Body

A University of York conservationist who put out a call for schools to name a new species of tropical tree has found a winner. Following competitive fundraising totalling nearly £4000, Askham Bryan College, UK pipped the Iringa International School, Tanzania to the post. Coming a close third in the competition were 1st Sherburn Rainbows and Brownies, also from the UK.

An approach that could reduce the chances of drugs failing during the later stages of clinical trials has been demonstrated by a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

The technique involves identifying genetic variants that mimic the action of a drug on its intended target and then checking in large patient cohorts whether these variants are associated with risk of other conditions, such as cardiovascular disease.

The variant of a gene encoding a drug target for a popular antidiabetic therapy is protective against heart disease, a common safety concern with antidiabetic medications, a new study shows. The study, which involved harnessing the genomic data of more than 50,000 people, suggests that drugs that target this gene are not necessarily associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular risk, as has been thought.

While using marijuana for as long as 20 years was associated with periodontal disease, it was not associated with some other physical health problems in early midlife at age 38, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

Policymakers, health care professionals and the public want to know whether recreational cannabis use is associated with physical health problems later in life after major policy changes in the U.S.

Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a correlation between aging and the effectiveness of T-cells, a type of immune cell programmed to fight or kill a threat. The researchers found that older people have T-cells that are less effective at fending off the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Scientists from The Cleveland Museum of Natural History have pioneered a new method to identify praying mantises. They described a new species of leaf-dwelling mantis by establishing a female genitalia character system. Male genitalia characters have historically been a standard in classifying insect species. The research is the first formal study to use female genital structures to delimit a new species of praying mantis.

In humans and in animals, the correct position of tissues, organs and appendages is essential. Two body axes (the head-tail and the back-belly axes) usually define this position by generating a coordinate system, which supplies each cell in the body with its precise address. Thus, for example, the vertebrate central nervous system is always located on the back, and the intestinal tract on the belly of the animal.

Pancreatic cancer is regarded as the cancer type with the lowest survival rates. Fewer than seven in 100 patients survive the first five years after diagnosis. Clinicians attribute this devastating prognosis to two circumstances: Pancreatic cancers often do not cause any signs or symptoms and by the time they are detected they have already reached a very advanced stage in most cases. In addition, they spread outside the pancreas very early.

Among the eight new bee species that Spencer K. Monckton has discovered as part of his Biology Master's degree at York University, there is one named after a popular draconic creature from the Japanese franchise Pokémon. Called the stem-nesting Charizard, the new insect belongs to a subgenus, whose 17 species are apparently endemic to Chile, yet occupy a huge variety of habitats.

The young scientist, who is currently a PhD student at the University of Guelph, studying sawfly systematics and phylogeography, has his work published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Innovation in 'Big Data' helps address problems that were previously overwhelming. What we know about organisms is in hundreds of millions of pages published over 250 years. New software tools of the Global Names project find scientific names, index digital documents quickly, correcting names and updating them. These advances help "Making small data big" by linking together to content of many research efforts. The study was published in the open access journal Biodiversity Data Journal.

If you're driving a nanocar on the open road, things are bound to get sticky.

Rice University researchers who developed the first nanocars and colleagues at North Carolina State University found in recent tests that driving their vehicles in ambient conditions - exposed to open air, rather than a vacuum - got dicey after a time because the hydrophobic single-molecule cars stuck to the "road" and created what amounted to large speed bumps.

The findings were reported in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

A collaboration between Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Harvard University pioneers the increase of memory using optogenetics in mice in Spain. The study was based on light stimulation of a group of neurons, named Tac2, in the cerebral amygdala. These neurons play a key role in the memory of fear. Treated mice increased their long-term memory. This is the first time in the world that Tac2 has been stimulated by optogenetics.

Technologies from wind turbines to electric vehicles rely on critical materials called rare-earth elements. These elements, though often abundant, can be difficult and increasingly costly to come by. Now, scientists looking for alternatives have reported in ACS' journal Chemistry of Materials a new way to make nanoparticles that could replace some rare-earth materials and help ensure the continued supply of products people have come to depend on.

Seaweed has long been a staple food in many Asian countries and has recently caught on as a snack food in America as a healthful alternative to chips. The edible algae that fall in the category of seaweed are low-calorie and packed with nutrients. In addition, now scientists have found that a type of commercial red algae could help counteract food allergies. They report their findings in mice in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Most people know that a diet high in fiber helps to keep us "regular." Now Australian researchers have uncovered a surprising benefit of this often-undervalued dietary component.