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Neanderthals and modern humans must be classed as separate species

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Neanderthals and modern humans must be classed as separate species to best track our origins, claims new study from the Natural History Museum A replica of an approximately 50,000-year-old Neanderthal cranium from La Ferrassie, France, compared to a recent Homo Sapiens cranium © Trustees of the Natural History Museum PRESS RELEASE originally published by the Natural History Museum on 4 December 2024 Study argues that by the time of H. sapiens expansion, differentiation between the two species had occurred to the point where they were distinguishable species .  A new study published by researchers at London’s Natural History Museum and Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven has reinforced the claim that Neanderthals and modern-day humans ( Homo sapiens) must be classed as separate species in order to best track our evolutionary history. Different researchers have different definitions as to what classifies as a species. It is undisputed that H. sapiens and Neanderth...
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Novel mechanism in brain blood flow regulation offers insights into treating stroke and dementia

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Originally published by University of Vermont at MedicalXpress on December 9, 2024                                  Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A team of UVM scientists led by Mark Nelson, Ph.D., from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont , has uncovered a novel mechanism that reshapes our understanding of how blood flow is regulated in the brain . The study, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduces Electro-Calcium (E-Ca) Coupling , a process that integrates electrical and calcium signaling i n brain capillaries to ensure precise blood flow delivery to active neurons . In the human body, blood is delivered into the brain from surface arteries through penetrating arterioles, or very small blood vessels that branch off from arteries, and hundreds of miles of capillaries, which enormously extend the territory of perf...
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Resurrecting an ancestral protein as a novel tool to study RNA biology

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Or iginally published by Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology on December 2, 2024 Methylation activity of M.EcoGII variants in HEK293T cells. Credit: Nucleic Acids Research (2024). DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae887 By deducing the possible ancient forms of a bacterial enzyme, OIST scientists have resurrected one of its ancestral versions, with a comparably higher ability to chemically modify RNA. In the Protein Engineering and Evolution Uni t's latest publication in Nucleic Acids Research , the team presents an engineered RNA methyltransferase, which can be used t o study the role of RNA modifications in cells . With RNA modifications affecting stability , promoting translatio n, and influencing its location w ithin the cell, such modifications play an important role in the cell's health and in diseases. Read more
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Machine learning reveals behaviors linked with early Alzheimer's, points to new treatments

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Originally published at MedicalXpress by Gladstone Institutes , on November 26, 2024 Aged App NL-G-F mice show robust AD-related pathology and mild impairments in the Morris water maze. Credit: Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114870 Subtle signs of Alzheimer's disease can emerge decades before a diagnosis —often in the form of irregular behaviors that reflect very early stages of brain dysfunction . But until now, identifying and measuring these slight behavioral changes in a scientific way hasn't been feasibl e, not even when studying Alzheimer's in mice. In a study published in Cell Reports , a team of scientists at Gladstone Institutes used a new video-based machine learning tool to pinpoint otherwise-undetectable signs of early disease in mice that were engineered to mimic key aspects of Alzheimer's. Their work sheds light on a new strategy for identifying neurological disease earlier than currently possible and tracking how it develo...
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