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    New Research Clarifies Connection Between Autism and the Microbiome

    June 27, 2023, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    The biological roots of autism continue to perplex researchers, despite a growing body of studies looking at an increasing array of genetic, cellular and microbial data. Recently, scientists have homed in on a new and promising area of focus: the microbiome. This collection of microbes that inhabit the human gut has been shown to play a role in autism, but the mechanics of this link have remained awash in ambiguity.

    Taking a fresh computational approach to the problem, a study published today, June 26, in Nature Neuroscience sheds new light on the relationship between the microbiome and autism...

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    ‘Toggle Switch’ Can Help Quantum Computers Cut Through the Noise

    June 27, 2023, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A blue-tinged drawing shows a schematic of the two qubits and resonator above a white rectangle, which represents the SQUID device that controls the connections and relationships among the qubits and resonator elements.
    This photo shows the central working region of the device. In the lower section, the three large rectangles (light blue) represent the two quantum bits, or qubits, at right and left and the resonator in the center. In the upper, magnified section, driving microwaves through the antenna (large dark-blue rectangle at bottom) induces a magnetic field in the SQUID loop (smaller white square at center, whose sides are about 20 micrometers long). The magnetic field activates the toggle switch. The microwaves’ frequency and magnitude determine the switch’s position and strength of connection among the qubits and resonator.
    Credit: R. Simmonds/NIST

    The novel device could lead to more versatile quantum processors with clearer outputs...

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    Webb makes First Detection of Crucial Carbon Molecule

    June 27, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    These Webb images show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. The largest image, on the left, is from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. At upper right, the telescope is focused on a smaller area using Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). At the very center of the MIRI area is a young star system with a protoplanetary disk named d203-506. The pullout at the bottom right displays a combined NIRCam and MIRI image of this young system.
    Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), and the PDRs4All ERS Team

    A team of international scientists has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a new carbon compound in space for the first time...

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    Researchers find a New Class of Biomarkers to Predict Treatment Outcomes in Cancer Patients

    June 26, 2023, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Researchers find a new of biomarkers to predict treatment outcomes in cancer patients
    Cancer is the result of the uncontrolled division and spread of cells into surrounding tissue. Recently researchers have begun to focus on biomarkers as a source of information about different cancers, how they work in the body, and how they can be fought. Credit: Colin Behrens/Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain

    One of the big reasons that cancer is difficult to treat is that patients respond to treatments differently, and these differences can rarely be anticipated. In most cases, determining whether and how a patient will respond to any given therapy requires administering it to the patient and then waiting and watching. That is a lot of pressure for researchers and physicians and a lot of risk for cancer patients, and added expense.

    If a patient’s response were predictable, optimal thera...

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