Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

Ten million people are diagnosed with dementia worldwide each year – that’s more than ever. According to the Alzheimer’s Society approximately one million people in the UK are currently living with the disease. Studies predict this figure will rise to 1.6 million people by 2050. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and leads to a decline in …

A new caffeine craze is brewing on social media – no kettle required. Caffeine pouches promise a fast, discreet hit of energy without the faff of brewing coffee or cracking open an energy drink. But while they may look like a harmless pick-me-up, experts warn they carry real risks, especially for teenagers and people with underlying health conditions. Caffeine pouches …

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, yet sleep is anything but wasted time. Far from being passive downtime, it is an active and essential process that helps restore the body and protect the brain. When sleep is disrupted, the brain feels the consequences – sometimes in subtle ways that accumulate over years. In a new study, my …

A new study suggests fat deposits in the brain may play a larger role in Alzheimer’s disease than previously thought. This could open a new avenue for potential treatment. Research has long focused on proteins found abnormally clumping in brains with neurodegeneration, but targeting these clumps has so far produced mixed results. So some researchers continue to search for missing …

A drug used to slow Alzheimer’s disease may help improve social behaviors in some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The results of a small clinical trial are promising, although not yet conclusive. They suggest that a specific subset of young people with ASD may experience positive outcomes from taking memantine, despite previous studies finding no clear benefits. Memantine (sometimes …

A fresh look at data collected by NASA’s Cassini probe nearly two decades ago has revealed new, complex organic molecules on Saturn‘s icy moon Enceladus – pointing to tantalizing chemistry taking place deep beneath its hidden ocean. In plumes of water ice spewing from cracks in Enceladus’s shell, a team led by astrobiologist Nozair Khawaja from the University of Stuttgart …

Every few years, the concept of fasted exercise training pops up all over social media. Fasted training refers to exercising in the morning, before eating breakfast. Related: I’m an Expert on Weight Loss. Here Are 5 Truths You Need to Know. Fans will claim it’s the most efficient way to lose body fat. Opponents say it’s a terrible idea and …

We could be overlooking an entire population of asteroids that pose a threat to Earth on the very simple basis that they’re extremely hard to see. In the space shared by the orbit of Venus, hundreds of undiscovered asteroids could be orbiting the Sun, hidden from our view simply because of their position. Because they’re closer to the center of …

Scientists have created egg-like cells capable of fertilization using DNA from ordinary skin cells in what could be a major breakthrough for infertility research. Using a newly developed technique to remove excess chromosomes, a team led by clinical biologist Nuria Marti-Gutierrez of Oregon Health & Science University has created human eggs that can undergo successful fertilization and start to develop …

Our Universe was ‘pre-heated’ in its early moments, according to a new study from the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), challenging assumptions it emerged from an ultracold state. The discovery was made as astronomers hunted for an elusive signal from the Epoch of Reionization – the time when the first suns began to fire up about a billion …