in the 1960s.

Now, for the first time, University of Bristol academics have demonstrated the integration of a quantum light detector—smaller than a human hair—onto a s...

Tourists normally have to pay big money and brave cold climates for a chance to see an aurora, but last weekend many people around the world simply had to look up to see these colorful displays dance across the sky.

Usually banished to the poles of Earth, the auroras strayed as far as Mexico, southern Europe and South Africa on the evening of May 10, delighting skygazers and filling social media with images of exuberant pinks, greens and purples.

But for those charged with protecting Earth from powerful solar storms such as the one that caused the auroras, a threat lurks beneath the stunning colors.

“We need to understand that behind this beauty, there is danger,” Quentin Verspieren, the European Space Agency’s space safety program coordinator, told AFP.

Mike Bettwy of the...

New details on how certain gluten-derived molecules trigger leaky gut syndrome in affected individuals. Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune condition that occurs in around one per cent of the world’s population. It is triggered by the consumption of gluten proteins from wheat, barley, rye and some oats. A gluten-free diet protects celiac patients from severe intestinal damage. Together with colleagues, chemist Dr Veronica Dodero from Bielefeld University was able to determine new details on how certain gluten-derived molecules trigger leaky gut syndrome in celiac disease.

The key finding of the study: a part...