CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 22, 2023--

The mystery behind the brightest explosion ever seen has finally been solved. In October last year, the Earth was hit by a blast that came to be known as the Brightest of All Time. It was recorded by telescopes across the world, and scientists have been scrambling to explain it ever since. Now researchers believe they may understand why that gamma ray burst was quite so intense. It was pointed directly at Earth and pulled along a large amount of stellar material. That’s according to a new paper published in the journal Science Advances. While scientists have suggested before that the brightness of the blast was the result of its angle, but some mystery remained: the edges of the jet could not be seen. “The slow fade of the afterglow is not characteristic of a narrow jet of gas, and knowing this made us suspect there was an additional reason for the intensity of the explosion, and our mathematical models have borne this out,” said Hendrik Van Earthen from the University of Bath. “Our work clearly shows that the GRB had a unique structure, with observations gradually revealing a narrow jet embedded within a wider gas outflow where an isolated jet would normally be expected.” The work is described in a new paper, ‘A structured jet explains the extreme GRB 221009’, published in the journal Science Advances. Read More Scientists demonstrate wireless power transmission from space for first time Whistleblower alleges UFO crashes – and a cover-up to keep them secret Watch: Strawberry moon lights up skies over UK

JD.com reports earnings of 92 cents a share on revenue of $34.2 billion in the third quarter.

Alcohol addiction ruins millions of lives every year, but scientists may have found a cure for this terrible affliction. A new treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been trialled in monkeys with impressive results and, if these translate to human trials, the impact could be monumental. A team of neuroscientists and physiologists from across the US tested a new type of gene therapy to see if they could directly target the underlying brain circuitry associated with sustained heavy drinking. As they noted, in the journal Nature Medicine, people suffering from AUD commonly return to alcohol use even if they attempt to quit. This is largely to do with what’s known as mesolimbic dopamine (DA) signalling – meaning how the central nervous system circuit communicates the feelgood neurotransmitter dopamine. A protein called glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is key to keeping these neurons in this reward circuitry functioning. However, experts have found that levels of GDNF are reduced in people with AUD during periods of alcohol abstinence, most notably in a region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), as IFLScience notes. Therefore, the researchers decided to test whether using gene therapy to deliver more GDNF to the VTA could help reinforce this crucial dopaminergic signalling and prevent patients from suffering an alcoholic relapse. The team of scientists explained how alcohol consumption in non-addicts prompts the release of dopamine, creating a pleasurable buzz feeling, but chronic alcohol use causes the brain to adapt and stop releasing so much dopamine. “So when people are addicted to alcohol, they don’t really feel more pleasure in drinking,” Dr Kathleen Grant, a senior co-author of the study, said in a statement. “It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state.” For their research, Dr Grant and her colleagues used eight rhesus macaque monkeys, who were exposed to increasing concentrations of alcohol over four 30-day “induction” periods. The monkeys then had free access to alcohol and water for 21 hours a day for six months, during which they developed heavy drinking behaviours. This was then followed by a 12-week abstinence phase, with the GDNF treatment performed four weeks in for half of the subjects. The gene therapy was delivered using a a viral vector containing a copy of the human GDNF gene injected directly into the primate’s VTA, according to IFLScience. And the results were truly jaw-dropping. “Drinking went down to almost zero,” Dr Grant said. “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether. They decreased their drinking to the point that it was so low we didn’t record a blood-alcohol level.” The most exciting aspect of their findings is the suggestion that gene therapy could offer a permanent solution for people with the most severe cases of AUD. This will be a welcome glimmer of hope to many, given that some 29.5 million people were diagnosed with AUD in the US alone in 2021, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Of these 29.5 million sufferers, almost a million (894,000) were aged between 12 and 17. It’ll likely be some time before we know for sure whether the gene therapy can be rolled out in humans, but it’s an important first step in tackling this devastating disorder. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 5, 2023--

Elon Musk called for a “regulatory structure” for artificial intelligence after warning US senators about risks to civilization

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 6, 2023--

SYDNEY & CHESTERBROOK, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2023--

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 22, 2023--

An investigation has been ordered into an alleged leak of confidential information.

The asset management unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. is breaking away from a number of its peers

TL;DR: As of Sept. 3, you can get a refurbished Microsoft Surface Pro 7 for