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The Greenland ice sheet is melting from below, caused by a high heat flow from the mantle into the lithosphere. This influence is very variable spatially and has its origin in an exceptionally thin lithosphere. Consequently, there is an increased heat flow from the mantle and a complex interplay between this geothermal heating and the Greenland ice sheet.

An international consortium has shown for the first time evidence of substantial overlap of genetic risk factors shared between bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia and less overlap between those conditions and autism and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study published this week in Nature Genetics' Advance Online publication.

TORONTO — The growth of deadly plaque inside the walls of arteries may not happen as scientists believed, research from the University of Toronto and Massachusetts General Hospital has found.

The research also suggests a new potential target in the treatment of atherosclerosis, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and death globally.

The research team found that macrophages, white blood cells that drive atherosclerosis, replicate inside plaques. Moreover, this growth is not reliant on cells outside the plaques called monocytes, as scientists had assumed.

NEW YORK CITY -- Although working mothers and fathers are almost as likely to think about family matters throughout the day, only for mothers is this type of mental labor associated with increased stress and negative emotions, according to new research to be presented at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

This article deals to the discovery of unknown, enigmatic trace fossils in marine clay deposits about 1.75 million years ago in central Italy (Umbria Region).

Some hypotheses about their origin are considered, but the most convincing explanation stands in the close similarity with large masses of present-day ambergris (known as "floating gold"), a solid, waxy, dull grey or blackish flammable substance usually associated with sperm whales.

NEW YORK CITY -- People have more empathy for battered puppies and full grown dogs than they do for some humans -- adults, but not children, finds new research to be presented at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

A new analysis of dinosaur fossils by University of Pennsylvania researchers has revealed that a number of specimens of the genus Psittacosaurus — once believed to represent three different species — are all members of a single species. The differences among the fossil remains that led other scientists to label them as separate species in fact arose from how the animals were buried and compressed, the study found.

• A new study has examined the effects of cigarette taxation on alcohol consumption.
• Results suggest that increases in cigarette taxes are associated with modest to moderate reductions in alcohol consumption among vulnerable groups.
• Vulnerable groups include hazardous drinkers, young adult smokers, and smokers in the lowest income category.

LOS ANGELES (Aug. 9, 2013) – A unique nanoscale drug that can carry a variety of weapons and sneak into cancer cells to break them down from the inside has a new component: a protein that stimulates the immune system to attack HER2-positive breast cancer cells.

Chemists in The College of Arts and Sciences have figured out how to synthesize nanomaterials with stainless steel-like interfaces. Their discovery may change how the form and structure of nanomaterials are manipulated, particularly those used for gas storage, heterogeneous catalysis and lithium-ion batteries.

The findings are the subject of a July 24 article in the journal Small (Wiley-VCH, 2013), co-authored by associate professor Mathew M. Maye and research assistant Wenjie Wu G'11, G'13.

New research on two promising gene therapies suggests that combining them into one treatment not only repairs muscle damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but also prevents future injury from the muscle-wasting disease. The work, led by a team at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, is the first to look at the approach in aged mice, a key step toward clinical trials in patients. The findings were published in July in Human Molecular Genetics.

A team of chemists in SU's College of Arts and Scientists has used a temperature-sensitive polymer to regulate DNA interactions in both a DNA-mediated assembly system and a DNA-encoded drug-delivery system.

Their findings, led by Associate Professor Mathew M. Maye and graduate students Kristen Hamner and Colleen Alexander, may improve how nanomaterials self-assemble into functional devices and how anticancer drugs, including doxorubicin, are delivered into the body. More information is available in a July 30 article in ACS Nano, published by the American Chemical Society.

Bethesda, Md. (Aug. 9, 2013)—Researchers have long been aware of a phenomenon in speech called coarticulation, in which certain sounds are produced differently depending on the sounds that come before or after them. For example, though the letter n is usually pronounced with the tongue pressed near the middle of the mouth's roof (as in the word "ten"), it's pronounced with the tongue farther forward when it's followed by –th (as in "tenth"). A decade ago, researchers discovered that this phenomenon extends to a different kind of communication, American Sign Language.

An evolutionary ecologist at the University of Southampton, is using 'grains of sand' to understand more about the process of evolution. Dr Thomas Ezard is using the fossils of microscopic aquatic creatures called planktonic foraminifera, often less than a millimetre in size, which can be found in all of the world's oceans. The remains of their shells now resemble grains of sand to the naked eye and date back hundreds of millions of years.

TORONTO -- Resolving complex ethical, social and cultural issues in the early stage of a global health research project or clinical trial can improve the impact and quality of that research, a new report says.

The current practice for researchers is to seek approval for a study or trial from a research ethics board, usually at an academic institution, late in the process when many important decisions have already been made.