A blood test sees Alzheimer's risk early, and a dinosaur ate fruit

Each person's blood was measured for a marker called phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217), and each had a PET brain scan at baseline. About 478 of them eventually developed cognitive impairment 7. Among people with very high p-tau217, the risk was 38% within five years and an estimated 78% within ten, though the ten-year figure rests on substantially less data 7. The results appeared in JAMA and were presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 7.

The fossils, including a nearly complete, articulated skull, came from the Hell Creek Formation, where it lived alongside T. rex and Triceratops, which explains the name "hell chicken" 21. Its chewing muscles were arranged in a way seen today only in fruit-eating parrots, built for mashing stone fruits to strip the flesh from the seed 21. The work appeared in Nature Communications 21. Lead author Gregory Funston said "we never expected to discover fruit-eating dinosaurs," and noted that for more than 100 years nobody had seen the skulls of these animals 21.

The double-blind randomized trial enrolled 193 adults, and the 8 and 12 milligram doses cut scores on a standard depression test significantly, with mild to moderate side effects 78. Symptoms eased within a day, and the benefit lasted up to eight weeks 50. The psychedelic experience was brief enough that most patients were assessed as ready to leave the clinic within two hours 50.

Over 50 goats were airlifted to Antigua with pool noodles over their horns and hoods over their eyes. Trapping them had failed with snares, traps, and a net launcher, until the team noticed that getting the kids into the corral made the parents follow 129. About ten people, some of them cliff rappellers, placed rat bait roughly every 100 feet, and by March 2017 all signs of rats were gone 129. The government of Antigua and Barbuda worked with the Environmental Awareness Group, Fauna & Flora, and Re:wild 129.

Cynthia Sears's group showed the tumor link in a 2009 Nature Medicine study, but the receptor the toxin grabs on to stayed unknown for nearly two decades 2. Now a Johns Hopkins team reports in Nature that the docking point is a protein called claudin-4. They built a molecular decoy that intercepts the toxin before it can damage colon cells, and it protected mice from the toxin's effects 2. Sears said "We've made several attempts over time to identify the receptor, so this is an exciting moment" 2.

They range from a few dozen to more than 1,000 kilometers out to feed 71. Heading home, they are thought to find their position with a map sense, possibly smell-based, then steer by the Sun as a compass 71. That only works with an accurate internal clock, since the Sun's angle shifts all day, and the birds' clock is not perfect 71. Oxford's Patrick Lewin, the lead author, says the jet lag leaves a measurable mark: it skews their compass 71.

No human remains exist in that layer. The DNA, probably shed as skin, hair, or blood, came from several people sheltering in the cave about 22,000 years ago, during the coldest stretch of Europe's last ice age 35. They likely belonged to a western ancestry group with dark skin, hair, and eyes, and the DNA came from more males than females 35. The study is in Science Advances 35.