Science news

• Tiny microenvironments in the ocean hold clues to global nitrogen cycle

  20-04-2018 23:06
  A new study shows that nitrogen-feeding organisms exist all over the deep ocean, and not just in large oxygen-depleted 'dead zones,' changing the way we think about the delicate nitrogen cycle.
  
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• Fungus: The good, the bad and their fortuitous differences

  20-04-2018 23:06
  Genetic differences between two very similar fungi, one that led to Quorn™, the proprietary meat substitute, and another that ranks among the world's most damaging crop pathogens, have exposed the significant features that dictate the pair's very different lifestyles, features that promise targets for controlling disease.
  
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• Blood biomarkers may allow easier detection, confirmation of concussions

  20-04-2018 23:06
  Researchers have found that specific small molecules in blood plasma may be useful in determining whether someone has sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), commonly known as a concussion.
  
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• What's in a name? Researchers track PTSD's many identities during war

  20-04-2018 23:05
  Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with military activities for as long as wars have been fought -- but this disorder was only named in the 1980s. A new article documents a different kind of war -- a war of words -- that has been fought over the name of the disorder, and may have slowed clinical and scientific progress on the disorder.
  
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• Path to a new era of microelectronics

  20-04-2018 23:05
  A new microchip technology capable of optically transferring data could solve a severe bottleneck in current devices by speeding data transfer and reducing energy consumption by orders of magnitude, according to a new article.
  
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• Animal study connects fear behavior, rhythmic breathing, brain smell center

  20-04-2018 23:05
  There's increasing physiological evidence connecting breathing patterns with the brain regions that control mood and emotion. Now researchers have added neurons associated with the olfactory system to the connection between behavior and breathing. Connecting patterns in these interactions may help explain why practices such as meditation and yoga that rely on rhythmic breathing can help people overcome anxiety-based illnesses.
  
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• Cicadas on different schedules can hybridize

  20-04-2018 23:00
  
  A new genetic study suggests that cicadas that emerge every 17 years have swapped genetic material with those that emerge every 13 years.
  
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• Warm-water bottlenose dolphins, false killer whales documented off B.C.'s Vancouver Island

  20-04-2018 21:54 via cbc.ca
  The scientist behind the discovery of 200 bottlenose dolphins and 70 false killer whales says warmer waters and climate change likely led to their appearance.
  
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• In 200 Years Cows May Be the Biggest Land Mammals on the Planet

  20-04-2018 20:50 via rss.sciam.com
  Humans may be driving large mammals to extinction-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• Alberta university criticized for plan to bestow honorary degree on David Suzuki

  20-04-2018 20:00 via cbc.ca
  The University of Alberta is being criticized for its decision to give David Suzuki an honorary degree.
  
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• Rescued owl family moved to Niagara Region

  20-04-2018 19:56 via cbc.ca
  A family of great horned owls that was rescued after Monday's ice storm has been moved to The Owl Foundation in the Niagara Region, according to Safe Wings Ottawa.
  
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• Closing the gender gap in some science fields may take over 100 years

  20-04-2018 19:19
  
  In some STEM fields, the gender gap won’t disappear for decades or even centuries, a new study suggests.
  
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• Students learn Italian playing Assassin's Creed video game

  20-04-2018 19:14
  A professor has used video games to teach Italian, allowing his students to master two semesters worth of language acquisition through one intensive class for students new to the Italian language.
  
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• Grassland plants react unexpectedly to high levels of carbon dioxide

  20-04-2018 19:14
  Plants are responding in unexpected ways to increased carbon dioxide in the air, according to a 20-year study.
  
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• 'We need to rethink the entire plastics industry': Why banning plastic straws isn't enough

  20-04-2018 18:55 via cbc.ca
  Disposable plastic straws are about to be banned throughout Britain. Here’s what’s happening with straws in Canada and a closer look at what impact such bans could really have.
  
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• Trees are not as 'sound asleep' as you may think

  20-04-2018 18:28
  High-precision three-dimensional surveying of 21 different species of trees has revealed a yet unknown cycle of subtle canopy movement during the night. The 'sleep cycles' differed from one species to another. Detection of anomalies in overnight movement could become a future diagnostic tool to reveal stress or disease in crops.
  
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• Soil metals linked with cancer mortality

  20-04-2018 18:28
  Epidemiologists and geologists have found associations between esophageal cancer and soils where lead is abundant, lung cancer and terrains with increased copper content, brain tumor with areas rich in arsenic, and bladder cancer with high cadmium levels. These statistical links do not indicate that there is a cause-effect relationship between soil type and cancer, but they suggest that the influence of metals from the earth's surface on the geographical distribution of tumors should be analyzed
  
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• Research debunks 'myth' that strenuous exercise suppresses the immune system

  20-04-2018 18:28
  New research suggests that rather than dampen immunity, endurance sports can actually boost the body's ability to fight off illness.
  
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• New DNA screening reveals whose blood the vampire bat is drinking

  20-04-2018 18:28
  The vampire bat prefers to feed on domestic animals such as cows and pigs. When it does so, there is a risk of transmission of pathogens. Now, a new study describes a new DNA method to efficiently screen many vampire bat blood meal and fecal samples with a high success rate and thereby determine which animals the vampire bats have fed on blood from.
  
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• Medical chemists discover peptic ulcer treatment metallodrug effective in 'taming' superbugs

  20-04-2018 18:28
  A novel solution to antimicrobial resistance -- medical chemists discover peptic ulcer treatment metallodrug effective in 'taming' superbugs.
  
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• Lupus treatment generates positive results in Phase III clinical trial

  20-04-2018 18:28
  New research indicates that belimumab, a monoclonal antibody therapy that targets a component of the immune system, provides considerable benefits to patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a predominately female, chronic inflammatory disease that can affect virtually any organ.
  
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• Insecticide resistance in a major malaria vector

  20-04-2018 18:28
  Researchers have shown the rapid selection of a novel P450 enzyme leading to insecticide resistance in a major malaria vector.
  
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• Immune diversity among the KhoeSan population

  20-04-2018 18:28
  By analyzing genes of two distinct groups of the KhoeSan, investigators were able to find a level of diversity and divergence in immune cell repertoires much higher than identified in any other population.
  
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• Fat cells seem to remember unhealthy diet

  20-04-2018 18:28
  Fat cells can be damaged in a short amount of time when they are exposed to the fatty acid palmitate or the hormone TNF-alpha through a fatty diet, a new study shows. The researchers hope this new knowledge may be used to develop new preventive strategies for diabetes.
  
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• Biomarkers for irritable bowel syndrome

  20-04-2018 18:28
  Little is still known about the exact causes of irritable bowel syndrome. An international team has provided initial clues about the organic triggers of the disease, which affects an estimated one out of six people.
  
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• Heat waves are roasting reefs, but some corals may be resilient

  20-04-2018 17:07
  
  The latest research on coral reefs clarifies the devastation of heat waves and looks at how coral might be able to adapt to warming waters.
  
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• Molecular movement analysis with accurate software

  20-04-2018 15:03
  The software 'PyFRAP' is an accurate and reliable tool for the analysis of molecular movement, employing numerical simulations rather than simplified assumptions.
  
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• Scientists discover mechanism behind motor neurone disease

  20-04-2018 14:48 via bbc.co.uk
  An international team found that a protein causes brain cells to die when it is stuck in the jelly phase.
  
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• Star U of A researcher Carlo Montemagno supervised nephew as graduate student

  20-04-2018 14:00 via cbc.ca
  The nepotism afforded star American researcher Carlo Montemagno by the University of Alberta extended beyond the hiring of his daughter and son-in-law as a condition of his employment.
  
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• It's Full of Stars: New 3-D Milky Way Map Could Settle Debate over Who Discovered the First Exoplanet

  20-04-2018 13:30 via rss.sciam.com
  Better data from the Gaia spacecraft also promises to shed light on mysterious brown dwarfs-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• ExoMars: Getting ready to drive on the Red Planet

  20-04-2018 13:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Engineers finish assembly of the test model for Europe's ExoMars rover mission.
  
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• Celebrity names now mark places on Pluto’s moon Charon

  20-04-2018 13:00
  
  Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, now has 12 new names for its topological features.
  
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• Protect Churchill's belugas with national marine conservation area, report urges

  20-04-2018 12:58 via cbc.ca
  A new report calls on the Canadian government to protect the beluga whales that make Churchill home every summer by creating a national marine conservation area in western Hudson Bay.
  
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• National Trust needs to be 'radical'

  20-04-2018 11:27 via bbc.co.uk
  The new director-general of the National Trust says the charity needs to reach out to people in urban areas.
  
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• Health Canada should stop approving homeopathic remedies — period: Robyn Urback

  20-04-2018 10:00 via cbc.ca
  Whenever a controversy about homeopathy pops up, Health Canada is stuck: either it affirms the alleged effectiveness of these products despite the total lack of scientific evidence, or it concedes that it has been green-lighting silly water as a health product in its role as a government regulator.
  
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• Stella McCartney: Fashion is swamping our planet

  20-04-2018 07:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Designer Stella McCartney says fashion is a medieval industry, which produces a huge amount of waste.
  
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• Wood formation model to fuel progress in bioenergy, paper, new applications

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (North Carolina State University) Need stronger timber, better biofuels or new sources of green chemicals? A systems biology model developed over decades of research led by NC State University will accelerate progress in engineering trees for specific needs.
  
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• When there's an audience, people's performance improves

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Johns Hopkins University) Often people think performing in front of others will make them mess up, but a new study found the opposite: being watched makes people do better.
  
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• What's in a name? Yale researchers track PTSD's many identities during war

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (SAGE) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with military activities for as long as wars have been fought -- but this disorder was only named in the 1980s. A new Yale paper published April 16, 2018 in Chronic Stress documents a different kind of war -- a war of words -- that has been fought over the name of the disorder, and may have slowed clinical and scientific progress on the disorder.
  
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• Wayne State professor earns NSF CAREER award to improve wireless wearable biosensors

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research) A professor from Wayne State University's College of Engineering, recently received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, the organization's most prestigious accolade for up-and-coming researchers in science and engineering.The five-year, $500,000 project is, "Integrated Research and Education on Self-Activated, Transparent Harmonics-Based Wireless Sensing Systems Using Graphene Bioelect
  
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• UEA scientists part of international effort to revolutionize fishing industry

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (University of East Anglia) From AI and machine learning to CCTV and big data -- computer scientists at the University of East Anglia are part of an international effort to make the fishing industry more sustainable.They are part of a new £5 million EU-funded project to revolutionize the fishing industry, which employs over 24,000 people in the UK and contributes around £1.4 billion to our economy.
  
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• Treatment of cancer could become possible with adenovirus

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Umea University) An international team of researchers led by professor Niklas Arnberg at Umeå University, shows that adenovirus binds to a specific type of carbohydrate that is overexpressed on certain types of cancer cells. The discovery opens up new opportunities for the development of virus-based cancer therapy. The study is published in the latest issue of the scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA", PNAS PNAS April 19, 2018. 201716900
  
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• Studying Midwest soil erosion from space

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) Geologist and geochemist Isaac Larsen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is used to tramping around in the dirt to conduct his soil research, but satellite photos of the Iowa farmhouse where he grew up have added a new dimension to the work, and he now has a grant from NASA to study soils in a whole new way, from space.
  
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• Structured light and nanomaterials open new ways to tailor light at the nanoscale

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Academy of Finland) Joint research between Tampere University of Technology, (Finland) and University of Tübingen (Germany) has shown that carefully structured light and matching arrangements of metal nanostructures can be combined to alter the properties of the generated light at the nanometer scale. The teams have shown that the efficiency of nonlinear optical fields generated from the oligomers is strongly influenced by how the constituents of the oligomer constituents are illuminated b
  
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• Smarter fiber data transmission doubles capacity to the home

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Eindhoven University of Technology) Researchers of Eindhoven University of Technology and fiber broadband equipment supplier Genexis have developed data transmission techniques that can double or even triple the data transmission capacity of existing fiber to the home connections. Enjoying this increase requires you to upgrade your modem. But even if only your neighbors do, you can get a higher data capacity as well.
  
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• San Diego leaders, researchers announce milestone grant as Alzheimer's crisis widens

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Sanford-Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute) A coalition of brain scientists and civic leaders, including Mayor Kevin Faulconer and county supervisors Dianne Jacob and Kristin Gaspar, announced that the federal government has awarded a $1.3 million grant to Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute to advance the local search for a cure for Alzheimer's.
  
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• Researchers illuminate the path to a new era of microelectronics

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Boston University College of Engineering) A new microchip technology capable of optically transferring data could solve a severe bottleneck in current devices by speeding data transfer and reducing energy consumption by orders of magnitude, according to an article published in the April 19, 2018 issue of Nature.
  
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• Researchers awarded £908K to develop self-powered internet of things devices

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Swansea University) Scientists and engineers at Swansea University have been awarded a research grant by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) that will see them explore highly novel forms of physical photovoltaic (PV) tiles that can be placed on buildings, objects and even clothes.
  
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• Researchers awarded £908,000 to develop self-powered Internet of Things devices

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Swansea University) Scientists and engineers at Swansea University have been awarded a research grant by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) that will see them explore highly novel forms of physical photovoltaic (PV) tiles that can be placed on buildings, objects and even clothes.
  
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• New theory shows how strain makes for better catalysts

  20-04-2018 06:00
  (Brown University) A new theory of how compression and tension can affect the reactivity of metal catalysts could be helpful in designing new and better catalysts.
  
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