- To better understand how cocaine hijacks the brain's natural reward pathways, scientists used single-cell whole-brain imaging to compare neuroplastic changes after cocaine or sugar water administration in mice. They found similarities in the region of the brain responsible for dopamine rewards https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1274605/whole-brain-tracking-of-cocaine-and-sugar-rewards-processing 10 comments science
- Scientists claim to have found the biological cause of aging. Researchers present evidence that DNA accumulates mutations over time which "stall" the protein responsible for creating new mRNA. The result is a higher concentration of shorter mRNAs, which regulates age related gene expression changes https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1274552/genome-wide-rna-polymerase-stalling-shapes-the-transcriptome-during-aging 483 comments science
- A study including 449k+ UK citizens above the age of 40 found that drinking 2-3 cups of coffee per day significantly reduced cardiovascular disease and lowered a person's overall risk of mortality https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1273284/the-impact-of-coffee-subtypes-on-incident-cardiovascular-disease-arrhythmias-and-mortality-long-term-outcomes-from-the-uk-biobank 401 comments science
- Mice who are given Rapamycin, an immunosuppressant drug, for the first 45 days of life end up living 10% longer and show signs of improved metabolic health https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1273143/rapamycin-treatment-during-development-extends-life-span-and-health-span-of-male-mice-and-idaphnia-magnai 23 comments science
- Some tumors have a drug-resistant subpopulation of "persister" cells that are able to survive treatments, repopulate a tumor, and encourage subsequent metastases. Researchers have found the protein and mechanism that helps these persister cells to evade cancer treatments. https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1272938/sublethal-cytochrome-c-release-generates-drug-tolerant-persister-cells 51 comments science
- Understanding the effect of loneliness on unemployment - For the first time, researchers considered a bidirectional relationship between unemployment and loneliness. They found that a person who experiences feelings of loneliness has a 17.5% increased risk of unemployment later in life https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1270504/understanding-the-effect-of-loneliness-on-unemployment-propensity-score-matching 12 comments science
- Swarms of micro flying robots in the wild - engineers develop miniature, fully autonomous drones that can function in a timely and accurate manner based on limited information from onboard sensors https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1270693/swarm-of-micro-flying-robots-in-the-wild 47 comments science
- A replication study confirms that machine learning models are capable of predicting a person's sexual orientation from their dating profile photos with an accuracy of ~69% https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1270515/a-replication-study-machine-learning-models-are-capable-of-predicting-sexual-orientation-from-facial-images 6 comments science
- Researchers evaluated the relationship (n=116) of gut microbial health to overall mental health and found that the capacity of a person's gut microbiota to metabolize the common amino acids arginine, proline, and histidine significantly influenced their likelihood of developing depression https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1270733/microbiota-alterations-in-proline-metabolism-impact-depression 174 comments science
- Not all plant-based diets will help you live longer. Scientists surveyed the diets of 13,154 Chinese adults aged 65+ years old and found that consuming fresh plants decreased the risk of all-cause mortality, while consuming preserved plant products increased the risk of death by 17% https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1269346/plant-based-dietary-patterns-in-relation-to-mortality-among-older-adults-in-china 183 comments science
- Scientists have developed a technique that gives researchers "sonogenetic" control of mammalian nerve cell signaling. A mouse's muscles can be remotely contracted via ultrasound stimulation when its motor neurons are genetically engineered to contain the protein TRPA1 https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1269163/sonogenetic-control-of-mammalian-cells-using-exogenous-transient-receptor-potential-a1-channels 41 comments science
- Scientists use diamond-based quantum sensors to detect biological signals from live muscle tissue in mice. Eventually, this technology could be used to microscopically image the real-time electrical activity within living organisms https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1267158/detection-of-biological-signals-from-a-live-mammalian-muscle-using-an-early-stage-diamond-quantum-sensor 14 comments science
- Scientists review the current evidence supporting ketamine as a therapeutic for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and find that due to its efficacy and tolerability this psychedelic compound should be used before the 2nd generation antipsychotic drugs when treating TRD https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1266152/synthesizing-the-evidence-for-ketamine-and-esketamine-in-treatment-resistant-depression-an-international-expert-opinion-on-the-available-evidence-and-implementation#comments 17 comments science
- A meta-analysis covering 13 studies (n= ~50,000 participants) finds that vegetarian diets are significantly associated with increased depression scores when compared to non-vegetarian diets https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1266088/vegetarian-diet-and-depression-scores-a-meta-analysis 32 comments science
- People who have recovered from COVID-19, including those no longer reporting symptoms, exhibit significant cognitive deficits versus controls according to a survey of 80,000+ participants conducted in conjunction with the scientific documentary series, BBC2 Horizon https://www.researchhub.com/paper/1266004/cognitive-deficits-in-people-who-have-recovered-from-covid-19 1907 comments science
- Establishing biomarkers that can be used to personalize antidepressant treatment in major depressive disorder. Researchers use a patient's own blood cells to artificially induce the formation of cortical neurons which can be screened to predict the likelihood of success with Bupropion treatment https://www.researchhub.com/paper/934450/depression-patient-derived-cortical-neurons-reveal-potential-biomarkers-for-antidepressant-response 5 comments science
- Background music influences visual perception in humans. Scientists asked study participants (n=118) to listen to calming/alarming soundtracks and found that different music influenced emotional reactions and eye movements when viewing a movie clip https://www.researchhub.com/paper/874558/how-soundtracks-shape-what-we-see-analyzing-the-influence-of-music-on-visual-scenes-through-self-assessment-eye-tracking-and-pupillometry 7 comments science
- Major depressive disorder is thought to be caused by a decrease in the number and flexibility of neural synapses. Researchers found that one psychedelic dose of psilocybin in pigs increased the number of synapses and made serotonin signaling more effective https://www.researchhub.com/paper/866445/a-single-dose-of-psilocybin-increases-synaptic-density-and-decreases-5-ht2a-receptor-density-in-the-pig-brain 1247 comments science
- A >5mmHg difference in blood pressure between right and left arms is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and all-cause mortality https://www.researchhub.com/paper/866026/associations-between-systolic-interarm-differences-in-blood-pressure-and-cardiovascular-disease-outcomes-and-mortality 9 comments science
- Social isolation during adolescence causes a number of negative cognitive effects, including long-term memory loss later in life. Researchers have identified EphB2 as the protein responsible for mediating the memory loss caused by social isolation in mice https://www.researchhub.com/paper/863643/ephb2-mediates-social-isolation-induced-memory-forgetting 78 comments science
- A person's mental health status can be diagnosed by their eye movements. A machine-learning algorithm was able to analyze data from the eye-movements of cancer patients (n=25) to predict their results on standard tests of mental well-being with an accuracy of 93%+ https://www.researchhub.com/paper/861572/identifying-mental-health-status-using-deep-neural-network-trained-by-visual-metrics 115 comments science
- Scientists estimate that there are 14 million tonnes of microplastics that reside on the ocean floor within deep-sea sediments https://www.researchhub.com/paper/837381/microplastic-pollution-in-deep-sea-sediments-from-the-great-australian-bight 6 comments science
- A new technique allows for the real-time observation of dopamine and serotonin signaling in the human brain. The "first of its kind" data produced in this study indicates a non-reward based role for dopamine and serotonin in human cognition https://www.researchhub.com/paper/831720/sub-second-dopamine-and-serotonin-signaling-in-human-striatum-during-perceptual-decision-making 8 comments science
- The active ingredient of the hallucinogenic tea ayahuasca, DMT, positively regulates adult neurogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Also, researchers observed that DMT increases performance on memory tests in rodents https://www.researchhub.com/paper/825338/nn-dimethyltryptamine-compound-found-in-the-hallucinogenic-tea-ayahuasca-regulates-adult-neurogenesis-in-vitro-and-in-vivo 55 comments science
- A meta-analysis of twin studies (n=30,000+) finds that genes significantly contribute to differences in self-control: the overall heritability is about 60% https://www.researchhub.com/paper/823864/the-heritability-of-self-control-a-meta-analysis 8 comments science
- Blood flow restriction decreases the skeletal muscle loss associated with prolonged inactivity https://www.researchhub.com/paper/823592/effects-of-blood-flow-restriction-on-muscle-size-and-gene-expression-in-muscle-during-immobilization-a-pilot-study 3 comments science
- Microdosing LSD decreases the perception of pain in healthy volunteers (n=24) to a similar extent as opioids prescribed for moderate to severe pain https://www.researchhub.com/paper/823235/a-low-dose-of-lysergic-acid-diethylamide-decreases-pain-perception-in-healthy-volunteers 3 comments science
- Researchers find that patients with major depressive disorder are more likely to benefit from ketamine treatment if they have larger volumes of two specific regions of the brain - the right thalamus and left hippocampus https://www.researchhub.com/paper/822717/summary 5 comments science
- Researchers discover a novel biomarker that can help distinguish bipolar depression from unipolar depression. Bipolar patients were more likely to have a higher level of miR-19b-3p in their blood, which is thought to be involved in inflammatory dysregulation due to stress-exposure during childhood https://www.researchhub.com/paper/822473/summary 11 comments science
- Over 50% of babies born to COVID-19 infected mothers in Wuhan, China (n=29) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection or showed radiographic signs of pneumonia https://www.researchhub.com/paper/821794/summary 3 comments science
- COVID-19 can result in prolonged illness, even among young adults without underlying chronic medical conditions. A report from the CDC found that 20% of people aged 18-34 had not returned to normal health 3-weeks after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818932/summary 74 comments science
- The active ingredient in chicken essence (a reduction of the juices of cooked chicken meat and bones) reverses exercise-induced cellular damage and oxidative stress in healthy men https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818366/summary 13 comments science
- Nitric oxide dosed in short bursts at high concentrations - replicating NO exposure experienced when smoking cigarettes - may protect against COVID-19 https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818360/ 9 comments science
- Methamphetamine exposure enhances HIV replication in CD4+ T-Cells by increasing levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines - suggesting a novel therapeutic target in meth-abusing HIV patients https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818294/summary 8 comments science
- A vaccine that contains a self-amplifying version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RNA within a lipid nanoparticle elicits a robust antibody and immune cell response in mice without antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818046/summary 3 comments science
- Scientists find that extreme ambient temperatures can increase a pregnant woman's risk for pre-term birth. A cohort study followed 1,200,000+ pregnancies and found extreme heat in the 1st and 2nd trimesters, and extreme cold in the 3rd trimester significantly increased the risk for pre-term birth https://www.researchhub.com/paper/818043/summary 4 comments science
- An fMRI study finds that an individual's emotional experience while on psilocybin can be predicted by the thickness of their rostral anterior cingulate cortex - a structure in the brain associated with the resolution of emotional conflict https://www.researchhub.com/paper/817863/summary 5 comments science
- A lack of neural plasticity in the hippocampus has been implicated in the development of depression. Ketamine is able to restore hippocampal plasticity in a rat model of depression, potentially illustrating a mechanism for the drug's anti-depressant effects https://www.researchhub.com/paper/817558/summary 1640 comments science
- THC treatment is able to protect 100% of mice from the typically lethal symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by cytokine storm after exposure to Staphylococcal enterotoxin B https://www.researchhub.com/paper/817475/summary 372 comments science
- THC treatment is able to protect 100% of mice from the typically lethal symptoms of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by cytokine storm after exposure to Staphylococcal enterotoxin B https://www.researchhub.com/paper/817475/summary 3 comments science