The teacher is just as important in a virtual learning environment as in a normal classroom, but a new study shows that boys and girls differ greatly in terms of how they learn best: Boys learn best when their virtual teacher comes in the form of a drone, while girls get more knowledge from VR-teaching when they are taught by a young, female researcher-type named Marie.
Culture
MADISON, Wis. -- A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and his collaborators at the University of California, San Francisco have repurposed the gene-editing tool CRISPR to study which genes are targeted by particular antibiotics, providing clues on how to improve existing antibiotics or develop new ones.
Resistance to current antibiotics by disease-causing pathogens is a growing problem, one estimated to endanger millions of lives and cost over $2 billion each year in the U.S.
Analysis of the skulls of lions, wolves and hyenas has helped scientists uncover how prehistoric dogs hunted 40 million years ago.
A study has revealed that the first species of dog - called Hesperocyon gregarius - pounced on its prey in the same way that many species, including foxes and coyotes, do today.
The findings also show that the largest dog species ever to live - known as Epicyon haydeni - hunted in a similar way. The animals - which lived from 16 until seven million years ago - could grow to the size of a grizzly bear.
A pioneering new report has devised a seven-point plan to help policymakers devise new, coherent and collaborative strategies to tackle the greatest global environmental threats.
A team of international researchers, including experts from the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute at the University of Exeter, has examined how politicians and legislators can develop a new way to tackle the growing threat of climate change.
Although male over-representation in politics is a worldwide phenomenon, the executive is the most male-dominated branch. There have been very few women presidents and prime ministers. The figure has stagnated since 1990 at twenty female national leaders per year. In recent years their presence has even decreased: in December 2017 there were only thirteen female leaders of their respective country.
Vitamin D supplements have been found to reduce the risk of potentially fatal lung attacks in some chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, according to a study led by Queen Mary University of London.
The findings add to a growing list of health benefits for the 'sunshine vitamin'. While vitamin D is best known for its effects on bone health, previous studies by Queen Mary researchers have revealed its role in protecting against colds, flu and asthma attacks, and even helping with weight gain and brain development in malnourished children.
Children who experience physical, sexual, and emotional abuse or neglect are at least two to three times more likely to attempt suicide in later life, according to the largest research review carried out of the topic.
The analysis of 68 studies by psychologists at the University of Manchester and University of South Wales revealed that suicide attempts were:
Three times more likely for people who experienced sexual abuse as a child
Two and a half times more likely for people who experienced physical abuse as a child
Osaka, Japan - It's one of the first questions asked by many newly-diagnosed cancer patients--"What are my chances of beating this?" Often there is no clear answer, with survival rates differing widely depending on the cancer stage and available treatment options. However, post-operative testing that provides an accurate prediction of long-term treatment outcomes is the next best thing to a crystal ball, allowing clinicians to plan further treatment or follow-up strategies and more accurately inform patients about their prognoses.
Rockville, Md. (January 10, 2019)--Research suggests that a gene that governs the body's biological (circadian) clock acts differently in males versus females and may protect females from heart disease. The study is the first to analyze circadian blood pressure rhythms in female mice.
The Neurometabolic Diseases research team at IDIBELL and CIBER of Rare Diseases (CIBERER), led by ICREA Professor Aurora Pujol, has uncovered a novel disease of children affecting the brain white matter -the myelin sheath-, leading to severe incapacity and death in some cases.
A budding relationship or just a one-night stand? The difference may not be immediately obvious, least of all to those directly involved. However, sex helps initiate romantic relationships between potential partners, a new study finds.
January 9, 2018 - Astronauts who spend several months on the International Space Station have significant reductions in the size and density of paraspinal muscles of the trunk after returning to Earth, reports a study in Spine. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Aggressive prostate cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in men, is associated with BRCA2 mutations, which are also linked to hereditary breast cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreas cancer, among others. The finding was confirmed in a study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, led by Elena Castro, Nuria Romero-Laorden and David Olmos, from the Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Unit at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).
Specific respiratory microbiome communities may be linked to influenza susceptibility, according to a study published January 9, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Betsy Foxman from the University of Michigan, USA, and colleagues.
Observations from Gemini Observatory identify a key fingerprint of an extremely distant quasar, allowing astronomers to sample light emitted from the dawn of time. Astronomers happened upon this deep glimpse into space and time thanks to an unremarkable foreground galaxy acting as a gravitational lens, which magnified the quasar's ancient light. The Gemini observations provide critical pieces of the puzzle in confirming this object as the brightest appearing quasar so early in the history of the Universe, raising hopes that more sources like this will be found.