Scientists Identify an Epigenetic Switch That Can Slow Production of Fat Cells - ScienceAlert

OCD is a mental health disorder characterized by unwanted, recurring thoughts and repetitive behaviors that can severely interfere with everyday life. Exposure-based psychotherapy is one of the most effective treatments, but the biological mechanisms underlying treatment response remain poorly understood. To investigate this, researchers from the University of Bergen studied DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism in which small chemical groups attach to DNA and can influence gene activity without changing the genetic code.

A new study that tracked dogs' aging by reading tiny chemical tags on their DNA found that larger dogs aged more quickly.

In September 2022, a NASA spacecraft violently smashed into a tiny asteroid as a test of planetary defense. Now, a new probe is ready to check out the wreckage by rendezvousing with the space rock for a closer look. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched its Hera mission on October 7, 2024, as a crucial follow-up to NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), a first-of-its-kind attempt to redirect the orbit of an asteroid. The small, car-sized spacecraft recently pulled off a braking maneuver to slow it down as it approaches the binary asteroid system before it makes its first close flyby in early November. Hera is set to perform a detailed, post-impact survey with the aim of turning a one-time, space experiment into a well-understood planetary defense mechanism. The mission could also help scientists learn more about how asteroids form. Collision ahead For the DART test, NASA sent a 1,340-pound spacecraft (607 kilograms) and smashed it into Dimorphos, a 558-foot-wide (170-meter) space rock that orbits its larger 2,625-foot-wide (800-meter) companion, Didymos.

For more than 150 years, scientists believed it was the earliest documented example of a solar storm interfering with human technology. There was just one glaring problem. The Victorian railway hadn’t even been built yet. The story appeared in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in 1871. According to the account, an intense magnetic storm on October 18, 1841, scrambled telegraph signals along the South Devon Railway. Unable to confirm that the tracks ahead were clear, railway officials held the 10:05 p.m. express at Exeter for 16 minutes.