Frontiers | Science News

Science News post list

FS

Frontiers Science Communications

1,071 news posts

Featured news

12 Sep 2019

Researchers identify cancer killing capability of lesser-known immune cells

Linked with obesity, esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the Western world. Image: Shutterstock. Finding new ways to reverse the inhibition of ‘MAIT’ immune cells could transform the prognosis of esophageal cancer — by Trinity College Dublin Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified, for the first time in esophageal cancer, the cancer killing capability of a lesser-known type of immune cell, presenting a new potential therapeutic target. Their research is published in Frontiers in Immunology. Esophageal cancer is a very aggressive type of cancer with poor prognosis, and the 5-year survival rate is typically less than 15%. Linked with obesity, esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the Western world and incidence is due to double in Ireland within the next few decades. Current treatment strategies work well but only for a minority (approx. 25%) of patients so new treatment options are urgently needed. New treatment strategies targeting the immune system have had revolutionary effects in other cancer types, but the latest clinical trials show that, disappointingly, immunotherapy offers no real benefit for the majority of patients with oesophageal cancer. Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells Display Diminished Effector Capacity in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma► Read original […]

Featured news

28 Aug 2019

Exploring the origins of the apple

The wild apples in the Tien Shan Mountains represent the main ancestral population for our modern apple. These trees produce large fruits, which are often red when ripe and have a varying array of flavors. These were the ancestors of the trees that people first started to cultivate and spread along the Silk Road. Image: Shutterstock. Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds; more recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops; dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication — by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Recent archaeological finds of ancient preserved apple seeds across Europe and West Asia combined with historical, paleontological, and recently published genetic data are presenting a fascinating new narrative for one of our most familiar fruits. In this study, Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History traces the history of the apple from its wild origins, noting that it was originally spread by ancient megafauna and later as a process of trade along the Silk Road. These processes allowed for the development of the varieties that we know today. Origins of […]

Featured news

23 Aug 2019

The fat of the land: estimating the ecological costs of overeating

Overeating is bad for our planet’s health, not just our own. Image: shutterstock. Overeating wastes far more food than we throw away, suggests research — by Matthew Prior, Frontiers science writer With every unfinished meal since Band Aid, you’ve heard it: “people are starving in Africa, y’know”. True, the UN estimates that rich countries throw away nearly as much food as the entire net production of sub-Saharan Africa – about 230 million tonnes per year. But is it any less a waste to eat the excess food? Morally, it’s equivocal. Nutritionally, it depends. However: the land, water and carbon footprints are just the same. In fact, researchers in Italy have proposed a way to measure the ecological impact of global food wastage due to excessive consumption. First, they estimated the net excess bodyweight of each country’s population – based on BMI and height data – and distributed its energy content among foods groups according to national availability. Published in Frontiers in Nutrition, the results suggest that direct food waste – thrown away or lost from field to fork – is a mere hors-d’œuvre. Metabolic Food Waste and Ecological Impact of Obesity in FAO World’s Region► Read original article► Download original article (pdf) […]