Science news

• Edible bandages for bears' burnt paws

  25-01-2018 23:46 via bbc.co.uk
  After two bears are injured in California wildfires, a creative solution to get them back on their feet.
  
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• Plastic pollution increases risk of devastating disease in corals

  25-01-2018 23:00
  
  Researchers estimate about 11 billion pieces of plastic are polluting Asia-Pacific corals, raising the risk of disease at scores of reefs.
  
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• Scientists find 10 new defense systems used by bacteria

  25-01-2018 22:16
  
  Scientists identify 10 groups of genes that appear to govern defense systems used by bacteria against virus attacks.
  
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• Parental provision of alcohol to teenagers does not reduce risks, compared to no supply, Australian study finds

  25-01-2018 22:12
  There is no evidence to support the practice of parents providing alcohol to their teenagers to protect them from alcohol-related risks during early adolescence, according to a prospective cohort study in Australia.
  
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• World’s smallest sensor measures growth force of plants, animals and humans

  25-01-2018 21:55
  How do you visualize the extremely small forces connected to processes in our body, such as embryonic growth and development? Researchers experimented with a combination of laser technology and chemical knowledge, coming up with a sensor consisting of one single molecule that is a few hundred times more accurate than existing devices used to measure nano-forces on the molecular level. The force measured in one molecule can be compared with the force of one grain of sand pressing down on a person
  
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• The genome of vascular plants bears witness to the evolution of viruses of the family Caulimoviridae

  25-01-2018 21:55
  Endogenous viral elements are viral sequences integrated into the nuclear genome of their host. They are veritable molecular fossils that prove infections that may have happened millions of years ago, and studying them can serve to understand how viruses evolve over time.
  
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• Oldest modern human fossil outside Africa found in Israeli cave

  25-01-2018 21:31 via cbc.ca
  A fossil found in Israel indicates modern humans may have left Africa as much as 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.
  
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• Tiny particles have outsize impact on storm clouds, precipitation

  25-01-2018 20:09
  Tiny particles fuel powerful storms and influence weather much more than has been appreciated, according to a new study. While scientists have known that aerosols may play an important role in shaping weather and climate, the new study shows that the smallest of particles have an outsize effect. The tiny pollutants -- long considered too small to have much impact on droplet formation -- are, in effect, diminutive downpour-makers.
  
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• Think of honeybees as 'livestock,' not wildlife, argue experts

  25-01-2018 20:09
  Contrary to public perception, die-offs in honeybee colonies are an agricultural not a conservation issue, argue researchers, who say that manged honeybees may contribute to the genuine biodiversity crisis of Europe's declining wild pollinators.
  
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• Surprising discovery links sour taste to the inner ear's ability to sense balance

  25-01-2018 20:09
  Scientists have discovered an entirely new class of ion channels. These channels let protons (H+ ions) into cells, are important in the inner ear for balance, and are present in the taste cells that respond to sour flavors.
  
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• Investors lose, insiders win when IPOs involve analysts, study shows

  25-01-2018 20:09
  When equity analysts are more involved in a firm's initial public offering, investors who purchase stock based on these analysts' reports lose more than 3 percent of their investment, according to a new study.
  
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• Humans take up too much space -- and it's affecting how mammals move

  25-01-2018 20:09
  Human beings take up a lot of real estate -- around 50-70 percent of the Earth's land surface. And our increasing footprint affects how mammals of all sizes, from all over the planet, move.
  
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• Genetic link between thinner corneas and increased risk of glaucoma

  25-01-2018 20:09
  Genetic studies in mice point to a protein called POU6F2, which can modulate corneal thickness, as a possible risk factor for glaucoma in humans, researchers report.
  
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• Do our mitochondria run at 50 degrees C?

  25-01-2018 20:09
  A new study presents surprising evidence that mitochondria can run more than 10 degrees C hotter than the body's bulk temperature, and indeed are optimized to do so.
  
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• Spintronics and nanophotonics combined in 2-D material

  25-01-2018 20:08
  Researchers have found a way to convert the spin information into a predictable light signal at room temperature. The discovery brings the worlds of spintronics and nanophotonics closer together and might lead to the development of an energy-efficient way of processing data, in data centers, for example.
  
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• A 'marine motorhome for microbes': Oceanic plastic trash conveys disease to coral reefs

  25-01-2018 20:08
  For coral reefs, the threat of climate change and bleaching are bad enough. An international research group has now found that plastic trash -- ubiquitous throughout the world's oceans -- intensifies disease for coral, adding to reef peril.
  
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• Modern humans left Africa much earlier

  25-01-2018 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers identify the remains of the earliest known modern humans to have left Africa.
  
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• Oldest human remains outside Africa found in Israeli cave

  25-01-2018 20:04
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A partial jawbone bearing seven teeth unearthed in a cave in Israel represents what scientists are calling the oldest-known Homo sapiens remains outside Africa, showing that our species trekked out of that continent far earlier than previously known.
  
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• Overlooked air pollution may be fueling more powerful storms

  25-01-2018 20:00
  
  The tiniest particles in air pollution aren’t just a health threat. They also strengthen thunderstorms, new research suggests.
  
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• An ancient jaw pushes humans’ African departure back in time

  25-01-2018 20:00
  
  If an ancient jaw found in an Israeli cave belongs to Homo sapiens, the humans left Africa tens of thousands of years earlier than we thought.
  
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• Scientists discover stem cells that build a fly's nervous system

  25-01-2018 19:56
  Scientists have uncovered new insights into how stem cells transform into brain cells that control leg movements. The surprising details of this process, observed in the brains of fruit flies, could shed light on how the human brain develops -- and what happens when problems arise. By providing key insight into how stem cells develop and mature, this research should help scientists in their quest to use stem cells to heal.
  
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• Developing a roadside test for marijuana intoxication isn't as easy as it sounds

  25-01-2018 19:56
  As marijuana legalization gains momentum in the United States, researchers worry about keeping the public safe, particularly on the roads. Recent studies have identified new biomarkers that can be used to estimate a person's recent cannabinoid intake. But, using those markers to judge cognitive and behavioral impairment is complex, say toxicologists.
  
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• Ancient Eurasian DNA sequencing is revealing links with modern humans

  25-01-2018 19:56
  Until recently, very little was known about the genetic relationship between modern humans of the Upper Paleolithic age (the period of time between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, also called the Late Stone age) and today's populations. But with direct DNA sequencing, researchers are discovering unexpected genetic connections between individuals on opposing sides of Eurasia. These suggest a complex history that may represent an early population structure that eventually led to Europeans and Asians.
  
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• The bacterial 'Game of Thrones'

  25-01-2018 19:55
  Much like animals and to a degree humans, bacteria enjoy a good fight. While their aggressive characteristics are broadly known, their approach to conflict is less understood. Now, researchers have shed light on this area of bacterial behavior, revealing that they approach conflict in much the same way as a human platoon, responding to a threat with a coordinated, collective retaliation.
  
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• Swaths of Asia inhabited by surprisingly related 'Lizards of the Lost Arcs'

  25-01-2018 19:55
  A varied collection of lizards throughout Asia are unexpectedly close cousins of beach-dwelling mourning geckos, all descended from a common ancestor species that thrived along an ancient archipelago in the West Pacific that served as a 'superhighway' of biodiversity.
  
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• Study could explain link between high-cholesterol diet and colon cancer

  25-01-2018 19:55
  Scientists discovered that boosting mice's cholesterol levels spurred intestinal stem cells to divide more quickly, enabling tumors to form 100 times faster. The study identifies a molecular pathway that could serve as a new drug target for colon cancer treatment.
  
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• Repurposed drug found to be effective against Zika virus

  25-01-2018 19:55
  In both cell cultures and mouse models, a drug used to treat Hepatitis C effectively protected and rescued neural cells infected by the Zika virus -- and blocked transmission of the virus to mouse fetuses. Researchers say their findings support further investigation of using the repurposed drug as a potential treatment for Zika-infected adults, including pregnant women.
  
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• Mosquitoes remember human smells, but also swats

  25-01-2018 19:55
  A new study shows that mosquitoes can rapidly learn and remember the smells of hosts and that dopamine is a key mediator of this process. The study proved a mosquito's preference can shift if that person's smell is associated with an unpleasant sensation.
  
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• Learning to make healthy choices can counter the effects of large portions

  25-01-2018 19:55
  Researchers have found that after going through a training program designed to help people control portion sizes, participants still ate larger portions but chose healthier foods, lowering their calorie intake.
  
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• 'Forgotten' antibiotic offers hope against worst superbugs

  25-01-2018 19:55
  An antibiotic overlooked since its discovery 40 years ago could help develop new drugs against life-threatening infections caused by some of the world's most dangerous superbugs.
  
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• Ecologist unearths the foothill yellow-legged frog's past in order to inform its future

  25-01-2018 19:55
  Once abundant in Southern California, the foothill yellow-legged frog inexplicably vanished from the region sometime between the late 1960s and early 1970s. The reasons behind its rapid extirpation have been an ecological mystery.
  
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• The nature of nurture: Effects of parental genotypes

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Sequence variants in the parental genomes that are not transmitted to a child (the proband) are often ignored in genetic studies. Here we show that nontransmitted alleles can affect a child through their impacts on the parents and other relatives, a phenomenon we call "genetic nurture." Using results from a meta-analysis of educational attainment, we find that the polygenic score computed for the nontransmitted alleles of 21,637 probands with at least one parent genotyped has an estimated effect
  
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• The ER membrane protein complex is a transmembrane domain insertase

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Insertion of proteins into membranes is an essential cellular process. The extensive biophysical and topological diversity of membrane proteins necessitates multiple insertion pathways that remain incompletely defined. Here we found that known membrane insertion pathways fail to effectively engage tail-anchored membrane proteins with moderately hydrophobic transmembrane domains. These proteins are instead shielded in the cytosol by calmodulin. Dynamic release from calmodulin allowed sampling of
  
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• The earliest modern humans outside Africa

  25-01-2018 19:39
  To date, the earliest modern human fossils found outside of Africa are dated to around 90,000 to 120,000 years ago at the Levantine sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. A maxilla and associated dentition recently discovered at Misliya Cave, Israel, was dated to 177,000 to 194,000 years ago, suggesting that members of the Homo sapiens clade left Africa earlier than previously thought. This finding changes our view on modern human dispersal and is consistent with recent genetic studies, which have posited t
  
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• Synthesis of partially and fully fused polyaromatics by annulative chlorophenylene dimerization

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Since the discovery by Ullmann and Bielecki in 1901, reductive dimerization (or homocoupling) of aryl halides has been extensively exploited for the generation of a range of biaryl-based functional molecules. In contrast to the single-point connection in these products, edge-sharing fused aromatic systems have not generally been accessible from simple aryl halides via annulation cascades. Here we report a single-step synthesis of fused aromatics with a triphenylene core by the palladium-catalyze
  
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• Superhuman AI for heads-up no-limit poker: Libratus beats top professionals

  25-01-2018 19:39
  No-limit Texas hold’em is the most popular form of poker. Despite artificial intelligence (AI) successes in perfect-information games, the private information and massive game tree have made no-limit poker difficult to tackle. We present Libratus, an AI that, in a 120,000-hand competition, defeated four top human specialist professionals in heads-up no-limit Texas hold’em, the leading benchmark and long-standing challenge problem in imperfect-information game solving. Our game-theore
  
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• Spermidine in health and disease

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Interventions that delay aging and protect from age-associated disease are slowly approaching clinical implementation. Such interventions include caloric restriction mimetics, which are defined as agents that mimic the beneficial effects of dietary restriction while limiting its detrimental effects. One such agent, the natural polyamine spermidine, has prominent cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects and stimulates anticancer immunosurveillance in rodent models. Moreover, dietary polyamine
  
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• Response to Comment on "Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection"

  25-01-2018 19:39
  The comment by Myers-Smith and Myers focuses on three main points: (i) the lack of a mechanistic explanation for climate-selection relationships, (ii) the appropriateness of the climate data used in our analysis, and (iii) our focus on estimating climate-selection relationships across (rather than within) taxonomic groups. We address these critiques in our response.
  
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• Resonantly driven CNOT gate for electron spins

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Single-qubit rotations and two-qubit CNOT operations are crucial ingredients for universal quantum computing. Although high-fidelity single-qubit operations have been achieved using the electron spin degree of freedom, realizing a robust CNOT gate has been challenging because of rapid nuclear spin dephasing and charge noise. We demonstrate an efficient resonantly driven CNOT gate for electron spins in silicon. Our platform achieves single-qubit rotations with fidelities greater than 99%, as veri
  
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• Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Plastic waste can promote microbial colonization by pathogens implicated in outbreaks of disease in the ocean. We assessed the influence of plastic waste on disease risk in 124,000 reef-building corals from 159 reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. The likelihood of disease increases from 4% to 89% when corals are in contact with plastic. Structurally complex corals are eight times more likely to be affected by plastic, suggesting that microhabitats for reef-associated organisms and valuable fisheri
  
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• Nanoscale chiral valley-photon interface through optical spin-orbit coupling

  25-01-2018 19:39
  The emergence of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide materials has sparked intense activity in valleytronics, as their valley information can be encoded and detected with the spin angular momentum of light. We demonstrate the valley-dependent directional coupling of light using a plasmonic nanowire–tungsten disulfide (WS2) layers system. We show that the valley pseudospin in WS2 couples to transverse optical spin of the same handedness with a directional coupling efficiency of
  
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• Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral change
  
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• Mechanistic origin and prediction of enhanced ductility in magnesium alloys

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Pure magnesium exhibits poor ductility owing to pyramidal <c+a> dislocation transformations to immobile structures, making this lowest-density structural metal unusable for many applications where it could enhance energy efficiency. We show why magnesium can be made ductile by specific dilute solute additions, which increase the <c+a> cross-slip and multiplication rates to levels much faster than the deleterious <c+a> transformation, enabling both favorable texture during proce
  
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• Learning and attention reveal a general relationship between population activity and behavior

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Prior studies have demonstrated that correlated variability changes with cognitive processes that improve perceptual performance. We tested whether correlated variability covaries with subjects’ performance—whether performance improves quickly with attention or slowly with perceptual learning. We found a single, consistent relationship between correlated variability and behavioral performance, regardless of the time frame of correlated variability change. This correlated variability
  
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• High-temperature pairing in a strongly interacting two-dimensional Fermi gas

  25-01-2018 19:39
  The nature of the normal phase of strongly correlated fermionic systems is an outstanding question in quantum many-body physics. We used spatially resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy to measure pairing energy of fermions across a wide range of temperatures and interaction strengths in a two-dimensional gas of ultracold fermionic atoms. We observed many-body pairing at temperatures far above the critical temperature for superfluidity. In the strongly interacting regime, the pairing energy in th
  
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• Comment on "Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection"

  25-01-2018 19:39
  Siepielski et al. (Reports, 3 March 2017, p. 959) claim that "precipitation drives global variation in natural selection." This conclusion is based on a meta-analysis of the relationship between climate variables and natural selection measured in wild populations of invertebrates, plants, and vertebrates. Three aspects of this analysis cause concern: (i) lack of within-year climate variables, (ii) low and variable estimates of covariance relationships across taxa, and (iii) a lack of mechanistic
  
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• A platform for automated nanomole-scale reaction screening and micromole-scale synthesis in flow

  25-01-2018 19:39
  The scarcity of complex intermediates in pharmaceutical research motivates the pursuit of reaction optimization protocols on submilligram scales. We report here the development of an automated flow-based synthesis platform, designed from commercially available components, that integrates both rapid nanomole-scale reaction screening and micromole-scale synthesis into a single modular unit. This system was validated by exploring a diverse range of reaction variables in a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling on
  
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• Boris Johnson 'is descendant' of mummified Basel woman

  25-01-2018 18:53 via bbc.co.uk
  A Swiss woman who died in 1787 after contracting syphilis is identified as an ancestor of the politician.
  
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• Alberta computer scientist claims clues to deciphering mysterious Voynich manuscript

  25-01-2018 18:44 via cbc.ca
  "She made recommendations to the priest ..."
  
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• Boris Johnson: Mummy is distant ancestor

  25-01-2018 18:32 via bbc.co.uk
  Researchers have taken two years to identify a lady who lived 230 years ago.
  
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