Culture
Researchers at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Research at Lund University have studied how pollination varies in different agricultural landscapes, by placing pots with either wild strawberry or field bean in field borders. Plants that were placed in a small-scale agricultural landscape, with pastures and other unploughed environments, were better pollinated than plants in landscapes dominated by arable land.
Frankfurt am Main/ Germany, April 5, 2018. For the first time, scientists of the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Goethe University and the University of Lund in Sweden have deciphered the complete genome of the blue whale and three other rorquals. These insights now allow tracking the evolutionary history of the worlds' largest animal and its relatives in unprecedented detail. Surprisingly, the genomes show that rorquals have been hybridizing during their evolutionary history.
Astrophysicists from the University of Surrey and the University of Edinburgh have created a new method to measure the amount of dark matter at the centre of tiny "dwarf" galaxies.
Dark matter makes up most of the mass of the Universe, yet it remains elusive. Depending on its properties, it can be densely concentrated at the centres of galaxies, or more smoothly distributed over larger scales. By comparing the distribution of dark matter in galaxies with detailed models, researchers can test or rule out different dark matter candidates.
A KAIST team presented a highly customizable neural stimulation method. The research team developed a technology that can print the heat pattern on a micron scale to enable the control of biological activities remotely.
The researchers integrated a precision inkjet printing technology with bio-functional thermo-plasmonic nanoparticles to achieve a 'selective nano-photothermal neural stimulation method.'
Chickens that grow up in an environment that they perceive as more diverse and manageable, retain an optimistic view of life and cope with stress better than individuals that grow up in more sterile surroundings, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. A team of researchers lead by researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, measured how optimism in chickens is affected by stress.
The receptors that sense the Earth's magnetic field are probably located in the birds' eyes. Now, researchers at Lund University have studied different proteins in the eyes of zebra finches and discovered that one of them differs from the others: only the Cry4 protein maintains a constant level throughout the day and in different lighting conditions.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Diabetic retinopathy is considered one of the most disabling complications of diabetes and the leading cause of new cases of vision loss among adults.
A new Michigan State University study is the first to find that a particular type of lipid, or fat, thought to only exist in the skin, now lives in your eye and might play a major role in deterring the eye disease.
Astronomers are back in the dark about what dark matter might be, after new observations showed the mysterious substance may not be interacting with forces other than gravity after all. Dr Andrew Robertson of Durham University will today (Friday 6 April) present the new results at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool.
Three years ago, a Durham-led international team of researchers thought they had made a breakthrough in ultimately identifying what dark matter is.
A multinational South American team from Peru, Brasil and Bolivia led by the Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru, published the first genetic study on the modern descendants of the imperial Inka lineages in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomics.
Novel technology developed at UT Health San Antonio gives rise to mouse pancreatic tumors that have the same traits as human pancreatic cancer. A U.S. patent is pending on the invention.
The technology could revolutionize studies of pancreatic cancer initiation and progression and spur new drug development. An article published in the journal Carcinogenesis (Oxford University Press) describes this unique approach. Results of the research were made available online in November 2017 ahead of peer-review and print publication in February 2018.
WASHINGTON - Human airways already demonstrate gender-based differences in DNA methylation signatures at birth, providing an early hint of which infants may be predisposed to develop respiratory disorders like asthma later in life, a research team reports in a paper published online April 3, 2018, in Scientific Reports.
In a review article published April 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientist Andrew Feinberg, M.D., calls for more integration between two fields of DNA-based research: genetics and epigenetics.
Gains in the ability to sustain attention developed through intensive meditation training are maintained up to seven years later, according to a new study published in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. The study is based on the Shamatha Project, a major investigation of the cognitive, psychological and biological effects of meditation led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, Center for Mind and Brain.
James Cook University researchers in Australia have helped develop a new way to save endangered African wild dogs.
Dr Damien Paris and PhD student Dr Femke Van den Berghe from the Gamete and Embryology (GAME) Lab at James Cook University, have successfully developed a sperm freezing technique for the species (Lycaon pictus).
The highly efficient pack hunters have disappeared from most of their original range across sub-Saharan Africa due to habitat destruction, human persecution and canine disease, leaving less than 6,600 animals remaining in the wild.
Naturally occurring pigments in berries, also known as anthocyanins, increase the function of the sirtuin 6 enzyme in cancer cells, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. The regulation of this enzyme could open up new avenues for cancer treatment. The findings were published in Scientific Reports.