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Researchers have found a further reason for the severity of dual infection by influenza and Streptococcus pneumonia -- a new virulence mechanism for a surface protein on the pneumonia-causing bacteria S. pneumoniae. This insight comes 30 years after discovery of that surface protein, called pneumococcal surface protein A. This mechanism had been missed in the past because it facilitates bacterial adherence only to dying lung epithelial cells, not to living cells.

National Institutes of Health researchers fed fruit flies antibiotics and monitored the lifetime activity of hundreds of genes that scientists have traditionally thought control aging. To their surprise, the antibiotics not only extended the lives of the flies but also dramatically changed the activity of many of these genes. Their results suggested that only about 30% of the genes traditionally associated with aging set an animal's internal clock while the rest reflect the body's response to bacteria.

Using an unusually well-preserved subfossil jawbone, a team of researchers -- led by Penn State and with a multi-national team of collaborators including scientists from the Université d'Antananarivo in Madagascar -- has sequenced for the first time the nuclear genome of the koala lemur (Megaladapis edwardsi), one of the largest of the 17 or so giant lemur species that went extinct on the island of Madagascar between about 500 and 2,000 years ago.

Research News Tip Sheet: Story Ideas From Johns Hopkins Medicine.

When the summer sun blazes on a hot city street, our first reaction is to flee to a shady spot protected by a building or tree.A new study is the first to calculate exactly how much these shaded areas help lower the temperature and reduce the "urban heat island" effect.

A new study from researchers at the University of Toronto found that 63% of Canadians with migraine headaches are able to flourish, despite the painful condition.

New findings from heart experts at Cincinnati Children's shed light on the molecular triggers of rapid cardiac atrophy. Findings have potential implications for space travel.

Indonesia's volcanoes are among the world's most dangerous. Why? Through chemical analyses of tiny minerals in lava from Bali and Java, researchers from Uppsala University and elsewhere have found new clues. They now understand better how the Earth's mantle is composed in that particular region and how the magma changes before an eruption. The study is published in Nature Communications.

Our planet's strongest ocean current, which circulates around Antarctica, plays a major role in determining the transport of heat, salt and nutrients in the ocean. An international research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now evaluated sediment samples from the Drake Passage.

A team from Japan and the United States has identified the design principles for creating large 'ideal' proteins from scratch, paving the way for the design of proteins with new biochemical functions.

A new tool to help conserve one of the UK's most threatened mammals has been released today, with the publication of the first high-quality reference genome for the European water vole. The genome was generated by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in collaboration with animal conservation charity the Wildwood Trust, as part of the Darwin Tree of Life Project.

Monoclonal antibodies work well in reducing COVID-19 related emergency department visits and hospitalizations when administered early to high-risk patients, a study by the University of South Florida Health (USF Health) and Tampa General Hospital demonstrates. If used under FDA guidelines, the researchers suggest, this treatment can ease the pandemic's continuing burden on patients and on limited health care resources.

Working in the highly charged environment of COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the mental health of nurses, according to a new survey by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto.The findings, described recently in the Annals of Epidemiology, is the first to compare Canadian nurses' mental health prior to and during the pandemic.

With age, a diet lacking in the essential amino acid tryptophan -- which has a key role in our mood, energy level and immune response -- makes the gut microbiome less protective and increases inflammation body-wide, investigators report.

Women with depression and other mood disorders are generally advised to continue taking antidepressant medications during pregnancy. The drugs are widely considered safe, but the effect of these medications on the unborn fetus has remained a topic of some concern. Now, researchers have found that maternal psychiatric conditions -- but not the use of serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) -- increased the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delay (DD) in offspring.

A new study of postmenopausal women has found that eating a concentrated amount of chocolate during a narrow window of time in the morning may help the body burn fat and decrease blood sugar levels.

"Red flag" gun laws--which allow law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from a person at risk of harming themselves or others--are gaining attention at the state and federal levels, but are under scrutiny by legislators who deem them unconstitutional. A new analysis by legal scholars at NYU School of Global Public Health describes the state-by-state landscape for red flag legislation and how it may be an effective tool to reduce gun violence, while simultaneously protecting individuals' constitutional rights.

A recent study finds states that exhibit higher levels of systemic racism also have pronounced racial disparities regarding access to health care. In short, the more racist a state was, the better access white people had -- and the worse access black people had.

The open access Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS) has published a special section on the latest science, engineering, research, and programmatic advances of starshades, the starlight-suppression technology integral to extra-solar and exoplanet detection.

Female elephant seal weigh on average 350 kg, and dive continuously to the ocean's mesopelagic zone to consume their only prey: small fish that weigh less than 10 grams. How do seals maintain their large size on such small prey? An international team of researchers found that, on average, a single seal dove 80 to 100% of the day to eat anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 fish and gain more calories than they burned.