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Why is a Swedish billionaire buying up California’s video gaming empire?

Like so many on-screen action heroes, she was elbowed aside when newer stars appeared and started grabbing more viewers with bigger weapons, better special effects and more elaborate adventures.

That’s when Lars Wingefors spied an opportunity and swooped in.

Earlier this year, the little-known Swedish billionaire bought the rights to British archaeologist Lara Croft and the vehicle that turned her into a household name. After debuting 26 years ago, “Tomb Raider” went on to become one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, spawning lucrative spinoffs and movies starring Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, before faltering as bigger games and mobile apps appeared and gaming moved away from its core teenage male audience to young girls, college students and families.

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Graphene oxide elicits microbiome-dependent type 2 immune responses via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor Nanotechnology

Although the toxicity of graphene‐based nanomaterials on human health has been extensively studied, their impact on the microbiome remains poorly understood. Using zebrafish as a model, we show that graphene oxide modulates the immune system in a microbiome‐dependent manner through a mechanism mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. The study suggests an interplay among graphene‐based nanomaterials, microbiome and innate immune system.

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Surprise Kilonova Discovery Shakes Up Long Gamma-Ray Burst Theory

For nearly two decades, astrophysicists have believed that long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) resulted solely from the collapse of massive stars. Now, a new study upends that long-established and long-accepted belief.

Led by Northwestern University.

Established in 1,851, Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university based in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Northwestern is known for its McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Kellogg School of Management, Feinberg School of Medicine, Pritzker School of Law, Bienen School of Music, and Medill School of Journalism.

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Serotonin Deficiency Directly Linked With Depression in Groundbreaking Study

New research in Biological Psychiatry offers the first direct evidence of diminished 5-HT release cements “serotonin hypothesis.”

Researchers have postulated since the 1960s that major depression stems from disruptions in the serotonin neurotransmitter system. However, the evidence for that idea, though plentiful, was indirect. In fact, a recent comprehensive analysis of existing studies concluded that there was not strong evidence to support the “serotonin hypothesis.” In its wake, some in the field have called for a reexamination of the hypothesis. Not so fast, says a new study that provides direct evidence of disrupted serotonin release in the brains of individuals with depression.

The study was published recently in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

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Shedding LIGHT on the Mechanisms Underlying Severe Asthma

Scientists have discovered that an inflammatory cytokine known as LIGHT is a major factor in the deadly airway damage that can affect people with severe asthma. This research has suggested that such airway damage could be reversed by therapeutics that halt LIGHT, and the molecule could offer a way to treat asthma. The study, which used a mouse model and human tissue, has been reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

“This is a very, very significant finding,” said senior study author and LJI Professor Michael Croft, Ph.D. “This research gives us a better understanding of the potential of therapeutic targeting of LIGHT and what we might do to relieve some of the symptoms and some of the inflammatory features seen in patients who have severe asthma.”

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When You Die You Know You Are Dead, According to Scientists

What seems to stand out above anything else is that death is different for each of us.

One of the most contemplated questions across all of the man kind is “what happens when we die?” And while we may not have all of the answers, scientists have recently found that death may not be as cut and dry as we all may have thought.

Many of us have heard the notion that our life flashes before our eyes as we die. Others talk of crossing over from life into the afterlife, and some even say there is light at the end of a tunnel. We all have ideas and beliefs surrounding what happens during our final moments, but what happens?

For a long time, scientists have worked to provide answers to this very question. And up until recently, we didn’t know that the mind continued to work consciously, even after our heart had stopped.

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Scientists Discover ‘New’ Organ Hidden Within Your Face

You’d think that existing exclusively within the human body would give way to a complete knowledge of the organs hidden within. Instead, we’re constantly discovering new parts of the weird and glorious biological machine we each call home. The latest in these discoveries are the “tubarial glands,” a pair of small organs responsible for producing saliva.

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