Immune genes are altered in Alzheimer’s patients’ blood

Immune genes are altered in Alzheimer’s patients’ blood

A new Northwestern Medicine study has found the immune system in the blood of Alzheimer’s patients is epigenetically altered. That means the patients’ behavior or environment has caused changes that affect the way their genes work. Many of these altered immune genes are the same ones that increase an individual’s risk for Alzheimer’s. Northwestern scientists … Read more

Sensors made from ‘frozen smoke’ can detect toxic formaldehyde in homes and offices

Sensors made from ‘frozen smoke’ can detect toxic formaldehyde in homes and offices

Researchers have developed a sensor made from ‘frozen smoke’ that uses artificial intelligence techniques to detect formaldehyde in real time at concentrations as low as eight parts per billion, far beyond the sensitivity of most indoor air quality sensors. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, developed sensors made from highly porous materials known as … Read more

Conversion process turns greenhouse gas into ethylene

Conversion process turns greenhouse gas into ethylene

Engineers at the University of Cincinnati created a more efficient way of converting carbon dioxide into valuable products while simultaneously addressing climate change. In his chemical engineering lab in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, Associate Professor Jingjie Wu and his team found that a modified copper catalyst improves the electrochemical conversion of carbon … Read more

Alien invasion: Non-native earthworms threaten ecosystems

Alien invasion: Non-native earthworms threaten ecosystems

An alien invasion capable of triggering catastrophic changes is underway across North America. At least 70 imported earthworm species have colonized the continent, and represent a largely overlooked threat to native ecosystems, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University, Sorbonne University, and other institutions. The analysis, published Feb. 8 in Nature Ecology … Read more

Industrial pollution leaves its mark in Mediterranean corals

Industrial pollution leaves its mark in Mediterranean corals

For the first time, pollutants from burning fossil fuels have been found embedded in corals, offering scientists a potential new tool to track the history of pollution, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded … Read more

Congestion pricing will sting upstate communities — and New York City itself

Congestion pricing will sting upstate communities — and New York City itself

Here we go again. First Mayor Adams tried (and failed) to ship migrants to upstate counties following his defiant declaration, “New York City will remain a sanctuary city under an Adams administration.” Now his city’s public-transit system wants to balance its books on the backs of bedroom communities like my own Cornwall-on-Hudson via what it … Read more