- ScienceDaily
- 19/12/12 22:33
A study sheds light on the mechanisms governing feeding behavior in fruit flies and how skeletal muscle communicates energy needs to the brain.
A study sheds light on the mechanisms governing feeding behavior in fruit flies and how skeletal muscle communicates energy needs to the brain.
Canada's northernmost islands, Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands in Nunavut, were home to a vibrant, temperate forest 56 million years ago, according to fossil research.
A new study has compiled the estimated per-case costs of 6 childhood health conditions linked to air pollution -- estimates that can be incorporated into benefits assessments of air pollution regulations and climate change mitigation policies.
Biologists have discovered two unexpected drivers for migration timing that dispute long-held assumptions and provide insight into potential future effects of climate change on caribou. First, the start of migration is synchronized across North America and tied to large-scale, ocean-driven climate cycles. Second, warm, windless summers that favored insect pests lead to poorer maternal health and...
University of Melbourne research has established when and where flowering plants first took a foothold.
Motorized molecules activated by light target and drill through highly antibiotic resistant bacteria and kill them within minutes. The molecules can open bacteria to attack by drugs they previously resisted. The strategy could be applied to bacterial infections or diseases on the skin, in the lungs or in the gastrointestinal tract.
Among women, lower hydration levels were associated with lower scores on a task designed to measure motor speed, sustained attention, and working memory. They did not find the same result for men.
A single drop of seawater can contain a wide representation of ocean microbes from around the world -- revealing novel insights into the ecology, evolution and biotechnology potential of the global microbiome.
Comet 2I/Borisov is a mysterious visitor from the depths of space -- the first identified comet to arrive here from another star. Hubble images capture the comet streaking though our solar system and on its way back to interstellar space. It's only the second interstellar object known to have passed through the solar system.
Scientists have converted diamonds' atomic flaws into atomic sensors that could lead to a new generation of smart materials.
A review of recent research in personality science points to the possibility that personality traits can change through persistent intervention and major life events.
A team of researchers has found that neural exosomes -- 'cargo' molecules within the nervous system that carry messages to the brain -- can minimize or even avert progression of traumatic brain injury when used as part of a new cell-to-cell messaging technology.
A research team has previously shown that fatty particles from the bloodstream may boost the growth of breast cancer cells. They now show that through an unexpected mechanism not previously described in cancer cells, the fat particles bind to the breast cancer cell surface and are then taken into the cell, providing a large supply of fuel that drives proliferation of the cancer cells.
Small insects that would normally be undetectable to bats using echolocation suddenly become detectable when they occur in large swarms.
New research suggests that, when two people must work together on a physical task despite conflicting goals, the amount of information available about each other's actions influences how quickly and optimally they learn to collaborate.
Researchers report that they have engineered an improved colored fabric for the insecticide-treated targets used to control tsetse, based on an understanding of how flies see color.
Nipah virus, which is transmitted to humans from bats and pigs, has a high mortality rate and there are no licensed drugs against it. Now, researchers have used information on the structure of the Nipah virus to identified 150 possible inhibitors of the virus.
In the largest-ever study of its kind researchers identified more than 100 genetic variants that affect the risk for more than one mental health condition.
Scientists collected data from hundreds of feeding whales, allowing them to determine how much energy species of different sizes invest to capture their prey and which of these species reap the greatest rewards for their efforts. Their findings reveal that body size in all whales is limited by the availability of their prey, but only filter-feeding whales have evolved a feeding strategy that...
Human impacts on life on Earth are unprecedented, requiring transformative action to address root economic, social and technological causes.
Researchers have shed light on how the parasite which causes sleeping sickness multiples inside its host. Human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, only occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa where an estimated 60 million people in 36 countries are at risk. The infection attacks the central nervous system and is fatal without treatment. Researchers have found that the parasite's cell division...
A new article documents the global wind patterns on any planet for the first time. Remote repogramming of the MAVEN spacecraft and its NGIMS instrument enabled the data collection. The results reveal seasonal stability in circulation patterns on Mars, but high short-term volatility in wind direction and speed. The data also allow researchers to infer the topography below based on waves created by...
Strong and tough yet as light as a feather - materials with this exceptional combination of properties are urgently needed in many industrial sectors and in medicine, as well as being of great interest for scientific research. A research team has developed polymer fibers with precisely these properties.
Studying radiation chemistry and electronic structure of materials at scales smaller than nanometers, scientists prepared samples of clay in ultra-thin layers. Working at the TRIUMF particle accelerator, they bombarded the samples with antimatter subatomic particles. They found their system is a proven tool for radiation studies of material to be used to store nuclear waste -- important for...
A computational study by chemists showed the dynamics of tumor formation don't necessarily correlate with clinical data on lifetime cancer risks. It suggests biomarkers may someday be able to help predict when mutations in cells will turn cancer-prone cells into full-blown cancer.