Earth
The near-surface southerly wind is a key feature of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) circulation, and a stronger EASM circulation leads to a northward shift of East Asian rainfall. Almost all climate models show an enhanced EASM circulation in a warmer climate, and previous studies attributed the enhanced EASM to the enhanced zonal land-sea thermal contrast.
Marine algae in the world's oceans store huge quantities of CO2, i.e. they bind approximately as much CO2 per year as the entire land vegetation. In this process, algae produce large amounts of carbohydrates, which can be broken down by marine bacteria and provide an important energy source for the marine food web. The research team has now elucidated the complex degradation pathway of the polysaccharide Ulvan. Ulvan is a complex sugar produced by algae of the genus Ulva and is degraded by the marine bacterium Formosa agariphila.
Scientists at The University of Toledo investigating improvements to a commonly used chemotherapy drug have discovered an entirely new class of cancer-killing agents that show promise in eradicating cancer stem cells.
Their findings could prove to be a breakthrough in not only treating tumors, but ensuring cancer doesn't return years later -- giving peace of mind to patients that their illness is truly gone.
The general public knows the chemical compound of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and because of its global-warming effect. However, carbon dioxide can also be a useful raw material for chemical reactions. A working group at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has now reported on this unusual application in the ChemSusChem journal. They are using carbon dioxide as a raw material to produce graphene, a technological material which is currently the subject of intense study. (DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201901404)
COLUMBUS, Ohio - In an era of concern over "fake news," a new study finds that people draw a distinction between information sources that are dishonest and those that are biased.
Researchers found that a source seen as biased may lose credibility with people, even if they believe the source is scrupulously honest.
That means untruthful - or "fake" - news isn't the only issue for consumers.
Muscle memory -- it's not just a saying. Repetitive exercise induces improved learning for motor skills, and researchers have now identified the molecular pathway underpinning the process.
The team published their paper on July 3 in the Science Advances, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Researchers have discovered a biochemical oxygen sensing system conserved across biological kingdoms, which allows both plant and animal cells to sense and respond appropriately to changes in oxygen levels - an ability central to the survival of most forms of life. The newly identified enzymatic oxygen sensor is functionally and biochemically identical in plants and animals. Because oxygen sensing is impaired in many human diseases, like cancer, the findings could pave the way to new therapeutic interventions for addressing cellular hypoxia (oxygen deficiency).
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ( July 4, 2019).--Scientists led by the USF College of Marine Science used NASA satellite observations to discover the largest bloom of macroalgae in the world called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), as reported in Science.
A strain of the common cold virus has been found to potentially target, infect and destroy cancer cells in patients with bladder cancer, a new study in the medical journal Clinical Cancer Research reports. No trace of the cancer was found in one patient following treatment with the virus.
Background
New analysis of the fossilized skull of an Upper Paleolithic man suggests that he died a violent death, according to a study published July 3, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by an international team from Greece, Romania and Germany led by the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
Pain signals can travel as fast as touch signals, according to a new study from researchers at Linköping University in Sweden, Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US. The discovery of a rapid pain-signalling system challenges our current understanding of pain. The study is published in the scientific journal Science Advances.
An international team, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition, retrieved and analyzed, for the first time, genome-wide data from people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Age (~3,600-2,800 years ago) in the ancient port city of Ashkelon, one of the core Philistine cities during the Iron Age.
Bottom Line: Excessive fat tissue around the heart may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This study looked at what effect aerobic and resistance exercise had on this fat tissue called epicardial and pericardial adipose tissue. This was a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial that included 50 physically inactive adults with abdominal obesity who had 12 weeks of high-intensity endurance or resistance training or no exercise as a control group for comparison. Change in fat tissue around the heart was measured by magnetic resonance imaging.
Background
Cell membranes contain ion channels that regulate the permeation of various ions between the inside and outside of the cell. Ion channels are proteins, and in response to diverse stimuli, they allow specific ions to permeate. In this way the cell regulates the electric signals that form the basis of the function of muscles and the nervous system. Since a malfunction of ion channels causes a number of disorders such as myocardial infarction and epilepsy, it is important to understand the mechanism of action of molecules that hamper ion channel functions.