ScienceDaily: Top Science News

In an observational analysis of UK Biobank participants, light to moderate drinkers had the lowest heart disease risk, followed by people who abstained from drinking; however, light to moderate drinkers tended to have healthier lifestyles than abstainers, which likely accounted for their better heart health. Genetic evidence in this same population suggested that all levels of alcohol intake are associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Notably, the risk of cardiovascular disease linked to light alcohol consumption was modest but rose exponentially with higher intake, even at intake levels currently endorsed as 'low risk.'

A group of neurons in the brain's striatum encodes information about the potential outcomes of different decisions. These cells become particularly active when a behavior leads a different outcome than what was expected, which the researchers believe helps the brain adapt to changing circumstances.

Semiconductor electronics is getting faster and faster - but at some point, physics no longer permits any increase. The speed can definitely not be increased beyond one petahertz (one million gigahertz), even if the material is excited in an optimal way with laser pulses.

New research demonstrates overgrowth of the amygdala in the first year of life, before babies show most of the behavioral symptoms that later consolidate into a diagnosis of autism. This overgrowth may be unique to autism, as babies with fragile X syndrome show a different brain growth pattern.

Thesan is a new universe simulation that models the first billion years of the universe with the highest resolution, over the largest volume, to date.

Mechanical engineers are using two electronic 'voices' singing a harmonic duet to control suspended particles and cells in new and valuable ways. Their prototype device can form and rotate a single-layer crystal from a group of particles, create arbitrary shapes with a given number of particles, and move pairs of biological cells together and apart again hundreds of times. These abilities could serve fields like materials science, biophysics, life science and medicine.

Scientists have long puzzled about a critical way that cells communicate with one another, but researchers have now used a simple roundworm to solve the mystery.

A new study introduces a breakthrough in making nanocrystals function together electronically. The research may open the doors to future devices with new abilities.

Researchers have identified a new mechanism that underlies dopamine release in the brain. The research, conducted in mice, shows that another chemical messenger called acetylcholine can trigger the firing of dopamine neurons by binding to a part of these neurons not previously known to initiate firing.

The further we move away from a heat source, the cooler the air gets. Bizarrely, the same can't be said for the surface of the Sun, but scientists may have just explained a key part of why.

In recent years, artificial intelligence has become ubiquitous, with applications such as speech interpretation, image recognition, medical diagnosis, and many more. At the same time, quantum technology has been proven capable of computational power well beyond the reach of even the world's largest supercomputer. Physicists have now demonstrated a new device, called quantum memristor, which may allow to combine these two worlds, thus unlocking unprecedented capabilities. The experiment has been realized on an integrated quantum processor operating on single photons.

The reproductive success of male dolphins is not determined by strength or age, but via social bonds with other males. The better integrated males are in their social network, the more offspring they produce, a new study has shown using long-term behavioral and genetic data.

Researchers have succeeded in breaking down plastic into its molecular building blocks and in recovering over 90 percent of them -- a first step towards genuine plastic recycling.

A team of researchers reveals that oleic acid produced in the brain is an essential regulator of the process that enables learning and memory and supports proper mood regulation. The finding has paved the path to discovering potential new therapeutic strategies to counteract cognitive and mood decline in patients with neurological disorders.

Biologists have developed a new method to measure the extent to which regional geographic features -- including barriers between regions, like mountains or water -- affect local rates of speciation, extinction and dispersal for species. Distances over water have a much greater effect on limiting movement than distances over land, the scientists discovered. They tested their model with neotropical anole lizards and found that distances over water have three times the effect of equivalent distances over land.

Astronomy's newest mystery objects, odd radio circles or ORCs, have been pulled into sharp focus by an international team of astronomers using the world's most capable radio telescopes.