Science news

• Optimizing horse vaccination schedules: Early age immune response in foals

  29-06-2017 23:55
  Researchers have discovered a new method to measure tiny amounts of antibodies in foals. The methodology will help understand how fast a foal starts producing its own antibodies, which in turn will help optimize recommendations for young horse vaccination schedules.
  
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• Acoustic scientist sounds off about the location of cave paintings

  29-06-2017 23:55
  One popular theory about the Paleolithic cave paintings proposes that sites were chosen based on the acoustics in the caves. The originators of the theory reported a causal connection between the 'points of resonance' in three French caves and the position of Paleolithic cave paintings.
  
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• A perturbed skin microbiome can be 'contagious' and promote inflammation

  29-06-2017 23:55
  In a new study, researchers have shown for the first time that, not only can infection with the Leishmania parasite alter the skin microbiome of affected mice, but this altered microbial community can be passed to uninfected mice that share a cage with the infected animals.
  
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• Possible early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder

  29-06-2017 23:54
  Measuring a set of proteins in the blood may enable earlier diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to a study.
  
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• Incremental discovery may one day lead to photosynthetic breakthrough

  29-06-2017 23:54
  
  Photosynthesis is one of the most complicated and important processes -- responsible for kick-starting Earth's food chain. While we have modeled its more-than-100 major steps, scientists are still discovering the purpose of proteins that can be engineered to increase yield. Now researchers have uncovered secrets about another protein, CP12 -- the full understanding of which may provide an additional route to boost yields in the future.
  
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• Can Hearing Be Restored by Making the Brain More Childlike?

  29-06-2017 22:15 via rss.sciam.com
  
  In mouse experiments, scientists bring back the “critical period” of early in life, in which the ability to process sounds emerges
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Human brain structure inspires artificial intelligence

  29-06-2017 22:11 via cbc.ca
  
  The human brain is the most powerful supercomputer on Earth, and now researchers from the University of Southern California are taking inspiration from the structure of the human brain to make better artificial intelligence systems.
  
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• Government spyware targeted Mexican opposition party, Toronto researchers suggest

  29-06-2017 21:41 via cbc.ca
  
  Three senior opposition officials in Mexico, including a party leader, were targeted with spying software sold to governments to fight criminals and terrorists, according to a report by researchers at the University of Toronto.
  
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• How pesticides threaten bee populations

  29-06-2017 20:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Bees are dying out in winter because of the pesticides used to protect crops.
  
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• Even perfectly clean hands can lead to MRSA transmission in NICU babies

  29-06-2017 20:31
  A new study found that even if hospital workers follow handwashing guidelines as closely as possible, MRSA can still be transmitted among their newborn patients in the NICU.
  
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• Most modern horses are descendants of recently imported Oriental stallions

  29-06-2017 20:30
  
  Researchers who have analyzed the Y chromosomes of more than 50 horses representing 21 breeds have found that the paternal lines of nearly all modern horses trace to stallions brought to Europe from the Orient over the last 700 years. The findings reveal the overwhelming influence of breeding schemes driven by strong selection on males.
  
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• Genetic 'fossils' reveal long-term viral partnerships in grass

  29-06-2017 20:30
  
  Defective viruses incorporated into grass genomes may adapt to form partnerships with other genome-incorporated viruses in order to complete their life cycle, according to a new study. The findings suggest that partner viruses evolve in concert, enabling them to maintain their relationship over time.
  
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• Genetic evidence from the South Caucasus region shows surprising long-term stability

  29-06-2017 20:30
  The South Caucasus -- home to the countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan -- geographically links Europe and the Near East. The area has served for millennia as a major crossroads for human migration, with strong archaeological evidence for big cultural shifts over time. And yet, surprisingly, ancient mitochondrial DNA evidence finds no evidence of any upheaval over the last 8,000 years.
  
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• Cancer researchers overestimate reproducibility of preclinical studies

  29-06-2017 20:30
  Cancer scientists overestimate the extent to which high-profile preclinical studies can be successfully replicated, new research suggests.
  
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• Biomechanical acoustics study sheds light on running injuries

  29-06-2017 20:30
  Devoted runners suffer from a surprisingly high rate of injury. One reason for these injuries is that runners endure many shocks from the impact, and these cause vibrations that travel from the foot throughout the entire body. A researcher who focuses on acoustics and biomechanics, studied these repetitive shocks and investigated how runners adapt their running patterns.
  
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• Ancient South Carolina whale yields secrets to filter feeding's origins

  29-06-2017 20:30
  
  The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived. And yet they feed almost exclusively on tiny crustaceans known as krill. The secret is in the baleen, a complex filter-feeding system that allows the enormous whales to strain huge volumes of saltwater, leaving only krill and other small organisms behind. Now, researchers who have described an extinct relative of baleen whales offer new insight into how baleen first evolved.
  
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• Why there are so many species of tropical trees and other organisms

  29-06-2017 20:29
  
  Why does biodiversity grade from exuberance at the equator through moderation at mid-latitudes toward monotony at higher ones? Data from an international network of long-term forest dynamics research sites is finally providing an answer.
  
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• Industrial farming disrupts burn-regrowth cycle in grasslands

  29-06-2017 20:29
  The world's open grasslands and the beneficial fires that sustain them have shrunk rapidly over the past two decades, due to a massive increase in agriculture, according to a new study.
  
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• Exposure to neonic pesticides results in early death for honeybee workers and queens

  29-06-2017 20:29
  
  Worker and queen honeybees exposed to field realistic levels of neonicotinoids die sooner, reducing the health of the entire colony, biologists have found. The researchers were also surprised to find that the neonicotinoid contaminated pollen collected by the honeybees came not from crops grown from neonicotinoid treated seeds, but plants growing in areas adjacent to those crops. This is season-long, field realistic research with typical exposure.
  
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• Climate change damages US economy, increases inequality

  29-06-2017 20:29
  
  Unmitigated climate change will make the United States poorer and more unequal, according to a new study. The poorest third of counties could sustain economic damages costing as much as 20 percent of their income if warming proceeds unabated.
  
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• Cellulosic biofuels can benefit the environment if managed correctly

  29-06-2017 20:28
  
  Could cellulosic biofuels -- or liquid energy derived from grasses and wood -- become a green fuel of the future, providing an environmentally sustainable way of meeting energy needs? In a new article, researchers say yes, but with a few important caveats.
  
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• Common antimicrobials help patients recover from MRSA abscesses

  29-06-2017 20:27
  
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria are resistant to multiple antibiotics and commonly cause skin infections that can lead to serious or life-threatening infection in other parts of the body. New research found that two common, inexpensive antimicrobials can help heal MRSA skin abscesses. The findings suggest that current treatment options for MRSA still have a role, even as scientists continue to search for new antimicrobial products.
  
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• Mechanism behind precise spinal cord development found

  29-06-2017 20:26
  
  Scientists have uncovered how nerve cells in the spinal cord are organized in precise patterns during embryo development -- a finding that could give insight into regenerative medicine.
  
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• Enabling more stable and scalable quantum computing

  29-06-2017 20:26
  Researchers have discovered a new topological material which may enable fault-tolerant quantum computing.
  
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• Large-scale study 'shows neonic pesticides harm bees'

  29-06-2017 20:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The largest study to-date on neonicotinoid pesticides concludes they harm honeybees and wild bees.
  
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• Petunias spread their scent using pushy proteins

  29-06-2017 20:00
  
  Scent molecules hitch a ride on a particular protein to escape flowers.
  
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• Climate change could exacerbate economic inequalities in the U.S.

  29-06-2017 20:00
  
  Counties across the United States won’t all pay the same price for climate change, a new simulation predicts.
  
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• Bee lifespan shortened by exposure to neonicotinoids, study says

  29-06-2017 20:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Bees exposed to real-world levels of a group of pesticides known as neonicotinoids die sooner than those that are not exposed, researchers from Toronto's York University have found.
  
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• Food allergies linked to childhood anxiety

  29-06-2017 19:42
  
  Researchers studied the link between food allergy and childhood anxiety and depression among a sample of predominantly low socioeconomic status minority children and found that children with a food allergy had a significantly higher prevalence of childhood anxiety. Food allergies were not associated with symptoms of childhood depression or with symptoms of anxiety or depression among their caregivers.
  
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• Restoring auditory cortex plasticity in adult mice by restricting thalamic adenosine signaling

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Circuits in the auditory cortex are highly susceptible to acoustic influences during an early postnatal critical period. The auditory cortex selectively expands neural representations of enriched acoustic stimuli, a process important for human language acquisition. Adults lack this plasticity. Here we show in the murine auditory cortex that juvenile plasticity can be reestablished in adulthood if acoustic stimuli are paired with disruption of ecto-5'-nucleotidase–dependent adenosine produc
  
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• Plant diversity increases with the strength of negative density dependence at the global scale

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Theory predicts that higher biodiversity in the tropics is maintained by specialized interactions among plants and their natural enemies that result in conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD). By using more than 3000 species and nearly 2.4 million trees across 24 forest plots worldwide, we show that global patterns in tree species diversity reflect not only stronger CNDD at tropical versus temperate latitudes but also a latitudinal shift in the relationship between CNDD and species abunda
  
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• Liquefied gas electrolytes for electrochemical energy storage devices

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Electrochemical capacitors and lithium-ion batteries have seen little change in their electrolyte chemistry since their commercialization, which has limited improvements in device performance. Combining superior physical and chemical properties and a high dielectric-fluidity factor, the use of electrolytes based on solvent systems that exclusively use components that are typically gaseous under standard conditions show a wide potential window of stability and excellent performance over an extend
  
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• Iodide management in formamidinium-lead-halide-based perovskite layers for efficient solar cells

  29-06-2017 19:26
  The formation of a dense and uniform thin layer on the substrates is crucial for the fabrication of high-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs) containing formamidinium with multiple cations and mixed halide anions. The concentration of defect states, which reduce a cell’s performance by decreasing the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density, needs to be as low as possible. We show that the introduction of additional iodide ions into the organic cation solution, which are
  
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• Hypothalamic regulation of regionally distinct adult neural stem cells and neurogenesis

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Neural stem cells (NSCs) in specialized niches in the adult mammalian brain generate neurons throughout life. NSCs in the adult mouse ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) exhibit a regional identity and, depending on their location, generate distinct olfactory bulb interneuron subtypes. Here, we show that the hypothalamus, a brain area regulating physiological states, provides long-range regionalized input to the V-SVZ niche and can regulate specific NSC subpopulations. Hypothalamic proopiome
  
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• Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Estimates of climate change damage are central to the design of climate policies. Here, we develop a flexible architecture for computing damages that integrates climate science, econometric analyses, and process models. We use this approach to construct spatially explicit, probabilistic, and empirically derived estimates of economic damage in the United States from climate change. The combined value of market and nonmarket damage across analyzed sectors—agriculture, crime, coastal storms,
  
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• Emission of volatile organic compounds from petunia flowers is facilitated by an ABC transporter

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Plants synthesize a diversity of volatile molecules that are important for reproduction and defense, serve as practical products for humans, and influence atmospheric chemistry and climate. Despite progress in deciphering plant volatile biosynthesis, their release from the cell has been poorly understood. The default assumption has been that volatiles passively diffuse out of cells. By characterization of a Petunia hybrida adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette (ABC) transporter, PhABCG1,
  
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• Decoding of position in the developing neural tube from antiparallel morphogen gradients

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Like many developing tissues, the vertebrate neural tube is patterned by antiparallel morphogen gradients. To understand how these inputs are interpreted, we measured morphogen signaling and target gene expression in mouse embryos and chick ex vivo assays. From these data, we derived and validated a characteristic decoding map that relates morphogen input to the positional identity of neural progenitors. Analysis of the observed responses indicates that the underlying interpretation strategy min
  
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• Country-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on honey bees and wild bees

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Neonicotinoid seed dressings have caused concern world-wide. We use large field experiments to assess the effects of neonicotinoid-treated crops on three bee species across three countries (Hungary, Germany, and the United Kingdom). Winter-sown oilseed rape was grown commercially with either seed coatings containing neonicotinoids (clothianidin or thiamethoxam) or no seed treatment (control). For honey bees, we found both negative (Hungary and United Kingdom) and positive (Germany) effects durin
  
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• Click chemistry enables preclinical evaluation of targeted epigenetic therapies

  29-06-2017 19:26
  The success of new therapies hinges on our ability to understand their molecular and cellular mechanisms of action. We modified BET bromodomain inhibitors, an epigenetic-based therapy, to create functionally conserved compounds that are amenable to click chemistry and can be used as molecular probes in vitro and in vivo. We used click proteomics and click sequencing to explore the gene regulatory function of BRD4 (bromodomain containing protein 4) and the transcriptional changes induced by BET i
  
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• Chronic exposure to neonicotinoids reduces honey bee health near corn crops

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Experiments linking neonicotinoids and declining bee health have been criticized for not simulating realistic exposure. Here we quantified the duration and magnitude of neonicotinoid exposure in Canada’s corn-growing regions and used these data to design realistic experiments to investigate the effect of such insecticides on honey bees. Colonies near corn were naturally exposed to neonicotinoids for up to 4 months—the majority of the honey bee’s active season. Realistic experim
  
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• Cellulosic biofuel contributions to a sustainable energy future: Choices and outcomes

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Cellulosic crops are projected to provide a large fraction of transportation energy needs by mid-century. However, the anticipated land requirements are substantial, which creates a potential for environmental harm if trade-offs are not sufficiently well understood to create appropriately prescriptive policy. Recent empirical findings show that cellulosic bioenergy concerns related to climate mitigation, biodiversity, reactive nitrogen loss, and crop water use can be addressed with appropriate c
  
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• Carbon nanotube transistors scaled to a 40-nanometer footprint

  29-06-2017 19:26
  The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors challenges the device research community to reduce the transistor footprint containing all components to 40 nanometers within the next decade. We report on a p-channel transistor scaled to such an extremely small dimension. Built on one semiconducting carbon nanotube, it occupies less than half the space of leading silicon technologies, while delivering a significantly higher pitch-normalized current density—above 0.9 milliampere per
  
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• Atomic structure of the human cytomegalovirus capsid with its securing tegument layer of pp150

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Herpesviruses possess a genome-pressurized capsid. The 235-kilobase genome of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is by far the largest of any herpesvirus, yet it has been unclear how its capsid, which is similar in size to those of other herpesviruses, is stabilized. Here we report a HCMV atomic structure consisting of the herpesvirus-conserved capsid proteins MCP, Tri1, Tri2, and SCP and the HCMV-specific tegument protein pp150—totaling ~4000 molecules and 62 different conformers. MCPs manifest
  
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• Anti-coalescence of bosons on a lossy beam splitter

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Two-boson interference, a fundamentally quantum effect, has been extensively studied with photons through the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect and observed with guided plasmons. Using two freely propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) interfering on a lossy beam splitter, we show that the presence of loss enables us to modify the reflection and transmission factors of the beam splitter, thus revealing quantum interference paths that do not exist in a lossless configuration. We investigate the two-pla
  
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• A human-driven decline in global burned area

  29-06-2017 19:26
  Fire is an essential Earth system process that alters ecosystem and atmospheric composition. Here we assessed long-term fire trends using multiple satellite data sets. We found that global burned area declined by 24.3 ± 8.8% over the past 18 years. The estimated decrease in burned area remained robust after adjusting for precipitation variability and was largest in savannas. Agricultural expansion and intensification were primary drivers of declining fire activity. Fewer and smaller fires
  
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• More milkweeds located throughout the landscape can help conserve monarchs

  29-06-2017 19:20
  Adding milkweeds and other native flowering plants into midwestern agricultural lands is key to restoring monarch butterflies, with milkweed sowers from all sectors of society being critically needed for success.
  
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• Exciting new material uses solar energy to remove human-made dye pollutants from water

  29-06-2017 19:20
  
  A novel composite material shows promise as a catalyst for the degradation of environmentally-harmful synthetic dye pollutants, which are released at a rate of nearly 300,000 tons a year into the world's water.
  
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• Children with autism should be checked for DCD, study recommends

  29-06-2017 19:20
  Researchers are recommending in a new study that children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder should be checked for developmental coordination disorder since the two maladies are linked.
  
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• New system makes fast, customized antibiotic treatments possible

  29-06-2017 18:38
  Using nanotechnology, image processing tools and statistical analysis, researchers have developed a system that enables faster diagnostics, earlier and more effective treatment of infectious bacteria, and improved patient recovery times.
  
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• New antiviral drug inhibits epidemic SARS, MERS and animal coronaviruses

  29-06-2017 18:38
  A new antiviral drug candidate inhibits a broad range of coronaviruses, including the SARS and MERS coronaviruses, a multi-institutional team of investigators reports. The findings support further development of the drug candidate for treating and preventing current coronavirus infections and potential future epidemic outbreaks.
  
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