Science

[:es]How does ApoE4 do its dirty work? Since 1993, when this variant of the apolipoprotein E gene was found to multiply the risk of the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease as much as fourfold, researchers have probed its connections to β-amyloid, the dominant suspect for the cause of the illness. This protein fragment forms…

[:es]The trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines, known collectively as the gut microbiome, have been linked to maladies from eye disease to rheumatoid arthritis. Now, two new studies have added another disease: multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder that strips away nerve cells’ protective covers, leading to muscle weakness, blindness, and even death.…

[:es]Early next year, NASA will launch its $70 million Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) to the International Space Station (ISS).[:]

[:es]After probing and peering at the genitalia of nearly 500 crocodiles in Palo Verde, Murray and his colleagues found something odd: The sex ratio was way out of whack, with males outnumbering females four to one among hatchling crocs. What’s more, the animals’ tissues were tainted with a synthetic steroid, which the researchers suspect was…

[:es]If these sweltering summer days prompt you to reach for a cold drink, you can thank your hypothalamus, a region of the brain that helps us regulate body temperature and other internal conditions. But the region may fail us when we get older. A new study in mice suggests that the hypothalamus promotes aging, hastening…

[:eu]Seventy years ago, plastic was barely used outside of the military. Today, we can’t live without it. And over the next 30 years, we may produce four times more plastic waste than we ever did, a new study shows.[:]

[:eu]In the future, you may be less likely to ask a friend to lend a hand. That’s because you may have a mechanical one attached to your shoulder. [:]

[:eu]Whether caused by a car accident that slams your head into the dashboard or repeated blows to your cranium from high-contact sports, traumatic brain injury can be permanent. There are no drugs to reverse the cognitive decline and memory loss, and any surgical interventions must be carried out within hours to be effective, according to…

[:eu]The ancestors of this red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) may have gotten their big break thanks to the same mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. [:]