Feed aggregator

The discovery of novel groups or categories within diseases, organisms and biological processes and their organization into hierarchical relationships are important and recurrent pursuits in biology and medicine, which may help elucidate group-specific vulnerabilities and ultimately novel therapeutic interventions.

A decade's worth of data shows that neonatologists are shifting the type of respiratory support they utilize for preterm infants, a move that could lead to improved health outcomes.

Dutch-French research shows that Optical Genome Mapping (OGM) detects abnormalities in chromosomes and DNA very quickly, effectively and accurately. Sometimes even better than all existing techniques together, as they describe in two proof-of-concept studies published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. This new technique could radically change the existing workflow within cytogenetic laboratories.

A team based at the University of Kansas and China performed fieldwork in the Junggar Basin to discover two fossil teeth belonging to two separate specimens of bat, dubbed Altaynycteris aurora. It's the oldest fossil of bat found in Asia.

Testing returned to pre-pandemic levels in late 2020 except with colonoscopies for colorectal cancer screening, which continued to lag. Rates of mammography for breast cancer screening were lower among Black and Hispanic patients during the pandemic. Long term effects of "missed" diagnoses on cancer outcomes not yet clear.

An MIT study shows radioactive molecules are sensitive to subtle nuclear phenomena. The molecules might help physicists probe violation of the most fundamental symmetries of nature, including why the universe contains relatively little antimatter.

How do predators know to avoid brightly-coloured toxic prey? A collaboration of researchers has put social information theory to the test in a reliable real-world system to find the answer - by copying what others do, or do not, eat.

Scientists show for the first time with a VR simulation and neurophysiology measurements that playback of slow music inside road tunnels keeps drivers alert, relaxed, and focused on safety. For maximal vigilance, alarm sounds like sirens should be played at the tunnel's entry and exit, where the risk of accidents is greatest. This study by the open access publisher Frontiers shows that background music has a role to play in preventing road accidents.

The Hikurangi Margin, located off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, is partly responsible for the more than 15,000 earthquakes the region experiences each year. Most are too small to be noticed, but between 150 and 200 are large enough to be felt. Scientists have been working to understand why this plate boundary produces both imperceptible silent earthquakes, but also potentially major ones. A study published today in the journal Nature offers new perspective and possible answers.

Researchers have developed a patch that plants can "wear" to monitor continuously for plant diseases or other stresses, such as crop damage or extreme heat.

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin are homing in on a recipe that would enable the future production of entirely renewable, clean energy from which water would be the only waste product. Using their expertise in chemistry, theoretical physics and artificial intelligence, the team is now fine-tuning the recipe with the genuine belief that the seemingly impossible will one day be reality.

EMBL´s Typas group and colleagues have analysed how the intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica secretes proteins to survive and thrive in infected cells. Using a novel approach, which for the first time allows scientists to study which host cell proteins are targeted by the pathogen, the scientists revealed new insights into how Salmonella hijacks the cell´s cholesterol supplies, and how it rewires cellular transport processes to promote its own survival.

Astronomers led by David Yong, Gary Da Costa and Chiaki Kobayashi from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence in All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) based at the Australian National University (ANU) have potentially discovered the first evidence of the destruction of a collapsed rapidly spinning star - a phenomenon they describe as a "magneto-rotational hypernova".

Diversification in the sourcing of food into cities can go a long way to tempering "food shock" -- a sudden drop in food supply due to unforeseen events, according to a team of researchers from Penn State and Northern Arizona University, who developed a statistical risk model linking supply chain diversity to the probability of a city experiencing food shocks.

What The Study Did: The characteristics and factors associated with deaths among individuals detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities from 2011 to 2018 were examined in this study.

What The Study Did: Wearable sensor data were used to examine the duration and variation of recovery among COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative participants.

Why magma flowed along a curved pathway during the 2018 eruption of a Galapagos volcano is explained by a GFZ model

In mosquitofish, of the genus Gambusia, male fish are smaller than females - sometimes only half the size. Biologists had previously assumed that smaller male mosquitofish had at least some reproductive advantages. Researchers from the transregional collaborative research centre NC³ at Bielefeld University have shown in a systematic review and meta-analysis that larger mosquitofish are actually more successful at reproduction. The re-searchers are presenting their findings today (07.07.2021) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

Environmental education provision needs greater investment and innovation if future generations are to be able to respond fully to the climate emergency, experts have said.

Female vampire bats establish an egalitarian community within a roost rather than a society based on a clear hierarchy of dominance that is often seen in animal groups, a new study suggests.