Other Sciences News

Kinouchi et al reveal that fasting affects peripheral circadian clocks in the liver and skeletal muscle. Fasting operates by influencing the circadian clock and fasting-sensitive transcription factors, thereby cooperatively achieving fasting-specific temporal gene regulation. Image credit: Kinouchi et al, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.11.077.

Study: Fasting Affects Peripheral Circadian Clocks, Improves Overall Health

Jan 17, 2019 by News Staff

Fasting affects peripheral circadian clocks in the liver and skeletal muscle, causing them to rewire their metabolism, which can ultimately lead to improved...

Infrared lamp. Image credit: Bernd Marczak.

Newly-Developed Chemical Process Converts Infrared into Visible Light

Jan 16, 2019 by News Staff

A group of researchers has succeeded in developing a chemical process to convert infrared into visible light. The technology, described in the journal...

Photons emitted near rotating black holes encode quantum information that can be measured by actual quantum information technology. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Spacetime Geometry near Rotating Black Holes Acts Like Quantum Computer, Physicist Says

Jan 15, 2019 by News Staff

According to a theoretical paper published in the Annals of Physics, by Dr. Ovidiu Racorean from the General Direction of Information Technology in Bucharest,...

When we remember a past event, the brain reconstructs that experience in reverse order. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Study Shows How Human Brain Reconstructs Memories

Jan 14, 2019 by News Staff

Remembering is a reconstructive process, yet little is known about how the reconstruction of a memory unfolds in time in the brain. In a study published...

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui to its earliest inhabitants, is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Image credit: Yerson Retamal.

Easter Islanders Built Their Monuments Close to Coastal Freshwater Sources, Researchers Say

Jan 11, 2019 by News Staff

Ancient inhabitants of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) built their famous statues (moai) and megalithic platforms (ahu) that supported them near the island’s...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Image credit: Kang B.C.H.

Scientists Discover New Complex Carbohydrate in Barley

Jan 9, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Adelaide, Australia, has discovered a new complex carbohydrate in the barley (Hordeum vulgare), the world’s...

Ribic et al discovered a new molecular mechanism that is essential for brain maturation and may be used to restore plasticity in aged brains. Image credit: Adema Ribic / Tufts University School of Medicine.

Neuroscientists Uncover Way to Restore Cortical Plasticity in Mature Brain

Jan 9, 2019 by News Staff

In a study on mice, a team of researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine and Yale University School of Medicine has discovered a molecular mechanism...

In a proposed neuromodulation device, two of the new chips would be embedded in a chassis located outside the head. Each chip could monitor electrical activity from 64 electrodes located into the brain while simultaneously delivering electrical stimulation to prevent unwanted seizures or tremors. Image credit: Rikky Muller / University of California, Berkeley.

Researchers Develop Wireless ‘Pacemaker for the Brain’

Jan 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has developed a novel neurostimulator that can listen to and stimulate electric current...

Thanarajah et al combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to assess the brain’s response to food intake and discovered immediate and delayed dopamine release in distinct areas of the human brain; the study authors also identified areas where dopamine release reflected subjective wanting to eat, shedding light on how the brain transforms energetic signals into the desire to eat. Image credit: Thanaraja et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.12.006.

Study: Our Brain Rewards Us Twice Per Meal

Jan 2, 2019 by News Staff

Our brain rewards us for every meal by releasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a starring role in motivating behavior. According to a new study,...

Wedell-Neergaard et al show that in abdominally obese people, exercise-mediated loss of visceral adipose tissue mass requires interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor signaling. Given that abdominal fat is metabolically harmful to health, the study raises a potentially important side effect of IL-6 receptor antibodies, such as tocilizumab. Image credit: Wedell-Neergaar et al.

New Study Shows How Exercise Reduces Abdominal Fat Mass

Dec 31, 2018 by News Staff

Abdominal (belly) fat is harmful to metabolic health. Exercise training reduces abdominal fat mass, but the underlying mechanisms have not been clear....

Genetically modified pothos ivy (Epipremnum aureum). Image credit: Mark Stone / University of Washington.

Genetically Modified Houseplant Can Clean Indoor Air

Dec 27, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Washington has genetically modified a common houseplant, the pothos ivy (Epipremnum aureum), to efficiently remove...

Physarum polycephalum on an oak log. Image credit: Mushroom Observer / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Slime Mold Can Solve Exponentially Complicated Problems in Linear Time

Dec 26, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

Researchers from Lanzhou University in China have shown that the slime mold Physarum polycephalum is able to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem, a combinatorial...

Study: Children’s Personalities Influence How They Perform in Math and Reading

Dec 26, 2018 by News Staff

Proficiency in reading and math is associated with a complex system of skills, some of which derive from personality traits. In new research, Dr. Margherita...

The 51st known Mersenne prime has 24,862,048 digits. Image credit: Pete Linforth.

Largest Known Prime Number Has Almost 25 Million Digits

Dec 24, 2018 by News Staff

Professional and amateur mathematicians from a worldwide research project called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) have discovered the largest...

In Seattle, WA, delaying the start time of two high schools by 55 minutes lengthened students’ daily sleep by 34 minutes, and was associated with reduced sleepiness and increased academic performance. Image credit: E.B. Pilgrim.

Later School Start Times Increase Sleep, Attendance and Grades: Study

Dec 24, 2018 by News Staff

In 2017, the Seattle School District decided to delay the start time for secondary schools from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This change allowed a team of researchers...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Little Foot Fossil Sheds New Light on Hominin Brain Evolution

Dec 21, 2018 by News Staff

The first detailed comparative description of the external neuroanatomy of the 3.67-million-year-old Australopithecus prometheus fossil known as the Little...

The new study by Burke Quinla et al suggests that the experience of chronic peer victimization during adolescence might induce psychopathology-relevant deviations from normative brain development. Early peer victimization interventions could prevent such pathological changes. Image credit: Alexas Fotos.

Study: Bullying Affects Structure of Adolescent Brain

Dec 17, 2018 by News Staff

Chronic peer victimization during adolescence impacts mental health via structural brain changes, according to new research published in the journal Molecular...

Chen et al’s rewritable paper demonstrates excellent rewriting performances (legible time > 6 months and reversibility > 100 times); its color rapidly changes from blue to colorlessness when the temperature is higher than 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius), and the colorless state can be maintained at room temperature; the color returns to blue when the temperature is lower than 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius). Image credit: Chen et al, doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b14625.

Scientists Develop Long-Lasting, Easy-to-Use Rewritable Paper

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

A team of materials scientists in China has created a ‘rewritable’ paper that can be drawn or printed on over and over again; the messages can last...

Exercising on a regular basis over a lifetime may help keep the body decades younger. Image credit: Michael de Groot.

Lifelong Aerobic Exercise May Help Keep Body Young, Says New Study

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

In an analysis of septuagenarians who have been exercising for decades, researchers from Ball State University found that they have heart and lung capacities...