Boston College (BC)

Findings strengthen link between specific brain region and normal memory decline Dietary cocoa flavanols—naturally occurring bioactives found in cocoa—reversed age-related memory decline in healthy older adults, according to a study led by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists. The study, published today in the advance online issue of Nature Neuroscience, provides the first direct evidence that one component

Findings have applications in novel therapeutics for cancer and other diseases A new helper in the fight against cancer and other diseases of the gut may be genetically altered bacteria that release medicines to tumors or the gut. Now, a new study performed using mice demonstrates how doctors might one day better regulate those therapeutic

It can also provide dedicated energy crops suitable for establishment on marginal land Putting the water-use-efficient and turbo-charged photosynthesis from plants such as agave into woody biomass plants such as poplar can hedge against predicted long-term increases in temperatures and reduced precipitation. It can also provide dedicated energy crops suitable for establishment on marginal land

Daniel Gárate’s career came crashing to earth a few weeks ago.   That’s when the Los Angeles Police Department warned local real estate agents not to hire photographers like Mr. Gárate, who was helping sell luxury property by using a drone to shoot sumptuous aerial movies. Flying drones for commercial purposes, the police said, violated

Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a first-of-its-kind, two-armed, robotic rehabilitation exoskeleton that could provide a new method of high-quality, data-driven therapy to patients suffering from spinal and neurological injuries. Mechanical engineering researcher Ashish Deshpande and a team of graduate students from the Rehabilitation and

Boron arsenide may be of potential interest for cooling applications An unlikely material, cubic boron arsenide, could deliver an extraordinarily high thermal conductivity – on par with the industry standard set by costly diamond – researchers report in the current issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. The discovery that the chemical compound of boron and

Chronic wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcers and burns, can be very difficult to heal. This can result in pain, infection, or worse. Proteins known as growth factors have been shown to help such wounds heal, although purifying these proteins can be pricey, and they don’t last very long once applied to a wound. There

New Berkeley Lab analysis simulates fleet of self-driving taxis in Manhattan It may be only a matter of time before urban dwellers can hail a self-driving taxi, so researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley decided to analyze the cost, energy, and environmental implications of a fleet

A pair of “smart glasses” might help blind people navigate an unfamiliar environment by recognizing objects or translating signs into speech, scientists say. The majority of registered blind people have some residual abilityto perceive light and motion. But assistive technologies for the visually impaired have been limited. Now, researchers from Oxford University in England are developing a set