Science

Giant iceberg A-68a shatters into three as it approaches South Georgia

The giant iceberg A-68A that is threatening the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic has split into three pieces and is thinning by one inch per day. If the bergs run aground they could cause considerable environmental damage.

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Common blood pressure drug found to have lifespan-extending potential

Metolazone, an anti-hypertension drug, has been found to kickstart a lifespan-extending cellular repair process in roundworms. The mechanism may be translatable to humans, offering new research pathways in the search for an anti-aging drug.

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Aerosol samples above the ocean reveal microplastics spread by the wind

A new study has highlighted a key link in the chain of how plastic pollution travels, demonstrating how microplastics can be swept across the surface of the seas by winds that carry them upward into the atmosphere, and into remote parts of the ocean.

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Glowing bandage monitors oxygen uptake in transplanted tissue

Wired devices called oximeters are the gold standard when it comes to monitoring oxygenation in transplanted tissue, but scientists may have found a better way forward in the form of a paint-on bandage that glows instead.

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White blood cell mutation may drive early stages of dementia

Research into a rare type of dementia has uncovered a genetic mutation that results in dysfunctional white blood cells and a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, a mechanism that may play a role in common types of dementia such as Alzheimer's.

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CRISPR helps identify gene that regulates coral’s heat stress response

An international team of researchers has made a discovery that could prove useful to the efforts to preserve the world's coral reefs, using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to identify a key gene that regulates their response to heat stress.

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Neutron stars scanned for signals of dark matter turning into light

Dark matter should outnumber regular matter five to one, yet it remains frustratingly elusive. But there might be ways to spot it, and now astronomers have scanned neutron stars for telltale signals of a proposed dark matter particle called an axion.

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James Webb telescope unfolds its tennis court-sized sunshield

A next-generation space observatory has inched closer to lift-off, with NASA unfolding the James Webb Space Telescope’s five-layer sunshield in the same way it expects it to after arriving in orbit, as part of successful testing here on Earth.

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“Triple punch” immunotherapy puts Crohn’s disease into remission in mice

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel condition triggered by an overactive immune system. Now researchers have developed a new kind of immunotherapy for Crohn’s that delivers a “triple punch” by tweaking the responses of different immune cells.

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