If you have ever wondered how much electric vehicle (EV) adoption actually matters for the environment, a new study provides evidence that making this switch would improve overall air quality and lower carbon emissions. The Northwestern University study quantified the differences in air pollution generated from battery-powered electric vehicles versus internal combustion engines. The researchers…
Researchers have discovered new genetic factors that likely contribute to the development of kidney stones. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), may be useful for predicting individuals’ risk of developing kidney stones and for identifying new targets for prevention and treatment. Increasing numbers…
During the Great Depression, some unemployed Texans were put to work as fossil hunters. The workers retrieved tens of thousands of specimens that have been studied in small bits and pieces while stored in the state collections of The University of Texas at Austin for the past 80 years. Now, decades after they were first…
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have found that the enzymes ULK1 and ULK2 play a key role in breaking down cell structures called stress granules, whose persistence leads to toxic buildup of proteins that kill muscle and brain cells. Such buildup is central to the pathology of three related diseases: inclusion body myopathy (IBM),…
Young children who live close to a major roadway are twice as likely to score lower on tests of communications skills, compared to those who live farther away from a major roadway, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of California, Merced. Moreover, children born to women…
As part of the EU project “Beyond EPICA — Oldest Ice,” experts from 14 institutions located in 10 European countries have spent three years combing the Antarctic ice sheet to find the ideal location to retrieve the oldest ice core on the Earth. The location has now been found and the consortium presented their choice…
As companies seek and are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s carbon markets are expanding. A government-run program in the Amazon rainforest in northwestern Brazil transforms forest carbon value into public wealth by focusing on labor rather than land rights. In the Brazilian state of Acre, some of the revenue from carbon…
With new genome analysis tools, scientists have made significant advances in our understanding of modern humans’ origins and ancient migrations. But trying to find ancient DNA, let alone prove that the ancient DNA is ancestral to a population living today is extremely challenging. A new study in Molecular Biology and Evolution (MBE) adds to this…
Although the majority of patients who have blood cancers are older adults, they make up only a small percentage of participants in the clinical trials that lead to new therapies. That’s because the standard research methods used in oncology (cancer medicine) are not ideal for identifying certain vulnerabilities linked to aging, such as having multiple…
The falling cost of solar power has led to a boom in recent years, with more and more photovoltaic panels popping up on rooftops and backyard solar farms around the world. But what happens to all of those solar panels in a couple of decades when they reach the end of their useful life? And…