ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Researchers have developed an ultra-thin wireless device that grows to the surface of bone. Dubbed 'osseosurface electronics,' they could someday help physicians monitor bone health and healing over long periods.

A research team revealed the molecular architecture of fungal cell walls and the structural responses to stresses, aiding the development of antifungal drugs targeting cell wall components.

It sounds like a party trick: scientists can now look at the brain activity of a tiny worm and tell you which chemical the animal smelled a few seconds before. But the findings of a new study are more than just a novelty; they help the scientists better understand how the brain functions and integrates information.

Researchers are investigating the use of whole-cell vaccines to fight urinary tract infection (UTI), part of an effort to tackle the increasingly serious issue of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Exotic laser-produced high-energy-density (HED) plasmas akin to those found in stars and nuclear explosions could provide insight into events throughout the universe. Physicists have discovered a new way to measure and understand these plasmas, among the most extreme states of matter ever produced on Earth. Improved understanding could provide benefits ranging from fine-tuning the high-density plasmas in inertial confinement fusion experiments to better understanding of processes throughout the universe.

A team of researchers has demonstrated for the first time one way that a small molecule turns a single cell into something as large as a tree. For half a century, scientists have known that all plants depend on this molecule, auxin, to grow. Until now, they didn't understand exactly how auxin sets growth in motion.

In the human brain, the hormone insulin also acts on the most important neurotransmitter for the reward system, dopamine. Insulin lowers the dopamine level in a specific region of the brain (striatum) that regulates reward processes and cognitive functions, among other things. This interaction can be an important driver of the brain's regulation of glucose metabolism and eating behavior.

Global change is eroding life on earth at an unprecedented rate and scale. Species extinctions have accelerated over the last decades, with the concomitant loss of the functions and services they provide to human societies.

After the natural warming that followed the last Ice Age, there were repeated periods when masses of icebergs broke off from Antarctica into the Southern Ocean. A new data-model study now shows that it took only a decade to initiate this tipping point in the climate system, and that ice mass loss then continued for many centuries.

Rising oceans get more attention in climate change discussions, but rivers are rising, too, according to new research by a University of South Carolina postdoctoral fellow. The research shows that rivers need more attention in policy management and disaster preparation, both at the coast and farther inland.

Researchers have found that variants of this cone snail venom could offer future possibilities for developing new fast-acting drugs to help treat diabetics.

Alexander disease is a progressive and rare neurological disorder with no cure or standard course of treatment. But a new study involving a rat model of the disease offers a potential treatment for the typically fatal condition.

Broad-based scientific team from government, academia and industry joins forces to identify new opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of polyurethane -- one of the most widely used but little recycled plastic materials.