Other Sciences News

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

Plate Tectonics Was Active from Earth’s Very Beginning, Study Suggests

Oct 1, 2018 by News Staff

New research overturns previous scientific beliefs that Earth’s tectonic plates were developed over the course of billions of years. An artistic conception...

Adhering to a healthy diet, in particular a traditional Mediterranean diet, or avoiding a pro-inflammatory diet appears to confer some protection against depression in observational studies. Image credit: Rita E.

Eating Healthier, Plant-Rich Diet May Help Prevent Depression

Oct 1, 2018 by News Staff

According to a comprehensive, systematic review of previous studies, a diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts, plant-based food and fish — typical of a...

Kühn et al show that cocoa beans from different growing regions contain vitamin D2.

Cocoa and Chocolate are Rich Dietary Sources of Vitamin D2, Study Shows

Sep 28, 2018 by Natali Anderson

A study carried out by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Max Rubner-Institut, Germany, shows that cocoa and cocoa-based foods contain...

Dr. David Ferrier’s monkey brain map, 1874: the highlighted area labeled ‘EF’ is the area he observed to cause eye and head movements when electrically stimulated.

Neuroscientists Find Brain Area Linked to High-Risk Behavior

Sep 26, 2018 by News Staff

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) who learned how to gamble have helped neuroscientists locate an area of the brain linked to risky behavior. The findings,...

An example of 3D-printed LCP part with complex fiber architecture and geometry: an impact-resistant Bouligand-type structure with twisted plywood arrangement of printed fibers. Image credit: Gantenbein et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0474-7.

Researchers Develop Way to 3D Print with Liquid-Crystal Polymers

Sep 25, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers at ETH Zürich in Switzerland has developed an approach to 3D print recyclable materials using cheap desktop printers that outperform...

The Servants Drive a Herd of Yahoos into the Field by Louis John Rhead. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Yahoo in Gulliver’s Travels Represent 18th Century Description of Sasquatch, Researcher Says

Sep 24, 2018 by News Staff

Australian National University researcher Debbie Argue may have solved one of English literature’s most enduring mysteries: Jonathan Swift’s inspiration...

Gerlach et al determine four new personality types: average, reserved, self-centered and role model. Image credit: GraphicMama Team / Sci-News.com.

Researchers Determine Four New Personality Types

Sep 19, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers at Northwestern University has sifted through data from more than 1.5 million people around the world and found at least four distinct...

Dairy consumption was associated with lower risk of mortality and major cardiovascular disease events in a diverse multinational cohort. Image credit: Rita E.

Higher Dairy Consumption Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Sep 17, 2018 by News Staff

According to investigators from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, dairy intake of around three standard servings per day is associated...

Karshalev et al created a micromotor pill and demonstrated its attractive use as a platform for oral delivery of active micromotors: (A) left: schematic of in vivo administration of a micromotor pill for actuation in the stomach; right: schematic of the micromotor pill composition consisting of a lactose/maltose pill matrix and the encapsulated a magnesium/titanium dioxide/polylactic-co-glycolic acid (Mg/TiO2/PLGA) micromotors; a zoom-in view illustrates the micromotor structure consisting of a Mg microsphere core with a TiO2 shell layer and a cargo-loaded PLGA film coating; (B) schematic of micromotor pill dissolution in gastric fluid and subsequent micromotor release; (C) left: image showing different sizes of disk-shaped micromotor pills; center: microscope image showing the dissolution of a micromotor pill in gastric fluid simulant; right: propulsion of the released Mg-based micromotors in gastric fluid simulant. Image credit: Karshalev et al, doi: 10.1021/acsnano.8b03760.

Researchers Create Micromotor Pill

Sep 14, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego has found a way to encapsulate micromotors into pills. The pill’s coating protects the...

The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica shows the continent in stunning detail. Image credit: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

New High-Resolution Map of Antarctica Unveiled

Sep 13, 2018 by News Staff

A team of cartographers and researchers from the University of Minnesota and the Ohio State University has produced a high-resolution terrain map of Antarctica...

Hensleigh et al developed a new process to 3D print graphene structures. Image credit: Hensleigh et al, doi: 10.1039/C8MH00668G.

Scientists Find New Way to 3D Print Graphene Objects

Sep 12, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Virginia Tech and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has developed a new 3D printing process to create complex objects out...

Increasing daily fasting times made mice healthier and live longer compared to mice who ate more frequently. Image credit: Mitchell et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.08.011.

Study: Daily Fasting Improves Health and Longevity in Male Mice

Sep 12, 2018 by News Staff

A new study led by the National Institute on Aging shows that a long daily period of fasting improves the health and survival of male mice, regardless...

Chandrasekhar et al invented a proof-of-concept blood pressure app that can give accurate readings using an iPhone. Image credit: Michigan State University.

New Smartphone App Accurately Measures Blood Pressure from Fingertip

Sep 11, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers at Michigan State University has developed an iPhone X app that measures blood pressure via the ‘oscillometric finger pressing...

Wind and solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and other factors that may be beneficial to the regions in which they are situated. Image credit: Erich Westendarp.

Large-Scale Solar and Wind Farms in Sahara Would Increase Rain and Vegetation

Sep 10, 2018 by News Staff

Energy generation by wind and solar farms could reduce carbon emissions and thus mitigate anthropogenic climate change. A new climate-modeling study, published...

Microscopy image of OLM cells. Scale bar - 20 µm. Image credit: Mikulovic et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-05907-w.

Neuroscientists Find ‘Bravery Neurons’ in Hippocampus

Sep 10, 2018 by News Staff

An international group of neuroscientists from Sweden and Brazil has found that some cells in a brain area called hippocampus play a key role in risk-taking...

In people with bipolar disorder, the left side of the amygdala is less active and less connected with other parts of the brain than in people with depression. Image credit: Westmead Institute for Medical Research.

Amygdala Neurons Could Hold Key to Accurately Diagnosing Unipolar Depression, Bipolar Disorder

Sep 6, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Dr. Mayuresh Korgaonkar of the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and the University of Sydney, used MRI scanning to...

A chip designed to operate as a 128-qubit superconducting adiabatic quantum optimization processor. Image credit: D-Wave Systems, Inc.

Physicists Demonstrate ‘Teleportation’ of Quantum Gate between Two Qubits

Sep 6, 2018 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Yale University has experimentally demonstrated one of the key steps in building the architecture for quantum computers —...

Rimfeld et al use twin analyses and genome-wide polygenic score analyses of longitudinal data from the Twins Early Development Study from age 7 to age 16, including GCSE scores, to investigate three issues -- the stability of general educational achievement, the stability of achievement in specific subjects, and the contribution of general cognitive ability to the stability of educational achievement. Image credit: Andrew Tan.

Study: Genetic Factors are Key to Academic Success

Sep 6, 2018 by News Staff

According to a large new study of twins, genetics explains more than 60% of individual differences in school achievement. Rimfeld et al use twin analyses...

This image shows a piezoelectric energy harvester in a wristwatch-like device. Image credit: Pennsylvania State University.

New Wearable Piezoelectric Device Harvests Energy from Low-Frequency Vibrations

Sep 5, 2018 by News Staff

A wearable piezoelectric energy harvester developed by scientists from the Materials Research Institute at the Pennsylvania State University and the University...