Increased solar radiation penetrating through the damaged ozone layer is interacting with the changing climate, and the consequences are rippling through the Earth's natural systems, effecting everything from weather to the health and abundance of sea mammals like seals and penguins.
Logging roads are expanding dramatically in the Congo Basin, leading to catastrophic collapses in animal populations living in the world's second-largest rainforest, according to research co-led by a scientist at James Cook University in Australia.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that immune cells that typically protect neurons from damage may be the link between early and late brain changes in Alzheimer's disease. Breaking that link could lead to new approaches to delay or prevent the disease.
Scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators investigated the mechanism of rapid reactivity of the F + H2 reaction at low temperature and found that rapid reactivity was actually induced by resonance-enhanced tunneling.
With major crises such as extinctions and environmental degradation upon us, there's never been a more crucial time to find solutions to environmental challenges. An international group of scientists is making major advances in sustaining the world's environments -- by untangling the intricate ways in which people and nature depend on each other.
PNe theoretically derive from stars in the range 1-8 times the mass of the Sun, representing 90% of all stars more massive than the sun. However, until now, PNe have been proven to derive from stars born with only 1-3 times the mass of our Sun. HKU researchers have now officially smashed this previous limit and grabbed proof that a PNe has emerged from a star born with 5.5 times the mass of our Sun.
For the first time, astronomers have found two giant clusters of galaxies that are just about to collide. This observation can be seen as a missing 'piece of the puzzle' in our understanding of the formation of structure in the Universe, since large-scale structures -- such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies -- are thought to grow by collisions and mergers.
Some patients feel shame, anxiety or fear immediately before seeing their doctor, making them tense. But if they can relax and become calm, patients will likely pay attention to and better comprehend health messages, suggests a new University of Michigan study.
A quantitative analysis going back over a period of more than 90 years shows that almost a third of patents in the U.S. rely on federal research funding.
Listeners can correctly identify whether pairs of screams were produced by the same person or two different people -- a critical prerequisite to individual recognition.
New analyses in an addendum confirm hint of an added benefit in one of four research questions. Especially with regard to quality of life, usable data are now available.
The survey also asked Americans to choose a statement that best represented their feelings about vaccine safety and efficacy. While the vast majority (82%) chose in favor of vaccines, 8% selected responses expressing serious doubt. An additional 9% said they were unsure.
For over 20 years, a team of researchers at Lund University has worked on developing a drug against preeclampsia -- a serious disorder which annually affects around 9 million pregnant women worldwide and is one of the main causes of death in both mothers and unborn babies.
Although smartphones and other consumer cameras are increasingly used for scientific applications, it's difficult to compare and combine data from different devices. A new easy-to-use standardized method makes it possible for almost anyone to calibrate these cameras without any specialized equipment, helping amateurs, science students and professional scientists to acquire useful data with any consumer camera.
The first academic research study to look specifically at how Facebook and Google deadlocked the Federal Election Commission's efforts to regulate digital political advertising.
The epileptic 'aura' is a subjective phenomenon that sometimes precedes the visible clinical features of a seizure. Investigators tested three epileptic patients prior to potential surgery to try to determine where their seizures originate. They observed that these patients reported an ecstatic aura only when the dorsal anterior insula of the brain was stimulated. Their findings in the journal Brain Stimulation, published by Elsevier, provide additional support of a major role played by the dorsal anterior insula in ecstatic experiences.
At a recent AIPIA event, Smithers Pira addressed how inventory control, validity, authenticity, security and the consumer experience will all be impacted by technologies such as RFID; other companies presented their latest innovations.
(Ruhr-University Bochum) Bochum-based chemist Professor Nicolas Plumeré has been awarded the Luigi Galvani Prize by the Bioelectrochemical Society. The prize is awarded every two years to a researcher who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of bioelectrochemistry. Plumeré has successfully optimised conductive hydrogels and polymers for bioelectrocatalytic systems. The prize was presented at the International Symposium on Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics in Limerick in May 2019.
(University of Technology Sydney) A novel low-cost device, that can rapidly secure coral fragments to the reef, has been so successful at helping propagate coral on high value sections of Australia's Great Barrier Reef that the Australian and Queensland Governments have committed more funding to take the project further.
Colorado study shows that adding HDAC inhibitor sensitized cancers to anti-PD1 therapy.
High schoolers who take music courses score significantly better on exams in certain other subjects, including math and science, than their non-musical peers, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.
The increasingly popular trend for fertility clinics to freeze all IVF embryos for later transfer has been shown in a large multicentre randomised trial to offer no improvement in delivery rates over traditional 'fresh' embryo transfers. 'Our findings give no support to a general freeze-all strategy in normally menstruating women,' said investigator Dr Sacha Stormlund from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.
The latest supplement to the American Ornithological Society's checklist of North and Middle American birds is being published in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, and it includes several major updates to the organization of the continent's bird species. The official authority on the names and classification of the region's birds, the checklist is consulted by birdwatchers and professional scientists alike and has been published since 1886.
In a study using brain tissue from deceased human donors, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they found new evidence that schizophrenia can be marked by the buildup of abnormal proteins similar to those found in the brains of people with such neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer's or Huntington's diseases.
A large-scale study from The University of Toledo of young African Americans found a 182 percent increase in suicide deaths among females and a 60 percent increase among males. The findings suggest a greater need for mental health services in urban school districts and calls out the danger of having unsecured firearms and ammunition in the homes of parents and caregivers.