Pain is a complex sensation that is mediated by both the peripheral and central nervous systems. In the peripheral nervous system, pain signals are generated by nerve fibers called nociceptors that respond to harmful stimuli. These signals are then transmitted to the brain through the spinal cord, where they are processed and interpreted as pain […]
Human brain tissue successfully implanted in rats A new study shows that balls of human brain neurons can be implanted and integrated into the brains of rats. Researchers reveal that lab-grown “human brain organoids” integrated into the rats’ brains within three months, which may pave the way for repairing injured human brains in the future […]
Chemistry • DIPC Computational and Theoretical Chemistry • Materials
Nonlinear optics is concerned with the optical properties of matter subjected to intense electromagnetic fields. For nonlinearity to manifest itself, the external field should not be negligible compared to the internal fields of atoms and molecules of which the matter consists. Lasers are capable of generating external fields sufficiently intense for nonlinearity to occur. Actually […]
nicotine Author: Marta Irigoyen is a postdoctoral researcher at CIC bioGUNE Tobacco smoke contains a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals. Among them, nicotine is a major cigarette component associated with human tobacco consumption and addiction. Despite not being a carcinogen (an agent that is able to generate cancer), several studies have reported the […]
At the end of 2022, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced they had observed a net energy gain through nuclear fusion for the very first time. This monumental milestone toward fusion energy represents a huge leap forward in powering our homes and businesses with the carbon-neutral energy source. But converting this scientific achievement into […]
Though the persistent reference to “Athens and Jerusalem” captures the cliché that the modern Western way of thinking and of being comes basically from two main roots (Greek philosophy and Hebrew monotheism), the fact is that probably we owe much more to the Romans, the true creators of the civilization from which our kind of […]
Antidepressants may create antibiotic resistance Antidepressants may cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, according to a study exposing the bacterium E. coli to five common antidepressants. Researchers need to further explore the effect, which was found in Petri dishes, to study whether these antidepressants can cultivate superbugs in the human body or natural environment […]
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. The study of enzymes has provided us many of the prototypical concepts of catalysis, including the idea that a catalyst lowers the barrier to reaction and thereby accelerates the approach to chemical equilibrium, without altering […]
Recently, the results of an early human phase clinical trial have shown that mRNA technology can be successfully applied to diseases other than COVID-19, such as skin cancer. Moderna and Merck used an mRNA anti-cancer vaccine based on the same technology used to develop some COVID-19 vaccines, except that instead of using proteins from a […]
Matter outflows in the form of jets are observed in astronomical systems at fast, medium and slow speeds. The fastest jets are highly relativistic, namely travel very close to the speed of light. The origin, as well as many properties of the jets, is uncertain. One of the puzzles, that jet velocities seem to have […]