Culture
Primates receive a lot of research attention and conservation funding compared to other taxonomic groups, owing largely to their anthropological significance and charisma. Yet, we remain unable to conserve them effectively. To date, about 60 percent of primate species are threatened with extinction and 75 percent have declining populations.
Imagine microscopic life-forms, such as bacteria, transported through space, and landing on another planet. The bacteria finding suitable conditions for its survival could then start multiplying again, sparking life at the other side of the universe. This theory, called "panspermia", support the possibility that microbes may migrate between planets and distribute life in the universe. Long controversial, this theory implies that bacteria would survive the long journey in outer space, resisting to space vacuum, temperature fluctuations, and space radiations.
Scientists at Nagoya University and colleagues in Japan have identified two antagonistic genes involved in rice plant stem growth. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, could lead to new ways for genetically modifying rice crops.
Longer, deepwater rice crops are planted in South Asia and West Africa to survive floods. Shorter paddy rice varieties are widely cultivated worldwide because they are easier to harvest.
TORONTO - An international, first-of-its-kind cardiology trial used personalized genetic testing to reduce by 34 per cent the number of serious adverse events following balloon angioplasty, a treatment for the most common form of heart disease.
A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) led by chemist Johannes Lercher has developed a synthesis process which drastically increases the activity of catalysts for the desulfurization of crude oil. The new process could perhaps also be used for catalysts in fuel cells.
Crude oil contains a great deal of sulfur. To turn the crude oil into fuel, the sulfur compounds must be removed using hydrogen. Experts call this process hydrotreating. The process is carried out using catalysts.
Tsukuba, Japan - Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have developed a new kind of color-shifting crystalline material that can be used to indicate the presence of water. The change in hue is dramatic enough to be gauged by the unaided human eye. This work could lead to the creation of highly sensitive "vapochromic" sensors that can show if a particular gas or water vapor is present without the need for external power.
Modern mechatronic devices, right from industrial machinery to robots, have seen a drastic increase in complexity and intricacy. With sophisticated functionalities being unlocked with each passing day, there has been an inevitable rise in the number of components that the devices need. And although these advancements are undeniably impressive, the sheer bulkiness and large number of components are a major hindrance to the "miniaturization" and cost-effectiveness of these devices.
New light has been shed on a mysterious and long-standing conundrum at the very heart of our galaxy. The new work offers a potential solution to the so-called 'Galactic bar paradox', whereby different observations produce contradictory estimates of the motion of the central regions of the Milky Way. The results are published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
UC researchers pinpoint hierarchy of breast cancer cells as potential cause for treatment resistance
You might have heard the old proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child."
University of Cincinnati instructor Syn Yeo, PhD, thinks the same analogy applies when it comes to cells and the growth of cancer, particularly breast cancer.
In his recent study, published in the journal eLife, Yeo, research instructor in the department of cancer biology at the UC College of Medicine and co-lead author, says it can take cells in different forms or "life stages" to cause cancer to grow and spread.
Tsukuba, Japan - Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, killing nearly 18 million people annually, which is approximately the entire population of the New York metropolitan area. Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have shown that men bearing any or all of the major risk factors - hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia - are more likely to have wives who suffer from the same diseases.
Scientists have discovered a novel anti-aging defence in the brain cells of adult fruit flies: producing extra copies of the genome, according to a new study published today in eLife.
The findings could help explain how the brain, which rarely produces new cells, is able to cope with the accumulation of cell damage over time and prevent excess cell loss during aging. They may also help scientists answer questions about human age-related brain diseases.
New insight on how zebrafish achieve near-optimal foraging efficiency and fairness among groups has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.
The findings, based on analysis of the joint swimming patterns of individual zebrafish and groups, and detailed mathematical models of their behaviour, suggest that specialised social interactions allow the animals to forage efficiently and result in more equal distribution of food among group members.
New machine learning algorithm designed by astronomers and computer scientists from University of Warwick confirms new exoplanets in telescope data
Sky surveys find thousands of planet candidates, and astronomers have to separate the true planets from fake ones
Algorithm was trained to distinguish between signs of real planets and false positives
New technique is faster than previous techniques, can be automated, and improved with further training
The last decade has seen rapid development in the archaeology of Saudi Arabia. Recent discoveries range from early hominin sites hundreds of thousands of years old to sites just a few hundred years old. One enigmatic aspect of the archaeological record of western Arabia is the presence of millions of stone structures, where people have piled rocks to make different kinds of structures, ranging from burial tombs to hunting traps. One enigmatic form consists of vast rectangular shapes.
In this image, made with the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), young, radio-emitting jets of material emerge from the core of an elliptical galaxy some 500 million light-years from Earth. After NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected high-energy gamma rays coming from the object, scientists used the VLBA to make high-resolution images of the galaxy, dubbed TXS 0128+554.