Health & Fitness

Computers could mimic neural networks in the brain -- and be much more energy efficient -- with a new computer component that mimics how the brain works by acting like a synaptic cell. It's called an electrochemical random access memory (ECRAM), and researchers have developed materials that offer a commercially-viable way to build these components.

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Researchers developed a technique in laboratory animals to consistently and reproducibly open the blood-brain barrier. This barrier serves as a barricade securing the brain from the external world blocking out certain environmental toxins, but also prevents drug therapies from reaching their intended targets. The new technique is based on a routine procedure for removing clots from the brain's arteries in patients. Their paper essentially provides a roadmap for other researchers to develop and test new therapies for brain diseases.

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Scientists are using machine learning techniques to streamline the process of synthesizing graphene from waste through flash Joule heating.

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A growth factor protein produced by rare immune cells in the intestine can protect against the effects of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new discovery.

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a spike in depression and anxiety in expectant mums, a new study has revealed. There was an increase in reported depression rates of 30 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, from 17 per cent to 47 per cent -- with anxiety rates also jumping up 37 per cent in expecting mothers to 60 per cent.

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Researchers were able to accurately predict outbreaks of COVID-19 in Connecticut municipalities using anonymous location information from mobile devices, according to a new study. The novel analysis applied in the study could help health officials stem community outbreaks of COVID-19 and allocate testing resources more efficiently, the researchers said.

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New research suggests that people may not always want help with sticking to their New Year's resolutions. Individuals often make resolutions in January to maintain healthy lifestyle regimes - for example to eat better or exercise more often - then fail to keep them. Behavioural scientists frequently interpret such behaviour as evidence of a conflict between two 'selves' of a person -- a Planner (in charge of self-control) and a Doer (who responds spontaneously to the temptations of the moment). A team of researchers from the Universities of East Anglia (UEA), Warwick, Cardiff and Lancaster in the UK and Passau in Germany investigated how far people identify with their Planners and their Doers.

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The search to better understand the tremendous range of responses to infection with the COVID-19 virus -- from symptom free to critically ill -- has uncovered in some of the sickest patients a handful of rare structural gene variants involved in body processes, like inflammation, which the virus needs to be successful.

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Researchers have demonstrated mechanobiological changes in vascular smooth muscle cells and identified a key ion channel that is involved in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm.

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