Earth
Being a morning person (popularly known as larks) is associated with a lower risk of developing breast cancer than being an evening person (popularly known as owls), finds a study published by The BMJ today.
Sleeping longer than the recommended 7-8 hours a night may also carry an increased risk, the results suggest.
The authors have previously posted a non-peer reviewed, unedited version of this research paper on a recognised preprint server* and presented it at the NCRI Cancer Conference in November 2018.
Researchers who analyzed data in the electronic health records (EHR) of children seen by hematology/oncology specialists at three large medical centers have developed an algorithm to accurately identify appropriate pediatric oncology patients for future clinical studies. By expediting and refining the selection of patients for research, the researchers aim to ultimately improve outcomes for a variety of pediatric cancers.
After managing to obtain DNA from two 120,000-year-old European Neandertals, researchers report that these specimens are more genetically similar to Neandertals that lived in Europe 80,000 year later than they are to a Neandertal of similar age found in Siberia. The findings, which reveal a stable, 80,000-year ancestry for European Neandertals, also suggest that this group may have migrated east and replaced some Siberian Neandertal populations.
Since female mammals are born with a limited number of egg cells, most of the egg cells wait in a dormant state before maturing later in life to ensure a long period of fertility. However, how this dormant state is achieved and then maintained is still largely shrouded in mystery.
Researchers at Kyushu University's Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine have now uncovered several conditions necessary for creating this supply of dormant egg cells in mice, providing useful insight for the further understanding and development of reproductive biology and medicine.
The smallest plants and creatures in the ocean power an entire food web, including the fish that much of the world's population depend on for food, work and cultural identity.
Electronic properties of materials can be directly influenced via light absorption in under a femtosecond (10-15 seconds), which is regarded as the limit of the maximum achievable speed of electronic circuits. In contrast, the magnetic moment of matter has only been able to be influenced up to now by a light and magnetism-linked process and roundabout way by means of magnetic fields, which is why magnetic switching takes that much longer and at least several hundred femtoseconds.
Due to the increasing insulin resistance of the cells, patients suffer from an increased blood sugar level with far-reaching consequences. After many years of illness, insulin production dries up and patients with type 2 diabetes have to inject insulin.
Himalaya. Karakoram. Hindu Kush. The names of Asia's high mountain ranges conjure up adventure to those living far away, but for more than a billion people, these are the names of their most reliable water source.
Snow and glaciers in these mountains contain the largest volume of freshwater outside of Earth's polar ice sheets, leading hydrologists to nickname this region the Third Pole. One-seventh of the world's population depends on rivers flowing from these mountains for water to drink and to irrigate crops.
Nature has a way of finding optimal solutions to complex problems. For example, despite the billions of ways for a single protein to fold, proteins always fold in a way that minimizes potential energy. Slime mold, a brainless organism, always finds the most efficient route to a food source, even when presented with an obstacle. A jump rope, when held on both ends, always ends up in the same shape, a curve known as catenary.
Menlo Park, Calif. -- Scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have taken the first images of carbon dioxide molecules within a molecular cage ¬¬- part of a highly porous nanoparticle known as a MOF, or metal-organic framework, with great potential for separating and storing gases and liquids.
Adding hydroquinone, a skin-bleaching ingredient, to a well-known 'metal organic framework' changes its copper ions in a way that makes this porous material exceptionally stable in water.
"We developed a new method to enhance the water stability of metal organic frameworks, with potential for applications that can effectively filter and purify air from ultrafine dust without decomposing due to humidity," says DGIST materials scientist Nak Cheon Jeong. The Korean researchers reported their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Declining biodiversity due to man-made habitat destruction and climate change means that information about plant diversity and its distribution across the planet is now crucial for biodiversity conservation. With the Global Inventory of Floras and Traits (GIFT), a team of researchers from the Department of Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography at the University of Göttingen has taken an important step forward in documenting and understanding global plant diversity. The results appear in the Journal of Biogeography.
Philadelphia, June 26, 2019 - Overcrowding on the trails leading to the summit on Yosemite National Park's Half Dome is not the key factor influencing hiker safety, according to a new study in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, published by Elsevier.
BURLINGTON, VERMONT (26 June 2019) - Farmers incorporate trees into fields and pastures to earn cash from fruit or wood, increase fodder and shade for livestock, promote soil health or protect against wind or water erosion. In all cases, farmers contribute to climate change mitigation by increasing soil and biomass carbon sequestration.
But it appears they are a step ahead of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the global organization that aims to stabilize our climate.
DALLAS, June 26, 2019 -- Binge watching TV may be a greater risk factor for heart disease and premature death among African Americans than sitting at a desk job, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.