Other Sciences News

Tahitian warrior dugouts from ‘Le Costume Ancien et Moderne’ by Giulio Ferrario, Milan, between 1816 and 1827.

First Mariana Islanders Came from Philippines, New Study Shows

Dec 23, 2020 by News Staff

In new research, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Australian National University and the University of Guam analyzed...

Fresh Hass avocado intake over a 12-week period resulted in changes to the fecal microbiota and increased concentrations of microbially derived metabolites among adults with overweight and obesity. Image credit: Sandid.

Daily Avocado Consumption Improves Gut Health, New Study Suggests

Dec 21, 2020 by News Staff

Avocado affects digestive physiology of the intestinal microbiota as well as its composition and metabolic functions, according to a study published in...

Toonen et al. challenge the long-held view that the fall of Central Asia’s river civilizations was determined by warfare and the destruction of irrigation infrastructure during the Mongol invasion. Image credit: National Library, Berlin.

Climate Change, Not Mongol Invasion, Destroyed Central Asia’s River Civilizations

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

The Aral Sea basin in Central Asia and its major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were the center of advanced river civilizations, and a principal...

Yin et al. investigated the effects of sous vide, boiling, and roasting on beef protein digestibility and peptide profiling in simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Image credit: Anova Culinary / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Sous-Vide Cooking Increases Beef Protein Digestibility, New Study Finds

Dec 10, 2020 by News Staff

Beef samples treated with sous vide — a technique in which food is vacuum-sealed in a plastic pouch and then placed in a water bath or steam environment...

Al-Shaar et al. found that greater intakes of total, unprocessed, and processed red meat were each associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease. Compared with total, unprocessed, or processed red meat, other dietary components such as soy, nuts, and legumes were associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease. These associations were stronger among older men. These findings are consistent with the effects of these foods on low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and support a health benefit of limiting red meat consumption and replacement with plant protein sources; this would also have important environmental benefits. The team also found that substituting whole grains or dairy products for total red meat and substituting eggs for processed red meat were also associated with a lower coronary heart disease risk. Image credit: Ulrike Leone.

Replacing Red Meat with Plant Foods Reduces Coronary Heart Disease Risk, Study Suggests

Dec 9, 2020 by News Staff

According to a new study published in The BMJ, substituting high quality plant foods such as legumes, nuts, or soy for red meat might reduce the risk of...

Aspyn Palatnick holding the world’s first mobile genetics laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s 125th anniversary Open House. Image credit: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Researchers Develop Handheld DNA Sequencer

Dec 8, 2020 by News Staff

By pairing a new app called iGenomics with a handheld DNA sequencer, users can easily align and analyze relatively small genomes, like those of viral pathogens. Aspyn...

An ancient Japanese wooden sailing vessel. Image credit: Pratyeka / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Paleolithic Humans Deliberately Crossed Ocean to Japanese Islands 35,000 Years Ago: Study

Dec 7, 2020 by News Staff

Paleolithic people deliberately crossed the challenging ocean to migrate to the Ryukyu Islands of southwestern Japan, even though the islands would not...

The Venus of Willendorf, an 11.1-cm- (4.4-inch) tall Venus figurine estimated to have been made 30,000 BCE, in Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Upper Paleolithic Figurines Showing Women with Obesity May Be Linked to Climate Change

Dec 2, 2020 by News Staff

Obesity is rare in hunter-gatherer cultures. Nevertheless, dozens of handheld ‘Venus’ figurines — the oldest art sculptures of humans known and...

A green Mediterranean diet is further enriched with green plant-based foods and lower meat intake. Image credit: Higorhsa.

Green Mediterranean Diet Better than Original Version, New Study Suggests

Dec 2, 2020 by News Staff

New research suggests that additional restriction of meat intake with a parallel increase in plant-based, protein-rich foods may further benefit the cardiometabolic...

This illustration shows Jezero Crater -- the landing site of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover -- as it may have looked billions of years ago on Mars, when it was a lake. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Researchers Develop Hydrogen and Oxygen Harvesting System for Use on Mars

Dec 1, 2020 by News Staff

The active Martian water cycle, i.e., the presence of shallow water and soluble perchlorate salts in the Martian soil, enables the production of hydrogen...

When mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) age, the transcription factor GATA6 is increasingly produced in the cell to induce aging response; by transcription factor-based cellular reprogramming, aged MSCs are rejuvenated with a reduction in GATA6 effects on cellular aging. Image credit: AlphaMed Press.

Scientists Identify Gene Responsible for Aging of Human Cells

Dec 1, 2020 by News Staff

A gene called GATA6 (GATA binding protein 6) regulates aging of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), according to new research from the University...

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

Neanderthals Were as Good at Tolerating Smoke-Related Toxins as Early Modern Humans: Study

Nov 30, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genetic study conducted by researchers from Leiden University and Wageningen University thoroughly debunks previous claims that a genetic mutation...

Gratton et al. show that flavanol intake leads to faster and greater brain oxygenation responses to hypercapnia, as well as higher performance only when cognitive demand is high. Image credit: Ally J.

Study: Cocoa Flavanols Can Improve Cognition and Brain Oxygenation

Nov 30, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers have demonstrated that consumption of cocoa flavanols can improve efficiency in blood...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthal Thumbs were Better Adapted to Holding Tools with Handles: Study

Nov 26, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals may have found precision grips (where objects are held between the tip of the finger and thumb) more challenging than power squeeze grips...

Electron microscopy image of a densely packed droplet of hydrogen-producing algal cells. Scale bar - 10 micrometers. Image credit: Xin Huang, Harbin Institute of Technology.

Scientists Create Hydrogen-Producing Algal Droplets

Nov 25, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from the United Kingdom and China has created droplet-based algal micro-reactors capable of aerobic or hypoxic photosynthesis...

This image from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper shows a superbolt-producing lightning flash over the southeastern United States on February 19, 2019. The lightning flash spanned several hundred kilometers and lasted nearly 7 seconds. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Lightning ‘Superbolts’ Are Real, Two New Studies Confirm

Nov 24, 2020 by News Staff

‘Superbolts’ are distinct from typical lightning flashes and can be more than 1,000 times brighter, according to two new papers published in the Journal...

Hus et al. created the smallest atom-memory unit yet. Image credit: Cockrell School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin.

Researchers Create Smallest Memory Device Yet

Nov 24, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientist from the United States, the United Kingdom and Taiwan has developed the world’s smallest memristor. Their results...

Conceptual representation showing a glass containing two liquids of water separated by a thin interface; the bottom liquid is dense than the liquid at the top and, thus, shows that it is composed of water molecules closely packed. Image credit: Jerker Lokrantz / Anders Nilsson.

Supercooled Water Can Exist in Two Liquid States, Study Confirms

Nov 20, 2020 by News Staff

The usual liquid state of water that we are all familiar with corresponds to liquid water at normal temperatures. However, a new study published in the...

McCulloch et al. created ‘rivers’ of regular diamond and lonsdaleite, named after the crystallographer Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, the first woman elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society. Lonsdaleite has a different crystal structure to regular diamond, and is predicted to be 58% harder. Image credit: McCulloch et al., doi: 10.1002/smll.202004695.

Researchers Create Two Types of Diamond at Room Temperature

Nov 19, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Australia and the United States has created two types of diamond — regular diamond and a diamond-like phase called lonsdaleite,...