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Featured news

05 Jul 2024

Desert-loving fungi and lichens pose deadly threat to 5,000-year-old rock art

Researchers sampled microflora from the rocks bearing unique, millennia-old petroglyphs in the Negev desert. The diversity and abundance of species found on these rocks was low, suggesting that few can survive the harsh conditions. Most identified species from the petroglyphs were specialized microcolonial fungi and lichens, known to damage rock art through mechanical and chemical means. The authors cautioned that these natural deterioration processes can’t be stopped, making it necessary to monitor and document this important cultural heritage.

Featured news

02 Jul 2024

Study shows hairy skin does not become less sensitive with age

Our sense of touch is generally thought to decline with age, just like the other senses. However, a study has now shown for the first time that age-related decline in sensitivity only happens in hairless skin like the tip of the index finger, but not in the hairy cheeks and forearms. The authors speculate that the exceptional sensitivity of the cheeks throughout life is due to our evolutionary history as social primates, for whom touch is an important method of communication.

Featured news

19 Jun 2024

Ultrasound beam triggers ‘nanodroplets' to deliver drugs at exactly the right spot

Conventional drug delivery is inefficient and imprecise. Through a series of preclinical experiments, researchers from the University of Utah have optimized a novel, targeted method of delivery through nanodroplet carriers, which are triggered to release their drug at exactly the desired spot by a focused beam of ultrasound. Their results showed that nanodroplets with a core of perfluorooctylbromide are stable, efficient in delivery, and well tolerated. Clinical experiments are likely to follow.