Eurekalert

Listening to music before going to be can improve sleep quality among older adults, according to an analysis of all relevant published clinical trials in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Researchers from the Netherlands have created a new approach to envision how dinosaurs walked. By modeling a T. rex tail as a suspension bridge, the scientists formed a new idea of the animal's walking speed. Trix, the tyrannosaur from Naturalis museum in the Netherlands, probably strolled slower - but with more spring in its step - than assumed. This is a first step towards more realistic dinosaur motion.

The importance of getting a good night's sleep cannot be overstated. Lack of sleep can lead to a number of health problems and affect a woman's overall quality of life. A new study suggests that insufficient quality sleep also may lead to problems in the bedroom in the form of female sexual dysfunction. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

A new study has demonstrated how video games can be used as a citizen science approach to train artificial intelligence tools, with data contributing towards coral reef conservation efforts. The NeMO-Net video game, designed by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and led by principal investigator Dr Ved Chirayath, provides an educational and intuitive tool for players to learn about and explore coral reef ecosystems, whilst also bringing marine conservation research to wider audiences.

A Wireless Sensor Network--a set of sensor nodes placed in different locations that sense their surroundings and transmit sensed data--can have a range of applications related to the environment, healthcare, transportation, security, and other areas. An analysis of published research in the International Journal of Communication Systems provides an overview of the ability of "mobile elements" to improve terrestrial and underwater Wireless Sensor Networks.

Kiwi are iconic birds that have been severely impacted by deforestation and predation from invasive mammals since the arrival of humans in New Zealand. The remaining kiwi can be split into 14 clusters that are now treated as separate conservation management units. A review published in Ibis examines the latest information on kiwi genetics to investigate the legitimacy for maintaining these differences.

Microplastics--small plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters in length--are ubiquitous in the environment, and they can have significant effects on wildlife. A new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry reveals that there are multiple impacts of different microplastics--with varying sizes, shapes, and chemical makeup--to the survival, growth, and development of larval fathead minnows, an important prey species in lakes and rivers in North America.

An article published in Geographical Research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted international higher education and the mobility of students around the globe, noting that universities face the urgent task of reimagining alternative futures for themselves.

Following a school shooting, the risk for additional school shootings in the same and neighboring states increases in the next year, according to an analysis published in Contemporary Economic Policy.

An analysis of published studies indicates that pharmacist-led efforts can reduce medication-related harms -- such as cognitive impairment, falls, drug-drug interactions, and bacterial infections -- in older adults in residential aged care facilities. The findings are published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

After undergoing treatment for cancer, patients may worry that the disease will recur. An analysis of studies published in Psycho-Oncology indicates that fear of cancer recurrence may lead to an increased use of healthcare resources -- such as more visits to see physicians and greater use of medications -- by cancer survivors.

A new study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica found that taking a particular probiotic strain improves iron levels in healthy pregnant women and may therefore help to prevent iron deficiency.

Severe cases of COVID-19 can involve extensive inflammation in the body, and clinicians have wondered if this state is similar to what are called cytokine storm syndromes, in which the immune system produces too many inflammatory signals that can sometimes lead to organ failure and death. A new study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology indicates that different markers in the blood clearly differentiate excessive inflammation in critical COVID-19 from cytokine storm syndromes.

Researchers at the Toyohashi University of Technology and the University of Tokyo have developed a virtual walking system for seated observers and have revealed that walking self-avatars improve the illusory walking sensation by integrating foot-vibration simulating footsteps. The walking-avatar is presented in the first-person and mirrored perspectives, to induce a sense of body ownership. This system provides a virtual walking experience to people with walking disabilities.

True super-resolution imaging beyond the diffraction limit remains a major challenge for far-field Raman microscopy especially in biological applications. Harnessing Stimulated Raman Excited Fluorescence (SREF) as an ultrasensitive vibrational contrast, a team at Columbia University has recently invented a novel super-resolution vibrational microscopy. Their new method opens up super-resolution, nanometer-spectral-resolution multicolor vibrational imaging of biological systems.

A new study is the first-ever to identify the genes for creativity in Homo sapiens that distinguish modern humans from chimpanzees and Neanderthals. The research identified 267 genes that are found only in modern humans and likely play an important role in the evolution of the behavioral characteristics that set apart Homo sapiens, including creativity, self-awareness, cooperativeness, and healthy longevity.

Researchers at City of Hope have developed a new blood-based diagnostic test that identifies individuals who may have lymph node metastasis associated with high-risk T1 colorectal cancer. This finding is an example of "theranostics" (therapy + diagnostics) and could prevent colorectal cancer patients from undergoing unnecessary surgery. The technology is patent pending, and the manuscript was recently published in the journal Gastroenterology.

Real-world disease and parasite monitoring is often hampered by the inability of traditional approaches to easily sample broad geographical areas and large numbers of individuals. This can result in patchy data that fall short of what researchers need to anticipate and address outbreaks. Writing in BioScience (https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/biosci/biab027), Jessica Farrell, Liam Whitmore, and David Duffy describe the promise of novel molecular techniques to overcome these shortcomings.

Carleton University's Marie Curie Global Fellow Dominique Roche has co-authored a paper on the barriers researchers face to publicly sharing their data, an issue that has gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article, Reported Individual Costs and Benefits of Sharing Open Data among Canadian Academic Faculty in Ecology and Evolution, was published in the journal BioScience.

Handwashing is shaping communities of bacteria that live and grow in the plumbing of domestic sinks, scientists have found.