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Collective hum: Buzzing midges inspire new swarm theory

A team of researchers based in Israel and the US has found a mathematical resemblance between swarm dynamics and gravitational interactions. The study, which has just been published in the New Journal of Physics, could provide a big leap forward in understanding the mass movement of flying insects.

Mount Sinai researchers identify way to predict and prevent damage in donated kidneys

A multicenter team of researchers led by Barbara Murphy, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has identified a panel of genes which can help predict whether a transplanted kidney will later develop fibrosis, an injury which can cause the organ to fail. Their results were published in the July 21 edition of Lancet.

For whom the births (and worms) toll

Human childbirth is not only unpleasant, it's also assumed to take a toll on women's health, even while women have a greater life expectancy. A new study led by UC Santa Barbara researchers, however, finds that indigenous women in the Bolivian Amazon with some of the highest birth rates in the world today experience negligible health costs from their intense reproductive effort.

Three-drug combinations could help counter antibiotic resistance, UCLA biologists report

Each year, approximately 700,000 people die from drug-resistant bacterial infections. A study by UCLA life scientists could be a major step toward combating drug-resistant infections.

The research, reported in the journal Royal Society Interface, found that combinations of three different antibiotics can often overcome bacteria's resistance to antibiotics, even when none of the three antibiotics on their own -- or even two of the three together -- is effective.

Shaken baby syndrome accepted as diagnoses by majority of physicians

Survey data reveals a high degree of medical consensus that shaking a young child is capable of producing subdural hematoma (a life-threatening pooling of blood outside the brain), severe retinal hemorrhage, coma or death, according to a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Designer protein gives new hope to scientists studying Alzheimer's disease

A new protein which will help scientists to understand why nerve cells die in people with Alzheimer's disease has been designed in a University of Sussex laboratory.

In people with Alzheimer's, Amyloid-beta (Abeta) proteins stick together to make amyloid fibrils which form clumps between neurons in the brain. It's believed the build-up of these clumps causes brain cells to die, leading to the cognitive decline in patients suffering from the disease.

Do think-tanks matter? A UBC professor says 'think again'

A UBC professor is suggesting government policy makers and advisors need to do a re-think when it comes to giving validity to reports coming across their desks.

Carey Doberstein, an assistant professor of political science at UBC's Okanagan campus, recently published an experimental study of public sector workers and determined that many give a written report or study purported to be from a university more credibility than one from a think-tank or advocacy group.

Study confirms: Forms of HIV can cross from chimps to humans

Lincoln, Nebraska, July 22, 2016 - No one knows exactly how it happened. It may have entered through a cut or bite wound, the blood of a chimpanzee seeping into an exposed fingertip or forearm or foot.

But in the early 1900s, probably near a West African rainforest, it's thought that a hunter or vendor of bush meat - wild game that can include primates - acquired the first strain of a simian immunodeficiency virus that virologists consider the ancestor of HIV.

Blood of King Albert I identified after 80 years

The death of King Albert I of Belgium in 1934 -- officially a climbing accident -- still fuels speculation. Forensic geneticist Maarten Larmuseau and his colleagues at KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium), have now compared DNA from blood found on the scene in 1934 to that of two distant relatives. Their analysis confirms that the blood really is that of Albert I. This conclusion is at odds with several conspiracy theories about the king's death.

A 'smart dress' for oil-degrading bacteria

Bionanotechnology research is targeted on functional structures synergistically combining macromolecules, cells, or multicellular assemblies with a wide range of nanomaterials. Providing micrometer-sized cells with tiny nanodevices expands the uses of the cultured microorganisms and requires nanoassembly on individual live cells.

Pathogenic bacteria hitchhiking to North and Baltic Seas?

With increasing water temperatures comes an increasing likelihood of potentially pathogenic bacteria appearing in the North and Baltic Seas. AWI scientists have now proven that a group of such bacteria known as vibrios can survive on microplastic particles. In the future, they want to investigate in greater detail the role of these particles on the accumulation and possible distribution of these bacteria.

Study: Violations of privacy rights by fusion centers are the exception, not the rule

NDIANAPOLIS -- Concerns that law enforcement fusion centers are violating individuals' privacy rights as they gather intelligence on terrorism, criminals and other threats to public safety are the exception and certainly not the rule, according to a study published in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology.

Why do consumers participate in 'green' programs?

From recycling to reusing hotel towels, consumers who participate in a company's "green" program are more satisfied with its service, finds a new study co-led by a Michigan State University researcher.

Doing good makes customers feel good, and that "warm glow" shapes opinion, said Tomas Hult, Byington Endowed Chair and professor of marketing in the Eli Broad College of Business. But it gets more complicated when companies throw incentives into the mix.

Genes find their partners without matchmakers

A new study provides more evidence that identical sections of DNA can match up with each other without the help of other molecules.

DNA molecules in our bodies carry genetic information encoded in segments called genes. Each gene encodes a certain attribute, feature or function in living organisms. However, genes are regularly damaged and need to be repaired.

Researchers get new insight into deadly fungal infections

Most people don't think of fungal infections as deadly -- they are generally viewed as annoyances -- athlete's foot, for instance.

But for many weakened patients in the hospital, fungal infections can be life threatening. Some experts estimate that tens of thousands of patients die every year from these infections. Recent research has also found that wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have sometimes died after fungus from soil is driven deep into their wounds, causing untreatable infections.