In 2019, researchers witnessed the consequences of an extreme heat event at Punta Tombo in Argentina, one of the world's largest breeding colonies for Magellanic penguins. On Jan. 19, temperatures at the site spiked in the shade to 44 C, or 111.2 F, killing at least 354 penguins. Nearly three-quarters of the penguins that died were adults, many of which likely died of dehydration, based on...

Conventional wet-chemistry methods used to create biocidal materials are complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Researchers present a tutorial in which they explore a promising alternative called plasma-enabled surface engineering. The technology relies on nonequilibrium plasma that produces chemical reactions to change the properties at the material surface. Reactions can be manipulated by...

Monitoring a person's blood pressure on a regular basis can help health care professionals with early detection of various health problems such as high blood pressure, which has no warning signs or symptoms. However, many things can alter an accurate blood pressure reading, including a patient's nervousness about having their blood pressure taken at a doctor's office, otherwise known as 'white...

Researchers have discovered that having one kind of autoimmune disease can lead to another.

Medical experts have developed a new pre-clinical gene therapy for a rare disorder, known as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) 2B, that addresses the primary cellular deficit associated with this disease. Using a single injection of a low dose gene therapy vector, researchers restored the ability of injured muscle fibers to repair in a way that reduced muscle degeneration and enhanced the...

Plants, like other organisms, can be severely affected by heat stress. To increase their chances of survival, they activate the heat shock response, a molecular pathway also employed by human and animal cells for stress protection. Researchers have now discovered that plant steroid hormones can promote this response in plants.

Researchers discuss the properties of silk and recent and future applications of the material. It has been used in drug delivery and is ideal for wearable and implantable health monitoring sensors. Silk is also useful in optics and electronics and more recently has come to the forefront of sustainability research. The use of silk coatings may also reduce food waste, which is a significant...

Exposure to the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides among young men can cause a striking reduction in lung function and nearly five times higher odds of having asthma compared to the non-exposed, study shows.

Are animals' innate navigational abilities universal or are they restricted to their home environments? Researchers designed a set of wheels under a goldfish tank with a camera system to record and translate the fish's movements into forward and back and side to side directions to the wheels. By doing so, they discovered that a goldfish's navigational ability supersedes its watery environs.

Black holes really are giant fuzzballs, a new study says. The study attempts to put to rest the debate over Stephen Hawking's famous information paradox, the problem created by Hawking's conclusion that any data that enters a black hole can never leave. This conclusion accorded with the laws of thermodynamics, but opposed the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics.

The discovery of insulin 100 years ago opened a door that would lead to life and hope for millions of people with diabetes. Ever since then, insulin, produced in the pancreas, has been considered the primary means of treating conditions characterized by high blood sugar (glucose), such as diabetes. Now, scientists have discovered a second molecule, produced in fat tissue, that, like insulin, also...

Researchers have developed a unique nanoparticle to deliver genome editing technology, including CRISPR/Cas9, to endothelial cells, which are cells that line blood vessel walls. This is the first time that vascular endothelial cells could be reached for genome editing, since the usual way to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 -- through a virus -- does not work for this cell type.

Babies born during the pandemic's first year -- even to moms who did not have COVID during pregnancy -- scored lower on a screening test of social and motor skills compared to pre-pandemic babies, according to a new study.

Researchers suggest a change in climate is the likely cause of the mysterious disappearance of ancient lions and bears from parts of North America for a thousand years or more prior to the last Ice Age.

Scientists brought islands of "dead" lithium back to life by making them creep worms to reconnect with their electrodes in next-gen lithium metal batteries. This extended battery life by nearly 30%.

Scientists are calling for changes to healthcare policy following research which has shown for the first time the scale of the impact of a condition associated with benign tumors that can lead to type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Up to 10 per cent of adults have a benign tumor, or lump, known as an 'adrenal incidentaloma' in their adrenals -- glands situated on top of the kidneys which...

A new study is challenging standard treatment methods used to prevent muscle damage during heart attack.

Researchers have found that climate change drives native trout declines by reducing stream habitat and facilitating the expansion of invasive trout species.