A team of scientists from the UK and China have uncovered new evidence, using recently-discovered 25-million-year-old fossilised palm leaves, that Tibet’s geography was not as ‘high and dry’ as previously thought. The new research, co-authored by academics from the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences, suggests that central Tibet must have been no higher…
A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has found that activity of an important signaling pathway increases with aging and with heart failure. In their report published in Science Translational Medicine, they describe evidence from both humans and animal models that increased activin type II receptor (ActRII) activity correlates with worsening heart failure…
It takes King Curtis less than half a minute into “Memphis Soul Stew,” his best-remembered song, to really get a groove going. When it does, it doesn’t let go. According to the lyrics of the 1967 hit, the ingredients that make up a good groove are simple: “half a teacup of bass” and “a pound…
Many people set up hummingbird feeders in their yards to nurture and watch these high-energy pollinators. But could the sugar water they provide be impacting these tiny feathered friends? A study led by the University of California, Davis, is one of the first to address the potential for sugar water from hummingbird feeders to act…
Generating comprehensive molecular images of organs and tumors in living organisms can be performed at ultra-fast speed using a new deep learning approach to image reconstruction developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research team’s new technique has the potential to vastly improve the quality and speed of imaging in live subjects and was…
In the blink of an eye, the squid’s “smart skin” switches color and pattern for the purpose of camouflage or sexual signaling, a virtuosic display that has long fascinated scientists. Now, collaborators from Northeastern University and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) report a paradigm-shifting discovery in how specialized organs in squid skin, called chromatophores, contribute…
In a finding that may help scientists better predict sea-level rise in a warming world, Brown University researchers have found an underappreciated factor that controls the rate at which Greenland’s ice sheet melts. The research, published in the journal Science Advances, used satellite imagery to track the movement of the ice sheet’s snowline — the…
The affordability of healthy food is often cited as a barrier to low-income families eating nutritious meals. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that with menu planning and access to stores selling items in bulk, the average daily cost for serving healthy meals to a family of four…
A mass sacrifice at a 15th century archaeological site in Peru saw the ritual killing of over 140 children and over 200 llamas, according to a study released March 6, 2019 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gabriel Prieto of the National University of Trujillo, Peru and colleagues. This is the largest known…
Physicists from the University of Sheffield have discovered that when two atomically thin graphene-like materials are placed on top of each other their properties change, and a material with novel hybrid properties emerges, paving the way for design of new materials and nano-devices. This happens without physically mixing the two atomic layers, nor through a…