Eurekalert


The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Updated: 3 years 8 months ago
Did the ancient Maya have parks?
UC researchers developed a novel system to analyze ancient plant DNA in the sediment of Tikal's temple and palace reservoirs to identify more than 30 species of trees, grasses, vines and flowering plants that lived along its banks more than 1,000 years ago. Their findings paint a picture of a lush, wild oasis in the ancient Maya city.
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Scientists identify combination of biological markers associated with severe dengue
Researchers have identified a combination of biological markers in patients with dengue that could predict whether they go on to develop moderate to severe disease.
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Ready, set, go - how stem cells synchronise to repair the spinal cord in axolotls
Few animals can regenerate their spinal cord after an injury. The axolotl can mobilise stem cells in its spinal cord to regrow the lost tissue. An international team of scientists from Argentinas National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Austria, and the Technische Universitaet Dresden in Germany investigated the early stages of this process. Their findings are now published on the online platform eLife.
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Synthetic tree enhances solar steam generation for harvesting drinking water
Solar steam generation has emerged as a promising renewable energy technology for water harvesting, desalination, and purification that could benefit people who need it most in remote communities, disaster-relief areas, and developing nations. In Applied Physics Letters, researchers inspired by mangrove trees thriving along coastlines developed a synthetic tree to enhance SSG, replacing capillary action with transpiration, the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from leaves, stems, and flowers.
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Exotic superconductors: The secret that wasn't there
The mystery of an exotic kind of supraconductivity has been solved -- by showing that it just does not exist. An effect, which has been celebrated since the 1990s has now been shown to be standard superconductivity. Still, this realization leads to important new ideas.
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Progress in the functional characterization of human olfactory receptors
A team of scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has now discovered that the odorant receptor OR5K1 is specialized to recognize pyrazines in both humans and domesticated animals. These are volatile substances that contribute to the typical odor of many vegetables or are formed when food is heated. In addition, pyrazines also play a role as signaling substances in intra- or interspecific communication.
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Testing several genes can lead to better effect of medicinal products
Most of us have genetic variations that increase the risk of medicinal products not being effective. In order to provide a more effective treatment with fewer side effects, we need to analyze more of these genetic variations. This will provide us with more precise knowledge about how the individual patient reacts to medicinal products. A new research result from Aarhus University shows that.
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Salt marsh plants may signal carbon capture capacity
Coastal wetlands like seagrass meadows, mangroves, and salt marshes play vital roles along the shoreline, from providing a buffer against storm surges, to providing critical habitat for animals, to capturing atmospheric carbon.We are still just beginning to comprehend the intricate workings of these highly productive ecosystems and their role in mitigating the climate crisis, but researchers are one step closer to understanding how salt marsh vegetation, their bacterial communities, and vegetation can help predict a marsh's potential to be a blue carbon reservoir.
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Personality traits relate to being a morning or evening person
The link between the different hierarchies of personality, sleep patterns and even genetics has been discovered by researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick.
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Producing hydrogen using less energy
The way in which a compound inspired by nature produces hydrogen has now been described in detail for the first time by an international research team from the University of Jena, Germany and the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy. These findings are the foundation for the energy-efficient production of hydrogen as a sustainable energy source.
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Open learning spaces do not increase children's physical activity
According to a recent study, open learning spaces are not directly associated with the physical activity of students in grades 3 and 5, even though more breaks from sedentary time were observed in open learning spaces compared to conventional classrooms.
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AR can improve the lives of older adults, so why are apps designed mainly for youngsters?
Older people affected by memory loss have much to gain from AR technology, yet a study from the University of Bath in the UK, exploring the use of augmented reality to support older adults at home finds the user interface is sometimes confusing for those aged 50+.
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The humidity of flowers acts as an invisible attractor for bumblebees
As well as bright colors and subtle scents, flowers possess many invisible ways of attracting their pollinators, and a new study shows that bumblebees may use the humidity of a flower to tell them about the presence of nectar, according to scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Exeter.
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Soft robots -- smart elastomers are making the robots of the future more touchy-feely
Imagine flexible surgical instruments that can twist and turn in all directions like miniature octopus arms, or how about large and powerful robot tentacles that can work closely and safely with human workers on production lines. A new generation of robotic tools are beginning to be realized thanks to a combination of strong 'muscles' and sensitive 'nerves' created from smart polymeric materials.
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What Facebook can tell us about dietary choices
Lifestyle changes for demand-side climate change mitigation is gaining more and more importance and attention. A new IIASA-led study set out to understand the full potential of behavior change and what drives such changes in people's choices across the world using data from almost two billion Facebook profiles.
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As many state of emergency declarations during first pandemic wave as in preceding decade
In 2020, as many states of emergency were declared around the world during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as there were in the entire previous decade. The influence of neighbouring countries on each other, weak democracies and poor pandemic preparedness are some of the explanations, according to research from the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University.
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Patents help build a global map of new space industry
Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from Russia and Serbia have reviewed almost a thousand patents held by some 200 organizations involved in the new space economy. The analysis helped draw a comprehensive picture of technology trends in the field.
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Running to music combats mental fatigue a study suggests
Listening to music while running might be the key to improving people's performance when they feel mentally fatigued a study suggests. The performance of runners who listened to a self-selected playlist after completing a demanding thinking task was at the same level as when they were not mentally fatigued, the research found. The study is the first to investigate the effect of listening to music playlists on endurance running capacity and performance when mentally fatigued.
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Improving asphalt road pavement with nano-engineered particles
New research suggests fumed silica nanoparticles (FSNs) can be used to help improve the performance of warm mix asphalt (WMA).
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Childhood trauma can make people like morphine more
People who have experienced childhood trauma get a more pleasurable 'high' from morphine, new research suggests.
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