A new type of material generates electrical current very efficiently from temperature differences. This allows sensors and small processors to supply themselves with energy wirelessly.
A two-step task commonly used to study people's decision-making behaviors does not appear to be effective for training people to rely more on goal-oriented behaviors and less on habitual behaviors. Elmar Grosskurth of Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues present these findings in PLOS Computational Biology.
The transition to electronic health records (EHRs) was supposed to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare for doctors and patients alike — but these technologies get an 'F' rating for usability from health care professionals, and may be contributing to high rates of professional burnout, according to a new Yale-led study.
New research may explain how "buckyballs"—complex carbon molecules with a soccer-ball-like structure—form in space. Carbon 60, or C60 for short, (the official name is Buckminsterfullerene) comes in spherical molecules consisting of 60 carbon atoms organized in five-membered and six-membered rings. The name "buckyball" derives from their resemblance to the architectural work of Richard Buckminster
ASU researchers found that not only are freshwater aquatic plants affected by climate, they are also shaped by the surrounding landscape. When in an environment where CO2 is limited, aquatic plants use strategies to extract carbon from bicarbonate. Scientists identified patterns across ecoregions around the globe and discovered a direct link between the availability of catchment bicarbonate and th
Catalysts accelerate chemical reactions, but the widely used metal platinum is scarce and expensive. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), together with Chinese, Singaporean and Japanese researchers, have now developed an alternative with a 20 times higher activity: a catalyst with hollow nanocages of an alloy of nickel and platinum. TU/e researcher Emiel Hensen wants to use th
A two-step task commonly used to study people's decision-making behaviors does not appear to be effective for training people to rely more on goal-oriented behaviors and less on habitual behaviors. Elmar Grosskurth of Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues present these findings in PLOS Computational Biology.
Light can be directed in different directions, usually also back the same way. Physicists from the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne have, however, succeeded in creating a new one-way street for light. They cool photons down to a Bose-Einstein condensate, which causes the light to collect in optical "valleys" from which it can no longer return. The findings from basic research could
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have developed an optical switch that routes light from one computer chip to another in just 20 billionths of a second—faster than any other similar device. The compact switch is the first to operate at voltages low enough to be integrated onto low-cost silicon chips and redirects light with very low sign
Some chemical alternatives to plastic bisphenol-A (BPA), which is still commonly used in medical settings such as operating rooms and intensive care units, may be less disruptive to heart electrical function than BPA, according to a pre-clinical study that explored how the structural analogues bisphenol-S (BPS) and bisphenol-F (BPF) interact with the chemical and electrical functions of heart cell
A microscopic polymer in the form of a common kitchen implement, the bottlebrush, could give industry exquisite control over the properties of surface coatings.
Chiral molecules – compounds that are mirror images of each other – play an important role in biological processes and in chemical synthesis. Chemists have now succeeded for the first time in using ultrafast laser pulses to observe changes in chirality during a chemical reaction in real time.
Google finally launched RCS messaging, so Android users can see read receipts and typing indicators when texting, two features that used to be available only on iPhone.
On a recent podcast appearance , Neuralink CEO Elon Musk claimed that the company's experimental brain-computer interface technology would be able to "solve" neurological diseases. In the past, Musk has suggested that Neuralink could help with serious conditions like Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, but now he's added a bizarre new example to the list: autism spectrum disorder. "So Neuralin
Cell biologists have systematically investigated the genome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium throughout its life cycle in a large-scale experiment. The researchers were able to identify hundreds of targets that are urgently needed in drug and vaccine development to eradicate the disease.
We commonly think a full stomach is what tells us to stop eating, but it may be that a stretched intestine plays an even bigger role in making us feel sated, according to new laboratory research.
Some chemical alternatives to plastic bisphenol-A (BPA), which is still commonly used in medical settings such as operating rooms and intensive care units, may be less disruptive to heart electrical function than BPA, according to a pre-clinical study that explored how the structural analogues bisphenol-S (BPS) and bisphenol-F (BPF) interact with the chemical and electrical functions of heart cell
Two peacock-shaped gaseous clouds were revealed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). A team of astronomers found several massive baby stars in the complex filamentary clouds, which agrees well with computer simulations of giant collisions of gaseous clouds. The researchers interpret this to mean that the filaments and young stars are telltale evidence of violent interactions between the LMC and th
During spaceflight, astronauts experience similar physical stress as cancer patients undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. Researchers suggest that by mimicking a NASA astronaut's schedule of exercising before, during, and after a mission, cancer patients could reduce the long-term impact their treatments often have on their bodies.
On November 14, 1969, NASA astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., and Alan L. Bean blasted into space aboard a massive Saturn V rocket to become the second mission to land humans on the moon. Just four months after the historic Apollo 11 mission, Apollo 12 crew members would land their Lunar Module in the Ocean of Storms with extreme precision, setting down within walking distance
Scientists have linked Arctic sea ice loss to a deadly virus that could threaten marine mammals in the North Pacific, according to a new study. Researchers identified phocine distemper virus, or PDV, a pathogen responsible for killing thousands of European harbor seals in the North Atlantic in 2002, in northern sea otters in Alaska in 2004, raising questions about when and how the virus reached t
Not Worth It Some people express their Tesla hate by blocking charging stations . Others go so far as to vandalize the vehicles, scratching their bodies with keys or slamming dents into them. But now, Electrek has reported that a man in Ohio put a couple's lives in danger — seemingly just because they were riding in a Tesla. Bizarre Behavior This week, Tesla owner Brandon Do uploaded two video to
A plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico is close to becoming a law, drawing cheers from environmental groups who believe leaving the corals alone would help vulnerable ocean ecosystems to grow.
A plan to protect corals in the Gulf of Mexico is close to becoming a law, drawing cheers from environmental groups who believe leaving the corals alone would help vulnerable ocean ecosystems to grow.
Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electrical energy. The amount of energy that can be generated is measured by the so-called ZT value. The best thermoelectrics to date were measured at ZT values of around 2.5 to 2.8. Scientists have now developed a completely new material with a ZT value of 5 to 6. It is so effective that it could be used to provide energy for sensors or even small comput
A microscopic polymer in the form of a common kitchen implement, the bottlebrush, could give industry exquisite control over the properties of surface coatings.
Could putting on a serious face in preparation for competition actually impact performance? According to a new study, there may be substance to game face.
Scientists have simulated every atom of a light-harvesting structure in a photosynthetic bacterium that generates energy for the organism. The simulated organelle behaves just like its counterpart in nature, the researchers report. The work is a major step toward understanding how some biological structures convert sunlight into chemical energy, a biological innovation that is essential to life.
A global team of computer scientists have developed "Write-A-Video", a new tool that generates videos from themed text. Using words and text editing, the tool automatically determines which scenes or shots are chosen from a repository to illustrate the desired storyline.
The tread on the tire is worn out, new tires are needed. Everyday life for many drivers. But where do these lost centimeters of tire tread 'disappear' to? As micro-rubbers, they mainly end up in soil and water and, to a small extent, in the air. And the amount of these particles in our environment is anything but small, as researchers have now calculated.
Chiral molecules – compounds that are mirror images of each other – play an important role in biological processes and in chemical synthesis. Chemists have now succeeded for the first time in using ultrafast laser pulses to observe changes in chirality during a chemical reaction in real time.
Researchers have reported the production of the first pure polymeric nitrogen compound at near-ambient conditions. The substance, which has existed only in theory for the last three decades, is predicted to be able to produce massive amounts of clean energy with atmospheric nitrogen as its only byproduct.
Researchers have reported the production of the first pure polymeric nitrogen compound at near-ambient conditions. The substance, which has existed only in theory for the last three decades, is predicted to be able to produce massive amounts of clean energy with atmospheric nitrogen as its only byproduct.
Some of the most biologically active molecules, including synthetic drugs, contain a central, nitrogen-containing chemical structure called an isoquinuclidine. This core has a three-dimensional shape which means it has the potential to interact more favourably with enzymes and proteins than flat, two-dimensional molecules. Unfortunately methods to make isoquinuclidines and the related dehyrdoisoqu
Tropical Storm Fengshen's cold cloud top temperatures revealed that the storm was maintaining strength as a strong tropical storm. Forecasters expect Fengshen will continue strengthening and reach typhoon status.
Linguistic research suggests that accents are strongly shaped by the speaker's first language they learned growing up. New research from an international collaboration between the University of Rochester and universities in Germany and Holland sheds light on just how strong these effects can be. This work is the first to evaluate these effects on a large scale and may lead to novel methods of inst
In a miniaturized laboratory, microfluidic systems can conduct chemical experiments on a chip through a series of small connected tubes the size of a hair.
An international research team sought to find out whether cooperation between humans and machines is different if the machine purports to be human. They carried out an experiment in which humans interacted with bots. The scientists show that bots are more successful than humans in certain human-machine interactions — but only if they are allowed to hide their non-human identity.
A new study looks at what makes organized sports fun for kids, and some of the findings might surprise you. The new study dispels the popular myth that what makes sports the most fun for girls are the social aspects, like friendships, while for boys the fun factor has to do with competition.
A new study found that nearly two-thirds of infants (61%) and almost all toddlers (98%) consumed added sugars in their average daily diets, primarily in the form of flavored yogurts (infants) and fruit drinks (toddlers). Infants were 6-11 months, and toddlers were 12-23 months.
In the first study of public health-related Facebook advertising, newly published in the journal Vaccine, researchers at the University of Maryland, the George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University show that a small group of anti-vaccine ad buyers has successfully leveraged Facebook to reach targeted audiences and that the social media platform's efforts to improve transparency have a
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have cultivated lifelike chemical reactions while pioneering a new strategy for studying the origin of life.
(Credit: Gladskikh Tatiana/Shutterstock) Some of the biggest public health crises of the last few years can be traced back to animals. HIV got its start as a virus in monkeys, and Ebola probably jumped to humans from other primates or fruit bats. And there's no points for guessing the animals we got bird flu and swine flu from. But animal-borne diseases can start a lot closer to home. In fact, the
A Growing Problem In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the social media company has nixed 5.4 billion fake accounts in 2019 alone, according to CNN — which is two thirds of the global population, or four times the population of China. It's a dizzying quantity of fake accounts. And the trend is ticking up: the company only deleted 3.3 billion fake accou
Europe's city most vulnerable sea level rise hopes to have a $6.3 billion defense coastal defense system operational by 2022 — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
The ocean hosts an inconceivable wealth of marine life and diverse habitats, most of which remains unknown and unseen. International plans to mine minerals from the deep seafloor threaten this largely unexplored biodiversity hotspot. States are currently seeking to develop a legal framework for deep seabed mining. In cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, an international team of researche
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have cultivated lifelike chemical reactions while pioneering a new strategy for studying the origin of life.
Pull! In response to rising public transit costs, Chileans have taken to the streets in ongoing protests that have now evolved to encompass broader concerns about inequality — and they're using high-tech tricks to push police back. Particularly, a police drone was disabled and fell to the ground after hundreds of protestors aimed their laser pointers at it, according to NextGov . The impromptu li
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire find environmental developments caused by climate change are contributing to the transformation of the seafloor to a lower, more patchy seascape dominated by shrub-like seaweed which could impact species habitats and the structure of the food web.
Paper endorsed by 407 scientists in Brazil estimates the value of ecosystem services linked to nature conservation, such as pollination, pest control and water security.
Nature, Published online: 13 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03500-9 Experiments in mice show that a regimen of low-fibre foods keeps the gut microbiome from bouncing back.
Just absolute heaps of elderberries. (Jaye Thompson/Alamy/) This story was originally featured on Field & Stream . Wild berries are a great introduction to foraging. Do you know about foraging? According to the latest research, many of the fruits and vegetables available in the supermarket once grew wild and unsupervised—and people used to go out of doors to harvest and eat them. Turns out, you c
Researchers have discovered that the Zika virus protein NS4A disrupts brain growth by hijacking a pathway that regulates the generation of new neurons.
Many biologically active molecules, including synthetic drugs, contain a central, nitrogen-containing chemical structure with a three-dimensional shape. However, there are hardly any suitable methods to produce them, which also makes it difficult to discover new medicinal compounds. A team of researchers at Münster University (Germany) have now developed a new method, a special photocatalyst, enab
A novel method uses subcellular fractionation to quantify label-free antisense oligonucleotides (AONs)- designed to silence targeted genes – that have crossed into the nucleus of a cell, where they can exert their effects.
Tropical Storm Fengshen's cold cloud top temperatures revealed that the storm was maintaining strength as a strong tropical storm. Forecasters expect Fengshen will continue strengthening and reach typhoon status.
Creature Cowbirds outsource parenting to other species, but an innate password tells their children to copy cowbird songs. 11/14/2019 Nala Rogers, Staff Writer To read more…
When we look at online breaches, about 86 percent of the time the hacks have to do with passwords. Because of this, many security experts believe we need to move away from using passwords. Consequently, we've now developed the technology to do just that. For instance, we now have a technology called Trusona, which stands for true persona of the individual. It recognizes the individual, more accur
More American adults are trying to lose weight these days, but the average body mass index of Americans continues to increase, research finds. It comes as no surprise that Americans struggle with weight loss, but the new study reveals the extent to which many people try, and fail, to shed extra pounds. The study compares data from more than 48,000 adults surveyed in 1999-2000 and 2015-2016. Resea
Illegitimacy more likely over past 500 years among urban poor, say geneticists The Romans had a phrase that summed it up nicely: mater semper certa est, pater semper incertus est . The mother is always certain, the father is always uncertain. Now, researchers have found that some people have more reason to doubt their fathers than others, or at least have had over the past half millennium. Contin
Doctors in China have diagnosed two people with the pneumonic plague, the nation's state-run news agency Xinhua News confirmed on Tuesday. Both patients hail from China's Inner Mongolia region and have received "proper treatment" for their condition at medical institutions in China's Chaoyang District, Xinhua wrote. On Thursday, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission said that one of the patient
Global warming is already affecting public health, and efforts to address the problem are inadequate, a new report says — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Mussels hitching a ride on ocean-going ships are likely responsible for the spread of an infectious cancer found in different species on either side of the Atlantic, scientists say.
Feelings of neighborhood pride, interactions with tourists and a community's laws can all influence how neighbors feel about short-term vacation rentals.
Residues from billions of doses of antibiotics, painkillers and antidepressants pose a significant risk to freshwater ecosystems and the global food chain, a new analysis said Thursday.
Mussels hitching a ride on ocean-going ships are likely responsible for the spread of an infectious cancer found in different species on either side of the Atlantic, scientists say.
Scientists have reported a new approach to treating lung cancer with inhaled nanoparticles developed at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire, centered in northern Iraq and extending from Iran to Egypt—the largest empire of its time—collapsed after more than two centuries of dominance at the fall of its capital, Nineveh, in 612 B.C.E.
A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that in several cities and counties the proportion of high-schoolers who have ever used heroin or misused prescription opioids is much higher than the national average.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have cultivated lifelike chemical reactions while pioneering a new strategy for studying the origin of life.
Feelings of neighborhood pride, interactions with tourists and a community's laws can all influence how neighbors feel about short-term vacation rentals.
The ocean hosts an inconceivable wealth of marine life, most of which remains unknown. International plans to mine minerals from the deep seafloor threaten this biodiversity hotspot. States are currently seeking to develop a legal framework for deep seabed mining. An international team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies has published a study warning against a rus
Older adults with blood cancers can benefit from a team-based, holistic evaluation before undergoing transplantation, according to a new study published today in Blood Advances. The study, which reported on a multidisciplinary clinic (MDC) at the University of Chicago Medical Center, found that patients treated with this approach experienced better transplantation outcomes and survival rates.
Climate researchers predict that global temperatures will increase by as much as 2 degrees C by 2050 due to growing concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions in the planet's atmosphere.
Distantly related, lookalike Heliconius species arrive at the same appearance using the same few genes, but regulated differently, according to recent studies.
Global climate change could cause Africa's Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake and source of the Nile River, to dry up in the next 500 years, according to new findings from a team of researchers led by the University of Houston. Even more imminent, the White Nile—one of the two main tributaries of the Nile—could lose its source waters in just a decade.
After the colossal success of Frozen , Disney's 2013 princess blockbuster to end all blockbusters, audiences should be well aware of the mythic kingdom of Arendelle. In this haven among the icy fjords, Queen Elsa (played by Idina Menzel) and her sister Anna (Kristen Bell) have lived in peace since completing their last adventure, which revolved around Elsa's magical powers and Anna's poor taste i
When Bill Taylor, the United States' acting ambassador to Ukraine, began his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee yesterday morning, MSNBC did what news networks will often do to educate viewers about the events unfolding on-screen: It offered a graphic providing contextual information. "Top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine since June," one bullet point noted, explaining Taylor's most direct rel
Amid privacy concerns, the tech giant plans to monitor mobility, menstruation and hearing via users Apple watches and iPhones — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Birthmarks, moles, and scars may affect how an interviewer evaluates an applicant during a job interview over Skype, but employers are less likely to focus on facial marks when the interviewee acknowledges them up front, according to a new study. Researchers conducted an experiment with 112 people who reviewed a series of 8-minute mock job interviews. The study participants listened to a computer
Both humans and many other creatures need oxygen for survival. In the conversion of nutrients into energy, oxygen is converted to water, for which the enzyme oxidase is responsible. It represents the last step of the so-called respiratory chain.
Chemists from Far Eastern Federal University's School of Natural Sciences (SNS FEFU) have developed a new method to synthesize biologically active derivatives of fascaplysin—the cytotoxic pigment of a sea sponge. For the first time, they obtained a sufficient amount of 3-bromofascaplysin and 3,10-dibromofascaplysin, which were known before but were not available for study. Based on these compounds
Despite increasing support for the rights of people in the LGBTQ+ community, discrimination remains a critical and ongoing issue for this population, according to researchers.
Dropping the Lander China's Mars lander just successfully completed its first public test: a spectacular drop from 230 feet onto a mountainous landscape north of Beijing. The lander hovered at first before slowly descending safely to the ground below. The stunt tested one of the most difficult parts of sending a spacecraft to the Red Planet: making a soft landing while avoiding obstacles. It's a
Chemists from Far Eastern Federal University's School of Natural Sciences (SNS FEFU) have developed a new method to synthesize biologically active derivatives of fascaplysin—the cytotoxic pigment of a sea sponge. For the first time, they obtained a sufficient amount of 3-bromofascaplysin and 3,10-dibromofascaplysin, which were known before but were not available for study. Based on these compounds
Nature, Published online: 13 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03520-5 So "short and simple, it should have been in textbooks already". Plus: Hayabusa2 is heading home with an asteroid sample, and engineers unveil a sound-powered 3D display.
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has a significant impact on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and alterations in its level will significantly affect the productivity and stability of an ecosystem. In recent years, with the reduction of anthropogenic inorganic nitrogen emissions, interest in organic nitrogen (ON) has increased because it represents a large fraction of total nitrogen. Given t
HSE University economists analyzed which banks performed best on the Russian market from 2004 to 2015—state, private, or foreign -owned ones. They found that during stable economic and political periods, foreign-owned banks tend to take the lead, while during a crisis period, such as from 2008 to 2013, state-owned banks outperformed them.
Both humans and many other creatures need oxygen for survival. In the conversion of nutrients into energy, oxygen is converted to water, for which the enzyme oxidase is responsible. It represents the last step of the so-called respiratory chain.
Scientists have reported a new approach to treating lung cancer with inhaled nanoparticles developed at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.
UNC Lineberger researchers discovered a biological signature that could help identify which triple negative breast cancers might respond to immunotherapy and other treatments.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire, centered in northern Iraq and extending from Iran to Egypt — the largest empire of its time — collapsed after more than two centuries of dominance at the fall of its capital, Nineveh, in 612 B.C.E. Despite a plethora of cuneiform textual documentation and archaeological excavations and field surveys, archaeologists and historians have been unable to explain the abruptnes
Short-term increases in sugar consumption could increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease and have a significant impact on our health, a new study out of the University of Alberta suggests.In a study published in Scientific Reports, U of A researchers found that mice had an increased susceptibility to chemically induced colitis and more severe symptoms after only two days of a high-sugar die
A new study from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies projects that the growth of urban areas in the coming decades will trigger "extra" warming due to a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect (UHI). According to their findings, urban expansion will cause the average summer temperature in these areas to increase about 0.5 to 0.6 degrees C — but up to 3 degrees C in some l
Women exposed simultaneously to stress and phthalates late in pregnancy are at increased risk for premature birth, a new study shows. Researchers say the study, published in Environment International , is the first to analyze a link between stress and phthalates—a group of chemicals in plastics, personal care products, and electronics—and premature births. The findings are the latest in the Infan
Subscribe to Radio Atlantic : Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher ( How to Listen ) The special December issue of The Atlantic focuses on a single theme: " How to Stop a Civil War ." Two contributors to the issue, the Harvard professor Danielle Allen and the staff writer Adam Serwer, join Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss their arguments in the magazine. Allen's piece, " The Road From S
Cowbirds outsource parenting to other species, but an innate password tells their children to copy cowbird songs. Cowbird_topNteaser.jpg Image credits: Donald T. Devine/Shutterstock Creature Thursday, November 14, 2019 – 11:30 Nala Rogers, Staff Writer (Inside Science) — Most songbirds learn to sing by copying songs they hear around them. But young brown-headed cowbirds face a problem: they are
A genetic study has revealed how poorer families living in cities in Europe had a higher rate of children who weren't biologically related to their legal fathers
Everyone knows that gaining excess weight during one pregnancy is bad, but clinicians rarely consider weight gains and losses from one pregnancy to the next — especially in normal-weight women. But researchers from Marquette University and the University of Michigan found that among normal-weight women, fluctuating weight gain and loss in the first pregnancy is often repeated in subsequent pregna
A microscopic polymer in the form of a common kitchen implement, the bottlebrush, could give industry exquisite control over the properties of surface coatings.
Binge drinking among U.S. adolescents precipitously declined from 1991 to 2018, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Depressive symptoms among U.S. adolescents have sharply increased since 2012. And for the first time in the past 40 years, binge drinking and depressive symptoms among adolescents are no longer associated.
Some chemical alternatives to plastic bisphenol-a (BPA), which is still commonly used in medical settings such as operating rooms and intensive care units, may be less disruptive to heart electrical function than BPA, according to a pre-clinical study that explored how the structural analogues bisphenol-s (BPS) and bisphenol-f (BPF) interact with the chemical and electrical functions of heart cell
Chemists from Far Eastern Federal University's School of Natural Sciences (SNS FEFU) developed a new method to synthesize biologically active derivatives of fascaplysin — cytotoxic pigment of a sea sponge. For the first time, they got a sufficient amount of 3-bromofascaplysin and 3,10-dibromofascaplysin, which were known before but were not available for study. Basing on these compounds, scientis
Despite increasing support for the rights of people in the LGBTQ+ community, discrimination remains a critical and ongoing issue for this population, according to researchers. Researchers found that sexual minorities experienced discrimination and victimization at different rates across age.
It is a strategy that President Donald Trump has deployed throughout his life, as instinctive and natural to him as the act of breathing: Villainize whoever is blocking his way. Distasteful as Trump's taunts might be, ridiculing adversaries has been the blunt-force instrument that propelled his political rise, with the president turning people into targets of scorn. As the impeachment fight enter
Revisiting History Nobel-winning cosmologist James Peebles has a bone to pick with the scientific community: he wants the world to stop referring to the earliest moments of our universe as the "Big Bang." His main beef, according to Agence France-Presse , is that there's no good way to test whether such a thing actually happened — cosmologists have evidence of a rapid outward expansion, but not a
A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that home-visiting by trained community workers during and after pregnancy can improve mother-child interactions in the first years of life. However, this benefit was not found for mothers who experienced depressive symptoms during pregnancy.
Women exposed simultaneously to stress and plastic additives late in pregnancy are at increased risk for premature birth, according to a study by Rutgers and other institutions.
Amsterdam, NL, November 14, 2019 – Relatively new research findings indicating that the earliest stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) may occur in the gut have been gaining traction in recent years. In a review published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, Tomasz Brudek, PhD, evaluates evidence for the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and PD and proposes directions for future
Messenger RNA transmits genetic information to the proteins, and microRNA plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Research Centre for Medical Genetics have described the complex interactions between these two and other kinds of human RNA.
A joint group of researchers at the George Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh have found that dopamine and the dopamine D2 receptor modulate expression via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. This pathway is responsible for control of cell proliferation and organ identity and is implicated in cancer, thus having broad implications for health and development of new therapeutics
We commonly think a full stomach is what tells us to stop eating, but it may be that a stretched intestine plays an even bigger role in making us feel sated, according to new laboratory research led by UC San Francisco neuroscientist Zachary Knight, Ph.D.
An international scientific consortium led by the cell biologists Volker Heussler from the University of Bern and Oliver Billker from the Umeå University in Sweden has for the first time systematically investigated the genome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium throughout its life cycle in a large-scale experiment. The researchers were able to identify hundreds of targets that are urgently needed i
Researchers in this observational study looked at whether the association between hearing loss and cognitive impairment is present at earlier levels of hearing loss than previously believed.
A multicenter group of 41 hospitals led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has confirmed that an improved method for predicting retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a leading cause of blindness in children, was able to reduce the number of babies having invasive diagnostic examinations by nearly a third, while raising disease detection up to 100 percent.
Prostate cancer that spreads to the bone triggers the destruction of bone tissue that thwarts the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Research points to anti-CTLA-4 and anti-TGF-B combination to protect T cells.
An international team of scientists working with Heliconius butterflies at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama was faced with a mystery: how do pairs of unrelated butterflies from Peru to Costa Rica evolve nearly the same wing-color patterns over and over again? The answer, published in Current Biology, forever changes the way evolution is understood.
New results from the Tara Oceans expedition, led by a collaboration between the Tara Ocean Foundation and teams from the CNRS, EMBL, CEA, Sorbonne Université and Université Paris Science Lettres between 2009 and 2013 show that the diversity and functions of planktonic species in the global ocean change dramatically according to latitude.
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.
Two Cell papers use samples and data collected during the Tara Oceans Expedition to analyze current ocean diversity across the planet, providing a baseline to better understand climate change's impact on the oceans. In a Perspective publishing in the journal One Earth, Claudet et al. examine the barriers that have prevented ocean sustainability policy changes so far and suggest strategies for leve
During spaceflight, astronauts experience similar physical stress as cancer patients undergoing treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. In a commentary published Nov. 14 in the journal Cell, researchers suggest that by mimicking a NASA astronaut's schedule of exercising before, during, and after a mission, cancer patients could reduce the long-term impact their treatm
Researchers have put DNA evidence together with long-term genealogical data to explore questions of biological fatherhood on a broad scale among people living in parts of Western Europe over the last 500 years. The findings reported in Current Biology on Nov. 14 found evidence of extra-pair paternity events turned up more often in people of lower socioeconomic status who lived in densely populated
Scientists have simulated every atom of a light-harvesting structure in a photosynthetic bacterium that generates energy for the organism. The simulated organelle behaves just like its counterpart in nature, the researchers report. The work is a major step toward understanding how some biological structures convert sunlight into chemical energy, a biological innovation that is essential to life.
PLUS. Lufthavnen har siden sidste år haft problemer med løse banelys-armaturer. Først da et fly påkørte et af dem, blev der handlet. Men måske ikke nok, antyder et rapportudkast
All children attending preschool or higher in the country must be immunized, with fines for parents who do not comply, under a law that is to take effect next spring.
Impeachment is the mechanism that the Framers provided in the Constitution to address "the abuse or violation of some public trust," as Alexander Hamilton put it in "Federalist No. 65." Other countries might suffer unfit leaders without recourse, or oust them using extralegal violence, but not the United States. The coequal branch of Congress would check the presidency. The House would be lawfull
Axeheads made out of Alpine rock had strong social and economic symbolic meaning in the Neolithic, given their production and use value. Their resistance to friction and breakage, which permitted intense polishing and a re-elaboration of the rock, gave these artefacts an elevated exchange value, key to the formation of long-distance exchange networks among communities of Western Europe. Communitie
Scientists with NASA's Mars 2020 rover have discovered what may be one of the best places to look for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater, where the rover will land on Feb. 18, 2021.
Scientists analyzed rainfall records from the 1870s to the present day with their findings showing there could be large divergence in projected rainfall by the mid to late 21st century.
Researchers are first to combine 3D climate modeling with atmospheric chemistry to explore the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars, which comprise about 70% of the total galactic population.
Using brain circuits made in silicon, scientists have alleviated symptoms of heart failure by reinstating the body's natural heart rhythm. This study holds great potential for designing more effective pacemakers in the future.
Some molecules can exist in two mirror-image forms, similar to our hands. Although such so-called enantiomers have almost identical physical properties, they are not the same. The fact that they behave to each other like image and mirror image is called chirality (from the Greek "cheiro" for hand). In nature, however, often only one enantiomer exists, for example in amino acids, DNA or sugars. The
Nature, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03512-5 As director of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Atish Dabholkar will consolidate the centre's activities.
De praktiserende læger ser i stigende grad flere patienter med senfølger til hovedtraumer. Det er en kompleks og tidskrævende problemstilling at arbejde med, siger praktiserende læge, der vil undervise lægerne i at navigere bedre på området.
One injection of an antibody treatment let people with severe peanut allergy eat a nut's worth of peanut protein two weeks later, a small pilot study shows. The study provides early evidence that the antibody is a safe, effective, and rapid food allergy treatment. Such a treatment is badly needed. About 32 million Americans suffer from food allergies, which can develop at any point in life. The o
Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute for Molecular Medicine (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki have developed a computational model, Combined Essentiality Scoring (CES) that enables accurate identification of essential genes in cancer cells for development of anti-cancer drugs.
A global team of computer scientists, from Tsinghua and Beihang Universities in China, Harvard University in the US and IDC Herzliya in Israel, have developed "Write-A-Video", a new tool that generates videos from themed text. Using words and text editing, the tool automatically determines which scenes or shots are chosen from a repository to illustrate the desired storyline. The team is set to pr
Could putting on a serious face in preparation for competition actually impact performance? According to a new study published in Stress and Health by experimental psychology researchers at UT, there may be substance to game face.
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition has a significant impact on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and alterations in its level will significantly affect the productivity and stability of an ecosystem. Scientists find typhoons and marine eutrophication are probably the missing source of organic nitrogen in ecosystems
HSE University economists analyzed what banks performed best on the Russian market from 2004 to 2015 – state, private, or foreign -owned ones. They found out that during stable economic and political periods, foreign- owned banks tend to take the lead, while during a crisis period, such as from 2008 to 2013, state -owned banks outperformed them. The article was published in the Emerging Markets Fi
These days it's easy to resolve questions about paternity with over-the-counter test kits. Now, researchers have put DNA evidence together with long-term genealogical data to explore similar questions of biological fatherhood on a broad scale among people living in parts of Western Europe over the last 500 years.
In an effort to reverse the decline in the health of the world's oceans, the United Nations (UN) has declared 2021 to 2030 to be the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. One key requirement for the scientific initiative is data on existing global ocean conditions. An important trove of data is already available thanks to the Tara Oceans expedition, an international, interdisciplina
An international team of scientists working with Heliconius butterflies at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama was faced with a mystery: How do pairs of unrelated butterflies from Peru to Costa Rica evolve nearly the same wing-color patterns over and over again? The answer, published in Current Biology, forever changes the way evolution is understood.
Scientists have simulated every atom of a light-harvesting structure in a photosynthetic bacterium that generates energy for the organism. The simulated organelle behaves just like its counterpart in nature, the researchers report. The work is a major step toward understanding how some biological structures convert sunlight into chemical energy, a biological innovation that is essential to life.
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.
Despite great efforts in medicine and science, more than 400,000 people worldwide are still dying of malaria. The infectious disease is transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium. The genome of the parasite is relatively small with about 5,000 genes. In contrast to human cells, Plasmodium parasites only have a single copy of each individual gene. If one rem
These days it's easy to resolve questions about paternity with over-the-counter test kits. Now, researchers have put DNA evidence together with long-term genealogical data to explore similar questions of biological fatherhood on a broad scale among people living in parts of Western Europe over the last 500 years.
An international team of scientists working with Heliconius butterflies at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama was faced with a mystery: How do pairs of unrelated butterflies from Peru to Costa Rica evolve nearly the same wing-color patterns over and over again? The answer, published in Current Biology, forever changes the way evolution is understood.
Scientists have simulated every atom of a light-harvesting structure in a photosynthetic bacterium that generates energy for the organism. The simulated organelle behaves just like its counterpart in nature, the researchers report. The work is a major step toward understanding how some biological structures convert sunlight into chemical energy, a biological innovation that is essential to life.
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.
Despite great efforts in medicine and science, more than 400,000 people worldwide are still dying of malaria. The infectious disease is transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium. The genome of the parasite is relatively small with about 5,000 genes. In contrast to human cells, Plasmodium parasites only have a single copy of each individual gene. If one rem
At the US-Mexico border, policies of prolonged detention and family separation have made seeking asylum in the United States difficult and dangerous. In this raw and heartfelt talk, immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro offers a glimpse into her daily work on both sides of the border and shares some of the stories behind the statistics — including her own story of being detained and separated from
After decades of little or no progress, biomedical researchers are finally making some headway at detecting and treating sepsis, a deadly medical complication that sends a surge of pathogenic infection through the body and remains a major public health problem.
Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship — but squishier, says a researcher. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new article they finally describes how cells shut down this important cellular machinery. And their findings are not without controversy.
Scientists report the discovery of 'hyperhotspots' in the human genome, locations that are up to 170-times more sensitive to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from sunlight compared to the genome average.
Mimicking conditions thought to exist around dying stars, researchers discovered a mechanism that could explain why planetary nebulae are teeming with complex carbon molecules.
McLaren Elva British exotic car maker McLaren just unveiled its $1.7 million Elva supercar. Its most notable feature: the complete lack of a roof, side windows, or windshield. Instead, the high-performance vehicle uses "active air management system" — a world's first, according to the company's website — to direct the whipping air up and around the cabin to envelop the driver in what the company
Eighty percent of patients who've had heart attacks have gum disease, says Dr. Shahrzad Fattahi. Oral health is also implicated in forms of cancer, dementia, canker sores, and more. Fattahi says the future of medicine must also focus on saliva, as a whole new field of salivary diagnostics is emerging. None Over the summer, I was sitting in the dentist's chair, waiting for a cap to be placed over
A study published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology by a team of researchers from BCN MedTech with the VICOMTech Foundation in San Sebastian, the BioDonostia Health Research Institute and Donostia University Hospital, offers a promising methodology for post-operative CTA time-series registration and subsequent aneurysm biomechanical strain analysis, which correlates with the patient
The mechanical capacity to resist successive transformation processes gave these rocks an exceptional exchange value that favoured the formation of long-distance exchange networks in Western Europe, according to a study led by the UAB that integrates petrography, materials science and paleoeconomics.
Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electrical energy. The amount of energy that can be generated is measured by the so-called ZT value. The best thermoelectrics to date were measured at ZT values of around 2.5 to 2.8. Scientists at TU Wien have now developed a completely new material with a ZT value of 5 to 6. It is so effective that it could be used to provide energy for sensors or even s
Scientists from the Universities of Würzburg and Freiburg determined the structure of the bacterial enzyme cytochrome bd oxidase. Since humans do not have this type of oxidase, this enzyme could be an target for novel antibiotics.
Two peacock-shaped gaseous clouds were revealed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by observations with ALMA. A team of astronomers found several massive baby stars in the complex filamentary clouds, which agrees well with computer simulations of giant collisions of gaseous clouds. The researchers interpret this to mean that the filaments and young stars are telltale evidence of violent interacti
Chiral molecules – compounds that are mirror images of each other – play an important role in biological processes and in chemical synthesis. Chemists at ETH Zurich have now succeeded for the first time in using ultrafast laser pulses to observe changes in chirality during a chemical reaction in real time.
The world's oldest captive white rhino, South African-born Sana, has died at the age of 55, the French zoo that she called home for the last 26 years said Thursday.
The world's oldest captive white rhino, South African-born Sana, has died at the age of 55, the French zoo that she called home for the last 26 years said Thursday.
Fra det kommende efterår er ferieloven ændret markant. Med det følger nye begreber og udfordringer, som lægerne på ny skal sætte sig ind i, siger professor.
In Atlantics , the Cannes Grand Prix–winning film by the French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, the water is both a threat and a source of comfort. With soft camerawork and pointed dialogue, Diop casts a shadow over the sea and all its possibilities. In a scene near the movie's end, the dusky-pink sky hangs over a long shot of ocean waves as one of the protagonists whispers a mysterious voice-over
Italy was poised to declare a state of emergency for Venice Thursday after an exceptional tide surged through churches, shops and homes, causing millions of euros worth of damage to the UNESCO city.
What happens behind the scenes when employees are accused of harassment? New research from Michigan State University revealed that almost half of accused harassers can go back to work when disputes are settled by arbitrators—or, third-parties who resolve disputes.
My friend Davina Wynne-Jones has died a few weeks after celebrating her 70th birthday at Herbs for Healing, the field in Gloucestershire where she had her home and business, and where she created an Eden bursting with purpose and abundance, growing and supplying medicinal herbs. Daughter of the garden designer Rosemary Verey, Davina grew up at Barnsley House, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Sh
The fight against African swine fever is intensifying, and millions of pigs have died. But we don't know how much of the drop in numbers is due to reduced production
They say that eyes are windows to the soul. Indeed, research suggests this might also be true for our four-legged friends. Since the days of our most celebrated natural historian, Charles Darwin, humans have been interested in how animals communicate via their facial expressions, and how different species might express themselves in similar ways.
Researchers have laid the basements for a forecast system to foresee the drought impacts a few months ahead. This system will make it possible to take measures in time to manage the consequences of droughts, for instance for shipping, agriculture and nature. A research team from Wageningen University & Research and colleagues from Utrecht and Freiburg published their findings in Nature Communicati
Scientists have long theorized that the energy stored in the atomic bonds of nitrogen could one day be a source of clean energy. But coaxing the nitrogen atoms into linking up has been a daunting task. Researchers at Drexel University's C&J Nyheim Plasma Institute have finally proven that it's experimentally possible—with some encouragement from a liquid plasma spark.
They say that eyes are windows to the soul. Indeed, research suggests this might also be true for our four-legged friends. Since the days of our most celebrated natural historian, Charles Darwin, humans have been interested in how animals communicate via their facial expressions, and how different species might express themselves in similar ways.
Sensors manufactured with carbon-based materials can provide uniquely accurate and real-time information on hereditary diseases or the concentrations of drugs in the body. In addition to medicine, carbonaceous materials are used in batteries, solar cells and water purification.
Alternative facts are spreading like a virus across society. Now it seems they have even infected science—at least the quantum realm. This may seem counter intuitive. The scientific method is after all founded on the reliable notions of observation, measurement and repeatability. A fact, as established by a measurement, should be objective, such that all observers can agree with it.
Just be thankful there are students like Paige Northway and Nathan Wacker, two University of Washington students who think it's neat to work on stuff like a satellite the size of a shoebox.
Contrary to the previous data, a Finnish study clarifies that smoking and high blood pressure do not protect from death in patients suffering from subarachnoid haemorrhage, the most lethal stroke subtype. In fact, subarachnoid haemorrhage kills smokers and hypertensive individuals already before they reach hospitals, and therefore studies that cannot include these outside hospitals deaths in analy
The tread on the tyre is worn out, new tyres are needed. Everyday life for many drivers. But where do these lost centimetres of tyre tread 'disappear' to? As micro-rubbers, they mainly end up in soil and water and, to a small extent, in the air. And the amount of these particles in our environment is anything but small, as Empa researchers have now calculated.
An international research team led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found that microorganisms living in the gut may alter the ageing process, which could lead to the development of food-based treatment to slow it down.
The Chinese government may have been systematically misreporting the number of organs it claims it has voluntarily collected since 2010, according to new research published in BMC Medical Ethics.
A KAIST research team has developed a gallium-based metal complex enabling the rapid chiral analysis of alcohols. A team working under Professor Hyunwoo Kim reported the efficient new alcohol analysis method using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in iScience.
Hydrogen as an energy carrier can help us move away from fossil fuels, but only if it is created efficiently. One way to improve efficiency is to use waste heat that's left over from other industrial processes.
Ford's first efforts with an all-electric vehicle — the Focus Electric — wasn't exactly a hit with the buying public. However, the company is looking improve greatly upon that compromised …
On a military base, a black flag is bad news. That means it's too hot outside to do anything strenuous, so training and missions are put off until conditions improve.
At its height, in the year A.D. 177, the Roman Empire seemed all but invincible. It was the most expansive political and social structure in Western civilization. Then it fell, in a manner so spectacular and swift as to belie its greatness. Could the same fate be in store for America? In a new episode of The Idea File , staff writer James Fallows explores the possibility that the collapse of our
Hotel worker Gerod Buckhalter has struggled with an opioid addiction since he was 18 years old, even overdosing twice. "I've had every type of treatment you could think of," the now-33-year-old told The Washington Post . "Numerous stays in long-term treatment, numerous detoxes. You name it, I've had it." Unfortunately, none of the treatments worked — and that's why Buckhalter decided to let neuro
There's a new technological answer to the iconic line "you're going to need a bigger boat" from Jaws: 3D printing one. Last month, the University of Maine revealed 3Dirigo , a 25-foot, 5,000-pound boat that set new records for the world's largest solid 3D-printed object and largest 3D-printed vessel. Incidentally, it was created by the new titleholder of the largest prototype polymer 3D printer b
A team of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have used satellite data to augment measurements of North Korean nuclear tests on the ground. The researchers find that the most recent test shifted the ground by a few metres, and estimate it to be equivalent to 17 times the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The new work appears in a paper in Geophysical Journal In
It's tempting to think of the impeachable offense as a static construct. Either the president did a bad thing, or he didn't. Either it was sufficiently bad as to be impeachable, or it was not. But this can't be correct, either as a matter of common sense or as a matter of constitutional law. As House Democrats roll forward with public impeachment hearings, and as Senate Republicans build out thei
Ready for Liftoff A free new app called "Rocket Science: Ride 2 Station," created by NASA, lets you control your very own SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing Starliner. It's a game that allows you to explore the basics of what it's like to run a commercial crew mission into space. The app runs you through all the preparatory steps, from choosing your spacecraft and crew to launching and docking maneuver
Cases of melanoma dropped markedly among US teens and young adults from 2006 to 2015, research finds. That trend occurred even as incidents of skin cancer continued to increase among older adults and the general population. The finding suggests that public-health efforts to encourage sun protection may be gaining traction, researchers say. "There seems to be a breakthrough happening that might re
New York City's comprehensive new code for animal welfare restricts when horse-drawn carriages can operate and bans the sale of the fatty liver of a force-fed duck, foie gras.
According to "The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change," which involves the University of Exeter, countries and cities are responding to the growing threat that global warming poses.
Messenger RNA transmits genetic information to the proteins, and microRNA plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Research Centre for Medical Genetics have described the complex interactions between these two and other kinds of human RNA. The paper was published in Frontiers in Genetics.
New York City's comprehensive new code for animal welfare restricts when horse-drawn carriages can operate and bans the sale of the fatty liver of a force-fed duck, foie gras.
Messenger RNA transmits genetic information to the proteins, and microRNA plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Research Centre for Medical Genetics have described the complex interactions between these two and other kinds of human RNA. The paper was published in Frontiers in Genetics.
A new study in Comprehensive Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, found that one third of a group of patients seeking treatment for buying-shopping disorder (BSD) also reported symptoms of addictive online shopping. These patients tended to be younger than the others in the study sample, experienced greater levels of anxiety and depression, and were likely to exhibit a higher severity of BSD symptom
Forskere efterlyser fælles energimærkning af computerspil, efter de har dokumenteret, at nye cloud-baserede spil forbruger nemlig markant mere strøm end traditionelle online-spil og lokale spil på en konsol eller computer.
Det bør betragtes som et lægefagligt svigt, hvis forældre opfordres til at lade sønnen omskære, fordi det giver en hurtig løsning på stramhedsproblemet, skriver overlæge.
Nature, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03514-3 Japanese craft's mission is the first to gather material from under an an asteroid's surface.
A breastfeeding-friendly environment at work can lead to higher productivity on the job and greater breastmilk production, according to new research. Researchers conducted two studies for their paper in the Academy of Management Journal . The first involved interviews with 38 women who breastfed and worked full time, and a second study tracked 106 women who were working full time and breastfeedin
Doctored videos are a menace, but we have more to fear from unscrupulous politicians taking advantage of Facebook's targeted ads, writes Annalee Newitz
Rydberg molecules are giant molecules made up of tens or hundreds of atoms bound to a Rydberg atom. These molecules have a permanent dipole (i.e., a pair of oppositely charged or magnetized poles), as one of their atoms is in a highly excited state.
"Blocking events" have produced some of the 21st century's deadliest heat waves. These stalled high-pressure weather systems will increase due to climate change, research finds. Atmospheric blocking events are middle-latitude, high-pressure systems that stay in place for days or even weeks. Depending upon when and where they develop, blocking events can cause droughts or downpours and heat waves
Researchers at Drexel University's C&J Nyheim Plasma Institute have reported the production of the first pure polymeric nitrogen compound at near-ambient conditions. The substance, which has existed only in theory for the last three decades, is predicted to be able to produce massive amounts of clean energy with atmospheric nitrogen as its only byproduct.
In a breakthrough with important implications for the future of immunotherapy for breast cancer, UC San Francisco scientists have found that blocking the activity of a single enzyme can prevent a common type of breast cancer from spreading to distant organs.
A new study looks at what makes organized sports fun for kids, and some of the findings might surprise you. The new study, published today, dispels the popular myth that what makes sports the most fun for girls are the social aspects, like friendships, while for boys the fun factor has to do with competition.
The biological actions of insulin are mediated by its receptor–the insulin receptor — which is localized on the cell surface. In a new study, researchers based in Germany, Canada, and Finland show how insulin interacts with its receptor at a second binding site. The scientists hope that these new details concerning insulin-receptor interactions will ultimately expand the current models of insuli
One injection of an antibody treatment let people with severe peanut allergies eat a nut's worth of peanut protein two weeks later, a small, Stanford-led pilot study showed.
A research group led by The University of Texas at Austin is challenging the current scientific paradigm by arguing that mechanics alone is not enough. To make progress on fracture research, scientists need to start considering the role of chemistry.
Women are more likely to survive a stroke, but have worse disability and poorer quality of life afterwards compared to men, according to research published in the latest issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Researchers have discovered a new way to optimize results in treating patients with prostate cancer tumors while minimizing negative side effects. The study is featured in the November issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
For participants without atrial fibrillation, use of a smartwatch application (app) can identify irregular pulse, which may indicate atrial fibrillation with high positive predictive value, …
In an ideal world (not the one we live in) science should be apolitical. In fact, it should be completely protected from political and other ideological influence. By this I mean the conduct of scientific research itself, so that the results are shielded from bias, conflicts of interest, and undue influence. There are ways in which science and politics legitimately interact. If governments fund s
EU-funded researchers and partners are pushing the boundaries of the laws of physics, developing nanocomposite materials and nanoelectronic circuits to greatly improve energy, thermal and computing performance. This could make smartphones and other electronics more efficient and boost the potential of solar power.
Global climate change is often at the forefront of national and international discussions and controversies, yet many details of the specific contributing factors are poorly understood. Many questions remain unanswered about just how broad humans' effect on Earth's shifting climate really is.
The fight against climate change could soon be coming to your supermarket shelf. But if food companies label products with lower greenhouse gas emissions, will shoppers pay more for them? When it comes to tea, the answer is complicated, according to a team at Tufts.
A KAIST research team has developed a gallium-based metal complex enabling the rapid chiral analysis of alcohols. A team working under Professor Hyunwoo Kim reported the efficient new alcohol analysis method using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in iScience.
A source known as iPTF14hls, assumed to be a Type IIP supernova, may be a long-term outflow similar to stellar winds, according to a new study published November 5 on arXiv.org. The new research proposes that iPTF14hls is most likely a so-called "hyper-wind"—an extreme mass outflow from a massive star.
Researchers at the University of Alberta are working on a warning system aimed at teaching grizzly bears that frequent railway tracks to get out of the way of oncoming trains.
In the past decade, thousands of planets have been discovered beyond our solar system. This has had the effect of renewing interest in space exploration, which includes the possibility of sending spacecraft to explore exoplanets. Given the challenges involved, a number of advanced concepts are currently being explored, like the time-honored concept of a light sail (as exemplified by Breakthrough S
What happens behind the scenes when employees are accused of harassment? New research from Michigan State University revealed that almost half of accused harassers can go back to work when disputes are settled by arbitrators — or, third-parties who resolve disputes.
The Curiosity rover has already had a tremendously successful mission on Mars, but it's not done making discoveries yet. NASA reports that the rover has detected a perplexing increase in oxygen concentrations on the red planet. While the cause is unclear, this comes just months after the rover detected a spike in methane, another biomarker gas. Curiosity landed on Mars in Gale Crater more than se
Scientists have transformed the UNICORN computing code into an AI-like algorithm to more quickly simulate tectonic plate deformation due to a phenomenon called a "fault slip," a sudden shift that occurs at the plate boundary. The team ran UNICORN at 416 petaflops and gained a 75-fold speedup from a previous state-of-the-art solver by fully leveraging the world's most powerful and smartest superc
Like someone from Minnesota being dropped into an Arizona heat wave, giant kelp living in cooler, high-latitude waters were more vulnerable to excessive heat than kelp already living in warmer, Southern California waters, according to a study of Chilean and Californian kelp.
Researchers at the University of Alberta are working on a warning system aimed at teaching grizzly bears that frequent railway tracks to get out of the way of oncoming trains.
What do you need to make the most intense beam of neutrinos in the world? Just a few magnets and some pencil lead. But not your usual household stuff. After all, this is the world's most intense high-energy neutrino beam, so we're talking about jumbo-sized parts: magnets the size of park benches and ultrapure rods of graphite as tall as Danny DeVito.
North Korea withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003. It subsequently developed nuclear weapons, with five underground nuclear tests culminating in a suspected thermonuclear explosion (a hydrogen bomb) on 3 September 2017. Now a team of scientists, led by Dr. K. M. Sreejith of the Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), have used sa
We're seeing a lot of bivalent molecules in drug discovery these days, especially with the popularity of bifunctional protein degrader ligands. The general structure of such thing is (ligand)—-linker—-(ligand), with the two ligands chosen (in the case of targeted protein degradation) to bring a ubiquitin ligase complex up close to some protein you've marked for destruction. But there are a lot of
On Tuesday, Judge Robert S. Lasnik ruled that the Trump Administration's June 2018 decision to allow the sharing of designs for 3D-printed guns online violated federal law. Some background: In 2013, an activist organization called Defense Distributed posted blueprints for a functional 3D-printed gun online. The Obama administration ordered the group to take the blueprints down. In 2015, Defense D
The tread on the tire is worn out, new tires are needed. Everyday life for many drivers. But where do these lost centimeters of tire tread "disappear" to? As micro-rubbers, they mainly end up in soil and water and, to a small extent, in the air. And the amount of these particles in our environment is anything but small, as Empa researchers have now calculated.
Two peacock-shaped gaseous clouds were revealed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). A team of astronomers found several massive baby stars in the complex filamentary clouds, which agrees well with computer simulations of giant collisions of gaseous clouds. The researchers interpret this to mean that the filaments and you
Researchers have used ancient protein sequencing to retrieve genetic information from a 1.9-million-year-old, extinct, giant primate that used to live in a subtropical area in southern China. The genetic information allowed the researchers to uncover the evolutionary position of Gigantopithecus blacki , a primate that stood almost 10-feet tall (3 meters) and weighed up to 322 pounds (600 kg), rev
An unexpected discovery about fertilization from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals new insights on how sperm and egg fuse and could have major implications for couples battling infertility—and may lead to a future male contraceptive.
An unexpected discovery about fertilization from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals new insights on how sperm and egg fuse and could have major implications for couples battling infertility—and may lead to a future male contraceptive.
A University of Kansas professor recently published a pair of articles examining how chief diversity offices are formed to deal with university campus issues of race and ethnicity and how students' interactions with faculty influence their perceptions of campus climate.
Confirmation of a transatlantic crossing by a highly endangered marine animal signals the need for "an international mindset" when seeking ways to conserve the basking shark—named among the world's 'weirdest' animals by National Geographic.
Researchers of the Microelectronics Research Unit (MIC) at the University of Oulu, in collaboration with Tampere University, have demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can be used to control the direction of neural cell growth.
Trying Again The key to finally finding dark matter may be hiding in antimatter, the weird inverse version of the matter that we can see and touch. The longstanding assumption among physicists has been that dark matter — the invisible stuff that physicists believe makes up most of the universe — doesn't interact with antimatter any differently than it does regular matter, according to Gizmodo . B
Confirmation of a transatlantic crossing by a highly endangered marine animal signals the need for "an international mindset" when seeking ways to conserve the basking shark—named among the world's 'weirdest' animals by National Geographic.
Venedig er i disse dage ramt af massive ødelæggelser efter de værste oversvømmelser i mere end 50 år. Men det er ingen nyhed, at den synkende italienske by kæmper mod højvandet, og i Ingeniørens digitaliserede arkiv kan man også læse om de tiltag, der er blevet gjort for at holde vandet ude.
Gravitational wave detectors are finding black hole mergers in the universe at the rate of one per week. If these mergers occur in empty space, researchers cannot see associated light that is needed to determine where they happened. However, a new study suggests that researchers might finally be able to see light from black hole mergers if the collisions happen in the presence of gas.
Your characterization of the thermostat war going on in your house is likely to depend at least in part on whether you're a man or a woman, new research suggests. The study has taken an initial glimpse at these skirmishes in a sample of Ohio homes, offering the first known data on joint consumer decision-making around household temperature settings and potential effects of those actions on energy
Neighbor peer pressure may be linked to increases in yard fertilization and irrigation across several distinct climate regions of the US, according to a new study.
Improving acute pain management after traumatic injury remains a priority for policymakers and clinicians as rates of injury and subsequent pain-related disability rise nationally. Yet, innovations in trauma pain management remain understudied.
A new study investigates differences in how men and women perceive their own health. The study finds that confidence in maintaining good health habits can be influenced by gender.
Chemo drugs are notoriously toxic, in part because so little of the drug actually gets to its target organ, requiring high doses. Scientists have now found a way to deliver nanoparticles filled with chemo to the lungs with 10x greater success by 'hitchhiking' them onto red blood cells, leading to drastically improved survival in mice with metastatic lung cancer.
Authorities in the Faroe Islands have announced the archipelago in the North Atlantic will be "closed for maintenance" for two days in April when tourists won't be welcome, instead opening the doors to volunteer caretakers.
Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too.
The success of antiretroviral therapies has extended the lives of people living with HIV, long enough for other chronic health conditions to emerge, including a recently documented uptick in sudden death. Now, in a study comparing medical information and portable EKG patch data from men living with HIV to men without it, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers and collaborators report they have found m
Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too.
Scientific studies already support yoga practice as a means to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Now a new study provides evidence that yoga and breathing exercises can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety in both the short term — with each session as well as cumulatively in the longer term, over three months.
Some mutual fund managers appear to be overestimating the safety of their holdings, resulting in misclassifications by Morningstar that have a significant impact on investors, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured the multiple bushfires burning across Australia's east coast. Around 150 fires are still burning in New South Wales and Queensland, with hot and dry conditions accompanied with strong winds, said to be spreading the fires.
Yeast already helps make bread and beer and cranks out the biofuel ethanol, but scientists believe it can be used to create an even more efficient fuel called isobutanol. Normally, yeast only creates a tiny amount of isobutanol. Now researchers at Princeton University have discovered a genetic switch that significantly ramps up production.
Yeast already helps make bread and beer and cranks out the biofuel ethanol, but scientists believe it can be used to create an even more efficient fuel called isobutanol. Normally, yeast only creates a tiny amount of isobutanol. Now researchers at Princeton University have discovered a genetic switch that significantly ramps up production.
Glaciologists at ETH Zurich and WSL assessed the global water storage and hydropower potential that could be freed up in future as glaciers melt in response to climate change.
Ancient Mesopotamia, the fabled land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was the command and control center of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This ancient superpower was the largest empire of its time, lasting from 912 BC to 609 BC in what is now modern Iraq and Syria. At its height, the Assyrian state stretched from the Mediterranean and Egypt in the west to the Persian Gulf and western Iran i
The common phase transitions are those that occur as a function of temperature variation. Ice changes phase to become liquid water at 0 degrees Celsius. Liquid water changes phase to become water vapor at 100 degrees Celsius. Similarly, magnetic materials become nonmagnetic at critical temperatures. However, there are also phase transitions that do not depend on temperature. They occur in the vici
A Great Green Wall, planted across the breadth of Africa, could serve as a bulwark against climate change and ecological breakdown — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Otte år efter at den skulle have været færdig, kæmper ingeniører og entreprenører stadig med at bygge højvandsbarrieren Mose, der skal beskytte Venedig.
A Great Green Wall, planted across the breadth of Africa, could serve as a bulwark against climate change and ecological breakdown — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
If you find yourself regularly reading the comments on r/futurology and would like to help us out, would you consider being a comment Moderator? It's not a particularly arduous task, though you will need to devote a minimum of 90 minutes per month to it. If you are already spending that much time surveying the comments section, then you can moderate at the same time as you are reading the comment
PLUS. Efter Danmarks største affaldsselskab havde oplyst offentligheden om forkerte genanvendelsestal, lovede de at igangsætte en ekstern undersøgelse for at kortlægge, hvor meget plast der reelt bliver genanvendt. Den undersøgelse har de nu skrottet.
More intense heat waves can destabilize the components of munitions, particularly where explosives are not properly stored — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
More intense heat waves can destabilize the components of munitions, particularly where explosives are not properly stored — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Two types of plastic called plasticrust and pyroplastics were spotted on an Italian island the first time, suggesting the issue may be more widespread than we thought
Winter is changing its character. Since the beginning of the 21st century, glaciers have been melting at record speed. In Central Asia, they've lost approximately one quarter of their volume over the past 50 years. An ice grotto in Switzerland that is creeping down the slope as the Rhône Glacier advances is now covered with white blankets every summer to help preserve it. When a glacier ceases t
"Understanding how we decipher a great historical event written in the book of rocksmay be as interesting as the event itself."—Walter Alvarez Built upon the slopes of Mount Ingino in Umbria, the ancient town of Gubbio boasts many well-preserved structures that document its glorious history. Founded by the Etruscans between the second and first centuries B.C., its Roman theater, Consuls Palace, a
Philip Marcus, you might say, is obsessed with the solar system's most famous storm. The computational physicist and professor in the mechanical engineering department at the University of California, Berkeley, has been probing Jupiter's Great Red Spot—a huge, untiring hurricane that takes six days to fully rotate—since the late 1970s, when Voyager 1 began to send up-close images of Jupiter back
Facebook has been weathering a series of disapproving news cycles after clarifying that its disinformation policies exempt political ads from review for truthfulness. There are now reports that the company is considering reducing the targeting options available to political advertisers. No matter how Facebook and its counterparts tweak their policies, whatever these companies do will prompt broad
There was a time when the withdrawal of roughly 50 American Special Forces from a couple of outposts in a remote part of Syria wouldn't have generated a wave of angst across the world about the United States unceremoniously dumping its allies and terminating the international system it has led for more than 70 years. That time is decidedly not now. When I recently asked a European official about
Insurance coverage is a critical determinant of health. We should discuss it. But candidates for president should also discuss their plans to strengthen communities by addressing homelessness, food insecurity, and the numerous other social factors that underpin America's growing health gap.
Saudi researchers have lost a pair of papers in a spectrometry journal for errors the editors found fatal but the authors apparently dismiss as trivial. The articles appeared in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom. The principal author on both papers is Mohammad Gondal, … Continue reading
Forskare från bland annat Sverige och Australien har undersökt tio fjädrar som upptäckts i de förstenade avlagringarna av en sjö sydväst om Melbourne. Genom att jämföra med andra fossila fjädrar som hittats tillsammans med skelett kan forskarna känna igen dem som fågel- respektive dinosauriefjädrar. Djuren var små och anpassade till kyla. Med utgångspunkt från fjädrarnas storlek bedömer forskarna
Pigeons with mutilated feet are a common sight in cities, and it turns out that their toes are being cut off by human hair that has been poorly disposed of
Human settlements are the cause and consequence of most environmental and societal changes on Earth. The World Settlement Footprint pinpoints them with unprecedented accuracy.
Trigger fish are remarkably good at estimating how far they have swum, perhaps because they have distance-tracking 'grid cells' in their brains just like we do
The effectiveness of current treatments for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, could be improved by using approaches that wipe out the 'survival system' of cancer cells according to a study published in Nature Communications today. Researchers from the Babraham Institute, AstraZeneca and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre have demonstrated an approach, used in parallel with existing
Washington State University-led research has discovered infertile men have identifiable patterns of epigenetic molecules or biomarkers attached to their sperm DNA that aren't present in fertile men. The scientists also identified biomarkers among infertile patients who responded to hormone therapy to treat their condition versus those who did not.
In a new study presented to heart specialists from around the world, researchers at the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute in Salt Lake City found that simple 'nudges' in the form of texts, emails and phone calls, not only help patients fill that first statin prescription, but also continue to help them take their medications over the long term.
PLUS. Ekspert kritiserer støjregler efter klagestorm fra Cityringens overboer. Men selv om støj er skadeligt for helbredet, er der ikke meget forskning, og myndighederne har ikke planer om stramninger.
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12951-7 The power conversion efficiencies of most organic solar cells roll off quickly with thickness more than 100 nm. Here, Wu et al. show that avoiding excessive charge accumulation in the intra-bandgap tail states is vital to maintain the photocurrent generation at high thickness.
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13211-4 Steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) accumulate in Solanum, but their hydroxylating enzymes are unknown. Here, the authors report 2-OXOGLUTARATE DEPENDENT DIOXYGENASE enzymes that catalyze the committed hydroxylation steps in the biosynthesis of leptinine insecticidal compounds in wild potato or non-bitter SGAs i
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13221-2 Fish consumption is considered to be the only significant dietary source of MeHg. Here the authors show that rice could also be a significant global dietary source, especially in South and Southeast Asia. International rice trade and joint ingestion of fish and rice could aggravate the MeHg exposure levels i
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13042-3 Nuclear spins in diamond have applications in quantum technologies and NMR methods but their performance can be limited by relaxation processes that are difficult to characterise. Ajoy et al. develop a T1 noise spectroscopy method to identify the dominant relaxation channel and propose a mitigation strategy.
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13153-x For packaging enzymes into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), crystalline MOFs are usually used. Here, the authors encapsulated enzymes in amorphous MOFs a via one-pot co-precipitation process under ambient condition, which led to higher enzymatic activity than in a corresponding crystalline MOF composite.
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13033-4 Mutations in the chloride channel ClC-2 have been associated with familial forms of hyperaldosteronism. Here, Schewe et al. generated a mouse model carrying the most common mutation found in patients and find it recapitulates key features of the disease, providing a unique tool for future studies on its path
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13170-w The brain's capacity to produce new neurons in response to injury is limited. Here, the authors transplant GABAergic progenitor cells and show that they synaptically incorporate into the damaged hippocampus and rescue memory problems and post-traumatic seizures caused by traumatic brain injury.
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12477-y MAPK-targeted therapies fail to achieve complete remission. Here, the authors show that anti-apoptosis resistance is acquired in these targeted therapies through the mRNA destabilization of NOXA which leads to dependence on MCL-1, and that sequential combination of MCL-1 inhibition with targeted therapies ov
The House's public impeachment hearings will test whether Donald Trump was right when he declared that his political support is so rock-solid that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without consequence—and what it means for a bitterly divided nation if he was. Even some Republican political professionals privately acknowledge that the coming weeks of testimony, which began with a devastatingl
Barn som fått strålning mot hjärnan för att behandla tumörer kan få kognitiva problem senare i livet. Nu har forskare vid Karolinska Institutet i studier på möss visat att läkemedlet litium kan bidra till läkningen av dessa skador, även långt efter att de uppkommit. I dag överlever fyra av fem barn som får en hjärntumör. I den vuxna svenska befolkningen har 1 av 600 personer behandlats för cancer
Hundreds of children ran a charity road race through poisonous smog in New Delhi on Thursday, triggering a storm of criticism about the damage to their health.
2003, när forskare för första gången lyckades kartlägga människans arvsmassa hade det tagit 13 år och kostat ungefär 2,7 miljarder dollar. Nu går en helgenomsekvensering att göra på mindre än en vecka för bara runt 30 000 kronor. Genom att jämföra arvsmassan mot ett referensgenom kan man diagnostisera genetiska sjukdomar, men även intellektuell funktionsnedsättning.
Nature, Published online: 13 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03509-0 Larval fish are eating tiny pieces of plastic in the waters off Hawaii, briefcase-sized labs could transform drug development and regulators have approved the first vaccine against Ebola.
2 ud af 3 vil gerne vide mere om hvilken CO2-udledning deres streaming og surfing medfører. Men kun et mindretal er parate til at skrue ned for forbruget.
Plastic waste from America, collected for recycling, is shipped to Indonesia. Some is burned as fuel by tofu makers, producing deadly chemicals and contaminating food.
https://www.ibiology.org/human-disease/malaria-parasite Malaria kills about 500,000 people per year including many children. Dr. Maria Mota explains how better understanding the interactions between a host and the malaria parasite may help to prevent the disease and develop future treatments. Talk Overview: Two global eradication programs since1950 have reduced the malaria burden significantly, h
https://www.ibiology.org/human-disease/malaria-parasite Malaria kills about 500,000 people per year including many children. Dr. Maria Mota explains how better understanding the interactions between a host and the malaria parasite may help to prevent the disease and develop future treatments. Talk Overview: Two global eradication programs since1950 have reduced the malaria burden significantly, h
https://www.ibiology.org/human-disease/malaria-parasite Malaria kills about 500,000 people per year including many children. Dr. Maria Mota explains how better understanding the interactions between a host and the malaria parasite may help to prevent the disease and develop future treatments. Talk Overview: Two global eradication programs since1950 have reduced the malaria burden significantly, h
Scientific Reports, Published online: 14 November 2019; doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53690-5 Author Correction: Binding of the protein ICln to α-integrin contributes to the activation of ICl swell current
Climate change will damage the health of an entire generation unless there are immediate cuts to fossil fuel emissions, from a rise in deadly infectious diseases to surging malnutrition, experts warned Thursday.
Himlakroppen Ultima Thule döps om – efter reaktioner mot namnets nazistkoppling. Nya namnet Arrokoth betyder himmel på det nordamerikanska ursprungsfolket Powhatans språk.
Venice braced itself for more rising waters on Thursday as Italy's government prepared to take emergency measures for the canal city struck by an exceptional tide this week.
James Peebles won this year's Nobel prize in physics for helping transform the field of cosmology into a respected science, but if there's one term he hates to hear, it's "Big Bang Theory."
Unprecedented bushfires in eastern Australia have turbocharged demands the country's conservative government do more to tackle climate change, and have rekindled an ideological fight over the science behind the blazes.
Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship—but squishier, says Dr. Gunther Hollopeter, assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new paper in the journal eLife, Hollop
Homes and communities across the UK have felt the full force of torrential downpours in recent weeks. And the UK's uplands could in future see significantly more annual rainfall than is currently being predicted in national climate models, according to new research by the University of Plymouth, UK.
Each year, anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of deaths are attributed to the catastrophic effects of major earthquakes. Apart from ground shaking, earthquake hazards include landslides, dam ruptures, flooding, and worse—if the sea floor is suddenly displaced during an earthquake, it can trigger a deadly tsunami.
Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship—but squishier, says Dr. Gunther Hollopeter, assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new paper in the journal eLife, Hollop
The state of New South Wales (NSW) in south eastern Australia is continuing to experience devastating bushfires due to the dry tinder-like atmosphere in the territory: high winds, dry lightning and continuing heat. Approximately 69 fires are still raging in NSW according to its Facebook page and more than 70 are burning to the south in Queensland. And the summer has just begun in the region.
New research by engineers at the University of Illinois combines atomic-scale experimentation with computer modeling to determine how much energy it takes to bend multilayer graphene—a question that has eluded scientists since graphene was first isolated. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Materials.
When a marine heat wave hit California's coast in 2014, it brought ocean temperatures that were high for Northern California but fairly normal for a Southern California summer. Much of the giant kelp in the north died in the heat wave, while southern populations survived.
New research suggests it was climate-related drought that built the foundation for the collapse of the Assyrian Empire (whose heartland was based in today's northern Iraq)—one of the most powerful civilizations in the ancient world. The Science Advances paper, led by Ashish Sinha at California State University, Dominguez Hills and coauthored by CIRES affiliate Adam Schneider, details how megadroug
Tropical Depression Kalmaegi continues moving west through the Philippine Sea and toward a landfall in the east central Philippines. NASA provided forecasters with an analysis of rainfall rates occurring in the strengthening tropical cyclone.
When a marine heat wave hit California's coast in 2014, it brought ocean temperatures that were high for Northern California but fairly normal for a Southern California summer. Much of the giant kelp in the north died in the heat wave, while southern populations survived.
A new solar power generator prototype developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and research teams in the United States, will be deployed on the first 2020 NASA flight launch to the International Space Station.
The US was once home to two subspecies of the extinct Carolina parakeet: one vanished in the 1910s but a study hints that the other survived into the 1940s
The genome is the master plan for all body parts, from toe nails to eyebrows. But it's not just the blueprint that determines what's built. All of the cellular players that draw instructions from the blueprint add their own interpretation to the design, and researchers are still discovering new players. Using new tools they developed, Thomas Jefferson University researchers have found a sea of a n
The genome is the master plan for all body parts, from toe nails to eyebrows. But it's not just the blueprint that determines what's built. All of the cellular players that draw instructions from the blueprint add their own interpretation to the design, and researchers are still discovering new players. Using new tools they developed, Thomas Jefferson University researchers have found a sea of a n
Vi uppmärksammar Världsdiabetesdagen genom att berätta om vad som görs på forskningsfronten för att bekämpa diabetes. Här hittar du ett urval av våra nya och mest lästa artiklar om diabetes.
Donald Trump has claimed Boris Johnson as his bumbling, blond-haired mini-me from across the water. The U.K. Labour Party is doing all it can to push the same message ahead of next month's general election, claiming there is a Trump-Johnson alliance afoot. Even Hillary Clinton has criticized the British prime minister for his refusal to publish a report into Russia's involvement in the Brexit ref
On a cold November morning, a group of women—and a few men—gathered in front of Holborn tube station, in Central London. At 9 a.m. sharp, two of them linked arms with Samira Ahmed and walked the television presenter down the street to the building where her pay-discrimination case would be heard. It was a gesture of both support and defiance: Over the seven days of hearings, Ahmed took on a Briti
In the first study of public health-related Facebook advertising, newly published in the journal Vaccine, researchers at the University of Maryland, the George Washington University and Johns Hopkins University show that a small group of anti-vaccine ad buyers has successfully leveraged Facebook to reach targeted audiences and that the social media platform's efforts to improve transparency have a
'These results lay the groundwork for future space microconcentrator photovoltaic systems and establish a realistic path to exceed 350 w/kg specific power at more than 33% power conversion efficiency by scaling down to even smaller microcells,' the researchers say. 'These could serve as a drop-in replacement for existing space solar cells at a substantially lower cost.'
Scientists from the University of Plymouth analysed rainfall records from the 1870s to the present day with their findings showing there could be large divergence in projected rainfall by the mid to late 21st century.
Researchers are first to combine 3D climate modeling with atmospheric chemistry to explore the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars, which comprise about 70% of the total galactic population.
A new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier, found that nearly two-thirds of infants (61%) and almost all toddlers (98%) consumed added sugars in their average daily diets, primarily in the form of flavored yogurts (infants) and fruit drinks (toddlers). Infants were 6-11 months, and toddlers were 12-23 months.
Parents of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) want individualized, formal psychosocial support during their children's in-hospital stays, according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study by researchers from Nemours Children's Health System outlines ways to optimize mental health for parents and mitigate the impact of stress on long-term outcomes for children and
Women are most affected by the vascular complications of diabetes — a situation likely to escalate in the coming decades, reports a paper published on World Diabetes Day in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Meget er blevet bedre og forstået i højere grad end tidligere, når det handler om mikrotjenester. Men 'fysikkens love' glemmes stadig og 'sagaer' kan give bedre overblik end log-filer, mener udvikler.
New research by engineers combines atomic-scale experimentation with computer modeling to determine how much energy it takes to bend multilayer graphene — a question that has eluded scientists since graphene was first isolated.
3D printing is super cool, but it's also super slow — it would take 115 days to print a detailed, multimaterial object about the size of a grapefruit. A new method allows printing with up to 8 different inks in a fraction of the time, thanks to special printheads that can seamlessly switch inks up to 50 times per second.
3D printing is super cool, but it's also super slow — it would take 115 days to print a detailed, multimaterial object about the size of a grapefruit. A new method allows printing with up to 8 different inks in a fraction of the time, thanks to special printheads that can seamlessly switch inks up to 50 times per second.
Scientists have solved the structure of one of the key components of photosynthesis, a discovery that could lead to photosynthesis being 'redesigned' to achieve higher yields and meet urgent food security needs.
Researchers have now developed a new way to fortify staple foods with these micronutrients by encapsulating them in a biocompatible polymer that prevents the nutrients from being degraded during storage or cooking. In a small clinical trial, they showed that women who ate bread fortified with encapsulated iron were able to absorb iron from the food.
Researchers linked a gut bacteria toxin to worse clinical outcomes in patients with alcoholic liver disease, and discovered that treatment with bacteriophages clears the bacteria and eliminates the disease in mice.
Loops at the ends of telomeres play a vital protective role preventing damage to chromosomes, according to new research. The study showed how the winding and unwinding of 't-loops' at the end of telomeres prevents chromosomes from being recognized as DNA damage. The study also uncovered how this process is regulated.
Researchers have succeeded in reconstructing the evolutionary relationship between a two million year old giant primate and the living orangutan. It is the first time genetic material this old has been retrieved from a fossil in a subtropical area. This allows the researchers to accurately reconstruct animal, including human, evolutionary processes way beyond the limits known today.
Problematic use of marijuana among adolescents and adults increased after legalization of recreational marijuana use, according to a new study from NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Over 77,000 Canadians are living with multiple sclerosis, a disease whose causes still remain unknown. Presently, they have no hope for a cure. Researchers have now identified a molecule named ALCAM which, once blocked, delays the progression of the disease. Their results, obtained from in vitro human and in vivo mouse studies, could lead to the development of a new generation of therapies to trea
Although CRIg was originally identified as a macrophage receptor for binding complement C3b/iC3b in vitro, recent studies reveal that CRIg functions as a pattern recognition receptor in vivo for Kupffer cells (KCs) to directly bind bacterial pathogens in a complement-independent manner. This raises the critical question of whether CRIg captures…
Friction is responsible for an estimated 20 to 30% of world energy consumption (1). It is a major source of wear for both man and machine and causes most of the noise around us. But friction is also useful or even necessary, for example, to walk, drive, or skate, or…
If the genome contains outlier sequences extraordinarily sensitive to environmental agents, these would be sentinels for monitoring personal carcinogen exposure and might drive direct changes in cell physiology rather than acting through rare mutations. New methods, adductSeq and freqSeq, provided statistical resolution to quantify rare lesions at single-base resolution across…
The activation of innate immune receptors by pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) is central to host defense against infections. On the other hand, these receptors are also activated by immunogenic damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), typically released from dying cells, and the activation can evoke chronic inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. One of…
Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to useful chemicals has been actively pursued for closing the carbon cycle and preventing further deterioration of the environment/climate. Since CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) at a cathode is always paired with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at an anode, the overall efficiency of electrical energy to…
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common human leukemia, and dysregulation of tRNA-derived short noncoding RNA (tsRNA) (tRF-1) expression is an accompanying event in the development of this disease. tsRNAs are fragments originating from the 3′ end of tRNA precursors and do not contain mature tRNA sequences. In contrast…
The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is known to support episodic memory and spatial navigation, raising the possibility that its true function is to form "cognitive maps" of any kind of information. Studies in humans and animals support the idea that the hippocampal theta rhythm (4 to 8 Hz) is key…
Chiral molecules interact and react differently with other chiral objects, depending on their handedness. Therefore, it is essential to understand and ultimately control the evolution of molecular chirality during chemical reactions. Although highly sophisticated techniques for the controlled synthesis of chiral molecules have been developed, the observation of chirality on…
A novel microfluidic device addresses one of the most costly steps in the engineered cell therapy manufacturing process, namely gene delivery. Deterministic mechanoporation, or DMP, uses fluid flow to pull each cell in a large population onto its own tiny needle. The flow is then reversed to release the cells from the needles, leaving a singular and precisely defined pore within each cell that all
Synthetic compounds increasingly used in everyday products like shampoo and motor oil are finding their way into landfills and supercharging the biogas those landfills produce, researchers have found.
Medical researchers have discovered a new biomarker in cancer stem cells that govern cancer survival and spread, and it's raising hope that drug discovery to kill cancer stem cells could follow suit.
It's Wednesday, November 13. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was at the White House today visiting President Trump. Why do the two get along, though their countries are so at odds? In today's newsletter: ❖ A revelation from the first public-facing impeachment hearings. ❖ A new candidate for Obama's heir—and for the 2020 Democratic primary? ❖ Finally, why Don Jr. was booed by trolls at his
About 80 million people with diabetes around the world need the hormone, and half of them can't afford it. Creating competition could help, the agency said.
A study from the Lancet points to infectious diseases, worsening air pollution, rising temperatures and even malnutrition as threats to child health as the climate changes.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have unravelled the genetic mechanisms behind tiny waterfleas' ability to adapt to increased levels of phosphorus pollution in lakes.
The first day of public hearings into the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump included an explosive revelation . William B. Taylor Jr., the senior American diplomat in Ukraine, tied Trump even more directly than we previously knew to the effort to pressure Ukraine to probe his political opponent. But as damaging as Taylor's testimony proved, it was merely another massive boulder in the
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have unravelled the genetic mechanisms behind tiny waterfleas' ability to adapt to increased levels of phosphorus pollution in lakes.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have unravelled the genetic mechanisms behind tiny waterfleas' ability to adapt to increased levels of phosphorus pollution in lakes.
Microbiologists have discovered a new metabolic process in the ocean. Ranging from molecular structures of individual genes and detection of their global distribution, their results give insight into the pathway process and its degradation products and thus provide valuable information for future calculations of the ocean`s carbon dioxide balance.
The ratio of carbon isotopes in three common species of tuna has changed substantially since 2000, suggesting major shifts are also taking place in the phytoplankton populations that form the basis of the ocean's food web, according to a new international study. Much of the change occurring in phytoplankton physiology and species composition may be driven by increased ocean stratification, an impa
Lancet Countdown tracks impacts of global heating covering disease, wildfires and malnutrition The climate crisis will determine the lifelong health of today's children, doctors have warned, noting that global heating was already causing harm. Children are especially vulnerable and the global team of researchers say rising temperatures mean the bacteria causing deadly diarrhoea will thrive while
Location matters when talking about how climate might or might not be driving migration from Central America. Climate research in the dry corridor region revealed a complex pattern of change. If you average across the entire region you wouldn't see a trend going either way.
AI may be able to help boost psychiatric patient care. Across fields of medicine, researchers and doctors are looking to artificial intelligence and machine learning to help them evaluate and diagnose patients, with the hope that the technology might speed the process, and help pick up on signals and patterns that aren't as readily apparent to the human eye or brain. In the field of psychiatry, w
Scene from the Books of the Dead (The Egyptian museum) showing the ibis-headed God Thoth recording the result of the final judgement. (Credit: Wasef et al, 2019) Ancient Egyptian catacombs …
Researchers have performed the first laboratory experiments to determine whether a slightly different way in which matter and antimatter interact with dark matter might be a key to solving both mysteries.
University of Colorado researchers have found lower vaccination rates among children who receive liver transplants, increasing the risk of sickness for those children, who already face significant health issues. The findings are discussed in a 'Research Letter' included in the November 12, 2019 issue of JAMA and also call attention to data that CU School of Medicine faculty members published earli
New research by engineers at the University of Illinois combines atomic-scale experimentation with computer modeling to determine how much energy it takes to bend multilayer graphene — a question that has eluded scientists since graphene was first isolated. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Materials.
University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers found that lung transplant recipients who had early signs of organ rejection could increase their chances of survival by inhaling a liposomal form of the immunosuppression drug cyclosporine through an investigational nebulizer. This is the first randomized, controlled study to demonstrate increased survival and improved lung function with this
among older adults. The possible implications of these research findings are especially serious given that it is common for older Americans to use two or more prescription drugs at the same time and many of these prescription drugs are for pain and sleep, including analgesics and sedatives.
Do you find yourself yearning for more knowledge? Do you regularly and eagerly fall down Internet rabbit holes about science, nature, technology and history? At times, this journey can be overwhelming and frustrating because the quality of the information is not up to par. Grainy YouTube videos and websites from unsourced or unaccredited scholars can leave us all feeling a little empty. But now,
A floating butterfly created by the Multimodal Acoustic Trap Display. (Credit: Eimontas Jankauskis) With the help of sound waves and a small plastic ball, researchers in the U.K. have designed a machine that generates truly 3D holographs. The whole system is slightly smaller than a shoebox and makes simple images, like a butterfly or smiley face, that are less than an inch tall. Described in Natur
Scene from the Books of the Dead (The Egyptian museum) showing the ibis-headed God Thoth recording the result of the final judgment. (Credit: Wasef et al, 2019) Ancient Egyptian catacombs stretch for kilometers underground. Branching off of the tunnels are rooms, and those rooms are stacked to the ceilings with jars holding more than 1 million mummified African sacred ibises. Egyptians buried mill
Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship — but squishier, says Dr. Gunther Hollopeter, assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new paper in the journal eLIFE, Hol
An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Laboratory of Nanomaterials at the Skoltech Center for Photonics and Quantum Materials (CPQM) have rationally designed a novel p-type flexible transparent conductor using single-walled carbon nanotubes. This opens new avenues for its applications in next generation opto-electronics and energy technologies. The results of the study wer
Like someone from Minnesota being dropped into an Arizona heat wave, giant kelp living in cooler, high-latitude waters were more vulnerable to excessive heat than kelp already living in warmer, Southern California waters, according to a study of Chilean and Californian kelp.
New research by Yale University scientists reports the discovery of 'hyperhotspots' in the human genome, locations that are up to 170-times more sensitive to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from sunlight compared to the genome average.
A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently used the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's Cray XK7 Titan supercomputer to model every building serviced by the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga–all 178,368 of them–and discovered through more than 2 million simulations that EPB could potentially save $11-$35 million per year by adjusting electricity usage during peak critical times.
The study analyzes the availability of non-nutritious food in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic in the years after the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) was signed between those countries and the US, going into effect in 2006.
Mimicking conditions thought to exist around dying stars, researchers discovered a mechanism that could explain why planetary nebulae are teeming with complex carbon molecules.
It comes as no surprise that Americans struggle with weight loss, but a new study led by researchers at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine reveals the extent to which many people try, and fail, to shed extra pounds.
Timely identification of newborns exposed to both opioids and gabapentin during pregnancy could mean more appropriate care for newborns experiencing withdrawal.
They're both silver-haired septuagenarians, Vietnam veterans, Ivy League–educated public servants for Republican and Democratic presidents alike, with reputations for unswerving rectitude. But Robert Mueller and William Taylor could not have made for more different congressional witnesses. On July 24, in the glare of television lights, Mueller, the former special counsel, came across like a stati
A University of Tokyo Team transformed its UNICORN computing code into an AI-like algorithm to more quickly simulate tectonic plate deformation due to a phenomenon called a "fault slip," a sudden shift that occurs at the plate boundary. The team ran UNICORN at 416 petaflops and gained a 75-fold speedup from a previous state-of-the-art solver by fully leveraging the world's most powerful and smarte
New research suggests it was climate-related drought that built the foundation for the collapse of the Assyrian Empire (whose heartland was based in today's northern Iraq)–one of the most powerful civilizations in the ancient world. The Science Advances paper, led by Ashish Sinha at California State University, Dominguez Hills and coauthored by CIRES affiliate Adam Schneider, details how megadrou
A Georgia Tech team developed an algorithm for simulating turbulence on Summit, the world's most powerful and smartest supercomputer. The team distributed the problem in such a way that the algorithm reached a performance of less than 15 seconds of wall-clock time per time step for more than 6 trillion grid points–a new world record surpassing the prior state of the art in the field for the size
Tropical Depression Kalmaegi continues moving west through the Philippine Sea and toward a landfall in the east central Philippines. NASA provided forecasters with an analysis of rainfall rates occurring in the strengthening tropical cyclone.
The state of New South Wales (NSW) in south eastern Australia is continuing to experience devastating bushfires due to the dry tinder-like atmosphere in the territory: high winds, dry lightning and continuing heat. Approximately 69 fires are still raging in NSW according to its Facebook page and more than 70 are burning to the south in Queensland. And the summer has just begun in the region.
A study published today in JAMA Network Open concludes that 86 percent of diet trials amended their desired study outcomes along the way. That raises the possibility of bias, say researchers David Ludwig, MD, PhD and Cara Ebbeling, PhD, of Boston Children's Hospital, and Steven Heymsfield, MD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (Baton Rouge, Louisiana).
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, as well as a diverse team of cardiologists and physicists, developed a machine learning algorithm to predict the life expectancy in heart failure patients.
In a new study published in Science Signaling, Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a novel target for new therapies that may help to treat or prevent a host of fibrotic conditions, which contribute to nearly half of overall mortality in the United States.
About 85 percent of Venice was underwater on Tuesday, with water levels reaching more than six feet deep at some points. Venice's mayor said the unusually strong flooding was caused by climate change, estimating the damage to be in the hundreds of millions of Euros. Venice's MOSE engineering project aims to protect Venice from rising seas, but some say it won't help the city stay above water. Non
Nature, Published online: 13 November 2019; doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03231-x Lara Pivodic shares advice on saying 'hello' to the latest member of your research group.
A new method of 're-barcoding' DNA allows scientists to track rapid evolution in yeast. The approach has implications for the prediction of dominant viral strains.
Strong same-sex friendships among male firefighters can help cut down on their stress — but loving relationships with their wives may increase anxiety for those who constantly face danger, according to a new study.
While the frontrunners all want to reduce carbon emissions, their proposed policies vary on issues like nuclear power — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
Wearable, smart technologies are transforming the ability to monitor and improve health, but a decidedly low-tech commodity — the humble toilet — may have potential to outperform them all.
Environmentally benign methods for the industrial production of chemicals are urgently needed. Researchers recently described such a procedure for the synthesis of formaldehyde, and have now improved it with the aid of machine learning.
Scientists have long been puzzled by the existence of so-called "buckyballs"—complex carbon molecules with a soccer-ball-like structure—throughout interstellar space. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Arizona has proposed a mechanism for their formation in a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
A quick Google search for "What is driving migration from Central America?" reveals that nearly all of the top hits claim climate change as a major catalyst for the mass movement of people out of their home countries. University of Arizona climate researchers, however, have shown that the reality is much more nuanced.
A pediatric researcher has identified patterns of spinal curvature in younger children that may be likely to develop into scoliosis by adolescence. Accurately predicting scoliosis, a common, abnormal curvature of the spine, may set the stage for the first-ever methods to prevent the potentially disabling condition.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Dan Jacobson is currently working on numerous projects that form an integrated roadmap for the future of AI in plant breeding and bioenergy. The team's work was featured in Trends in Biotechnology in October. In this Q&A, Jacobson talks about his team's work on a genomic selection algorithm, his vision for the future of environmental genomics, and the space where si
New research has found that people who are illiterate, meaning they never learned to read or write, may have nearly three times greater risk of developing dementia than people who can read and write. The study is published in the Nov. 13, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
A recent article studies chitin-binding proteins from a soilborne fungus (Verticillium nonalfalfae) that causes vascular wilt in plants. This fungus binds a particular protein (VnaChtBP) to chitin in order to abolish the host plant's chitin-triggered burst of reactive oxygen species and shield the fungus from being digested by the plant.
Researchers developed a tool called Geneva (short for Genetic Evasion), which automatically learns to circumvent censorship. Tested in China, India and Kazakhstan, Geneva found dozens of ways to circumvent censorship by exploiting gaps in censors' logic and finding bugs that the researchers say would have been virtually impossible to find manually.
Research involving several teams has shown that cellular recycling (autophagy) is repressed during the process of cell division, and how repression of autophagy during mitosis utilizes a different master regulator. The findings address a long-standing point of contention in biology.
There is a strong association between the number of fracture-associated drugs (FADs) older patients receive and their risk of sustaining a hip fracture, according to a new study.
Environmentally benign methods for the industrial production of chemicals are urgently needed. Researchers recently described such a procedure for the synthesis of formaldehyde, and have now improved it with the aid of machine learning.
Almost half of accused sexual harassers can go back to work after arbitrators or third-parties settle disputes, according to a new study. The findings closely examine the outcomes of arbitration awards involving harassers, as well as providing insight as to whether arbitration is the best solution to addressing workplace harassment. "With all of the issues our society is facing right now, I wante
21h
Vil du være med til at finde de mest interessante nyheder? Send email herom til BioNyt
Tegn abonnement på
BioNyt Videnskabens Verden (www.bionyt.dk) er Danmarks ældste populærvidenskabelige tidsskrift for naturvidenskab. Det er det eneste blad af sin art i Danmark, som er helliget international forskning inden for livsvidenskaberne.
Bladet bringer aktuelle, spændende forskningsnyheder inden for biologi, medicin og andre naturvidenskabelige områder som f.eks. klimaændringer, nanoteknologi, partikelfysik, astronomi, seksualitet, biologiske våben, ecstasy, evolutionsbiologi, kloning, fedme, søvnforskning, muligheden for liv på mars, influenzaepidemier, livets opståen osv.
Artiklerne roses for at gøre vanskeligt stof forståeligt, uden at den videnskabelige holdbarhed tabes.