Other Sciences News

Liquid gallium converts carbon dioxide into oxygen and a high-value solid carbon product. Image credit: Tang et al., doi: 10.1002/adma.202105789.

Liquid Gallium Shown to Break Down Carbon Dioxide

Oct 13, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by the University of New South Wales has discovered that suspensions of gallium liquid metal — a soft, silvery-white metal...

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing can cause hundreds of unintended mutations. Image credit: Lisichik.

Is Junk DNA What Makes Human Brain Unique?

Oct 11, 2021 by News Staff

In the genome of Homo sapiens, about 98% of DNA sequences are non-coding regions that were previously disregarded as ‘junk DNA.’ In fact, junk DNA...

Puhlmann et al. investigated the effect of regular contemplative mental training on endocrine and psychological indices of long-term stress.

Daily Mental Training Reduces Chronic Stress, New Study Shows

Oct 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research by scientists from Germany and the United Kingdom shows that daily mental training for 3 to 6 months can buffer the long-term systemic stress...

Kea parrots (Nestor notabilisa) don’t differentiate between the real and virtual worlds. Image credit: Amalia Bastos.

Kea Parrots Treat Physical and Virtual Worlds as Continuous and Equivalent, Study Shows

Sep 29, 2021 by News Staff

Using touchscreen laptops, a team of researchers from the University of Auckland has tested whether kea (Nestor notabilisa) — a large species of...

Cassowaries use their casque much in the same way as some other birds use their beaks for heat exchange. Image credit: Lolame.

Prehistoric New Guineans May Have Collected Cassowary Eggs to Hatch and Rear Chicks

Sep 28, 2021 by News Staff

As early as 18,000 years ago, early foragers in the montane rainforests of New Guinea preferentially collected eggs of cassowaries (Casuarius sp.) in late...

The supercontinent Nuna about 1.59 billion years ago. Image credit: Alexandre DeZotti.

Mantle beneath Earth’s Continents Experienced Large-Scale Heating Two Billion Years Ago

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

New research from the University of Adelaide sheds light on why cold eclogites — high-pressure, metamorphic rocks that consist primarily of garnet...

The ancient human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States. Image credit: Bennett et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abg7586.

23,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in New Mexico

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

In a study of exposed outcrops of Lake Otero in New Mexico, the United States, archaeologists have discovered numerous human footprints dating to about...

Japanese samurai in armor, print by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1870s. Image credit: Getty’s Open Content Program.

Ancient DNA Reveals Tripartite Origins of Japanese People

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

The Japanese archipelago, which has been occupied by humans for at least 38,000 years, underwent rapid transformations in the past 3,000 years, first from...

The reconstructed face of Krijn. Image credit: Servaas Neijens, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden / Adrie and Alfons Kennis, Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions.

Dutch Neanderthal’s Face Revealed

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adrie and Alfons Kennis, two paleo-artists from the Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions, have used facial approximation techniques and the latest findings...

An image of a typical non-equilibrium state comprising active filaments, random filament networks and ordered 2D fluidic lattices, and active and self-propulsive electrohydrodynamically sculpted droplets and active emulsions. Image credit: Raju et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abh1642.

Researchers Use Electric Field to Create Polygonal and Toroidal Droplets, Liquid Lattices

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

When two substances are brought together, they will eventually settle into a steady state called the thermodynamic equilibrium. In new research, a team...

Parietal art panel at Quesang, Tibet. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.09.001.

Middle-Pleistocene Hominin Hand and Foot Impressions Found in Tibet

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

A series of previously unreported hand and foot impressions from the Tibetan Plateau dates to between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago (middle Pleistocene...

Several lines of study suggest that peripheral metabolism of amyloid beta (Aß) is associated with risk for Alzheimer’s disease. In blood, greater than 90% of Aß is complexed as an apolipoprotein, raising the possibility of a lipoprotein-mediated axis for Alzheimer’s disease risk. Lam et al. report that genetic modification of C57BL/6J mice engineered to synthesize human Aß only in liver has marked neurodegeneration concomitant with capillary dysfunction, parenchymal extravasation of lipoprotein-Aß, and neurovascular inflammation. Image credit: National Institute on Aging / National Institutes of Health.

Protein from Liver May Cause Alzheimer’s Disease, Groundbreaking Study Says

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

According to a new study in mice, a probable cause of Alzheimer’s disease is the leakage from blood into the brain of fat-carrying particles transporting...

Casiraghi et al. show that on nights before a full moon, people sleep less and go to bed later on average. Image credit: Florian Kurz.

Lunar Cycle’s Effects on Sleep are More Pronounced among Men: Study

Sep 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new community-dwelling study from Sweden suggests that the lunar cycle affects sleep in humans, with more pronounced sleep alterations in men than women. Sleep...

Profuse dendritic-synaptic interconnections among neurons in the neocortex embed intricate logic structures enabling sophisticated decision-making that vastly outperforms any artificial electronic analogues. The physical complexity is far beyond existing circuit fabrication technologies: moreover, the network in a brain is dynamically reconfigurable, which provides flexibility and adaptability to changing environments. In contrast, state-of-the-art semiconductor logic circuits are based on threshold switches that are hard-wired to perform predefined logic functions. To advance the performance of logic circuits, Goswami et al. re-imagined fundamental electronic circuit elements by expressing complex logic in nanometer-scale material properties. Image credit: National University of Singapore.

Brain-Inspired Molecular Memristor Has Exceptional Memory Reconfigurability

Sep 2, 2021 by News Staff

The new reconfigurable memristor, or an electronic memory device, is based on a molecular system that can transition between on and off states at several...

Cocoa and green tea flavonoids may be beneficial in the nutritional management of age-related deterioration of the neuromuscular system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Green Tea and Cocoa-Enriched Diet May Help Prevent Age-Associated Neuromuscular Changes

Sep 2, 2021 by Natali Anderson

A new study in mice provides insights into the use of green tea and cocoa flavonoids as nutritional interventions for the treatment of aging-related neuromuscular...

The egg, as one of the most traditional food products, has long attracted the attention of mathematicians, engineers, and biologists from an analytical point of view. Image credit: Designer Coleman.

Researchers Find Universal Formula for Egg Shape

Sep 1, 2021 by News Staff

The new mathematical formula can describe any bird’s egg existing in nature, says a team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Ukraine. The egg,...

Regular walnut consumption may be a useful part of a multicomponent dietary intervention or dietary pattern to lower atherogenic lipids and improve CVD risk. Image credit: Lubos Houska.

Walnut-Supplemented Diet May Help Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Aug 31, 2021 by News Staff

Eating 30-60 grams (15% of energy) of walnuts every day for two years lowered levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or ‘bad’) cholesterol and reduced...

Linne et al. report several coffee compounds that contribute to the feeling of coffee coating the inside of the mouth, as well as astringency and chalkiness sensations. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Chemists Pinpoint Compounds Responsible for Coffee Body

Aug 27, 2021 by News Staff

Body is one of ten attributes defined by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) that contributes to the overall quality rating of coffee, and, consequently,...

Tetragonula carbonaria combs. Image credit: Tobias Smith.

Researchers Solve Mystery of How Stingless Bees Produce Trehalulose-Rich Honey

Aug 26, 2021 by News Staff

Organic chemists at the University of Queensland have found that an unusual bioactive disaccharide called trehalulose, which is a feature of stingless...