Magnetic resonance image isn't everything. A new University of Alberta study shows that vibrating the spine may reveal more when it comes to treating back pain. Teaming with the University of South Denmark to study the lumbar spine of twins, Greg Kawchuk and his team demonstrate that structural changes within the spine alter its vibration response significantly.
In a breakthrough for energy-efficient computing, engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can operate with the lowest fundamental level of energy dissipation possible under the laws of thermodynamics.
While more consumers than ever are making healthier choices at the grocery store, they tend to purchase a balance of healthy and less-healthy foods, according to new research from the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Parents know all too well the nightmare of ridding lice infestations. But for Japanese macaques at least, 'popular girls' need not fret so much. In new research published in Scientific Reports, primatologists have found that females at the center of their social network had less lice thanks to the extra grooming they receive from their many friends.
Extreme weather events like floods, heat waves and droughts can devastate communities and populations worldwide. Recent scientific advances have enabled researchers to confidently say that the increased intensity and frequency of some, but not all, of these extreme weather events is influenced by human-induced climate change, according to an international National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine report released today (March 11).
An interview with Mike Vecchione, a zoologist with the NOAA Fisheries National Systematics Lab and an expert on deep-water cephalopods (a group that includes octopods, squids, and cuttlefishes). In this interview, Vecchione describes this mysterious species, and what its discovery says about our understanding of life on Earth.
University of Virginia scientists have demonstrated that neurons in the brain that have been supplemented with a synthetic gene can be remotely manipulated by a magnetic field. The finding has implications for possible future treatment of a range of neurological diseases, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers at Princeton University have observed a bizarre behavior in a strange new crystal that could hold the key for future electronic technologies. Unlike most materials in which electrons travel on the surface, in these new materials the electrons sink into the depths of the crystal through special conductive channels.
Evidence of grid cell activity has been seen in healthy volunteers asked to imagine moving through an environment in new UCL research, which could help to explain why people with Alzheimer's can have problems imagining as well as remembering things.
Since the 17th century, science was intrigued by the nature of light. Isaac Newton was certain that it consists of a stream of particles. His contemporary Christiaan Huygens, however, argued that light is a wave. Modern quantum physics says that both were right.
In 2012, Americans sent more than 14 million tons of textile waste to trash dumps around the country, despite many options for consumers to repurpose or recycle textile waste, including donating old clothes to charities and recycling the materials to be remade into other products. Pamela Norum, professor and interim department chair of textile and apparel management at the University of Missouri, found that younger adults from ages 18-34 are much less likely to throw old clothes and other textile waste into the garbage than older adults. She also found that millennials were more likely to donate clothing to secondhand stores such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army.
A team of researchers from India and the National University of Singapore has discovered a new species of narrow-mouthed frog in the laterite rock formations of India’s coastal plains. The frog, which is the size of a thumbnail, was named Microhyla laterite after its natural habitat.
Fifty years ago it was nearly impossible to find women in executive leadership positions. Now, nearly half of the labor force is female. 51 percent of management and professional occupations are held by women. Yet, women hold only about 17 percent of corporate board seats. Despite positive changes over the years and rhetoric supporting the advancement of women in business leadership roles, over the last decade, there is meager evidence of significant progress in U.S. corporate boardrooms.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute, with colleagues in China, have developed a new, regenerative medicine approach to remove congenital cataracts in infants, permitting remaining stem cells to regrow functional lenses.
More people live close to sea coast than earlier estimated, assess researchers in a new study. These people are the most vulnerable to the rise of the sea level as well as to the increased number of floods and intensified storms. By using recent increased resolution datasets, Aalto University researchers estimate that 1.9 billion inhabitants, or 28% of the world's total population, live closer than 100 km from the coast in areas less than 100 meters above the present sea level.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified a mechanism that might explain the link between maternal infections during pregnancy and cognitive problems in children; findings may impact clinical care.
Given the high stress levels, extended periods of screen time and regular social outings many Americans experience day-to-day in environments where high-calorie foods are readily available, it can be easy to fall into the habit of mindless eating – where we’re too distracted to pay attention to how much, what and why we’re eating. Research suggests that practicing mindfulness – or taking the time to bring awareness to present-moment experiences with an open attitude of curiosity and non-judgment – can be effective in allowing us to make more thoughtful food choices and recognize when we are hungry, satisfied or full. The latest research in this area led by Jennifer Daubenmier, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests that the impact of mindful eating could be even greater.
Researchers from Boston College, US, have revealed the global spread of an ancient group of retroviruses that affected about 28 of 50 modern mammals' ancestors some 15 to 30 million years ago.
If you have trouble sleeping, the neurons in your brain may be firing like those in roundworms randomly seeking food in the absence of clues, says University of Oregon biologist Shawn R. Lockery.
Rice University researchers have determined a more effective way to use natural gas to reduce climate-warming emissions would be in the replacement of existing coal-fired power plants and fuel-oil furnaces rather than burning it in cars and buses.
Groups of 2 or single individuals less likely to be caught in an avalanche than larger groups, according to a new report in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine.
One of the most critical questions surrounding climate change is how it might affect the food supply for a growing global population. A new study by researchers from Brown and Tufts universities suggests that researchers have been overlooking how two key human responses to climate -- how much land people choose to farm, and the number of crops they plant -- will impact food production in the future.
Cloud computing software has brought many changes to the business landscape and currently, the implementation of such a service is common. New research from Simon Business School at the University of Rochester sheds light on the growing competition between two widely used software models –Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Modified off-the- Shelf (MOTS) software.
Shoppers making ethical purchases, such as buying organic food or environmentally friendly cars, are generally seen as more virtuous - unless they're receiving government assistance. If ethical shopping is funded by welfare cheques, those shoppers are judged as immoral for taking advantage of public generosity, according to a new UBC Sauder School of Business study.
Scientists at the University of Warwick have discovered that a lack of stem cells in the womb lining is causing thousands of women to suffer from recurrent miscarriages.
Arundo donax, a giant reed that grows in the Mediterranean climate zones of the world, isn't like other prolific warm-weather grasses, researchers report. This grass, which can grow annually to 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) in height, uses a type of photosynthesis that is more common to crop plants like soybeans, rice and peanuts.
New research from the University of Sheffield has found that across the EU there has been a significant shift towards weaker job security and employment support since the global financial crisis.
Researchers have launched U.S. News Map, a database of more than 10 million newspaper pages that is helping researchers see history with spatial information that hadn’t been available before. Using digitized newspaper articles and cutting-edge search technology, the project is helping researchers see the nation’s history in new ways.
Contralateral prophylactic mastectomies (CPMs) were associated with slightly higher satisfaction in women’s perception of how their breasts looked and felt, but primarily among women whose mastectomies were followed by reconstructive surgery.
A computer program that learns and can categorize leaves into large evolutionary categories such as plant families will lead to greatly improved fossil identification and a better understanding of flowering plant evolution, according to an international team of researchers.
UC Santa Barbara researchers studying empathy in relationships find that in the absence of caring, understanding alone doesn't cut it when stressful situations arise.
A report undertaken by health researchers at Leeds Beckett University has reviewed the most effective ways to treat and prevent burnout and work-related stress, and revealed organisational interventions in the workplace may be more effective than individual interventions alone.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) have devised a cell-based model of the human placenta that could help explain how pathogens that cause birth defects, such as Zika virus, cross from mother to unborn child. The findings were published today in Science Advances.
Hispanic middle school children, at high risk for being overweight or obese, reduced their Body Mass Index (BMI) when they adhered to a nutrition intervention that included a snack of peanuts, compared to those children who did not.
A new study confirms the age-old conception that meditation is associated with wisdom. Surprisingly, it also concludes that somatic (physical) practices such as classical ballet might lead to increased wisdom.
Warthogs living in Uganda have learned to rid themselves of annoying ticks by seeking out the grooming services of some accommodating neighbors: a group of mongooses looking for snacks.
A new study of gut bacteria in premature infants reveals the vast scope of the problem of antibiotic resistance and gives new insight into the extreme vulnerability of these young patients, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Sometimes, a nematode worm just needs to take a nap. In fact, its life may depend on it. New research has identified a protein that promotes a sleep-like state in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Without the snooze-inducing molecule, worms are more likely to die when confronted with stressful conditions, report researchers in the March 7, 2016 issue of the journal GENETICS.
Reproducibility is an important measure of validity in all fields of experimental science. If researcher A publishes a particular scientific result from his laboratory, researcher B should be able to follow the same protocol and achieve the same result in her laboratory. However, in recent years many results in a variety of disciplines have been questioned for their lack of reproducibility. A new study suggests that published results from experimental economics—a field pioneered at Caltech—are better than average when it comes to reproducibility.
University of Chicago scientists have discovered evidence in a meteorite that a rare element, curium, was present during the formation of the solar system. This finding ends a 35-year-old debate on the possible presence of curium in the early solar system.
As America continues to adopt more children internationally than any other country, hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. – most of whom are children of color – sit in foster care awaiting adoption. Though some Americans express a desire to adopt non-white children, even they have limitations when it comes to adopting children of certain races, especially African Americans, according to a new study.