Curated News: Staff Picks

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Researchers use a periodic cavity structure to channel light more intensely; applications seen in sensing, spectroscopy, remote sensing of explosives and more.

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The woman was laid on a bed of specially selected materials, including gazelle horn cores, fragments of chalk, fresh clay, limestone blocks and sediment. Tortoise shells were placed under and around her body, 86 in total. Sea shells, an eagle's wing, a leopard's pelvis, a forearm of a wild boar and even a human foot were placed on the body of the mysterious 1.5 meter-tall woman. Atop her body, a large stone was laid to seal the burial space.

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A recent drought completely shut down the Amazon Basin's carbon sink, by killing trees and slowing their growth, a ground-breaking study led by researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Leeds has found. Previous research has suggested that the Amazon -the most extensive tropical forest on Earth and one of the "green lungs" of the planet -- may be gradually losing its capacity to take carbon from the atmosphere. This new study, the most extensive land-based study of the effect of drought on Amazonian rainforests to date, paints a more complex picture, with forests responding dynamically to an increasingly variable climate.

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Just as improved diet and medical care have resulted in increased life expectancy in humans, advances in nutrition and veterinary care have increased the life span of pet cats. The result is a growing population of ageing cats; in the USA, for example, it is estimated that 20% of pet cats are 11 years of age or older.

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Grouping young tennis players according to their physical maturity rather than their chronological age could help us develop future tennis champions, says research by the University of Bath.

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Most people would get a little ‘rush’ out of the idea that they’re about to win some money. In fact, if you could look into their brain at that very moment, you’d see activity in the part of the brain that responds to rewards. But for marijuana users, that rush just isn’t as big – and gets smaller over time, a new study finds. And that may open them up to more risk of addiction.

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University of Utah mathematicians showed it is theoretically possible to design ideal climbing ropes to safely slow falling rock and mountain climbers like brakes decelerate a car. They hope someone develops a material to turn theory into reality.

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Rice University scientists propose that life in the solar system could have been very different.

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Starbons, made from waste biomass including food peelings and seaweed, were discovered and first reported 10 years ago by the York Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence. Using these renewable materials provides a greener, more efficient and selective approach than other commercial systems of reducing emissions.

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Low levels of the stress hormone cortisol are linked to obesity, high levels of fat in the blood and metabolic syndrome among patients with recurrent depressions or bipolar disorder. This according to a study at Umeå University in Sweden published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

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A new study authored by University of Calgary researchers in the Journal of Adolescence examines the pornography viewing habits of adolescents and observes the way in which religious attendance significantly tempers such actions.

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A microbial partnership thriving in an acidic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park has surrendered some of its lifestyle secrets to researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Researchers have identified genetic mutations affecting the immune system which may lead to the development of more than one bowel tumour at the same time. Understanding how these cancers develop could improve targeting of therapies, according to the study published in Nature Communications.

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A research group led by Project Professor Morioka Ichiro (Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics) and Assistant Professor Iwatani Sota (Kobe University Hospital, Center for Perinatal Care) in collaboration with Doctor Miyawaki Atsushi (team leader at the Brain Science Institute, RIKEN) have clinically proven that a fluorescent protein sourced from Japanese eel muscles can be used to accurately detect unconjugated bilirubin in newborns. This detection method is ideal for newborn patients who can only give limited blood samples, and could revolutionize ways of monitoring jaundice in newborn infants. The findings were published on June 21, 2016 in the online edition of Scientific Reports.

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A long-term project on insect-seed interactions, currently being carried out by researchers of the Institute of Zoology (Chinese Academy of Sciences) in a subtropical forest near Dujiangyan City, Sichuan, China, revealed the presence of larvae of an unknown weevil species eating the seeds in the pods of a shrubby legume.

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QUT evolutionary biologist Dr Matthew Phillips used molecular dating from DNA sequences to challenge the dominant scientific theory that placental mammals diversified 20 million years before dinosaurs became extinct.

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A receptor, first known for its role in mediating the harmful effects of the environmental pollutant dioxin in our body, is now understood to play other important roles in modulating the innate immune response.

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A new reconstruction of Antarctic ocean temperatures around the time the dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago supports the idea that one of the planet's biggest mass extinctions was due to the combined effects of volcanic eruptions and an asteroid impact.

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As Wimbledon quarter finals beckon and the semi-finals of Euro 2016 are about to kick off, operational research scientists have been looking at what happens when the rules of sport are changed or when existing rules lead to unforeseen consequences. They’ve been assessing how administrators and supporters deal with these situations and if their decision making could be better informed.

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The first-ever record of a tumourous facial swelling found in a fossil has been discovered in the jaw of the dwarf dinosaur Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a type of primitive duck-billed dinosaur known as a hadrosaur.

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Using a novel, newly developed mouse model that mimics the development of Alzheimer’s disease in humans, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have been able to determine that a one-two punch of major biological “insults” must occur in the brain to cause the dementia that is the hallmark of the disease

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Driving while talking on a hands-free phone can be as distracting as talking on a hand-held mobile, psychologists at the University of Sussex say.

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Changing just one seated meeting per week at work into a walking meeting increased the work-related physical activity levels of white-collar workers by 10 minutes, according to a new study published by public health researchers with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The study, published June 24, 2016 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's journal Preventing Chronic Disease, suggests a possible new health promotion approach to improving the health of millions of white-collar workers who spend most of their workdays sitting in chairs.

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JCU’s Dr Margaret-Anne Carter said the problem is becoming increasingly significant as the online education sector grows.

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Researchers from the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London have shed light on how we perceive and recognise specific visual stimuli.

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An unprecedented alliance of leading scientists, medical experts, and children's health advocates argue that today's scientific evidence supports a link between exposures to toxic chemicals in air, food, and everyday products and children's risks for neurodevelopmental disorders. The alliance, known as Project TENDR, which stands for "Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks," is calling for immediate action to significantly reduce exposures to toxic chemicals to protect brain development.

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A variety of normally harmless bacteria can cause bleaching disease in seaweeds when the seaweeds become stressed by high water temperatures, UNSW Australia researchers have discovered.

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Researchers at Umeå University in Sweden are first to discover that bacteria can multiply disease-inducing genes which are needed to rapidly cause infection. The results were published in Science on June 30, 2016.

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A course at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), in Bethesda, Md., is teaching students global health care delivery in a unique way that’s sure to be a “thriller.”

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In a study with potentially major implications for the future treatment of autoimmunity and related conditions, scientists have found a way to remove the subset of antibody-making cells that cause an autoimmune disease, without harming the rest of the immune system.

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The APL-built JEDI is one of several instruments aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft — set to enter Jupiter orbit on July 4 — that will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the solar system’s largest planet, Earth and the universe.

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Plants can grow faster as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase, but only if they have enough nitrogen or partner with fungi that help them get it, according to new research published this week in Science.

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New research has identified clear signs that the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer is beginning to close.

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The latest comprehensive analysis of national plans to address climate change after 2020 shows the world will not reach its target of keeping warming to below 2C off pre-industrial levels.

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Telling yourself I can do better, can really make you do better at a given task, a study published in Frontiers in Psychology has found.

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Astronomers at The University of Nottingham have released spectacular new infrared images of the distant Universe, providing the deepest view ever obtained over a large area of sky. The team, led by Omar Almaini, Professor of Astrophysics in the School of Physics and Astronomy, is presenting their results at the National Astronomy Meeting taking place this week at the University's Jubilee Campus.

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Rochester Institute of Technology professors have developed a faster, more accurate way to assess gravitational wave signals and infer the astronomical sources that made them.

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TORONTO, June 30, 2016 - Fruit flies may seem simple, but these common visitors to the fruit bowl can drastically alter their gene expression and metabolism to respond to temperature changes in their environment, an international team of researchers have shown.

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A European study led by Umeå University Professor Lars Nyberg, has shown that the dopamine D2 receptor is linked to the long-term episodic memory, which function often reduces with age and due to dementia. This new insight can contribute to the understanding of why some but not others are affected by memory impairment. The results have been published in the journal PNAS.

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Nerves in the central nervous system of adult mammals do not usually regenerate when injured. The granule cell, a nerve cell located in the cerebellum, is different. When its fibres, called parallel fibres, are cut, rapid regeneration ensues and junctions with other neurons called "synapses" are rebuilt. The precise mechanism for this was unclear.

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The Universe is becoming gradually cleaner as more and more cosmic dust is being mopped up by the formation of stars within galaxies, an international team of astronomers has revealed.

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Big data has a bright future in personalized medicine, as demonstrated by an international competition centered at Rice University that suggested ways forward for treatment of patients with leukemia.

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Crucial peatlands carbon-sink vulnerable to rising sea levels, research shows

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A consensus statement which includes a University of Exeter researcher says exercise boosts kids' and young people's brain power and academic prowess.

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Knowing when an asteroid could impact Earth would be nice, but learning more about the impact a super volcano eruption at Yellowstone would have on civilization — and how to be ready for it — might be more prudent.

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Researchers have identified immune cells vital for protecting us from potentially fatal C. difficile infection. Surprisingly, those cells are often vilified for their role in causing asthma and allergies. But when it comes to C. difficile, they could be the difference in life and death.

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University of Delaware researchers project that approximately 30 percent of current Adélie penguin colonies may be in decline by 2060 and approximately 60 percent may be in decline by 2099. The declines are associated with warming - many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and further warming is no longer positive for the species.

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A common close partnership which sees baby fish sheltering from predators among the poisonous tentacles of jellyfish will be harmed under predicted ocean acidification, a new University of Adelaide study has found.

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Extending what they learned from flies to a mouse model, researchers discover a possible first therapy for an uncommon childhood disease.

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Biologists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have discovered that the evolutionary history of a hormone responsible for sexual maturity in humans is written in the genes of the humble starfish.