Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

The complex dance of two black holes locked in a doomed orbit has been revealed in a first-of-its-kind direct radio image. It’s the first time astronomers have directly imaged the distinct jets of both black holes in a known binary – finally confirming the model of the double core of a galaxy called OJ 287. In OJ 287, located some …

For roughly one in every hundred people, even tiny amounts of gluten can trigger severe symptoms and pose serious health risks. While a domino effect of immunological reactions can be traced back to their genetic roots, multiple contributing factors make it hard to map the precise chain of events that causes celiac disease. Using transgenic mice, an international team led …

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, and happens when the cartilage protecting joints gets worn down. It’s painful and debilitating, but new research suggests that low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT) may work as a countermeasure. Researchers from across South Korea ran a clinical trial involving 114 people with knee osteoarthritis to compare two different doses of LDRT and a …

Scientists have discovered a unique signature of chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), in the blood of patients with severe symptoms. Using no fewer than 200 blood biomarkers, researchers at the University of East Anglia and the biotech company, Oxford Biodynamics, claim to have developed a test that can diagnose CFS/ME with 96 percent accuracy. “This is …

Ancient life has been resurrected from the bowels of a military tunnel that penetrates the Alaskan permafrost. Some of the microbes thawed from these long-frozen soils have been trapped for 40,000 years. Now, they’ve been reawakened. “These are not dead samples by any means,” says microbiologist and geochemist Tristan Caro, a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU …

A better understanding of dementia risk can lead to improvements in care and in treatments, and a new study identifies a link between changes in brain shape and declines in cognitive functions – such as memory and reasoning. The idea is that some of the wear and tear that eventually leads to dementia can also alter the brain’s structure and …

Humanity’s war against drug-resistant microbes is not going very well. Antibiotic resistance has rapidly become one of our species’ leading causes of death, claiming an estimated 5 million lives globally in 2019. That already exceeds the yearly death toll from HIV/ AIDS or malaria, and the danger of drug-resistant infections is only expected to grow. According to a new study, …

Peering back into the early years of the Universe requires scientists to make a lot of assumptions. But sometimes, we get better instruments that then allow them to either confirm or replace those assumptions. That happened recently when it came to our study of J0529, a supermassive black hole that is currently the brightest known quasar in the Universe. A …

This week in science: A strange hybrid bird; the cancer clues hidden in your toenails; a reverse Big Bang; and much more! Huge Study Links 99% of Heart Attacks And Strokes With 4 Risk Factors (zf L/Moment/Getty Images) A huge study has linked 99 percent of all heart attacks and strokes to four risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, …

Once synonymous with hippies and hallucinatory experiences, psychedelic drugs are now being explored for their medical potential. The stigma of that era resulted in research being suppressed by drug laws, yet with mental health treatments hitting limits, scientists have returned to this controversial corner of medicine. Substances like psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) and ayahuasca are now being taken seriously …