Earth
For decades, ecologists have differed over a longstanding mystery: Will a longer, climate-induced growing season ultimately help coniferous forests to grow or hurt them? A new University of Colorado Boulder study may help researchers find a more definitive answer.
Early Jurassic predatory dinosaurs are very rare, and mostly small in size. Saltriovenator zanellai, a new genus and species described in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ - the Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences by Italian paleontologists, is the oldest known ceratosaurian, and the world's largest (one ton) predatory dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic (Sinemurian, ~198 Mya).
A study of more than 1.3 million Australians with diabetes has found that kidney failure is increasing in people with type 2 diabetes aged under 50 years, leading to reduced quality of life and placing growing demand on the country's kidney dialysis and transplantation services.
The study, led by researchers from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, calls for urgent attention to reduce the progression of kidney disease in Australia and highlights the importance of aggressive risk factor treatment in people with younger-onset type 2 diabetes.
Thanks to photos and films featuring clouds of stunning orange and black monarch butterflies flying across North America, many people today are familiar with how monarchs migrate. The migration patterns of other insects, however, remain more mysterious, for both the public and scientists alike. A new paper in Biology Letters describes a dragonfly's full life cycle for the first time, in compelling detail.
The reality of ongoing climate warming might seem plainly obvious today, after the four warmest years on record and a summer of weather extremes in the whole northern hemisphere. A few years back however, some media and some experts were entangled in debates about an alleged pause in global warming - even though there never has been statistical evidence of any "hiatus", as new research now confirms.
Every year trillions of animals migrate for thousands of kilometres between their summer and winter areas. Among them are several species of bats whose journeys in the dark of the night unfold largely unnoticed by humans and have only partially been investigated by science. A reconstruction of individual migration patterns of the common noctule (Nyctalus noctula) in Central Europe has now revealed that travelling distances vary largely among individuals, yet overall females cover longer distances than males.
Hamilton, ON (December 18, 2018) - Where you live in Canada may play a role in your risk of major diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.
Researchers at McMaster University have identified trends linking health and lifestyle factors like access to public transit, the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in grocery stores, the prices of popular foods, the availability and prices of cigarettes and alcohol, and the promotion, or lack thereof, of healthy foods in restaurants.
In a review of registry data for more than 5,300 liver transplants performed in children nationwide, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers identify the type of patient who is most likely to survive a split liver transplant--receiving only part of a donor's liver--with no additional long-term health risks, which could allow for an increase in the availability of organs. A report on the new study is published in the December issue of the journal Liver Transplantation.
ANN ARBOR--A new electronic device can developed at the University of Michigan can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons.
For the first time, the way that neurons share or compete for resources can be explored in hardware without the need for complicated circuits.
Children of parents who have alcohol use disorder are more likely to get married under the age of 25, less likely to get married later in life, and more likely to marry a person who has alcohol use disorder themselves, according to a new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.
Medical emergency department visits can indicate increased suicide risk among teens and young adults
Ann Arbor, December 17, 2018 - A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine provides detailed insights on the increased risk of self-directed violence that patients aged 15-29 years visiting the emergency department (ED) for medical complaints subsequently experience. This underscores the importance of EDs in suicide prevention.
More than one in eight U.S. adults (12.6 percent) used benzodiazepines in the past year, up from previous reports. Misuse of the prescription drugs accounted for more than 17 percent of overall use, according to a study published online today in Psychiatric Services in Advance. The researchers defined misuse as any way a doctor did not direct, including using the drug without a prescription or more often or longer than prescribed. Misuse was highest among young adults 18 to 25 (5.6 percent) and was as common as prescribed use.
Climate change threatens plants as the risks of flooding increase. A new study from Stockholm University shows that special genes are key to keeping plants from withering, remaining healthy and resistant to a lack of oxygen when they are underwater for a period of long time. Developing tolerant plant varieties that have this gene will increase harvest and will be increasingly important as the changing climate leads to more rainfall.
A first-of-its-kind retrospective study concludes that environmental cleanup projects can provide high value to society, making them economically viable alternatives to coastal development projects. The analysis of Boston Harbor suggests the capitalized value of restored ecosystem services now stands at between $30 and $100 billion -- far outweighing the $5 billion cleanup cost.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Hundreds of dams are being proposed for Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The negative social and environmental consequences - affecting everything from food security to the environment - greatly outweigh the positive changes of this grand-scale flood control, according to new research by Michigan State University.
The results, published in the current issue of Scientific Reports, are the first to tackle the potential environmental changes that the overall basin could experience from harnessing the region's hydropower.