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It's now or never: Visual events have 100 milliseconds to hit brain target or go unnoticed Posted: 07 Apr 2020 02:07 PM PDT Researchers have defined a crucial window of time that mice need to key in on visual events. |
River-groundwater hot spot for arsenic Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:49 PM PDT Naturally occurring groundwater arsenic contamination is a problem of global significance, particularly in South and Southeast Asian aquifers. |
Common coronaviruses are highly seasonal, with most cases peaking in winter months Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:49 PM PDT Of the seven coronaviruses known to infect people, four cause common respiratory infections that are sharply seasonal and appear to transmit similarly to influenza, according to a new study. |
How forest loss leads to spread of disease Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:49 PM PDT In Uganda, loss of forested habitat increases the likelihood of interactions between disease-carrying wild primates and humans. The findings suggest the emergence and spread of viruses, such as the one that causes COVID-19, will become more common as the conversion of natural habitats into farmland continues worldwide. |
Genes sow seeds of neuropsychiatric diseases before birth, in early childhood Posted: 07 Apr 2020 01:49 PM PDT From early prenatal development through childhood, the prefrontal cortex of the human brain undergoes an avalanche of developmental activity. In some cases, it also contains seeds of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, according to a new genetic analysis. |
Magnetic monopoles detected in Kagome spin ice systems Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:08 PM PDT Magnetic monopoles are actually impossible. At low temperatures, however, certain crystals can contain so-called quasi-particles that behave like magnetic monopoles. Now an international cooperation has proven that such monopoles also occur in a Kagome spin ice system. |
The evolution of color: How butterfly wings can shift in hue Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:08 PM PDT A selective mating experiment by a curious butterfly breeder has led scientists to a deeper understanding of how butterfly wing color is created and evolves. |
Making a connection: Two ways that fault segments may overcome their separation Posted: 07 Apr 2020 12:08 PM PDT In complex fault zones, multiple seemingly disconnected faults can potentially rupture at once, increasing the chance of a large damaging earthquake. Recent earthquakes including the 1992 Landers, 1999 Hector Mine and 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes in California, among others, ruptured in this way. But how can seismologists predict whether individual fault segments might be connected and rupture together during a seismic event? |
Protecting the high seas: Identify biodiversity hotspots Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT Researchers use big data to identify biodiversity hotspots that could become the first generation of high seas marine protected areas. |
Statement on chest imaging and COVID-19 Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT A multinational consensus statement on the role of chest imaging in the management of patients with COVID-19 has just been published. |
How serotonin balances communication within the brain Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:15 AM PDT Our brain is steadily engaged in soliloquies. These internal communications are usually also bombarded with external sensory events. Hence, the impact of the two neuronal processes need to be permanently fine-tuned to avoid their imbalance. A team of scientists has revealed the role of the neurotransmitter serotonin in this scenario. They discovered that distinct serotonergic receptor types control the gain of both streams of information in a separable manner. |
How wallflowers evolved a complementary pair of plant defenses Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT A pair of chemicals used by wallflowers and their kin to ward off predators have evolved to complement each other, with one targeting generalist herbivores and the other targeting specialized herbivores that have become resistant to the generalist defense. |
Researchers suggest a special diet against asthma Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Can a special diet help in certain cases of asthma? A new study at least points to this conclusion. According to the study, mice that were switched to a so-called ketogenic diet showed significantly reduced inflammation of the respiratory tract. |
What type of cells does the novel coronavirus attack? Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Scientists have examined samples from non-virus infected patients to determine which cells of the lungs and bronchi are targets for novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection. |
Simulations show extreme opinions can lead to polarized groups Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Researchers use a theoretical model to examine what effect extreme views have on making the entire system more polarized. The group's network-based model extends a popular approach for studying opinion dynamics, called the Cobb model, and is based on the hypothesis that those with opinions farther from the middle of a political spectrum are also less influenced by others, a trait known to social scientists as 'rigidity of the extreme.' |
Adding a pinch of salt to El Niño models Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT When modeling the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ocean-climate cycle, adding satellite sea surface salinity -- or saltiness -- data significantly improves model accuracy, according to a new study. |
First-ever photo proof of powerful jet emerging from colliding galaxies Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Researchers have reported the first detection of a relativistic on-axis jet emerging from two colliding galaxies -- the first photographic proof that merging galaxies can produce jets of fast-moving charged particles. Scientists had previously discovered that jets could be found in elliptical-shaped galaxies, which can be formed in the merging of two spiral galaxies. Now, they have an image showing the formation of a jet from two younger, spiral-shaped galaxies. |
Bubble dynamics reveal how to empty bottles faster Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Researchers have discovered how to make bottles empty faster, which has wide-ranging implications for many areas beyond the beverage industry. They explore this bottle-emptying phenomenon from the perspective of bubble dynamics on a commercial bottle by using high-speed photography. Image analysis allowed them to conceptualize various parameters, such as liquid film thickness, bubble aspect ratio, rise velocity and bottle emptying modes. |
Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Researchers designed a polymer known as a liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) that can be 'programmed' to both twist and bend in the presence of light. Especially in the field of soft robotics, this is essential for building devices that exhibit controllable, dynamic behavior without the need for complex electronic components. |
Babies retain even detailed events during a nap Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT While sleeping the brain goes through previously experienced things, consolidates new memory contents and summarizes similar experiences into more general knowledge. This also applies to babies. However, they can more than just generalize what they have learned. A recent study shows: during sleep a baby's brain also consolidates the details of its individual experience and protects them from generalization and is therefore also important for what is known as episodic memory. |
Disagreements help team perception Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Team disagreements might be the key to helping soldiers identify objects in battle, researchers say. |
Cancer scientists aim to use protein power to stop tumor growth Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Scientists have created a new therapy option that may help halt tumor growth in certain cancers such as prostate, which is among the most common types of cancer in men. |
Common protein in skin can 'turn on' allergic itch Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT A commonly expressed protein in skin -- periostin -- can directly activate itch-associated neurons in the skin, according to new research. Blocking periostin receptors on these neurons reduced the itch response in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis, or eczema. |
Personalized microrobots swim through biological barriers, deliver drugs to cells Posted: 07 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT Biohybrid robots on the micrometer scale can swim through the body and deliver drugs to tumors or provide other cargo-carrying functions. To be successful, they must consist of materials that can pass through the body's immune response, swim quickly through viscous environments and penetrate tissue cells to deliver cargo. Researchers fabricated biohybrid bacterial microswimmers by combining a genetically engineered E. coli MG1655 substrain and nanoerythrosomes, small structures made from red blood cells. |
Are gamma-ray bursts powered by a star's collapsing magnetic fields? Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:34 AM PDT In its final moments of life, a distant massive star releases an intense burst of high-energy gamma radiation - a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) - the brightest sources of energy in the universe, detectable to humans through powerful telescopes. Scientists have long been divided over what powers these extraordinary explosions. Now research suggests a dying star's collapsing magnetic field may hold the answers. |
Some flowers have learned to bounce back after injury Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:18 AM PDT Some flowers have a remarkable and previously unknown ability to bounce back after injury, according to a new study. |
Climate change triggers Great Barrier Reef bleaching Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:18 AM PDT The Great Barrier Reef is suffering through its worst bleaching event. This is the third bleaching within the space of five years. |
New practices improve stroke care Posted: 07 Apr 2020 07:17 AM PDT A new method of evaluating and prioritizing treatment for patients with suspected acute stroke, which has been used by the Stockholm health authority since 2017, has led to faster health interventions and better patient care, shows a new study. |
Scientists develop new way to identify the sex of sea turtle hatchlings Posted: 07 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT A new minimally invasive technique greatly enhances the ability to measure neonate turtle sex ratios. This is the first time that differences in sex-specific protein expression patterns have been identified in blood samples of hatchlings with temperature-dependent sex determination. The technique is a crucial step in assessing the impact of climate change on imperiled turtle species and will enable more accurate estimates of hatchling sex ratios at a population level and on a global scale. |
New genetic tools expand capacity to investigate microbes Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT A team of international scientists has developed a suite of more than 200 new genetic techniques for using marine microbes to investigate a host of questions in biology. The new tools are an essential step forward in understanding the cellular instructions that underpin microbial life in the sea. |
Litter problem at England's protected coasts Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT Beaches in or near England's Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have the same levels of litter as those in unprotected areas, new research shows. |
Treatment relieves depression in 90% of participants in small study Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT A new form of magnetic brain stimulation rapidly relieved symptoms of severe depression in 90% of participants in a small study. |
Lipid gradient that keeps your eyes wet Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT New understandings of how lipids function within tears could lead to better drugs for treating dry eye disease. |
Engineered virus might be able to block coronavirus infections, mouse study shows Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT No vaccines exist that protect people against infections by coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, or the ones that cause SARS and MERS. As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc, many labs around the world have developed a laser-like focus on understanding the virus and finding the best strategy for stopping it. Researchers now suggest that the approach they took for a MERS virus vaccine may also work against SARS-CoV-2. |
Stream pollution from mountaintop mining doesn't stay put in the water Posted: 07 Apr 2020 04:27 AM PDT Since the 1980s, a mountaintop mine in West Virginia has been leaching selenium into nearby streams at levels deemed unsafe for aquatic life. Now, even though the mine is closed, a new study finds high concentrations of selenium in emerging stream insects and the spiders that eat them along the banks, an indication that the contaminant moves from water to land as it moves up the food chain. |
Doubts cast over accuracy of many popular fertility and pregnancy planning apps Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT Many popular fertility and pregnancy planning apps may be inaccurate, suggest the results of a scoping review of the available evidence. |
Scientists' warning to humanity on insect extinctions Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT As the human race continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have found that the planet's insects are also facing a crisis after accelerating rates of extinction have led to a worldwide fall in insect numbers. |
Chemists working on drugs to treat COVID-19 Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, chemists have focused on searching for drugs to treat COVID-19. One group identified the antiviral drug remdesivir as a viable medicine to treat COVID-19 in a research study published in late January. The drug was originally developed in response to the 2014 Ebola pandemic. |
Lifestyle trumps geography in determining makeup of gut microbiome Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:05 PM PDT Researchers studied the gut microbiomes of wild apes in the Republic of Congo, of captive apes in zoos in the US, and of people from around the world and discovered that lifestyle is more important than geography or even species in determining the makeup of the gut microbiome. |
Researchers use nanotechnology to develop new treatment for endometriosis Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Scientists have developed a precise, nanotechnology-based treatment to alleviate the pain and fertility problems associated with endometriosis, a common gynecological condition in women of childbearing age. |
Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Think your daily coffee, boutique gym membership and airport lounge access cost a lot? There may be an additional, hidden cost to those luxuries of urban living, says a new study: more flooding. For every percentage point increase in roads, parking lots and other impervious surfaces that prevent water from flowing into the ground, annual floods increase on average by 3.3%, the researchers found. |
What makes Saturn's atmosphere so hot Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT New analysis of data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft found that electric currents, triggered by interactions between solar winds and charged particles from Saturn's moons, spark the auroras and heat the planet's upper atmosphere. |
Societal transformations and resilience in Arabia across 12,000 years of climate change Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Recent archaeological and paleoenvironmental research in the Arabian Peninsula shows a range of societal responses to a series of extreme climatic and environmental fluctuations over thousands of years. These responses include migration, increasing population mobility, the introduction of pastoral lifeways, the management of water resources, and the construction of diverse structures to aid survival. Present-day constraints mean that many of these options are not available to populations living in the region today. |
Search for new state of matter expanded Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Scientists have been striving to establish the existence of quantum spin liquids, a new state of matter, since the 1970s. A recent discovery physicists could help researchers solve the mystery and result in the next generation of computing. |
Compound in fruit peels halts damage and spurs neuronal repair in multiple sclerosis Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Ursolic acid, abundant in fruit peels and some herbs, both prevents and repairs neurons in animal models of multiple sclerosis. |
Potential early biomarker to track development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Research has uncovered a biomarker in humans tied to the development of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease that might help doctors detect early stages of the disease. The researchers also determined that this biomarker, a protein known as 'neuronal regeneration related protein' (or NREP), plays a significant role in the regulation of a pathway that is currently being reviewed in clinical trials as a treatment option for the disease. |
Clinical trial to assess potential treatment for COVID-19-related respiratory failure Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT A team of physician-scientists are now enrolling patients in a clinical trial to evaluate a common anti-clotting drug for the treatment of COVID-19-positive patients with ARDS. The newly launched trial follows a special report the team published that suggested the use of a drug called tPA could reduce deaths among patients with ARDS as a complication of COVID-19. |
Men pose more risk to other road users than women Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Men pose more risk to other road users than women do and they are more likely to drive more dangerous vehicles, reveals the first study of its kind. |
'Smart toilet' monitors for signs of disease Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT There's a new disease-detecting technology in the lab, and its No. 1 source of data is number one. And number two. |
Indigenous knowledge could reveal ways to weather climate change on islands Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT Some islands have such low elevation, that mere inches of sea-level rise will flood them, but higher, larger islands will also be affected by changes in climate and an understanding of ancient practices in times of climate change might help populations survive, according to researchers. |
Climate change encouraged colonization of South Pacific Islands earlier than first thought Posted: 06 Apr 2020 04:04 PM PDT New research has found settlers arrived in East Polynesia around 200 years earlier than previously thought. |
The Milky Way's satellites help reveal link between dark matter halos and galaxy formation Posted: 06 Apr 2020 11:01 AM PDT Just like we orbit the sun and the moon orbits us, the Milky Way has satellite galaxies with their own satellites. Drawing from data on those galactic neighbors, a new model suggests the Milky Way should have an additional 100 or so very faint satellite galaxies awaiting discovery. |
How understanding the dynamics of yeast prions can shed light on neurodegenerative diseases Posted: 06 Apr 2020 11:01 AM PDT Prions are a class of misfolded proteins that form aggregates called "amyloid fibrils." These aggregates are the main culprit behind severe mammalian neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. What makes them so deadly is that they are capable of transmitting their erroneous conformation to otherwise healthy proteins, causing an imbalance in cellular function. Currently, there are no effective treatments for fatal prion diseases, mainly because studying mammalian prions is challenging. |
Condensed matter: Bethe strings experimentally observed Posted: 06 Apr 2020 09:55 AM PDT 90 years ago, the physicist Hans Bethe postulated that unusual patterns, so-called Bethe strings, appear in certain magnetic solids. Now an international team has succeeded in experimentally detecting such Bethe strings for the first time. They used neutron scattering experiments at various neutron facilities including the unique high-field magnet of BER II at HZB. The experimental data are in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction of Bethe and prove once again the power of quantum physics. |
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