How Spices Have Made, and Unmade, Empires

IN THE HILLY Boaco region of central Nicaragua, the turmeric plants on Celia Dávila and Gonzalo González’s farm stand over four feet tall — thriving giants, although as natives of South and Southeast Asia, they’re actually newcomers to this land. Coffee once ruled these fields, but as its price has grown unstable, smallholder farmers like…

New study shows a minimum dose of hydromethylthionine could slow cognitive decline

ABERDEEN, Scotland and Singapore, 26 November, 2019 – In a paper published in today’s online issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (DOI 10.3233/JAD-190772), TauRx has reported unexpected results of a pharmacokinetic analysis of the relationship between treatment dose, blood levels and pharmacological activity of the drug hydromethylthionine on the brain in over 1,000 patients…

Black silicon can help detect explosives

Scientists from Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, and Melbourne Center for Nanofabrication developed an ultrasensitive detector based on black silicon. The device is able to detect trace amounts of nitroaromatic compounds and can be applied to identify the majority of explosives or…

New vaccine will stop the spread of bovine TB

Scientists at the University of Surrey have developed a novel vaccine and complementary skin test to protect cattle against bovine tuberculosis (bovine TB). Publishing their findings in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers reveal they have for the first time created a vaccine that is compatible with a synthetic form of the tuberculin skin test (PPD),…

Head-to-head comparison finds three anti-seizure drugs equally effective for severe form of epilepsy

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A new study finds that the three most common treatment options administered in the emergency department for patients who experience refractory status epilepticus are equally safe and effective. Status epilepticus is characterized by individual seizures or multiple seizures close together lasting more than five minutes with a loss of consciousness. If…