Culture
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It's good to have friends and family to back you up when you need it - but it's even better if your supporters are close with each other too, a new set of studies suggests.
Researchers found that people perceived they had more support from a group of friends or family who all knew and liked each other than from an identical number of close relationships who were not linked.
Large majorities of American news audiences care about climate change and want more information from the media on the topic, according to a new report from the University of Cincinnati, in partnership with Yale University and George Mason University.
Though some believe prehistoric humans lived in harmony with nature, a new analysis of fossils shows human arrival in the Bahamas caused some birds to be lost from the islands and other species to be completely wiped out.
The researchers examined more than 7,600 fossils over a decade and concluded that human arrival in the Bahamas about 1,000 years ago was the main factor in the birds' extinction and displacement in recent millennia, although habitat fluctuations caused by increased storm severity and sea level rise could have played a role.
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) identify a gene associated with symptoms of two severe genetic conditions
A new research report reveals that 94 individuals with rare inherited immune disorders, otherwise known as primary immunodeficiency (PID), who were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus had similar disease outcomes to the general population. However, admission rates to intensive care tended to be higher in PID patients and the average age of affected patients was lower than in the general population.
Astronomers from The University of Western Australia's node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have developed a new way to study star formation in galaxies from the dawn of time to today.
"Stars can be thought of as enormous nuclear-powered processing plants," said lead researcher Dr Sabine Bellstedt, from ICRAR.
"They take lighter elements like hydrogen and helium, and, over billions of years, produce the heavier elements of the periodic table that we find scattered throughout the Universe today.
Magnetic fields are used in various areas of modern physics and engineering, with practical applications ranging from doorbells to maglev trains. Since Nikola Tesla's discoveries in the 19th century, researchers have strived to realize strong magnetic fields in laboratories for fundamental studies and diverse applications, but the magnetic strength of familiar examples are relatively weak. Geomagnetism is 0.3-0.5 gauss (G) and magnetic tomography (MRI) used in hospitals is about 1 tesla (T = 104 G).
Smartphones and wearable devices are not simple accessories for athletes. A CNRS researcher* has developed a simple mathematical model for studying the performance of endurance athletes. A recent collaboration with a scientist from the Polar Electro Oy company (Finland) made it possible to apply the model to data gathered from approximately 14,000 runners training in real conditions. According to their study, the mathematical model can estimate key physiological parameters such as maximal aerobic speed and endurance, which are known to be linked to health conditions and performance.
An international study led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and the Department of Prehistory at the UAB has reconstructed the diets of pre-Columbian groups on the Amazon coast of Brazil, showing that tropical agroforestry was regionally variable.
A scientist from RUDN University analysed the effect of visual impairment on a person's perception of unfamiliar sounds when learning a foreign language. The experiment showed that lack of access to visual cues makes learning difficult.Results of workpublished in the journal Medical Hypotheses.
Alkylation reactions are used in the petrochemical industry to obtain high-octane number components for gasolines. A chemist from RUDN University found a way to speed this process up to 24 times. To do so, he developed a catalyst based on silica and niobium. The results of his work were published in the Molecular Catalysis journal.
Man-made global heating has long been presented as a relatively simple chain of cause and effect: humans disrupt the carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels, thereby increase the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to higher temperatures around the globe. "However, it becomes increasingly clear that this is not the end of the story. Forest fires become more frequent all over the world, release additional CO2 into the atmosphere, and further reinforce the global warming that enhanced forest fire risk in the first place.
Immune cells that can recognise residual HIV-infected cells in people living with HIV (PLWH) who take antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain active for years, says a new study published today in eLife.
The findings also suggest the majority of these immune cells, called CD8+ T cells, should have the capacity to detect the HIV-infected cells that drive HIV-1 rebound following interruptions to treatment. This insight could contribute to the development of new curative strategies against HIV infection.
Only about one in every 170 children take them. But "orphan drugs" accounted for 1 in every 15 private insurance dollars spent on children's health care in the United States in 2018, according to a new study. That's up 65% from just five years before.
Even though insurance companies pay much of the cost of high-priced orphan drugs that treat rare childhood diseases, families' share of the cost has risen rapidly.
In fact, the study shows that out-of-pocket costs for these families were higher than those faced by adults who also take orphan drugs.
In some patients who died with severe COVID-19 and respiratory failure, a jelly was formed in the lungs. Researchers have now established what the active agent in the jelly is and thanks to that, this new discovery can now be the key to new effective therapies. This according to a new study at Umeå University, Sweden.
"There are already therapies that either slow down the body's production of this jelly or breaks down the jelly through an enzyme. Our findings can also explain why cortisone seems to have an effect on COVID-19," says Urban Hellman, researcher at Umeå University.