Culture
As a cold ends, a severe mucus cough starts. Sound familiar? Two studies now give explanations: First, crucial mechanisms of the mucus in both diseased and healthy airways; second, what happens in such chronic lung diseases as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
"This is new knowledge, but there are no instant cures to be found yet. But to make progress, it's important to understand how the mucus clearance works," says Gunnar C. Hansson, Professor of Medical Biochemistry at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.
New research, led by the University of Portsmouth, could help decision makers make more effective choices when designing social housing initiatives.
Using the concept of 'choice architecture' the researchers have developed a new tool for decision makers to help them make the best decisions when tackling problems presenting a high number of alternatives or criteria.
Choice architecture is the design of different ways in which choices can be presented to consumers, and the impact of that presentation on consumer decision-making.
The mercury test of catalysts that has been used and considered universal for 100 years, turned out to be ambiguous. This conclusion was made by a group of scientists including a RUDN chemist. The group confirmed that the test required additional control experiments to verify its results. The study might lead to the reconsideration of the existing experimental data and improving catalysis mechanisms in several chemical reactions. The article of the scientists was published in the Organometallics journal.
Mathematicians have created a new model - of a variety commonly found in the world of finance - to show how to harvest a species at an optimal rate, while making sure that the animals do not get wiped out by chance.
According to the theoretical study, hunting thresholds can be calculated for individual populations and species. The key to this is how quickly a population grows naturally, and how much it competes for resources.
The researchers, from Kent's School of Computing and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, set out to define and codify the different ways in which the various cyber-incidents being witnessed today can have negative outcomes.
They also considered how these outcomes, or harms, can spread as time passes. The hope is that this will help to improve the understanding of the multiple harms which cyber-attacks can have, for the public, government, and other academic disciplines.
Life-changing moments are also brain-changing moments: everything from a first kiss to a last goodbye modifies cells within the skull. The capacity to learn and remember, however, extends beyond the profound experiences that we lament or treasure. In fact, a new study led by Rockefeller scientist Charles D.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Galaxy clusters are rare regions of the universe consisting of hundreds of galaxies containing trillions of stars, as well as hot gas and dark matter.
It has long been known that when a galaxy falls into a cluster, star formation is fairly rapidly shut off in a process known as "quenching." What actually causes the stars to quench, however, is a mystery, despite several plausible explanations having been proposed by astronomers.
Chemical communication is widely used in the animal kingdom to convey social information. For example, animals use olfactory cues to recognize group or family members, or to choose genetically suitable mates. In contrast to most other mammals, however, primates have traditionally been regarded as "microsmatic" - having a poor sense of smell. Although research on olfaction in some primate species has increased in recent years, non-human great apes have been greatly neglected in these studies.
New research, published today (Wednesday 24 October) in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, has found evidence for a large number of double supermassive black holes, likely precursors of gigantic black hole merging events. This confirms the current understanding of cosmological evolution - that galaxies and their associated black holes merge over time, forming bigger and bigger galaxies and black holes.
More than 10 million tons of plastic debris enter the oceans every year and are found in nearly every oceanic layer. They start out as large floating items and eventually break down into much smaller pieces called microplastics. These particles are pervasive and have been found in the digestive tracts of more than 100 different species, posing physical, chemical and even potential biological harm to these animals.
RICHLAND, Wash. - Taste might have less to do with what consumers are willing to pay for wine than you think.
In fact, issues like a wine's country and region of origin sometimes had more impact on a person's willingness to pay more for a wine than taste.
The trend was revealed in a study by university researchers from Washington state, Minnesota, Hong Kong and Korea.
Claims by the tobacco industry that heated tobacco products (HTPs) are safer than conventional cigarettes are not supported by the industry's own data and are likely to be misunderstood by consumers, according to research published in a special issue of Tobacco Control.
The issue was assembled by Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
The trillions of bacteria in the human gut affect our health in multiple ways including effects on immune functions and metabolism. A rich and diverse gut microbiota is considered to promote health providing the human host with many competences to prevent chronic diseases. In contrast, poor diversity of the gut ecosystem is a characteristic feature of chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, asthma and gut inflammatory disorders.
Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology, RIKEN and Tohoku University have developed a silicone polymer chain that can self-assemble into a 3D periodic structure. They achieved this by using their recently reported self-assembling triptycene molecules to modify the ends of the polymer chains.
Grief can cause inflammation that can kill, according to new research from Rice University.
The study, "Grief, Depressive Symptoms and Inflammation in the Spousally Bereaved," will appear in an upcoming edition of Psychoneuroendocrinology. It examines the impact grief has on human health. It builds on previous research from the lab of Chris Fagundes, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice University and the study's lead author, who studied risk factors for inflammation.