UCLA neuroscientists have identified in mice how the brain links different memories over time. The findings suggest a possible intervention for people suffering from age-related memory problems.
A large worldwide study has found that, contrary to popular thought, low-salt diets may not be beneficial and may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death compared to average salt consumption.
In the Mesozoic, the time of the dinosaurs, from 252 to 66 million years ago, marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were top predators in the oceans. But their origins and early rise to dominance have been somewhat mysterious.
Managers who inspire their staff to perform above and beyond the call of duty may actually harm their employees’ health over time, according to researchers from the University of East Anglia.
Spotting native alligators and crocodiles in Florida is common, but anyone who sees a large reptile may want to take a second look -- man-eaters that can grow to 18 feet long and weigh as much as a small car have been found in the Sunshine State.
Many breast cancers are marked by a lack of HOXA5 protein, a gene product known to control cell differentiation and death, and lower levels of the protein correspond to poorer outcomes for patients. Now, results of a new study by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists suggests a powerful role for the protein in normal breast cells, acting as a tumor suppressor that halts abnormal cell growth.
The geologic shape of what were once shorelines through Mars’ northern plains convinces scientists that two large meteorites – hitting the planet millions of years apart – triggered a pair of mega-tsunamis. These gigantic waves forever scarred the Martian landscape and yielded evidence of cold, salty oceans conducive to sustaining life.
New geologic mapping in the Himalayan mountains of Kashmir between Pakistan and India suggests that the region is ripe for a major earthquake that could endanger the lives of as many as a million people.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have successfully explained how iron-based dyes work on a molecular level in solar cells. The new findings will accelerate the development of inexpensive and environmentally friendly solar cells.
Non-Hispanic blacks are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, but they’re significantly less likely to receive medication for treatment, according to researchers.
Mountains aren’t the first thing that hit you when you look at images of Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io. But once you absorb the fact that the moon is slathered in sulfurous lava erupted from 400 active volcanoes, you might turn your attention to scattered bumps and lumps that turn out, on closer inspection, to be Io’s version of mountains.
Relationship satisfaction and the energy devoted to keeping a partner are dependent on how the partner compares with other potential mates, a finding that relates to evolution’s stronghold on modern relationship psychology, according to a study at The University of Texas at Austin.
“How does it ‘feel’ to interact behaviorally with a machine?” To answer that, scientists created a virtual partner that can elicit emotional responses from its human partner while the pair engages in behavioral coordination in real-time. The virtual partner’s behavior is governed by mathematical models of human-to-human interactions in a way that enables humans to interact with the mathematical description of their social selves. Humans showed greater emotional arousal when they thought the virtual partner was a human and not a machine, although in all cases, they were interacting with a machine.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States have developed a method to analyse and separate cells from the blood. Ultimately, the method, which goes under the name iso-acoustic focusing, can become significant to measure the efficiency of cancer treatments for individuals.
Scientists have calculated, for the first time, the extent to which agricultural emissions must be reduced to meet the Paris climate agreement’s plan to limit warming to 2°C in 2100. Scientists estimate that the agriculture sector must reduce non-CO2 emissions by 1 gigaton per year in 2030. The analysis also revealed a major gap between the existing mitigation options for the agriculture sector and the reductions needed: current interventions would only deliver between 21-40% of mitigation required.
Two factors—metabolism and gut microbes – have been credited by researchers as key players in the fight against obesity. However, there is an ongoing debate about whether exercise or diet better promotes metabolism and healthy shifts in gut microbes, the microscopic organisms in our intestines that break down food and can contribute to decreased obesity. New research from the University of Missouri confirms exercise plays a significant role in the fight against obesity.
In the study, clearing the beach of flotsam and jetsam increased the number of nests by as much as 200 percent, while leaving the detritus decreased the number by nearly 50 percent.
As climatologists closely monitor the impact of human activity on the world’s oceans, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found yet another worrying trend impacting the health of the Pacific Ocean.
The sharing of genetic information from millions of cancer patients around the world could be key to revolutionising cancer prevention and care, according to a leading cancer expert from Queen’s University Belfast.
A growing body of research is revealing associations between birth defects and a father’s age, alcohol use and environmental factors, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center. They say these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect multiple generations.
The discovery of stone tools alongside mastodon bones in a Florida river shows that humans settled the southeastern United States as much as 1,500 years earlier than scientists previously believed, according to a research team led by a Florida State University professor. This site on the Aucilla River — about 45 minutes from Tallahassee — is now the oldest known site of human life in the southeastern United States. It dates back 14,550 years.
Nearly 30 years of data collected on painted turtles in the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa, show that females suffer a steep dip in fertility before the end of their lives, a finding that flies in the face of what scientists have believed about turtles and aging.
A faint blue galaxy about 30 million light-years from Earth and located in the constellation Leo Minor has been identified by Indiana University astronomers as possessing qualities that could shed new light on conditions during the Big Bang.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Comet 252P/LINEAR after the comet passed by Earth on March 21. The visit was one of the closest encounters between a comet and our planet. The Hubble images taken on April 4 reveal a narrow, well-defined jet of dust ejected by the comet's icy nucleus. The jet also appears to change direction in the images, which is evidence that the comet's nucleus is spinning.
Flick a switch on a dark winter day and your office is flooded with bright light, one of many everyday miracles to which we are all usually oblivious.A physicist would probably describe what is happening in terms of the particle nature of light. An atom or molecule in the fluorescent tube that is in an excited state spontaneously decays to a lower energy state, releasing a particle called a photon.
A new study shows that the Kepler-223 star system is trapped in an orbital configuration that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune may have broken from in the early history of the solar system.
Two mouse models of Zika virus infection in pregnancy have been developed by a team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In them, the virus migrated from the pregnant mouse’s bloodstream into the placenta and then to the brains of the developing pups.
A doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania has identified a new species of fossil dog. The specimen, found in Maryland, would have roamed the coast of eastern North America approximately 12 million years ago, at a time when massive sharks like megalodon swam in the oceans.
Northern cardinals and tufted titmice are two abundant bird species in the woods of eastern North America. Many bird and mammal species rely on information from tufted titmice calls to detect and respond to dangerous predators. This causes important information networks to form around tufted titmouse communication. Normally, northern cardinals listen to tufted titmouse predator alarm calls and will typically respond by fleeing or freezing until the danger passes.
Chronic use of some drugs for heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) speeds up the aging of blood vessels, according to a published paper in Circulation Research (early online), an American Heart Association journal. This accelerated aging in humans could lead to increased cardiovascular disease, vascular dementia and renal failure.
Everyone has been there. No sooner did you or your child touch that old wooden bench when a small sliver of wood slides into the skin – causing a surprising amount of pain. Fortunately, say dermatologists, splinters are easy to remove with the proper tools and technique.
When you take acetaminophen to reduce your pain, you may also be decreasing your empathy for both the physical and social aches that other people experience, a new study suggests.
A study using functional-MRI brain scanning reveals certain areas of the brain have higher activity in children who are socially withdrawn or reticent compared to children who are not withdrawn.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have used a completely new preclinical technique and analysis of tissue from patients to show exactly what happens when certain patients with Parkinson's disease are restored as a result of nerve cell transplants. They have also identified what makes many of the transplant patients develop serious side effects in the form of involuntary movements.
The primary threat to vultures is the presence of toxins in the carrion they consume. Losses of vultures can allow other scavengers to flourish. Proliferation of such scavengers could bring bacteria and viruses from carcasses into human cities.
A team of researchers led by McMaster University’s Charu Kaushic has revealed for the first time how estradiol, a female sex hormone present during the menstrual cycle and found in oral contraceptives, may work to protect women against sexually transmitted viral infections.
Researchers have made a giant leap forward in taking snapshots of these ultrafast reactions in a bacterial light sensor. Using the world’s most powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, they were able to see atomic motions as fast as 100 quadrillionths of a second – 1,000 times faster than ever before.
Astronomers using ALMA have delved remarkably deep into the heart of a nearby elliptical galaxy to study the motion of a disk of cold interstellar gas encircling the supermassive black hole at its center, provide one of the most accurate mass measurements to date for a black hole outside of our Galaxy.
ITHACA, N.Y. The survival of the fittest might just be the survival of the steadfast instead. Having a positive attitude could be evolutionarily advantageous, according to Cornell researchers who simulated generations of evolution in a computational model.
Mothers with a history of depression are not physiologically “in sync” with their kids, according to a new study from Binghamton University. While researchers have known for a while that depression is associated with interpersonal problems with others, this is the first study to examine whether this is also evident physiologically.
Long-eared bats are assisted in flight by their ears and body, according to a study by researchers at Lund University in Sweden. The recent findings improve researchers’ understanding of the bats’ flying technique and could be significant for the future development of drones, among other things.
Study of more than 10,000 patients treated long term with the blood thinner, warfarin, reveals higher rates of dementia for patients with atrial fibrillation versus non-AF patients
Framing the issue of climate change collectively is more effective than emphasis on personal responsibility, finds a UC San Diego study. People are willing to donate up to 50 percent more cash to the cause when thinking in collective terms. Thinking about climate change from a personal perspective produced little to no change in behavior.
A new study in mice and women by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that a high-fructose diet during pregnancy may harm the placenta and restrict fetal growth. Additionally, researchers believe a commonly prescribed drug may mitigate the negative effects.
Loyola University Chicago researchers are among the co-authors of a groundbreaking study that found humans have a higher metabolism rate than closely related primates, which enabled humans to evolve larger brains. The findings may point toward strategies for combating obesity.
A physics doctoral student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has discovered the second-strongest merger shock in clusters of galaxies ever observed.
According to a Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine allergist, most people who believe they're allergic to this common antibiotic may not be allergic at all. In fact, 10 years after a mild reaction to the drug, up to 90 percent of people will have outgrown a penicillin allergy.
The leopard (Panthera pardus), one of the world’s most iconic big cats, has lost as much as 75 percent of its historic range. This study represents the first known attempt to produce a comprehensive analysis of leopards’ status across their entire range and all nine subspecies.