Vocal therapy changes vocal cords of transgender patients without need for surgery
This study shows there is a proven, objective value of voice therapy.” Dionisio says she’d like future studies in this area to focus not only on physiological changes, but also on whether those changes actually aided the patients’ transitions, such as by whether these women were perceived to be of their desired gender by others. Overall, the authors say they hope their work will play a role in helping trans individuals more easily and cheaply access vocal therapy. “Getting voice therapy covered by the insurance companies for transgender individuals is like pulling teeth sometimes,” Dion says. “For a...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 18, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Disgraced surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, whose crimes inspired an opera, headed to prison
Paolo Macchiarini, the former stem cell surgeon who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison by a Swedish court for aggravated assault against patients he treated, is expected to begin his sentence sometime in the coming weeks. But he is likely to serve his sentence in Spain, where he currently lives, not in Sweden. The saga surrounding Macchiarini, who was once considered a pioneer of regenerative medicine for implanting patients with synthetic windpipes seeded with their own stem cells, has been the topic of multiple documentaries and podcasts, and has even inspired an opera . In recent weeks he has gained ne...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 18, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

NIH advisory group recommends $14,000 boost in postdoc pay
The minimum starting salaries of U.S. biomedical postdocs should increase to $70,000, up from the current minimum of $56,484, concludes a report released today by an advisory group to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). “We feel that this is crucial to … protect the U.S. biomedical competitiveness,” said co-chair Shelley Berger, an epigenetics professor at the University of Pennsylvania, during the presentation unveiling the report’s recommendations. If enacted, such a salary boost could impact researchers well beyond the biomedical research community, as many academic institutions across the country set ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Precarious rock formations near Los Angeles hold clues to giant earthquake hazards
SAN FRANCISCO— Someday, a great earthquake will erupt from the San Andreas fault, which cuts through Southern California from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Geologic records make it clear. It has happened, and it will happen again . But when the Big One does hit, it may be less devastating than once thought, at least near Los Angeles. According to new work presented this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the ground there will shake up to 65% less violently than official hazard models suggest. The good news for Angelenos stems from five rocks balanced precariously on ...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Fighting viruses with viruses? ‘Gene drive’ offers new strategy to beat infections
If your immune system or drugs can’t stop a viral infection, why not pit a virus against itself? That’s the provocative idea several labs are pursuing. They are studying whether deliberately introducing engineered viruses into people infected with their natural relatives can “drive” a foreign gene into those viruses that ultimately wipes out an infection. No lab has knocked down an infection in animals this way yet, but a group has now shown it’s theoretically possible. These so-called gene drives harness the genome editor CRISPR to perform genetic surgery that speeds the spread of a gene through progeny. S...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Garter snakes make friends, organize their society around females
Garter snakes have something in common with elephants, orcas, and naked mole rats: They form social groups that center around females. The snakes have clear “communities” composed of individuals they prefer hanging out with, and females act as leaders that tie the groups together and guide their members’ movements, according to the most extensive field study of snake sociality ever carried out. “This is an important first step in understanding how a community of snakes is organized in the wild,” says Gordon Burghardt, an ecologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not involved in the resear...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Indian government ignored repeated warnings from scientists before massive tunnel collapse
Last month, government officials in India celebrated after rescue teams freed 41 construction workers who had been trapped underground for 17 days when a rock fall sealed a tunnel they were building beneath mountains in northern India. “Everyone involved in this mission has set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after the 28 November rescue. For many Indian researchers, however, the near-disaster was the predictable outcome of officials ignoring repeated warnings from scientists ab...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Researchers protest end of NSF grants program using data from its $1 billion ecology network
U.S. ecologists are protesting a decision by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to abruptly end funding for studies that rely on its one-of-a-kind network of 81 ecological research sites that debuted just 4 years ago. They believe the move undermines the emerging field of macrosystems biology and limits the potential of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). And after getting the cold shoulder from the research directorate that made the decision, scientists are taking the unusual step of pleading with NSF’s director to reverse the decision. “NSF is jeopardizing its investment in NEON,” leaders o...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 15, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Pangolin-poaching hot spots revealed by DNA tests
Using DNA tests, researchers have exposed smuggling routes and traced the remains of African pangolins back to specific forest populations. Since 2012, poaching of these endangered animals has shifted eastward from Sierra Leone to Cameroon , they report today in Science . The tests could help law enforcement agents more quickly identify the source of untold numbers of hunted pangolins, possibly millions of which are illegally shipped around the world each year. “Identifying pangolin poaching hot spots is crucial to curbing their decline and this paper has made a giant effort in addressing this g...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 14, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

France has big plans to reform research, but key details remain vague
A week after French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a sweeping plan to dramatically remake the nation’s research establishment, many scientists are still grappling with exactly what the sometimes-vague blueprint will mean in practice. And although some researchers are welcoming the changes—including moves to clarify the roles of public research organizations and universities and to create a high-level science advisory council—others are worried about the broader implications. There is a “glaring lack of clarity” in key elements of the plan that government officials need to address before moving ahead, th...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 14, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Arctic seals ’ intricate nose bones keep them warm in forever winters
To survive winter’s frigid embrace, many of us rely on heating units. But for seals facing life in perpetual winters, it helps to have one built in. In a study published today in the Biophysical Journal , researchers show that the unique nose bones in arctic seals preserve more warmth than the noses of their cousins in warmer climates. When arctic seals huff and puff, icy air and water molecules fly up their nares and into a labyrinth of nose bones called maxilloturbinates. These porous bones are lined with mucus-rich tissues that trap heat and soak up water when the animals breathe. To te...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 14, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Arctic seal ’s intricate nose bones keep them warm in forever winters
To survive winter’s frigid embrace, many of us rely on heating units. But for seals facing life in perpetual winters, it helps to have one built in. In a study published today in the Biophysical Journal , researchers show that the unique nose bones in arctic seals preserve more warmth than the noses of their cousins in warmer climates. When arctic seals huff and puff, icy air and water molecules fly up their nares and into a labyrinth of nose bones called maxilloturbinates. These porous bones are lined with mucus-rich tissues that trap heat and soak up water when the animals breathe. To te...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 14, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Are tiny black holes hiding within giant stars?
Grunge music: a source of validation for a generation of disaffected youth. And a surprising source of scientific inspiration for Earl Bellinger of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. While listening to Soundgarden’s 1994 hit Black Hole Sun 2 years ago, he contemplated a curious question: Might itty-bitty black holes from the dawn of time be lurking in the hearts of giant stars? A new study by Bellinger and colleagues suggests the idea is not so far-fetched. Astronomers could detect these trapped black holes by the vibrations they cause on the star’s surface. And if there’s enough of the...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 13, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

Too hot? Too cold? Birds use their legs as a thermostat
The fluffy plumage of birds keeps them warm. Their beaks keep them cool, shedding heat when things get too hot. But when the animals need a more flexible thermostat, they use their legs. New research—based on thermal imaging of 14 bird species in Australia and published in Biology Letters —finds that birds can shed or retain body heat by adjusting blood flow to their legs . As Earth warms, they may even evolve longer legs to help them cool off more easily. It’s an “elegant” study, says Monte Neate-Clegg, an ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was not involved...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 13, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research

African animals prefer to graze in spots once inhabited by Iron Age humans
Survey a savanna bush in southern Africa, where a sea of tall grasses sways in the wind, dotted with herds of antelope, shrubs, and acacia trees, and you might think you were in a pristine landscape untouched by humans. But the continent’s grazing animals know better. Impala and greater kudu, African antelope species, prefer to forage on land once covered by 1800-year-old Iron Age homes and cattle enclosures, because more kinds of nutrient-rich grasses grow there today, a team of researchers based in Zimbabwe and Botswana reports this month in the Journal of Arid Environments . The work adds to...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - December 12, 2023 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research