Halloween is just around the corner, and some people will celebrate by watching scary movies about brain-eating zombies. But even more frightening are real-life parasites that feed on the human brain, and they can be harder to kill than their horror-movie counterparts. Now, researchers have developed silver nanoparticles coated with anti-seizure drugs that can kill brain-eating amoebae while sparing human cells. The researchers report their results in ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
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WWF Report Reveals Staggering Extent of Human Impact on Planet
Humanity and the way we feed, fuel and finance our societies and economies is pushing nature and the services that power and sustain us to the brink, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018. The report presents a sobering picture of the impact of human activity on the world’s wildlife, forests, oceans, rivers and climate, underlining the rapidly closing window for action and the urgent need for the global community to collectively rethink and redefine how we value, protect and restore nature.
New Research Recovers Nutrients from Seafood Process Water
Process waters from the seafood industry contain valuable nutrients, that could be used in food or aquaculture feed. But the process waters are treated as waste. Researchers now show the potential of recycling these nutrients back into the food chain.
European Workers Fail to Maintain Water Balance
A newly published scientific paper indicates that occupational safety and daily day performance in 7 out of 10 workers, from several European industries, is negatively affected by a combination of heat stress and failure to maintain water balance. The study combines field observations and motor-cognitive testing in the lab, and was conducted by the Pan-European Heat-Shield project coordinated by researchers from Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at University of Copenhagen.
Widely Used Mosquito Repellent Proves Lethal to Larval Salamanders
Insect repellents containing picaridin can be lethal to salamanders. So reports a new study published today in Biology Letters that investigated how exposure to two common insect repellents influenced the survival of aquatic salamander and mosquito larvae.
Fertilizers’ Impact On Soil Health Compared
In a newly published study, researchers dug into how fertilizing with manure affects soil quality, compared with inorganic fertilizer.