Body

A University of Liverpool study of ants across three continents has revealed that their colour and size is strongly influenced by their environment, and that the dominant colour and average body size can change from year to year as temperatures vary. This finding has implications for how ant communities will cope with rising global temperatures.

An international group of researchers has for the first time identified a set of 30 inherited recessive genes that play a role in intellectual disability (ID), a neurodevelopmental disorder that, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), affects as many as 213 million people around the world.

New York, NY - Graduation rates among science majors at a large minority-serving college have nearly tripled since the implementation of an undergraduate research experience (URE) program ten years ago. A new study in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching indicates that undergraduates who participate in mentored research not only graduate more often with science degrees, but also attend graduate school and pursue STEM careers at higher rates.

Most bivalves live in sand or mud or attached to rock surface. However, a new bivalve species described from Japan lives on a sea cucumber.

Precision time signals sent through the Global Positioning System (GPS) synchronize cellphone calls, time-stamp financial transactions, and support safe travel by aircraft, ship, train and car.

Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are associated with significant long-term lung function loss, according to research published online, ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

September 8, 2016 - Even as researchers gain new insights into the neurobiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD), there's a pressing need to improve diagnosis and management of this devastating psychiatric condition. A scientific and clinical research update on BPD is presented in the September/October special issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, published by Wolters Kluwer.

An extinct reptile related to crocodiles that lived 212 million years ago in present day New Mexico has been named as a new species, Vivaron haydeni, in a paper published this week by Virginia Tech's Department of Geosciences researchers.

Across the globe, there is increased focus on developing interventions related to comprehensive sexual health education for adolescents, with the ultimate goal of combatting unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The challenge has been how best to reach this audience in a way that is meaningful, relevant and easy to understand.

Personal tracking tools -- technologies that meticulously count our daily steps, map our runs, account for each purchase - fall in and out of favor in users' lives.

People abandon self-tracking for different reasons, University of Washington researchers have found. Some don't like what their Fitbit or financial tracking tools reveal, others find collecting data a hassle, don't quite know how to use the information or simply learn what they need to know about their habits and move on.

Neutrophils are the superheroes of the body's immune system. Normally mild-mannered, they travel through the bloodstream until they reach an emergency situation, such as a cut or infection, where they switch into battle-mode to engulf and destroy foreign invaders.

How do these microscopic avengers transition from silent, patrolling responders to merciless killing machines?

People who receive a financial incentive to raise money for a charity they care about are actually less effective in soliciting donations, even when potential donors have no idea that incentives were involved, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research suggests that incentives may have this effect because they result in the fundraisers coming off as less sincere to the people they're trying to persuade.

Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital have identified a distinct gene module for T cell dysfunction distinct from activation in tumor-infiltrating T cells, thus paving the way for the development of new precision therapeutics.

An international research collaboration, led by University of Sydney, has found that exercising at even basic recommended weekly physical activity levels (at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity) may offset some of the harmful effects of drinking alcohol.

Published today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, this first-of-its-kind study found that for alcohol drinkers, physical activity may decrease the risks of dying both from cancer and from "all-cause mortality" that is, deaths from any cause.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Arts and cultural nonprofit organizations promote arts appreciation and strengthen communities by providing a wide range of arts programs in music, theater, visual arts and dance. These organizations rely on donations to exist. One way that the nonprofit sector currently measures these organizations' successes is by the number of people who attend their programs.