Other Sciences News

Meditation Enhances Immune System without Activating Inflammatory Signals, Study Says

Ivana Buric et al analyze how the behavior of our genes is affected by different MBIs including mindfulness and yoga. Image credit: Nato Pereira.
Dec 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Meditation is an effective behavioral intervention for treating various conditions associated with a weakened immune system, according to new research led by the University of Florida. Chandran et al. suggest that meditation as a behavioral intervention can voluntarily and nonpharmacologically improve the immune response for treating various conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation with a dampened immune system profile. Image...

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The copper magnified 500,000 times under a scanning electron microscope shows its tiny nano-scale pores. Image credit: RMIT University.

Novel Copper Surface Shows Exceptional Bactericidal Efficacy

Dec 14, 2021 by News Staff

A team of materials scientists from RMIT University and CSIRO has designed and fabricated a micro-nano copper structure and demonstrated its exceptional...

Redondo et al. found a greater accuracy for both the horizontal and random motion paths of DVA after caffeine ingestion. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Caffeine Intake Improves Reaction to Moving Targets, New Study Suggests

Dec 8, 2021 by News Staff

New research suggests that caffeine intake (i.e., a capsule containing 4 mg/kg) has an ergogenic effect on dynamic visual acuity (DVA) — the ability...

Study area and hybrid-frequency waveform earthquakes (EHWs): (a) hydraulic fracturing activity and seismicity in northeast British Columbia, Canada; the top-right inset shows the geographic location of the study area (red rectangle); blue diamonds: hydraulic fracturing injection wells between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016, reported by the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission; yellow dots: earthquakes during the same period; stars: 10 M 4-5 earthquakes since 2008; black rectangle: study area in which EHWs occurred; (b, c) comparison between representative examples of a typical induced event (black trace) and an EHW (purple trace); both waveforms are from the vertical component of station MG03 with comparable source-station distance (1.32 km vs. 1.65 km) and magnitudes (MW1.5); manually picked P/S-arrivals are marked; the comparison of P/S-pulse shape demonstrates the relatively wider pulses for EHWs; (d, e) the same as (b) and (c) but for waveforms recorded at station MG02; both events show longer coda durations with slightly larger epicentral distances; note that although both types of events have extended coda durations, the EHW contains a relatively larger proportion of lower-frequency energy in the coda. Image credit: Yu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26961-x.

Scientists Detect New Type of Fluid-Injection-Induced Earthquake

Dec 6, 2021 by News Staff

Unlike conventional earthquakes of the same magnitude, the newly-identified hybrid-frequency waveform earthquakes are slower and last longer. Study area...

Using datasets from a wide range of geographical regions, Hyun et al. found that both early life education and adulthood occupational complexity were independently predictive of dementia. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Study: Early-Life Education and Adulthood Occupational Complexity May Cut Dementia Risk

Dec 6, 2021 by News Staff

Education and occupational experiences occur during early life and adulthood respectively, and dementia prevention efforts could thus be made at different...

The SNAG robot. Image credit: William Roderick.

Perching Bird-Like Robot Developed

Dec 2, 2021 by News Staff

When attached to a quadcopter drone, the Stereotyped Nature-Inspired Aerial Grasper (SNAG) forms a robot that can fly around, catch and carry objects and...

Laetoli location and site rediscovery: (a) a model of Laetoli site A generated using photogrammetry showing the five hominin footprints; (b) corresponding contour map of the site generated from a 3D surface scan with scale bar; (c) map of Laetoli localities 7 and 8, indicating the positions of bipedal trackways A, G and S; (d, e) topographical maps of the two best preserved A footprints, A2 (d) and A3 (e). Image credit: McNutt et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04187-7.

Study: At Least Two Hominin Species with Different Feet and Gaits Coexisted at Laetoli, Tanzania

Dec 2, 2021 by News Staff

Bipedal trackways discovered in 1978 at Laetoli site G, Tanzania, and dated to 3.66 million years ago are widely accepted as the oldest unequivocal evidence...

Pacheco et al. investigated the impact of two levels of avocado allotment, plus a standard nutrition education intervention on the nutritional status of Hispanic/Latino families. Image credit: Sandid.

Study: High Avocado Consumption Improves Family-Level Nutritional Status

Dec 2, 2021 by News Staff

A new clinical trial has demonstrated that a differential allotment of avocados may impact overall self-reported caloric consumption, as well as macro-...

Kriegman et al. show that clusters of cells, if freed from a developing organism, can similarly find and combine loose cells into clusters that look and move like they do, and that this ability does not have to be specifically evolved or introduced by genetic manipulation. Image credit: Kriegman et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2112672118.

Researchers Create Self-Replicating Living Robots

Nov 30, 2021 by News Staff

Professor Joshua Bongard, a computer scientist and robotics expert at the University of Vermont, and his colleagues from Tufts University and Harvard University’s...

Optical photographs of the recovered amorphous carbon (AC) samples from different conditions: (a) optical photographs of AC-1 synthesized at 20 GPa and 1,000 degrees Celsius; (b) AC-2, 25 GPa and 1,000 degrees Celsius; (c) AC-3, 27 GPa and 1,000 degrees Celsius; (d) AC-4, 27 GPa and 900 degrees Celsius; (e) AC-5, 30 GPa and 870 degrees Celsius; and (f) AC-6, 37 GPa and 450 degrees Celsius. Image credit: Shang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03882-9.

Researchers Create Ultrahard Diamond Glass

Nov 25, 2021 by News Staff

The new form of carbon glass synthesized by scientists from Jilin University and elsewhere consists of many randomly oriented clusters with diamond-like...

Life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes / S. Entressangle.

Australopithecus sediba Comfortably Walked on Two Legs, But Could Climb Like Ape

Nov 24, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have discovered and examined the fossil lumbar vertebrae of Australopithecus sediba, a small hominin that lived about 2 million years...

Habitual coffee intake may be a protective factor against Alzheimer’s disease; specifically, increased coffee consumption could contribute to slower cognitive decline potentially by slowing the rate of cerebral Aβ-amyloid accumulation, and in doing so, ameliorate the associated neurotoxicity from Aβ-amyloid-mediated oxidative stress and inflammatory processes. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Higher Coffee Consumption Associated with Slower Cognitive Decline

Nov 24, 2021 by News Staff

A new long-term study led by Edith Cowan University scientists further supports the hypothesis that coffee intake may be a protective factor against Alzheimer’s...

Marcus et al. found that coffee consumption increases ventricular ectopy, increase physical activity, and reduces sleep duration. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Coffee Consumption Has Both Beneficial and Harmful Short-Term Health Effects, Says New Study

Nov 18, 2021 by News Staff

In a new randomized trial, participants who drunk caffeinated coffee for two weeks were more physically active, yet they also had an increased number of...

This diamond from Botswana contains tiny inclusions of davemaoite. Image credit: Aaron Celestian, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

New Mineral Found inside Deep-Mantle Diamond: Davemaoite

Nov 17, 2021 by News Staff

Calcium silicate perovskite (CaSiO3) is arguably the most geochemically important phase in the Earth’s lower mantle, because it concentrates elements...

Zhang et al. found that drinking coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia; intake of coffee alone or in combination with tea was associated with lower risk of poststroke dementia. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Study: Coffee and Tea Consumption Lowers Stroke and Dementia Risk

Nov 16, 2021 by News Staff

In a large prospective cohort study published today in the journal PLoS Medicine, a team of researchers from Tianjin Medical University and Yale University...

Yang et al. provide novel preliminary information about the effects of grape intake on the gut microbiome, host cholesterol, and bile acid metabolism. Image credit: Bruno.

Grape Consumption Modifies Gut Microbiome, Lowers Blood Cholesterol Levels: Study

Nov 12, 2021 by News Staff

Consuming grapes significantly increases the diversity of gut bacteria, decreases cholesterol levels as well as bile acids which play an integral role...

Tang Dynasty mural commemorating the victory of General Zhang Yichao over the Tibetans in 848 CE, from Mogao cave 156.

Volcanic Eruptions Contributed to Repeated Collapse of Ancient Chinese Dynasties, Says New Study

Nov 12, 2021 by News Staff

One or more volcanic eruptions preceded the majority (62 of 68) of dynastic collapses in China over the past 2,000 years, according to new research led...

Highly variable neuron size and input-output properties across 10 mammalian species. Image credit: Beaulieu-Laroche et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04072-3.

Human Neurons are Strikingly Different from Those of Other Mammals, Study Says

Nov 11, 2021 by News Staff

Human neurons have a much smaller number of channels that control the flow of ions (such as potassium and sodium) than expected, compared to the neurons...

Tin monosulfide nanosheets possess high photon absorption coefficients, allowing them to be used in making ultrathin soft X-ray detectors with high sensitivity and a rapid response time. Image credit: Shabbir et al., doi: 10.1002/adfm.202105038.

World’s Thinnest X-ray Detector Created

Nov 9, 2021 by News Staff

The structural characteristics of biological specimens, such as wet proteins and living cells, can be conveniently probed in their host aqueous media using...

A reconstruction of Homo naledi’s head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans. The find was announced by the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Geographic Society and the South African National Research Foundation and published in the journal eLife. Image credit: John Gurche / Mark Thiessen / National Geographic.

Paleoanthropologists Find Fossil Remains of Immature Homo naledi

Nov 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists has discovered a partial skull and teeth from an immature individual of Homo naledi, a recently-discovered...

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