SCIENCE

Writing in the current online issue of the journal Stem Cells and Development, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe development of a rapid, cost-effective method to create human cortical organoids directly from primary cells. Experimental studies of developing human brain function are limited. Research involving ... Read More »

A team of scientists at the University of Wyoming has provided the first empirical evidence that ungulates (hooved mammals) must learn where and when to migrate, and that they maintain their seasonal migrations by passing cultural knowledge across generations. The results were reported today in Science. Biologists have long suspected ... Read More »

Wind and solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and other factors that may be beneficial — or detrimental — to the regions in which they are situated. A new climate-modeling study finds that a massive wind and solar installation in the Sahara Desert and neighboring ... Read More »

For the first time, a powerful “wind” of molecules has been detected in a galaxy located 12 billion light-years away. Probing a time when the universe was less than 10 percent of its current age, University of Texas at Austin astronomer Justin Spilker’s research sheds light on how the earliest ... Read More »

Millennia ago, ancient farmers cleared land to plant wheat and maize, potatoes and squash. They flooded fields to grow rice. They began to raise livestock. And unknowingly, they may have been fundamentally altering the climate of Earth. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides new evidence that ancient ... Read More »

Scientists have arrived at a key understanding about how cancers in individual patients spread, or metastasize, a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and other collaborating institutions reports. The study found that mutations that drive cancer growth are common among metastases in a single patient. Most cancer-related deaths ... Read More »

In major legislation passed at the end of August, California committed to creating a 100 percent carbon-free electricity grid — once again leading other nations, states, and cities in setting aggressive policies for slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Now, a study by MIT researchers provides guidelines for cost-effective and reliable ways ... Read More »

Scientists from the University of Leicester have shed new light on why mass extinctions have occurred through history — and how this knowledge could help in predicting upcoming ecological catastrophes. The international team has investigated sudden ecological transitions throughout history, from mass mortality events in the far past to more ... Read More »

Evidence from the teeth of Anglo Saxon children could help identify modern children most at risk from conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Researchers from the University of Bradford found that analysis of milk teeth of children’s skeletons from a 10th Century site in Northamptonshire, England, gave a ... Read More »

Semi-autonomous and autonomous machines and robots can become moral machines using annotated decision trees containing ethical assumptions or justifications for interactions with animals. Machine ethics is a young, dynamic discipline, which primarily targets people, not animals. However, it is important that animals are kept from harm when encountering these machines ... Read More »

Asian colobine monkeys are unable to taste natural sugars, and in fact have a generally poor sense of taste. This is according to research led by Emiko Nishi of the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University in Japan. Nishi and her colleagues found that the receptors on the tongues of ... Read More »

The mystery behind lunar swirls, one of the solar system’s most beautiful optical anomalies, may finally be solved thanks to a joint Rutgers University and University of California Berkeley study. The solution hints at the dynamism of the moon’s ancient past as a place with volcanic activity and an internally ... Read More »

New research published in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry reveals that low doses of a commonly used pesticide potentially harm the Northern Leopard frog by inhibiting their brain development. The pesticide chlorpyifos, which has been used since 1965 in both agricultural and non-agricultural areas, had clear effects on Northern Leopard tadpoles’ ... Read More »

Hydropower can generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases but can cause environmental and social harms, such as damaged wildlife habitat, impaired water quality, impeded fish migration, reduced sediment transport, and diminished cultural and recreation benefits of rivers. A new River Research and Applications study considers these issues as they relate ... Read More »

Wiley. “What are the effects of alcohol access on risky behaviors in young adults?.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 September 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180906082037.htm>. Wiley. (2018, September 6). What are the effects of alcohol access on risky behaviors in young adults?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 6, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180906082037.htm Wiley. “What are the effects of ... Read More »

Statins are not associated with a reduction in cardiovascular disease (conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels) or death in healthy people aged over 75, finds a study published by The BMJ today. However, in those with type 2 diabetes, statins were related to a reduction in cardiovascular disease and ... Read More »

Routine testing for prostate cancer is not recommended for most men because the benefit is small and uncertain and there are clear harms, say a panel of international experts in The BMJ today. But they acknowledge that some men, such as those with a family history of prostate cancer, may ... Read More »

Solar-powered water splitting is a promising means of generating clean and storable energy. A novel catalyst based on semiconductor nanoparticles has now been shown to facilitate all the reactions needed for ‘artificial photosynthesis’. In the light of global climate change, there is an urgent need to develop efficient ways of ... Read More »

56 million years ago, the Earth experienced an exceptional episode of global warming. In a very short time on a geological scale, within 10 to 20’000 years, the average temperature increased by 5 to 8 degrees, only returning to its original level a few hundred thousand years later. Based on ... Read More »

Dr Max Ortiz Catalan of Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has developed a new theory for the origin of the mysterious condition, ‘phantom limb pain’. Published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, his hypothesis builds upon his previous work on a revolutionary treatment for the condition, that uses machine learning ... Read More »