As the closest icy ocean world to Earth, Ceres may be a promising candidate in the search for signs of ancient life. Posted on Big Think.
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Detailed imaging of key receptors suggests new avenue for repairing brain function
For the first time, scientists using cryo-electron microscopy have discovered the structure and shape of key receptors connecting neurons in the brain’s cerebellum, which is located behind the brainstem and plays a critical role in functions such as coordinating movement, balance and cognition.
The research, published in Nature, provides new insight that could lead to the development of therapies to repair these structures when they are disrupted either by injury or genetic mutations affecting motor skills —sitting, standing, walking, running, and jumping—learning and memory.
The study, by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, reveals the organization of a specific type of glutamate receptor—a chemical neurotransmitter that conveys signals between neurons and is considered the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain—bound together with proteins clustered on synapses, or junctions, between neurons in the cerebellum.
North Texas is getting a new commercial airport — here’s what airline is in talks to fly out of it
MCKINNEY, Texas — Ultra-low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines is in talks with McKinney to be among the first to fly commercial passengers following the city’s airport controversial expansion, a letter from the Texas Attorney General’s Office indicated.
Houston-based Avelo already flies from DFW International Airport to its hub in New Haven, Connecticut, but its self-described strategy is to fly into smaller and “more convenient” airports.
McKinney plans to break ground on a controversial expansion to its airport this summer, with the goal of commercial flights taking off by the end of next year.
Photons collide in the void: Quantum simulation creates light out of nothing
Using advanced computational modelling, a research team led by the University of Oxford, working in partnership with the Instituto Superior Técnico in the University of Lisbon, has achieved the first-ever real-time, three-dimensional simulations of how intense laser beams alter the ‘quantum vacuum’ — a state once assumed to be empty, but which quantum physics predicts is full of virtual electron-positron pairs.
Simple insulin resistance test may also predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients
Insulin resistance detected by routine triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index can flag people with early Alzheimer’s who are four times more likely to present rapid cognitive decline, according to new research presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025.
Neurologists at the University of Brescia reviewed records of 315 non-diabetic patients with cognitive deficits, including 200 with biologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease. All subjects underwent an assessment of insulin resistance using the TyG index and a clinical follow-up of three years.
The work is published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
