Other Sciences News

Black phosphorus is effective at killing microbes when spread in nanothin layers on surfaces like titanium and cotton. Image credit: RMIT University.

Black Phosphorus-Based Coating Has Antimicrobial Activity

Apr 13, 2021 by News Staff

Few-layered black phosphorus is highly antimicrobial toward resistant bacteria and fungal species; it is one of the thinnest antimicrobial coatings developed...

Skulls of early Homo from Georgia with an ape-like brain (left) and from Indonesia with a human-like brain (right). Image credit: M. Ponce de León & C. Zollikofer, University of Zurich.

New Research Explores Origins of Structurally Modern Human Brain

Apr 9, 2021 by News Staff

Modern human brain structures emerged later than the first dispersal of the genus Homo from Africa, and were probably in place by 1.7 to 1.5 million years...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

First European Homo sapiens Mixed with Neanderthals, DNA Study Shows

Apr 9, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists have extracted and analyzed DNA from three individuals of anatomically modern humans who lived between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago in what is...

Vanhatalo et al. applied a systems-level bacterial co-occurrence network analysis across 10-day dietary nitrate and placebo interventions to test the stability of relationships between physiological and cognitive traits and clusters of co-occurring oral bacteria in older people. Image credit: Conger Design.

Beetroot Juice Consumption May Help Improve Cardiovascular and Cognitive Health

Apr 7, 2021 by News Staff

Drinking beetroot juice, which is rich in inorganic nitrate, promotes communities of oral bacteria associated with healthier blood vessels and brain function,...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Permanent Oxygenation of Earth’s Atmosphere Occurred Later than Previously Thought

Apr 6, 2021 by News Staff

Oxygen levels fluctuated dramatically for about 200 million years after the start of the Great Oxidation Event, with permanent atmospheric oxygenation...

Flavonoid-rich cocoa could reduce fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.

Cocoa Flavanols Could Protect against Mental Stress-Induced Cardiovascular Events

Apr 1, 2021 by News Staff

Blood vessels were able to function better during mental stress when people were given a cocoa drink containing high levels of flavanols than when drinking...

Non-utilitarian collected objects at Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter and in southern Africa. Abbreviations: A11 - Apollo 11, CoH - Cave of Hearths, HRS - Hollow Rock Shelter, KRM - Klasies River Main site, PP - Pinnacle Point sites, VR3 - Varsche Rivier 3, WC - Wonderwerk Cave. Scale bar - 5 cm. Image credit: Wilkins et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0.

Innovative Humans Thrived in Water-Rich Kalahari 105,000 Years Ago

Apr 1, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has found evidence of complex symbolic and technological behaviors at Ga-Mohana Hill in the Northern Cape, South...

Devices with stretchable wideband antennas and rectennas create application opportunities such as self-powered systems, remote monitoring of the environment, and clean energy. Image credit: Zhu et al., doi: 10.1016/j.mtphys.2021.100377.

Newly-Developed Stretchable Antenna Harvests Energy from Radio Waves

Mar 31, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Pennsylvania State University and elsewhere has developed a stretchable antenna and rectenna system that harvests energy...

A single bout of exercise may provide a boost to the mind. Image credit: Mabel Amber.

Study: Aerobic Exercise Increases Blood Flow to Brain in Older Adults

Mar 31, 2021 by News Staff

In a new study led by scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, aerobic exercise training reduced central arterial stiffness...

Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Study: Oldowan and Acheulean Flaked Stone Technologies Older than Previously Thought

Mar 25, 2021 by News Staff

The Oldowan and the Acheulean — currently the two oldest, well-documented stone tool technologies known to archaeologists — are roughly 30,000...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Southeast Asians Carry DNA of ‘Mysterious Southern Denisovans’

Mar 23, 2021 by News Staff

The hominin fossil record of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) indicates that at least two super-archaic species, Homo luzonensis and Homo floresiensis, were...

Theoretical structure of ghrelin. Image credit: Manuel Almagro Rivas / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Appetite-Regulating Hormone Affects Monetary Decision Making, New Study Suggests

Mar 23, 2021 by News Staff

Ghrelin, a stomach-derived hormone known to regulate appetite and other food-related functions, may play a broad role in reward-related behavior and decision-making,...

Microscale origami duck transforming from a flat sheet and holding its 3D shape. Image credit: Liu et al.

World’s Tiniest Self-Folding Origami Bird Created

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Cornell University has created micron-sized shape memory actuators that enable atomically thin 2D materials to fold themselves...

An illustration of early Earth, as it would have looked around 4 billion years ago. Image credit: Lucy Entwisle.

Lightning Strikes Played Role in Creating Prebiotic Phosphorus on Early Earth, Study Suggests

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

Phosphorus is one of the key elements for life, involved in biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, phospholipids, and adenosine triphosphate. Phosphide minerals...

An activation of the vascular and neuronal KCNQ5 potassium channel contributes significantly to vasodilation by both green and black tea; the tea polyphenols ECG and EGCG are major contributors to this effect, via hyperpolarization of the voltage dependence of KCNQ5 activation; ECG and EGCG or optimized derivatives of these compounds are candidates for future anti-hypertensive drug development. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Two Tea Compounds Found to Relax Blood Vessels

Mar 10, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine and the University of Copenhagen has found that two polyphenol compounds found in green...

The inner core of our planet has an inner core of its own, with crystals aligned in a different direction. Image credit: Lachina Publishing Services.

Geoscientists Confirm Existence of Earth’s Innermost Inner Core

Mar 8, 2021 by News Staff

Earth’s inner core has an inner core of its own and its distinct properties may point to a dramatic event in the history of our planet, according to...

In the two prospective cohorts with many repeated measurements of diet and up to 30 years of follow-up, Wang et al. observed that a higher intake of fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of total mortality and cause-specific mortality; their analysis in the NHS and the HPFS and in a meta-analysis of 26 prospective cohort studies documented that intake of approximately 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily was associated with the lowest mortality, and higher intake was not associated with additional risk reductions in mortality. Image credit: Julita / Pasja1000.

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Could Lead to Longer Life

Mar 3, 2021 by News Staff

A team of U.S. researchers has found an inverse association between fruit and vegetable intake and mortality in two large prospective cohorts, the Nurses’...

Researchers Observe ‘Space Hurricane’ in Earth’s Ionosphere

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere are well known; however, disturbances resembling hurricanes had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere. An...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Study: Neanderthals Had Capacity to Produce Human-Like Speech

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Neanderthals evolved the auditory capacities to support a vocal communication system as efficient as modern human speech, according to new research led...