Culture
Humans have a longstanding relationship with the sea that spans nearly 200,000 years. Researchers have long hypothesized that places like coastlines helped people mediate global shifts between glacial and interglacial conditions and the impact that these changes had on local environments and resources needed for their survival. Coastlines were so important to early humans that they may have even provided key routes for the dispersal of people out of Africa and across the world.
VIRTUAL MEETING (CST), November 22, 2020 -- Swelling is one of the most dangerous and immediate consequences of a brain injury or stroke. Doctors have long known about the dangers of swelling, which has traditionally been blamed on ruptured blood vessels. New research suggests the brain's other plumbing system, the one that circulates cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), may play an underappreciated role in both good health and response to injury.
In a recent article in The Quarterly Review of Biology, "Beyond Equilibria: The Neglected Role of History in Ecology and Evolution," author Hamish G. Spencer argues for a revitalized view of history. This historical view is a response to current research in the field of ecology and evolution, which is dominated by an ahistorical view of dynamic systems. In this ahistorical view, mathematical models are extensively used to describe and analyze systems at an equilibrium.
Bulbs of the plant known as Lu Bei (Fritallaria delavayi) have been used in Chinese medicine for more than two thousand years. Now, researchers reporting November 20 in the journal Current Biology have found that, in places where the herb is harvested more, the plant has evolved to blend in better with the background, making them harder for people to find. As a result, the plant varies in color from brown or grey to green, depending on whether it lives in a place that is frequented by human collectors or not.
A new study adds another layer to the remarkable evolutionary transition of life from water to land on Earth.
The international study of the prehistoric 'relic' tetrapods, including salamander and lobe-finned lungfish and coelacanths, adds another perspective to the evolution of other four-legged land animals, including related animals such as frogs and reptiles which live in both terrestrial and aqueous environments.
Machine learning could teach us how to make the manufacturing of materials cleaner and more sustainable by taking a holistic view to identify the greenest production method, suggest KAUST researchers.
A new technique to make cheaper more efficient biological enzyme hybrids could have valuable applications in future water recycling, targeted drug manufacturing and other industries, Flinders University green chemistry researchers say in a new publication.
The model enzyme system, which immobilises a catalyst enzyme hybrid for continuous flow use in the high-speed vortex fluidic device, showed a 16-fold increase in its efficiency, the researchers say in American Chemical Society journal, ASC Applied Materials & Interfaces.
OAK BROOK, Ill. - In response to the critical shortage of nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Radiology at University of South Florida (USF) Health in Tampa set out to design, validate and create NP swabs using a point-of-care 3D printer. Results of the first clinical trial of 3D-printed NP swabs for COVID-19 testing are being presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Since methods for genetic paternity analyses were introduced it became clear that many pair-living animal species, including humans, do not take partnership fidelity that seriously. In most species there is some proportion of offspring that is not sired by their social father. Coppery titi monkeys living in the Amazon lowland rainforest seem to be an exception. Scientists from the German Primate Center (DPZ) - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen could not find evidence for extra-pair paternity in their study population in Peru.
Japanese scientists have stumbled onto a simple method for controlling the introduction of defects, called 'vacancy layers', into perovskite oxynitrides, leading to changes in their physical properties. The approach, published in the journal Nature Communications, could help in the development of photocatalysts.
Scientists have discovered how drug-like small molecules can regulate the activity of therapeutically relevant ion channels - and their findings could transform ongoing drug development efforts.
A major mechanism by which cells communicate with their environment is the movement of metal ions through channels located within their cell membranes.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a new sensor to measure weak magnetic signals in the brain, which has the potential to increase understanding of connectivity in the brain, and detect signs of traumatic brain injury, dementia and schizophrenia.
Magnetic signals in the brain are measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). They are easier to localise than the electrical signals measured by EEG, so they are likely to have greater utility for earlier and more accurate diagnostic techniques.
As the global coronavirus pandemic continues, scientists are not only trying to find vaccines and drugs to combat it, but also to continuously learn more about the virus itself. "By now we can expect the coronavirus to become seasonal," explains Ralf Bartenschlager, professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, at Heidelberg University.
Differential geometry is the study of space geometry. Multiple natural phenomena, from the universe expansion to thermal expansion and contraction, can come down to spatial evolution. The two core conjectures in this field, Hamilton-Tian conjecture and the Partial C0-conjecture, had remained as puzzles for more than 20 years.
The organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (OIHPs) have a multiple application on solar cells, lighting-emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photodetectors. Among the parameters valuing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of devices based on perovskite materials, the mobility of carriers undoubtedly captures a high weight.