Lifeboat Foundation

In a study using specialized imaging techniques, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report distinctive changes in the “white matter” and other brain tissue physiology of those with post-treatment Lyme disease, a condition affecting 10% to 20% of the nearly half a million Americans who contract Lyme disease annually.

The study’s findings, published October 26 in the journal PLOS ONE, substantiate and help validate that memory difficulties and other cognitive difficulties experienced long-term by individuals with post-treatment Lyme disease are linked to functional and structural changes in the brain.

Lyme disease, whose early symptoms may include a characteristic rash, flu-like aches and fever, joint pain, and fatigue, is treated using a rigorous course of antibiotics, which usually clears the illness.

SpaceX is making final preparations for the fourth launch of its Falcon Heavy vehicle, the world’s most powerful rocket in use today.

How does the human brain keep track of the order of events in a sequence?

Research suggests that ‘time cells’ – neurons in the hippocampus thought to represent temporal information – could be the glue that sticks our memories together in the right sequence so that we can properly recall the correct order in which things happened.

Evidence for these kinds of sequence-tracking time cells has previously been found in rats, where specific neuron assemblies are thought to support the recollection of events and the planning of action sequences – but for a long time, less was known about how episodic memory is encoded in the human brain.

A spectral image of methane entering the atmosphere caused by decomposition at a waste disposal site was produced by EMIT.

It is called EMIT and it can pinpoint methane emissions from human activities. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

Equipment from a 1937 expedition in the Yukon territory of Canada left by Bradford Washburn was found this year in an expedition started by skier Griffin Post.

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is expected to play a key role in China’s clean energy push and the latest project announcement attests to the fact.

According to a media statement from the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, construction started on a 350 MW/1.4 GWh CAES project in the province of Shangdong on September 28.

Once completed, the Tai’an demonstration project is expected to be the world’s largest salt cavern CAES project, comprising two units for a total of 600 MW. The 350 MW system, which will be delivered in the first phase, is being jointly built by China Energy Engineering Group and Tai’an-based Taian Taishan New Energy Development to the tune of CNY 2.23 billion ($311 million).

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it is probed. We’ve attempted to connect the proton’s many faces to form the most complete picture yet.

When you cut yourself, a mass migration begins inside your body: Skin cells flood by the thousands toward the site of the wound, where they will soon lay down fresh layers of protective tissue.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have taken an important step toward unraveling the drivers behind this collective behavior. The team has developed an equation learning technique that might one day help scientists grasp how the body rebuilds skin, and could potentially inspire new therapies to accelerate wound healing.

“Learning the rules for how individual cells respond to the proximity and relative motion of other cells is critical to understanding why cells migrate into a wound,” said David Bortz, professor of applied mathematics at CU Boulder and senior author of the new study.

The findings could help pave the way for greater use of machine learning in materials science, a field that still relies heavily on laboratory experimentation. Also, the technique of using machine learning to make predictions that are then checked in the lab could be adapted for discovery in other fields, such as chemistry and physics, say experts in materials science.

To understand why it’s a significant development, it’s worth looking at the traditional way new compounds are usually created, says Michael Titus, an assistant professor of materials engineering at Purdue University, who was not involved in the research. The process of tinkering in the lab is painstaking and inefficient.