Culture
Global efforts to give millions of people missing key paper documents such as a birth certificates a digital identity could leave them vulnerable to persecution or discrimination, a new study warns.
Work is underway to use digital technology so refugees and others lacking vital legal papers can have access to services such as health and education. But this could also provide a new way for ethnic minorities to be discriminated against and marginalised by officials and governments if safeguards are not in place, according to new research.
The dangers of ultraviolet radiation exposure, which most often comes from the sun, are well-known. Speaking at The Physiological Society's Extreme Environmental Physiology conference next week, W. Larry Kenney, Penn State University, will discuss how broad its effects can be, from premature aging to cancer, and how this can be influenced by different skin tones and the use of sunscreen.
Much of the research on the underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease focuses on amyloid beta (Aß), a protein that accumulates in the brain as the disease progresses. Excess Aß proteins form clumps or "plaques" that disrupt communication between brain cells and trigger inflammation, eventually leading to widespread loss of neurons and brain tissue.
Aß plaques will continue to be a major focus for Alzheimer's researchers. However, new work by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago looks at another process that plays an underappreciated role in the progression of the disease.
The 2017 wildfire season was the most extensive and expensive in U.S. history. Fires scorched 10 million acres in the western U.S. and federal fire-suppression expenditure surpassed a record $2.9 billion. There's no end to the record breaking in sight: climate change will continue to produce longer, drier fire seasons with substantial burning that will consume residential developments. In a paper released last week, researchers have found that society is doing little to adapt in the aftermath.
On Aug 21st, Prof. MA Cheng from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and his collaborators proposed an effective strategy to address the electrode-electrolyte contact issue that is limiting the development of next-generation solid-state Li batteries. The solid-solid composite electrode created this way exhibited exceptional capacities and rate performances.
Number of years in NFL, certain positions portend greater risk for cognitive, mental health problems
Longer NFL careers and certain playing positions appear to each spell greater long-term risk for serious cognitive problems such as confusion, memory deficits, depression and anxiety in former football players, according to a new report published Aug. 30 in The American Journal of Sports Medicine.
The study is believed to be the first to explore the interplay between career length, position and cognitive and mental health outcomes among professional football players.
Humans had caused significant landcover change on Earth up to 4000 years earlier than previously thought, University of Queensland researchers have found.
The School of Social Sciences' Dr Andrea Kay said some scientists defined the Anthropocene as starting in the 20th century, but the new research showed human-induced landcover change was globally extensive by 2000BC.
The Anthropocene - the current geological age - is viewed as the period in which human activity has been the dominant influence on Earth's climate and the environment.
Many anesthesiologists forbid patients from chewing gum in the immediate hours before surgery for fear that it would increase the risk that the patient's stomach contents might end up dumped (aspirated) into the patient's lungs, with potentially deadly consequences (aspiration pneumonitis). However, current data now suggest that the preoperative use of chewing gum does not adversely affect gastric emptying and that the postoperative use of chewing gum may actually aid recovery in some forms of major surgery.
A unique Victorian databank that profiles children with hearing loss will help researchers globally understand why some children adapt and thrive, while others struggle.
The Victorian Childhood Hearing Impairment Longitudinal Databank, which has collected information for eight years, is featured in the latest International Journal of Epidemiology.
Its data shows that language development and speech in hearing-impaired children lags behind other children, despite advancements in earlier detection and intervention in the past decade.
Our teeth take thousands of bites per day, and understanding exactly what holds them in place and how is key to helping people live with their own teeth for longer.
Now new research published in the Journal of Dental Research has shed light on the science behind the formation of the periodontal ligament, which helps keep the tooth stable in the jawbone. This improved understanding will also help scientists work towards regenerating the tissues that support teeth.
The loss of forest cover in the Amazon has a significant impact on the local climate in Brazil, according to a new study.
The UN Environment Programme has said warned that the Amazon wildfires threaten "...this precious natural resource..." and that the forest helps mitigate the effects of climate change.
Insight into the effects of deforestation in the Amazon - and the way it can intensify climate change, particularly at a local level - has been published open access in the journal Frontiers.
Researchers from Stellenbosch University, South Africa found that tortoises, one of the main herbivores of the daisies, were unable to distinguish the lower petal surfaces against a green leaf background. Tortoises prefer to eat protein-rich flowers over leaves, but when confronted with closed flowers, they showed no preference between them.
When the researchers modelled the colours of the lower petal surfaces in the vision of other herbivores, they also found these colours to be indistinguishable from leaves.
Researchers from Sweden, Germany, Brazil and the USA have developed a financial mechanism to support the protection of the world's natural heritage. In a recent study, they developed three different design options for an intergovernmental biodiversity financing mechanism. Asking what would happen if money was given to countries for providing protected areas, they simulated where the money would flow, what type of incentives this would create - and how these incentives would align with international conservation goals.
Older people who have never taken part in sustained exercise programmes have the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained master athletes of a similar age, according to new research at the University of Birmingham.
The research shows that even those who are entirely unaccustomed to exercise can benefit from resistance exercises such as weight training.
A significant proportion of eScooter injuries in the US seem to be occurring while 'drivers' are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and almost never wearing a helmet, suggests a study of admissions to three US major trauma centres, published online in Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open.
Most of those injured are men aged 20 to 40, the findings indicate.
Motorised stand up or kick scooters date back to 1915. But electronic or eScooters have only recently gained mass appeal and come into widespread use since 2017.