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As polar ice caps melted at the end of the last Ice Age about 8,500 years ago, the global sea level rose and Panama's Pearl Islands were isolated from the mainland. A new archaeological study by a team including a Smithsonian scientist shows that several thousand years later pre-Columbian colonists hunted a dwarf deer to extinction on an island called Pedro González.

(Boston)--For the first time, researchers have determined a signature of changes that occur to human remains, specifically bones, left outside in the New England environment.This signature or "patterning" can be used by law enforcement to help determine if remains have been moved after death from one environment to another and to separate natural changes to bone from those caused by possible perpetrators.

These findings, published in the Journal of Forensic Identification, may assist in crime scene investigations.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Using someone else's medication is the most common form of prescription stimulant misuse among adolescents, according to a University of Florida Health study, which found that 88 percent of teens who used the drugs non-medically in the past 30 days said they had obtained the medications from someone else.

Rhesus monkeys were completely protected from Ebola virus when treated three days after infection with a compound that blocks the virus's ability to replicate. These encouraging preclinical results suggest the compound, known as GS-5734, should be further developed as a potential treatment, according to research findings published online this week in the journal Nature.

Different species of mice tend to look pretty much the same with one significant exception:

The shape and size of mouse bacula -- ­ that is, the bone inside a mouse's penis ­ -- vary wildly. In fact, in some cases, it's the only way to tell different species of mouse apart.

Until now, the genetic basis for that variation has remained a mystery.

New study finds elders living alone with abuser more likely to endure severe mistreatment

Other findings: Non-perpetrators in the home act as a buffer and 'youngest old' experience most severe forms of abuse

How enzymes - the biological proteins that act as catalysts and help complex reactions occur - are 'tuned' to work at a particular temperature is described in new research from groups in New Zealand and the UK, including the University of Bristol.

Protein aggregates are deemed to be one reason for the death of nerve cells in disorders such as Alzheimer's or Huntington's disease. As researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry report in the current issue of Nature, they have now decoded a new cellular mechanism for the development of aggregates. Missing stop signals in the production of proteins lead erroneously to long lysine chains at the end of the protein. This in turn blocks the ribosomes, the cell's protein factory. Healthy cells detect blocked ribosomes and rapidly destroy useless proteins.

Beetles that demonstrate same-sex sexual behaviour may be asserting dominance over rival males without having to resort to fighting, a new study has shown.

The pioneering new research, produced by scientists at the University of Exeter, has shown that same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) may help assert an accepted 'pecking order' amongst males for the right to court and mate with females.

The research team observed the behavioural patterns of male broad-horned flour beetles (Gnatocerus cornutus) in a controlled lab environment.

Fracture and breakage of single crystals, particularly of silicon wafers, are multi-scale problems: the crack tip starts propagating on an atomic scale with the breaking of chemical bonds, forms crack fronts through the crystal on the micrometre scale and ends macroscopically in catastrophic wafer shattering.

When the first antibiotics became available 70 years ago, they were often described as miracles of human ingenuity, rather like plastics or bright permanent dyes, which were discovered at roughly the same time. Packaged in vials or pills, they seemed like our inventions rather a chance gift of evolution and one that evolution might also rescind.

MIAMI--A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that shallow-reef corals are more closely related to their shallow-water counterparts over a thousand miles away than they are to deep-water corals on the same reef.

Cholesterol levels - the most common risk factor for heart attacks - have decreased in northern Sweden over the last 20 years. Since medical drugs only account for a third of the decrease, the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease is greatly thanks to a change in lifestyle. This according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.

A new study shows that the daily exposure to formaldehyde from three different types of e-cigarettes is well below the levels considered safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO) - at less than a sixth of the indoor air quality standard.

Philadelphia, PA, March 3, 2016 - Many people turn to high-protein foods when trying to lose weight because eating protein-rich meals is commonly believed to make dieters feel fuller. Surprisingly, this idea hadn't been tested on a large scale. In a new study featured in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers conducted a systematic review of the evidence on the effect of protein intake on perceived fullness and confirmed that protein does, in fact, make us feel fuller.