Despite the Roman Empire's extensive military and cultural influence on the nearby Balkan peninsula, a DNA analysis of individuals who lived in the region between 1 and 1000 CE found no genetic evidence of Iron Age Italian ancestry. Instead, a new study has revealed successive waves of migrations from Western Anatolia, central and northern Europe, and the Pontic-Kazakh Steppe during the Empire's...

A new study of paper wasps suggests social interactions may make animals smarter. The research offers behavioral evidence of an evolutionary link between the ability to recognize individuals and social cooperation.

Researchers re-examined a plant fossil found decades ago in Colombia and realized that it wasn't a plant at all: it's a fossilized baby turtle. It's a rare find, because juvenile turtles' shells are soft and often don't fossilize well.

An international consortium of geoscientists has reconstructed atmosphereric levels of CO2 going back 66 million years using proxies in the geoloogical record. Today's concenteration, 420 parts per million, is higher than it's ever been in 14 million years.

How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of element formation in stars.

Engineers have developed a bio-compatible ink that solidifies into different 3D shapes and structures by absorbing ultrasound waves. Because the material responds to sound waves rather than light, the ink can be used in deep tissues for biomedical purposes ranging from bone healing to heart valve repair.

A study finds the greater honeyguide can learn distinct vocal signals to help people in Africa locate bee colonies. In parts of Africa, people communicate with a wild bird -- the greater honeyguide -- in order to locate bee colonies and harvest their stores of honey and beeswax. It's a rare example of cooperation between humans and wild animals, and a potential instance of cultural coevolution.

Scientists chipping away at one of the great challenges of metal-catalyzed C--H functionalization with a new method that uses a cobalt catalyst to differentiate between bonds in fluoroarenes, functionalizing them based on their intrinsic electronic properties. And their method is fast -- comparable in speed to those that rely on iridium.

A team of sustainability scientists recently announced that they have developed a community-based framework, founded on extensive local and traditional knowledge, to help assess and respond to the kinds of ecological threats that are widely dispersed across a varied landscape and whose solutions are not immediately obvious. The framework, which was developed to address watershed issues in...

A protein in the immune system programmed to protect the body from fungal infections is also responsible for exacerbating the severity of certain autoimmune diseases such as irritable bowel disease (IBS), type 1 diabetes, eczema and other chronic disorders, new research has found.  The discovery could pave the way for new and more effective drugs, without the nasty side effects of existing...

Tropical coral reefs are among our most spectacular ecosystems, yet a rapidly warming planet threatens the future survival of many reefs. However, there may be hope for some tropical reefs in the form of feathered friends. A new study has found that the presence of seabirds on islands adjacent to tropical coral reefs can boost coral growth rates on those reefs by more than double.

Two nanotechnology approaches converge by employing a new generation of fabrication technology. It combines the scalability of semiconductor technology with the atomic dimensions enabled by self-assembly.

A new study demonstrates a simple way of studying organ aging by analyzing distinct proteins, or sets of them, in blood, enabling the prediction of individuals' risk for diseases.

Spouses or partners in heterosexual relationships may have high blood pressure that mirrors one another, finds new, multinational study.

Researchers discovered how anti-cancer drugs called HDAC inhibitors help treat pancreatic cancer by altering scar tissue (fibroblast) development. The findings suggest HDAC inhibitors could be powerful tools in fighting pancreatic cancer -- alone and in combination with other therapies.

New research has shown that fire-ice -- frozen methane which is trapped as a solid under our oceans -- is vulnerable to melting due to climate change and could be released into the sea.

The ocean is a global life-support system, and climate change causes such as ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and nitrogen-deposition alter the delicate microbial population in oceans. The marine microbial community plays an important role in the production of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide and methane. Scientists have explored the climate change impact on marine microbes. Their...

The brains of special warfare community personnel repeatedly exposed to blasts show increased inflammation and structural changes compared with a control group, potentially increasing the risk of long-term, brain-related disease, according to a new study.

Aging is associated with chronic, nonresolving inflammation, or 'inflammaging,' that can lead to tissue dysfunction. New findings reveal insights into the cellular programs and factors that promote the resolution of inflammation during aging. These findings may lead to the development of new strategies to limit age-related organ decline.  

has found that hormone levels, measured through blood tests, are an important indicator of whether women will benefit from recently licensed medication for the prevention of breast cancer.

The fracturing and friction of coffee beans during grinding generates electricity that causes coffee particles to clump together and stick to the grinder. Researchers report that coffee beans with higher internal moisture produce less static electricity, which means less coffee is wasted and there is less mess to clean up. This effect can be simulated by adding a small amount of water to beans...

Researchers have discovered that misreading of therapeutic mRNAs by the cell's decoding machinery can cause an unintended immune response in the body. They have identified the sequence within the mRNA that causes this to occur and found a way to prevent 'off-target' immune responses to enable the safer design of future mRNA therapeutics.

Scientists have identified abnormal aggregates of a protein called TAF15 in the brains of individuals with early-onset dementia, known as frontotemporal dementia, where the cause was not previously known.

Galactic winds enable the exchange of matter between galaxies and their surroundings. In this way, they limit the growth of galaxies, that is, their star formation rate. Although this had already been observed in the local universe, an international research team has just revealed the existence of the phenomenon in galaxies which are more than 7 billion years old and actively forming stars, the...

Researchers have identified an allergy pathway that, when blocked, unleashes antitumor immunity in mouse models of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).  And in an early parallel study in humans, combining immunotherapy with dupilumab -- an Interleukin-4 (IL-4) receptor-blocking antibody widely used for treating allergies and asthma -- boosted patients' immune systems, with one out of the six...

Scientists reveal unprecedented insights into human limb development, including the many intricate processes that govern their formation.

In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this spot. Today, the impact crater is one of the most useful analogues for asteroid craters on early Mars. Studying the deposits of the former lake that formed in the crater is particularly informative. These...

Researchers have provided detailed maps of how 144 common invasive plants species will react to 2° Celsius of climate change in the eastern U.S., as well as the role that garden centers currently play in seeding future invasions.

Sniffles, snorts and blows of runny noses are the hallmarks of cold and flu season -- and that increase in mucus is exactly what bacteria use to mount a coordinated attack on the immune system, according to a new study. The team found that the thicker the mucus, the better the bacteria are able to swarm. The findings could have implications for treatments that reduce the ability of bacteria to...

For some people, extreme stressors like psychiatric disorders or childhood neglect and abuse can lead to a range of health problems later in life, including depression, anxiety and cardiovascular disease. A new study identified genetic indicators that can predict another health problem, the decline of cognitive abilities, among people who have been affected by these extreme stressors. 

A new tool will make it easier for clinicians and researchers to measure digital media addiction as new technologies emerge.   

In some diseases, the underlying processes can start years before a diagnosis is made. A new study finds that people who later develop multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have conditions like depression, constipation and urinary tract infections five years before their MS diagnosis than people who do not develop MS. The study also found that sexual problems and bladder infections, or...

Scientists' debut 'reverse metabolomics,' a groundbreaking approach to advancing microbiome research. They use the technique to discover hundreds of new human molecules, and a new biomarker and therapeutic target for inflammatory bowel disease.

Chemists have now come up with a way to make molecules known as acenes more stable, allowing them to synthesize acenes of varying lengths. Using their new approach, they were able to build molecules that emit red, orange, yellow, green, or blue light, which could make acenes easier to deploy in a variety of applications.