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Engineered microglia show promise for treating Alzheimer's and other brain diseases (link is external)

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A new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain may improve the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to scientists. By engineering human immune cells called microglia, the researchers have created living cellular 'couriers' capable of responding to brain pathology and releasing therapeutic agents exactly where needed.

Coastal management model plays the long game against the rising tides (link is external)

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To protect against rising sea levels in a warming world, coastal cities typically follow a standard playbook with various protective infrastructure options. For example, a seawall could be designed based on the latest climate projections, with the city officials then computing its cost-benefit ratio and proceeding to build, accordingly. The problem? Future climate conditions might differ substantially from the used projections, according to a civil engineering doctoral student.

Agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (link is external)

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Farmers apply nitrogen fertilizers to crops to boost yields, feeding more people and livestock. But when there's more fertilizer than the crop can take up, some of the excess can be converted into gaseous forms, including nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that traps nearly 300 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. About 70% of human-caused nitrous oxide comes from agricultural soils, so it's vital to find ways to curb those emissions.

How changes in lemur brains made some mean girls nice (link is external)

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If there was a contest for biggest female bullies of the animal world, lemurs would be near the top of the list. It's the ladies who get their way and keep males in line. In one branch of the lemur family tree, however, some species have evolved to have more harmonious relationships. New findings suggest that this amiable shift was driven by changes in the 'love hormone' oxytocin inside their brains.

Introduced trees are becoming more common in the eastern United States, while native diversity declines (link is external)

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In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at which introduced species are spreading has increased over the last two decades. Additionally, native tree diversity is on the decline in areas where exotic species originally introduced by humans have encroached.

Should farm fields be used for crops or solar? Or both (link is external)

Environmental Feed -

As farmers debate whether fields should be used for agriculture or solar panels, new research says the answer could be both. Scientists analyzed remote sensing and aerial imagery to study how fields have been used in California for the last 25 years. Using databases to estimate revenues and costs, they found that farmers who used a small percentage of their land for solar arrays were more financially secure per acre than those who didn't.

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