Reporting world updates to you
Scientists have discovered why older people are more likely to suffer severely from the flu, and can now use their findings to address this risk. In a new study, which is published in PNAS, experts discovered that older people produce a glycosylated protein called apoplipoprotein D (ApoD), which is involved…
In northern California, salmon are more than just fish — they’re a cornerstone of tribal traditions, a driver of tourism and a sign of healthy rivers. So it may not come as a surprise that NAU and University of California Berkeley scientists working along the region’s Eel River have discovered…
A pioneering study by researchers from Finland and the UK has demonstrated for the first time that myocardial infarction may be an infectious disease. This discovery challenges the conventional understanding of the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction and opens new avenues for treatment, diagnostics, and even vaccine development. According to the…
A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, found predominantly in fish oils, may help ward off the development of nearsightedness (myopia) in children, while a high intake of saturated fats, found in foods such as butter, palm oil, and red meat, may boost the risk of the condition, finds research…
Food allergies affect more than half a billion people worldwide. In severe cases, even a small bite of the wrong food can trigger anaphylaxis — a rapid, body-wide allergic reaction that can cause difficulty breathing, a dangerous drop in blood pressure and even death. Scientists have long understood how injected…
On New Year’s Day 1995, a monstrous 80-foot wave in the North Sea slammed into the Draupner oil platform. The wall of water crumpled steel railings and flung heavy equipment across the deck — but its biggest impact was what it left behind: hard data. It was the first time…
Stanford Medicine scientists investigating the neurological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder have found that hyperactivity in a specific brain region could drive behaviors commonly associated with the disorder. Using a mouse model of the disease, the researchers identified the reticular thalamic nucleus — which serves as a gatekeeper of sensory…
The age of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed our interactions, but threatens human dignity on a worldwide scale, according to a study led by Charles Darwin University (CDU). Study lead author Dr Maria Randazzo, an academic from CDU’s School of Law, found the technology was reshaping Western legal and ethical…
For cancer, and infection-fighting T cells, glucose offers far more than a simple sugar rush. A new discovery by Van Andel Institute scientists reveals that glucose, an essential cellular fuel that powers immune cells, also aids in T cells’ internal communication and boosts their cancer-fighting properties. The findings may help…
Is aging inevitable? While most living beings age, some do so more slowly than others. A new scientific study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) addresses a fascinating question: what if migration influences the way we age? To explore this mystery, scientists turned their attention…
Children who had higher blood pressure at age 7 were more likely to die early from cardiovascular disease by their mid-50s. The risk was highest for children whose blood pressure measurements were in the top 10% for their age, sex and height. Both elevated blood pressure (90-94th percentile) and hypertension…
What did long-necked dinosaurs eat – and where did they roam to satisfy their hunger? A team of researchers has reconstructed the feeding behavior of sauropods using cutting-edge dental wear analysis. Their findings, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, show that microscopic enamel wear marks provide surprising insights into migration,…
Imagine a clock that doesn’t have electricity, but its hands and gears spin on their own for all eternity. In a new study, physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have used liquid crystals, the same materials that are in your phone display, to create such a clock — or,…
What do the rumblings of Iceland’s volcanoes have in common with the now peaceful volcanic islands off Scotland’s western coast and the spectacular basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland? About sixty million years ago, the Icelandic mantle plume — a fountain of hot rock that rises from…
CRISPR gene-editing machinery could transform medicine but is difficult to get into tissues and disease-relevant cells New delivery system loads CRISPR machinery inside spherical nucleic acid (SNA) nanoparticles Particles entered cells three times more effectively, tripled gene-editing efficiency, and decreased toxicity compared to current delivery methods With the power to…
During the dry season in Central America (generally between December and April), northern trade winds generate upwelling events in the ocean waters of the Gulf of Panama. Upwelling is a process that allows cold, nutrient-rich waters from the depths of the ocean to rise to the surface. This dynamic supports…
The trial, led by Professor Robert Bals, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine V at Saarland University Medical Center and Professor of Internal Medicine at Saarland University, divided the 450 participants into two groups. The treatment group of 227 individuals used an azelastine nasal spray three times a day…
A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system. The TNO is potentially large enough to qualify as a…
A new study maps the planetary boundary of “functional biosphere integrity” in spatial detail and over centuries. It finds that 60 percent of global land areas are now already outside the locally defined safe zone, and 38 percent are even in the high-risk zone. The study was led by the…
A new species of bacteria of the genus Bartonella has been found in the Amazon National Park in the state of Pará, Brazil, in phlebotomine insects, also known as sand flies. This type of insect is generally associated with transmitting leishmaniasis, but according to the researchers, the DNA of the…
Where did the moon’s magnetism go? Scientists have puzzled over this question for decades, ever since orbiting spacecraft picked up signs of a high magnetic field in lunar surface rocks. The moon itself has no inherent magnetism today. Now, MIT scientists may have solved the mystery. They propose that a…
Sucralose is a popular sugar substitute for people who are cutting calories or managing blood sugar levels, but new research by the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center suggests that the artificial sweetener may not be the best choice for patients undergoing cancer immunotherapy. Publishing recently in Cancer…
Owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with poorer mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people. Published recently in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that 18- to 24-year-olds who had received their…
Global sea-level change has now been measured by satellites for more than 30 years, and a comparison with climate projections from the mid-1990s shows that they were remarkably accurate, according to two Tulane University researchers whose findings were published in Earth’s Future, an open-access journal published by the American Geophysical…
Two MRI scans, showing the person on left with more visceral fat (in red) and subcutaeous fat (in blue). Credit: AMRA Medical Excessive amounts of visceral fat — the hidden fat surrounding organs — is linked with faster aging of the heart, a new study has found. Aging is the…
The cause of death for two baby pterosaurs has been revealed by University of Leicester paleontologists in a post-mortem 150 million years in the making. Detailed in a new study in the journal Current Biology, their findings show how these flying reptiles were tragically struck down by powerful storms that…
Scientists transform plastic waste into efficient CO2 capture materials From waste to valuable resource: Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have developed a method to convert plastic waste into a climate solution for efficient and sustainable CO2 capture. This is killing two birds with one stone as they address two…
Researchers Shinjiro Takano, Yuya Hamasaki, and Tatsuya Tsukuda of the University of Tokyo have successfully visualized the geometric structure of growing gold nanoclusters in their earliest stages. During this process, they also successfully “grew” a novel structure of elongated nanoclusters, which they named “gold quantum needles.” Thanks to their responsiveness…
Male “ghost sharks” — eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays — have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research reveals these are not merely lookalikes, but real rows of teeth that grow outside the mouth. What’s…
The seas have long sustained human life, but a new UC Santa Barbara study shows that rising climate and human pressures are pushing the oceans toward a dangerous threshold. Vast and powerful, the oceans can seem limitless in their abundance and impervious to disturbances. For millennia, humans have supported their…
