Study: Half of US cosmetics contain toxic chemicals
More than half the cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels of a toxic industrial compound linked to serious health conditions, including cancer and reduced birth weight, according to a new study.
At underwater site, research team finds 9,000-year-old stone artifacts
An underwater archaeologist from The University of Texas at Arlington is part of a research team studying 9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts discovered in Lake Huron that originated from an obsidian quarry more than 2,000 miles away in central Oregon.
How political bias impacts believing sexual assault victims
New research from Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications reveals a relationship between political biases and attitudes about sexual assault.
Hollywood stereotypes of female journalists feed a 'vicious cycle' of sexism
When a fictional female journalist appears on screen, chances are she's about to sleep with one of her sources. It's a trope that infuriates actual women in news media—and it can have real-life consequences, says University of Florida researcher Frank Waddell, Ph.D.
Quality supervision, coworker support key to child welfare caseworker retention
Instead of looking at the reasons child welfare caseworkers leave their jobs, Oregon State University researchers examined the common factors among workers who stay in the field, and what makes them feel most satisfied in their work.
Investigating carbonate mineral chemical variations to improve oil recovery
Dr. Igor Ivanishin, a postdoctoral researcher in the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, has firsthand experience with the frustrations of oil production. He spent nine years as a hydraulic fracturing engineer with operating and service companies in Russia. A few years ago, he came to Texas A&M to get his doctoral degree while delving into a recurring recovery...
The electron merry-go-round: Researchers find new mechanism for classical behavior of many-particle quantum systems
Photoemission is a property of metals and other materials that emit electrons when struck by light. Electron emission after light absorption was already explained by Albert Einstein. But since this effect is a highly complex process, scientists have still not been able to fully elucidate its details. Prof. Dr. Bernd von Issendorff and his team at the University of Freiburg's Institute of Physics...
The long view: Studying kelp forests and coral reefs to understand and predict the effects of climate change
What will the Earth be like for our children and grandchildren, as temperatures continue to rise? We can be fairly certain of some things: Some regions will become inhospitable, as heat drives their inhabitants away or causes massive declines and changes in their ecosystems. Many other physical, chemical and biological processes will also be affected by rising temperatures that threaten critical...
Analysis: Chile's transition to democracy slow, incomplete, fueled by social movements
A new article analyzes Chile's transition in 1990 from dictatorship to democracy, the nature of democracy between 1990 and 2019, and the appearance of several social movements geared to expanding this democracy. The article, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), appears in The Latin Americanist, a publication of the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies.
Scientists explain the crucial role of motor proteins in cell division
Proper chromosome segregation into two future daughter cells requires the mitotic spindle to elongate in anaphase. However, although some candidate proteins are implicated in this process, the molecular mechanism that drives spindle elongation in human cells has been unknown until now. Researchers at the Croatian Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) have discovered the exact molecular mechanism of...
New web tool fights antibacterial resistance
In 1943, two scientists named Max Delbrück and Salvador Luria conducted an experiment to show that bacteria can mutate randomly, independent of external stimulus, such as an antibiotic that threatens a bacterial cells' survival. Today the Luria-Delbrück experiment is widely used in laboratories for a different purpose—scientists use this classic experiment to determine microbial mutation...
Researchers 3D-print rotating microfilter for lab-on-a-chip applications
Researchers have fabricated a magnetically driven rotary microfilter that can be used to filter particles inside a microfluidic device. They made the tiny turning filter by creating a magnetic material that could be used with a very precise 3D printing technique known as two-photon polymerization.
A push for a shift in the value system that defines 'impact' and 'success'
Discussions of a broken value system are ubiquitous in science, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic served to expose inequality globally. However, according to the authors of an article publishing 15th June 2021 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, science itself is not "broken," but it was built on deeply-entrenched, systemic sexist and racist values, which perpetuate biases through the...
Research papers that omit 'mice' from titles receive misleading media coverage
There is increasing scrutiny around how science is communicated to the public, but what is the relationship between how scientists report their findings and how media reports it to the public? A study published in PLOS Biology by Marcia Triunfol at Humane Society International, in Washington, DC and Fabio Gouveia at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil suggests that when authors of...
AI model examines virus spread from animals to humans
A new model that applies artificial intelligence to carbohydrates improves the understanding of the infection process and could help predict which viruses are likely to spread from animals to humans. This is reported in a recent study led by researchers at the University of Gothenburg.
New research sheds light on how international community can maintain stability in post-conflict areas
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Colombia, Myanmar and Syria are just a handful of the places around the world currently engaged in ongoing civil wars. Even when peace agreements can be negotiated to end civil wars, maintaining stability is incredibly challenging. In these fragile post-conflict areas, a small communal dispute can easily escalate and unravel peace deals.
Studying hippo movement provides insights into anthrax outbreaks in Tanzania
Hippopotamus aren't the first thing that come to mind when considering epidemiology and disease ecology. And yet these amphibious megafauna offered UC Santa Barbara ecologist Keenan Stears a window into the progression of an anthrax outbreak that struck Ruaha National Park, Tanzania, in the dry season of 2017.
Rarest bee genus in North America is not so rare after all
Canadian researchers have discovered that a bee thought to be one of the rarest in the world, as the only representative of its genus, is no more than an unusual specimen of a widespread species.
World's most powerful magnet ready to ship
After a decade of design and fabrication, General Atomics is ready to ship the first module of the Central Solenoid, the world's most powerful magnet. It will become a central component of ITER, a machine that replicates the fusion power of the sun. ITER is being built in southern France by 35 partner countries.
Rare superconductor may be vital for quantum computing
Research led by the University of Kent and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has resulted in the discovery of a new rare topological superconductor, LaPt3P. This discovery may be of huge importance to the future operations of quantum computers.
Receptor location in heart plays a key role in their function
In the heart there are two different subtypes of beta-adrenergic receptors—beta1 and beta2—which are activated by the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline. They both trigger the strongest stimulation of the heart rate and pumping capacity that we know of. The two subtypes are highly similar biochemically, but differ substantially in terms of their functional and therapeutic relevance.
Plants use a blend of external influences to evolve defense mechanisms
Plants evolve specialized defense chemicals through the combined effects of genes, geography, demography and environmental conditions, a study published today in eLife reports.
Rice varieties could sustain crop supplies facing climate change
Local rice varieties in Vietnam could be used to help breed improved crops with higher resilience to climate change, according to a new study published in Rice.
Facing water security challenges in the world's drylands
Recent research—published ahead of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on 17 June 2021—examines current and projected climate change impacts on water security across the world's drylands up to the year 2100.
Scientists trying to make California forests more fire resilient
To the untrained eye, the scrubby slope off Wentworth Springs Road in the Eldorado National Forest looks like any other patch of Sierra Nevada ridgetop. Tufted in native shrubs and flecked by darkened pine stumps, it's part of a 30,000-acre swath of land that was deforested in 2014, when the King fire tore through 17 miles of canyon in less than six hours.