Culture
Bacteria living on the skin of frogs could save them from a deadly virus, new research suggests.
Ranavirus kills large numbers of European common frogs - the species most often seen in UK ponds - and is one of many threats facing amphibians worldwide.
Scientists from the University of Exeter and ZSL's Institute of Zoology compared the bacteria living on frogs - known as their "microbiome" - from groups with varying history of ranavirus.
Chameleon prawns change colour to camouflage themselves as the seaweed around them changes seasonally, new research shows.
Unlike chameleons and cuttlefish, chameleon prawns (Hippolyte varians) take weeks to change colour, so the study - by the University of Exeter and the Federal University of ABC (Brazil) - shows that their abilities are suited to seasonal changes to their surroundings rather than rapidly adapting to new backgrounds.
Researchers have found no link between exposure to emissions from municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) and infant deaths or reduced foetal growth.
However, they show living closer to the incinerators themselves is associated with a very small increase in the risk of some birth defects, compared to the general population. But whether this is directly related to the incinerator or not remains unclear.
The findings come from the largest and most comprehensive analysis to date of the effects of municipal waste incinerators (MWIs) on public health in the UK.
SAN ANTONIO -- Nearly 6% of athletes and non-athletes were found to have the neurodegenerative disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the largest, and broadest, study conducted of the disease to date. The findings were published June 14 in the international journal Brain Pathology.
SAN ANTONIO -- June 20, 2019 -- NASA has selected Southwest Research Institute to lead the "Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere" (PUNCH) mission, a landmark Small Explorers Program mission that will image beyond the Sun's outer corona.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Scientists may have discovered more reasons to love chocolate.
A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that three of the phenolic compounds in cocoa bean shells have powerful effects on the fat and immune cells in mice, potentially reversing the chronic inflammation and insulin resistance associated with obesity.
Two papers publishing June 20 in the journal Cell show that Egyptian fruit bats and mice, respectively, can "sync" brainwaves in social situations. The synchronization of neural activity in the brains of human conversation partners has been shown previously, as a result of one person picking up social cues from the other and modulating their own behavior based on those cues.
Researchers have come up with a new way to image cell populations and their genetic contents. Their study, appearing June 20 in the journal Cell, describes how a technique called DNA microscopy helps illuminate the spatial organization of genetic material within cells and tissues without specialized, expensive optical equipment. Using only the sample itself plus reagents delivered with pipettes, DNA microscopy prompts a specimen to provide spatial information about itself as part of a chemical reaction--the products of which can be read out by DNA sequencing.
A bacterial pathogen that typically multiplies outside of host cells can enter and induce the destruction of cells called macrophages, according to a study published June 20 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Anne-Béatrice Blanc-Potard of the Université de Montpellier in France, and colleagues.
Secured in place in a virtual-reality-equipped chamber, frustrated zebrafish just didn't want to swim anymore.
They had been "swimming" along fine, until the virtual reality system removed visual feedback associated with movement. To the fish, it appeared as if they were drifting backward, regardless of how hard they stroked.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that the world's marine fisheries form a single network, with over $10 billion worth of fish each year being caught in a country other than the one in which it spawned.
While fisheries are traditionally managed at the national level, the study reveals the degree to which each country's fishing economy relies on the health of its neighbors' spawning grounds, highlighting the need for greater international cooperation.
ANN ARBOR--The setup of a research study was a bit like the popular ABC television program "What Would You Do?"--minus the television cameras and big reveal in the end.
An international team of behavioral scientists turned 17,303 "lost" wallets containing varying amounts of money into public and private institutions in 355 cities across 40 countries. Their goal was to see just how honest the people who handled them would be when it came to returning the "missing" property to their owners. The results were not quite what they expected.
In a study of how people in 40 countries decided to return (or not) "lost" wallets, researchers were surprised to find that - in contrast to classic economic logic - people returned the wallets holding the greater amounts of money more often. Across the globe, in 38 of the countries studied, honesty in this way increased as the incentive to cheat (higher wallet value) went up. Honesty is important for economic development as relates to contracts and taxes for example, and for how society functions in relationships more generally. Yet, it often is in conflict with individual self-interest.
A trio of Reports and a Perspective in this issue present the Ruminant Genome Project's (RGP) initial findings, which range from explaining how deer antlers exploit cancer-associated signaling pathways to regenerate, to informing reindeer genetic adaptations - including as relates to circadian rhythm - that have helped these animals thrive in the frigid Arctic.
Even though many nations manage their fish stocks as if they were local resources, marine fisheries and fish populations are a single, highly interconnected and globally shared resource, a new study emphasizes. This single resource transcends international management and economic zones due in large part to the dispersal of fish eggs and tiny larvae that can drift far and wide upon swift ocean currents, researchers report.