Science news

• Voracious asian jumping worms strip forest floor and flood soil with nutrients

  08-09-2016 23:13
  Asian jumping worms, an invasive species first found in Wisconsin in 2013, may do their work too well, speeding up the exit of nutrients from the soil before plants can process them, new research shows.
  
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• Tall tale: study reveals that giraffes are four species, not one

  08-09-2016 22:58
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Genetic research on the world's tallest land animal has found that there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as long believed, with two of them at alarmingly low population levels.
  
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• Employees of medical centers report high stress, negative health behaviors

  08-09-2016 22:50
  Approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults in the U.S. will report high levels of stress, several American surveys have found. A new study has identified stress and burnout as a major problem employees face within the medical industry, leading to negative health behaviors. With rising stress levels in the workplace for employees, many companies are looking to integrate, engage and enroll employees into wellness programs.
  
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• Education reform urged: Age-based grade assignments hinder millions of students

  08-09-2016 22:50
  Traditional age-based grade levels may be hampering the progress of millions of K-12 students in the United States and should be a target for reform, according to a new study.
  
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• New electrical stimulation therapy may improve hand function after stroke

  08-09-2016 22:49
  A new technique uses a glove on the unaffected hand to send electrical stimulation to nerves in the stroke-affected hand. Researchers report that the best improvement was noted in patients who had moderate hand impairment from their stroke less than two years earlier. The study also demonstrated that stroke survivors can effectively use technology for self-administered therapy at home.
  
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• Linking RNA structure and function

  08-09-2016 22:49
  Several years ago, biologists discovered a new type of genetic material known as long noncoding RNA. This RNA does not code for proteins and is copied from sections of the genome once believed to be "junk DNA." Now, in a related study, biologists have discovered how an enigmatic type of RNA helps to control cell fate.
  
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• Is the world running out of wilderness?

  08-09-2016 22:37 via cbc.ca
  
  According to a new study published in Current Biology, every single corner of the globe is experiencing a shocking loss of wilderness — over 10 per cent in only 20 years.
  
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• Nickel mine blamed as Russian river turns blood red

  08-09-2016 22:36 via cbc.ca
  
  A small river in the northern part of Siberia turned blood red raising the eyebrows of the local citizens and infuriating environment activists. Residents of Norilsk started reporting that Daldykan River outside the city changed its colour on Tuesday.
  
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• Panel outlines research priorities for ‘Cancer Moonshot’

  08-09-2016 21:26
  
  Recommendations for President Barack Obama’s Cancer Moonshot include improved data sharing, focus on immunotherapy and commitment to patient engagement.
  
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• The influence of fat when gut bacteria is reduced by antibioticsm

  08-09-2016 21:12
  Additional insight has been shed on how bacteria in the gut, or lack thereof, influences intestinal mast cells (MMC) activation and perhaps fat absorption. Mast cells are intimately involved with the immune system in the body.
  
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• Tall tale: study reveals that giraffes are four distinct species, not one

  08-09-2016 21:12 via cbc.ca
  
  Genetic research on the world's tallest land animal has found that there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as long believed, with two of them at alarmingly low population levels.
  
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• Newly discovered infectious prion structure shines light on mad cow disease

  08-09-2016 21:12
  Groundbreaking research has identified the structure of the infectious prion protein, the cause of 'mad cow disease' or BSE, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which has long remained a mystery.
  
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• Unprecedented atmospheric behavior disrupts one of Earth's most regular climate cycles

  08-09-2016 21:11
  A team of scientists has discovered an unexpected disruption in one of the most repeatable atmospheric patterns.
  
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• Study looks at how parents use newborn screening results

  08-09-2016 21:11
  Parents say they want to know everything that turns up in newborn screening tests, but then don't use the information or use it inappropriately, new research indicates.
  
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• Earthquakes can trigger near-instantaneous aftershocks on different faults

  08-09-2016 21:11
  A large earthquake on one fault can trigger large aftershocks on separate faults within just a few minutes. These findings have important implications for earthquake hazard prone regions like California where ruptures on complex fault systems may cascade and lead to mega-earthquakes.
  
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• Did Asteroid Strikes Help Spur Life on Earth?

  08-09-2016 21:11
  
  A NASA spacecraft is about to launch toward an asteroid whose cousins may have sparked the rise of life on Earth long ago. If all goes according to plan, OSIRIS-REx will meet up with Bennu in 2020, grab some dirt and rocks from the asteroid's surface two years later, and return the sample to Earth in September 2023. Scientists in labs around the world will scrutinize this cosmic material for organic molecules, the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it.
  
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• Scientists say this 'brainwashing' technique alters how we feel about other people's faces

  08-09-2016 21:10
  
  Using a new biofeedback technique, researchers manipulated volunteers’ feelings when they looked at pictures of faces.
  
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• Scientists film bacteria's maneuvers as they become impervious to drugs

  08-09-2016 21:09
  In a creative stroke inspired by Hollywood wizardry, scientists have designed a simple way to observe how bacteria move as they become impervious to drugs.
  
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• Risk factors for congenital heart defects may lie both inside and outside the heart

  08-09-2016 21:09
  Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are a leading cause of birth defect-related deaths, but many of the critical genes involved are unknown, and those that are known often contribute only small increases in CHD risk. Researchers report that overall risk is determined by a combination of gene effects both inside and outside of the heart itself.
  
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• Measuring forces in the DNA molecule

  08-09-2016 21:09
  DNA, our genetic material, normally has the structure of a twisted rope ladder. Experts call this structure a double helix. Among other things, it is stabilized by stacking forces between base pairs. Scientists have now succeeded at measuring these forces for the very first time on the level of single base pairs. This new knowledge could help to construct precise molecular machines out of DNA.
  
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• Critical information needed in fight to save wildlife

  08-09-2016 21:09
  An international group of 22 scientists is calling for a coordinated global effort to gather important species information that is urgently needed to improve predictions for the impact of climate change on future biodiversity.
  
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• Brain connections are more sophisticated than thought

  08-09-2016 21:09
  Inhibitory connections between neurons act as the brain's brakes, preventing it from becoming overexcited. Researchers thought inhibitory connections were less sophisticated than their excitatory counterparts because relatively few proteins were known to exist at these structures. But a new study overturns that assumption, uncovering 140 proteins that have never been mapped to inhibitory synapses. Some of the proteins have already been implicated in autism, intellectual disability and epilepsy,
  
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• With MRI technique, brain scientists induce feelings about faces

  08-09-2016 21:08
  Researchers report that they were able to train unknowing volunteers to develop a mild but significant preference or dislike for faces that they had previously regarded neutrally.
  
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• [Working Life] Newton and the Big Apple

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: E. S. Levine
  
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• [This Week in Science] Zika vaccines protect monkeys

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Visualizing evolution in real time

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Caroline Ash
  
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• [This Week in Science] The many human impacts of climate

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Gilbert Chin
  
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• [This Week in Science] Standardizing the CAR assembly line

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Yevgeniya Nusinovich
  
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• [This Week in Science] Reducing the ecosystem impacts of dams

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] Putting precision medicine in tissue context

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Paula A. Kiberstis
  
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• [This Week in Science] Persistent political bias in Internet allocation

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Barbara R. Jasny
  
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• [This Week in Science] Losing memory by protein cleavage

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Wei Wong
  
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• [This Week in Science] Iron sulfide sails through the Grand Tack

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Brent Grocholski
  
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• [This Week in Science] Improving predictions

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Sacha Vignieri
  
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• [This Week in Science] Identifying synapse-specific proteins

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [This Week in Science] How tissue macrophages differentiate

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] How base pairs stack up

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Phil Szuromi
  
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• [This Week in Science] Flexible and lightweight shielding

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Marc S. Lavine
  
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• [This Week in Science] Filling in the aftershock gap

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Brent Grocholski
  
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• [This Week in Science] Dissecting collective cell migration

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Stella M. Hurtley
  
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• [This Week in Science] Counting up or eyeing the sky?

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Sacha Vignieri
  
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• [This Week in Science] Building better cellular memories

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: L. Bryan Ray
  
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• [This Week in Science] Assessing the brain's memory storage capacity

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [This Week in Science] A rhodium route from C-H to C-N bonds

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Author: Jake Yeston
  
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• [Technical Response] Response to Comment on “Principles of connectivity among morphologically defined cell types in adult neocortex”

  08-09-2016 20:49
  The critique of Barth et al. centers on three points: (i) the completeness of our study is overstated; (ii) the connectivity matrix we describe is biased by technical limitations of our brain-slicing and multipatching methods; and (iii) our cell classification scheme is arbitrary and we have simply renamed previously identified interneuron types. We address these criticisms in our Response.
  Authors: Xiaolong Jiang, Shan Shen, Fabian Sinz, Jacob Reimer, Cathryn R. Cadwell, Philipp Berens, Alexand
  
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• [Technical Comment] Comment on “Principles of connectivity among morphologically defined cell types in adult neocortex”

  08-09-2016 20:49
  Jiang et al. (Research Article, 27 November 2015, aac9462) describe detailed experiments that substantially add to the knowledge of cortical microcircuitry and are unique in the number of connections reported and the quality of interneuron reconstruction. The work appeals to experts and laypersons because of the notion that it unveils new principles and provides a complete description of cortical circuits. We provide a counterbalance to the authors’ claims to give those less familiar with the
  
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• [Review] Social and economic impacts of climate

  08-09-2016 20:49
  For centuries, thinkers have considered whether and how climatic conditions—such as temperature, rainfall, and violent storms—influence the nature of societies and the performance of economies. A multidisciplinary renaissance of quantitative empirical research is illuminating important linkages in the coupled climate-human system. We highlight key methodological innovations and results describing effects of climate on health, economics, conflict, migration, and demographics. Because of persi
  
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• [Review] Improving the forecast for biodiversity under climate change

  08-09-2016 20:49
  New biological models are incorporating the realistic processes underlying biological responses to climate change and other human-caused disturbances. However, these more realistic models require detailed information, which is lacking for most species on Earth. Current monitoring efforts mainly document changes in biodiversity, rather than collecting the mechanistic data needed to predict future changes. We describe and prioritize the biological information needed to inform more realistic projec
  
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• [Research Article] Synaptic mechanisms of pattern completion in the hippocampal CA3 network

  08-09-2016 20:49
  The hippocampal CA3 region plays a key role in learning and memory. Recurrent CA3–CA3 synapses are thought to be the subcellular substrate of pattern completion. However, the synaptic mechanisms of this network computation remain enigmatic. To investigate these mechanisms, we combined functional connectivity analysis with network modeling. Simultaneous recording from up to eight CA3 pyramidal neurons revealed that connectivity was sparse, spatially uniform, and highly enriched in disynaptic mo
  
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