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2,369 articles from EurekAlert

Importance of rainfall highlighted for tropical animals

Imagine a tropical forest, and you might conjure up tall trees hung with vines, brightly colored birds, howling monkeys, and ... rain. Indeed, precipitation patterns, along with temperature, dictate where tropical forests are distributed around the world, but surprisingly, scientists know very little about the direct effects of rainfall on animals. A new conceptual framework calls for the...

In sickness and in health

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have shown that for men with major cardiovascular disease risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, their wives are more likely to suffer from the same diseases. These results emphasize the need for extending disease concerns beyond relatives who share ancestry to the patient's spouse. Further, couple-based interventions are desirable...

Legacy

Breastfeeding secures delivery of sugar and fat for milk production by changing the insulin sensitivity of organs that supply or demand these nutrients, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The findings, published in this month's print issue of Diabetes, could explain how different tissues cooperate to start and maintain lactation and offer strategies to help improve...

Less "sticky" cells become more cancerous

In cooperation with colleagues from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, researchers at Leipzig University have investigated the structure of tumour tissue and the behaviour of tumour cells in detail, gaining important insights that could improve cancer diagnosis and therapy in the future.

Less is more: A soft, self-actuated pump to simplify mechatronic devices

As electromechanical devices become increasingly small and complex, the high number of required components becomes a limiting factor. Now, scientists at Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, have tapped into the potential of hydrogels driven by oscillating chemical reactions to create the first self-actuated, single-component pump. This device could act as a practical power source for...

Life in a nutshell: New species found in the carapace of late cretaceous marine turtle

Fossils have often been known to tell stories of immobile organisms living in the hard tissues of dead ancient marine animals. Now, scientists from Japan have discovered a new species of extinct bivalves that seem to have lived in a unique habitat: the shell of an ancient, now extinct, leatherback sea turtle while the turtle was alive, which allowed this species to colonize new environments and...

Lockdowns have economic and social costs for world's poorest families

Low socioeconomic families - and particularly women - experienced increased financial hardship, food insecurity, domestic violence and mental health challenges during COVID-19 lockdown measures in Bangladesh, a new research study shows. In the first study of its kind, Australian and Bangladeshi researchers documented the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures on the...

Memory protein

When UC Santa Barbara materials scientist Omar Saleh and graduate student Ian Morgan sought to understand the mechanical behaviors of disordered proteins in the lab, they expected that after being stretched, one particular model protein would snap back instantaneously, like a rubber band.

More than half of "sudden" cardiac arrest victims had contacted health services before

Today scientists report that 58% of "sudden" cardiac arrest sufferers sought medical help during the two weeks before the event. The research is presented today at ESC Congress 2020. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiac arrest is lethal within minutes if left untreated and it is estimated that, on average, less than 10% of victims survive.

Moving bits, not watts

The phrase "too much of a good thing" may sound like a contradiction, but it encapsulates one of the key hurdles preventing the expansion of renewable energy generation. Too much of a service or commodity makes it harder for companies to sell them, so they curtail production.

NASA missions explore a 'TIE Fighter' active galaxy

Not so long ago, astronomers mapped a galaxy far, far away using radio waves and found it has a strikingly familiar shape. In the process, they discovered the object, called TXS 0128+554, experienced two powerful bouts of activity in the last century.

NBA playoff format is optimizing competitive balance by eliminating travel

In addition to helping protect players from COVID-19, the NBA 'bubble' in Orlando may be a competitive equalizer by eliminating team travel. Researchers analyzing the results of nearly 500 NBA playoff games over six seasons found that a team's direction of travel and the number of time zones crossed were associated with its predicted win probability and actual game performance.

New method to track ultrafast change of magnetic state

An international team of physicists from Bielefeld University, Uppsala University, the University of Strasbourg, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, ETH Zurich, and the Free University Berlin have developed a precise method to measure the ultrafast change of a magnetic state in materials. Their study, titled 'Ultrafast terahertz...