Machine-learning research published in two related papers today in Nature Geoscience reports the detection of seismic signals accurately predicting the Cascadia fault's slow slippage, a type of failure observed to precede large earthquakes in other subduction zones.
Regeringen vil give kommunerne lov til at indhente oplysninger om borgeres el-, vand- og varmeforbrug for at tjekke, om de overholder deres bopælspligt. Men det kan blive en glidebane, siger en bekymret SF-politiker.
Military Meet the scientists who trace the world's most notorious acts of war back to labs in which they were made. Meet the scientists who trace the world's most notorious acts of war back to labs in which they were made.
En række henvendelser har fået Medicinrådet til at skyde behandlingsvejledning for type 2-diabetes. I stedet sætter rådet gang i behandlingsvejledning til hiv og psoriasis.
For mange sygeplejersker stopper efter kort tid på Region Syddanmarks akutmodtagelser og medicinske afdelinger. Nu afsættes 13 mio. kr. til introduktionsforløb og efteruddannelse.
Heavy drinking among people with depression dropped dramatically when improved antidepressants hit the market, according to a new study. The findings suggest those who use drugs or alcohol to relieve mental and physical pain will switch when better, safer treatment options are available. "We know depression and heavy drinking go hand in hand, but no one has tested the notion that, if good medicin
Willow tits (Poecile montanus) generally reside in one territorial area throughout their adult lives. But brutal winters in the north kill off many of them. They aren't able to manage well on their own, and storing seeds in the autumn is not always enough. For the young of the year, it is absolutely vital to find a flock to spend the winter with. Juvenile birds also have to try to become high-rank
A team of scientists from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, together with their colleagues from Russia, Japan, and Australia, have studied the influence of inhomogeneous magnetic fields applied during the fabrication process of thin-film structures made from nickel-iron and iridium-manganese alloys. These systems can be used in various types of magnetic field sensors. The results are publis
A team of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (BFU) together with an international scientific group has studied a correlation between the structure of ceramic materials based on bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) and their magnetic properties. In their work, the scientists determined the factors that affect structural evolution of materials and changes in their magnetic behavior. The work will help crea
A KAIST research team has reported some of unique characteristics and driving forces behind submesoscale geophysical turbulence. Using big data analysis on ocean surface currents and chlorophyll concentrations observed using coastal radars and satellites has brought better understanding of oceanic processes in space and time scales of O(1) kilometer and O(1) hour. The outcomes of this work will le
Scientists from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology reported that analysis of fossil specimens of a flower called Nanjinganthus from the Early Jurassic (more than 174 million years ago) suggests that flowers originated 50 million years earlier than previously thought.
Researchers have made a discovery about human papillomavirus (HPV) that could lead to new treatments for cervical cancer and other cancers caused by the virus, the most common sexually transmitted disease.
A collaborative research team from China has published a new analysis that shows the horizontal heat flux in the mixed layer plays a crucial role in extreme heat events in the North China Plain region.
In this research, TiO2-CNTs were used as an efficient recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of [1]benzopyrano[b][1]benzopyran-6-ones and xanthenols by the pseudo three-component reaction of salicylaldehydes with active methylene compounds including 4-hydroxycoumarin (4- hydroxy-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one) or 3,4-methylenedioxyphenol. The introduced method is mild, environmentally benign and effective t
An efficient solvent-free method for the synthesis of xanthenediones has been developed in the presence of [(EtNH2)2SO][HSO4]2 as a powerful catalyst with high to excellent yields, and short reaction times. Additionally, recycling studies have demonstrated that the dicationic ionic liquid can be readily recovered and reused at least four times without significant loss of its catalytic activity.
In a new study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international team led by Professor Baoyu Jiang of Nanjing University and including Dr Michael Pittman of the Department of Earth Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, shows that pterosaurs had at least four types of feathers in common with their close relatives the dinosaurs, pushing back the origin of feathers by some 70 mil
The aim of the present work was to develop a machine learning predictive model to classify inhibitors and non-inhibitors of multidrug resistance associated protein-2 transporter using a well refined dataset.In this study, the various algorithms of machine learning were used to develop the predictive models i.e. support vector machine, random forest and k-nearest neighbor. The methods like variance
Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. This discovery will contribute to our understanding of the distribution of water in our solar system, the evolution of asteroids, and the origin of water on Earth. The results were published on December 17 in the online Advan
Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of wild seeds are needed to restore plant ecosystems globally but overharvesting risks their depletion unless ethical seed-sourcing regulations are developed, Curtin University research has found.
New research from The ANU shows people imprisoned on terrorism offences stand a better chance of being rehabilitated when placed in general prison populations, than when kept in isolation or in a separate location with other terrorists.
After eight years of gathering data from more than 1,000 pigs infected with porcine circovirus 2, University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers have identified the gene associated with pigs' susceptibility to the deadly swine disease.
More than 2,500 years ago, horse riding nomads expanded their cultural realm throughout the Eurasian steppe from Southern Siberia to Eastern Europe. These tribes buried their dead in large burial mounds, often with elaborate golden jewelry and weapons of superior craftsmanship. Most of the organic materials are lost forever, but objects made from metals survive the millennia.
The latest UN climate talks, known as COP24, have just concluded. The supposed story this time was one of a grinding victory by the EU and developing nations over recalcitrant petro-states – Russia, the US, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. These four, condemned as "climate villains" over the past week, worked to block the adoption of a critical IPCC report that detailed how woefully inadequate current int
A new study shows that the roots used by three close species of microscopic Daphnia crustaceans to settle across the territory of Northern Eurasia differed greatly. The findings shed light on how continental freshwater fauna formed. The results are published in PLOS ONE.
Glasses are an enigma among solid phases. Like crystalline solids they are hard, but unlike crystals they are amorphous on the molecular scale. Because of this structural disorder, each piece of glass is technically out of equilibrium, and unique. As a result, its properties depend not only on its chemical ingredients, but on how it was cooled.
Factories mass produce goods for society and many emit greenhouse gases in the process, but not all are run by humans. Some factories lie underground and are operated around the clock by tireless six-legged workers.
Single-cell mass spectroscopy is a technology to analyze target cell organelles almost as they are, by taking them out from a living cell at a desired time point using a nanospray tip while tracking the cell movement under microscope. This technology is highly expected to be a powerful tool to unravel molecular mechanisms of the deceases, single-cell diagnosis and personalized medicine. However, e
Maintaining a high negative pressure in airborne infection isolation rooms of hospitals (over -10 Pa) and in renovation sites (over -5 Pa) effectively limits the dispersion of airborne contaminants and dust, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows.
Local stakeholders need more information than is currently available to them on the impacts of former mining activities on ground water and surface water, potential soil contamination, and the safety of natural products, a new study from Finland shows. The majority of the respondents generally regarded post-mining sites as unpleasant places that are in need of better reclamation and landscaping me
Being in a strong committed relationship may reduce the risk of suicide among members of the National Guard, research finds. Suicide rates for members of the military are disproportionally higher than for civilians, and around the holidays the number of reported suicides often increases, for service members and civilians alike. What's more alarming is the risk of suicide among National Guard and
A team of researchers from Australia and China has changed a variable used in an equation to project precipitation as the climate changes, and in so doing, has found that the planet may not become drier as many have suggested. In their paper published in Nature Climate Change, they explain their rationale for changing the variable and why they believe the equation now better represents reality. Ja
General Motors has announced it's shuttering five production facilities and killing six vehicle platforms by the end of 2019 as it reallocates resources towards self-driving technologies and electric vehicles.
For the 8th year now, solar power attracted the largest share of new investments in renewable energies, according to the new JRC PV status report 2018. The EUR140billion investments in solar energy globally accounted for almost 60 percent of all new renewable energy investments.
Kompositvinger og nye turbofan-motorer er med til at opgradere den aldrende kæmpe til et moderne fly. Og med 300 kvadratmeter at boltre sig på kan man sagtens tilbringe et døgn i luften med 75 passagerer.
Researchers who have undertaken the first systematic review of into the use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicines (TCAM) in Sub-Saharan Africa found its use is significant and not just because of a lack of resources or access to 'conventional medicine'.
Researchers have discovered an ancient Japanese pottery vessel from the late Jomon period (4500-3300 BP) with an estimated 500 maize weevils incorporated into its design. The vessel was discovered in February 2016 from ruins in Hokkaido, Japan. This extremely rare discovery provides clues on the cultivation and distribution of chestnuts, food in the Jomon era, and the spirituality of ancient Japan
A team of investigators led by members of the University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty at CU Anschutz Medical Campus has identified a connection between mucus in the small airways and pulmonary fibrosis.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered a combination of a cancer vaccine with two checkpoint drugs reduced pancreatic cancer tumors in mice, demonstrating a possible pathway for treatment of people with pancreatic cancers whose response to standard immunotherapy is poor.
A relic cloud of gas, orphaned after the Big Bang, has been discovered in the distant universe by astronomers using the world's most powerful optical telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii.
Support cells in the brain are key contributors to Huntington's disease, according to a new study. The research gives scientists a clearer picture of what is happening in the brains of people with the disease and lays out a potential path for treatment. "Huntington's is a complex disease that is characterized by the loss of multiple cell populations in the brain," says Steve Goldman, codirector o
Last winter, a recipe for salted chocolate-chunk shortbread cookies spread through my social circle like a carbohydrate epidemic. One of my friends kept seeing the cookies pop up on Instagram and, relenting to digital peer pressure, eventually made them. She brought half the batch to a dinner party, and then it was off to the races. For months, it felt like every time I showed up to a party, some
If Beale Street Could Talk is a lush, immersive film. It envelops viewers in the dynamic love its characters have for one another, and that its creators have for their work. The Barry Jenkins–directed adaptation of James Baldwin's 1974 novel follows Tish (played by KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), a young black couple who must reorient their relationship after Fonny is arrested for a crime
Using a technique that involves analyzing thousands of single cells, scientists have figured out a new way to capture a stem cell that underlies flatworm regeneration.
Debates about cyber security in Australia over the past few weeks have largely centred around the passing of the government's controversial Assistance and Access bill. But while government access to encrypted messages is an important subject, protecting Australia from threat could depend more on the task of developing a solid and robust cyber security response plan.
Using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), astronomers have detected a new bright quasar at a redshift of about 6.8. The newly identified quasar, designated VHS J0411-0907, is the brightest object in the near-infrared J-band among the known quasars at redshift higher than 6.7. The finding is reported in a paper published December 6 on arXiv.org.
Bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts know it: proportions matter. A bit too much or slightly too little of an ingredient, and the person drinking will never look back.
Around 4 billion years ago there lived a microbe called LUCA: the Last Universal Common Ancestor. There is evidence that it could have lived a somewhat 'alien' lifestyle, hidden away deep underground in iron-sulfur rich hydrothermal vents. Anaerobic and autotrophic, it didn't breathe air and made its own food from the dark, metal-rich environment around it. Its metabolism depended upon hydrogen, c
Researchers in Eindhoven have developed a new type of low-energy, nanoscale laser that shines in all directions. The key to its omnidirectional light emission is the introduction of something that is usually highly undesirable in nanotechnology: irregularities in the materials. The researchers foresee a vast range of potential applications, but first they hope their fundamental work will inspire o
A new study argues that "social class transitioners" – people who move between different socioeconomic classes through their lifetime – bring a unique and valuable skillset to the workplace.
New laws are required to control access to medical genetic data by law enforcement agencies, an analysis by University of Queensland researchers has found.The academics from biology, policy and law say a Genetic Data Protection Act is needed to maintain public trust in medical genetics.
Machine-learning research published in two related papers today in Nature Geosciences reports the detection of seismic signals accurately predicting the Cascadia fault's slow slippage, a type of failure observed to precede large earthquakes in other subduction zones.
A new compound blocks the most common genetic cause of familial ALS and frontotemporal dementia. Results suggest that the target currently being pursued by many research groups may not actually be the one driving neuron death.
Scientists look to fossils and evolutionary trees to help determine the rate of evolution – albeit with conflicting results. A new model by ETH researchers has helped to resolve these contradictions.
When Frank Billingsley announced he had prostate cancer, the outpouring of sympathy was overwhelming. But one email among the mass of messages the chief meteorologist at KPRC-TV in Houston received stood out.
The world was shocked by Chinese scientist He Jiankui's recent claim that he'd brought to term twin babies whose genes – inheritable by their own potential descendants – he had modified as embryos. The genetic edit, He said, was meant to make the girls resistant to HIV infection.
Researchers at Tampere University of Technology and Aalto University taught machine learning algorithms to predict how materials stretch. This new application of machine learning opens new opportunities in physics and possible applications can be found in the design of new optimal materials. The study has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
Patients face unnecessary barriers to evidence-based treatment from government regulations as well as providers' own beliefs that are not grounded in science, researchers from the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center (BMC) said in an Annals of Internal Medicine editorial.
A pair of researchers, one with the Public University of Navarre, the other with the University of Bristol, has developed a system of holographic acoustic tweezers that can be used to manipulate multiple objects simultaneously in 3-D space. Asier Marzo and Bruce Drinkwater describe their tweezers and possible uses for them in their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scie
Plant scientists have succeeded in unraveling the complete genome sequence of the common primrose — the plant whose reproductive biology captivated the Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin. The research team has identified, for the first time, the landscape of genes which operate within the primrose's two different flowering forms that are involved in the reproductive process. This adds fresh insi
Scientists have announced the invention of a genetic testing technology that allows the number of clinical biomarkers to be analyzed at the single-molecule level, which enhances the sensitivity of tests in precision medicine and will make them more affordable in future. The TAC-seq method, for which a patent is pending, is already being used in fertility clinics to determine the personal variation
Children of parents who have alcohol use disorder are more likely to get married under the age of 25, less likely to get married later in life, and more likely to marry a person who has alcohol use disorder themselves, according to a new study.
Sygehusene i Vejle og Kolding har investret i maskiner, der på 20 min. kan fastslå, om en patient har influenza. Det skal lette presset på afdelingerne, når influenzaen hærger i landet.
New research shows that the powerful sense of smell Pacific salmon rely on for migration, finding food and avoiding predators might be in trouble as carbon emissions continue to be absorbed by the ocean.
Tapping through Palak Joshi's Instagram Stories recently, you might have come across a photo that looked like standard sponsored content: A shiny white box emblazoned with the red logo for the Chinese phone manufacturer OnePlus and the number "6," shot from above on a concrete background. It featured the branded hashtag tied to the phone's launch, and tagged OnePlus's Instagram handle. And it loo
Head Trip The pigments morph because of the Munker-White illusion. In the image above, two skulls appear to be two different colors, purple and orange, when in reality they are the same hue. The pigments morph because of the…
Fathers can play in important role in promoting consistent and correct condom use among male adolescents, according to a small new study. According to sexually transmitted infection (STI) surveillance data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in fall 2018, the number of reportable STIs reached an all-time high for the fourth year in a row in 2017, with adolescents and young
The nominations aren't official, but with Hulu getting shortlisted for two documentaries, odds are good that next year's Academy Awards will feature all three major streaming platforms.
The ability to smell is critical for salmon. They depend on scent to avoid predators, sniff out prey and find their way home at the end of their lives when they return to the streams where they hatched to spawn and die.
Even as they've struggled to highlight parts of the human genome worth investigating, scientists have wondered how much they're actually learning through the methods they use. Now, two researchers have determined that natural selection and our own evolutionary history might be science's best critics, and guides for future research.
A Japan-Spain team has developed a powerful 4-color simultaneous camera named MuSCAT2 for the 1.52-m Telescopio Carlos Sánchez at the Teide Observatory, Canaries, Spain. The instrument aims to find a large number of transiting exoplanets, including Earth-like habitable planets orbiting stars near the sun, in collaboration with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched in April 2
For decades, scientists have searched for effective ways to remove excess carbon dioxide emissions from the air, and recycle them into products such as renewable fuels. But the process of converting carbon dioxide into useful chemicals is tedious, expensive, and wasteful and thus not economically or environmentally viable.
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter detector, which will soon start its search for the elusive particles thought to account for a majority of matter in the universe, had its first set of "eyes" delivered Thursday.
During three trips to London at the turn of the 20th century, Claude Monet painted more than 40 versions of a single scene: the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames River. Monet's main subject was not the bridge itself, however; he was most captivated by the landscape and atmosphere of the scene, with its transitory light, fog, and mist.
Albert Einstein's desk can still be found on the second floor of Princeton's physics department. Positioned in front of a floor-to-ceiling blackboard covered with equations, the desk seems to embody the spirit of the frizzy-haired genius as he asks the department's current occupants, "So, have you solved it yet?"
For hundreds of millions of years, plants thrived in the Earth's oceans, safe from harsh conditions found on land, such as drought and ultraviolet radiation. Then, roughly 450 million years ago, plants found a way to make the move to land: They evolved spores—small reproductive cells—and eventually pollen grains with tough, protective outer walls that could withstand the harsh conditions in the te
In 1969, scientist Michael Cashel was analyzing the compounds produced by starved bacteria when he noticed two spots appearing on his chromatogram as if by magic. Today, we know one of these "magic spots," as researchers call them, as guanosine tetraphosphate, or ppGpp for short. We also understand that it is a signaling molecule present in virtually all bacteria, helping tune cell growth and size
MIT chemical engineers and neuroscientists have devised a new way to preserve biological tissue, allowing them to visualize proteins, DNA, and other molecules within cells, and to map the connections between neurons.
Technology firm Arm is building computer chips that will smell their surroundings. It wants to use them to spot gone-off food and to tell people if they have BO
In order to evaluate a material's ability to withstand the high-radiation environment inside a nuclear reactor, researchers have traditionally used a method known as "cook and look," meaning the material is exposed to high radiation and then removed for a physical examination. But that process is so slow it inhibits the development of new materials for future reactors.
For most of human history, we mere mortals have dreamt of taking to the skies—from the myth of Icarus, to kites in China, to the development of hydrogen-filled balloons in the 8th century, to early experiments with gliders in the 19th. Then, 115 years ago on on December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved what many thought impossible—flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft.
The glass ceiling—the barrier women face in advancing to the top of their professions—has been surprisingly durable. Women are 45 percent of total employees at the biggest U.S. public companies but hold only about 20 percent of board seats and 5 percent of the CEO jobs, reports the nonprofit Catalyst. The statistics are similarly skewed in Europe, according to a 2016 fact sheet from the European U
Estonian scientists have announced the invention of a genetic testing technology that allows the number of clinical biomarkers to be analyzed at the single-molecule level, which enhances the sensitivity of tests in precision medicine and will make them more affordable in future. The TAC-seq method, for which a patent is pending, is already being used in fertility clinics to determine the personal
Car sharing with autonomous vehicles could improve cities in many ways. Singapore is taking a pioneering role, working with ETH researchers to explore the potential of personalised, electrified and automated public transport.
Every so often, the American West seems to lurch into something called a "mega-drought." The rains falter, the rivers wither, and the forests become tinder boxes waiting for a spark. Mega-droughts are notoriously hard to study—the last one happened in the 16th century—but what we do know is worrisome. In the 1540s, a few wet years in the middle of a mega-drought may have triggered one of the wors
Imagine moving satellites to higher orbits, collecting space debris, and dedicated launches for small satellites. These are the winning entries of ESA's call for ideas on new commercial space transportation services.
Use Europe's satellite navigation system to seek treasure in virtual mazes or 'see' Galileos as they cross the sky above you: two new Android smartphone apps based on Galileo are now available for general download, the results of a competition by ESA trainees.
Artificial intelligence has proved effective at keeping nudity and pornography off of Facebook. But recognizing hate speech and bullying is a much tougher task.
Science often progresses not because of ideas or insights but because more precise tools for measurement are invented, and those tools open new frontiers.
Many problems in physical and biological sciences as well as engineering rely on our ability to monitor objects or processes at nano-scale, and fluorescence microscopy has been used for decades as one of our most useful information sources, leading to various discoveries about the inner workings of nano-scale processes, for example at the sub-cellular level. Imaging of such nano-scale objects ofte
Some say the hysteria over screen time echoes parents' worries that their kids were watching too much TV in the 1980s. But new studies show there's nothing overblown about parents' growing concern.
According to a Pew Research poll, 45% of U.S. adults get at least some of their news from Facebook, with half of that amount using Facebook as their only news outlet. Algorithms on social media pick what people read. There's worry that social media algorithms are creating filter bubbles, so that they never have to read something they don't agree with and thus cause tribal thinking and confirmatio
Shenzhen flooded the world with cheap gadgets. Can it now become what Silicon Valley never did—a global hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing?
A team of researchers led by wildlife ecologist Theresa Walter analyzed over 1,100 fox sightings reported by the public as part of the citizen science project StadtWildTiere. The joint team of researchers from the Vetmeduni Vienna and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) now report that foxes prefer specific city areas and environments. The study also revealed that
Materials scientists from NUST MISIS and the Merzhanov Institute of Structural Macrokinetics & Materials Science have developed a new method for producing bulk MAX-phases—layered materials that combine the properties of metals and ceramics. Via methods of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and high-temperature shear deformation, it was possible to obtain sufficiently large samples of mixe
En læser har været i praktik på en byggeplads og undrer sig over, hvorfor GPS ikke bliver brugt til at placere betonelementerne præcist. Det svarer flere aktører i bygge- og anlægsbranchen på.
It began with a meeting in New York in September 2016 between the future national-security adviser Michael Flynn and Turkish government officials, in which they discussed kidnapping an exiled cleric and turning him over to Ankara. A curious op-ed followed, in which Flynn alleged that the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, led a "dangerous sleeper terror network" and needed to be extradited. U.S. prosecutor
Friday's decision striking down the Affordable Care Act, Texas v. United States , is wrong and should be reversed on appeal for reasons ably explained by its many critics. Yet in focusing their wrath on the Texas decision, the critics overlook the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts put us in this mess by making a bad choice in the Supreme Court's 2012 decision upholding Obamacare, NFIB v. Sebel
E arlier this month , a revealing spat broke out on Twitter. David Sirota, a left-leaning journalist who once worked for Bernie Sanders , announced that he had uncovered something while mining campaign-finance data: "Beto O'Rourke is the #2 recipient of oil/gas industry campaign cash in the entire Congress." Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress and a former domestic-pol
"This will stimulate you," the lawyer Lisa Blatt told the Supreme Court during her rebuttal this month in a case called Carpenter v. Murphy , which will decide whether a large swatch of eastern Oklahoma remains part of the Muscogee Creek reservation granted to the tribe by the federal government in 1832. "There are 2,000 prisoners in state court who committed a crime in the former Indian territor
Bijou Karman Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not just having a "moment" in American feminist culture. She has rapidly become—in a time that craves heroines—the American ideal of power and authority for millions of women and girls. Beyond the movies ( RBG , released in May, and On the Basis of Sex , out in December) and the biographies, not to mention the memes and T-shirts and mugs that proliferate like l
A relic cloud of gas, orphaned after the Big Bang, has been discovered in the distant universe by astronomers using the world's most powerful optical telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii.
A one-month-old on a remote island in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu became the first child to be immunised in a commercial trial of drone-delivered vaccines, the UN children's fund UNICEF said Tuesday.
Huawei defended its global ambitions and network security on Tuesday in the face of Western fears that the Chinese telecom giant could serve as a Trojan horse for Beijing's security apparatus.
EU's fødevaresikkerhedsagentur Efsa har planer om at sænke den såkaldte tolererede ugentlige eksponering med faktor 1.750 for stoffet PFOA og faktor 80 for PFOS.
Plant scientists at the University of East Anglia have succeeded in unravelling the complete genome sequence of the common primrose—the plant whose reproductive biology captivated the Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin.
The next generation of wireless technology promises much faster speeds while using less power. No wonder Beijing is throwing everything at getting there first.
It-kriminelle vil ifølge Trend Micro i stigende grad forsøge at overtale eller bestikke telesupportere med kryptovaluta til at overføre mobilnumre til nyt SIM-kort.
Plant scientists at the University of East Anglia have succeeded in unraveling the complete genome sequence of the common primrose — the plant whose reproductive biology captivated the Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin.The research team has identified, for the first time, the landscape of genes which operate within the primrose's two different flowering forms that are involved in the reproducti
George Soros is mad. Susie Tompkins Buell hasn't forgiven her. Other Democratic mega-donors are still burning with anger over Al Franken, too. But Kirsten Gillibrand is doing just fine without them. The New York senator, who's expected to launch a presidential campaign soon, can't go anywhere without hearing the noise about her decision—now more than a year ago—to call for Franken to go in a #MeT
EU's medlemslande er blevet enige om et kompromis om bilers CO2-udledning. Udledningen skal være 15 procent lavere i 2025 og 37,5 procent lavere i 2030. Ikke nok, mener miljøorganisationer
A team of researchers based at The University of Manchester have found a low cost method for producing graphene printed electronics, which significantly speeds up and reduces the cost of conductive graphene inks.
Mens industriens maskiner holder liv i det oprindelige 2G-net, så planlægger danske teleselskaber at udfase 3G-nettet for at frigive kapacitet til 4G-nettet på de travle frekvensbånd.
Wild animals are increasingly exploited for entertainment and photo opportunities. A new study highlights that tourists in Morocco object to the use of barbary macaques as photo props, raising concerns about the animal's welfare and risk to human health. The findings are presented today at the British Ecological Society annual conference in Birmingham.
To counteract the damage hurricanes have caused to their canopies, trees appear to adjust key characteristics of their newly grown leaves, according to a year-long field study presented at the British Ecological Society's annual conference today.
Formal academic credentials play a relatively minor role in the UK labour market, with the majority of employers placing greater emphasis on 'job readiness', according to a new study published in the Journal of Education Policy that analysed more than 21 million UK job adverts, based on labour market analytics powered by Burning Glass Technologies.
In 2003, the Human Genome Project revealed to the world the three billion chemical units within human DNA. Since that time, scientists have designed many ways to organize and assess this overwhelmingly large amount of information. Now, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have determined that evolution can help guide these efforts.
The proposed $26-billion merger between wireless operators T-Mobile and Sprint in the US won approval Monday from regulators that vet such deals for national security concerns.
European Union members and the European Parliament on Monday agreed to slash carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 37.5 percent by 2030, the European Commission announced.
Women may be shouting louder than ever for equal treatment and pay, but a report out Tuesday indicates it will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe.
Five hundred years after the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a silk mill incorporating one of his designs is still shuttling some of the finest threads in the world across its looms.
A floating device sent to corral a swirling island of trash between California and Hawaii has not swept up any plastic waste—but the young innovator behind the project said Monday that a fix was in the works.
The international scientific group studied a correlation between the structure of ceramic materials based on bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) and their magnetic properties. In their work the scientists theoretically justified the obtained results and determined the factors that affect structural evolution of materials and changes in their magnetic behavior. The work will help create new ceramic materials
Respectful, inclusive practices in primary care clinics can significantly improve the health of low-income, marginalized people who may have previously experienced trauma or discrimination, a new study from the University of British Columbia and Western University has found.
In a review of registry data for more than 5,300 liver transplants performed in children nationwide, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers identify the type of patient who is most likely to survive a split liver transplant — receiving only part of a donor's liver — with no additional long-term health risks, which could allow for an increase in the availability of organs. A report on the new study i
More than 2,000 on-the-ground assessments conducted in all of the provinces were collected by trained auditors between 2014 and 2016. This study is unique because it will enable comparisons between communities within a region, province, and across the country. Place matters as the built environment affects health behaviors.
To counteract the damage hurricanes have caused to their canopies, trees appear to adjust key characteristics of their newly grown leaves, according to a year-long field study presented at the British Ecological Society's annual conference today.
Wild animals are increasingly exploited for entertainment and photo opportunities. A new study highlights that tourists in Morocco object to the use of barbary macaques as photo props, raising concerns about the animal's welfare and risk to human health. The findings are presented today at the British Ecological Society annual conference in Birmingham.
Frustrated by Twitter's silence on abuse against women, Amnesty International crowdsourced its own data and found that the platform was especially toxic for black women.
Efsa er klar til at sænke den tolererede ugentlige eksponering med en faktor 1.750 for stoffet PFOA og faktor 80 for PFOS. I Danmark indretter man allerede kontrolprogrammerne.
Image courtesy goodfreephotos.com Imagine hearing a rustling in the bushes as you go trick-or-treating in your neighborhood. You spin around to spot a grotesque creature with twelve legs and six eyes staring back at you. A moment later, you realize the monster is actually a dog in a spider costume, hoping for a piece of candy (Diagram 1B). How does your brain deal with this unique visual input? T
What We're Following Threat Report: The Senate Intelligence Committee released two new commissioned reports that illustrate just how heavily Russian disinformation efforts targeted African-American voters in the 2016 presidential election— using strategies similar to the Trump campaign's, writes David A. Graham. An unrelated report released Monday by foreign-policy experts says that though the cu
Health Johnson and Johnson concealed for decades that some tests found their signature product contained traces of asbestos. The signature smell is hard to forget. Johnson and Johnson's baby powder, a product that was once considered simple, benign, and ubiquitous among new mothers is now the…
Australian astronaut Andy Thomas says space tourism bid is 'really just a high-altitude aeroplane flight' Sir Richard Branson's bid to take passengers into orbit is dead-end and dangerous technology, Australian astronaut Andy Thomas says. Branson's Virgin Galactic organisation was celebrating last week after successfully launching a rocket plane into space for the first time. Continue reading…
Written by Olivia Paschal ( @oliviacpaschal ) and Madeleine Carlisle ( @maddiecarlisle2 ) Today in 5 Lines Republican Senator Lamar Alexander announced that he would not seek reelection in 2020, setting up Tennessee for its second Senate election in two years after Republican Marsha Blackburn won her seat in November. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo explicitly said for the first time that he suppo
A study has found that CBD — a major chemical component in marijuana — appears to increase pressure inside the eye of mice, suggesting the use of the substance in the treatment of glaucoma may actually worsen the condition.
As the border between the United States and Mexico began to figure more and more prominently in the news cycle, the filmmaker David Freid noticed a consistent blind spot: No one, it seemed, was talking to the people who actually lived there. He decided to pay a visit to Big Bend National Park, which composes 13 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border. There, he encountered Mike Davidson, the captain of
Skin vaccination using a microneedle patch that contains the inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and a compound that stimulates immune responses to the virus has been found to enhance protection against this serious disease and reduce inflammation in the body after exposure to the virus, according to a new study.
An annual physical typically involves a weight check and questions about unhealthy habits like smoking, but a new study suggests health care providers may be overlooking a critical question: Are you depressed or anxious?
In a first-in-human clinical trial, the investigational drug sutimlimab appeared to be effective in treating cold agglutinin disease, a rare chronic blood disorder for which there are currently no approved treatments.
In 2014, researchers introduced a novel approach to generating artificial images through something called a generative adversarial network. Nvidia researchers combined that approach with something called style transfer to create AI-generated images of human faces. This year, the Department of Defense said it had been developing tools designed to detect so-called 'deepfake' videos. None A new pape
Scientists have long known that synthetic materials—called metamaterials—can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. That has led to breakthroughs such as super-high resolution imaging. Now, UMass Lowell is part of a research team that is taking the technology of manipulating light in a new direction.
Impulse online shopping, downloading music and compulsive email use are all signs of a certain personality trait that make you a target for malware attacks. New research examines the behaviors — both obvious and subtle — that lead someone to fall victim to cybercrime involving Trojans, viruses, and malware.
A biodegradable, edible film made with plant starch and antimicrobial compounds may control the growth of foodborne pathogens on seafood, according to researchers.
Scientists develop protein switches that can be used to control the flow of electrons within cells. The synthetic proteins are one of the few remaining components needed to mimic entire electronic devices within cells.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said he'd pursue the legislation in 2019. New York would become the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana. The legalization of marijuana in a prominent state like New York would likely represent a landmark shift in how the country views marijuana regulation. None Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday he's aiming to legalize recreational marijuana in New York in early 201
New research by scientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) offers novel insights into why and how wind-pollinated plants have evolved from insect-pollinated ancestors.
On December 16 and 17, NASA's GPM core observatory satellite and NASA's Aqua satellite, respectively, passed over the Southern Indian Ocean and captured rainfall and temperature data on Tropical Cyclone Kenanga.
Even as they've struggled to highlight parts of the human genome worth investigating, scientists have wondered how much they're actually learning through the methods they use. Now, two CSHL researchers have determined that natural selection and our own evolutionary history might be science's best critics, and guides for future research.
New battery-free, easily implantable weight-loss devices developed by engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could offer a promising new weapon for battling the bulge.
A team of scientists from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University together with their colleagues from Russia, Japan, and Australia studied the influence of inhomogeneity of magnetic field applied during the fabrication process of thin-film structures made from nickel-iron and iridium-manganese alloys, on their properties. These systems can be used in various types of magnetic field sensors. The ar
Children of parents who have alcohol use disorder are more likely to get married under the age of 25, less likely to get married later in life, and more likely to marry a person who has alcohol use disorder themselves, according to a new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.
A new electronic device can developed at the University of Michigan can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons.
Tropical Cyclone Owen crossed over Queensland Australia's Cape York Peninsula over the weekend of Dec. 15 and 16 and emerged into the Coral Sea off of Queensland's southeastern coast. NASA's Terra satellite provided an infrared image of the remnants and found two very small areas of strong thunderstorms.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Northwestern Indian Ocean and captured a visible image of Tropical Depression Phethai after it made landfall in southeastern India.
Researchers offer a new calculation that provides the long view of what nine different world regions have contributed to climate change since 1900. They also show how that breakdown will likely look by 2100 under various emission scenarios.
Scientists have long known that synthetic materials — called metamaterials — can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. That has led to breakthroughs such as super-high resolution imaging. Now, scientists are taking the technology of manipulating light in a new direction.
The way clownfish rub themselves on the anemones they live in leads to a change in the makeup of microbes that cover them, according to a new study. Having bacterial cooties in common with anemones may help the clownfish cozily nest in anemones' venomous tentacles, a weird symbiosis that life scientists have tried to figure out for decades. For the new study, marine researchers studied how popula
The majority of countries around the world follow the Gregorian calendar, but still have special days to celebrate their cultural or religious New Year's celebrations. Some calendars are based off of the lunar cycle or a mix of the lunar and solar cycle, which the Chinese use. They then dedicate an entire two weeks for celebration. Thailand's New Year hosts a huge water fight on their New Year th
Science Influenza viruses kill up to 646,000 people worldwide every year. You might not think of internet oversharing as a lifesaving habit, but maybe it is. For years, epidemiologists and data scientists have scanned our search-engine queries…
A new study reveals that during stressful moments in the operating room, surgeons make up to 66 percent more mistakes on patients. Using a technology that captured the electrical activity of a surgeon's heart, researchers found that during intervals of short-term stress, which can be triggered by a negative thought or a loud noise in the operating room, surgeons are much more prone to make mistake
Research by University of Toronto scientists offers novel insights into why and how wind-pollinated plants have evolved from insect-pollinated ancestors, and what it might mean for a potential pollination crisis. They found that plants in which stamens vibrate more vigorously in wind, disperse pollen by wind more readily, and that this characteristic of stamens is favoured under conditions where p
Researchers may have created the tiniest droplets in the universe, using a soupy mix of ultrahot particles that mimics conditions in the moments after the Big Bang.
New research debunks the conventional wisdom that oxygen and organic compounds in the atmosphere are strong evidence of alien life on a distant planet. Those substances can wind up in exoplanet atmospheres for reasons that have nothing to do with biological processes, researchers learned by running laboratory simulations of atmospheric chemistry. "Our experiments produced oxygen and organic molec
A man rejected by a woman pops up unannounced at her workplace with roses, asking her to reconsider. Adorable or creepy? The case for creepy would seem easy to make, what with the guy's violation of space, forcing of a private matter into a communal spectacle, and implication that love can be bought with gifts. In some cases, such a stunt can even be a tell for something more dangerous: "Showing
A new electronic device can developed at the University of Michigan can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons.
On December 16 and 17, NASA's GPM core observatory satellite and NASA's Aqua satellite, respectively, passed over the Southern Indian Ocean and captured rainfall and temperature data on Tropical Cyclone Kenanga.
Impulse online shopping, downloading music and compulsive email use are all signs of a certain personality trait that make you a target for malware attacks. New research from Michigan State University examines the behaviors — both obvious and subtle — that lead someone to fall victim to cybercrime involving Trojans, viruses, and malware.
Chief scientist of the US Army's corporate laboratory handpicks the 'coolest' advances to showcase what Army scientists and engineers are doing to support the Soldier of the future with a 'Top 10' list from 2018.
Synthetic chemists, like overzealous nutritionists, usually avoid sugars. Nature, an expert chemist, can shift the sweets from one molecule to another with enviable finesse. But in the lab, scientists struggle to attach just one sugar molecule to another chemical unit, a process known as glycosylation. Now, researchers have unearthed nature's sweet secret, which could lead to improved chemical syn
Researchers offer a new calculation that provides the long view of what nine different world regions have contributed to climate change since 1900. They also show how that breakdown will likely look by 2100 under various emission scenarios.
A larger portion of green leafy vegetables in the diet may reduce the risk of developing liver steatosis, or fatty liver. In a study published in PNAS researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show how a larger intake of inorganic nitrate, which occurs naturally in many types of vegetable, reduces accumulation of fat in the liver. There is currently no approved treatment for the disease, wh
Researchers have published findings indicating that regardless of whether a woman delivers a child by cesarean section or by vaginal birth, if they fill prescriptions for opioid pain medications early in the postpartum period, they are at increased risk of developing persistent opioid use.
Researchers found that gently stroking a baby seems to reduce activity in the infant brain associated with painful experiences. Their results suggest that lightly brushing an infant at a certain speed — of approximately 3 centimeters per second — could provide effective pain relief before clinically necessary medical procedures.
Journalists are often assumed to be the biggest utilizers of freedom-of-information legislation, but new research found that collaborations between journalists, social activists and civil-society organizations were essential to the success of creating a right-to-information agenda in India.
An interdisciplinary team has discovered a highly potent and selective molecule, SPL7, that can lead seeds of the noxious parasitic weed Striga to suicide germination.
When two events occur within a brief window of time they become linked in memory, such that calling forth memory of one helps retrieve memory for the other event, according to research. This happens even when temporal proximity is the only feature that the two events share.
Scientists have shared early results from a trio of studies that aim to improve models designed to guide agricultural practices for reducing the risk of nitrogen and phosphorous farm runoff. Such runoff leads to the growth of toxic algae in waterways.
A conflict between those working to conserve numbers of hen harriers and those maintaining commercial shooting of red grouse in the English uplands has existed for decades with little sign of progress. Drawing on work conducted in psychology, a new study investigated the underlying values that hunters and conservationists hold that make it so hard to find shared solutions.
Scientists are using the single-image normalized difference vegetation index (SI-NDVI), a popular metric of plant health and photosynthetic rate originally developed for satellite-based monitoring of plant growth, to monitor crop health in indoor farming conditions. SI-NDVI allowed detection of stress signatures before stress was visible to the naked eye, proving the technique can be useful whethe
A radical approach of implanting stem cells into the brain could stop epilepsy seizures at their source, but the treatment has only been tested in rats so far
Researchers have succeeded in neutralizing what they believe is a primary factor in late-onset Alzheimer's disease, opening the door to development of a drug that could be administered before age 40, and taken for life, to potentially prevent the disease in 50 to 80 percent of at-risk adults.
Climate change could have devastating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes mountains and the Tibetan plateau, according to researchers who have been studying glaciers in those areas for decades.
Donna Chambers first heard about weighted blankets when her grandson was diagnosed with autism. It was just before his third birthday, and someone Chambers knew recommended giving him a heavy quilt with plastic pellets sewn in to help him relax and fall asleep. "It was like somebody's grandma was making them," Chambers remembers. "They said, 'You can talk to this lady, and she can make you one.'"
With a bit more than a week left until Christmas, lighted displays, colorful markets, and Santa's helpers are out in force. From Europe to the Americas and Asia, gathered here as an early gift, is a collection of holiday cheer and light wrapped up in 35 photographs.
Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag about three times more water down into the deep Earth than previously estimated, according to a first-of-its-kind seismic study that spans the Mariana Trench, a crescent-shaped trench in the Western Pacific that measures 1,500 miles long and is the deepest ocean trench in the world.
Today, sugar has a villainous reputation. And while too much of the sweet stuff should be avoided, all living things need sugar to survive. "The biological universe is coated with sugars," said Samuel M. Levi and Qiuhan Li, graduate students in Harvard University's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. "Cells, bacteria, viruses and other organisms use sugars as a means of communication, re
The science is clear that human activities over the last century have contributed to greenhouse-like warming of the Earth's surface. Much of the global conversation around climate change fixates on what individual countries or regions are contributing to the problem, and what they will do (or not do) to reverse the tide.
Kaleidocycles are found where science, math, and art meet. The objects resemble geometric sculptures that might be found in a modern art museum, but it is the motions they undergo that really capture the imagination. Ring linkages, constructed from hinges and rigid geometric shapes, can be turned inside-out continuously, reminiscent of a flower bud blooming over and over again. The mesmerizing obj
The specimens are of two small, flying reptiles discovered recently in China. In recent decades, multiple discoveries have led scientists to believe virtually all dinosaurs were covered in feathers. This recent discovery suggests that feathers were an adaptation that evolved before the dinosaurs, from a common ancestor. None During the 1990s and 2000s, paleontologists in China discovered a set of
Folk knowledge assumes having children is the key to living a happy, meaningful life; however, empirical evidence suggests nonparents are the more cheery bunch. The difference is most pronounced in countries like the United States. In countries that support pro-family policies, parents can be just as happy as their child-free peers. These findings suggest that we can't rely on folk knowledge to m
Results of a medical records study of more than 7,000 patients awaiting a lung transplant in the United States affirm the basis of a court filing in 2017 that called the organ allocation system geographically 'rigged' in some regions of the nation.
What is real is not always as it appears. Researchers have found a way to hide information on materials and only make it visible to a person using the right tech.
The largest population study of hepatitis C in Africa has found three new strains of the virus circulating in the general population in sub-Saharan Africa. The discovery suggests certain antiviral drugs used in the West may be less effective against these strains, and local clinical trials of patients are urgently needed. The study could inform hepatitis C vaccine development and assist the World
Boys with good motor skills are better problem-solvers than their less skillful peers, a new study shows. In contrast to previous studies, the researchers found no association between aerobic fitness or overweight and obesity with cognitive function in boys.
In-school nutrition policies and programs that promote healthier eating habits among middle school students limit increases in body mass index (BMI), a new study finds.
Scientists have long known that synthetic materials — called metamaterials — can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. That has led to breakthroughs such as super-high resolution imaging. Now, UMass Lowell is part of a research team that is taking the technology of manipulating light in a new direction.
A study from researchers at Indiana University has found that CBD — a major chemical component in marijuana — appears to increase pressure inside the eye of mice, suggesting the use of the substance in the treatment of glaucoma may actually worsen the condition.
Tropical Cyclone Owen crossed over Queensland Australia's Cape York Peninsula over the weekend of Dec. 15 and 16 and emerged into the Coral Sea off of Queensland's southeastern coast. NASA's Terra satellite provided an infrared image of the remnants and found two very small areas of strong thunderstorms.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Northwestern Indian Ocean and captured a visible image of Tropical Depression Phethai after it made landfall in southeastern India.
Science Talking it out could make us less vulnerable. As natural disasters get even more extreme and even more common, we need to write a new playbook to deal with an increasingly uncertain world.
A Czech cyber-security agency on Monday warned against using the software and hardware of China's Huawei and ZTE companies, saying they posed a threat to state security.
There's no doubt anymore: Pterosaurs — the flying reptiles that zipped through the skies during the dinosaur age — sported feathers, a finding that pushes the origin of these fluffy structures back 70 million years.
An annual physical typically involves a weight check and questions about unhealthy habits like smoking, but a new study from UC San Francisco suggests health care providers may be overlooking a critical question: Are you depressed or anxious?
Federal open-enrollment season rarely, if ever, seems to go smoothly. In 2017, President Donald Trump's administration cut the budget for Affordable Care Act advertisement by 90 percent, and slashed the window to sign up for new health-insurance plans by 15 days. In a scramble to counter those rollbacks, former President Barack Obama himself had to cut an ad promoting his signature policy achieve
Thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel are in temporary storage in 35 US states, with no permanent solution in the works. Experts now show how to end this status quo. The United States government has worked for decades and spent tens of billions of dollars in search of a permanent resting place for the nation's nuclear waste. Some 80,000 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel from comm
An international team of palaeontologists has discovered that the flying reptiles, pterosaurs, actually had four kinds of feathers, and these are shared with dinosaurs — pushing back the origin of feathers by some 70 million years.
A growing body of evidence shows that those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are more likely to die prematurely than those at the top. The pattern isn't unique to humans: Across many animals, the lower an individual's social status, the worse their health. But new research in baboons suggests that the nature of the status-health relationship depends on whether an individual has to fight f
Heating the surface of a cuprate high-temperature superconductor allowed a team of researchers to modify the material into an insulating state, where they found an exotic liquid crystal phase, the team reports.
Researchers conducted a special fire test to learn how to protect steep thatched-roof farmhouses that emerged more than 250 years ago to ruggedly withstand Central Japan's heavy winter snowfalls.
A new test for cervical cancer was found to detect all of the cancers in a trial of 15,744 women, outperforming both the current Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV) test at a reduced cost, according to a new study.
Consumers greatly underestimate the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with their food choices, but they'll favor items with a lower carbon footprint if they're given clear information on the label, according to new research.
The agricultural sector is the world's largest source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, and research has found that changing agricultural practices and a shift in diet away from meat and dairy products could reduce the sector's emissions by up to 50 percent by 2050 compared to a situation without mitigation efforts.
A fisheries researcher has found that oyster aquaculture operations can limit the spread of disease among wild populations of oysters. The findings are contrary to long-held beliefs that diseases are often spread from farmed populations to wild populations.
Recreational cannabis is legal in 10 states and Washington, DC, but regulations regarding potency do not exist. The results of a new study may prompt states to reconsider. Brooke Arterberry, assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University, says this is a concern given that THC—one of the chemicals that determines potency—has increased significantly, from 3.5 percent in 1994 to 12.3 per
Provisionally named 2018 VG18, it is 120 times further away from the sun than Earth is A group of astronomers have identified the most distant object ever observed within our solar system. Provisionally named 2018 VG18, but nicknamed Farout by its discoverers, the body is 120 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. One AU is equal to the average distance from the Earth to the sun, or just under 150
Skin vaccination using a microneedle patch that contains the inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and a compound that stimulates immune responses to the virus has been found to enhance protection against this serious disease and reduce inflammation in the body after exposure to the virus, according to a study led by Georgia State University.
Rice University scientists develop protein switches that can be used to control the flow of electrons within cells. The synthetic proteins are one of the few remaining components needed to mimic entire electronic devices within cells.
A study led by University of Iowa neuroscientist Samuel Young, PhD, shows that contrary to current thinking, it is possible to increase the number of calcium channels at the presynaptic active zone, and that increasing channel numbers increases synaptic strength. The study also shows that synapses prefer the Cav2.1 channel subtype over the Cav2.2 subtype. The findings offer a new way of thinking a
A biodegradable, edible film made with plant starch and antimicrobial compounds may control the growth of foodborne pathogens on seafood, according to a group of international researchers.
Perhaps the most striking takeaway from a pair of new reports released by the Senate Intelligence Committee is the consistency and persistence with which Russian trolls sought to depress the black vote in the 2016 election. That workers for the Internet Research Agency—a "troll farm" with close ties to the Kremlin—targeted African Americans has been clear for more than a year, emerging in a serie
Salley Vickers is another enthusiast for the ideas of child psychologist Donald Winnicott (and so is her granddaughter) I, too, am a great fan of Donald Winnicott ( Bear necessities , G2, 12 December; Letters , 17 December), whose greatest contribution was celebrating play as the source of creativity, and my sons, especially the younger (now a children's writer), had a lively relationship with th
Google became the latest US tech giant to announce a major expansion plan, unveiling a $1 billion investment Monday to create a new campus that could double its New York City workforce to 14,000.
The Russian troll farm that disrupted the 2016 US presidential election sought particularly to demoralize Africa-Americans and discourage them from voting, according to a comprehensive new report for the Senate.
By studying the social response to India's Right to Information Act, a University of Arizona researcher has uncovered how the world's largest democracy created a culture that demands government transparency and what the rest of the world can learn from it.
A growing body of evidence shows that those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are more likely to die prematurely than those at the top. The pattern isn't unique to humans: Across many social animals, the lower an individual's social status, the worse its health.
Researchers say tired people are likely to view unhealthy snacks more favourably Having even one night without sleep leads people to view junk food more favourably, research suggests. Scientists attribute the effect to the way food rewards are processed by the brain. Previous studies have found that a lack of shuteye is linked to expanding waistlines , with some suggesting disrupted sleep might a
Local stakeholders need more information than is currently available to them on the impacts of former mining activities on ground water and surface water, potential soil contamination, and the safety of natural products, a new study shows.
A Senate report finds that Russia's Internet Research Agency was far more active, and more successful, on Instagram in 2017 than on Facebook or Twitter.
France will push ahead with its own tax on large internet and technology companies from January 1, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday, as the European Union struggles to finalise a new EU-wide levy.
Using very sensitive magnetic probes, an international team of researchers has found surprising evidence that magnetism which emerges at the interfaces between non-magnetic oxide thin layers can be easily tuned by exerting tiny mechanical forces. This discovery provides a new and unexpected handle to control magnetism, thus enabling denser magnetic memory, and opens new and unexpected routes for d
Ability to understand and subsequently speak a new language requires the ability to accurately discriminate speech sounds of a given language. When we start to learn a new language the differences between speech sounds can be very difficult to perceive. With enough active practice the ability to discriminate the speech sounds enhances.
Interactions with water dominate how drug molecules bind to targets, but it's tricky to model these interactions, limiting the accuracy of drug design. Scientists have now described a novel approach to building a new description of water (known as a force field) and demonstrating its accuracy.
Reef fish species at the extremes of the food chain — those that are strict herbivores or strict fish predators — evolve faster than fish species in the middle of the food chain with a more varied diet, according to a new study.
Researchers found that excitatory neurons — those that are more likely to trigger an action (as opposed to inhibitory neurons, which are less likely to prompt neural activity) — are more vulnerable to accumulations of abnormal tau protein, which is increasingly being implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
Thrombosis is a harmful activation of the clotting process, which is associated with the occurrence of blood vessel-related diseases. Pathological enhancement of the clotting cascade causes thrombosis, and activated factor X (FXa) is pivotal to this process. Researchers showed that dielectric blood coagulometry provided an easy to use method to detect changes in FXa activity in the presence of var
A research team has simulated glassy colloidal solids to understand their mechanical and failure properties. Under strain, the hard-sphere glasses deformed elastically (reversibly), partly plastically (irreversibly), or underwent yielding or jamming. The size of the elastic and plastic zones on the phase diagram, and the nature of failure, depended on how deeply the glasses were annealed. A unifie
Researchers have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal 'small', the physicists reported on their investigations, which could be of particular importance for the development of
Research has found that plants are extremely sensitive to touch and that repeated touching can significantly retard growth. The findings could lead to new approaches to optimizing plant growth and productivity — from field-based farming to intensive horticulture production.
An Israeli nonprofit on Monday said it has pushed back the launch of what it hopes will be the first private spacecraft to land on the moon until February.
Comedy often thrives in specificity, and a sketch that came late in the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live was the perfect example, mining laugh after laugh from the minutiae of the band Weezer's discography. Three couples, all neighbors, get together for dinner, and Weezer's recent cover of Toto's "Africa" randomly comes on the playlist. Two guests, played by Leslie Jones and the episode
A growing body of evidence shows that those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are more likely to die prematurely than those at the top. The pattern isn't unique to humans: Across many animals, the lower an individual's social status, the worse their health. But new research in baboons suggests that the nature of the status-health relationship depends on whether an individual has to fight f
Driven by natural or artificial sunlight, a novel 'microtube pump' transports water droplets over long distances. The pump consists of a tube whose properties can be changed asymmetrically through irradiation. This results in capillary forces and a wettability gradient in the inner wall which work together to accelerate the water droplets to exceptional high speeds.
Globally archaeological heritage is under threat by looting. The destruction of archaeological sites obliterates the basis for our understanding of ancient cultures and we lose our shared human past. Research shows that satellite data provide a mean to monitor the destruction of archaeological sites. It is now possible to understand activities by looters in remote regions and take measures to prot
In the search for life on other planets, scientists traditionally have looked for a world with water. But a geophysicist now wonders if we should look to rocks instead.
Researchers have developed a new type of low-energy, nanoscale laser that shines in all directions. The key to its omnidirectional light emission is the introduction of something that is usually highly undesirable in nanotechnology: irregularities in the materials. The researchers foresee a vast range of potential applications, but first they hope their fundamental work will inspire others to furt
In a study of adolescent mice with a version of a gene linked to serious human mental illnesses, researchers say they have uncovered a possible explanation for how marijuana may damage the brains of some human teens.
For the past sixty years, the electronics industry and the average consumer have benefited from the continuous miniaturization, increased storage capacity and decreased power consumption of electronic devices. However, this era of scaling that has benefited humanity is rapidly coming to end. To continue shrinking the size and power consumption of electronics, new materials and new engineering appr
A new study from the Marine Biological Laboratory indicates that lifespan extension at lower temperatures is not just a matter of turning down the thermostat. Rather, the extent to which temperature affects lifespan depends on an individual's genes.
Journalists are often assumed to be the biggest utilizers of freedom-of-information legislation, but new UA-led research found that collaborations between journalists, social activists and civil-society organizations were essential to the success of creating a right-to-information agenda in India.
Scientists have found an extremely rare fish in the Rio Grande along the US-Mexico border. Researchers discovered the Conchos shiner, Cyprinella panarcys , a fish species identified for the first time on record in the US in April, in the mainstream of the Rio Grande at the confluence with Alamito Creek in Presidio County, Texas. "We found this fish by chance," says Joshuah Perkin, assistant profe
Astronomers have spotted a tiny world 18 billion kilometres away, the most distant dwarf planet we've ever seen, and it may help us find the elusive Planet X
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 & 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
New research has revealed that approximately one-third (33.1%) of all US-born US citizens living in the US are considering leaving the United States to live abroad.
Animals This is what it takes to put escargot on your plate. Whether they're foraged and starved, or farm-fed and put on ice, it takes a lot for snail farmers to get escargot on your plate.
Shoppers greatly underestimate the difference their food choices can make to climate change, but they'll favour items with a lower carbon footprint if they're given clear information on the label, according to new research from the University of Technology Sydney and Duke University.
People who hold radical political views—at either end of the political spectrum—aren't as good as moderates at knowing when they're wrong, even about something unrelated to politics, finds a new UCL study.
Reef fish species at the extremes of the food chain—those that are strict herbivores or strict fish predators—evolve faster than fish species in the middle of the food chain with a more varied diet, according to a new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
A new test can determine whether Ebola is causing a patient's symptoms in less than half an hour and is portable enough to take into the field, researchers report. At a clinic in Liberia, people trickle in from the surrounding neighborhoods, shivering despite the warm air, reporting varying degrees of headaches and nausea. Many of them are anxious—it's 2014 and an Ebola outbreak is underway and t
Interactions with water dominate how drug molecules bind to targets, but it's tricky to model these interactions, limiting the accuracy of drug design. In a recent paper in The Journal of Chemical Physics, from AIP Publishing, William A. Goddard III and Saber Naserifar from the California Institute of Technology describe their novel approach to building a new description of water (known as a force
The collaborative research among The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the University of Guam (UoG), and the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE) shows that whale shark tourism in Tan-awan, Oslob, Philippines has led to degradation of the local coral reef ecosystem. This study, which provides the first documentation of such ecological impact locally in Tan-awan, has recent
Researchers asked more than 1,000 participants in a nationally-representative sample to rate the energy used — and the greenhouse gas emitted — by the production of one serving of 19 different kinds of food, and by using one of 18 different appliances for one hour. Participants underestimated the environmental impacts of appliances and food production, but they underestimated the impacts of food
New 12-month data from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai backs up an earlier study proving that a pharmacist-led, barbershop-based medical intervention can successfully lower blood pressure in high-risk African-American men. The follow-up research was published Dec. 17, 2018, in the journal Circulation.
Vanderbilt researchers have published findings indicating that regardless of whether a woman delivers a child by cesarean section or by vaginal birth, if they fill prescriptions for opioid pain medications early in the postpartum period, they are at increased risk of developing persistent opioid use.
Results of research into 2012 mass deaths offer insights into reef health and throw up further questions Conservationists want major bays and estuaries along the Great Barrier Reef tested for contaminants after a five-year study found "alarming" levels of some chemicals in unhealthy turtles on the reef. Scientists working on the research have also recommended expanded monitoring of turtle-populat
The solutions to today's quiz and puzzle Earlier today I set you a quiz about Twitter slang , and a maths puzzle. Here are the answers, with discussion and workings! The following ten words and phrases emerged in Twitter communities, and are beginning to cross over to general users. Under each word or phrase are two possible definitions. Which is the correct one? Continue reading…
A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our Solar System. It is the first known Solar System object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun.
New "classification models" sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, report researchers. The long-term goal of the overall field of research is to design intelligent machines capable of changing their behavior to enhance human trust in them. "Intelligent machines—and more broadly, intelligent systems—are becoming increasingly common in the everyday lives of humans,"
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that although the use of illicit drugs has gone down, nicotine use is going up — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the sun.
Researchers have developed a parking algorithm that allows drivers to 'bid' for a curbside spot in urban areas. A smartphone app that uses the algorithm can offer a practical solution to the problem of bottleneck parking in low supply areas and empty lots outside the immediate sphere of demand.
Researchers witnessed a hummingbird defending its nest from what it interpreted to be a snake, but was actually a caterpillar of the moth Oxytenis modestia.
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
Visitors to the historic mountain villages in central Japan marvel at the elegance of the steep thatched-roof farmhouses found there. Known as "gassho-zukuri," Japanese for "constructed like hands in prayer," the architectural style emerged more than 250 years ago to ruggedly withstand the area's heavy winter snowfalls. Recently, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fire researc
Reef fish species at the extremes of the food chain — those that are strict herbivores or strict fish predators — evolve faster than fish species in the middle of the food chain with a more varied diet, according to a new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
Interactions with water dominate how drug molecules bind to targets, but it's tricky to model these interactions, limiting the accuracy of drug design. In a recent paper in the Journal of Chemical Physics, William A. Goddard III and Saber Naserifar from the California Institute of Technology describe their novel approach to building a new description of water (known as a force field) and demonstra
A new treatment for patients with a form of congenital retinal blindness has shown success in improving vision, according to results published today in Nature Medicine led by researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
Research led by Suresh Alahari, Ph.D., Fred Brazda Professor of Biochemistry and Microbiology at LSU Health New Orleans, suggests a novel protein may be a promising therapeutic target to treat or prevent metabolic disorders. The study also reported for the first time metabolic distinctions between male and female mice.
A new test for cervical cancer was found to detect all of the cancers in a trial of 15,744 women, outperforming both the current Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV) test at a reduced cost, according to a study by Queen Mary University of London.
Researchers at Columbia University used a technique with voxel printing to create digital wood — a highly complex material for 3DP printing because of its combination of internal grains and external color textures.
Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a parking algorithm that allows drivers to 'bid' for a curbside spot in urban areas. A smartphone app that uses the algorithm can offer a practical solution to the problem of bottleneck parking in low supply areas and empty lots outside the immediate sphere of demand.
Researchers witnessed a hummingbird defending its nest from what it interpreted to be a snake, but was actually a caterpillar of the moth Oxytenis modestia. The encounter is described in a new paper published in the Ecological Society of America's journal Ecology.
Advances in the technology of material growth allow fabricating sandwiches of materials with atomic precision. The interface between the two materials can sometimes exhibit physical phenomena which do not exist in both parent materials. For example, a magnetic interface found between two non-magnetic materials. A new discovery, published today in Nature Physics, shows a new way of controlling this
Changing language in job advertisements and de-identifying resumes during recruitment can significantly boost a person's prospects of landing a job by overcoming unconscious bias, according to new research. Removing country of birth from individuals' resumes improved overseas-born job seekers' chances of being shortlisted by eight percent, in a randomized controlled trial of 311 applicants. While
Research with mice has identified some of the key steps that peripheral nerves—those in the arms and legs—take as they regenerate. Neurons in the brain and spinal cord don't grow back after injury, unlike those in the rest of the body. Cut your finger, and you'll probably be back to using it in days or weeks; slice through your spinal cord, and you likely will never walk again. The new findings,
Parking is of paramount concern to urban car owners and urban planners. The current arsenal of solutions available to policymakers addressing the increasingly urgent parking shortage in cities around the world includes better public transportation, carpooling incentives, fines for illegal parking and improved infrastructure.
An international research team, co-led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has discovered a new mechanism for ultra-efficient charge and energy flow in graphene, opening up opportunities for developing new types of light-harvesting devices.
Researchers from Boston College and Brookhaven National Laboratory have succeeded in modifying a cuprate high-temperature superconductor material into an insulating state, where they found an exotic liquid crystal phase.
Climate change could have devastating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes mountains and the Tibetan plateau, according to researchers at The Ohio State University who have been studying glaciers in those areas for decades.
Researchers found that excitatory neurons — those that are more likely to trigger an action (as opposed to inhibitory neurons, which are less likely to prompt neural activity) — are more vulnerable to accumulations of abnormal tau protein, which is increasingly being implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
Heart and lung complications are responsible for much of the morbidity and mortality associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Although regular monitoring of pulmonary function is recommended in order to detect deterioration, compliance with routine testing, such as hospital-based spirometry, is frequently poor.
A new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) describes the quality of end of life care in nearly 500 US hospitals, utilizing nearly 13,000 bedside nurses as informants of quality. The study has been published online first. It will also be in a future issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system may be able to restore the effectiveness of first-line chemotherapies used to treat lung cancer by deleting or 'knocking out' a gene in cancer tumors that helps the tumors develop resistance to the drugs. That was the conclusion of a new study published today in the journal Molecular Therapy Oncolytics by scientists from The Gene Editing Institute of the Helen F
Scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have recently developed a process that may change the way cancer of the appendix is treated in the future.
A NIST researcher and his Japanese colleague conducted a special fire test to learn how to protect steep thatched-roof farmhouses that emerged more than 250 years ago to ruggedly withstand Central Japan's heavy winter snowfalls.
Researchers at the Bernstein Center Freiburg and colleagues are proposing a new model to explain how neural networks in different brain areas communicate with each other.
Approximately one-third of all US-born US citizens living in the US are considering leaving to live abroad.Drawing on data collected in 2014, researchers Dr. Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels from the University of Kent's Brussels School of International Studies, and Dr. Helen Marrow of Tufts University, USA, identified the reasons for this as: exploration (87.4 percent); retirement (50.8 percent);
The comet 46P/Wirtanen just made its closest approach to Earth in centuries. No word on the whereabouts of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Donner or Blitzen (and Rudolph). (Image credit: Nicholas Biver/AFP/Getty Images)
A conflict between those working to conserve numbers of hen harriers and those maintaining commercial shooting of red grouse in the English uplands has existed for decades with little sign of progress.
Siden 1971 har den amerikanske virksomhed Johnson & Johnson vidst, at der har været spor af asbest i deres produkter. Virksomheden har holdt oplysningerne tilbage for offentligheden.
Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's 33-year-old speechwriter and senior adviser, is a true believer. He was an immigration hard-liner before Trump descended the golden escalator and made anti-immigration sentiment the hallmark of his campaign and his presidency. Miller has been a right-wing provocateur since high school, according to a profile from earlier this year in The Atlantic . He's ma
Heating the surface of a cuprate high-temperature superconductor allowed a team of researchers from Boston College and Brookhaven National Laboratory to modify the material into an insulating state, where they found an exotic liquid crystal phase, the team reports in the journal Nature Materials.
A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the sun. It was announced Monday by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. Carnegie's Scott S. Sheppard, the University of Hawaii's David Tholen, and N
An interdisciplinary team led by researchers at Nagoya University has discovered a highly potent and selective molecule, SPL7, that can lead seeds of the noxious parasitic weed Striga to suicide germination.
Ability to understand and subsequently speak a new language requires the ability to accurately discriminate speech sounds of a given language. When we start to learn a new language the differences between speech sounds can be very difficult to perceive. With enough active practice the ability to discriminate the speech sounds enhances.
The collaborative research among The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the University of Guam (UoG), and the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE) shows that whale shark tourism in Tan-awan, Oslob, Philippines has led to degradation of the local coral reef ecosystem.
The introduction of plain tobacco packaging led to an increase in the price of leading products, according to new research from the University of Stirling.
Researchers at the University of Illinois and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications have advanced the use of genome wide association studies (GWAS) to identify multiple interacting markers for a given trait.
Using very sensitive magnetic probes, an international team of researchers has found surprising evidence that magnetism which emerges at the interfaces between non-magnetic oxide thin layers can be easily tuned by exerting tiny mechanical forces. This discovery provides a new and unexpected handle to control magnetism, thus enabling denser magnetic memory, and opens new and unexpected routes for d
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is often referred to as the 'invisible injury' — while on the surface everything seems normal with brain structure, symptoms may present themselves in the behavior of the injured and cannot be explained.
Consumers greatly underestimate the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with their food choices, but they'll favor items with a lower carbon footprint if they're given clear information on the label, according to new research from the University of Technology Sydney and Duke University.
A study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine reveals the best assessment tools available to establish the severity of diagnosed delirium in hospitalized patients. Delirium is a common, serious, and often preventable complication among older adult patients. This is an important step in the management of delirium in older adults because the ability to quantify severity of the condition beyond m
An international research team, co-led by a UC Riverside physicist, has discovered a new mechanism for ultra-efficient charge and energy flow in graphene, opening up opportunities for developing new types of light-harvesting devices. The researchers fabricated pristine graphene — graphene with no impurities — into different geometric shapes. They found that when light illuminated constricted are
People who hold radical political views — at either end of the political spectrum — aren't as good as moderates at knowing when they're wrong, even about something unrelated to politics, finds a new UCL study.
Ten years after a negative colonoscopy, Kaiser Permanente members had 46 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with and were 88 percent less likely to die from colorectal cancer compared with those who did not undergo colorectal cancer screening, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Does expansion microscopy deliver true-to-life images of cellular structures? That was not sure yet. A new publication in Nature Methods shows for the first time that the method actually works reliably.
Zebrafish aren't just surrounded by liquid, but turn liquid — in part — during their development. As the zebrafish embryo develops from a ball of cells to a fully formed fish, a region of the embryo switches its phase from viscous to liquid in a process known as fluidity transition. Such fluidity transition has long been speculated to exist in living matter, but is now described for the first ti
Researchers have discovered that 'fully detailed' memories are stored in the brain, but people access this information at different speeds and levels of detail, with people accessing memories 'forward' that is recalling older information first.
Researchers at CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur and Inserm have demonstrated a new mechanism related to the onset of migraine. In fact, they found how a mutation, causes dysfunction in a protein which inhibits neuronal electrical activity, induces migraines. These results, published in Neuron on Dec. 17, 2018, open a new path for the development of anti-migraine medicines.
The agricultural sector is the world's largest source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, and IIASA-led research has found that changing agricultural practices and a shift in diet away from meat and dairy products could reduce the sector's emissions by up to 50 percent by 2050 compared to a situation without mitigation efforts.
Cells are made up of organelles. Being able to observe these structures represents an enormous challenge. Researchers at UNIGE have succeeded in enlarging biological samples without deforming them and revealing details at a nanometric scale, that is to say a millionth of a millimeter, an unsurpassed resolution in optical microscopy. This new technique makes it possible to visualize the architectur
This study used a complex method to analyze report card release dates and cases of child physical abuse called into a hotline and verified by Florida's child welfare agency for elementary school children during an academic year. In an analysis that included 1,943 cases of verified child physical abuse, calls that resulted in verified cases came in at a higher rate on Saturdays when report cards we
A study of French women suggests a lower risk of type 2 diabetes was observed among women who reported current migraines compared with women with no history of the painful headaches.
Columbia neural engineers discover a mechanism by which the locus coeruleus modulates information processing in the thalamus; their findings of how sensory information is encoded in the healthy brain may lead to new treatments of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and depression.
Itch is easily one of the most annoying sensations. For chronic skin diseases like eczema, it's a major symptom. Although it gives temporary relief, scratching only makes things worse because it can cause skin damage, additional inflammation and even more itch. EMBL researchers have now found a way to stop itch with light in mice. Nature Biomedical Engineering publishes their results on Dec. 17, 2
A new study finds that some brain cells protect themselves from Alzheimer's with a cellular cleaning system that sweeps away toxic proteins associated with the disease.
While many viruses remain unknown and uncultivated, advances in genome sequencing and analyses have allowed researchers to identify more than 750,000 uncultivated virus genomes from metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data sets. As more and more researchers continue to assemble new genome sequences of uncultivated viruses, researchers at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI
An international team of palaeontologists, which includes the University of Bristol, has discovered that the flying reptiles, pterosaurs, actually had four kinds of feathers, and these are shared with dinosaurs — pushing back the origin of feathers by some 70 million years.
Researchers found that gently stroking a baby seems to reduce activity in the infant brain associated with painful experiences. Their results, appearing Dec. 17 in the journal Current Biology, suggest that lightly brushing an infant at a certain speed — of approximately 3 centimeters per second — could provide effective pain relief before clinically necessary medical procedures.
States do not regulate the potency of recreational cannabis, even though THC levels have increased significantly. Now new research shows higher average potency cannabis at first use increases the risk for the first symptom of cannabis use disorder.
Scientists identified two distinct control mechanisms in the developmental transition of undifferentiated stem cells into healthy brain cells. This fundamental research using mice may inform regenerative medicine treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and spinal cord injuries, in the future. Professor Yukiko Gotoh at the University of Tokyo leads the team of scientists who identified the epigen
Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal Small, the physicists reported on their investigations, which could be of particular importa
As the world urbanizes and technologies such as LED grow lights bring down costs, indoor farming is becoming an increasingly important part of the food supply. Eventually, indoor farming techniques could help humans maintain a healthy diet in space. However, because of the completely closed systems in which indoor crops are grown, imbalances in soil nutrients, salinity, temperature, and other fact
A new study uses deep learning to improve the resolution of biological images, but elicits skepticism about its ability to enhance snapshots of sample types that it has never seen before.
An international team of palaeontologists, which includes the University of Bristol, has discovered that the flying reptiles, pterosaurs, actually had four kinds of feathers, and these are shared with dinosaurs – pushing back the origin of feathers by some 70 million years.
Microbes in, on and around the planet are said to outnumber the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. The total number of viruses is expected to vastly exceed even that calculation.
Zebrafish aren't just surrounded by liquid, but turn liquid—in part—during their development. As the zebrafish embryo develops from a ball of cells to a fully-formed fish, a region of the embryo switches its phase from viscous to liquid in a process known as fluidity transition. Such fluidity transition has long been speculated to exist in living matter, but is described for the first time to occu
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded major computer hours on three leading supercomputers, including the world's fastest, to a team led by C.S. Chang of the DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The team is addressing issues that must be resolved for successful operation of ITER, the international experiment under construction in France to demonstrate the feasibility of prod
Going deeper and deeper into cells with the microscope; imaging the nucleus and other structures more and more accurately; getting the most detailed views of cellular multi-protein complexes: All of these are goals pursued by the microscopy expert Markus Sauer at the Biocenter of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany. Together with researchers from Geneva and Lausanne i
The agricultural sector is the world's largest source of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, and IIASA-led research has found that changing agricultural practices and a shift in diet away from meat and dairy products could reduce the sector's emissions by up to 50% by 2050, compared to a situation without mitigation efforts.
In their search for life in solar systems near and far, researchers have often accepted the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere as the surest sign that life may be present there. A new Johns Hopkins study, however, recommends a reconsideration of that rule of thumb.
The holiday feeling was getting quite hearty And HQ was throwing a holiday party! All employees were bringing in holiday treats. Cookies and candy, all you could eat! The Grimch needed something to spoil their plans, A holiday snack that nobody could stand. He knew of two treats that would make one quite sick, He could make a fruitcake, or maybe aspic! But which was more hated, he couldn't decide
On Sunday, The New York Times published " Put Down the Golf Clubs, Visit the Troops ," an editorial calling on President Donald Trump to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and visit Americans in conflict zones, even if he is scared for his safety, or he is very busy, or he disagrees with the wars in question and doesn't want to be associated with leading them. Doing so is "about those wh
The largest population study of hepatitis C in Africa has found three new strains of the virus circulating in the general population in sub-Saharan Africa. The discovery suggests certain antiviral drugs used in the West may be less effective against these strains, and local clinical trials of patients are urgently needed. Published in Hepatology, the study could inform hepatitis C vaccine developm
Texas A&M University's Dr. Kevin Conway, Dr. Joshuah Perkin and their team have located an extremely rare find within the waters of the Rio Grande along the U.S. and Mexico border.
Pterosaurs, Ancient Flying Reptiles, Probably Had Feathers and Fur Two well-preserved fossils found in China were covered in both furlike pycnofibers and featherlike features. PterosaurFeatherFur.jpg Artist's reconstruction of one of the short-tailed pterosaurs from the study Image credits: Yuan Zhang/Nature Ecology & Evolution Creature Monday, December 17, 2018 – 10:45 Charles Q. Choi, Contribut
Nearly three decades of observations in central Norway confirm that flock status is crucial for small birds struggling to survive the winter. Those with the lowest status in the flock face tough odds.
A new study shows that the roots used by three close species of microscopic Daphnia crustaceans to settle across the territory of Northern Eurasia differed greatly. This findings shed light on how the continental freshwater fauna was formed. They are published in PLOS ONE.
Maintaining a high negative pressure in airborne infection isolation rooms of hospitals (over -10 Pa) and in renovation sites (over -5 Pa) effectively limits the dispersion of airborne contaminants and dust, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows.
Local stakeholders need more information than is currently available to them on the impacts of former mining activities on ground water and surface water, potential soil contamination, and the safety of natural products, a new study from Finland shows.
Boys with good motor skills are better problem-solvers than their less skillful peers, a new study from Finland shows. In contrast to previous studies, the researchers found no association between aerobic fitness or overweight and obesity with cognitive function in boys. The results are based on the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study conducted at the University of Eastern Fi
Globally archaeological heritage is under threat by looting. The destruction of archaeological sites obliterates the basis for our understanding of ancient cultures and we lose our shared human past. Research at University of Bern shows that satellite data provide a mean to monitor the destruction of archaeological sites. It is now possible to understand activities by looters in remote regions and
A recent study published in iScience researchers at Kanazawa University describes the role of a molecule, Netrin, in creating borders inside the brain to compartmentalize the functions of the brain.
In this whimsical talk and live demo, scientist Li Wei Tan shares the secrets of bubbles — from their relentless pursuit of geometric perfection to their applications in medicine and shipping, where designers are creating more efficient vessels by mimicking the bubbles created by swimming penguins. Learn more about these mathematical marvels and tap into the magic hidden in the everyday world.
Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey.
A team of researchers from Austria, Italy and Sweden has successfully demonstrated teleportation using on-demand photons from quantum dots. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group explains how they accomplished this feat and how it applies to future quantum communications networks.
The idea of the "one" sets us up for unrealistic expectations. Communication relies on honest conversation and plenty of listening. Change yourself, Perel writes, don't try to change your partner. None I discovered Belgian psychotherapist Esther Perel when she was featured in the NY Times in 2014. Only then did I backtrack and read her 2006 bestseller, Mating in Captivity . The book resonated at
Researchers from the University of Basel have reported a new method that allows the physical state of just a few atoms or molecules within a network to be controlled. It is based on the spontaneous self-organization of molecules into extensive networks with pores about one nanometer in size. In the journal 'small', the physicists reported on their investigations, which could be of particular impor
Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, have described mechanisms linking chronic cellular stress to the poor development of the insulin-producing cells.
Driven by natural or artificial sunlight, a novel 'microtube pump' transports water droplets over long distances. As reported by Chinese researchers in the Journal Angewandte Chemie, the pump consists of a tube whose properties can be changed asymmetrically through irradiation. This results in capillary forces and a wettability gradient in the inner wall which work together to accelerate the water
A research team led by Osaka University simulated glassy colloidal solids to understand their mechanical and failure properties. Under strain, the hard-sphere glasses deformed elastically (reversibly), partly plastically (irreversibly), or underwent yielding or jamming. The size of the elastic and plastic zones on the phase diagram, and the nature of failure, depended on how deeply the glasses wer
A team of Russian scientists identified the role of the interleukin-6 molecule in the development of allergic asthma. Now it can be a new target for the treatment of this disease. The results are published in Frontiers in Immunology.
A URI fisheries researcher has found that oyster aquaculture operations can limit the spread of disease among wild populations of oysters. The findings are contrary to long-held beliefs that diseases are often spread from farmed populations to wild populations.
Can being in a strong committed relationship reduce the risk of suicide? Researchers at Michigan State University believe so, especially among members of the National Guard.
Results of a medical records study of more than 7,000 patients awaiting a lung transplant in the United States affirm the basis of a court filing in 2017 that called the organ allocation system geographically 'rigged' in some regions of the nation.
What is real is not always as it appears. University of Central Florida researchers have found a way to hide information on materials and only make it visible to a person using the right tech.
Scientists at the University of Florida Space Plants Lab are using the single-image normalized difference vegetation index (SI-NDVI), a popular metric of plant health and photosynthetic rate originally developed for satellite-based monitoring of plant growth, to monitor crop health in indoor farming conditions. SI-NDVI allowed detection of stress signatures before stress was visible to the naked e
A conflict between those working to conserve numbers of hen harriers and those maintaining commercial shooting of red grouse in the English uplands has existed for decades with little sign of progress. Drawing on work conducted in psychology, a new study published today in the journal People and Nature investigated the underlying values that hunters and conservationists hold that make it so hard t
In a first-in-human clinical trial reported today in Blood, the investigational drug sutimlimab appeared to be effective in treating cold agglutinin disease, a rare chronic blood disorder for which there are currently no approved treatments.
Thrombosis is a harmful activation of the clotting process, which is associated with the occurrence of blood vessel-related diseases. Pathological enhancement of the clotting cascade causes thrombosis, and activated factor X (FXa) is pivotal to this process. Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) showed that dielectric blood coagulometry provided an easy to use method to detec
En adjungeret fysik-professor ved SDU støtter udbredelsen af tidsskriftfirmaet OMICS International, mens forskere fra samme universitet slås for at stoppe firmaets misbrug af deres identiteter og akademiske meritter.
A new model could be an important step toward making diseased hearts heal themselves, scientists say, reducing the need for bypass surgery, heart transplants, or artificial pumping devices. For the new study, researchers removed connective tissue cells from a human heart, "reverse-engineered" them into heart stem cells, then "re-engineered" them into heart muscle cells. The true breakthrough, how
Predicting and pinpointing which farming practices are most likely to protect against environmental harm is a complex proposition, and researchers at The Ohio State University are working to fine-tune the tools that could help farmers and others prevent harmful algal blooms.
Regionspolitikere foreslår at flytte hjerteafdeling fra Køge til Roskilde for at samle kardiologien på Sjællands Universitetshospital. Overlægeforeningen mener, at det vil ramme kvaliteten.
More than 85 well-preserved dinosaur footprints — made by at least seven different species — have been uncovered in East Sussex, representing the most diverse and detailed collection of these trace fossils from the Cretaceous Period found in the UK to date.
Climate change threatens plants as the risks of flooding increase. A new study shows that special genes are key to keeping plants from withering, remaining healthy and resistant to a lack of oxygen when they are underwater for a period of long time. Developing tolerant plant varieties that have this gene will increase harvest and will be increasingly important as the changing climate leads to more
More than one in eight US adults (12.6 percent) used benzodiazepines in the past year, up from previous reports. Misuse of the prescription drugs accounted for more than 17 percent of overall use, according to a new study.
Scientists have demonstrated the application of high-throughput transfer RNA sequencing to gut microbiome samples from mice that were fed either a low-fat or high-fat diet.
My recent story for Quanta explained a newly proved phenomenon that might seem surprising from a naive perspective: Virtually all polynomials of a certain type are "prime," meaning they can't be factored. The proof has implications for many areas of pure mathematics. It's also great news for a pillar of modern life: digital encryption. The main technique we use to keep digital information secure
Climate change could have devastating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes mountains and the Tibetan plateau, according to researchers at The Ohio State University who have been studying glaciers in those areas for decades.
Conway, Perkin and team from Texas A&M identified the Conchos shiner in U.S. waters of the Rio Grande. Previously, the Conchos shiner was considered restricted to the upper parts of the Rio Conchos drainage in Mexico.
Researchers at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), in collaboration with researchers at the Université de Lorraine, the Qatar Foundation, and the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), developed the Checklist for Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programming (CHASP). CHASP was based on an expert panel's review of published scientific research and existing checklists i
La Trobe University-led research has found that plants are extremely sensitive to touch and that repeated touching can significantly retard growth.The findings, just published in The Plant Journal, could lead to new approaches to optimizing plant growth and productivity — from field-based farming to intensive horticulture production.
A new Stanford study finds believing you have genetic predispositions for obesity and low exercise endurance changes your physiology. Participants told they had a protective obesity gene had a better response than those told they did not, even if they did not actually have the gene. Runners performed poorly after learning they did not have the gene for endurance, even if they actually have the ge
Willingness to roll with the punches is an essential component of good mental health. An inability to foresee a range of consequences adversely affects emotional responses. A good contingency plan makes all the differences, argues neuroscience professor Kelly Lambert. None When planning for the future, what degree of certainty do you have in the plans you've mentally constructed? If these plans d
Humankind's exploration of space has for years pondered one central question: Is there another world somewhere in the universe where human beings could survive?
Social status determines how individual rhesus macaques respond to a key stress hormone, glucocorticoid, according to a new study. Research in recent years has linked a person's physical or social environment to their well-being. Stress wears down the body and compromises the immune system, leaving a person more vulnerable to illnesses and other conditions. Various stressors, from family adversit
A team of researchers who first proposed studying the effect a global trade war could have on the Midwest never imagined there would be an actual trade war underway as they conducted their research.
This week at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in Washington, D.C, a team of scientists from The Ohio State University shared early results from a trio of studies that aim to improve models designed to guide agricultural practices for reducing the risk of nitrogen and phosphorous farm runoff. Such runoff leads to the growth of toxic algae in waterways.
In a UK-wide survey published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and colleagues investigated primary care physicians' views on AI's looming impact on health professions.
A neural mapping approach that pegs results from more than two dozen previous Alzheimer's studies found that reproducibility improves when trying to isolate symptoms to a brain network rather than a single area of the brain.
"Super-Earths" and Neptune-sized planets could be forming around young stars in much greater numbers than scientists thought, new research suggests. Observing a sampling of young stars in a star-forming region in the constellation Taurus, researchers found many of them surrounded by structures that can best be explained as traces that invisible, young planets in the making created. The research,
Pedestrians are constantly avoiding collisions with oncoming people. Meters in advance they unconsciously change their walkway to pass each other. Physicists at Eindhoven University of Technology in collaboration with American and Italian researchers analyzed 5 million pedestrian movements at the Eindhoven train station. They discovered that people want to keep an average distance of at least 75 c
O n a family vacation last summer, driving along the empty highways of northern Idaho near the Canadian border, I saw an unlikely road sign—a relic. Diamond-shaped with a yellow background, the sign featured the familiar black silhouette of a deerlike animal. But unlike those on deer-crossing signs, the animal pictured had large antlers and appeared to be ambling toward the road, not leaping. It
DIY Hack your unmotivated brain. If you regularly work from home, you know the struggle of staying focused on your tasks. Here's how to stay productive outside of a traditional office setting.
Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are promising detector technologies that may be used to achieve active 3D imaging systems with fast acquisition, high timing accuracy and high detection sensitivity. Such systems have broad applications in the domains of biological imaging, remote sensing and robotics. However, the detectors face technical impairments known as pileup that cause measurement di
UT Southwestern researchers have succeeded in neutralizing what they believe is a primary factor in late-onset Alzheimer's disease, opening the door to development of a drug that could be administered before age 40, and taken for life, to potentially prevent the disease in 50 to 80 percent of at-risk adults.
Researchers in Eindhoven have developed a new type of low-energy, nanoscale laser that shines in all directions. The key to its omnidirectional light emission is the introduction of something that is usually highly undesirable in nanotechnology: irregularities in the materials. The researchers foresee a vast range of potential applications, but first they hope their fundamental work will inspire o
When two events occur within a brief window of time they become linked in memory, such that calling forth memory of one helps retrieve memory for the other event, according to research published in Psychological Science. This happens even when temporal proximity is the only feature that the two events share.
In the search for life on other planets, scientists traditionally have looked for a world with water. But an Ohio State geophysicist wonders if we should look to rocks instead.
In a study of adolescent mice with a version of a gene linked to serious human mental illnesses, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have uncovered a possible explanation for how marijuana may damage the brains of some human teens.
Trying to find something good in a bad situation appears to be particularly effective in reducing anxiety the less money a person makes, possibly because people with low incomes have less control over their environment, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
According to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, air pollution not only affects air quality, but it also changes the pathways along which new particles are formed in the atmosphere.
To stop climate change, saving energy matters less than switching to renewable energy. Indeed, says Anthony Patt, it isn't clear whether saving energy makes much of a difference at all.
By this point in his presidency, George H. W. Bush was preparing for battle with Iraq, Bill Clinton had begun bombing Serb targets in the former Yugoslavia, George W. Bush had invaded Afghanistan, and Barack Obama was about to encounter the Arab Spring. Donald Trump, by contrast, has been lucky. That is the conclusion of a report released Monday by the Council on Foreign Relations ranking the con
Preparing the perfect Christmas feast is an important part of every holiday season. We're celebrating the most memorable feasts – Moonshiner style. Stream Full Episodes of Moonshiners: https://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/moonshiners/ Subscribe to Discovery: http://bit.ly/SubscribeDiscovery Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Discovery https://www.facebook.com/MoonshinersTV Follow on Twit
After moving from a low-income neighborhood to a more affluent one, elementary school kids make friends faster than teenagers, research shows. For a new study, researchers examined how children adjust to more affluent neighborhoods and higher-performing schools after their families moved with the help of a housing voucher program. Friendships with peers play a big part in how children adapt to hi
When dinosaurs ruled the land, pterosaurs occupied the skies. Now we know they had feathers, suggesting plumage has a much deeper history than we had thought
The average outpatient visit in the United States costs nearly $500, according to a new scientific study. In addition, the average inpatient stay had a price tag in 2016 of more than $22,000. Both of these dollar amounts underscore a common understanding in the health profession: The US exceeds every other nation in total health care costs.
Warmer winters may not provide sufficient chilling for blackcurrants in the UK, delaying the start of the growing season and resulting in reduced yields and lower fruit quality, researchers have found. Speaking at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting in Birmingham today, a research group based at the James Hutton Institute highlights that milder winters may cause blackcurrant crops to f
A first-of-its-kind retrospective study finds that environmental cleanup projects are economically viable. The economic evaluation analysis estimates that Boston Harbor — once dubbed America's filthiest harbor — is now worth between $30 and $100 billion in ecosystem services. The study demonstrates that the post-cleanup value of healthy ecosystems and their associated benefits to society should
Thermal-sensing cameras mounted on drones may offer a safer and more cost-effective way to locate nests of the elusive European nightjar in forestry work and construction areas, according to new research presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting in Birmingham today.
Researchers learn how a key transcription factor helps regulate the immune system and could be critical to understanding autoimmune disease and cancer immunosuppression.
New study from researchers at the UConn Rudd Center and Yale School of Public Health finds that middle school students who receive nutrition policy interventions experience an increase in body mass of less than 1 percent, while students who do not receive these interventions experience an increase in body mass of 3-4 percent. Students with these interventions also report eating less fast food and
Editor's Note : Find all of The Atlantic 's "Best of 2018" coverage here . I first encountered the food of Alon Shaya at an ostensibly Italian restaurant in a restored 1890s hotel in New Orleans's central business district, in the form of a whole roasted cauliflower, served like a steamship round, with a demilune-shaped steak knife. I went back the next night for that dish and others that showed
Results of a medical records study of children with Crohn's disease by Johns Hopkins researchers have added substantial evidence for a strong and direct link between malnutrition and increased risk of surgical complications and poor outcomes.
ALONG the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, a treacherous landscape where yaks graze above the clouds, basketball hoops are everywhere: at the bases of cliffs; in the courtyards of centuries-old, golden-roofed monasteries; in nomadic villages tucked into the hills. To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app. It was within such a village, Zorge Ritoma, that
Science As climate change intensifies, architects, designers, and scientists are devising better ways to deal with almost anything nature throws our way. As climate change intensifies, architects, designers, and scientists are devising better ways to deal with almost anything nature throws our way.
Early this year, the Eduard Toll set a record: laden with liquefied natural gas, the tanker was the first commercial vessel to cross the Arctic in winter without an icebreaker.
September's deadly Indonesian tsunami, which killed almost 2000 people, was probably caused by a huge submarine landslide off Sulawesi Island's west coast, a new study shows.
Research shows that waste can double during the Christmas period, and most of it is plastic from gift wrapping and packaging. The British, for example, go through more than 40 million rolls of (mostly plastic) sticky tape every year, and use enough wrapping paper to go around the Equator nine times.
Climate change threatens plants as the risks of flooding increase. A new study from Stockholm University shows that special genes are key to keeping plants from withering, remaining healthy and resistant to a lack of oxygen when they are underwater for a period of long time. Developing tolerant plant varieties that have this gene will increase harvests and will be increasingly important as the cha
Graphene monolayers can be epitaxially grown on many single-crystal metal surfaces under ultra-high vacuum. On one side, these monolayers protect highly reactive metallic surfaces from contaminants, but on the other side, the piling of the layers as graphitic carbon blocks the activity of transition metal catalysts. The inertness of the graphite and the physical blockage of the active sites preven
President Donald Trump likes to see his supporters loudly defending him on television, and since joining the team in April, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has delivered. He's also made gaffes with memorable arguments such as "Truth isn't truth" and, as The New York Times documented last week , continued drumming up business with governments around the world that might see him as a short
Editor's Note: Every Monday, Lori Gottlieb answers questions from readers about their problems, big and small. Have a question? Email her at dear.therapist@theatlantic.com . Dear Therapist, My sister is a year younger than me and has two children, ages 16 and 14. I have four children: one age 14, one age 12, and 8-year-old twins. We have another sister with 6-year-olds. We've all always exchanged
Are you sitting comfortably? Many people are not – and they insist that the way we've been going to the toilet is all wrong • Read the text version here Continue reading…
Our oceans are full of microplastics and unnatural swarms of jellyfish. Could these beautiful animals possess a secret weapon to help clean up the environment?
Sarah Ruger, Director of Free Speech Initiatives at the Charles Koch Institute, tells us about Daryl Davis, a jazz and blues musician who has convinced over 200 KKK members to turn in their robes. He didn't do it by by heated debate. He managed to accomplish this feat by having dialogue and listening to the other side. This way, quite simply, he was able to understand where they were coming from.
Nearly 200 military shipwrecks — dating as far back as the Revolutionary War and including ships from the Civil War and both World War I and World War II — were sunk to the bottom of a river.
After decades of rumors and searches, the existence of a two-foot-long amphibian called "the reticulated siren" has finally been confirmed — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The Netherlands said Monday it will ban all raw ivory sales from next year, as it unveiled the results of a major operation to combat trafficking in endangered animals and plants.
Driven by natural or artificial sunlight, a novel "microtube pump" transports water droplets over long distances. As reported by Chinese researchers in the Journal Angewandte Chemie, the pump consists of a tube whose properties can be changed asymmetrically through irradiation. This results in capillary forces and a wettability gradient in the inner wall which work together to accelerate the water
Et ekstern vurdering har bekræftet Energinets konklusion om, at kun 26 kilometer af en 170 kilometer højspændingsforbindelse i Jylland kan graves ned. Lars Chr. Lilleholt foreslår nu at grave det gamle 150-kV-net ned, når det nye etableres.
Med opkøbet af endnu en amerikansk virksomhed etablerer Rambøll nu en selvstændig amerikansk forretningsenhed. Målet er at komme op på 4.000 ansatte på fem år
New observations of a stellar explosion have revealed a surprise that could point to the trigger behind these violent, yet mysterious, eruptions — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
A photo from the tragic "Camp Fire," the most destructive wildfire in California history, shows a house burned down to its foundation. Such images are difficult to process, particularly with 86 people dead.
Politiets adgang til oplysninger om flypassagerer skal øges for at styrke efterforskningen af grænseoverskridende kriminalitet. Men det er masseovervågning og et indgreb i privatlivets fred, lyder advarslerne fra både NGO'er og Datatilsynet.
In 2013, The Atlantic ran a piece titled "Why Do Liberals Hate Cory Booker?" The article searched for the sources of progressive distrust of the senator from New Jersey. It scoured his policy positions to find his transgressions of party orthodoxy—and it couldn't find any substantive deviation. It concluded, "The case against Booker seems to rest chiefly on tone and approach. Like Obama, he has p
On June 4, President Donald Trump tweeted , "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?" Trump is not the first president to consider a self-pardon. On August 1, 1974, Vice President Gerald Ford met with Alexander Haig, an aide to Richard Nixon, who raised the possibility that the president mig
Your talent—and Instagram following—has outgrown your phonecam. Start the new year by getting serious about your photography with one of these small shooters.
Wherever you stand on Cliff Richard, his 1988 number one, with its message that "Christmas is love, Christmas is peace" and "a time to rejoice in the good that we see", succinctly summarises the common festive view of Christianity. From Christmas music to cards to charity TV adverts, we are continually reminded at this time of year of the positive values that Christianity can promote: love, peace,
Researchers learn how a key transcription factor helps regulate the immune system and could be critical to understanding autoimmune disease and cancer immunosuppression.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from UChicago demonstrated the application of high-throughput transfer RNA sequencing to gut microbiome samples from mice that were fed either a low-fat or high-fat diet.
A new, pioneering forage wheat model could provide a valuable technique to researchers exploring the potential of biomass production for cool-season annual forage grasses, according to model developers.
The investigation in to Russian interference and Donald Trump has sprung so many offshoots, it's hard to keep track. Here's a comprehensive list. It's long.
When Nikki and Danny Miller's two young sons developed strange symptoms, they began searching for a diagnosis. Their odyssey ended when a team of medical sleuths solved the case. (Image credit: Courtesy of Andrew Ross-Perry)
Every year 7 million hectares of forest are cut down, chipping away at the 485 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) stored in trees around the world, but low-cost drones and new satellite imaging could soon protect these carbon stocks and help developing countries get paid for protecting their trees.
Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Monday opened the country's largest hydropower scheme, swatting aside dire warnings about the environmental impact of the $780 million project and its affect on local communities.
Landdistrikterne står som vinderne af dette års bredbåndspulje. Det er især landkommuner i Region Midtjylland og Region Sjælland, som gør et stort indhug i puljen.
Plastic waste threatens a wide range of ecosystems all over the planet. But innovative ways of making, reusing and recycling plastic are set to change our relationship with this extraordinary material
In the battle to save resources as vital as coral, researchers increasingly face a world where scholarly thought is blown away by the need for urgent action
"Functional medicine" preaches the "biochemical individuality" of each patient, which is why one of its key features is that its practitioners order reams of useless lab tests and then try to correct every abnormal level without considering (or even knowing) what these abnormalities mean, if anything. So they make up fake diagnoses and profit.
Japan's Hitachi on Monday announced plans to buy a majority stake in the power grid business of Swiss-Swedish engineering giant ABB for $6.4 billion, in what would be its biggest ever buyout.
Saffron farmers in southern Morocco have long taken pride in the coveted spice they produce from the purple-petalled Crocus sativus, but some are worried knockoff versions are threatening their business.
Test your knowledge of Tweet-speak, plus a social media maths puzzle UPDATE: to read the answers and solution click here. This week, two puzzles about social media. The first is something new for this column, a language quiz, and below it is the usual fare, a mathematical conundrum. In the 1990s, I used to write a weekly column in the Guardian about language. Were I to write the column today, one
After months of delays, the U.S. Air Force is about to launch the first of a new generation of GPS satellites, designed to be more accurate, secure and versatile.
The board of automaker Nissan was meeting Monday to discuss a replacement for former chairman Carlos Ghosn after his arrest for financial misconduct, as tensions grow in the firm's alliance with Renault.
Almost 200 nations, including the world's top greenhouse gas producers, China and the United States, have adopted a set of rules meant to breathe life into the 2015 Paris climate accord by setting out how countries should report their emissions and efforts to reduce them.
More than 85 well-preserved dinosaur footprints—made by at least seven different species—have been uncovered in East Sussex, representing the most diverse and detailed collection of these trace fossils from the Cretaceous Period found in the UK to date.
A first-of-its-kind retrospective study finds that environmental cleanup projects are economically viable. The economic evaluation analysis estimates that Boston Harbor — once dubbed America's filthiest harbor — is now worth between $30 and $100 billion in ecosystem services. The study demonstrates that the post-cleanup value of healthy ecosystems and their associated benefits to society should
A first-of-its-kind retrospective study concludes that environmental cleanup projects can provide high value to society, making them economically viable alternatives to coastal development projects. The analysis of Boston Harbor suggests the capitalized value of restored ecosystem services now stands at between $30 and $100 billion—far outweighing the $5 billion cleanup cost. Published in Frontier
Climate change threatens plants as the risks of flooding increase. A new study from Stockholm University shows that special genes are key to keeping plants from withering, remaining healthy and resistant to a lack of oxygen when they are underwater for a period of long time. Developing tolerant plant varieties that have this gene will increase harvest and will be increasingly important as the chan
A quarter of parents of young children who drink alcohol on special occasions do not think about limiting how much they drink or whether they'll be able to take care of their child the next day, according to a new national poll.
Aftalen Privacy Shield skal sikre EU-borgeres persondata, der sendes til USA, på samme måde som hvis de blev i EU under GDPR. Men det gør aftalen ikke.
Research suggests body's response to infection may be responsible for onset of CFS An overactive immune response appears to be a trigger for persistent fatigue, say researchers in a study that could shed light on the causes of chronic fatigue syndrome. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating long-term condition in which individuals experience exhaustion that is not helped by rest, as wel
De seneste års fund af bakterier flere kilometer under jordoverfladen giver et fingerpeg om, at der måske kan være liv på planeter, vi hidtil har troet var livløse.
More than 85 well-preserved dinosaur footprints — made by at least seven different species — have been uncovered in East Sussex, representing the most diverse and detailed collection of these trace fossils from the Cretaceous Period found in the UK to date.
More than one in eight US adults (12.6 percent) used benzodiazepines in the past year, up from previous reports. Misuse of the prescription drugs accounted for more than 17 percent of overall use, according to a study published online today in Psychiatric Services in Advance.
New Haven, Conn. — In-school nutrition policies and programs that promote healthier eating habits among middle school students limit increases in body mass index (BMI), a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health finds.
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine provides detailed insights on the increased risk of self-directed violence that patients aged 15-29 years visiting the emergency department (ED) for medical complaints subsequently experience. This underscores the importance of EDs in suicide prevention. The broad number of physical health conditions associated with an increased
Thermal-sensing cameras mounted on drones may offer a safer and more cost-effective way to locate nests of the elusive European nightjar in forestry work and construction areas, according to new research presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting in Birmingham today.
Warmer winters may not provide sufficient chilling for blackcurrants in the UK, delaying the start of the growing season and resulting in reduced yields and lower fruit quality, researchers have found. Speaking at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting in Birmingham today, a research group based at the James Hutton Institute highlights that milder winters may cause blackcurrant crops to f
A new Food-PRICE systematic review and meta-analysis led by researchers at Tufts assessed the effectiveness of food package and menu labeling in interventional studies and found that these approaches can impact consumer and industry behavior for some targets, but not others.
For patients who receive emergency department care for heart failure, early follow-up by a physician within seven days after emergency department discharge is associated with lower rates of death or admissions to hospital, according to research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
New research refines existing evidence that survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma face an elevated risk of developing various types of solid tumors many years later. In addition, certain subgroups of patients have an especially high risk. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings may help refine guidelines for cancer screening in Hodgk
America's teens report a dramatic increase in their use of vaping devices in just a single year, with 37.3 percent of 12th graders reporting 'any vaping' in the past 12 months, compared to just 27.8 percent in 2017. These findings come from the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey of a nationally representative sample of eighth, 10th and 12th graders in schools nationwide, funded by a NIDA grant to t
Warmer winters may not provide sufficient chilling for blackcurrants in the UK, delaying the start of the growing season and resulting in reduced yields and lower fruit quality, researchers have found.
Thermal-sensing cameras mounted on drones may offer a safer and more cost-effective way to locate nests of the elusive European nightjar in forestry work and construction areas, according to new research presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting in Birmingham today.