From Italy and the World

A team of researchers led by the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research in collaboration with The Sarawak Museum Department have become the first to date drawings of Gua Sireh Cave in Sarawak, uncovering a sad story of conflict in the process. The limestone cave of Gua Sireh in…

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have made a discovery that could change our understanding of the universe. In their study published in Science Advances, they reveal, for the first time, that there is a range in which fundamental constants can vary, allowing for the viscosity needed for life…

An international phase 3 clinical trial, done in participation with Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, found that a new targeted treatment called zolbetuximab, given in combination with a standard chemotherapy, extended survival for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer that overexpressed a specific biomarker. Results from the GLOW…

Natural selection is usually understood in the context of change. When organisms deviate from the norm, they may gain advantages that let their lineages outlast those of their less-adaptable relatives. But new research from Michigan State University suggests that natural selection also has the power to keep things the same.…

To prepare for extreme heat waves around the world — particularly in places known for cool summers — climate-simulation models that include a new computing concept may save tens of thousands of lives. The concept, called “ensemble boosting,” uses computationally efficient modeling to simulate a large set of extreme but…

Almost everything about insects called kissing bugs is revolting, from the insidious way they bite people’s faces at night to drink their blood while they sleep to the way they spread disease through their poop. Some carry a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi that causes Chagas disease, a leading cause of…

In a groundbreaking endeavor, researchers at the University of Rochester have successfully transferred a longevity gene from naked mole rats to mice, resulting in improved health and an extension of the mouse’s lifespan. Naked mole rats, known for their long lifespans and exceptional resistance to age-related diseases, have long captured…

As ocean temperatures rise, coral reefs face increasing threats as ecosystem damage has accelerated in recent decades. The ability to preserve and revive biodiverse coral samples has become an essential priority for the health and future of the world’s oceans. A Texas A&M University-led interdisciplinary team of researchers demonstrated that…

With an extendable pole fitted with a small camera, Alison Ke could get a clear view of the inside of a nest box, including one time when a small, green Pacific parrotlet laid eggs. Ke, who earned a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis, led a research project to find…

CNN  —  The fate of Wagner private mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was unclear on Wednesday evening, after his name was listed among passengers of a plane that crashed north of Moscow. Once a shadowy figure, Prigozhin was thrust into the spotlight through his group’s close involvement in Russia’s invasion…

CNN  —  Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner, was listed among passengers on board a plane that crashed north of Moscow, according to Russian state media. The official Russian news agency TASS said the Federal Air Transport Agency has launched an investigation into the crash of an…

Researchers have identified a new pathway by which sugar is released by symbiotic algae. This pathway involves the largely overlooked cell wall, showing that this structure not only protects the cell but plays an important role in symbiosis and carbon circulation in the ocean. The findings were reported in the…

Joint research groups at Tampere University, University of Helsinki, Lund University and Pi-Numerics, Salzburg, have established key early steps in the conversion of aromatic molecules, a major constituent of traffic and other urban volatile emissions, into aerosol. Their findings increase understanding of the chemical processes that degrade urban air quality…

Triplons are tricky little things. Experimentally, they’re exceedingly difficult to observe. And even then, researchers usually conduct the tests on macroscopic materials, in which measurements are expressed as an average across the whole sample. That’s where designer quantum materials offer a unique advantage, says Academy Research Fellow Robert Drost, the…

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Washington University in St. Louis have identified a way to assess brain activity in sleep that occurs in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, typically many years prior to developing symptoms of dementia. The digital biomarker uses electroencephalography (EEG) that…

With the rise in global demand for staple crop products projected to substantially increase by 2050 due to population growth, rising per capita income, and the growing use of biofuels, it is necessary to adopt sustainable agricultural intensification practices in existing croplands to meet this demand. However, estimation processes currently…

Immunotherapies for cancer aim to induce the immune system to combat cancer cells more effectively. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a Chinese research team has now described a new, modular strategy for T-cell-based immunotherapy that manages to work without complex genetic modifications. Modulation of cell-cell communications through an ingenious regulatory…

In sub-Saharan Africa 80% of agricultural production is from smallholder farmers, who face constraints on increasing farm productivity resulting in a large yield gap. Extensive rain-fed agriculture (90% of all cropland) under unpredictable and erratic rainfall pattern is a leading cause of the low productivity and food insecurity in Africa,…

Climate impacts such as dry, hot summers reduce the growth and increase the mortality of trees in the Black Forest because they negatively influence the climatic water balance, i.e., the difference between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. That is the central finding of a long-term study of the influence of climate…

A University of South Florida geoscientist led an international team of researchers to create a new method that can reconstruct the drift path and origin of debris from flight MH370, an aircraft that went missing over the Indian Ocean in 2014 with 239 passengers and crew. Associate Professor Gregory Herbert…

Figuring out how hundreds of different kinds of brain cells develop from their unique expression of thousands of genes promises to not only advance understanding of how the brain works in health, but also what goes wrong in disease. A new MIT study that precisely probes this “molecular logic” in…

Parents should be taught how to better understand the increasingly volatile social media landscape that is deploying sophisticated algorithms, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. The study investigated how parents interpret and navigate social media algorithms that are central to their children’s digital experiences. The research…

Researchers from Austria and USA have designed a new type of quantum computer that uses fermionic atoms to simulate complex physical systems. The processor uses programmable neutral atom arrays and is capable of simulating fermionic models in a hardware-efficient manner using fermionic gates. The team led by Peter Zoller demonstrated…

The squash bug carries a gut bacterium that is essential for the bug’s development into an adult. But when they hatch from their eggs, squash bug nymphs do not have the bacteria in their systems. That left scientists who study the interplay between insects and their internal microbes wondering: How…

Fossils of primitive cousins of T. rex that had short, bulldog snouts and even shorter arms have been discovered by scientists in Morocco. The two new dinosaur species belong to the Abelisauridae, a family of carnivorous dinosaurs that were counterparts to the tyrannosaurs of the Northern Hemisphere. They lived at…

The mass slaughter of North American bison by settlers of European descent is a well-known ecological disaster. An estimated eight million bison roamed the United States in 1870, but just 20 years later fewer than 500 of the iconic animals remained. The mass slaughter provided a brief economic boon to…

Hot weather can have a big impact on dairy cattle health, well-being, and overall milk production for a herd. Dairy producers use a variety of effective cooling strategies to prevent heat stress including shade, fans, sprinklers, or a combination of all of these measures — and there is an increasing…

Regulatory genes — genes that control how other genes are used — are responsible for 69% of the heritability of dairy cattle traits such as milk production and fertility, according to a study published August 23 in the journal Cell Genomics. This contribution is 44% more than expected and much…

For centuries, human activity has intentionally or unintentionally driven the spread of plant species to areas far outside their native habitat. On average, about 10 percent of non-native species worldwide become invasive, often causing large ecological and economic consequences for affected regions. For the first time, a global team of…

Gold and mineral mining in and near rivers across the tropics is degrading waterways in 49 countries, according to a Dartmouth-led study. Published in Nature, the findings represent the first physical footprint of river mining and its hydrological impacts on a global scale. River mining often involves intensive excavation, which…