Culture
A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Paleontologists unearthed the first specimen in early 1990s in Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited the flood plains of western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, between 157-152 million years ago, making it the geologically oldest species of Allosaurus, predating the more well-known state fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis.
The benefits of fetal surgery to repair spina bifida, a procedure pioneered at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in 1997, continue through school age, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study reports today in the journal Pediatrics.
Scientists have detected Marburg virus in fruit bats in Sierra Leone, marking the first time the deadly virus has been found in West Africa. Eleven Egyptian rousette fruit bats tested positive for active Marburg virus infection. Research teams caught the bats separately in three health districts.
TP53 gene variant in people of African descent linked to iron overload, may improve malaria response
PHILADELPHIA -- (Jan. 24, 2020) -- In a study by The Wistar Institute and collaborators, a rare, African-specific variant of the TP53 gene called P47S causes iron accumulation in macrophages and other cell types and is associated with poorer response to bacterial infections, along with markers of iron overload in African Americans. Macrophage iron accumulation disrupts their function, resulting in more severe bacterial infections. The study, published online in Nature Communications, also showed that P47S macrophages exhibit improved response to the malaria toxin.
A new study shows for the first time that the striking iridescent colours seen in some animals increase their chances of survival against predators by acting as a means of camouflage. Rather than reveal it seems these dynamically changing shades are used to conceal, according to the University of Bristol study published today [23 January] in Current Biology.
Until now, it was assumed that the iridescent colours seen in nature have two main purposes: they can help animals find mates, or act as a warning to predators that a prey item may be poisonous.
Researchers from the group of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute (KNAW), in an international collaboration, have developed a method to grow snake venom gland cells as organoids. These lab-grown mini glands produce and secrete active toxins found in snake venom. Snake venom gland organoids can be grown from multiple species and maintained in the lab indefinitely. This new technology holds great promise to reduce the devastating impact and exploit the secrets of snake venom. The results of this research were published in the scientific journal Cell on the 23rd of January.
The sound produced by the vocal tract of a 3,000 year-old Egyptian mummy has been synthesized using CT scans, 3D printing and an electronic larynx. The findings are presented in a study published in Scientific Reports. The acoustic output is a single sound; it does not provide the basis for synthesizing running speech.
Almost one-fifth of the whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef Marine Park show major scarring or fin amputations, with the number of injured animals increasing in recent years, new research reveals.
Distinctive scar patterns strongly suggest many of the injuries are caused by boat collisions, says whale shark scientist Emily Lester from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
Despite regulatory frameworks designed to prevent environmental damage, pesticide use is still linked to declines in insects, birds and aquatic species, an outcome that raises questions about the efficacy of current regulatory procedures. In a Policy Forum, Christopher Topping and colleagues argue that this discordance between pesticide policy and their observed impacts stems from aging Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) regulations, which have fallen out of line with environmental policy and with the science behind our current ecological reality.
Through modern chemistry, we live better. However, as researchers continue to recognize the environmental and health risks associated with the mass production, use and disposal of complex synthetic molecules, a need for safer and more sustainable chemicals has become clear.
Oakland, Calif. -- New research from Kaiser Permanente finds that post-menopausal women with colorectal cancer were more likely to die from their disease or from any cause if they had low social support before diagnosis. The analysis of 1,429 women in the national long-term health study Women's Health Initiative, which included patients from Kaiser Permanente and other health systems, was published in the journal Cancer January 23.
West Nile virus (WNV) inhibits autophagy -- an essential system that digests or removes cellular constituents such as proteins -- to induce the aggregation of proteins in infected cells, triggering cell death and brain inflammation (encephalitis), according to Hokkaido University researchers. They also discovered that a drug can induce autophagy to remove protein aggregates and thus prevent cell death.
We live in an increasingly complex world when it comes to chemicals. The number of new chemicals has increased from 20 million in 2002 to 156 million last year. Many of these are ubiquitous in the world around us because of their continuous use. Pesticides, plastics, industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals are found in nature and in our food chain. And that has consequences. These chemicals can have unwanted side effects and cause disease. The figures are startling: research shows that at least nine million people die each year as a result of air, water and soil pollution.
Over the last two decades, the health sciences have been transformed by genomics, which has provided insights into genetic risk factors for human disease. While powerful, the genomics revolution has also revealed the limits of genetic determinants, which account for only a fraction of total disease risk. A new article in the journal Science argues that a similar large-scale effort is needed to ensure a more complete picture of disease risk by accounting for the exposome, defined as our cumulative exposure to environmental agents such as chemical pollutants.
Imagine that you met a charming girl in school. She is an excellent student who concerns about the world welfare and is anti-war and anti-nuclear. Which do you think she is most likely to become in the future, a bank counter clerk, or, a bank counter clerk and feminist? Surveys show that most people think it's easy and choose the latter. Their choice is right. However, according to classical probability theory, the probability of the former is definitely higher than the latter because the former contains the latter.