Other Sciences News

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

An illustration of early Earth, as it would have looked around 4 billion years ago. Image credit: Lucy Entwisle.
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 — such as the mineral schreibersite — delivered to early Earth in meteorites have been advocated as a main source of prebiotic phosphorus. Planetary scientists believed minimal amounts of these minerals were also brought to our planet through billions of lightning strikes. But now a team...

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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...

This digitally colorized, scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image, depicts a clump of yellow-colored, spheroid shaped, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were enmeshed in a blue-colored, filamentous extracellular matrix, which normally binds cells together within the body’s various tissue types Image credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Artificial Sweeteners May Play Role in Spread of Antibiotic Resistance

Feb 26, 2021 by News Staff

Four commonly used artificial sweeteners – saccharine, sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium — can promote the horizontal transfer...

Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid that lived in Africa more then 4 million years ago. Illustration by Arturo Asensio, via Quo.es.

4.4-Million-Year-Old Ardipithecus Hand Reveals ‘Big Evolutionary Jump’

Feb 26, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, and South Africa have examined the fossilized hand of Ardipithecus ramidus, a...

Zhou & Hyppönen observed a positive dose-dependent association between self-reported coffee intake and plasma concentration of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B, with the highest lipid levels seen among participants reported drinking over 6 cups/day. Image credit: Ermal Tahiri.

Heavy Coffee Consumption May Increase Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

Long-term heavy coffee consumption (six or more cups a day) may lead to unfavourable lipid (fat) profile, which could potentially increase individuals’...

Konkoly et al. implemented procedures for two-way communication during polysomnographically verified REM sleep in 36 individuals. Image credit: Konkoly et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026.

Scientists Demonstrate Two-Way Communication with Dreaming Persons during Lucid Dream

Feb 24, 2021 by News Staff

New research from Northwestern University shows that individuals who are asleep and in the midst of a lucid dream — aware of the fact that they are...

Lin et al. examined whether daily caffeine intake affects human gray matter through the mediation of homeostatic sleep pressure. Image credit: Bru-nO.

Daily Caffeine Intake Induces Changes in Gray Matter, Study Shows

Feb 24, 2021 by News Staff

Caffeine, a psychostimulant commonly used to combat high sleep pressure on a daily basis, alters gray matter structures; however, the effect appears to...

Illustration showing the relationship between ice VI and XIX unit cells viewed down their c-axes, and the differences in their diffraction patterns, with color coding red for ice XIX and blue for ice VI. Image credit: University of Innsbruck.

Scientists Create New Crystalline Form of Ice

Feb 18, 2021 by News Staff

Ice XIX is the second hydrogen-partially-ordered phase of ice VI, a previously known form of ice that exists at pressures around 1 GPa and temperatures...

Distribution of Earth’s continental crust, ocean basins and plate boundaries in the plate model at present day. Tan polygons are areas of continental lithosphere in the Neoproterozoic, blue polygons are areas of present-day continental lithosphere. Abbreviations: A - Amazonia; Ant - Antarctica; AUS - Australia; BP - Borborema Province; CCT - Chinese Central Tianshan; Cu - Cuyania; CY - Chu Yili; K - Kalahari; KMT - Krygyz Middle Tianshan; KNT - Krygyz North Tianshan; KST - Krygyz South Tianshan; N-B - Nigeria-Benin; NC - North China; P - Paranapanema; ANS - Arabian Nubian Shield; Qa - Qaidam; Qi - Qilian; RDLP - Rio de la Plata; SC - South China; SM - Sahara Metacraton; T - Tarim; WAC - West African Craton. Image credit: Merdith et al., doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103477.

New Video Shows Movement of Earth’s Tectonic Plates over Past Billion Years

Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of geoscientists has created the first continuous full-plate model with evolving plate boundaries spanning one billion year ago to...

Caffeine is a known neuromodulator that is commonly consumed throughout pregnancy. Image credit: Poohchisa Tunsiri.

Caffeine During Pregnancy Is Not a Good Idea, Researchers Say

Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

Caffeine consumed during pregnancy can change important brain pathways that could lead to behavioral problems later in life, according to new research...

The magnetic structure of FePS3. Image credit: Cavendish Laboratory.

Physicists Identify New Form of Magnetism in ‘Magnetic Graphene’

Feb 10, 2021 by News Staff

The high-pressure magnetic phase observed in iron trithiohypophosphate, a 2D material that transitions from an insulator to a metal when compressed, likely...

A Minoan clay tablet inscribed with Linear A, which is on display in Crete’s Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. Image credit: Ester Salgarella.

Scientists One Step Closer to Cracking Minoan Linear A Script

Feb 8, 2021 by News Staff

Linear A is a logo-syllabic script used for administrative purposes on Bronze Age Crete. Together with Cretan Hieroglyphic, it is one of two writing systems...

Quartz vial containing 300 micrograms of einsteinium-253. The illumination produced is a result of the intense radiation from einsteinium-253, which alpha decays with a half-life of 20.5 days. Image credit: R.G. Haire, U.S. Department of Energy.

Einsteinium: Scientists Reveal Chemical Secrets of Elusive Transplutonium Element

Feb 4, 2021 by News Staff

Transplutonium elements are a group of metals that lie at the edge of the periodic table. As a result, the patterns and trends used to predict the physics...

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

48,000-Year-Old Fossils Hint at Neanderthal-Human Interbreeding

Feb 1, 2021 by News Staff

Several hominin teeth found the Paleolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in Jersey may belong to Neanderthal-Homo sapiens hybrids, according to new research...

Laham et al. show that mice form memories of their mother within days after birth and that these memories persist into adulthood. Image credit: Laham et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108668.

Mice Form Memories of Their Mother within Three Days after Birth, Study Shows

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Mouse pups recognize their caregiving mother and distinguish her from novel mothers as newborns and remember them after up to 100 days apart, according...

The first people to reach and disperse across the Americas did so in tandem with their dogs. Image credit: Ettore Mazza.

First People to Settle in Americas were Accompanied by Their Dogs

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by 23,000 years ago, possibly...

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