Culture
Analysis of the first fully-sequenced genome of the Siberian hamster shows how these small, seasonal breeders adapt their bodies and energy usage to survive the winter.
The research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also includes transcriptome analysis of gene expression in the brain during both summer and winter conditions, which reveals the cascade of signals that prepare the hamster for winter, triggered by decreasing day length.
PITTSBURGH (June 10, 2019) ... Mastering a new skill - whether a sport, an instrument, or a craft - takes time and training. While it is understood that a healthy brain is capable of learning these new skills, how the brain changes in order to develop new behaviors is a relative mystery. More precise knowledge of this underlying neural circuitry may eventually improve the quality of life for individuals who have suffered brain injury by enabling them to more easily relearn everyday tasks.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) and The University of New Mexico (UNM) today announced the groundbreaking findings of a two-year study of the plasmonic properties of daguerreotypes.
Using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, together with numerical calculations, the team of scientists from The Met and UNM, in collaboration with Century Darkroom, Toronto was able to determine how the light scattered by the metallic nanoparticles on the surface of a daguerreotype determines the characteristics of its image, such as shade and color.
A new study from Professor Doug VanderLaan's lab in UTM's Department of Psychology looking at biological mechanisms that are often thought to influence male sexual orientation was published in the latest edition of PNAS.
"Studying individual differences in gender and sexual orientation provides insight into how early-life biology shapes the brain and behaviour," says the developmental psychology researcher.
TORONTO, ON (Canada) - If you've ever come out of a bad relationship and decided you need to date someone different from your usual "type," you're not alone.
However, new research by social psychologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) suggests that might be easier said than done. A study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows people often look for love with the same type of person over and over again.
A scorpion native to Eastern Mexico may have more than just toxin in its sting. Researchers at Stanford University and in Mexico have found that the venom also contains two color-changing compounds that could help fight bacterial infections.
The team not only isolated the compounds in the scorpion's venom, but also synthesized them in the lab and verified that the lab-made versions killed staphylococcus and drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria in tissue samples and in mice.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been linked to poor growth of the placenta, causing conditions such as fetal growth restriction and low birth weight. Although most women cease drinking once they know they are pregnant, the effect of alcohol during the initial stages of pregnancy, even as early as around the time of conception, is less well understood. Now, Dr Jacinta Kalisch-Smith together with Professor Karen Moritz at the University of Queensland in Australia have investigated the impact of alcohol consumption on the placenta early in pregnancy.
A grape variety still used in wine production in France today can be traced back 900 years to just one ancestral plant, scientists have discovered.
With the help of an extensive genetic database of modern grapevines, researchers were able to test and compare 28 archaeological seeds from French sites dating back to the Iron Age, Roman era, and medieval period.
Trichoplax is one of the simplest animals one can imagine, and looks like a shapeless little blob. Senior author Nicole Dubilier says it reminds her of a potato chip. Trichoplax lives in warm coastal waters around the world, where it grazes on microscopic algae that cover sand and rocks. Although most aquarists may not know it, Trichoplax can also be found in almost any saltwater aquarium with corals.
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Plant scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Bordeaux have discovered a gene that they hope can be used to widen a nutrient trafficking bottleneck and potentially increase crop yields.
Plant scientists around the world are working on a number of different strategies to sustainably increase crop yields. Increasing the efficiency of how plants transport sugars, proteins and other organic nutrients between different parts of the plant is one of the approaches that could contribute to this next Green Revolution.
Mount Sinai was part of the largest clinical trial for asthma self-management support in older patients, which resulted in improved control and quality of life, and fewer emergency department visits.
ANN ARBOR--If astronomers want to learn about how supermassive black holes form, they have to start small--really small, astronomically speaking.
In fact, a team including University of Michigan astronomer Elena Gallo has discovered that a black hole at the center of a nearby dwarf galaxy, called NGC 4395, is about 40 times smaller than previously thought. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Bacteria are everywhere. They are the most abundant form of life on our planet. Pick up just about any surface and its likely covered in bacteria. The aquatic environment is no different. Indeed, the ocean is full of small particles and debris, some inert, some highly nutritious. But how do bacteria differentiate between these surfaces, how do they hold onto them in moving water and how do they recognise each other so that they can work together?
A recent forecast of the size of the "Dead Zone" in the northern Gulf of Mexico for late July 2019 is that it will cover 8,717-square-miles of the bottom of the continental shelf off Louisiana and Texas. The unusually high Mississippi River discharge in May controls the size of this zone, which will likely be the second largest zone since systematic measurements began in 1985.
In the eternal search for understanding what makes us human, scientists found that our brains are more sensitive to pitch, the harmonic sounds we hear when listening to music, than our evolutionary relative the macaque monkey. The study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, highlights the promise of Sound Health, a joint project between the NIH and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that aims to understand the role of music in health.