Nearly a hundred genes have been lost during the woolly mammoth's evolution
A new study shows that 87 genes have been affected by deletions or short insertions during the course of the mammoth's evolution. The researchers note that their findings have implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including the woolly mammoth. The study was published today in the journal iScience by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm, a...
Looking for 'ever-loving homes': Nearly 4,000 beagles bred for drug experiments rescued
In what's thought to be one of the biggest dog rescue efforts in the U.S., nearly 4,000 beagles are looking for forever homes after being saved from a Virginia facility that bred them to be sold to laboratories for drug experiments.
New study reveals computation-guided approach to suppressing cancer tumor growth
A new study, led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and the University of California, San Diego, reveals a new computation-guided approach to identify small molecules that can restore aspects of wild-type p53 tumor suppression function to mutated p53, which play an important role in many human cancers. This approach was successful both in vitro and in vivo. This strategy can...
Meteor shower, supermoon will brighten Thursday's night sky—but that's a problem
Those who enjoy watching the skies will see two events later this week collide: A supermoon will compete with the Perseid meteor shower to light the night.
How bacteria defuse hypothiocyanite, an antimicrobial weapon of the innate immune system
How do a wide variety of bacteria—both pathogenic and commensal—survive antimicrobials released by the mammalian innate immune system?
New research reveals the circadian clock influences cell growth, metabolism and tumor progression
In a new University of California, Irvine-led study, researchers define how the circadian clock influences cell growth, metabolism and tumor progression. Their research also reveals how disruption of the circadian clock impacts genome stability and mutations that can further drive critical tumor-promoting pathways in the intestine.
Scientists identify mechanism crucial for COVID-19 virus replication
A team led by UT Southwestern researchers has identified how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, builds a structure called the RNA cap that's critical for successful viral replication. The finding, published in Nature, could lead to new strategies to attack COVID-19, which has sickened nearly 600 million and killed more than 6 million worldwide thus far.
Going deep: New ground motion model more accurately simulates earthquakes, explosions
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have created a new adjoint waveform tomography model that more accurately simulates earthquake and explosion ground motions. The paper, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, was selected for an Editor's Highlight.
NASA's Fermi telescope confirms star wreck as source of extreme cosmic particles
Astronomers have long sought the launch sites for some of the highest-energy protons in our galaxy. Now a study using 12 years of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope confirms that one supernova remnant is just such a place.
Building on the moon and Mars? You'll need extraterrestrial cement for that
Sustained space exploration will require infrastructure that doesn't currently exist: buildings, housing, rocket landing pads.
Scientists provide new insights into flowering dates in Prunus species
Recently, scientists from the French National Institute for Agriculture provided new insights into the control of flowering dates in Prunus species, paving the way for development of molecular breeding strategies.
Newly described 'solar clock' can precisely predict solar cycle events years in advance
Ever since humans could first observe sunspots about 400 years ago, we've been using them to try to define the solar cycle. Approximately every 11 years, solar activity such as sunspots and solar flares ebbs and flows, causing changes to weather patterns on Earth and occasionally threatening telecommunications. Predicting these changes reliably could help everyone from farmers to the military.
Colliding galaxies dazzle in Gemini North image
An evocative new image captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai'i reveals a pair of interacting spiral galaxies—NGC 4568 and NGC 4567—as they begin to clash and merge. These galaxies are entangled by their mutual gravitational field and will eventually combine to form a single elliptical galaxy in around 500 million years. Also visible in the image is the glowing remains of a supernova...
Team finds new mechanism for heterochromatin establishment and transcriptional silencing in rice crop fungus
Rice is one of the most important crops in the world, particularly in China. The rice yield is most severely hindered by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. According to the National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center, approximately 400 acres of rice will be plagued by rice blast in 2022. Therefore, it is of supreme importance to reveal the pathogenic mechanism of Magnaporthe oryzae and discover...
Math error: A new study overturns 100-year-old understanding of color perception
A new study corrects an important error in the 3D mathematical space developed by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger and others, and used by scientists and industry for more than 100 years to describe how your eye distinguishes one color from another. The research has the potential to boost scientific data visualizations, improve TVs and recalibrate the textile and paint...
Using fish ear bones to estimate ancient seawater temperature
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have identified a way to estimate ancient seawater temperature by probing tiny bones in the ears of fish.
Grapevine breeding programs assisted by genomic prediction
Breeding schemes typically involve first the choice of parents and then the selection of offspring within crosses. Genomic prediction is adapted both for predicting the cross mean and for ranking the genotypes within a cross. These steps correspond to the components of the predictive ability of genomic prediction. The cross mean is the sum of the breeding values of the parents if allelic effects...
Women in top management teams boost corporate environmental strategies in emerging economies
Researchers from Surrey Business School examined how firms with more women within senior leadership teams performed on the adoption of environmental standards and how these women's personal attributes contributed to the adoption of these standards.
Methane satellites find landfills with the same climate impact as several hundred thousand cars
Methane is almost thirty times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Researchers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research therefore scan the entire globe for large methane leaks. A landfill in Buenos Aires turns out to emit tens of tons of methane per hour, comparable to the climate impact of one and a half million cars. They also detect large emissions from landfills in India and...
Researchers investigate spatial distribution of reservoir plankton communities in Southeast China
A research team led by Prof. Yang Jun from the Institute of Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has explored the spatial distribution of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities in 24 reservoirs in Southeast China.
One more clue to the moon's origin
Humankind has maintained an enduring fascination with the moon. It was not until Galileo's time, however, that scientists really began study it. Over the course of nearly five centuries, researchers put forward numerous, much debated theories as to how the moon was formed. Now, geochemists, cosmochemists, and petrologists at ETH Zurich shed new light on the moon's origin story.
Study links protecting Indigenous peoples' lands to greater nonhuman primate biodiversity
By comparing geographic patterns of nonhuman primate biodiversity and human land-use, researchers discovered that areas managed or controlled by Indigenous peoples tend to have significantly more primate biodiversity than nearby regions. They also found that lorises, tarsiers, monkeys and apes whose territories overlap with Indigenous areas are less likely to be classified as vulnerable,...
50 years of research productivity trends across fields and genders
An analysis of scholarly research papers published in the last 50 years provides new insights into trends in research productivity, highlighting an overall increase in productivity and a worldwide gender gap. Milad Haghani of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 10, 2022.
Simultaneous climate events risk damaging entire socioeconomic systems
The cascading effects of extreme weather—such as recent heatwaves which combine heat and drought—and the interconnectedness of critical services and sectors has the potential to destabilize entire socioeconomic systems, according to a study published in PLOS Climate by Laura Niggli at University of Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues.
Prehistoric podiatry: How dinos carried their enormous weight
Scientists have cracked an enduring mystery, discovering how sauropod dinosaurs—like Brontosaurus and Diplodocus—supported their gigantic bodies on land.