Breakdown of immune cells’ interaction is key driver in aging, study finds

immune cell
Credit: Marek Piwnicki from Pexels

We may age at different rates, but none of us escapes aging. A study in mice and human cells by Stanford Medicine researchers pins much of the blame on a particular type of immune cell’s increasing inability, with advancing age, to gobble up another immune cell type.

So-called tissue-resident macrophages appear to be central coordinators of age-related organ decline. Blocking a single receptor on these cells preserved the youthfulness of multiple organs in mice, including the brain, heart, skeletal and heart muscle, liver, spleen, bone marrow, kidney and colon. The receptor binds specifically to a hormone known to cause inflammation and pain in humans as well as mice.

In mice, selectively disabling this receptor exclusively on tissue-resident ma...

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Engineers shrink powerful terahertz systems onto a single semiconductor chip

Engineers shrink powerful terahertz systems onto a single semiconductor chip
A chip-scale terahertz source leveraging gain-enhanced interband photomixing for high-efficiency terahertz signal generation. Credit: Terahertz Electronics Lab/UCLA

High-frequency waves classified as terahertz occupy a relatively underused region of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared light and microwaves. Researchers have long recognized their unique potential for applications including ultrafast wireless communication, security screening, remote sensing and medical imaging.

As technologies push toward higher operating frequencies and data rates, photonics-based terahertz systems, which use light at high speed to generate and process terahertz signals, have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional electronic technologies because of their superior bandwidth and p...

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In search of life beyond our solar system: Atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world

First atmosphere detected on a habitable-zone rocky world
In this artist’s concept, the exoplanet LHS 1140 b is shown in the foreground, surrounded by a helium-rich atmosphere. Another nearby rocky planet orbits the same cool red dwarf star in the distance. A new study provides the strongest evidence yet that LHS 1140 b has retained an atmosphere, representing a milestone step toward the discovery of Earth-like rocky planets beyond our solar system. Credit: Melissa Weiss/CfA

In a major milestone in the search for life on other planets, astronomers have detected, for the first time, an atmosphere surrounding an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star...

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Skeletal muscle signals to brain, brown fat to control aging in mice

Skeletal muscle signals to brain, brown fat to control aging in mice
The molecule mimecan — released from. Credit: skeletal muscle — helps neurons that activate brown fat maintain the length of their primary cilia (red). Restoring mimecan levels in older mice to that of younger mice helps maintain the length of the cilia and extends lifespan in older mice. Cell nuclei are in blue. Credit: Kentaro Mori

Open lines of communication between the body’s organs are important to health and often falter with age. A new study in mice by researchers at WashU Medicine shows how signals that travel from skeletal muscle to the brain and then activate brown fat and control core body temperature are weakened in elderly mice. The research suggests that finding ways to restore these signals could offer new opportunities to support healthy aging.

The study—led by S...

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