Science News
A storm of tiny dust particles has engulfed much of Mars over the last two weeks and prompted NASA’s Opportunity rover to suspend science operations. »
A common ingredient in toothpaste and hand wash could be contributing to antibiotic resistance, according to University of Queensland research. »
Loneliness is bad for the heart and a strong predictor of premature death, according to a new study. »
Individuals with group A blood suffer more than others from E. Coli infections. »
Researchers from the University of York and Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme have mapped key habitats of the world's largest fish, the whale shark, shedding light on congregation sites that have perplexed marine biologists. »
Covering walls with concrete or plaster can reduce the growth of moss and mould in tropical homes prone to dampness. »
Researchers have created a technology that could lead to new devices for faster, more reliable ultra-broad bandwidth transfers, and demonstrated how electrical fields boost the non-linear optical effects of graphene. »
A study conducted by researchers from the University of Granada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that rather than living alone, microbial plankton in the ocean come together in complex albeit short-lived communities. These communities tend to be cohesive and their turnover is rapid and sharp. »
Scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have found a way to create plastic semiconductor nanostructures that absorb light and transport its energy 20 times further than has been previously observed, paving the way for more flexible and more efficient solar cells and photodetectors. »
Animals have evolved over millennia to use camouflage as a lifesaving way to dodge predators - so what happens to them when, over the course of just a few decades, their environments change? »
Scientists re-examining data from an old mission bring new insights to the tantalizing question of whether Jupiter's moon Europa has the ingredients to support life. The data provide independent evidence that the moon's subsurface liquid water reservoir may be venting plumes of water vapor above its icy shell. »
Efforts to tackle snakebite — a recent addition to the WHO’s list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) — will take a step forward this month with a resolution set to be approved at the World Health Assembly. »
An extinct strain of the human Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been discovered in Bronze Age human skeletons found in burial sites across Europe and Asia. »
Native fish hatchlings will find it more difficult to use sound to reach secure shelters in the oceans of the future that are acidified by carbon dioxide, threatening fish populations. »
An international team of astronomers found that the unusual Kuiper Belt Object 2004 EW95 is a carbon-rich asteroid, the first of its kind to be confirmed in the cold outer reaches of the Solar System. »
Researchers from the University of Granada, University Hospital La Paz (Madrid) and the University of Texas (USA) have identified a new molecular mechanism underlying the anti-obesity effects of the chronic administration of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone released by the pineal gland overnight. »
Researchers at the National Eye Institute have discovered cellular mechanisms that help the 13-lined ground squirrel survive hibernation. »
A new meta-analysis of more than 135,000 people with major depression and more than 344,000 controls has identified 44 genomic variants, or loci, that have a statistically significant association with depression. »
Aided by advanced stem cell technology and tissue chips, National Institutes of Health-funded researchers used stem cells originally derived from a person’s skin to recreate interactions between blood vessels and neurons that may occur early in the formation of the fetal human spinal cord. »
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) did not cross the species barrier to infect cynomolgus macaque monkeys during a lengthy investigation by National Institutes of Health scientists exploring risks to humans. »
A new study shows that sunlight transforms oil spills on the ocean surface more quickly and significantly than previously thought, limiting the effectiveness of chemical dispersants that break up floating oil. »
Low 'mental energy' may affect walking patterns in older adults more than physical fatigue. New research shows the relationship between walking ability and self-reported mood. »
A research team led by ecologists Sunita Shah Walter of the University of Delaware and Peter Girguis of Harvard University has shown that underground aquifers near the undersea Mid-Atlantic Ridge act like natural biological reactors, pulling in cold, oxygenated seawater, and allowing microbes to consume more refractory carbon than scientists believed. »
Even after decades of observations and a visit by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, Uranus held on to one critical secret -- the composition of its clouds. Now, one of the key components of the planet's clouds has finally been verified. »
The results of a study have enabled researchers to better understand the role of eggshells in embryo development and hatching. »
The effects of beverages such as coffee and tea are widely studied but still not clearly understood. »
Categorization, or the recognition that individual objects share similarities and can be grouped together, is fundamental to how we make sense of the world. »
We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean. The seafloor is an alien landscape, with crushing pressures, near-total darkness and fluids wafting from cracks in the Earth's crust. »
Studies show that too much sitting, like smoking, increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death. »
Study provides insights into the immune system’s role in recovery after concussion in mice. »
The researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to study a cold front located in the Perseus galaxy cluster that extends for about two million light years, or about 10 billion billion miles. »
Researchers say the love youngsters have for wildlife may be clouding the public's mind about how endangered those creatures are. »
The world's rivers and fresh water systems are full of pollution from prescription and over-the-counter drugs and it is taking a toll on the environment and wildlife, experts say. »
A common soil bacterium may hold the key to preserving the germ-killing power of penicillin. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Peoria, Illinois, helped mass produce the antibiotic during World War II to treat Allied soldiers and later civilians. But decades of widespread use has since enabled some germs to develop resistance to it. »
For centuries, the thinking has been that all the nitrogen available for plant growth worldwide comes from the atmosphere. But a new study shows that more than a quarter of that nitrogen is derived from the weathering of Earth's bedrock. »
New images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and other telescopes reveal a rich landscape of stars and glowing clouds of gas in one of our closest neighbouring galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud. »
Amid efforts to find alien life, scientists have not yet confirmed the existence of an extraterrestrial civilization. Findings of a new study suggest this has something do with the element phosphorus lacking in the cosmos. »
With a gelling agent commonly used in preparing pastries, researchers from the Inspired Nanomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory have successfully fabricated an injectable bandage to stop bleeding and promote wound healing. »
A simple potassium solution could boost the efficiency of next-generation solar cells, by enabling them to convert more sunlight into electricity. »
Scientists are monitoring a defunct Chinese space station that is expected to fall to Earth around the end of the month, the largest manmade object to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in a decade. »
A hot, metallic, Earth-sized planet with a density similar to Mercury – situated 339 million light years away — has been detected and characterised by a global team of astronomers. »
Australian scientists say a powerful ground-based laser targeting space junk will be ready for use next year. They say there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris circling the Earth that have the potential to damage or destroy satellites. »
Immune cells called microglia can completely repopulate themselves in the retina after being nearly eliminated, according to a new study in mice from scientists at the National Eye Institute. »
The world's largest collection of ocean garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and California, is now bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined. »
Airborne soot produced by wildfires and fossil-fuel combustion and transported to the remote McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contains levels of black carbon too low to contribute significantly to the melting of local glaciers. »
Memories of the largest lava flood in the history of Iceland, recorded in an apocalyptic medieval poem, were used to drive the island’s conversion to Christianity, new research suggests. »
The most common type of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation is an irregular beating of the heart that can lead to stroke, blood clots, or heart failure if left unchecked. And unless an electrocardiogram is being used, it can be difficult to detect. »
Archaeologists from the University of Granada have carried out excavations in the Biniadris Cave located on the Balearic Island of Menorca, uncovering enigmatic funeral rituals. »
A new study suggests that how empathic we are is not just a result of our upbringing and experience but also partly a result of our genes. »
Researchers are developing a promising alternative to antibiotic treatment for infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria resistant to carbapenem antibiotics. »
