Ecologists examining plastic pollution entering oceans, rivers and lakes around the world annually, outline potential impacts of various mitigation strategies over the coming decade. The researchers estimate the scale of human response needed to reduce future emissions and manage what's already floating around out there and recommend a fundamental shift to a framework based on recycling where...

For the first time, scientists solved the high-resolution structure of these compounds when they are actively bound to the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor on the surface of brain cells. This discovery is already leading to the exploration of more precise compounds that could eliminate hallucinations but still have strong therapeutic effects. Psilocybin - the psychedelic compound in mushrooms - has...

Researchers have identified how cells in our brains work together to join up memories of separate experiences, allowing us to make educated guesses in everyday life. By studying both human and mouse brain activity, they report that this process happens in a region of the brain called the hippocampus.

The scientists found that the more curved a toe spring is, the less power the foot inside the shoe has to exert when pushing off from the ground while walking. That means foot muscles are doing less work, and this, the researchers hypothesize, may have consequences such as less endurance and make people more susceptible to medical conditions like plantar fasciitis.

Hubble's sharp view is giving researchers an updated weather report on the monster planet's turbulent atmosphere, including a remarkable new storm brewing, and a cousin of the famous Great Red Spot region gearing up to change color -- again.

Preserving terrestrial biodiversity requires more ambitious land-conservation targets to be established and met. At the same time, 'bending the curve' on biodiversity loss needs more efficient food production, and healthier and less wasteful consumption and trade. If undertaken with 'unprecedented ambition and coordination,' these efforts provide an opportunity to reverse terrestrial biodiversity...

Researchers has found that some of the oldest terrain on Venus, known as tesserae, have layering that seems consistent with volcanic activity. The finding could provide insights into the enigmatic planet's geological history.

An international effort that brought together more than 60 ice, ocean and atmosphere scientists from three dozen international institutions has generated new estimates of how much of an impact Earth's melting ice sheets.

Over 99% of terrestrial ice is bound up in the ice sheets covering Antarctic and Greenland. Even partial melting of this ice due to climate change will significantly contribute to sea level rise. But how much exactly? For the first time ever, glaciologists, oceanographers, and climatologists from 13 countries have teamed up to make new projections.

New research looks at the swimming and sinking kinematics of nine species of warm water pteropods (sea snails) to shed light on their ecology, predator-prey interactions, and vertical distributions. By using a high-speed stereophotogrammetry system, investigators were able to focus on how the shell shape, body geometry, and body size affect their swimming behavior from a fluid mechanics...

A fruit used for centuries in countries around the world is getting the nutritional thumbs-up from a team of researchers. Breadfruit, which grows in abundance in tropical and South Pacific countries, has long been a staple in the diet of many people. The fruit can be eaten when ripe, or it can be dried and ground up into a flour and repurposed into many types of meals.

An international collaboration of theoretical physicists has published a new calculation relevant to the search for an explanation of the predominance of matter over antimatter in our universe. The new calculation gives a more accurate prediction for the likelihood with which kaons decay into a pair of electrically charged pions vs. a pair of neutral pions.

Women with a longer reproductive period had an elevated risk for dementia in old age, compared with those who were fertile for a shorter period, a population-based study.

For the first time, scientists have studied the early effects of time-restricted feeding on the daily periodic oscillations of metabolites and genes in muscle, and metabolites in blood. The findings find that time-restricted feeding does not influence the muscle's core clock, and opens the door to more research on how these observed changes improve health.

Researchers have used a computer model to test a new hypothesis about the formation of the Alps while simulating seismic activity in Switzerland. This will help improve current earthquake risk models.

Pity the glycan. A lab has created these very tools by commandeering simple, single-celled microorganisms - namely E. coli bacteria - and engineering them to explore the complex process of glycosylation and the functional role that protein-linked glycans play in health and disease.

A team of international collaborators identifies a new cause of syndromic microcephaly caused by LMNB1 mutations that disrupt the nuclear envelope.

The collaboration revealed that the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi provides nitrates to plants, which could lead to reduced fertilizer use.

Researchers presented a highly flexible but sturdy wearable piezoelectric harvester using the simple and easy fabrication process of hot pressing and tape casting. This energy harvester, which has record high interfacial adhesion strength, will take us one step closer to being able to manufacture embedded wearable electronics.

The world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, could be driven to extinction by climate change unless significant measures to intervene are taken soon.

A new study quantified the amount of Saharan dust reaching the Amazon to better understand how dust could impact soil fertility in the region. Intense tropical weathering and local biomass burning have both contributed to nutrient-poor soil in the Amazon Basin.

When used to manage infections, the drug itraconazole is generally given at a single, fixed dose to all patients. But determining the correct dosage of the drug to help treat cancer isn't that simple, new research suggests.

A new study finds a trigger for the Little Ice Age that cooled Europe from the 1300s through mid-1800s, and supports surprising model results suggesting that under the right conditions sudden climate changes can occur spontaneously, without external forcing.

Researchers have uncovered the mechanics of how plant cell walls balance the strength and rigidity provided by cellulose with its ability to stretch and compress. This discovery helps explain how plant structures can range from floppy grasses to hard wood trees and is important for understanding dietary fiber properties in nutrition. The findings also have applications in medicine, agriculture and...

In a simulation study, researchers showed that limiting global warming to 1.5°C rather than 2°C will mitigate aridification in some regions of the world including the Mediterranean, western Europe, and southern Africa. However, Australia and some parts of Asia were simulated to become wetter rather than drier at both 1.5°C and 2°C of warming. These findings reveal the importance of targeted...

An international team of plant scientists have shown the potential to rapidly improve the quality of barley grain through a genetic tool known as CRISPR or gene editing.

Adding calcium to graphene creates an extremely-promising superconductor, but where does the calcium go? In a new study, a Monash-led team has for the first time confirmed what actually happens to those calcium atoms. Surprising everyone, the calcium goes underneath both the upper graphene sheet and a lower 'buffer' sheet, 'floating' the graphene on a bed of calcium atoms.

An international consortium of researchers under the aegis of CMIP6 has calculated new estimates for the melting of Earth's ice sheets due to greenhouse gas emissions and its impact on sea levels, showing that the ice sheets could together contribute more than 40 cm by the end of 2100.

Researchers have identified the protein GLT-1 as the neurotransmitter glutamate transporter in the brain that is related to cortical spreading depression, a pathological condition that underlies migraines. The researchers found that mice lacking GLT-1, but not other glutamate receptors, were more susceptible to cortical spreading depression than were controls. GLT-1 might therefore be a potential...

It is better to invest in measures that make it easier for women to visit a doctor during pregnancy than measures to repair birth injuries. This is the conclusion from mathematicians, using Uganda as an example.

Metformin is the first-line drug that can lower blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes patients. One third of patients do not respond to metformin treatment and 5 per cent experience serious side effects, which is the reason many choose to stop medicating. Researchers have now identified biomarkers that can show in advance how the patient will respond to metformin treatment via a simple blood test....

Already, climate change is having an impact on the conditions of space observation at the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert. In future, new telescopes will have to be adapted to the expected changes, a new study.

Current research suggests that more complex life-forms, including humans, evolved from a symbiosis event between bacteria and another single-celled organism known as archaea. However, evidence of a transition period in which the two organisms mixed where nowhere to be found. That is, until now. In the deep waters of the Black Sea, a team of scientists found microbes that can make membrane lipids...

Deep-sea coral reefs face challenges as changes to ocean chemistry triggered by climate change may cause their foundations to become brittle, a study suggests.

Researchers have shown that high-resolution movies of molecular dynamics can be recorded using electrons ejected from the molecule by an intense laser field.

Researchers in Finland found a link between smoking and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a type of bleeding stroke, in a study of more than 16,000 pairs of twins over 42 years. The study found that bleeding in the brain can be explained to a greater degree by environmental risk factors, such as smoking, than by genetic influence.

A new study deepens the understanding of the development of T cell, an important component of the immune system.

Neuroscientists distinguish brain regions based on what they do, but now have a new way to overlay information about how they are built, too.

Children who take oral steroids to treat asthma or autoimmune diseases have an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and blood clots, according to new researchers. The study is the first to quantify these complications of oral steroids in a nationwide population of children.

Researchers have developed an automated 3D printing method that can produce multicolor 3D microstructures using different materials. The new method could be used to make a variety of optical components including optical sensors and light-driven actuators as well as multimaterial structures for applications such as soft robotics and medical applications.

The scientists developed nanoscale copper wires with specially shaped surfaces to catalyze a chemical reaction that reduces greenhouse gas emissions while generating ethylene -- a valuable chemical simultaneously.

A new study shows that single-dose and two-dose regimens of Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) are safe and immunogenic in children 6-23 months of age, a group with high rates of typhoid fever in resource-limited settings.

Think spending time with your kids and spouse is the key to your happiness? You may actually be happier getting together with your friends, a new study finds.

A research team has created a smart drug delivery system that reduces inflammation in damaged nervous tissues and may help treat spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders. The system, which uses extremely thin biomaterials implanted in the body, also protects nerve fibers (axons) that connect nerve cells in injured neural tissues, according to a new study.