Earth
Media and academics often equate assimilation with the process of immigrants becoming more similar to U.S.-born populations over time and across generations, says University of Arizona researcher Christina Diaz.
"But assimilation is likely a two-way street. And we see this, but there have been no tests done," said Diaz, an assistant professor in the School of Sociology in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
For certain surgical procedures, can a correlation be shown between the volume of services provided per hospital and the quality of treatment results? This is the question addressed in eight commissions that the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) awarded to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany. An IQWiG rapid report is now available for the seventh intervention to be tested, complex pancreatic surgery.
A larger part of the Amazon rainforest is at risk of crossing a tipping point where it could become a savanna-type ecosystem than previously thought, according to new research. The research, based on computer models and data analysis, is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Rainforests are very sensitive to changes that affect rainfall for extended periods. If rainfall drops below a certain threshold, areas may shift into a savanna state.
Biology textbooks may need to be re-written, with scientists finding a new piece of DNA essential to forming male sex organs in mice.
An international research collaboration with The University of Queensland found the Y-chromosome gene that makes mice male is made up of two different DNA parts, not one, as scientists had previously assumed.
UQ's Institute of Molecular Biosciences Emeritus Professor Peter Koopman said the critical DNA fragment had been hidden from researchers for more than 30 years.
Drexel University researchers have reported a method to quickly identify and label mutated versions of the virus that causes COVID-19. Their analysis, using information from a global database of genetic information gleaned from coronavirus testing, suggests that there are at least 8 to 14 slightly different versions of the virus infecting people in America, some of which are either the same as, or have subsequently evolved from, strains directly from Asia, while others are the same as those found in Europe.
Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, is a serious infection that affects nearly 50 percent of Americans aged 30 years and older. If left unchecked, periodontal disease can destroy the jawbone and lead to tooth loss. The disease is also associated with higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The Earth's nature reserves are the basis for the preservation of global biodiversity. They are set to be affected by future climate change in very different ways. Detailed local knowledge of climate change impacts can therefore make a significant contribution to the management of protected areas and the preservation of their ecological function. A biogeographic study by the University of Bayreuth in the journal "Diversity and Distributions" draws attention to this fact. It is based on climate forecasts for more than 130,000 nature reserves worldwide.
When a baby reaches for one stuffed animal in a room filled with others just like it, that seemingly random choice is very bad news for those unpicked toys: the baby has likely just decided she doesn't like what she didn't choose.
Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious biases over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, the new Johns Hopkins University finding that even babies engage in this phenomenon demonstrates that this way of justifying choice is intuitive and somehow fundamental to the human experience.
The common cuckoo is known for its deceitful nesting behaviour - by laying eggs in the nests of other bird species, it fools host parents into rearing cuckoo chicks alongside their own. While common cuckoos mimic their host's eggs, new research has revealed that a group of parasitic finch species in Africa have evolved to mimic their host's chicks - and with astonishing accuracy. The study is published in the journal Evolution.
Increases in seawater temperature can cause coral bleaching through the loss of symbiotic algae. Corals can recover from bleaching by recruiting algae into host cells from the residual symbiont population or from the external environment. However, the high coral mortality that often follows mass-bleaching events suggests that recovery is limited in the wild.
Patient with serious brain injury can temporarily talk, walk, and recognize family members
Awakening after a sleeping pill
A patient who could not move and talk spontaneously for eight years started to do so again after being administered a sleeping pill. The spectacular but temporary effect was visualized with brain scans, giving researchers from Radboud university medical center and Amsterdam UMC a better understanding of this disorder's underlying neurophysiological processes. The article has been published in Cortex.
Many vaccines include ingredients called adjuvants that help make them more effective by eliciting a stronger immune response. Identifying potential adjuvants just got easier, thanks to an approach described by scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and colleagues in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth. It's also among the loudest.
"Sound is a vital mode of communication in the ocean environment, especially over long distances," said William Oestreich, a graduate student in biology at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station. "Light, or any sort of visual cue, is often not as effective in the ocean as it is on land. So many marine organisms use sound for a variety of purposes, including communicating and targeting food through echolocation."
Going from the ventral to the dorsal side, the neural tube, the precursor to the central nervous system, is strikingly organized into domains of cells with different identities and fates. One hypothesis for how this pattern is created is the so-called French Flag model. According to this hypothesis, a signaling molecule sets up a gradient across a field of cells, and a cell "knows" its location within the field, and consequently its identity, by the amount of signaling molecule it receives. However, cells move around as an organism develops, disrupting the strict division into domains.
A new study by an international team of environmental scientists in the Brazilian Amazon shows that redesigned conservation projects could deliver big gains for critical freshwater ecosystems - raising hopes for the futures of thousands of species.
Although occupying less than one per cent of the Earth's surface, fresh water hosts around a tenth of all known species - including a third of all vertebrates.
They are also vital for regulating climates, and as a source of food and fuel for local people.