ScienceDaily: Top News

A perspective article challenges the 'energy balance model,' which says weight gain occurs because individuals consume more energy than they expend. According to the authors, 'conceptualizing obesity as a disorder of energy balance restates a principle of physics without considering the biological mechanisms underlying weight gain.' The authors argue for the 'carbohydrate insulin model,' which explains obesity as a metabolic disorder driven by what we eat, rather than how much. *Public health messaging exhorting people to eat less and exercise more has failed to stem rising rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases. *The energy balance model, which says weight gain is caused by consuming more energy than we expend, "restates a principle of physics without considering the biological mechanisms driving weight gain." *The carbohydrate-insulin model makes a bold claim: overeating doesn't cause obesity; the process of getting fat causes overeating. *The current obesity epidemic is due, in part, to hormonal responses to changes in food quality: in particular, high-glycemic load foods, which fundamentally change metabolism. *Focusing on what we eat rather than how much we eat is a better strategy for weight management.

Transporting a single brick to Mars can cost more than a million British pounds -- making the future construction of a Martian colony seem prohibitively expensive. Scientists have now developed a way to potentially overcome this problem, by creating a concrete-like material made of extra-terrestrial dust along with the blood, sweat and tears of astronauts.

Researchers have now demonstrated a method by which specific cell types in human organs can be studied with micrometer precision. The method can be used to reveal previously unrecognized alterations in the pancreas, but it can also be used to study other human organs and diseases.

A new method designs nanomaterials with less than 10-nanometer precision. It could pave the way for faster, more energy-efficient electronics.

Engineers developed a way to grow tiny replicas of the pancreas, using either healthy or cancerous pancreatic cells. Their models could help researchers develop and test potential drugs for pancreatic cancer.

Findings suggest that a family's socio-economic status (SES) may influence children's composition of gut microbiome -- the mix of microscopic organisms within the digestive tract. SES includes economic resources such as education, income and occupation, and are reflected in living conditions, nutrition and psychosocial stress, according to the study, which focused on the education levels of mothers and fathers.

An enormous amount of gravity from a cluster of distant galaxies causes space to curve so much that light from them is bent and emanated our way from numerous directions. This 'gravitational lensing' effect has allowed astronomers to observe the same exploding star in three different places in the heavens. They predict that a fourth image of the same explosion will appear in the sky by 2037. The study provides a unique opportunity to explore not just the supernova itself, but the expansion of our universe.

Researchers have devised an ingenious method of using acoustics to conceal and simulate objects.

Previous fires may hold the key to predicting and reducing the severity of future wildfires in the western United States as fire activity continues to increase, according to researchers.

Scientists reveal new approaches to manipulating light absorption in optical resonators by different types of optical losses.

A team of researchers is using a novel technique to comb through the data and to reconstruct major branches in the linguistic tree.

Humans acknowledge that personality goes a long way, at least for our species. But scientists have been more hesitant to ascribe personality to other animals. A study has now documented personality in golden-mantled ground squirrels, which are common across the western U.S. and Canada.

School-aged children who spend more time in front of screens are only slightly more likely to have attention disorders, disturbed sleep or lower grades and are no more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Meanwhile, they tend to have more close friends.

An international team of researchers developed the largest and most detailed simulation of the Universe to date and has made it freely available on the cloud to everyone. This simulation, named Uchuu, will help astronomers to interpret results from Big Data galaxy surveys.