Earth
It is not only the heart that has chambers - the brain does, too. Its four ventricles are connected to the spinal canal and filled with a clear liquid called cerebrospinal fluid, which removes metabolic waste from the neurons. If the brain becomes inflamed, immune cells also circulate in this fluid. This is the case in diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), where the immune system attacks the body's own protective layer around axons (nerve fibers) in the brain and spinal cord. This triggers inflammation, which ultimately leads to the destruction of neurons.
ST. LOUIS, MO, November 5, 2020 - Much of the food we eat comes from grasses such as rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. These crops still resemble the wild species from which they were derived. In all grasses the structures that contain the flowers and seeds are called spikelets. In the tribe Andropogoneae, a major group of grasses that cover 17 percent of the earth's surface, the spikelets come in pairs, one of which bears a seed and one of which doesn't (although in some species it produces pollen).
Kanazawa, Japan - Given concerns over global climate warming, researchers are hard at work on minimizing the amount of fuel that we all use in everyday life. Reducing the weight of vehicles will lessen the amount of fuel required to power them, and put money back into your pocket.
Efficient deposition of storage compounds in seeds is a key determinant of crop yield, but the underlying regulatory network of seed filling remains undefined. For many years, researchers have been working on the role of sugars for spatial regulation of seed growth and storage (Borisjuk et al., 2002). In addition to their role as a carbon source for starch and protein biosynthesis, sugar molecules have important signaling functions.
A dental plate was found by Canadian national Stephen Suntok on the Pacific coast of British Columbia. Evgeny Popov, a renowned expert in chimaerids, was asked to assist in classification.
"The new species and genus is most close to the extant members of Chimaeridae - Chimaera and Hydrolagus. They are quite widely present in the oceans and comprise about 82% of the existing Holocephali fish," explains Popov.
Teacher-perceived conflict predicts lower interest and pre-academic skills in math and literacy among kindergarteners, a new study from Finland shows.
Kindergarten represents a crucial context in which children develop school-related skills and patterns of engagement that form the basis for the development of later competencies important for academic success. Kindergarten achievement has been found to be highly predictive of later academic skills.
Illustrations by a local artist in Nigeria are helping health workers and policy makers understand what it's really like to live with a neglected tropical disease (NTD).
The brain is uniquely protected against invading bacteria and viruses, but its defence mechanism has long remained a mystery. Now, a study in mice, confirmed in human samples, has shown that the brain has a surprising ally in its protection: the gut.
Finding just the right model to study human development--from the early embryonic stage onward--has been a challenge for scientists over the last decade. Now, bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have homed in on an unusual candidate: teratomas.
Drs. Nobuo Noda (Director) and Kazuaki Matoba (Senior Researcher) et al. at the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (BIKAKEN, Tokyo, Japan) discovered that Atg9, one of the proteins that function to mediate autophagy, has phospholipid-translocation activity (the lipid scramblase activity (1)) between the two layers of the lipid bilayer (2) and elucidated that the protein's activity brings about autophagosome (3) membrane expansion.
The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is the highest and most extensive highland in the world, and is widely known as "the Roof of the World", "the World Water Tower" and "the Third Pole". The thermal and mechanical forces of the TP play an essential role in influencing the global climate, and precipitation is one of its most important water-cycle components.
Light is essential for the growth of reef-building corals. This is because corals grow by using the photosynthetic products of the algae living inside their cells as a source of nutrients. Therefore, the light environment of coral habitats are important for their survival.
A new study published in Scientific Reports shows that coral larvae swimming in seawater behave in such a manner so as to temporarily stop swimming due to reduced light, especially blue light. Researchers think that this behavior may play a role in determining where corals settle.
Strong storms often seem to leave behind random destruction: While the roof tiles of one house are blown away, the neighboring property may not be damaged at all. What causes these differences are wind gusts - or, as physicists say, local turbulence. It results from large-scale atmospheric flows, but up to now, it is impossible to predict it in great detail.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Jyväskylä was successful in partially preventing fatty liver disease in rats. Rats with fatty liver disease were fed with a dietary supplement that is known to increase the growth of good bacteria in the gut. Simultaneous with the increased abundance of the bacteria, the liver fat content decreased significantly. In addition, preliminary results from a human study seem promising.
There is another pandemic that humans have been experiencing for a long time now and for which effective preventive measures have yet to be found: violence. This is shown in various ways in different aspects of life and continues to have serious consequences for society, the economy, our health and human relations. The onset of violent behavior can be observed from childhood and adolescence, so studying what aspects lead to the development of these kinds of behaviors and which curb them has become a necessary step in their prevention.