Curated News: PLOS

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Global warming will making farming possible in regions important for biodiversity and carbon storage

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Widely used estimates don’t account for effects of affluence on consumer behavior—and affluent consumers waste more food

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Scientists have identified a key molecule involved in the development of cerebral malaria, a deadly form of the tropical disease. Further, they defined a potential drug target and way forward in alleviating this condition for which few targeted treatments are available.

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Individual people’s averages show long-term consistency, according to de-identified data from wearables worn by 92,457 people

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‘Chan Hol 3’, like other Tulum cave skeletons, has a distinctive skull and tooth caries

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A UCLA-led study has found that levels of six proteins in the blood can be used to gauge a person’s risk for cerebral small vessel disease, or CSVD, a brain disease that affects an estimated 11 million older adults in the U.S.

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As the world nears poliovirus eradication, the vaccines themselves have become the greatest threat. In response to a global demand for an effective, safer-to-handle and less costly polio vaccine, scientists at the Uniformed Services University (USU) have developed a new one that could help secure a polio-free world.

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While Medicaid expansion has led to substantial increases in Medicaid reimbursement for substance use treatment, it has not specifically led to a detectable increase in hiring attempts to increase the substance use disorder and behavioral health treatment workforce, according to a study by Indiana University researchers.

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Several groups of reptiles persisted in Jurassic Africa even as volcanism ruined their habitat

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A new study suggests that significant early childhood exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is associated with structural changes in the brain at the age of 12. The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study found that children with higher levels of TRAP exposure at birth had reductions at age 12 in gray matter volume and cortical thickness as compared to children with lower levels of exposure.

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New research shows that, millions of times each day, investors in the U.S. stock market see different prices at the same moment—and that these differing prices cost investors at least $2 billion dollars each year.

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Analysis reveals where prehistoric Italian communities got their copper, from Tuscany and beyond

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An international team of scientists has synthetically engineered mosquitoes that halt the transmission of the dengue virus. The development marks the first engineered approach in mosquitoes that targets the four known types of dengue, improving upon previous designs that addressed single strains.

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Genetically engineered mosquitoes are resistant to multiple types of dengue virus (DENV), according to a study published January 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Prasad Paradkar of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, and Omar Akbari of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues. As noted by the authors, this is the first engineered approach that targets all types of DENV, which is crucial for effective disease suppression.

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A new study finds that an interactive voice application using artificial intelligence is as accurate at tracking the wellbeing of patients being treated for serious mental illness as their physicians.

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Neandertals collected clam shells and volcanic rock from the beach and coastal waters of Italy during the Middle Paleolithic, according to a study published January 15, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paola Villa of the University of Colorado and colleagues.

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Unprecedented numbers of common murres—North Pacific seabirds—died between 2015 and 2016. A new analysis lays out the scope of this event and suggests a potential culprit: severely reduced food supplies resulting from unusually elevated sea temperatures.

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When nearly one million common murres died at sea and washed ashore from California to Alaska in 2015 and 2016, it was unprecedented — both for murres, and across all bird species worldwide. Scientists from the University of Washington, the U.S. Geological Survey and others blame an unexpected squeeze on the ecosystem's food supply, brought on by a severe and long-lasting marine heat wave known as "the blob."

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Researchers have devised a straightforward technique for building a laboratory device known as an electroporator – which applies a jolt of electricity to temporarily open cell walls – from inexpensive components, including a piezoelectric crystal taken from a butane lighter.

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At a glance: Experiments in worms reveal the molecular damage caused by DEHP, a chemical commonly used to make plastics flexible DEHP interferes with proper cell division during egg formation, leads to excessive DNA breakage, alters chromosome appearance Abnormalities help explain known link between DEHP and human birth defects, male infertility If replicated in further research, the insights can help inform regulatory changes, consumer choice b

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Using a genomics strain-tracking bioinformatics tool, analyzed two metagenomic sequencing databases from pairs of twins — one for children who were still living together and the other from adult twins, ages 36 to 80, who then lived apart for periods from one to 59 years.

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Sperm are influenced by diet, and the effects arise rapidly. This is the conclusion of a study by researchers at Linköping University, in which healthy young men were fed a diet rich in sugar.

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Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Wageningen used a social psychology approach to understand how dairy farmers’ views impact how and when they use antibiotics to treat their cows.

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How successfully a person can fend off the flu depends not only on the virus' notorious ability to change with the season, but also on the strain first encountered during childhood, according to new research published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

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In a series of articles, including one published today in PLOS ONE, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute explain how they have developed and demonstrated a series of algorithms that can analyze biometric information recorded by a smart device and then recommend the best combination of sleep and light to help a person readjust their circadian rhythm.

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Possibly one of the first attempts to protect against sea-level rise in a human settlement is described in a study published December 18, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ehud Galili from the University of Haifa, Israel, and colleagues.

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Ever since humans domesticated the dog, the faithful, obedient and protective animal has provided its owner with companionship and emotional well-being. Now, a study from Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that being around “man’s best friend” from an early age may have a health benefit as well — lessening the chance of developing schizophrenia as an adult.

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Indiana University researchers have discovered that a chemical compound found in essential oils improves the healing process in mice when it is topically applied to a skin wound.

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A new study in the journal PLOS One says Glacier National Park’s iconic mountain goats are in dire need of air conditioning.

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The tropical disease Leishmaniasis is being tackled by catching female sand flies who carry the parasite that causes the disease

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The amount of food needed to feed the world's population in the future is of vital importance. To date, scientists have only considered this question from the perspective of how much food people can afford to buy

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The ancient Romans relied on long-distance timber trading to construct their empire, according to a study published December 4, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mauro Bernabei from the National Research Council, Italy, and colleagues.

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Long-term exposure to hydrocarbons in the air may be a risk factor for ischemic stroke development, according to a study published December 4, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Han-Wei Zhang of China Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues.

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As the leading cause of death in both the United States and the world, heart disease claims nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization.

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The percentage of the world’s population that is above or below the ‘replacement level of fertility’ has long been used as a measure of demographic development. A new study revisited how this metric is calculated and how useful it really is in terms of informing policy decisions.

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Small populations, inbreeding, and random demographic fluctuations could have been enough to cause Neanderthal extinction, according to a study published November 27, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Krist Vaesen from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, and colleagues.

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It may not be just location, location, location that influences where people move to in the United States, but also politics, politics, politics, according to a team of researchers.

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Northern Mongolian “eternal ice” is melting for the first time in memory, threatening the traditional reindeer-herding lifestyle and exposing fragile cultural artifacts to the elements, according to a study published November 20, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by William Taylor from the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and the University of Colorado-Boulder, USA, and colleagues.

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Using a new sequencing method, this class of previously invisible RNA molecules were found to be abundantly expressed.

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Insects, crustaceans and other water macroinvertebrates are more affected by the effect of sediment accumulation in river courses than the excess of nitrate in water environments, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Your characterization of the thermostat war in your house is likely to depend at least in part on whether you’re a man or a woman. A new study taking a glimpse at these skirmishes offers the first known data on joint consumer decision-making around home temperatures and potential effects on energy use.

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In ancient Egypt, Sacred Ibises were collected from their natural habitats to be ritually sacrificed, according to a study released November 13, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Sally Wasef of Griffith University, Australia and colleagues.

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The generation of species-specific singing in songbirds is associated with species-specific patterns of gene activity in brain regions called song nuclei, according to a study published November 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Kazuhiro Wada of Hokkaido University in Japan, and colleagues.

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New study demonstrates that testosterone replacement therapy benefits young male cancer survivors

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Virtual reality (VR) could become the next big thing to complement sports training as new research from the University of South Australia shows how it can significantly improve players’ real-world sports skills.

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A new test agent can easily and efficiently detect the misfolded protein aggregates that cause devastating neurological diseases in blood samples. The technology could lead to early diagnosis of prion, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases for the first time.

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Red deer living on the Isle of Rum, on the west coast of Scotland, have been giving birth earlier and earlier since the 1980s, at a rate of about three days per decade.

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Heavy smoking may have a causal effect on facial ageing, according to new research led by the University of Bristol.

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Consumers were more willing to buy unlabeled produce after being shown food tagged as “genetically modified” in a new Cornell University study that comes two months before a new federal law, requiring genetically modified organism disclosure labels on food products, goes into effect.

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These immigration statements may also be linked to undocumented Latino immigrants’ reticence to access emergency healthcare