374 articles from THURSDAY 8.4.2021

Heart failure and stroke rising in men under 40

Heart failure and stroke are unusual diagnoses among younger people. But they are now clearly on the rise in men below the age of 40, according to a University of Gothenburg study. The scientists have found links to obesity and low fitness in the upper teens.

How did 500 species of a fish form in a lake? Dramatically different body clocks

Despite the dramatic difference between day and nightlife, how fish exploit different times of day has not been studied systematically. Scientists explored alterations in the circadian timing of activity and the duration of rest-wake cycles in Lake Malawi's cichlids and identified the first single nocturnal species. Timing and duration of rest and activity varies dramatically, and continuously,...

How people decide when they have so many choices

It's one thing to decide among a few snacks available at a friend's house. But what do people do when they're faced with a vending machine offering 36 options? A new study using eye-tracking technology suggests that the amount of time people spend looking at individual items may actually help them decide. Findings showed that people tended to choose snacks they spent more time looking at,...

How to tame a restless genome

LTR retrotransposons are small stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. CSHL researchers figured out how cells keep these "jumping genes" anchored, preventing them from landing in the wrong place.

Huntsman Cancer Institute research shows melanoma rates in Utah compared to

Utah had more melanoma deaths than any other state from 1975 to 2013, says a letter published today by HCI researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine. In contrast to the rest of the United States, melanoma mortality in Utah increased by 0.8% per year over that period. The researchers say this data emphasizes the need to stay vigilant about preventing melanoma.

IU School of Medicine researchers develop blood test for depression, bipolar disorder

Worldwide, 1 in 4 people will suffer from a depressive episode in their lifetime. While current diagnosis and treatment approaches are largely trial and error, a breakthrough study by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers sheds new light on the biological basis of mood disorders, and offers a promising blood test aimed at a precision medicine approach to treatment.

Leaking calcium in neurons an early sign of Alzheimer's pathology

Leaking calcium in neurons an early sign of Alzheimer's pathologyNew Haven, Conn. -- Alzheimer's disease is known for its slow attack on neurons crucial to memory and cognition. But why are these particular neurons in aging brains so susceptible to the disease's ravages, while others remain resilient?

Lifetime monitoring after infant cardiac surgery may reduce adult hypertension risk

In a medical records study covering thousands of children, a U.S.-Canadian team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine concludes that while surgery to correct congenital heart disease (CHD) within 10 years after birth may restore young hearts to healthy function, it also may be associated with an increased risk of hypertension -- high blood pressure -- within a few months or years after...

Light shed on the coordination of neural stem cell activation

Scientists at the Institut Pasteur, CNRS, and Tel Aviv University working in collaboration with the École Polytechnique and INRAE have successfully performed 3D visualization and spatial and temporal distribution analysis of neural stem cell activation in the adult brain of a zebrafish vertebrate model.Their findings demonstrate for the first time that activation events for these cells are...

Lockdown for genome parasites

Researchers at GMI - Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - uncover an ingenious mechanism by which Arabidopsis safeguards the integrity of its genome. The paper is published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Lunar brightness temperature for calibration of microwave humidity sounders

Calibration and validation (CAL/VAL) of microwave sounders is a key technology for quantitative application of space-borne remote sensing data. In a recent study, the microwave brightness temperature of the Moon is modeled and numerically simulated for CAL/VAL of the space-borne microwave sounders. The work was published in Science China Earth Sciences.

Mars didn't dry up in one go

The Perseverance rover has just landed on Mars. Meanwhile, its precursor Curiosity continues to explore the base of Mount Sharp at the centre of the Gale crater. Using the ChemCam instrument to make detailed observations of the steep terrain of Mount Sharp at a distance, a French-US team headed by CNRS researcher William Rapin has discovered that the Martian climate alternated between dry and...

Modern human brain originated in Africa around 1.7 million years ago

The human brain as we know it today is relatively young. It evolved about 1.7 million years ago when the culture of stone tools in Africa became increasingly complex. A short time later, the new Homo populations spread to Southeast Asia, researchers from the University of Zurich have now shown using computed tomography analyses of fossilized skulls.

Monuments that matter

A new paper urges archaeologists and history professionals to work closely with people who are grappling with racism in public monuments and institutional names in the wake of last year's uprising following the killing of George Floyd. The authors argue that by working with "broad publics who are actively dictating what should be preserved and what should not the field can begin to redress the...

More than 5,000 tons of extraterrestrial dust fall to Earth each year

Every year, our planet encounters dust from comets and asteroids. These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some of them reach the ground in the form of micrometeorites. An international program conducted for nearly 20 has determined that 5,200 tons per year of these micrometeorites reach the ground.

Mountain growth influences greenhouse effect

A group of researchers led by Aaron Bufe and Niels Hovius of GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences has taken advantage of different erosion rates and investigated how uplift and erosion of rocks determine the balance of carbon emissions and uptake. The surprising result: at high erosion rates, weathering processes release carbon dioxide; at low erosion rates, they sequester carbon from the...