Other Sciences News

An artistic conception of the early Earth. Image credit: Simone Marchi / NASA.

Earth’s Continental Crust First Emerged 3.7 Billion Years Ago

Apr 29, 2021 by News Staff

Reconstructing the emergence and weathering of Earth’s continental crust in the Archean eon is crucial for our understanding of early ocean chemistry,...

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.

Study: People Naturally Regulate Their Coffee Consumption Based on Cardio Health

Apr 28, 2021 by News Staff

In a study published in March 2021 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a team of researchers at the University of South Australia found that...

Ba et al. show that mushroom may help guard against cancer. Image credit: Barbro Forsberg.

Mushroom Consumption May Reduce Risk of Cancer

Apr 28, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine and the Pennsylvania State University found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms...

An infrared camera shows how a sample of the whitest white paint (the dark purple square in the middle) actually cools the board below ambient temperature, something that not even commercial ‘heat rejecting’ paints do. Image credit: Joseph Peoples / Purdue University.

New Barium Sulfate-Based Paint is Whitest Yet

Apr 20, 2021 by News Staff

The new barium sulfate- (BaSO4) acrylic paint has a solar reflectance of 98.1%, according to a paper published online in the journal ACS Applied Materials...

Sun et al. examined changes in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, markers of oxidative stress, antioxidant response and cell damage in high-fat-fed obese mice treated with a diet supplemented with 80 mg cocoa powder per gram of food. Image credit: S. Hermann & F. Richter.

Cocoa Supplementation Mitigates Severity of Fatty Liver Disease in Obese Mice, Study Shows

Apr 19, 2021 by News Staff

Supplementation of cocoa powder, derived from Theobroma cacao, in the diet of high-fat-fed mice with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease reduced the severity...

The annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 Twh and generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emission. Image credit: Aaron Olson.

China’s Bitcoin Miners Will Consume as Much Energy as Mid-Sized Country within Three Years

Apr 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Given the current trends in Bitcoin mining, Chinese researchers estimate that the energy consumption from this process in their country alone will peak...

This is an artist's reconstruction of Homo erectus. Image credit: Yale University.

New Fossils of Homo erectus Found in Kenya

Apr 13, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have uncovered two new specimens of Homo erectus at the East Turkana site in Kenya. They’ve also verified the age of a skull fragment...

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,...