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A new study finds that Earth's water may have come from materials that were present in the inner solar system at the time the planet formed -- instead of far-reaching comets or asteroids delivering such water. The findings published Aug. 28 in Science suggest that Earth may have always been wet.
Large numbers of three-spined stickleback have gradually taken over larger parts of the Baltic Sea's coastal ecosystem, shows a new scientific study. Stickleback is a small prey fish common in aquatic food webs across temperate Europe. The stickleback contributes to local ecosystem 'regime shifts', where young-of-the-year pike and perch decline in individual bays, and these shifts gradually spread like a wave from the outer archipelago into the mainland coast.
Newton's law of universal gravitation, which describes the attractive force between two masses separated by the distance, is one of the greatest achievements in the 17th century. The strength of this force is defined by the constant of proportionality G, which is called the gravitational constant, independent of the size, shape, and composition of the objects. G is one of the earliest fundamental constants introduced by human beings, and extensively used in the fields of cosmology and astrophysics, and also plays an important role in many other fields of physics.
This year's third issue of the Financial Journal opens with an article by Marina Malkina, Professor at the Department of Economic Theory and Methodology of the UNN Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship, and Igor Moiseev, research assistant at the Center for Macroeconomics and Microeconomics of the same Institute. Their article entitled "Endogeneity of Money Supply in the Russian Economy in the Context of the Monetary Regime Change" is published in the "Monetary policy" section.
A group of scientists from Skoltech and Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops in Krasnodar performed genetic analysis of the Russian rapeseed collection. The scientists described the genetic diversity of Russian rapeseed lines and discovered new candidate genes that are potentially involved in controlling the content of glucosinolates, toxic secondary metabolites in rapeseed oil. Their findings can be used by crop breeders to improve the rapeseed oil composition. The research was published in the Genes journal.
In back-to-back reports published Aug. 27, 2020, in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from Cincinnati Children's and Japan report discoveries that will be vital to a new wave of more-complex organoid development.
Their findings advance efforts to use human stem cells to grow organs from the fetal foregut including the trachea, esophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, bile ducts and pancreas.
Chemical lesions in the genetic material DNA can have catastrophic consequences for cells, and even for the organism concerned. This explains why the efficient identification and rapid repair of DNA damage is vital for survival. DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs), which are formed when proteins are adventitiously attached to DNA, are particularly harmful. DPCs are removed by the action of a dedicated enzyme - the protease SPRTN - which cleaves the bond between the protein and the DNA.
An artificial pancreas originally developed at the University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology safely and effectively manages blood sugar levels in children ages 6 to 13 with type 1 diabetes, a national clinical trial has found. Data from this and other studies has prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the device for use by children ages 6 and older.
Army scientists have developed the first lethal mouse model of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, using mice that were genetically engineered to express the human ACE2 gene--a key mechanism by which the virus enters human cells. In addition to shedding light on the pathogenesis of COVID-19, this work directly contributes to the advancement of medical countermeasures against the virus.
URBANA, Ill. - Representing some of the most troublesome agricultural weeds, waterhemp, smooth pigweed, and Palmer amaranth impact crop production systems across the U.S. and elsewhere with ripple effects felt by economies worldwide. In a landmark study, scientists have published the most comprehensive genome information to date for all three species, marking a new era of scientific discovery toward potential solutions.
Scoliosis is the most common spinal deformity affecting pediatric patients. A posterior spinal fusion (PSF) is the gold standard treatment for patients with curves exceeding 45 degrees, but the procedure's drawbacks include the loss of spinal mobility, persistent pain and adjacent segment disc disease. However, a new retrospective study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU Health Care shows an alternative to PSF called vertebral body tethering (VBT) yields promising results with fewer long-term consequences for a specific group of scoliosis patients.
AMHERST, Mass. - In results released this week, an international team of wildlife ecologists reports that the trend toward more reliance on private game farms and reserves to manage and conserve free-ranging carnivores in South Africa is more complicated than it appears - "a mosaic" of unequal protection across different land management types.
Among the many winter survival strategies in the animal world, hibernation is one of the most common. With limited food and energy sources during winters - especially in areas close to or within polar regions - many animals hibernate to survive the cold, dark winters. Though much is known behaviorally on animal hibernation, it is difficult to study in fossils.
Organs in animals and in humans have one thing in common: they are bounded by so-called epithelial cells. These, along with the muscle, connective and nervous tissues, belong to the basic types of tissue. Epithelial cells form special connections with one another in order to prevent substances or pathogens from passing between the cells, i.e. they have a protective and sealing function for the body.
The Earth is the only planet known to have liquid water on its surface, a fundamental characteristic when it comes to explaining the emergence of life. However, was this water always present in the rocks that made up our planet? Alternatively, was it delivered later by asteroids and comets that bombarded the Earth? Or did the Earth's water originate from a combination of both sources?