Betelgeuse is visible to nighttime viewers as the bright, red star on the shoulder of Orion the Hunter. The star itself is huge, 1,000 times larger than our Sun, but from 650 light years away it is a tiny dot in the sky even though it is one of the nearest red supergiants to Earth. 

Getting into the details of the star and the region around it requires a combination of different telescopes and astronomers have released a new image of the outer atmosphere of Betelgeuse 
taken by the e-MERLIN radio telescope array operated from the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire
 and it reveals the detailed structure of the matter being thrown off the star.

The climate just got a little more complex. 

Researchers have found that sunlit snow is a major source of atmospheric bromine in the Arctic and that the surface snowpack above Arctic sea ice plays a previously unknown role in the bromine cycle. Bromine is key to chemical reactions that purge pollutants and destroy ozone.

This means, concludes researchers, that loss of sea ice, which been occurring more rapidly in recent years, has previously unknown and extremely disruptive effects in the balance of atmospheric chemistry in high latitudes. The team's findings suggest the rapidly changing Arctic climate, where surface temperatures are rising three times faster than the global average, could dramatically change its atmospheric chemistry.

A first-ever vaccine for gut bacteria common in autistic children may also help control some autism symptoms, according to a new paper in Vaccine.

Autism diagnoses have increased almost sixfold over the past 20 years, and it is unclear why. Some point to environmental factors while others have focused on the human gut. Some researchers believe toxins and/or metabolites produced by gut bacteria, including C. bolteae, may be associated with symptoms and severity of autism, especially regressive autism.

AC, DC: What's The Difference ?

The difference between alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) is readily explained, yet most widely published "explanations" seem to muddle the facts and cause confusion.  I hope that this short article may help to clarify matters a little.

A Little Etymology

Originally, alternating current was called "alternate" current and direct current was called "continuous" current.

Neuroscientists have long demonstrated that neuronal connections in the brain can be strengthened with neuronal activity in the process known as neuroplasticity, and that brain training can be the ideal remedy to sharpen the human mind and to slow down the progress of neurodegeneration. However, recent studies revealed that too much thinking can actually be detrimental to the brain, causing profound DNA damage often dubbed as the DNA double-stranded breakages (DSBs).

DSBs are identified by the accumulation of gH2A.X histone- a recruiter of the DNA-repair machinery- at the site of breakage, and are previously thought to be caused only by cell stress.

Second-hand stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, and local mom&pop shops are treasure troves of things to hack or repurpose. When you hack something you’re probably using it in a way in which it was never intended to be used so, there is always a risk that things might not go the way you planned. But since you can get items from second-hand stores on the cheap, you don’t care too much if you are disappointed with the results. Luckily, this "MacGyverism" was successful.

The common perception is that cancer develops because of gradual mutations over time, finally overwhelming the ability of a cell to control growth.  A look at genomes in prostate cancer found instead that genetic mutations occur in abrupt, periodic bursts, causing complex, large scale reshuffling of DNA driving the development of prostate cancer. 

The researchers dub this process "punctuated cancer evolution," akin to the theory of human evolution that states changes in a species occur in abrupt intervals. After discovering how DNA abnormalities arise in a highly interdependent manner, the researchers named these periodic disruptions in cancer cells that lead to complex genome restructuring "chromoplexy."

School violence has always been an important social issue world-wide because it poses a significant threat to the health, achievement, and well-being of students.

 Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is now considered a highly curable disease, thanks to the emergence of powerful, targeted CML therapies known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that allow patients to manage their disease with few symptoms by taking a well-tolerated pill.

Since the introduction of TKI therapy more than a decade ago, the annual mortality of patients with this disease has declined from 10 to 20 percent in the early 2000s to just 2 percent today and the estimated 10-year survival of CML patients has increased from 20 percent to more than 80 percent.

A paper in Journal of Affective Disorders
found that belief in God was correlated to improved outcomes for those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness.

Dr. David H. Rosmarin, McLean Hospital clinician and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, examined individuals at the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital program at McLean in an effort to investigate the relationship between patients' level of belief in God, expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.