Science

Two giant prehistoric hand axes, one of which is about a foot long, have been uncovered in deep Ice Age sediments in the south of England.The 300,000-year-old tools, slabs of flint chipped on both sides to create jagged edges, were found among than 800 artifacts buried on a hillside above the Medway Valley in Kent."We describe these tools as 'giants' when they are over 22cm long and we have two in this size range," senior archaeologist Letty Ingrey of the UCL Institute of Archeology said in a press release.The largest of…

The US drug regulator gave full approval to a new Alzheimer's medicine on Thursday, a move that makes it more widely available to the public through government-run health insurance for the elderly.​Leqembi, developed jointly by Japan's Eisai and Biogen of the United States, was shown in a clinical trial to modestly reduce cognitive decline among patients in the early stages of the disease.​But the study also raised concerns about side effects including brain bleeds and swelling.​Leqembi was initially granted "accelerated…

Finding new drugs – called "drug discovery" – is an expensive and time-consuming task. But a type of artificial intelligence called machine learning can massively accelerate the process and do the job for a fraction of the price.My colleagues and I recently used this technology to find three promising candidates for senolytic drugs – drugs that slow ageing and prevent age-related diseases.Senolytics work by killing senescent cells. These are cells that are "alive" (metabolically active), but which can no longer…

Lightning, for all its ubiquity here on Earth, is still a relatively poorly understood weather phenomenon. We know more or less how it happens, but there's so much about its finer intricacies that we're still learning.But with a new observatory orbiting our world, we have another opportunity to understand these powerful blasts of electricity – and with it, a way to better predict the emergence of severe storms that put lives and infrastructure at risk.Pperated by the European Space Agency, this 'Lightning Imager' sits…

More than a thousand Californian sea lions have been poisoned by a toxic algae bloom that can cause seizures, brain damage, and death.Across California's beaches, sea lions have been exhibiting strange behaviors like swaying their heads back and forth, frothing at the mouth and being unusually violent when touched.Sea lions aren't normally aggressive towards humans, but there have been at least five instances where sea lions have bitten beachgoers in recent weeks.They aren't intentionally attacking humans, says Alissa…

Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a protein known as the occludin protein that plays a pivotal role in the transmission of the coronavirus from cell to cell. Led by Wenjun Ma, the team discovered that when the occludin protein in a cell is compromised by the virus, it can rapidly reproduce and spread to neighboring cells, potentially exacerbating the infection and symptoms.Occludin Protein Plays Key Role in Spread of Coronavirus Throughout Body’s CellsUniversity of Missouri scientists have…

New research examined how the human brain reacts to space travel, indicating that astronauts should wait approximately three years after lengthy space missions for their brains to fully recover. The research analyzed brain scans from 30 astronauts and revealed significant ventricle expansion in those who underwent missions of six months or longer. Ventricles, which are brain cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid, expand due to fluid shifts caused by the absence of gravity.A study has found that long-duration space…

The first Alzheimer’s disease medication shown in trials to slow progression of the disease has been given full approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), paving the way for its costly price tag to be covered by Medicare.In January, Leqembi, from Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, was granted Accelerated Approval from the FDA, which is available for drugs that provide an unmet medical need, but the cost was expected to be around US$26,500 per year.Leqembi, the brand name of lecanemab, is a intravenous drug…

A recent study suggests that traumatic brain injury (TBI) should be considered a chronic condition, as its effects may continue to progress or regress for years after the initial injury. The research, involving people with varying severity of TBI, revealed that a significant proportion demonstrated changes (both improvements and declines) in cognitive abilities and daily functioning up to seven years post-injury, highlighting the need for ongoing care tailored to these evolving needs.Research reveals that function may…

Scientists have used computer simulations to study boom-bust cycles in Neolithic farmer populations, finding that periodic outbreaks of warfare, not climate fluctuations, align with observed data. The research indicates that early farming societies experienced cyclical dynamics from integration to disintegration, with population cycles paralleling violent conflicts, demonstrating that humans and their interactions form complex systems irrespective of their political or economic organization.A new study concludes that…