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ScienceDaily -- the Internet's premier science news web site -- brings you the latest discoveries in science, health & medicine, the environment, space, technology, and computers, from the world's leading universities and research institutions. Updated several times a day, Science Daily also offers free search of its archive of more than 80,000 stories, as well as related articles, images, videos, books, and journal references in hundreds of different topics, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, and more.
A pair of orbiting black holes millions of times the Sun's mass perform a hypnotic pas de deux in a new NASA visualization. The movie traces how the black holes distort and redirect light emanating from the maelstrom of hot gas - called an accretion disk - that surrounds each one.
Good oral hygiene and regular dental care are the most important ways to reduce risk of a heart infection called infective endocarditis caused by bacteria in the mouth. There are four categories of heart patients considered to be at highest risk for adverse outcomes from infective endocarditis, and only these patients are recommended to receive preventive antibiotic treatment prior to invasive dental procedures.
Biomedical engineers have developed a self-assembling nanomaterial that can help limit damage caused by inflammatory diseases by activating key cells in the immune system. In mouse models of psoriasis, the team showed that their nanofiber-based drug could effectively mitigate damaging inflammation as effectively as a gold-standard therapy.
The DNA molecule is not naked in the nucleus. Instead, it is folded in a very organized way by the help of different proteins to establish a unique spatial organization of the genetic information. This 3D spatial genome organization is fundamental for the regulation of our genes and has to be established de novo by each individual during early embryogenesis. Researchers now reveal a yet unknown and critical role of the protein HP1a in the 3D genome re-organization after fertilization. The study
In a novel laboratory investigation of the initial atmospheres of Earth-like rocky planets, researchers heated pristine meteorite samples in a high-temperature furnace and analyzed the gases released. Their results suggest that the initial atmospheres of terrestrial planets may differ significantly from many of the common assumptions used in theoretical models of planetary atmospheres.
An outbreak of vomiting among dogs has been traced back to a type of animal coronavirus by researchers. Vets across the country began reporting cases of acute onset prolific vomiting in 2019/20.
Despite a similar clinical presentation, people with severe asthma have strikingly distinct immune profiles, research shows. These findings can be used to develop new therapeutics and enhance precision medicine approaches to treating these patients.
Wastewater carries large quantities of organic substances into the rivers and lakes, leading to heavy growth of bacteria and oxygen deficiency. Measurement methods have so far been incapable of measuring this organic pollution precisely. A new method should provide a clear image of the water conditions in the future.
Any future attempts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 should be focused on tackling close airborne transmission of the virus which is considered to be the primary route for its circulation, say experts in a new editorial.
Scientists compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which were recently acknowledged by IUCN as a separate, Critically Endangered species from African savannah elephants.
Researchers have published an in-depth look at the SARS-CoV-2 mutations that have taken place during the past year. The review discusses the findings of over 180 research articles and follows the changes that have taken place in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, and the variants that have occurred as a result.
Bearded dragon embryos can use two different sets of genes to become a female lizard -- one activated by the sex chromosomes and the other activated by high temperatures during development, researchers report.
An international team of researchers has observed picosecond charge transfer mediated by hydrogen bonds in peptides. A picosecond is one trillionth of a second. As short-chain analogs of proteins, crucially important building blocks of living organisms, peptides are chains of chemically linked amino acids. The discovery shows the role of hydrogen bonds in electron transfer.
With fossils few and far between, paleontologists have shied away from estimating the size of extinct populations. But UC Berkeley scientists decided to try, focusing on the North American predator T. rex. Using data from the latest fossil analyses, they concluded that some 20,000 adults likely roamed the continent at any one time, from Mexico to Canada. The species survived for perhaps 2.5 million years, which means that about 2.5 billion lived and died overall.
New research could help solve a major challenge in the deployment of certain COVID-19 vaccines worldwide -- the need for the vaccines to be kept at below-freezing temperatures during transport and storage. Researchers demonstrate a new, inexpensive technique that generates crystalline exoskeletons around delicate liposomes and other lipid nanoparticles and stabilizes them at room temperature.
The brain processes information using both slow and fast currents. Until now, researchers had to use electrodes placed inside the brain in order to measure the latter. Researchers have now successfully visualized these fast brain signals from the outside -- and found a surprising degree of variability.
Two opposing evolutionary forces explain the presence of the two different colors of spotted salamander egg masses at ponds in Pennsylvania, according to a new study. Understanding the processes that maintain biological diversity in wild populations may allow researchers to predict how species will respond to global change.
In order to get a sense of what our future may hold, scientists have been looking to the deep past. Now, new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which combines climate, ice sheet and vegetation model simulations with a suite of different climatic and geologic scenarios, opens the clearest window yet into the deep history of the Antarctic ice sheet and what our planetary future might hold.
Investigators have injected human stem cells into primate embryos and were able to grow chimeric embryos for a significant period of time -- up to 20 days. The research, despite its ethical concerns, has the potential to provide new insights into developmental biology and evolution. It also has implications for developing new models of human biology and disease.
Researchers have developed a method that uses machine learning, satellite imagery and weather data to autonomously find hotspots of heavy air pollution, city block by city block. The technique could be a boon for finding and mitigating sources of hazardous aerosols, studying the effects of air pollution on human health, and making better informed, socially just public policy decisions.
Those recovered from COVID-19 had a robust antibody response after the first mRNA vaccine dose, but little immune benefit after the second dose, according to new research. The findings suggest only a single vaccine dose may be needed to produce a sufficient antibody response. Those who did not have COVID-19 did not have a full immune response until after receiving their second vaccine, reinforcing the importance of the two recommended doses.
To better understand how RNA in bacteria gives rise to protein -- and potentially target these processes in the design of new antibiotics -- researchers are turning their attention to the unique way this process happens in bacteria. Researchers have directly observed previously hidden RNA regulatory mechanisms within bacteria.
Current research on flexible electronics is paving the way for wireless sensors that can be worn on the body and collect a variety of medical data. But where do the data go? Without a similar flexible transmitting device, these sensors would require wired connections to transmit health data.
Australian pineapple, Danish trout, and Midwestern U.S. corn farmers are not often lumped together under the same agricultural umbrella. But they and many others who raise crops and animals face a common problem: excess nitrogen in drainage water. Whether it flows out to the Great Barrier Reef or the Gulf of Mexico, the nutrient contributes to harmful algal blooms that starve fish and other organisms of oxygen.
Researchers have found that certain cells in mouse craniums respond to increased expression of a gene called Dlx5 during early stages of embryonic development. They observed that a layer of these cells formed more bone and cartilage in mice engineered with high Dlx5 levels. Their interesting results provide crucial information for the mechanistic role of this gene in cell fate during cranial development.
A new article demonstrates the surprising downsides of mindfulness, while offering easy ways to minimize those consequences -- both of which have practical implications for mindfulness training.
Ethiopia may produce less specialty coffee and more rather bland tasting varieties in the future. This is the result of a new study by an international team of researchers that looked at the peculiar effects climate change has on Africa's largest coffee producing nation. Their results are relevant both for the country's millions of smallholder farmers, who earn more on specialty coffee than on ordinary coffee, as well as for baristas and coffee aficionados around the world.
Reliance on petroleum fuels and raging wildfires: Two separate, large-scale challenges that could be addressed by one scientific breakthrough. Researchers have developed a streamlined and efficient process for converting woody plant matter like forest overgrowth and agricultural waste - material that is currently burned either intentionally or unintentionally - into liquid biofuel.
A new material called 'Digory' has been developed, which can be processed in 3D printers and is extremely similar to ivory. It can be used to restore old ivory artefacts.
Mathematicians and engineers have teamed up to show how ultrasound waves can organize carbon particles in water into a sort of pattern that never repeats. The results, they say, could result in materials called 'quasicrystals' with custom magnetic or electrical properties.
Common ragweed is an annual plant whose allergenic pollen affects human health. It's an invasive species particularly well-adapted to living at roadsides. New research found high population growth along high-traffic roads even in shaded and less disturbed road sections, suggesting that seed dispersal by vehicles and by road maintenance can compensate, at least partly, for less favorable habitat conditions.
To improve climate models, an international team turned to archaeological data. The resulting classification from the project, called LandCover6k, offers a tool the researchers hope might generate better predictions about the planet's future and fill in gaps about its past.
Engineers have created a tiny wireless implant that can provide real-time measurements of tissue oxygen levels deep underneath the skin. The device, which is smaller than the average ladybug and powered by ultrasound waves, could help doctors monitor the health of transplanted organs or tissue and provide an early warning of potential transplant failure.
The meristem of the gerbera is patterned on the molecular level already at a stage where no primordia or other changes are discernible by even an electron microscope.
An MIT study narrows the search for particles called ultralight bosons, which, if they exist, could be an important component of dark matter. Certain ultralight bosons would be expected to put the brakes on the spin of black holes, but the new results show no such slowdown.
In April 2019, scientists released the first image of a black hole in galaxy M87 using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). However, that remarkable achievement was just the beginning of the science story to be told.
If global warming continues unchecked, summer monsoon rainfall in India will become stronger and more erratic. This is the central finding of an analysis by a team of researchers that compared more than 30 state-of-the-art climate models from all around the world. The study predicts more extremely wet years in the future - with potentially grave consequences for more than one billion people's well-being, economy, food systems and agriculture.
Scientists developed a model showing that a fragile, temporary state of immunity emerged during the early epidemic but got destroyed as people changed their social behaviors over time, leading to future waves of infection.
One of the azhdarchid pterosaur's most notable features for such a large flighted animal was a neck longer than that of a giraffe. Now, researchers report an unexpected discovery: their thin neck vertebrae got their strength from an intricate internal structure unlike anything that's been seen before.
Researchers compared lake sediment, tree ring data and archaeological evidence to reconstruct a 1,200 history of fire, climate, and human activity of the Fish Lake Plateau, a high-elevation forest in central Utah in the U.S. They found that Indigenous people used small, frequent fires, a practice known as cultural burning, which reduced the risk for large-scale wildfire activity in mountain environments even during periods of drought more extreme and prolonged than today.
Scientists have looked at understudied human populations from the South Pacific, which are severely affected by a variety of diseases, including vector-borne infectious diseases such as Zika virus, dengue, and chikungunya, and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Using genome sequencing of 320 individuals, the scientists have investigated how human populations have biologically adapted to the environments of the Pacific islands and how this has affected their current state of health.
A potential treatment for dementia and epilepsy could look to reduce the amounts of a toxic gas in the brain has been revealed in a new study using rat brain cells.
An epidemiological study has shown that not only is non-Th2 a distinct asthma disease, its likely inducer is early childhood exposure to airborne Benzo[a]pyrene, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion.
A team of scientists has found the first evidence for ancient honey hunting, locked inside pottery fragments from prehistoric West Africa, dating back some 3,500 years ago.
While people may expect suicide rates to rise during a worldwide crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests the onset of the pandemic and state of emergency executive orders likely did not increase suicide-related behavior in the early months of the outbreak. The report found that emergency room visits related to suicide attempt and self-harm decreased by 40 percent during the first eight months of Michigan's lockdown.
A new investigation of stone tools buried in graves provides evidence supporting the existence of a division of different types of labor between people of male and female biological sex at the start of the Neolithic.
Researchers have discovered how a uniquely high density of sweat glands evolved in the human genome. Researchers showed that the higher density of sweat glands in humans is due mostly to accumulated changes in a regulatory region of DNA -- called an enhancer region -- that drives the expression of a sweat gland-building gene, explaining why humans are the sweatiest of the Great Apes.
A new dual bug killer is one of the thinnest antimicrobial coatings to date. The coating works by tearing bacteria and fungal cells apart, offering a smart solution to the twin global health threats of drug-resistant bacterial and fungal infections.
A new state-by-state analysis shows a statistical association between high adherence to mask wearing and reduced rates of COVID-19 in the United States.
Compared to newborns conceived traditionally, newborns conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are more likely to have certain chemical modifications to their DNA, according to a new study. The changes involve DNA methylation -- the binding of compounds known as methyl groups to DNA -- which can alter gene activity. Only one of the modifications was seen by the time the children were 9 years old.
A team of researchers has determined that the type of fats a mother consumes while breastfeeding can have long-term implications on her infant's gut health. Their study suggests that the type of fat consumed during breastfeeding could differentially impact an infant's intestinal microbial communities, immune development and disease risk.
Supplementation of cocoa powder in the diet of high-fat-fed mice with liver disease markedly reduced the severity of their condition, according to a new study. The researchers suggest the results have implications for people.
Patients who have preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and live in areas with high levels of air pollution have a greater chance of hospitalization if they contract COVID-19, according to new research.
New data suggests that an oral drug currently used in the clinical setting to treat neuromuscular diseases could also help prevent a common form of skin cancer caused by damage from ultraviolet-B radiation from the sun.
Artificial intelligence could be one of the keys for limiting the spread of infection in future pandemics. In a new study, researchers have investigated how machine learning can be used to find effective testing methods during epidemic outbreaks, thereby helping to better control the outbreaks.
Around the world, street art by famous and not-so-famous artists adorns highways, roads and alleys. In addition to creating social statements, works of beauty and tourist attractions, street art sometimes attracts vandals who add their unwanted graffiti, which is hard to remove without destroying the underlying painting. Now, researchers report novel, environmentally friendly techniques that quickly and safely remove over-paintings on street art.
An international team of physicists has identified a new technique for testing the quality of quantum correlations. Quantum computers run their algorithms on large quantum systems by creating quantum correlations across all of them. It is important to verify the quantum correlations achieved are of the desired quality. However, carrying out checks is resource-intensive so the team has proposed a new technique that significantly reduces the number of measurements while increasing the resilience a
In a series of experiments that began with amoebas -- single-celled organisms that extend podlike appendages to move around -- scientists say they have identified a genetic pathway that could be activated to help sweep out mucus from the lungs of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a widespread lung ailment.
A new method was developed for high-resolution detection of landslides based on seismic data. This method was applied to detect landslides that occurred during the transit of Typhoon Talas across western Japan in 2011. Multiple landslides were detected and located, including one in Shizuoka Prefecture, 400 km east of the typhoon's track. The results show that large and small landslides may follow the same scaling relationships. This method may help develop landslide emergency alert technology.
A study done in rooms where COVID-19 patients were isolated shows that the virus's RNA can persist up to a month in dust. The study did not evaluate whether dust can transmit the virus to humans. It could, however, offer another option for monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks in specific buildings, including nursing homes, offices or schools.
Altering a mosquito's gut genes to make them spread antimalarial genes to the next generation of their species shows promise as an approach to curb malaria.
New study with 756 1st through 5th graders demonstrates that a six-week mashup of hoops and math has a positive effect on their desire to learn more, provides them with an experience of increased self-determination and grows math confidence among youth.
In the search for life on other planets, the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere is one potential sign of biological activity that might be detected by future telescopes. A new study, however, describes several scenarios in which a lifeless rocky planet around a sun-like star could evolve to have oxygen in its atmosphere.
A unique residential study has concluded that, contrary to perceived wisdom, people with eating disorders do not lose self-control - leading to binge-eating - in response to stress.
When trees die during a period of drought, they die of thirst. Researchers have demonstrated in a field study that a rapid collapse in the hydraulic system is responsible for tree death. And they found out that the trees possibly die more rapidly than previously thought.
The April snow falling on fruit blossoms in Europe these days may be directly connected to the loss of the sea ice in the Barents Sea in the Arctic. That was definitely the case in 2018 when the sudden cold spell known as 'Beast from the East' descended on the mid-latitudes of the continent, a new study shows.
A recent case study demonstrates that, with training, neural control of a powered prosthetic ankle can restore a wide range of abilities, including standing on very challenging surfaces and squatting. The researchers are currently working with a larger group of study participants to see how broadly applicable the findings may be.
Slow down. Baby on board. Future baby on board. New research determines that accelerating over speed bumps poses a danger for pregnant women and their fetuses.
A new algorithm can predict which genes cause cancer, even if their DNA sequence is not changed. A team of researchers combined a wide variety of data, analyzed it with 'Artificial Intelligence' and identified numerous cancer genes. This opens up new perspectives for targeted cancer therapy in personalized medicine and for the development of biomarkers.
Histones are tiny proteins that bind to DNA and hold information that can help turn on or off individual genes. Researchers have developed a technique that makes it possible to examine how different versions of histones bind to the genome in tens of thousands of individual cells simultaneously. The technique was applied to the mouse brain and can be used to study epigenetics at a single-cell level in other complex tissues.
A gene therapy protects eye cells in mice with a rare disorder that causes vision loss, especially when used in combination with other gene therapies, shows a new study.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, many families found themselves suddenly isolated together at home. A year later, new research has linked this period with a variety of large, detrimental effects on individuals' and families' well-being and functioning.
Studies show wearing masks and social distancing can contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but their combined effectiveness is not precisely known. In a new study, researchers developed a network model to study the effects of these two measures on the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19. The model shows viral outbreaks can be prevented if at least 60 percent of a population complies with both measures.
Researchers found no evidence that diastolic blood pressure - the bottom reading on a test - can be harmful to patients when reduced to levels that were previously considered to be too low.
A new study published in Elementa by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and NOAA examines traditional aspects of seafood sustainability alongside greenhouse gas emissions to better understand the 'carbon footprint' of US tuna fisheries.
As the Rhode Island legislature considers designating the Northern Star Coral an official state emblem, researchers are finding that studying this local creature's recovery from a laboratory-induced stressor could help better understand how to protect endangered tropical corals.
Despite increasing concern over the intrusion of algorithms in daily life, people may be more willing to trust a computer program than their fellow humans, especially if a task becomes too challenging, according to new research from data scientists.
Living near a hazardous waste or Superfund site could cut your life short by about a year, according to a new study. The study is the first nationwide review of all hazardous waste sites and not just the 1,300 sites on the national priority list managed by the federal government.
The smells that newborn mice are exposed to affect many social behaviors later in life, but how this happens is still a mystery. Scientists have now discovered the molecules necessary for imprinting.
The muon is a tiny particle, but it has the giant potential to upend our understanding of the subatomic world and reveal an undiscovered type of fundamental physics.
Researchers studied RCW 120 to analyze the effects of stellar feedback, and found that RCW 120 must be less than 150,000 years old, which is very young for such a nebula.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors boost a patient's immune response against cancer cells, but they can cause potentially life-threatening side effects in some individuals. New research may help clinicians determine which patients are most at risk.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors are life-saving therapies against advanced cancer, but they can cause side effects, most commonly involving the skin. New research provides insights on the extent of these side effects, when they tend to arise, and which patients may be most at risk of experiencing them.
Americans were found to be happier in states with higher wealth inequality when they had people of similar backgrounds -- some richer, some poorer -- to compare themselves with.
Light can be used to operate quantum information processing systems, e.g. quantum computers, quickly and efficiently. Researchers have now significantly advanced the development of molecule-based materials suitable for use as light-addressable fundamental quantum units. They have demonstrated for the first time the possibility of addressing nuclear spin levels of a molecular complex of europium(III) rare-earth ions with light.
The O. swinhoana frog species is the first vertebrate known to retain descendant genes that now determine sex in mammals, birds, and fishes inherited from a common ancestor.
Researchers have genetically engineered a probiotic yeast to produce beta-carotene in the guts of laboratory mice. The advance demonstrates the utility of work the researchers have done to detail how a suite of genetic engineering tools can be used to modify the yeast.
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