Earth
October 18, 2018 - For premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), skin-to-skin contact with parents influences levels of hormones related to mother-infant attachment (oxytocin) and stress (cortisol) - and may increase parents' level of engagement with their infants, reports a study in Advances in Neonatal Care, official journal of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses.
INDIANAPOLIS -- A new type of blow fly spotted in Indiana points to shifting species populations due to climate change. Researchers at IUPUI have observed the first evidence of Lucilia cuprina in Indiana, an insect previously known to populate southern states from Virginia to California.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Oct. 17, 2018--A new collaborative study has investigated Arctic shrub-snow interactions to obtain a better understanding of the far north's tundra and vast permafrost system. Incorporating extensive in situ observations, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists tested their theories with a novel 3D computer model and confirmed that shrubs can lead to significant degradation of the permafrost layer that has remained frozen for tens of thousands of years. These interactions are driving increases in discharges of fresh water into rivers, lakes and oceans.
Misuse of prescription opioids or benzodiazepines (such as Xanax) was associated with suicidal ideation in a study of US older adults.
DURHAM, N.H. - As winter in New England seems to get warmer, fall lingers longer and spring comes into bloom earlier, areas like northern New Hampshire and western Maine are seeing an unusual continued increase in winter ticks which are endangering the moose population. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that the swell of infestations of this parasite, which attaches itself to moose during the fall and feeds throughout the winter, is the primary cause of an unprecedented 70 percent death rate of calves over a three-year period.
Unicellular diatoms are able to adapt their behavior to different external stimuli based on an evaluation of their own needs. This was discovered by scientists of the Friedrich Schiller University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, together with partners from Belgium. The algae depend on nutrients in order to reproduce. However, they also need sexual mates which they find when they follow pheromone traces.
The United States is an aging society, where one in five people will be 65 or older by 2035. While bioethics scholarship on aging has historically concerned itself with issues at the end of life and the medical care of patients with chronic or progressive conditions, it is time for bioethics to look at the experience of aging itself and to articulate "a concept of good citizenship in an aging society that goes beyond health care relationships," write Nancy Berlinger and Mildred Z.
National bans on parents slapping or spanking their children to punish them for bad behaviour are linked to lower rates of youth violence, reveals an international study published in the online journal BMJ Open.
Countries that prohibit corporal punishment at home and at school have rates of physical fighting among young men and women that are 42 to 69 per cent lower than in countries without any such bans in place, the findings show.
Charlottesville, VA (October 16, 2018). Researchers from Beijing have developed a new technique of external ventricular drain (EVD) insertion that involves the use of a mixed-reality holographic computer headset. Wearing this headset, the neurosurgeon can visualize holographic images of individual patients' brain structures while performing the procedure. This makes EVD insertion more accurate than the usual freehand technique, which relies only on referral to external anatomical landmarks.
Climatologists may be unable to accurately predict regional climate change over the North Atlantic because computer model simulations have failed to accurately include air pressure changes that have taken place in the Greenland region over the last three decades.
This deficiency may mean regional climate predictions for the UK and parts of Europe could be inaccurate, according to new research published today.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A trip to the pediatrician's office can be a nerve-wracking experience for both children and their parents, especially when efforts to calm young patients down dominate the visit.
And half of parents of toddler and preschool-aged children can relate, saying their child is afraid of going to the doctor, according to a new report from C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan.
Shelled marine creatures living in increasingly acidified oceans face a fight for survival as the impacts of climate change spread, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and the University of Plymouth, UK, assessed the impact of rising carbon dioxide levels on the large predatory "triton shell" gastropod (Charonia lampas).
They found those living in regions with predicted future levels of CO2 were on average around a third smaller than counterparts living in conditions seen throughout the world's oceans today.
Only a small proportion of cases of dementia are thought to be inherited - the cause of the vast majority is unknown. Now, in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, a team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Cambridge believe they may have found an explanation: spontaneous errors in our DNA that arise as cells divide and reproduce.
NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Sergio's clouds and rainfall sweeping into the southwestern U.S.
At 5:05 a.m. EDT (0905 UTC) on Oct. 3 the MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite gathered infrared data on Sergio. Although the center of circulation was over Baja California, Mexico, clouds and showers in the northeastern quadrant extended into southern Arizona.
The smallest Tylosaurus mosasaur fossil ever found has been revealed in a new study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and surprisingly it lacks a trademark feature of the species.
The fossil, likely to be that of a newborn, does not have the recognizable long snout typically seen in the species. The lack of this snout initially perplexed researchers, who struggled to identify which group of mosasaurs it belonged to.