All posts tagged: rapid

Novel psychedelic compound 25C-NBF shows rapid antidepressant effects without addictive traits

Novel psychedelic compound 25C-NBF shows rapid antidepressant effects without addictive traits

Published by José Betancourt

A newly studied synthetic psychedelic compound promotes rapid structural growth in brain cells and reverses depressive behaviors in rodents. The drug, known as 25C-NBF, appears to lack the addictive qualities and sensory disruptions associated with similar recreational substances. These results were recently published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Depression is a widespread mental health condition that affects millions of people globally. Symptoms range from persistent low mood to a profound loss of interest in daily activities. Many conventional treatments provide inadequate relief and require weeks or months to begin working. This delayed onset has driven researchers to explore alternative options, including psychedelic drugs that might change the brain much faster. Psychedelics are gaining attention because they can act as psychoplastogens. These are substances capable of rapidly altering the physical structure of brain cells. In people with depression, parts of the brain associated with mood regulation often lose synaptic connections, which are the communication points between neurons. Psychedelic compounds are broadly categorized into different chemical classes. Tryptamines, such as psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine, naturally occur in some …

NHS rolls out rapid pembrolizumab injection for 14 cancers

NHS rolls out rapid pembrolizumab injection for 14 cancers

Published by skeptic

The NHS has begun offering a faster injectable form of pembrolizumab to cancer patients across England, aiming to reduce cancer treatment times significantly. The new delivery method replaces lengthy intravenous infusions with a quick under-the-skin injection that can be administered in as little as 60 seconds. This updated approach to pembrolizumab treatment is designed for patients with up to 14 different cancer types, including lung, breast, cervical, and head and neck cancers. By shifting from hour-long infusions to minute-long injections, the NHS expects to improve patient experience while easing pressure on oncology services. Early results suggest a substantial impact. Treatment times may be reduced by up to 90%, allowing thousands of patients each year to spend less time in the hospital and more time on daily life. Around 14,000 people in England begin pembrolizumab therapy annually, and the majority are expected to benefit from the streamlined process. Commenting on the treatment innovation, UK Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting, said: “Our National Cancer Plan promised to do more and go faster for patients – already …

After the dino-killer asteroid, rapid evolution helped life bounce back quickly

After the dino-killer asteroid, rapid evolution helped life bounce back quickly

Published by skeptic

asteroid: A rocky object in orbit around the sun. Most asteroids orbit in a region that falls between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers refer to this region as the asteroid belt. atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth, another planet or a moon. average: (in science) A term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group. biology: The study of living things. The scientists who study them are known as biologists. Chicxulub: The name given an asteroid (or possibly a comet) that crashed into Earth around 66 million years ago. It left a crater more than 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide near the town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The collision released an immense amount of energy — equivalent to billions of atom bombs the size of those dropped on Japan during World War II. This event changed the planet’s climate and is widely believed to have triggered a mass extinction of species — including the …

Emperor penguins added to endangered list after rapid decline

Emperor penguins added to endangered list after rapid decline

Published by skeptic

Emperor penguins could go extinct by 2100 Stefan Christmann/naturepl.com Two of Antarctica’s most iconic species, the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) and the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella), have declined so dramatically and rapidly that they have been classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. A third Antarctic species, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), has had its status updated from “least concern” to “vulnerable”. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) runs the Red List, which is regarded as the world’s most comprehensive listing of the global conservation status of animal, fungus and plant species. Satellite images show that around 10 per cent of the emperor penguin population was lost between 2009 and 2018, equating to more than 20,000 adults, according to the IUCN. Projections suggest that the population will halve by the 2080s. “After careful consideration of different possible threats, we concluded that human-induced climate change poses the most significant threat to emperor penguins,” said Philip Trathan, at the British Antarctic Survey, and a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, in …

Short-acting psychedelic DMT shows promise as a rapid treatment for major depressive disorder

Short-acting psychedelic DMT shows promise as a rapid treatment for major depressive disorder

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in Nature Medicine suggests that a brief psychedelic experience combined with talk therapy can rapidly and safely reduce symptoms of severe depression. The findings indicate that a single dose of a fast-acting psychedelic compound, administered intravenously, provides sustained relief for up to three months. This research offers early evidence for a mental health treatment that requires much less time in a clinic than other psychedelic therapies. Dimethyltryptamine, commonly known as DMT, is a naturally occurring compound that produces intense but short-lived psychedelic effects. It works by interacting with the serotonin system in the brain, which plays a major role in regulating mood and processing emotions. While other psychedelics like psilocybin have shown promise for treating mood disorders, their effects tend to last four to six hours. This extended duration requires a full day of medical supervision, making the treatment expensive and difficult to scale for widespread use. When given directly into a vein, the psychedelic effects of DMT last only twenty to thirty minutes. The scientists behind the new study wanted …

Piece by piece: Inside the rapid rise of competitive jigsaw puzzling

Piece by piece: Inside the rapid rise of competitive jigsaw puzzling

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Hunched over a table in a hotel conference room, 42-year-old Yvonne Feucht snaps the final blue jigsaw piece into place, revealing a vibrant, beachy collage of San Diego landmarks. It took her just 54 minutes and 41 seconds to complete. Instead of the quiet satisfaction that usually ensues after finishing a jigsaw, the room erupts in cheers as Feucht raised her hands over her head, letting out a sigh of relief. The Los Angeles-based TV and film camera operator had just become the inaugural champion of the 2022 USA Jigsaw Puzzle Nationals — America’s first-ever major competitive puzzling tournament. This weekend, Feucht returns to try to reclaim her championship title at the 2026 edition of the Nationals. Hosted by the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association, …

Experts warn of rapid loss of water in the Baltic Sea: ‘A vibrant reef is turning into an underwater wasteland’

Experts warn of rapid loss of water in the Baltic Sea: ‘A vibrant reef is turning into an underwater wasteland’

Published by Sam Flores

While global water and ocean levels are rising, the Baltic Sea lost 275 billion tonnes of water at the beginning of February. It is now 67 cm lower than the average recorded in 1886. The situation, although it has not happened for 140 years, is caused by atmospheric factors. On the surface, these should not be a cause for concern, but, as Dr Tomasz Kijewski of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences told Euronews, such a deviation is a glaring example of the impact of climate change on the environment. The Arctic plays the first fiddle here. ‘The open refrigerator effect’ If water levels are rising, why has so much water disappeared in the Baltic Sea basin? Experts explain that it is the result of strong winds, a high pressure zone and the absence of significant atmospheric fronts. “The long-lasting strong easterly winds persisting since the beginning of January have pushed water masses through the Danish Straits towards the North Sea, resulting in a drop in levels throughout the basin,” reads …

Rapid Space Launches Shifting the Chemistry of Earth’s Atmosphere

Rapid Space Launches Shifting the Chemistry of Earth’s Atmosphere

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Space has never been more accessible than it is today. Launches have become an almost daily occurrence as companies and governments from around the world continue to build out satellite mega-constellations in the sky. As a result, we’re rapidly filling up the orbit around our planet with active spacecraft — and plenty of dangerous detritus as well. And beyond the chance of collisions, all of that activity could have potentially grave environmental consequences as well. The Earth’s atmosphere is being littered with new metal aerosols from burning spacecraft and rockets, as University of Southampton environmental science professor Ian Williams explained in a new essay for The Conversation. Many satellites are designed to deorbit upon their retirement and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, which at the incredible scale of today’s spacetech industry could already by fundamentally altering the chemistry of our planet’s natural defense mechanism. Not all is lost yet. It’s still possible that scientists, including Williams and …

Stopping weight loss jabs can lead to rapid weight regain in one year, study suggests | Science, Climate & Tech News

Stopping weight loss jabs can lead to rapid weight regain in one year, study suggests | Science, Climate & Tech News

Published by skeptic

People on obesity jabs will regain the majority of the weight they lose within a year of stopping the drugs, a new study suggests. Researchers at the University of Cambridge found that after stopping the jabs for 52 weeks, on average people had regained 60% of the weight they lost. They warned that if the regained weight is mainly fat, patients could “be worse off than before” they started the jabs. How do the drugs work? Weight loss jabs are a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by mimicking the hormone GLP-1 to regulate blood sugar and insulin levels. Originally developed as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, certain types, such as semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), are approved for use on the NHS to help tackle obesity. The jabs could also be used to prevent and treat addiction to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs like cannabis, cocaine, nicotine and opioids, a second study involving more than 600,000 US veterans with type 2 diabetes suggests. Experts believe the way the GLP-1 receptor …