Children diagnosed with autism perform better in school if they participate in two 30-minute drumming sessions a week, according to a new scientific study.
While last year's discovery of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars was earth-shaking, it won't add extra dimensions to our understanding of the universe—not literal ones, at least.
After more than four decades of lobbying on behalf of Republican politicians, foreign dictators, and oligarchs, Paul Manafort is flipping on his last client: President Donald Trump. The president's former campaign chairman has agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation of a potential conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow, prosecutors said in court on F
Written by Madeleine Carlisle ( @maddiecarlisle2 ) and Olivia Paschal ( @oliviacpaschal ) Today in 5 Lines Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Hurricane Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast as a Cate
An ORNL research team led by Jay Jay Billings has continuously updated a workflow management system they first developed in 2010 to help computational scientists develop software, visualize data, and solve problems, saving time and effort expended in support of modeling and simulation experiments. Recently, the team published an article inSoftwareX that both details the history of the system and p
Today's guilty plea by Paul Manafort brings to a close the criminal investigation of his conduct. But it is likely just the beginning of the next phase of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into 2016 election interference. The plea is a significant success for the special counsel. It allows Mueller to avoid the uncertainty, time, and expense of a trial. And the criminal information filed by t
On Friday, Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina. It was also downgraded to a Category 1 storm: Its high winds, while still "extremely dangerous," are no longer the storm's scariest trait. But then again, they never were. Florence's main threat has always been the water. In the coming days, Florence will besiege the Carolinas through two different mechanisms: First, it will inundate
Health Your muscles are ready to run, whether you like it or not. Your cells are ready to run a marathon, even if you're not. Every cell in the human body is carrying a mutation that might help optimize our muscles for running long…
Following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), a type of bariatric surgery, many patients exhibit a reduction in taste preference for sweet and fatty foods, although this effect may only be temporary, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University at New York.
Upon entering China's Yiwu Market, Jessica Kingdon experienced a sensory overload. She had intended to capture the cinematic experience of the world's largest wholesale mall, but she couldn't decide what to film. "I kept getting distracted because the number of stalls feels infinite," Kingdon told The Atlantic . "It's like the ultimate FOMO experience." Ultimately, Kingdon decided to focus on wha
A study in the journal Bulletin of Marine Science describes a new, blood-red species of octocoral found in Panama. The species in the genus Thesea was discovered in the threatened low-light reef environment on Hannibal Bank, 60 kilometers off mainland Pacific Panama, by researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (STRI) and the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y
France's colonial rule in Algeria, as well as the war that brought it to an end, remains an open wound in French historical memory despite ending more than 50 years ago. For the French, it's a dark era of its history that, like the country's collaboration with Nazi Germany under Vichy rule , many seem anxious to forget. Few French leaders have been willing to acknowledge France's colonization of
New research reveals how plant communication systems respond to threats from hungry critters. The results show that once wounded, plants use calcium signals to warn distant tissues of future attacks. In one video , you can see a hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf's edges, approaching the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severing it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds,
Gadgets In the last few months, I've played with several soundbars. Here are my picks. In the last few months, I've played with several soundbars. Here are my picks. Luckily, none of them will break the bank.
After a very hard fought battle, we have a victor of the VS! According to the very scientific leaderboard below, the most valued plane on Eyewire is the Y plane. Worth bearing in mind? Hmm… Artwork by Daniela Gamba
Late Thursday, dozens of explosions erupted in three towns in northern Massachusetts. As many as 70 fires, explosions, and suspected gas leaks were reported to state police, with at least 39 homes affected in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. One person was killed when a chimney collapsed on his car, and at least 25 more people were reportedly treated for injuries. In a statement , Columbia G
September 10 is the day you're statistically most likely to find a tropical cyclone somewhere in the Atlantic basin. The reason has to do with both wind and water. (Image credit: NOAA/AP)
Reader Ella asks: "I read a theory that while dreaming, the brain cannot invent new people out of nowhere. Instead, the brain shows people we've seen while awake, or combines a mix of previously-seen physical features to create a "new" person. How would you prove/disprove this theory? Why does the brain do this?" This is a really interesting question, but unfortunately, it's an impossible questio
"The moon is essentially grey, no color. Looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand." This was how Jim Lovell described the lunar surface in 1968 from his perch about 60 miles above the moon. Lovell and his fellow NASA astronauts never touched down, but they returned to Earth with memories of what was, at the time, the closest view a human being had ever experienced of the planet
Hurricane Florence reaches the Carolinas, Vostok 2018 military exercises in Siberia, multiple house fires in suburban Massachusetts, pedal-car racing in England, ballet in the streets of Mexico City, a dinosaur in North Korea, a pilgrimage to catch fish on Spain's Gran Canaria, scenes from New York Fashion Week, and much more
Children who experience some type of adverse event following initial immunization have a low rate of recurrent reactions to subsequent vaccinations, reports a study in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, the official journal of The European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Russian agents were allegedly planning to hack into a Swiss laboratory that was analyzing nerve agents used in March against a former Russian spy and his daughter. (Image credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
Ever-expanding viewing options make it increasingly harder for a movie or television series to stand out in a saturated market. With trailers alone not drawing enough attention, marketers increasingly depend on shorter video snippets—video clips—to promote content across a variety of digital channels, including ones without sound.
What kind of threat does Paul Manafort now pose to Donald Trump? Robert Mueller's indictment of the fallen lobbyist is a masterful portrait of a craven man and his methods. But the chronology contained in the document filed this morning takes us right up to the eve of Manafort joining the Trump campaign, and then leaves the reader bursting with curiosity about what comes next. While Mueller has t
The 'patient-centered medical home' (PCMH) approach is an important tool for providing coordinated care for the millions of American children with special healthcare needs. But most of these special-needs children don't have access to care consistent with the PCMH approach, reports a study in the October issue of Medical Care. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Two progressive groups are gathering contributions – more than $1 million so far— pledged to a yet-to-be-named opponent to Maine Senator Susan Collins if she votes for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. "Either Sen. Collins VOTES NO on Kavanaugh OR we fund her future opponent," a crowdfunding page declares. The senator complained that this is "bribery," a charge echoed by S
Three Children, Two Abortions In an essay last month, Deborah Copaken put her two abortions—one as a teenager, one in her 30s— in conversation with her motherhood. What a woman "chooses to do with her body if she finds herself accidentally pregnant," she wrote, "should not be up for debate in 2018." I appreciate Ms. Copaken's courage in sharing her story. Truly, each of our unique stories defies
A program established by the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard is addressing the persistently elevated risk of HIV infection among young women in South Africa from two angles — first, investigating biological factors that modulate infection risk and the early immunologic events following viral exposure, and second, alleviating the socioeconomic factors that limit opportunities for young wom
Scientists have developed a topological photonic chip to process quantum information, promising a more robust option for scalable quantum computers. The research team, led by RMIT University's Dr Alberto Peruzzo, has for the first time demonstrated that quantum information can be encoded, processed and transferred at a distance with topological circuits on the chip. The research is published in Sc
A study in Rwanda finds healthier children in families receiving large cash grants, rather than clean water, livestock, textbooks, or nutritional supplements.
In the port city of Wilmington, residents awoke to the sound of power transformers blowing up, plunging homes into darkness as Hurricane Florence's howling winds whipped through the streets sending metal signs, water and debris flying.
Over the course of four films (and a couple of spin-offs), the Predator has been a 7-foot-tall reptilian alien with giant snapping mandibles instead of a mouth, camouflage technology, and boundless interest in hunting and killing humans as trophies. But Shane Black's smart-aleck script for the latest edition in the action franchise, The Predator, has a bone to pick with the name. "That's not a pr
Subscribe to Radio Atlantic: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play With authoritarianism and populism on the rise around the world, The Atlantic examines the fate of democracy in its October issue. Anne Applebaum writes that Poland shows how quickly things can fall apart and Jeffrey Rosen writes that the state of American politics is one Founder's worst nightmare. They join Jeffrey Go
An observatory in the mountains of southern New Mexico that is dedicated unlocking the mysteries of the sun has found itself at the center of a mystery that is creating a buzz here on earth.
When there is gold on the line, it's every miner for themselves. An all-new season of Gold Rush gets underway Friday Oct 12 9p on Discovery! From: Discovery
As platforms struggle to detect and stop foreign interference in the midterm elections, there's a thorny complication: Many of the tactics used by spammers and trolls are also leveraged by real activists.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite found that as Post-tropical cyclone Olivia was being strongly affected by wind shear in the Central Pacific Ocean. That shear was preventing the development of the thunderstorms that would revive the storm, so it weakened into a post-tropical system and is expected to dissipate over the weekend of Sept. 15.
A white shark's acute sense of smell is legendary, allowing it to detect a potential meal several miles away—and giving pause to those of us who work and play in the ocean.
Super Typhoon Mangkhut is a powerful tropical cyclone headed toward the northern Philippines. It is a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image as it passed over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and stared the storm in its eye.
Super Typhoon Mangkhut is a powerful tropical cyclone headed toward the northern Philippines. It is a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image as it passed over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and stared the storm in its eye.
Researchers from the Salk Institute found that an important quality control mechanism in baker's yeast is closely connected to hypomyelinating leukodystrophy, a debilitating disease found in children. The findings could indicate a therapeutic approach for this rare disease, as well as for multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite found that as Post-tropical cyclone Olivia was being strongly affected by wind shear in the Central Pacific Ocean. That shear was preventing the development of the thunderstorms that would revive the storm, so it weakened into a post-tropical system and is expected to dissipate over the weekend of Sept. 15.
Hurricane Florence, the vast storm meteorologists and astronauts alike have been tracking, made landfall this morning (Sept. 14) near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.
Mexico has arrested an alleged drug cartel hitman on charges of trafficking the critically endangered totoaba fish, a species whose swim bladder can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market in China.
Do you enjoy breathing air? You should spare a thought once in a while for heme, an iron-containing molecule essential to all organisms engaged in an air-breathing lifestyle. Heme molecules are most famously part of hemoglobin, the oxygen-transporting protein in blood, but they are also components of numerous other proteins involved in gas transport and fundamental chemistry in cells. On its own,
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and saw that Tropical Storm Joyce is battling wind shear. Winds are pushing thunderstorm development northeast of the center.
Tropical Storm Helene may be battling wind shear but it's caused a Tropical Storm Warning for all of the Azores Islands on Sept. 15. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and analyzed the storm.
Rudy Giuliani marked this week's 9/11 anniversary by reminiscing about that fateful day from the friendly confines of Fox & Friends . His hosts dutifully recycled the TV footage of Giuliani walking the streets of smoky Lower Manhattan, paper mask affixed to his face, imploring people to flee northward. He told his Fox couchmates that he walked for hours, and that there were times when he could ba
This story contains spoilers for Season 5 of BoJack Horseman. T here's an episode early in the new season of BoJack Horseman that condenses a famous actor's ugly past with an efficiency so ruthless, the story line would seem cartoonish were it not so familiar. A few minutes of screen time chronicle a decade's worth of vile behavior: A fictional celebrity named Vance Waggoner bounces from scandal
A team of researchers at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic has solved a long-standing puzzle by identifying the protein that 'chaperones' free heme in cells.
Exposure to banned nerve agents remains a major public health concern globally, especially because of the recent air-release of these agents in Syria. One main problem is the difficulty of determining whether an exposure has occurred. Now, a new study demonstrates that the mammalian microbiome can act as a 'sentinel' due to its high responsiveness to exposure.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over tropical cyclone Isaac in the eastern Caribbean Sea and it has weakened to a depression as a result of being hammered by vertical wind shear.
A growing community of do-it-yourself 'biohackers' are disrupting business-as-usual for pharmaceutical discovery, development and distribution. A new article looks at how the pharmaceutical industry, and the U.S. regulatory environment, will need to change in response.
The title of this slim book sounds like a virtuosic magic act, and the Norwegian writer Nicolai Houm delivers. In the first of his three novels to appear in English, his legerdemain is remarkable. He builds suspense even as he splinters his plot into nonlinear fragments. He conjures up the emotional arc of a female life—from childhood loneliness through intense love to midlife derailment—in just
Three hundred and ten miles above our planet's surface, near-Earth space is abuzz with action. Here begin the Van Allen Belts, a pair of concentric rings of fast-moving particles and intense radiation that extends more than 30,000 miles farther into space. For the most part these particles are confined to this special region, spiraling along Earth's magnetic field lines. But sometimes they come to
Rare, mummified animals discovered by gold miners in Yukon territory The Klondike region of Canada is famous for its gold, but now other remarkable ancient treasures have been unearthed from the melting permafrost. Two mummified ice age mammals – a wolf pup and a caribou calf – were discovered by gold miners in the area in 2016 and unveiled on Thursday at a ceremony in Dawson in Yukon territory.
Environment Wind speeds are not the problem. The storm will be slow to weaken as it moves away from the warm ocean waters, but even as the winds subside, the real story of the hurricane is just beginning.
Scientists have identified new means of fighting drug-tolerant bacteria, a growing global threat as menacing as drug-resistant microbes. Little is known about the mechanisms leading to tolerance, a strategy that makes bacteria 'indifferent' to antibiotics and almost 'un-killable,' which results in chronic infections extremely difficult to treat and cure.
Scientists have demonstrated the possibility of detecting dementia from conversations in human-agent interaction. Their research shows how a machine can learn characteristics of sounds of elderly people who answered easy questions from avatars on a computer.
Ever since the emergence of companies like Uber and Lyft, businesses and labor advocates have engaged in an endless, largely theoretical debate about whether classifying workers as independent contractors—responsible for setting their own hours and paying for their own insurance, mileage, and other expenses—helps or hurts them. On one side are gig-economy employers, who say workers like the flexi
Scientists have developed a neural network that can identify the structure of molecules in the gas phase, offering a novel technique for national security and pharmaceutical applications.
Researchers have helped characterize a genetic variant that enables new understanding of why some people are at risk of gout, a painful and debilitating arthritic disease.
A new study finds that more than one-third of first-year university students in eight industrialized countries around the globe report symptoms consistent with a diagnosable mental health disorder.
Tropical Storm Helene may be battling wind shear but it's caused a Tropical Storm Warning for all of the Azores Islands on Sept. 15. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and analyzed the storm.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and saw that Tropical Storm Joyce is battling wind shear. Winds are pushing thunderstorm development northeast of the center.
Investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have been able to pinpoint the exact stage of development of the human retina, when cells can grow out of control and form cancer-like masses. The finding could open the door for future interventions in retinoblastoma (RB), a tumor of the retina that affects children under five years of age.
The NASA-funded, UCLA built ELFIN Cubesat will launch on Sept 15, piggy-backing with NASA's ICESat-2, to study how electrons are lost from the Van Allen Belts.
An experiment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln demonstrated how the application of intense light boosts electrons to their highest attainable speeds.
Quick learners have better long-term retention of the material they learn despite spending less time studying it, according to a new study. "Quicker learning appears to be more durable learning," says Christopher L. Zerr, lead author and doctoral student in psychological & brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "Even though people who learned the material in less time had less actu
This has been a dramatic week for Catholics around the world. As Pope Francis faces mounting pressure to address the spiraling clergy sex-abuse crisis, almost every day has brought some new revelation or declaration. Since Tuesday alone, a group of American Catholic leaders went to Rome to ask Francis some tough questions, while a women's open letter demanding answers from him crossed the 45,000-
Brief cognitive behavioral therapy significantly improved the mental health of women overwhelmed by caring for children with severe chronic health conditions, researchers at the University of Louisville have found.After five therapy sessions, study participants reported significantly decreased depressive symptoms, negative thinking and chronic stressors, and experienced improved sleep quality, acc
Thessaloniki- Macedonia, Greece — Sept. 14, 2018 — Greek researchers investigated whether specific brain regions, which have been found to be highly activated after negative facial stimulus, are also activated in different groups of people with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) compared to healthy controls (HC).
A team from RUDN developed a mathematical model which simulates the operation of a computer communication system consisting of one common queue of customers and two heterogeneous servers with different speed and reliability attributes. The scientists proposed new methods for performance and reliability analysis of such systems. The article of the team was published in European Journal of Operation
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over tropical cyclone Isaac in the eastern Caribbean Sea and it has weakened to a depression as a result of being hammered by vertical wind shear.
Proven masters at sustainably managing forests that protect against global warming, indigenous peoples got a place at the table, and some cash, at an international climate summit in San Francisco this week.
Even when we fail spectacularly at them, computer games are crafted to be a medium of delights, as an exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum reveals
If the majority of dairy farms in Pennsylvania fully adopt conservation best-management practices, the state may be able to achieve its total maximum daily load water-quality target for the Chesapeake Bay, according to researchers.
Researchers have developed a combination of commercially available hardware and open-source software, named PySight, which improves rapid 2-D and 3-D imaging of the brain and other tissues.
Researchers have discovered using mice and human clinical specimens that caspase-2, a protein-cleaving enzyme, is a critical driver of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a chronic and aggressive liver condition. By identifying caspase-2's critical role, they believe an inhibitor of this enzyme could provide an effective way to stop the pathogenic progression that leads to NASH — and possibly e
How can we innovate in the huge, $140 billion foreign aid sector? The same way we do in the private sector: routine evaluations of what's working well and what isn't. Yet donors rarely measure the effectiveness of individual programs, let alone weigh one intervention against another. The United States' Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, conducted just one experimental eval
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eye of Hurricane Florence the morning of landfall. Infrared imagery showed the power and the extent of this massive storm.
Three recent studies investigate changes in mitochondria, the cell's energy producers, as fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progresses to steatohepatosis (NASH). The first two studies illuminate how mitochondrial energy production stutters and fails; the third describes how changes to the liver during disease progression affect the organ's use of nutrients to produce energy.
Participating in spiritual practices during childhood and adolescence may be a protective factor for a range of health and well-being outcomes in early adulthood, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Undocumented immigrants have the worst rates of health care utilization and access, numbers that are worse than 15 years ago and are likely to continue their downward trend. However, they have lower risk of chronic disease than other immigrants and U.S. citizens.
Chemists from RUDN carried out detailed analysis of the nature of intermolecular bonds between nitrogen and chlorine in the molecules of azo dyes and defined their photochromic properties. The scientists also clarified the importance of hydrogen and halogen intermolecular bonds in the stabilization of dyes structure. The research can be useful for all the types of azo dyes applications. The articl
New research finds three alternative answers beyond errors in handler or dog training that can explain why dogs trained to identify scat for conservation purposes sometimes collect non-target scats.
Human herpesviruses such as HHV-6 can remain dormant in cells for many years without being noticed. When reactivated, they can cause serious clinical conditions. Researchers have now found a way of differentiating between active and inactive viruses.
Researchers have developed an add-on module that helps artificial intelligence systems called convolutional neural networks, or CNNs, to fill in the gaps between video frames to greatly improve the network's activity recognition.
Fishing pressure on threatened shark populations has increased dramatically in recent years and it is urgent that consumers reject shark fin products altogether, new study asserts.
For thousands of years, humans have relied on storytelling to engage, to share emotions and to relate personal experiences. Now, psychologists are exploring the mechanisms deep within the brain to better understand just what happens when we communicate.
Astronomers took advantage of a celestial alignment to make a novel and creative radio observation yielding information about the size, shape, and orbit of an asteroid.
An Ontario clinical study that shows adding PET imaging to conventional CT imaging to stage locally advanced cervix cancer can change treatment means newly diagnosed women in this province may also receive PET imaging.
The use of coal-based synthetic natural gas, known by the acronym 'SNG,' would increase carbon emissions and water demand, especially in regions in China that already have high per capita carbon emissions and water scarcity, according to a study in Nature Sustainability.
Primary care clinics experienced a significant decline in influenza vaccinations as the day progressed, researchers from Penn Medicine report in a new study published in JAMA Open Network. However, 'nudging' clinical staff to order vaccines using a behavioral economics technique known as 'active choice' may help curb some of that drop off, the study suggests. The study is the first to show how cli
A program that offered financial incentives to both patients and their physicians to control low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol could be a cost-effective intervention for patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
A new study in JAMA Network Open finds that the overall well-being of a population on a county level is associated with lower healthcare spending for each Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary.
An analysis of hospital visits in California shows trends in injuries inflicted by law enforcement officers in the line of duty and how those injuries were associated with the race and ethnicity of individuals they encountered.
IIASA researchers have developed a general decision-making framework to support policy decisions on the management of water resources, which, for the first time, explicitly takes into account the associated uncertainties.
New findings suggest that more intensive agriculture might be the 'least bad' option for feeding the world while saving its species — provided use of such 'land-efficient' systems prevents further conversion of wilderness to farmland.
95 gange blev der sendt vand ud til forbrugerne med pesticidrester over grænseværdien sidste år, viser ny opgørelse. Et nyopdaget pesticid er hovedsynderen og det værste, som vandværkerne har oplevet.
Environment Water kills far more than wind. On its way to the North Carolina coast, Hurricane Florence weakened, yet simultaneously meteorologists warned that it was becoming more dangerous. That might seem…
Chemical analysis of tipuana tree rings and bark by Brazilian researchers shows falling levels of heavy metal pollution in the air of São Paulo City, Southern Hemisphere's largest metropolis.
Much remains unknown about a group of individuals known as HIV post-treatment controllers, including how rare this ability is. Two new studies explore the characteristics of this group as well as the biological mechanisms that may help explain this unique ability.
Researchers have developed a process by which 2-D hydrogels can be programmed to expand and shrink in a space- and time-controlled way that applies force to their surfaces, enabling the formation of complex 3-D shapes and motions.
Twenty years ago, researchers made the accidental discovery that BPA had leached out of plastic cages used to house female mice in the lab, causing an increase in chromosomally abnormal eggs. Now, the same team is back to report that the array of alternative bisphenols now used to replace BPA in BPA-free bottles, cups, cages, and other items appear to come with similar problems for their mice.
People have a tendency to interpret new information in a way that supports their pre-existing beliefs, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias. Now, researchers have shown that people will do the same thing even when the decision they've made pertains to a choice that is rather less consequential: which direction a series of dots is moving and whether the average of a series of numbers is greater
To see under starlight and moonlight, the retina of the eye changes both the software and hardware of its light-sensing cells to create a kind of night vision. Retinal circuits that were thought to be unchanging and programmed for specific tasks actively adapt to different light conditions, say the scientists who made the discovery.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has started a new mission to shed light on the evolution of the earliest galaxies in the Universe. The BUFFALO survey will observe six massive galaxy clusters and their surroundings. The first observations show the galaxy cluster Abell 370 and a host of magnified, gravitationally lensed galaxies around it.
Using the fossil record to accurately estimate the timing and pace of past mass extinctions is no easy task, and a new study highlights how fossil evidence can produce a misleading picture if not interpreted with care.
By analogy to linear polymers, which reptate with a random walk embedded in a 3D network, we show that star polymers relax by a random walk in a 5D network.
Researchers conducted a randomized experiment and found that diners at full service restaurants whose menus listed calories ordered meals with 3 percent fewer calories — about 45 calories less — than those who had menus without calorie information. Customers ordered fewer calories in their appetizer and entree courses, but their dessert and drink orders remained the same.
Leptospirosis infections, caused by Leptospira bacteria, occur in people and animals around the world, but different strains of the bacteria may vary in their ability to cause disease and to jump between species. Now, researchers have for the first time described the characteristics of the Leptospira variants that infect cattle in Uruguay.
Research has shed new light on genetic processes that may one day lead to the development of therapies that can slow, or even reverse, how our cells age.
A new study finds that adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet is associated with lower risks of dying from any cause, dying from cardiovascular causes, and dying from cancer.
New research finds that among older Americans, the poorest are the most likely to have used prescription opioids. The study also raises important questions about access to pain management options for the disadvantaged in the current climate of the opioid epidemic.
Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is believed to be one of the most contagious pathogens of animals in its acute form; however, there is still controversy over whether it is transmissible from asymptomatic, long-term carriers. Despite the lack of evidence for transmission by direct contact with FMDV carrier cattle, there is demonstrable contagion associated with these animals, according to a new
A single non-photosynthetic plant specimen preserved in a Japanese natural history museum has been identified as a new species. However, it is highly possible that this species is already extinct.
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eye of Hurricane Florence the morning of landfall. Infrared imagery showed the power and the extent of this massive storm.
Agriculture that appears to be more eco-friendly but uses more land may actually have greater environmental costs per unit of food than "high-yield" farming that uses less land, a new study has found.
Committed to addressing the country's severe air pollution, China is attempting a shift from coal to natural gas and is considering a variety of sources, including domestic and imported gas options as well as creating its own synthetic gas from coal.
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) researchers have developed a general decision-making framework to support policy decisions on the management of water resources, which, for the first time, explicitly takes into account the associated uncertainties.
Calls for a mass cull of wild boars to protect pork industry after disease is found in two animals in Gaume An outbreak of African swine fever terrorising pig farmers in Europe has dramatically escalated with the confirmation that the deadly infectious disease has spread to Belgium. The discovery of the highly contagious disease in two wild boars found dead near the town of Étalle, in Gaume, has
We may have overestimated how many meteorites have hit the moon and Earth in the last 500 million years because Apollo astronauts didn't dig deep enough
To date, most electricity-generating bacteria have come from weird environments, but researchers have found more than 100 in the human microbiome, both pathogenic and probiotic. They were unsuspected because they employ a different and simpler extracellular electron transfer system, which may prove useful in creating bacterial batteries. Their electrogenic ability may be important in infectivity,
If you ever struggle to make decisions, here's a talk for you. Cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths shows how we can apply the logic of computers to untangle tricky human problems, sharing three practical strategies for making better decisions — on everything from finding a home to choosing which restaurant to go to tonight.
Victoria Miro Gallery, London Science smashes into art in this staggeringly ambitious attempt to map out reason itself I can't remember the last time an artist explained a body of work to me by referring to Thomas Kuhn's 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions . Come to think of it they never have before. According to Kuhn, the history of science progresses not through evolution but sud
The Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite takes us over Semera in northeast Ethiopia. Semera is a new town with a population of just over 2600 and serves as the capital of the Afar region. The region spans an estimated 270 000 sq km, from close to the border with Eritrea towards the capital of Addis Ababa.
Physicists report in Nature magazine how they have sent and controlled a spin current across longer distances than ever before — and in a material that was previously considered unsuitable for the task.
A new study discovers the "liking gap" — the difference between how we view others we're meeting for the first time, and the way we think they're seeing us. Read More
Number of girls and women with the condition in UK may be vastly underestimated, leading neuroscientist says Hundreds of thousands of girls and women with autism are going undiagnosed due to it being viewed as a "male condition", according to one of the UK's leading neuroscientists. Prof Francesca Happé, director of the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King's College London, w
Rare-earth elements, including neodymium and yttrium, are not actually rare – more common, in fact, in the Earth's crust than copper and tin. But, because they are scattered widely, and hard to separate from their surrounding ores, mining and refining them is difficult.
Hateful text and comments are an ever-increasing problem in online environments, yet addressing the rampant issue relies on being able to identify toxic content. A new study by the Aalto University Secure Systems research group has discovered weaknesses in many machine learning detectors currently used to recognize and keep hate speech at bay.
Using the fossil record to accurately estimate the timing and pace of past mass extinctions is no easy task, and a new study highlights how fossil evidence can produce a misleading picture if not interpreted with care.
Marine and maritime research plays a vital role in developing our understanding of the seas and creating technology and management techniques for their sustainable use. However, key results are not always widely transferred or fully exploited despite being significantly useful to stakeholders in science, policy, industry and society.
"It is both humiliating and humbling to discover that a single generation after the events that constructed me as a public personality, I am remembered as a hairdo." These are words from the Black Power icon and lifelong activist Angela Davis's 1994 essay, " Afro Images: Politics, Fashion, and Nostalgia ." In the years following her emergence as a Communist, a revolutionary for black freedom, an
Japan's determined bid to return to commercial whale hunting was rejected by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Friday in a tense vote that exposed a deep split in the 72-year old organization.
Airborne marine biologists were amazed by the sheer abundance and diversity of large marine wildlife in their recent aerial survey of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the only marine national monument on the East Coast, about 150 southeast of Cape Cod. Scientists with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium documented more than 600 animal s
"Cherry Blossom," a 39-year-old woman worked as a hotel breakfast bar hostess around the start of the "Great Recession." She lost her job, and three years later she was being interviewed to assess her struggles with her unemployment. She talked about her empty refrigerator.
In a recent experiment at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, plasma electrons in the paths of intense laser light pulses were almost instantly accelerated close to the speed of light.
Pollinating insects are endangered globally, with a particularly steep decline over the last 40 years. An extensive 3-year study from Lund University in Sweden has found that organic farming methods can contribute to halting the pollinator decline. This beneficial effect is due to both the absence of insecticides and a higher provision of flower resources.
A multi-year collaboration between researchers within Resource Recovery at the University of Borås, Sweden, and a textile manufacturing company is now yielding results – a new type of reactor made of a textile material has found its way onto the market in different parts of the world. The reactor transforms different kinds of waste into new products, such as biofuel.
When schools suspend kindergartners and first-graders, some find it a challenge to turn things around in their academic life, a new study shows. Further, these young suspended students—especially boys—are likely to be suspended again later in elementary school, says Zibei Chen, a research fellow at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Schools often use suspensions to discipline stude
It's hard to find your place when you're the new kid in town — especially when you're the only kid with a tusk the size of a baguette jutting out of center of your forehead.
Falling auto sales in August slowed US retail spending, but a higher-than-originally reported figure for July meant the overall pace was well above 2017, the government said Friday.
Studying the fundamental aspects of biology can sometimes lead to unexpected findings that directly relate to human disease. In one of the latest examples of scientific serendipity, researchers from the Salk Institute found that an important quality control mechanism in baker's yeast is closely connected to hypomyelinating leukodystrophy, a debilitating disease found in children.
Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology have theoretically demonstrated that special tetrahedron nanostructures composed of certain metals have a higher degree of symmetry than the geometrical symmetry of spherical atoms. Nanomaterials with unique and unprecedented electrical and magnetic properties arising from this symmetry will be developed and used for next-generation electronic devices.
By analogy to linear polymers, which reptate with a random walk embedded in a 3D network, we show that star polymers relax by a random walk in a 5D network.
Recent hurricanes like Maria and Sandy have brought crippling winds, torrential rains, and flooding to vulnerable coastal regions, in some cases killing thousands of people. Sea walls and other barriers are often suggested as a way of protecting these low-lying coastal communities, but how large should such a wall be, and where is the most effective place to build it? At Columbia's Earth Institute
Children diagnosed with autism perform better in school if they participate in two 30-minute drumming sessions a week, according to a new scientific study.
A new study indicates that common satellite imaging technologies have vastly underestimated the number of fires in Florida, detecting only 25 percent of burned area.
Human herpesviruses such as HHV-6 can remain dormant in cells for many years without being noticed. When reactivated, they can cause serious clinical conditions. Researchers from Würzburg have now found a way of differentiating between active and inactive viruses.
The lecturer and researcher in the Department of Health Sciences of the Public University of Navarre (NUP/UPNA) Mark Beyebach has conducted a pilot study to demonstrate the positive impact of solution-focussed communication by nurses towards their patients on haemodyalisis, so that the patients manage to reduce their liquid intake and thus contribute towards the satisfactory course of their treatm
Pollinating insects are endangered globally, with a particularly steep decline over the last 40 years. An extensive 3-year study from Lund University in Sweden has found that organic farming methods can contribute to halting the pollinator decline. This beneficial effect is due to both the absence of insecticides and a higher provision of flower resources.
Using the fossil record to accurately estimate the timing and pace of past mass extinctions is no easy task, and a new study highlights how fossil evidence can produce a misleading picture if not interpreted with care.
Humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than previously thought based on an analysis of bones from what was once the world's largest bird, according to a new study. Researchers discovered that ancient bones from the extinct Madagascan elephant birds ( Aepyornis and Mullerornis ) show cut marks and depression fractures consistent with hunting and butchery
DIY Save your eyes at night. When your bedroom is pitch black, you unlock your phone…and blazing light sears your eyes. Here's how to dim the screen beyond the lowest brightness setting.
Researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Bern are studying lakes in Switzerland to learn about tsunamis and their hazard, what triggers them, and how often they have occurred in the past.
The Scent Of A Flower Is pollution killing a flower's scent? The Scent Of A Flower Video of The Scent Of A Flower Earth Friday, September 14, 2018 – 09:00 Emilie Lorditch, Staff Writer (Inside Science) — Would a fresh bouquet of flowers lose its appeal if it didn't smell? Or what if you could no longer buy your favorite perfume? Find out why scientists are studying how pollution is interfering w
Obesity changes how airway muscles function, which increases the risk of developing asthma, a new study suggests. The prevalence of asthma and obesity—as both separate and coexisting conditions—has grown considerably in the United States in recent years. Obesity is a major risk factor for asthma, in part, because of the systemic and localized inflammation of the airways that occurs in people with
A 1,500 year old Mayan altar discovered in a small archeological site in northern Guatemala is drawing comparisons to popular fantasy drama television series "Game of Thrones" for its descriptions of the Kaanul dynasty's political strategies aimed at bringing entire cities under its control.
Both academic researchers and practitioners know that behavioural biases can drive household financial decisions away from standard finance models, and that people don't always follow the professional advice they receive. Peer effects have been found to influence financial decision making, but it can be hard to know the relative importance of different influences. For example, does an individual l
Night has always been a difficult realm for humans: we've had to learn to cope with the cold and the dark to thrive in it. Since the industrial revolution we've found ways to adapt our homes and cities to operate during the night. But as our conquest of the dark continues, the border between night and day is becoming increasingly blurry.
Medical emergencies inevitably require an urgent response from doctors and other healthcare workers. Response time can mean the difference between life and death. As such, there are ongoing efforts in many areas of research to find technological approaches to reducing response times in order to improve medical outcomes. Writing in the International Journal of High Performance Computing and Network
Structured decision-making support: The research project "ArgumenText" in the field of Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing has found a way to filter concrete pro and con arguments on any topic from amongst the noise of the internet.
A new study in the journal Scientific Reports gets to the bottom of it: Why do dogs that are trained to locate poop sometimes find the wrong kind of poop?
New research finds three alternative answers beyond errors in handler or dog training that can explain why dogs trained to identify scat for conservation purposes sometimes collect non-target scats.
Hateful text and comments are an ever-increasing problem in online environments, yet addressing the rampant issue relies on being able to identify toxic content. A new study by the Aalto University Secure Systems research group has discovered weaknesses in many machine learning detectors currently used to recognize and keep hate speech at bay.
Airborne marine biologists were amazed by the sheer abundance and diversity of large marine wildlife in their recent aerial survey of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the only marine national monument on the East Coast, about 150 southeast of Cape Cod.
'Cherry Blossom,' a 39-year-old woman worked as a hotel breakfast bar hostess around the start of the 'Great Recession.' She lost her job, and three years later she was being interviewed to assess her struggles with her unemployment. She talked about her empty refrigerator.A study by University of Missouri researchers that began as a survey of unemployment following the recession, led researchers
The complex architecture of bone is challenging to recreate in the lab. Therefore, advances in bone tissue engineering (BTE) aim to build patient-specific grafts that assist bone repair and trigger specific cell-signaling pathways. Materials scientists in regenerative medicine and BTE progressively develop new materials for active biological repair at a site of defect post-implantation to accelera
For some time, scientists have known that Mars was once a much warmer and wetter environment than it is today. However, between 4.2 and 3.7 billion years ago, its atmosphere was slowly stripped away, which turned the surface into the cold and desiccated place we know today. Even after multiple missions have confirmed the presence of ancient lake beds and rivers, there are still unanswered question
Ribosomes churn out proteins that carry out all of life's functions, but when missing a key and previously overlooked factor, they can break down in times of stress, Yale University scientists have discovered.
As mammals age, immune cells in the brain known as microglia become chronically inflamed. In this state, they produce chemicals known to impair cognitive and motor function. That's one explanation for why memory fades and other brain functions decline during old age. But, according to a new study, there may be a remedy to delay the inevitable: dietary fiber.
Scientists have made a key advance toward understanding which of the trillions of gut microbes may play important roles in how humans and other mammals evolve.
A new study is the first to quantitatively map the flow of energy, protein, fat, essential amino acids and micronutrients from 'field-to-fork' at a global level and identify hotspots where nutrients are lost. The study shows that while we produce far more nutrients than is required for the global population, inefficiencies in the supply chain leave many people nutrient deficient.
The use of probiotics is linked to reduced need for antibiotic treatment in infants and children, according to a review of studies that probed the benefits of probiotics, co-led by a Georgetown investigator.
A University of Kansas urban planning researcher who has researched long-term risks and natural disasters in the North Carolina region is available to discuss the potential effects of Hurricane Florence, which is expected to hit the East Coast in coming days.
Scientists have for the first time observed a powerful galactic "wind" of molecules in a galaxy seen when the universe was only one billion years old. The discovery, made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, offers insights into how certain galaxies in the early universe were able to self-regulate their growth so they could continue forming stars across cosmic time. So
Media stories about people with cancer seeking controversial cures are unwittingly bolstering unscientific and potentially harmful treatments, says Michael Marshall
In a first study of its kind study, researchers have found that a common chemical consumers are exposed to several times a day may be altering insulin release. Results of the study, led by scientists at the University of Missouri, indicate that the Food and Drug Administration-approved 'safe' daily exposure amount of BPA may be enough to have implications for the development of Type 2 diabetes and
A new report shows the potential for all sectors of global economy—energy, food and agriculture, industry, buildings and transport—to halve greenhouse gas emissions by around 2030. Stronger policies, the digital revolution and greater climate leadership are necessary to accelerate the economic transformation, say the authors.
Every day you may hold a piece of the Congo in the palm of your hand. Not just used in banking and jewelry, gold can be found in many consumer and industrial products, including cell phones, health care equipment and even airplanes. But have you ever stopped to ask where it comes from? How it's bought and sold? Or who are the people behind the product? Join us in "The Journey of Gold", an experie
Sundhedsøkonom Jes Søgaard, der de seneste år har været ansat som først afdelingsleder og siden cheføkonom i Kræftens Bekæmpelse, stopper efter gensidig aftale.
I sagen om det hullede rumfartøj Soyuz oplyser russiske kilder, at man arbejder på en ny teori om amerikansk indblanding. Nasa-astronaut afviser blankt.
On the eve of every hurricane season, climatologists around the world offer their studied prognostications: Will we see high activity? Low activity? How will ocean temperature affect storm development? What are the chances of a powerful storm making landfall?
Rather than social work practice being based solely on a therapist's intuition and assumptions, social workers should consider a system of evaluation and measurement based on hard data, suggests a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
In an article published in the journal Environmental Pollution, Brazilian researchers have showed that tree species Tipuana tipu have been successfully employed as a marker of atmospheric pollution by heavy metal and other chemical compounds in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest metropolis.
Nations that adopt transitional justice measures, such as truth commissions and judicial prosecutions for past human rights violations, experience lower homicide rates and lower levels of criminal violence, according to new research led by University of Notre Dame Associate Professor Guillermo Trejo and published in the Journal of Peace Research.
A noted figure in the science world has paired with a colleague to pen an editorial for the journal Science. Jonathan Baillie, executive VP and chief scientist at the National Geographic Society and Ya-Ping Zhang with the Chinese Academy of Sciences have published a paper strongly supporting the idea of establishing many more land and sea areas as protected sites. Failure to do so, they warn, coul
The announcement earlier this week that John Legend has achieved EGOT status—that is, the entertainment industry's Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony quadruple crown—affirmed him as a man for all stages. The past decade and a half since Legend broke into mainstream popular music with 2004's piano solo "Ordinary People" has been marked with successes for the nimble entertainer. On top of his 10 Grammys , incl
Lucille Clerc I can make a passable imitation of a raven's low, guttural croak, and whenever I see a wild one flying overhead I have an irresistible urge to call up to it in the hope that it will answer back. Sometimes I do, and sometimes it does; it's a moment of cross-species communication that never fails to thrill. Ravens are strangely magical birds. Partly that magic is made by us. They have
In July 2017, one of the largest icebergs on record calved from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. However, sea ice to the east and shallow waters to the north kept this giant berg, named A68, hemmed in. So for more than a year it wafted to and fro, but never left its parent ice shelf's side. Strong winds blowing from Larsen C have finally given it the push it was waiting for. In early Septembe
Protein research is one of the hottest areas in medical research because proteins make it possible to develop far more effective pharmaceuticals for the treatment of diabetes, cancer and other illnesses.
As the United Nations meets to discuss high-seas biodiversity, scientists and activists say that while a fishing ban could profoundly help protect sea life, it may also be impossible to enforce. (Image credit: Christopher Costello/NPR)
Science Here's everything we know. Dozens of gas explosions rocked the Massachusetts towns of Lawrence, North Andover and Andover on Thursday evening, killing at least one person.
Sleeping sickness-causing parasites contain an unusual protein synthesis mechanism. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Bern have resolved its very special structure for the first time. Ribosomes are among the most important molecular machines within the cell, and have hardly changed in the course of evolution. Their function is to read copies of our genes, or building plan
Budget airline Ryanair announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with flight crew unions in Italy to provide employment contracts under Italian law.
Sweeping policy changes aim to refocus research efforts on poverty, unemployment, drought and other national problems — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The brunt of Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina this morning with winds raging an astonishing 90 mph (150 km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Growing tomatoes at the same height so that they can be easily picked by a harvesting robot. Growing deeper roots where the soil is dry. These types of changes to plant architecture may well be enabled in the future thanks to scientists from Wageningen University & Research who have shown how to stimulate stem cells in a specific spot. "We have proven a simple model for organising stem cells at a
Ready-made snap-together solar panels that turn waste heat into hot water are being developed at Brunel University London in a £10 million sustainable energy scheme starting next month.
An international group of astronomers, including physicists at the University of St Andrews, has revived a previously debunked theory of gravity, arguing that motions within dwarf galaxies would be slower if close to a massive galaxy.
Twenty years ago, CubeSats—a class of boxy satellites small enough to fit in a backpack—were used by universities as a teaching aid. Simpler, smaller and cheaper than traditional satellites, they've made space more accessible to private companies and science agencies.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced hundreds of thousands of people, possibly more , and in the following two years, Shannon Self-Brown kept up with more than 400 of them. Self-Brown, now the chair of the health-policy-and-behavioral-sciences department at Georgia State University's School of Public Health, and her fellow researchers wanted to better understand how parents and children coped wit
I f humans ever go to Mars, the worst of our impulses will accompany us there. The Red Planet will not rid us of murder, violence, and blackmail. There will be kidnapping, extortion, and burglary. Given time, we will even see bank heists. For generations, people have imagined life on the Martian surface in extraordinary detail, from how drinking water will be purified to how fresh food will be gr
The ancient town of Hasanlu was under savage attack when a chance event meant every detail was frozen in time. Finally the story can be told, and the assailants unmasked
Governors and mayors from around the world are making new pledges to cut carbon emissions. They're in San Francisco this week, trying to counter the Trump administration's rollbacks on climate change.
To get around concerns of battery capacity and weight, Karman Electric wants flying cars to draw juice from the ground, like an inverted streetcar system.
South Korean teens scarfing down massive piles of food for an internet audience of millions have inspired imitators worldwide, including American YouTube celebrities—making the "mukbang" trend an early success story of the global internet.
Two teams of scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have collaborated to conduct groundbreaking research leading to the development of a new and innovative scientific field: Quantum Metamaterials. The findings are presented in a new joint paper published in the journal Science.
Emergency crews in North Carolina scrambled Friday to rescue hundreds of people stranded in their homes by flood waters unleashed by Hurricane Florence.
Artificial intelligence has joined forces with a group of actors to create spontaneous comedy sketches on stage. The result is a new variant of the Turing test
Tyveriet af 380.000 kunders kreditkortoplysninger kan blive ekstremt dyr for British Airways, hvis det britiske datatilsyn vurderer, at luftfartsselskabet ikke havde implementeret nødvendige sikkerhedsforanstaltninger.
It hardly seems possible that it's been 25 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords, that hopeful moment when peace between Palestinians and Israelis seemed at hand. In retrospect, the Accords seem less a triumph than an abject failure. Most observers, trying to understand what went wrong, fight over who to blame. The more constructive question is not who, but rather what, to blame. What doome
L iena Zagare had always seen them around the neighborhood. They were at the bus stop, at the corner food mart, and all around Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn's Ditmas Park. In one way or another, they were part of the community. But then last April, Zagare received a distressed message from a neighbor, alerting her that something seemed terribly wrong: "Where have all the crazy people gone?" Zag
In the middle of Roma , Alfonso Cuarón's intimate and epic account of his childhood in early-1970s Mexico City, the film journeys outside of the capital and visits a local strongman in the countryside who's training a group of young men in martial arts. As Cuarón's camera takes in the stunning vista of dozens of bodies moving in unison, the strongman announces that he will perform his most impres
In August 1974 Richard Nixon would resign from the presidency after the Watergate scandal eroded his public support and Congress initiated impeachment proceedings against him. But in November 1973, the fate of his presidency was still uncertain; the full story behind Watergate was just coming to light, illuminating a historic "expansion and abuse of presidential power," in the words of the histor
Understanding the latest innovations—and their challenges—will help society determine how to maximize their benefits — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
I masseproduktionens tidsalder skulle vi bare have de samme mærkevarer, som alle andre. Men nu går tendensen mod, at vi kan bestille personaliserede produkter, der opfylder vores særlige behov og udtrykker vores personlighed.
DTU Kemi har udviklet et nyt nanomateriale, hvis egenskaber kan designes langt mere nøjagtigt, end man kender fra andre 2D-materialer. Grundforskningen skal bruges til endnu hurtigere kvantecomputere og fremtidens superledere.
The British mainland was formed from the collision of not two, but three ancient continental land masses, according to new research published in Nature Communications.
Patients who underwent TAVR had a significantly shorter length of stay and were significantly less likely to be transferred to a skilling nursing facility compared to patients who underwent SAVR, a new study finds.
The use of probiotics is linked to reduced need for antibiotic treatment in infants and children, according to a review of studies that probed the benefits of probiotics, co-led by a Georgetown investigator.
A new study is the first to quantitatively map the flow of energy, protein, fat, essential amino acids and micronutrients from 'field-to-fork' at a global level and identify hotspots where nutrients are lost. The study shows that while we produce far more nutrients than is required for the global population, inefficiencies in the supply chain leave many people nutrient deficient.
Chinese tanks splashed through the mud, while a few dozen helicopters flew in formation overhead in eastern Russia, and a young Chinese military recruit explained , "I have never experienced an overseas deployment of this scale." The scene neatly summed up the much-written-about, enormous Russian military exercises that took place this week. Participants included 300,000 Russian and 3,200 Chinese
Study reveals Britain acquired regions when struck by land bearing what is now France With what can only be described as unfortunate timing, researchers have discovered that there is a corner of Britain that will forever belong to mainland Europe. Analysis of rock from deep beneath the ground reveals that the UK only acquired Cornwall and parts of south Devon when it was struck by the landmass be
The United Nation's second Sustainable Development Goal targets the end of malnutrition in all forms by 2030. But new research shows that to meet this target, we need a different approach to assessing the nutrient sufficiency of the global food system. Published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, this is the first study to quantitatively map the flow of energy, protein, fat, essential amino
As climate change thaws the Arctic permafrost, some of it is releasing sulphuric acid – which destroys limestone and releases even more climate-warming carbon dioxide
With Hurricane Florence downgraded on Thursday from a Category Four to a Category Two storm, and then once again, around fifty people left the evacuation shelter in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Preparations were in high gear in the Philippines on Friday with Super Typhoon Mangkhut set to make a direct hit in less than 24 hours, packing winds up to 255 kilometres per hour and drenching rains.
Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said Thursday he was not worried about the potential for anti-trust scrutiny of the company as it becomes an important economic force.
A lonely narwhal that strayed far from its Arctic habitat has apparently found a new family in a pod of belugas in Canada's Saint Lawrence River, a marine conservation group said Thursday.
The mutilated carcass of a female white rhino, who had given birth just months ago, lay rotting on a hill beside a road that meanders through South Africa's Kruger National Park.
Failure of the chiropractic establishment to renounce the scientifically indefensible vertebral subluxation theory assures an unending parade of questionable chiropractic diagnostic and treatment methods for correction of putative vertebral subluxations.
Researchers have warned that many popular free mobile apps aimed at children are potentially violating a U.S. law designed to protect the privacy of young users.
SpaceX on Thursday announced a new plan to launch a tourist around the Moon using its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), a massive launch vehicle that is being designed to carry people into deep space.
An international collaboration led by Oregon State University scientists has made a key advance toward understanding which of the trillions of gut microbes may play important roles in how humans and other mammals evolve.
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in collaboration with the Vertebrate Genome Laboratory (VGL), New York, this week are publishing the first-ever whole genome for the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis). It is one of 14 being released to the public data repository for use by researchers studying evolution, disease, genetics and conservation, says lynx team coordinator Tanya Lama, a
Based on field surveys in northern Afghanistan, Zalmai Moheb, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Afghanistan Program and a doctoral candidate in environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with others, report this week that they have for the first time documented by direct observation the presence of two rare Asian wild goat species in the country.
Læger advarer om, at vigtig viden og erfaring går tabt, fordi sundhedsloven forhindrer forskere i at få adgang til data i patientjournaler og derved gør det umuligt at følge op på kvaliteten af behandlingen.
Læge Rasmus Richelsen ønskede i forbindelse med stort registerstudie at validere data for 80 patienter. At gøre det lovligt ville kræve tilladelse fra 20-30 ledende overlæger og velvillig medvirken fra 20-30 andre medarbejdere.
I seks sager har overlæge Thue Bisgaard fået kritik af Sundhedsvæsenets Disciplinærnævn, fordi han har overtrådt Sundhedsloven ved at indhente elektroniske patientoplysninger til et forskningsprojekt. Thue Bisgaard kalder regler for »uigennemskuelige« og »kafkaske«.
From making violins sound beautiful, to beer and bread, to creating life-saving medicine, fungi have an array of very useful attributes. This week, a report demonstrates just how little we know about this kingdom of life and what we are set to gain if we tap into fungi as a resource. Hannah Devlin investigates. Join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter The more mycologists study fungi, the more
From making violins sound beautiful, to beer and bread, to creating life-saving medicine, fungi have an array of very useful attributes. This week, a report demonstrates just how little we know about this kingdom of life and what we are set to gain if we tap into fungi as a resource. Hannah Devlin investigates.
En taxa-tur med teknologi-kommentatoren og forfatteren Bruce Sterling fører til døden for en elsket teknologi-lov. En død med konsekvenser for Singularity og Danmark.
A recent achievement in the field of protein research allows for better tailored pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects. The method was developed by two University of Copenhagen researchers.
Patients using inhaled steroids to control asthma and other breathing problems may be at greater risk for developing nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) lung infections, according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
Neonatal concentrations of eight detectable inflammatory markers were significantly different in children later diagnosed with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) compared with controls.
A new study suggests that African-Americans may face a greater struggle to find effective therapies for atopic dermatitis than European-Americans. The study used molecular profiling to study the skin of both groups.
Rammes psykiatriske patienter af hjertestop i byen eller hjemmet, har de større risiko for at dø af det end alle andre, viser nyt dansk studie. Psykiatriske patienter får efter alt at dømme ikke den nødvendige akutte hjælp og behandling, vurderer forskerne.
I syv år er Sam Riahi i sine ferier rejst til Armenien for at få en trængt hjerteafdeling på fode. Den nordjyske hjertelæges hjælp har gjort en verden til forskel. Fra at være en nedslidt afdeling uden varmt vand i hanerne er den i dag hospitalets stolthed.
Hvis regionerne ønsker stærk ledelse på sygehusene, skal de i langt højere gradarbejde for en åben og lydhør kultur, hvor der ikke udelukkende stilles krav nedad i systemet.
NEW YORK —The progressive insurgency that has toppled Democratic Party favorites in New York City's outer boroughs, Boston, and Florida could not lay a finger on Andrew Cuomo. The two-term New York governor easily dispatched an energetic challenge from the actress and activist Cynthia Nixon on Thursday night to win renomination to a third term. With more than three-quarters of the ballots counted
A new report released today offers detailed and robust analysis about countries' development spending commitments to achieve target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (end forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour). The report, which analyses and visualises how official development assistance was committed, on what, and by whom, is a product of Delta 8.7, a project
I næste uge bliver kitler og studiebøger for en stund udskiftet med kostumer og rekvisitter for en gruppe lægestuderende fra København. Studenterrevyen fra medicinstudiet på KU skal deltage ved DM i Revy og vise en mere ukendt, men vigtig side af medicinstudiet frem.
BAGGRUND: Forbrugere efterspørger produkter, som de selv kan designe. Virksomheder vil have udstyr, der er specialiseret og individuelt. Det er nye behov, som producenterne må omfavne uden at miste evnen til at masseproducere.
As I write, the national news is dominated by the arrival of Hurricane Florence, and the political news has emphasized Donald Trump's reaction to this event and last year's Hurricane Maria. Other Atlantic pieces lay out some of the problems with Trump's response: for instance, one by David Graham here and others by Vann Newkirk here and here . My purpose this evening is to contrast the way this p
Dr. José Baselga, the cancer center's chief medical officer, stepped down days after a report that he had not reported millions of dollars as potential conflicts in dozens of research articles.
Developing cutting-edge statistical tools that can handle these massive new datasets is a piece of the research puzzle, and new research has just added a new tool for the modern genomic toolbox.
Researchers have now identified three new molecular drug targets in Naegleria fowleri and a number of drugs that are able to inhibit the amoeba's growth in a laboratory dish. Several of these drugs are already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for other uses, such as antifungal agents, the breast cancer drug tamoxifen and antidepressant Prozac.
President Trump's tweet about the death toll in Puerto Rico is worse than a lie. It means we'll never learn from past disasters, repeating devastating mistakes.
An analysis of UK newspaper reporting of the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) between 2010 and 2015 shows that despite some critical analysis, the mostly positive stories are likely to have contributed to the CDF's continuation, despite mounting evidence of its ineffectiveness. Close to £1.4 billion in total has been spent through the CDF which has subsequently been reconfigured and is now under the co
Researchers have created a massive database of the changes in gene activity of individual cells in the cerebellum during embryonic development and immediately after birth. The analysis of thousands of brain cells isolated from mice offers researchers a high-resolution map that enables scientists to view the detailed genomic changes cells undergo as the cerebellum wires its neural circuitry.
A type of immune cell that produces a protein called CD4 plays an important role in protecting mice infected with the Zika virus against severe neurological disease, according to a new study.
There might be a better way of making social media a healthier place, from creating more user-friendly settings to setting up our own sites from scratch.
Self-colonoscopies, useless instruction manuals, and kidney stones on rollercoasters also among subjects awarded Never mind the protests from health and safety. A research paper that describes how employees can overcome workplace injustice by torturing a voodoo doll that resembles their boss has landed one of the most coveted awards in academia: an Ig Nobel prize. The study, which sought to under
AI has huge potential to transform our lives, but the term itself is being abused in very worrying ways, says Zachary Lipton, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
An HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs in Indiana from 2011 to 2015 could have been avoided if the state's top health and elected officials had acted sooner on warnings, a new study by the Yale School of Public Health finds.
Despite increases in medication use for ADHD between 2001 and 2015, prescription rates are still far below diagnosis rates in most countries, suggesting some patients may not be receiving the treatment they need. Children and adults are far more likely to be prescribed drug treatment for ADHD in the USA than the UK. Renewed efforts are needed to improve the consistent identification and treatment
XCMS-MRM and METLIN-MRM represent a cloud-based analysis platform that allows scientists to quantify molecules from biological samples and make their results publicly available.
A new study finds that oysters likely suffered toxic effects from the oil dispersant Corexit® 9500 when it was used to clean up the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Researchers determined this by comparing the low levels of toxicity of oil, the dispersant and a mixture of the two on Eastern oysters.
Animals Spring is advancing much faster in northern areas than it is in southern areas throughout three migration routes. In North America, spring is arriving earlier and earlier. But this shift isn't uniform across the continent. That unevenness, according to a new study, has unfortunate…
Professor og overlæge på Hvidovre Hospital Sten Madsbad har modtaget Bagger-Sørensen Fondens pris for sin mangeårige, betydningsfulde indsats på diabetesområdet.
Babies born very prematurely are more likely to harbor Ureaplasma bacteria, according to new research to be presented on Sunday at the European Respiratory Society International Congress.
What We're Following Hurricane Watch: It's no longer a Category 4 storm, but as Florence looms against the Carolina coast, to evaluate the danger it poses wholly by the 1 to 5 scale would be a mistake. Most of the Houston victims of Hurricane Harvey last summer died by drowning , as unprecedented rainfall and subsequent flooding swallowed the region. The grisly and complicated business of getting
After speaking for the first time, Jim Bridenstine of NASA and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Rogozin, set out to reaffirm cooperation on orbital matters.
Florence is wetter, wider — and maybe slower, due to climate change, according to new research. And flood insurance isn't keeping up with how climate change is altering hurricanes.
Written by Madeleine Carlisle ( @maddiecarlisle2 ) and Olivia Paschal ( @oliviacpaschal ) Today in 5 Lines President Trump drew widespread condemnation for falsely claiming that 3,000 people "did not die" in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, and that Democrats inflated the death toll to smear him. "We cannot allow the devastation of our citizens to be questioned and we cannot allow response effor
Technology The smartwatch's new ECG function brings fitness trackers into real medical care. This week, Apple took a big step in bringing its Apple Watch Series 4 beyond the scope of a typical fitness or wellness trackers into the sphere of clinical medical…
Based on field surveys in northern Afghanistan, Zalmai Moheb, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Afghanistan Program and a doctoral candidate in environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with others, report this week that they have for the first time documented by direct observation the presence of two rare Asian wild goat species in the country.
In an analysis of all relevant studies, exposure to environmental toxins called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances was linked to worse kidney function and other signs of kidney damage.
An international collaboration led by scientists has made a key advance toward understanding which of the trillions of gut microbes may play important roles in how humans and other mammals evolve.
Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are at increased risk of using substances such as alcohol, nicotine and marijuana, a new study from Oregon State University has found.
Where the 20,000 insects ended up is known, thanks to Twitter, but where they originated from before invading a hot dog cart in Manhattan remains a mystery, and a blame game.
The plastic additive BPA got a clean bill of health in a two-year government study involving thousands of rats. But scientists worried about BPA's risks say the study has flaws. (Image credit: T-pool/STOCK4B/Getty Images)
The federal government is mobilizing its resources as Hurricane Florence bears down on the Southeast. Cleanup and recovery are likely to be enormously expensive, and if the president formally declares it a disaster, the federal government will foot most of the bill. In recent decades, though, such disaster declarations have proliferated, leaving the Federal Emergency Management Agency spread thin
"Look!" My nephew kept eating from a box of infinite donuts in his new cubicle office. He had just been promoted by a floating computer monitor, his boss. A concerned look slowly printed onto his boss' flat face as it saw him continuously push donuts down his gullet. The game was "Job Simulator", and while […]
Personalized 3D heart simulations can accurately identify tissue doctors should electrically destroy to stop potentially fatal irregular, rapid heartbeats. A retrospective analysis of 21 patients with ventricular tachycardia and a prospective study of five establishes that 3D simulation-guided procedures are worthy of expanded clinical trials, researchers say. "Cardiac ablation, or the destructio
In his 20 months in office, President Trump has stripped out huge swaths of federal climate policy. He has canceled or incapacitated Obama-era programs meant to encourage a cleaner electricity system and more efficient cars , and he has left the Paris Agreement on climate change . Now, climate-concerned governors are doing what they can to fight back. On Thursday, a bipartisan alliance of 17 gove
As mammals age, immune cells in the brain known as microglia become chronically inflamed. In this state, they produce chemicals known to impair cognitive and motor function. That's one explanation for why memory fades and other brain functions decline during old age. But, according to a new study from the University of Illinois, there may be a remedy to delay the inevitable: dietary fiber.
Academic publishers have some of the highest profit margins in the world. In the digital age, researchers are starting to wonder whether publishers actually deserve this much money. Read More
A thyroid hormone shows promise in fighting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients with diabetes, according to new research. The disease, a major global health problem characterized by accumulation of fat in the liver, develops in patients with obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and insulin resistance. The presence of excess fat in the liver can be a long silent process. As the disea
Botoniest reveal reveal how glutamate, an abundant neurotransmitter in animals, activates a wave of calcium when a plant is wounded — the best look yet at the communication systems within plants that are normally hidden from view.
For nearly half a century, scientists have been trying to create a process for transplanting animal organs into humans, a theoretical dream that could help the hundreds of thousands of people in need of a lifesaving transplant. But the risks, specifically of transmitting the PERV virus from pigs to humans, have always been too great, stalling research — until now. In a mind-blowing talk, genetici
Volkswagen announced Thursday it would end production of its iconic "Beetle" cars in 2019 after adding a pair of final editions of the insect-inspired vehicles.
Clumsily designed ballots. An antiquated registration process. Confusing deadlines and outdated laws. Long lines and no early voting. New York State—caricatured as a bastion of progressive politics—has some of the most retrograde voting laws and practices in the nation. Reports of dysfunction from Thursday's primary only add to the evidence: New York is disenfranchising its citizens. How dire is
Researchers have detailed a mechanism that sets the stage for the fate decision that gives rise to two major subsets of effector cells: T follicular helper cells and non-T follicular helper cells, known as Tfh and non-Tfh cells.
Astrocytes' important role in brain function suggests they are also involved in disease. Now, scientists have identified an astrocyte subpopulation as the dominant cell type to spring into action in vivo in a neuroinflammatory disease setting.
September is the peak of autumn bird migration, and billions of birds are winging their way south. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and weather forecasting can help scientists to predict the movements of millions of birds and support their conservation goals, according to new research.
New insights into how Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus induces genome instability and promotes cell proliferation could lead to the development of novel antiviral therapies for KSHV-associated cancers.
A new study predicts a climate-induced reduction in large soil pores, which may intensify the water cycle and contribute to more flash flooding and soil erosion by the end of the 21st century.
Technology And 3 reasons not to. Looking for reasons to shell out money for a shiny new phone—or just keep using the one you have? We've got you covered.
In a new study, Cornell University researchers conducted a randomized experiment and found that diners at full service restaurants whose menus listed calories ordered meals with 3 percent fewer calories – about 45 calories less – than those who had menus without calorie information. Customers ordered fewer calories in their appetizer and entree courses, but their dessert and drink orders remained
Oysters likely suffered toxic effects from the oil dispersant Corexit® 9500 when it was used to clean up the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers at the University of Connecticut. The team determined this by comparing the low levels of toxicity of oil, the dispersant and a mixture of the two on Eastern oysters. The team published their findings in the
"Human beings are tribal," says Amy Chua, Professor of Law at Yale Law School. "We're hardwired that way. We need to belong to groups." The problem, Chua says, is when tribalism takes over a political system—and that's just what is happening in America. In a new video filmed at the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival in June, Chua explains that, in an unprecedented fashion for America, whites are on the ve
DelFly is a robot that flies through a room with as much agility as a real fly using its flappy wings. It is also helping researchers understand how insects move
If we want to avoid extinctions and preserve the ecosystems all life depends on, half of the Earth's land and oceans should be protected by 2050, say biologists
At its latest product launch, Apple announced its smartwatches would get an upgrade letting people take an ECG of their own heart, but this could do more harm than good
Most flesh wounds are repaired with sutures, but they cause extra damage to the skin. A bandage made of silk and gold, sealed with laser light, could solve that
In a paper published in the journal Science, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and colleagues at four other United States institutions have detailed a mechanism that sets the stage for the fate decision that gives rise to two major subsets of effector cells: T follicular helper cells and non-T follicular helper cells, known as Tfh and non-Tfh cells.
Flawed Crystals are Beautiful in the Eyes of Scientists Defects in crystals may be useful for designing spintronic devices, which use the magnetic properties of electrons for processing information. Crystal.png Rights information: CC0 Public Domain Physics Thursday, September 13, 2018 – 13:15 Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer (Inside Science) — Jewelers may disagree, but flaws in a crystal can be a good th
During NASA's Cassini mission's final distant encounter with Saturn's giant moon Titan, the spacecraft captured the enigmatic moon's north polar landscape of lakes and seas, which are filled with liquid methane and ethane.
As Hurricane Florence looms off the eastern United States and Typhoon Mangkhut threatens the Philippines, here are some facts about monster storms and what to expect as climate change supercharges our weather.
A U.S. judge on Thursday delayed for two more weeks the first grizzly bear hunts in the Lower 48 states in almost three decades, saying he needed more time to consider if federal protections for the animals should be restored.
The public is broadly fearful that automation will lead to significant job losses, with many populations skeptical the technologies will boost economic efficiency, according to a survey of 10 countries released Thursday.
A new twist has been given to the 'Gaia' theory that aims to explain why conditions on Earth have remained stable enough for life to evolve over billions of years.
Sleeping sickness-causing parasites contain an unusual protein synthesis machinery. A team of researchers has resolved its very special structure for the first time.
Researchers have cleared one hurdle toward environmental cleanup of certain contaminants with a newly designed synthetic enzyme that reduces the compound sulfite to sulfide — a notoriously complex multistep chemical reaction that has eluded chemists for years.
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at powerful Super Typhoon Mangkhut early on Sept. 13 that revealed a large eye surrounded by a large area of powerful storms. Mangkhut is a Category 5 storm.
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at a weakening and now tropical depression Olivia in the Central Pacific Ocean. Olivia soaked the Hawaiian Islands on its east to west track through them.
The age of big data is here. Thanks to innovations in genetic sequencing technology, scientists can now generate massive datasets describing the genomes of Earth's diverse set of species. This ever-growing genomic encyclopedia has the capacity to reveal the forces shaping complex patterns of genetic variation between individuals, populations and species—if scientists can only unlock its secrets.
Some kindergartners and first-graders suspended from school can find it challenging to reverse the negative trajectory in their academic life, says a University of Michigan researcher.
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at powerful Super Typhoon Mangkhut early on Sept. 13 that revealed a large eye surrounded by a large area of powerful storms. Mangkhut is a Category 5 storm.
XCMS-MRM and METLIN-MRM represent a cloud-based analysis platform that allows scientists to quantify molecules from biological samples and make their results publicly available.
Developing cutting-edge statistical tools that can handle these massive new datasets is a piece of the research puzzle, and new research from Michigan State University has just added a new tool for the modern genomic toolbox.
Tropical Cyclone Barijat appeared disorganized on satellite imagery as it moved across the Gulf of Tonkin, South China Sea. Barijat is being torn apart and had weakened from wind shear. After a landfall on Sept. 13, it is expected to dissipate quickly.
A novel insect-inspired flying robot, developed by TU Delft researchers from the Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab), is presented in Science. Experiments with this first autonomous, free-flying and agile flapping-wing robot — carried out in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research – improved our understanding of how fruit flies control aggressive escape maneuvers. Apart from its fur
Researchers have analyzed nearly 4,000 mutations deliberately engineered into the BRCA1 gene, a process which will immediately benefit people undergoing genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk. The BRCA1 gene suppresses tumors, but scientists haven't fully understood exactly how it does this, though certain mutations in the gene predispose women to breast and ovarian cancers. If a healt
When Eric Ushiroda moved to a tiny Japanese village in the mid-1990s to work as a teacher, there was one thing he learned almost immediately: His middle-school students in this chilly, forested town were obsessed with L.L. Bean backpacks. A recent graduate of the University of Hawaii who'd applied for the teaching job as part of an exchange program, Ushiroda didn't own winter clothing. Mail-order
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at the large and powerful Hurricane Florence early on Sept. 13, 2018 that indicated wind shear was temporarily affecting the southern side of the storm.
Two new studies are bringing Ebola virus's weaknesses into the spotlight, showing for the first time exactly how human and mouse antibodies can bind to the virus and stop infection — not only for Ebola virus, but for other closely related pathogens as well.
Requiring physical activity classes in college encourages sedentary students to become more active, while elective classes tend to draw those who are already motivated, new research from Oregon State University has found.
Sandwiching two-dimensional materials used in nanoelectronic devices between their three-dimensional silicon bases and an ultrathin layer of aluminum oxide can significantly reduce the risk of component failure due to overheating, according to a new study published in the journal of Advanced Materials led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Engineering.
A scientific analysis of nearly 4,000 mutations deliberately engineered into the BRCA1 gene will immediately benefit people undergoing genetic testing for breast or ovarian cancer risk. Many people obtaining genetic screenings previoulsy have learned that their BRCA1 gene contains a variant of uncertain significance. Data from this study now categorizes thousands of variants as behaving like disea
The Boring Company plans to build a new tunnel system that would connect residential garages to an underground hyperloop via elevator, potentially enabling people to someday enter the futuristic public transit system by simply stepping into their parked cars. Read More
Sleeping sickness-causing parasites contain an unusual protein synthesis machinery. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Berne resolved its very special structure for the first time.
A time-honored theory into why conditions on Earth have remained stable enough for life to evolve over billions of years has been given a new, innovative twist.
An international team of researchers led by The Australian National University (ANU) has invented a tiny camera lens, which may lead to a device that links quantum computers to an optical fibre network.
Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego have now identified three new molecular drug targets in Naegleria fowleri and a number of drugs that are able to inhibit the amoeba's growth in a laboratory dish. Several of these drugs are already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for other uses, such as antifungal agents, the
Despite numerous efforts by international governments, corporations and conservationists to reduce it, the overall rate of a permanent type of forest loss known as commodity-driven forest loss has not changed since 2001, a new map-based study reports.
Measuring concentrations of medically relevant metabolites in the blood may have just gotten easier — requiring mere minutes and just microliters of blood — thanks to an approach involving a bioengineered protein that lights up, and a digital camera.
An agile flapping-wing robot designed to better illuminate the full range of movement associated with free flight reveals new insights into how flying insects like the fruit fly perform rapid banked turns, often used for escaping predators.
Researchers have cleared one hurdle toward environmental cleanup of certain contaminants with a newly designed synthetic enzyme that reduces the compound sulfite to sulfide — a notoriously complex multistep chemical reaction that has eluded chemists for years.
In more than a dozen videos, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Botany Simon Gilroy and his lab reveal how glutamate, an abundant neurotransmitter in animals, activates a wave of calcium when a plant is wounded — the best look yet at the communication systems within plants that are normally hidden from view.
A novel insect-inspired flying robot, developed by TU Delft researchers from the Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab), is presented in Science. Experiments with this first autonomous, free-flying and agile flapping-wing robot — carried out in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research – improved our understanding of how fruit flies control aggressive escape maneuvers. Apart from its fur
September is the peak of autumn bird migration, and billions of birds are winging their way south in dramatic pulses. A new study published in the journal Science reports that scientists can now reliably predict these waves of bird migration up to seven days in advance. The study details the underlying methods that power migration forecasts, which can be used as a bird conservation tool.
A type of immune cell that produces a protein called CD4 plays an important role in protecting mice infected with the Zika virus against severe neurological disease, according to a study published Sept. 6 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Amelia Kahler Pinto of Saint Louis University, and colleagues. Based on the findings, vaccines that induce strong responses from these immune cells, k
New insights into how Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) induces genome instability and promotes cell proliferation could lead to the development of novel antiviral therapies for KSHV-associated cancers, according to a study published Sept. 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Erle Robertson of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues.
Leptospirosis infections, caused by Leptospira bacteria, occur in people and animals around the world, but different strains of the bacteria may vary in their ability to cause disease and to jump between species. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have for the first time described the characteristics of the Leptospira variants that infect cattle in Uruguay.
The scientists were inspired by the super-agile fruit fly. And by designing this robot, they've figured out some of the mysteries of one of the fly's fanciest maneuvers. (Image credit: Henri Werij/TU Delft )
Scientists have developed a forecast model for predicting mass bird migrations, based in part on weather patterns. (Image credit: R. Tsubin/Getty Images)
A mouse's brain has a built-in noise-cancelling circuit to ensure that the mouse hears the sounds of an approaching cat better than it hears the sounds of its own footsteps, according to new research. It's a direct connection from the motor cortex of the brain to the auditory cortex that says essentially, "we're running now, pay no attention to the sound of my footsteps." "What's special about th
Insects are among the most agile natural flyers. Hypotheses on their flight control cannot always be validated by experiments with animals or tethered robots. To this end, we developed a programmable and agile autonomous free-flying robot controlled through bio-inspired motion changes of its flapping wings. Despite being 55 times the size of a fruit fly, the robot can accurately mimic the rapid e
Although organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have many advantages, their performance still lags far behind that of other photovoltaic platforms. A fundamental reason for their low performance is the low charge mobility of organic materials, leading to a limit on the active-layer thickness and efficient light absorption. In this work, guided by a semi-empirical model analysis and using the tandem cel
Multielectron redox reactions often require multicofactor metalloenzymes to facilitate coupled electron and proton movement, but it is challenging to design artificial enzymes to catalyze these important reactions, owing to their structural and functional complexity. We report a designed heteronuclear heme-[4Fe-4S] cofactor in cytochrome c peroxidase as a structural and functional model of the en
Metamaterials constructed from deep subwavelength building blocks have been used to demonstrate phenomena ranging from negative refractive index and -near-zero to cloaking, emulations of general relativity, and superresolution imaging. More recently, metamaterials have been suggested as a new platform for quantum optics. We present the use of a dielectric metasurface to generate entanglement betw
Metasurfaces based on resonant nanophotonic structures have enabled innovative types of flat-optics devices that often outperform the capabilities of bulk components, yet these advances remain largely unexplored for quantum applications. We show that nonclassical multiphoton interferences can be achieved at the subwavelength scale in all-dielectric metasurfaces. We simultaneously image multiple p
Global maps of forest loss depict the scale and magnitude of forest disturbance, yet companies, governments, and nongovernmental organizations need to distinguish permanent conversion (i.e., deforestation) from temporary loss from forestry or wildfire. Using satellite imagery, we developed a forest loss classification model to determine a spatial attribution of forest disturbance to the dominant
Animals require rapid, long-range molecular signaling networks to integrate sensing and response throughout their bodies. The amino acid glutamate acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate central nervous system, facilitating long-range information exchange via activation of glutamate receptor channels. Similarly, plants sense local signals, such as herbivore attack, and transmit t
Billions of animals cross the globe each year during seasonal migrations, but efforts to monitor them are hampered by the unpredictability of their movements. We developed a bird migration forecast system at a continental scale by leveraging 23 years of spring observations to identify associations between atmospheric conditions and bird migration intensity. Our models explained up to 81% of varia
The majority of organellar proteins are translated on cytosolic ribosomes and must be sorted correctly to function. Targeting routes have been identified for organelles such as peroxisomes and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, little is known about the initial steps of targeting of mitochondrial proteins. In this study, we used a genome-wide screen in yeast and identified factors critical
Monitoring metabolites at the point of care could improve the diagnosis and management of numerous diseases. Yet for most metabolites, such assays are not available. We introduce semisynthetic, light-emitting sensor proteins for use in paper-based metabolic assays. The metabolite is oxidized by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, and the sensor changes color in the presence of the reduce
The nonhomologous end–joining (NHEJ) pathway preserves genome stability by ligating the ends of broken chromosomes together. It employs end-processing enzymes, including polymerases, to prepare ends for ligation. We show that two such polymerases incorporate primarily ribonucleotides during NHEJ—an exception to the central dogma of molecular biology—both during repair of chromosome breaks made by
In response to infection, naïve CD4 + T cells differentiate into two subpopulations: T follicular helper (T FH ) cells, which support B cell antibody production, and non-T FH cells, which enhance innate immune cell functions. Interleukin-2 (IL-2), the major cytokine produced by naïve T cells, plays an important role in the developmental divergence of these populations. However, the relationship
Animals rely on olfaction to find food, attract mates, and avoid predators. To support these behaviors, they must be able to identify odors across different odorant concentrations. The neural circuit operations that implement this concentration invariance remain unclear. We found that despite concentration-dependence in the olfactory bulb (OB), representations of odor identity were preserved down
The Ugi reaction constructs α-acylaminoamide compounds by combining an aldehyde or ketone, an amine, a carboxylic acid, and an isocyanide in a single flask. Its appealing features include inherent atom and step economy together with the potential to generate products of broad structural diversity. However, control of the stereochemistry in this reaction has proven to be a formidable challenge. We
Nie and colleagues suggest a key role for interannual climate variation as an explanation for the temporal dynamics of an unexpected 20-year reversal of biomass responses of C 3 -C 4 grasses to elevated CO 2 . However, we had already identified some climate-dependent differences in C 3 and C 4 responses to eCO 2 and shown that these could not fully explain the temporal dynamics we observed.
Cultural touchstones and being treated with dignity can make all the difference when choosing an aged care facility This is part of a series about aged care in Australia In the 2007 film The Savages, actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney play conflicted siblings faced with choosing an aged care facility for their elderly, irascible father as he declines into dementia. In one scene, they
Nearly two-thirds of aged care residents are prescribed psychotropic drugs regularly. Questions that must be urgently asked This is part of a series about aged care in Australia Mary's 85-year-old husband had been in an aged care home for just over a week. He had been getting frailer but was still sharp mentally. However, Mary* became extremely worried when her husband started sleeping all day. A
An international team of researchers led by The Australian National University (ANU) has invented a tiny camera lens, which may lead to a device that links quantum computers to an optical fibre network.
A time-honoured theory into why conditions on Earth have remained stable enough for life to evolve over billions of years has been given a new, innovative twist.
September is the peak of autumn bird migration, and billions of birds are winging their way south in dramatic pulses. A new study published in the journal Science reports that scientists can now reliably predict these waves of bird migration up to seven days in advance. The study details the underlying methods that power migration forecasts, which can be used as a bird conservation tool.
In one video, you can see a hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf's edges, approaching the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severing it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds, a blaze of fluorescent light washes over the other leaves, a signal that they should prepare for future attacks by the caterpillar or its kin.
Researchers have cleared one hurdle toward environmental cleanup of certain contaminants with a newly designed synthetic enzyme that reduces the compound sulfite to sulfide—a notoriously complex multistep chemical reaction that has eluded chemists for years.
A new wearable ultrasound patch that non-invasively monitors blood pressure in arteries deep beneath the skin could help people detect cardiovascular problems earlier on and with greater precision. In tests, the patch performed as well as some clinical methods to measure blood pressure. Applications include real-time, continuous monitoring of blood pressure changes in patients with heart or lung d
Chemical analysis of tipuana tree rings and bark by Brazilian researchers shows falling levels of heavy metal pollution in the air of São Paulo City, Southern Hemisphere's largest metropolis.
Tropical Cyclone Barijat appeared disorganized on satellite imagery as it moved across the Gulf of Tonkin, South China Sea. Barijat is being torn apart and had weakened from wind shear. After a landfall on Sept. 13, it is expected to dissipate quickly.
I've talked to people in Puerto Rico who lost loved ones during Hurricane Maria. I've interviewed whole extended families struggling to locate one another and fearing for the worst, clinging to sporadic WhatsApp updates and making daily pilgrimages across the island to tiny archipelagos of cellphone service. I've heard stories of cousins who disappeared and people in nursing homes or on dialysis
In the annals of the Arab-Israeli conflict, it was a historic turning point. At least that's the way it seemed at the time. On this day, 25 years ago, the Oslo Accords—a framework for an interim agreement between Israelis and Palestinians—were signed on the South Lawn of the White House. President Bill Clinton, the host of the ceremony, was unable to sleep the night before. He told his peace team
Most HIV patients need to take daily anti-retroviral therapy — if they suspend treatment, HIV will rebound within 3-4 weeks. But clinical trials have revealed that a small fraction of patients can stop taking medications yet keep the virus suppressed for 24 weeks or longer, maintaining viral control without the assistance of medication.
A new study published in Environment International by George Mason University Assistant Professor of Global and Community Health Dr. Anna Pollack and colleagues discovered links between chemicals that are widely used in cosmetic and personal care products and changes in reproductive hormones.
President Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, insisting that Manafort only worked for him for a very short time and that his recent convictions on tax- and bank-fraud charges have nothing to do with the campaign. But Trump's and Manafort's legal interests may be more aligned than either of them have let on. According to Rudy Giuliani, the pr
Guilt makes us feel lower than a worm's belly but it is also a sign of empathy and a signal that we care about not hurting others — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at a weakening and now tropical depression Olivia in the Central Pacific Ocean. Olivia soaked the Hawaiian Islands on its east to west track through them.
Astrocytes important role in brain function suggests they are also involved in disease. Now, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified an astrocyte subpopulation as the dominant cell type to spring into action in vivo (in a living organism) in a neuroinflammatory disease setting. Their early activation inspired their new name: ieAstrocytes (immediate ea
One of Norm Macdonald's most famous comedy performances came at the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget in 2008. Macdonald, probably best known for his dry, prickly demeanor as the host of Saturday Night Live 's "Weekend Update" for three years, took the stage at an event known for cruel ribaldry and read a list of charmingly innocuous lines from an old book called Jokes for Retirement Parties . "B
Some kindergartners and first-graders suspended from school can find it challenging to reverse the negative trajectory in their academic life, says a University of Michigan researcher.
Ryanair cabin crew from five European countries will go on strike on September 28, threatening hundreds of flights in the latest round of a bitter tussle between unions and the budget airline's management.
Lad culture in English universities is often perceived by university staff as involving 'extreme' behaviour and as being carried out by only a handful of 'bad apples' rather than as a widespread culture that fosters gender-based harassment and violence.But new research, led by Lancaster University, says this perception stems from various factors, including many staff having limited understandings
In a paper being presented at this week's European Conference on Computer Vision, MIT researchers describe an add-on module that helps artificial intelligence systems called convolutional neural networks, or CNNs, to fill in the gaps between video frames to greatly improve the network's activity recognition.
Researchers have discovered a technology that rapidly assesses potentially lifesaving antibiotics by using bacteria in saliva from an East Siberian brown bear. The technology involves placing a bacterium from a wild animal's mouth—or other complex source of microbes with potential antibiotic properties—in an oil droplet to see if it inhibits harmful bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus , accor
Lad culture in English universities is often perceived by university staff as involving 'extreme' behaviour and as being carried out by only a handful of 'bad apples' rather than as a widespread culture that fosters gender-based harassment and violence.
This article contains spoilers through Episode 1 of FX's American Horror Story: Apocalypse. Stupidity is an ingredient in most horror-movie experiences. Every "Don't go in there!" screamed at the screen recognizes that what's bent about the world depicted isn't just that vampires exist or that serial killers wear ski masks. It's that the people in the movie act unlike real people do. This is, of
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, several hundred miles from Hawaii, is a swirling cauldron of waste plastic that's been growing steadily since the mid-1980s. Dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it's an ugly testament to the scale of disposable culture — but it's also an active breeding ground for new varieties of single-celled life. Along with colleagues on board the research schooner Tara
If the majority of dairy farms in Pennsylvania fully adopt conservation best-management practices, the state may be able to achieve its total maximum daily load water-quality target for the Chesapeake Bay, according to researchers.
If the majority of dairy farms in Pennsylvania fully adopt conservation best-management practices, the state may be able to achieve its total maximum daily load water-quality target for the Chesapeake Bay, according to researchers.
Subtropical Storm Joyce seemed dazed by its own formation, wandering in the north central Atlantic Ocean and disorganized. NASA satellite imagery confirmed the lack of organization and patchy development of thunderstorms within the system.
The outer bands of wind and rain from a weakened but still lethal Hurricane Florence began lashing North Carolina on Thursday as the monster storm moved in for a prolonged and potentially catastrophic drenching along the Southeast coast.
Subtropical Storm Joyce seemed dazed by its own formation, wandering in the north central Atlantic Ocean and disorganized. NASA satellite imagery confirmed the lack of organization and patchy development of thunderstorms within the system.
The most recent solar radiation data have been converted into a new map of Daily Light Integrals for the United States by a team of researchers from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and Clemson University. Joanne Logan, associate professor in Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, along with Clemson University associate professor James Faust, was recently awarded first place
Living organisms expand and contract soft tissues to achieve complex, 3-D movements and functions, but replicating those movements with man-made materials has proven challenging.
A new study from Florida State University researchers indicates that common satellite imaging technologies have vastly underestimated the number of fires in Florida.
Kyungsuk Yum, an assistant professor in UTA's Materials Science and Engineering Department, and his doctoral student, Amirali Nojoomi, have developed a process by which 2-D hydrogels can be programmed to expand and shrink in a space- and time-controlled way that applies force to their surfaces, enabling the formation of complex 3-D shapes and motions.
A new study indicates that common satellite imaging technologies have vastly underestimated the number of fires in Florida, detecting only 25 percent of burned area.
Researchers examined the costs associated with screening for prostate cancer, including treatment, for three years after diagnosis. They estimated that for men diagnosed in each of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, the total cost for treating and screening for each group would be $1.2 billion for three years after diagnosis.
Researchers are paving the way to total reliance on renewable energy as they study both large- and small-scale ways to replace fossil fuels. One promising avenue is converting simple chemicals into valuable ones using renewable electricity, including processes such as carbon dioxide reduction or water splitting. But to scale these processes up for widespread use, we need to discover new electrocat
We may never be able to entirely predict earthquakes such as those that hit central Italy in 2016, but we could better assess how they're going to play out by joining up data from different scientific fields in a new Europe-wide observatory, say scientists.
NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at the large and powerful Hurricane Florence early on Sept. 13 that indicated wind shear was temporarily affecting the southern side of the storm.
Wind shear seems to be affecting several storms in the Atlantic Ocean today, Sept. 13, 2018. Wind shear is affecting Hurricane Helene in the Eastern Atlantic and in the Western Atlantic, Hurricane Florence and even Tropical Storm Isaac are feeling its effects.
Facebook is better prepared to defend against efforts to manipulate the platform to influence elections and has recently thwarted foreign influence campaigns targeting several countries, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday.
Researchers have discovered evidence of the earliest brewmasters to date, a finding that might stir an old debate: What came first, beer or bread? In a cave in what is now Israel, scientists found beer-brewing innovations that they believe predate the early appearance of cultivated cereals in the Near East by several millennia. Their findings support a hypothesis proposed by archaeologists more t
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Thursday he was creating a philanthropic fund with a $2 billion initial commitment to help homeless families and launch preschools in low-income communities.