Culture

Over the last 25 years many scholars have questioned the existence of the kingdom of David and Solomon, which was supposed to have existed in the 10th century BCE. This was based to a large extent on the lack of evidence of royal construction at the heart of the region in which the kingdom supposedly existed. As a result, it was assumed that the rulers at the time were just local chiefs who ruled only over Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings.

With the 2018 World Cup just around the corner, soccer players and coaches are preparing to perform at their best. A recent article proposes that soccer coaches should be empowered to make reliable assessments of player psychological characteristics, based on their behavior during matches and training.

Researchers have found evidence that acupuncture could help people who experience dental anxiety.

Dental anxiety affects up to an estimated 30% of the adult population in countries world-wide. Patients can experience nausea, difficulty breathing and dizziness at the thought of going to the dentist, during an examination, and following treatment.

Reasons behind dental anxiety can be various, such as fear of pain, needles or anaesthetic side effects, as well as embarrassment or feeling a loss of control.

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2018 -- Normally, something blowing up in your face is bad. But in the event of a vehicle accident, and in conjunction with a seatbelt, one particular explosion could very well save your life. It's the chemical reaction that inflates your airbags. In this episode of Reactions, learn about the past and present of vehicle airbags and the lifesaving chemistry and physics that make them work: https://youtu.be/Y2sjYOGSV7E.

Among predictions of a second fracking boom in the US, the first evidence that chemicals found in ground water near fracking sites can impair the immune system will be published in Toxicological Sciences on May 1. The study, performed in mice, suggests that exposure to fracking chemicals during pregnancy may diminish female offspring's ability to fend off diseases, like multiple sclerosis.

San Francisco State University researchers have discovered a new method for testing levels of a tiny but hugely important protein -- "AMPK" -- in human muscle cells. "AMPK is the gas gauge that tells each cell in your body if your fuel is too low. We call it the energy sensor of the cell," said Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Jimmy Bagley.

Degraded coral reefs are far quieter than five years ago, and no longer sound like a suitable habitat to young fish searching for a place to live and breed, according to research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

If you're a parasite and want to spread out a little in Amazonia, then you better be cool with riding around in a variety of different birds, a new study found.

The Amazon region of South America is one of the most diverse tropical forest ecosystems on Earth, but an Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University study showed that in the blood parasites that cause malaria, bird hosts and the region's physical geography play significant roles in the spread and diversity of these parasites.

UPTON, NY--Plants are among the most effective energy convertors on Earth. They capture solar energy and convert it to carbon-based compounds that are used for energy and also to build up essential plant components, including the cell walls that surround every single plant cell. In a new biochemical genetics study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists reveal new details of the molecular machinery that helps channel carbon into a key cell-wall component.

To satisfy the protein demands of an anticipated nearly 10 billion people by 2050, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and researchers around the world estimate current animal production will need to grow by an average of 52 percent. Meeting this need without pushing the environment to the brink will be critical.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Researchers know that certain factors give children a leg up when it comes to school performance. Family income, access to early childhood programs and home environment rank high on the list.

Now, researchers are looking at another potentially advantageous element: curiosity.

DALLAS, April 30, 2018 -- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and not smoking, could prolong life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years for women and just over 12 years for men, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Belmont, MA - A collaborative team of researchers at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate, and Oxford University has found that elevated levels of certain types of lipids (fat molecules) in the brain may be an early sign of Parkinson's disease (PD). This finding could have significant implications for identifying patients who may be at risk for developing PD and for the early treatment of the disease.

China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST), still under commissioning, discovered a radio millisecond pulsar (MSP) coincident with the unassociated gamma-ray source 3FGL J0318.1+0252 in the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) point-source list. This is another milestone of FAST.