Across the animal kingdom, males hoot and holler to attract females and ward off competing suitors. Now, a new study finds that male howler monkeys with deeper calls have smaller testicles – and vice versa, according to researchers from universities of Utah, Cambridge and Vienna and other institutions.
A study published in Nature Communications suggests that the weather patterns known as El Nino and La Nina could lead to at least a doubling of extreme droughts and floods in California later this century.
A research team working in the Galapagos Archipelago has discovered there are two species of giant tortoises — not just one, as had been long believed — living on the island of Santa Cruz in the center of the Galapagos Archipelago.
Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, rocky object disintegrating in its death spiral around a distant white dwarf star. The discovery also confirms a long-standing theory behind the source of white dwarf “pollution” by metals.
The iconic sugar maple, one of the most economically and ecologically important trees in the eastern United States and Canada, shows signs of being in a significant decline, according to research results published today (Oct. 21, 2015) in the open-access journal “Ecosphere.”
High-speed video breaks down the incredible leaping ability of basement-dwelling spider crickets and points the way toward development of robotic long jumpers.
How nacre, or mother-of-pearl, is first deposited by the animals that make it has eluded discovery despite decades of scientific inquiry. Now, a team of Wisconsin scientists reports the first direct experimental observations of nacre formation at its earliest stages in a mollusk.
According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed. And, the party won't be over when the sun burns out in another 6 billion years. The bulk of those planets - 92 percent - have yet to be born. This conclusion is based on an assessment of data collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Kepler space observatory.
Nearly 100 fossil species pulled from a flooded cave in the Bahamas reveal a true story of persistence against all odds — at least until the time humans stepped foot on the islands.
When a Lake Malawi cichlid loses a tooth, a new one drops neatly into place as a replacement. Why can't humans similarly regrow teeth lost to injury or disease?
New research from UAB’s Department of Biology shows how one species can fully support the development of another species in a sustainable system.
In polluted environments, diesel fumes may be reducing the availability of almost half the most common flower odours that bees use to find their food, research has found.
A study of zircons from a gigantic meteorite impact in South Africa, now online in the journal Geology, casts doubt on the methods used to date lunar impacts.
Discovered in Spain, the fossil of the newly described, 125-million-year old Spinolestes xenarthrosus is remarkably well-preserved, containing fur, hair follicles, hedgehog-like spines, organs and even a fungal skin infection. It pushes back the record of preserved mammalian hair and soft tissue by more than 60 million years.
A Southampton astronomer is among a team of international researchers whose work has revealed a surprising similarity between the way in which astronomical objects grow including black holes, white dwarfs and young stars.
Water-dependent wildlife populations in sensitive African dryland regions need continued access to limited surface water — even as human development increases — because restricting access and concentrating wildlife populations along riparian regions can impact water quality and, potentially, human health, according to Virginia Tech research.
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have produced new global maps of Jupiter, representing nearly back-to-back rotations of the planet on Jan. 19, 2015, that show the movements of the clouds and make it possible to determine the speeds of Jupiter's winds. The images confirm that the Great Red Spot continues to shrink and become more circular. In addition, an unusual wispy filament is seen, spanning almost the entire width of the vortex. The images are the first in a series of annual portraits of the solar system's outer planets. For more visuals and information about this study, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/hubble-s-planetary-portrait-captures-new-changes-in-jupiter-s-great-red-spot. And to learn even more about Jupiter and Hubble, join the live Hubble Hangout discussion at 3:00 pm on Thurs., Oct. 15 at http://hbbl.us/y6C.
A new group at the University of Washington School of Law will spend the 2015-16 academic year studying existing and emerging markets for marijuana, to assist and inform the state as it prepares to blend current medical and recreational markets for cannabis.
Having a light touch can make a hefty difference in how well animals and robots move across challenging granular surfaces such as snow, sand and leaf litter. Research shows how the design of appendages – whether legs or wheels – affects the ability of both robots and animals to cross weak and flowing surfaces.
This study shows that some of the earliest birds from the Late Jurassic were capable of aerodynamic prowess like many present-day birds.
New research from the University of Georgia department of psychology gives researchers a unique glimpse at how humans develop an ability to use tools in childhood while nonhuman primates—such as capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees—remain only occasional tool users.
The new technique allows scientists to study diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using cells from human patients
Why elephants rarely get cancer is a mystery that has stumped scientists for decades. A study led by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah and Arizona State University, and including researchers from the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation, may have found the answer. According to the results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), elephants have 38 additional modified copies (alleles) of a gene that encodes p53, a well-defined tumor suppressor, as compared to humans, who have only two. Further, elephants may have a more robust mechanism for killing damaged cells that are at risk for becoming cancerous. The results suggest extra p53 could explain elephants’ enhanced resistance to cancer.
Research into the lives – and deaths – of young rusty blackbirds could help scientists learn more about the complex connections between human activities and the well-being of rapidly declining species, according to a study published today (Oct. 7, 2015) in the journal, “The Condor: Ornithological Applications.”
The naturally occurring bacteria on a frog’s skin could be the most important tool for helping the animal fight off a deadly skin disease, according to an experiment conducted by Virginia Tech researchers.
Bringing closer a mass market for environmentally friendly hydrogen-powered cars, Sandia researchers are upgrading $0.37/gram molybdenum disulfide, "molly" for short, to take the place of $1,500/gram catalyst platinum. Unlike gasoline, hydrogen as fuel releases water, not carbon, into the air.
Astronomers studying images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's Very Large Telescope were surprised to uncover fast-moving, large-scale, wave-like features embedded in the vast disk of gas and dust surrounding the young, nearby star AU Microscopii. The features are unlike anything ever observed. These results will be published in the Oct. 8 issue of Nature. Learn even more about AU Mic by joining a live Hubble Hangout discussion with astronomers at 3:00 pm EDT on Thurs., Oct. 8 at http://hbbl.us/y6M.
The Government of Chile announced today at the Our Oceans Summit in Valparaiso its plan to design a network of Marine Protected Areas for the purpose of safeguarding Patagonia’s whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea birds and other coastal biodiversity, an initiative that would expand the country’s protected waters by 100,000 square kilometers (more than 38,000 square miles).
A research team led by Stony Brook University investigating human and chimpanzee locomotion have uncovered unexpected similarities in the way the two species use their upper body during two-legged walking.
A group of researchers in Japan is exploring the behavior of a certain type of SET (single-electron transistor) made from two quantum dots, which are bits of material so small they start to exhibit quantum properties. The group has produced a detailed analysis of the electrical characteristics of the so-called double-quantum-dot SETs, which could help researchers design better devices to manipulate single electrons. They report their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.
The genetic and developmental innovations plants used to make the leap to land have been enduring secrets of nature. Now, an international team of researchers reveals that the aquatic algae from which terrestrial plant life first arose were genetically pre-adapted to form the symbiotic relationships with microorganisms that most land plants need to acquire nutrients from the soil.
Physicists have wondered in recent years if they could control how atoms interact using light. Now they know that they can, by demonstrating games of quantum billiards with unusual new rules.
A UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher and his partners describe the design and engineering of the new bioluminescent imaging tool called the “LumiFluor” in a study published in the journal Cancer Research.
Solar energy pricing is at an all-time low, according to a new report released by Berkeley Lab. Driven by lower installed costs, improved project performance, and a race to build projects ahead of a reduction in a key federal incentive, utility-scale solar project developers have been negotiating power sales agreements with utilities at prices averaging just 5¢/kWh.
A team of Virginia Tech researchers has refined a mathematical model that simulates the impact of genetic mutations on cell division -- a step that could provide insight into errors that produce and sustain harmful cells, such as those found in tumors.
A sensitive new toxicity test developed at the university of Utah detected impaired reproduction in mice caused by genetic mutations that had seemed harmless when studied by developmental techniques.
Packing some pinto bean seeds would increase his chances of survival.
Can owls and loggers get along? A recent study conducted in Primorye in the southern Russian Far East suggests it’s not only possible, but essential for endangered Blakiston’s fish owls to survive there. The study was conducted by the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the University of Minnesota.
On Monday, archeologists confirmed that they've found evidence of two hidden chambers behind the western and northern walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Could this discovery lead to the burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti?
A study led by U geography professor Kathryn Grace found that a pregnant woman's exposure to reduced precipitation and an increased number of hot days result in lower birth weight. A first of its kind, the study is the first time researchers utilized fine-resolution precipitation and temperature data alongside birth data to analyze how weather impacts birth weight. The study examined 70,000 births across two decades in 19 African countries.
New research involving scientists from University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) has identified a crucial process behind the reason why dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels in the deep oceans are constant despite a continuous supply from the surface ocean.
Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.
Research into human fossils dating back to approximately two million years ago reveals that the hearing pattern resembles chimpanzees, but with some slight differences in the direction of humans. Rolf Quam, assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University, led an international research team in reconstructing an aspect of sensory perception in several fossil hominin individuals from the sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans in South Africa. The study relied on the use of CT scans and virtual computer reconstructions to study the internal anatomy of the ear. The results suggest that the early hominin species Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus, both of which lived around 2 million years ago, had hearing abilities similar to a chimpanzee, but with some slight differences in the direction of humans.
By using powerful photon beams generated by the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE User Facility, researchers have shown that they can now control the chemical environment and provide nanoscale structural detail while simultaneously imaging the mineral calcite as it is pushed to its extremes.
University of Vermont chemists have invented a nanoscale wrench that allows them to precisely control nanoscale shapes. Their use of “chirality-assisted synthesis” is a fundamentally new approach for controlling the shape of large molecules--one of the foundational needs for making complex synthetic materials, including new polymers and medicines.
Astronomers are comparing new images of the Veil Nebula, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in April 2015 with Hubble images taken in 1997, to study how the nebula has expanded since it was photographed over 18 years ago. The supernova that created the Veil Nebula would have been briefly visible to our very distant ancestors thousands of years ago as a bright "new star" in the northern sky. Learn even more about the Veil Nebula in a discussion with Hubble Heritage Team scientists during the live Hubble Hangout at 3pm EDT today (Thurs., Sept. 24) at http://hbbl.us/z7f .
Why do babies smile when they interact with their parents? Could their smiles have a purpose? In the Sept. 23 issue of PLOS ONE, a team of computer scientists, roboticists and developmental psychologists confirm what most parents already suspect: when babies smile, they do so with a purpose—to make the person they interact with smile in return. To verify their findings, researchers programmed a toddler-like robot to behave like the babies they studied and had the robot interact with undergraduate students.
As much as 47 percent of the edible U.S. seafood supply is lost each year, mainly from consumer waste, new research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) suggests.
Researchers around the globe are on a quest for materials capable of capturing and storing greenhouse gases. This shared goal led researchers in Germany and India to team up to explore the feasibility of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) to trap and store two greenhouse gases in particular: carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). They report their findings in this week’s The Journal of Chemical Physics.
A research team has discovered the northernmost dinosaur known to have ever lived.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right