Culture
For the first time, the raw genetic material that codes for bats' unique adaptations and superpowers such as the ability to fly, to use sound to move effortlessly in complete darkness, to survive and tolerate deadly diseases, to resist ageing and cancer - has been fully revealed.
Bat1K (Bat1K.com), a global consortium of scientists dedicated to sequencing the genomes of every one of the 1421 living bat species, has generated and analyzed six highly accurate bat genomes that are ten times more complete than any bat genome published to date, in order to uncover bats' unique traits.
Instead of protecting us, the immune system can sometimes go awry, as in the case of autoimmune diseases and allergies. An Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich team has dissected how mast cells regulate their calcium levels to keep the immune response under control.
Using a simple urine test alongside routine imaging for patients with adrenal masses could speed up adrenal cancer diagnosis, improving patient's prognosis and reducing the need for invasive diagnostic procedures, a new multi-centre study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology has found.
BAR HARBOR, MAINE -- The extraordinary progress that has been achieved in the biomedical sciences in the modern era can be attributed in large measure to imaging technologies that have allowed scientists to observe the structure and function of tissues and organs in the context of their natural tissue environments in greater detail than possible with the naked eye.
Do you want to get the most out of a museum and encourage your child's interest in STEM? Try interacting with a teenaged museum docent. Research led by investigators from North Carolina State University and the University of Exeter in the U.K. has found that youth docents have an overall positive effect on visitors' experiences, learning and information retention at informal learning sites. The positive effects accrued across age groups regardless of museum type, but were most apparent in children ages 9 to 11.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 23, 2020) -- Factors linked to structural racism put Latino communities in the U.S. at high risk of COVID-19, a study published today says. The new study is the first nationwide analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths among Latinos.
UPDATE:
The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidance since the Article (discussed in the press release below) went to press. This guidance is now in line with the findings of the Article from The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
As a result of the updated guidance, we wanted to flag that certain sections of the press release are no longer relevant. These sections are in bold and italics in the text below for your awareness.
A Penn State College of Medicine research team found that playing a simple conversation game may encourage African Americans to make plans for their end of life care. Researchers say the game may be a useful tool in addressing the disparities in end-of-life care in African American communities.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Quantum mechanics can seem a bit confounding, so for a quantum material to be called "strange" is really saying something.
A Cornell University-led collaboration has used state-of-the-art computational tools to model the chaotic behavior of Planckian, or "strange," metals. This behavior has long intrigued physicists, but they have not been able to simulate it down to the lowest possible temperature until now.
Breast cancer rates among women globally are on the rise, but new research is uncovering trends related to age and where you live that could help target prevention measures to improve the situation.
A new study published in The Lancet Global Health includes data on women from 41 countries and found that in higher income nations, including Canada, rates of breast cancer in premenopausal women are increasing, while postmenopausal breast cancer is increasing more rapidly in lower income countries.
OSNABRUECK / JENA.- In nature, organisms often support each other in order to gain an advantage. However, this kind of cooperation contradicts the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin: Why would organisms invest valuable resources to help others? Instead, they should rather use them for themselves, in order to win the evolutionary competition with other species. A new study led by Prof. Dr. Christian Kost from the Department of Ecology at the Osnabrueck University now solved this puzzle.
Though many people find them intimidating, menacing or just plain scary, sharks are vital to the health of the world's oceans.
These often misunderstood creatures are found in just about every ocean habitat around the globe, but their populations are plummeting. Indeed, the true extent of their decline is not fully known.
The optimum amount of a methane-inhibiting supplement in dairy cattle feed has been determined by an international team of researchers, indicating that widespread use of the compound could be an affordable climate change-battling strategy, if farmers embrace it.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has more and more people asking about our food supply, how agriculture is moving forward, and where agriculture is going in this country.
Most reptiles move slower when temperatures drop, but venomous rattlesnakes appear to be an exception. The cold affects them, but not as much as scientists expected.
"Many reptiles and other animals that rely on external sources of heat have muscles that don't contract as well when temperature drops. We wanted to know if that was the case with rattlesnakes," explained UC Riverside biologist Tim Higham.