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Research from Cranfield University sheds new light onto the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, showing how experimentation with iron-rich rocks by copper smelters may have sparked the invention of iron. The work reanalyzed metallurgical remains from a site in southern Georgia: a 3000-year-old smelting workshop called Kvemo Bolnisi. During the original…

Eating fruit may reduce the effects of air pollution on lung function, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The study was presented by Pimpika Kaewsri, a PhD student from the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability at the University of Leicester, UK. She explains: “Over 90% of…

Earth scientists often face huge challenges when researching the Earth’s history: many significant events occurred such a long time ago that there is little direct evidence available. Consequently, researchers often have to rely on indirect clues or on computer models. The team led by ETH Professor Jordon Hemingway, however, has now discovered a unique natural…

Scientists at the NYU Pain Research Center have identified which receptor in prostaglandins — the hormone-like substance targeted by common painkillers — causes pain but not inflammation. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may help researchers to develop more selective drugs to treat pain with fewer side effects. “Inflammation and pain are usually…

Brazilian paleobotany has just solved an enigma: the redefinition of a fossil plant described decades ago in southern Brazil and the creation of a new genus, Franscinella, to accommodate the species now called Franscinella riograndensis (Salvi et al.) Carniere, Pozzebon-Silva, Guerra-Sommer, Uhl, Jasper et. Spiekermann comb. nov. The study is part of the master’s thesis…

Scientists at the U. S. Department of Energy Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University have discovered an unexpected “quantum echo” in a superconducting material. This discovery provides insight into quantum behaviors that could be used for next-generation quantum sensing and computing technologies. Superconductors are materials that carry electricity without resistance. Within these superconductors are…

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrially altered products – like soda, snacks and processed meats – packed with additives and stripped of nutrients. Hundreds of new ingredients, previously unknown to the human body, now make up nearly 60% of the average adult’s diet and almost 70% of children’s diets in the United States. These products reduce…

Some memories are easy to recall — lush with detail, fresh as the moment itself. Others are more tenuous, like faded sketches, and the most stubborn ones can refuse to resurface at all. Why do our brains enshrine some memories so indelibly, and let others slip away? A new Boston University study has a potential…

Could cocoa extract supplements rich in cocoa flavanols reduce inflammation and, in turn, prevent age-related chronic diseases? In a new study from the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), investigators from Mass General Brigham and their colleagues looked at changes in five age-related markers of inflammation among participants who received daily cocoa supplements over…

A new research paper was published in Aging-US, titled “Age-related trends in amyloid positivity in Parkinson’s disease without dementia.” In this study, led by first author Keiko Hatano and corresponding author Masashi Kameyama from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Japan, researchers found that patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) diagnosed in their…