In both life and music, the secret to success is love. This universal emotion stands out as the key protagonist in the most listened-to songs of all time. According to a study by Salvador Climent Roca and Marta Coll-Florit from the GRIAL applied linguistics research group (tied to the UOC Faculty of Arts and Humanities), love is central to 52 of the 71 songs that topped the Billboard magazine's year-end charts from 1946 to 2016. "Pop music is created to achieve commercial success, and evocations of feelings of love and unrequited love are powerfully attractive for all types of audiences," said the authors. Their analysis, published in open access in ...

Low-income mothers feminize their children in the womb by adjusting their hormones, whereas high-income mothers masculinize their children, a major study based on finger length, led by a Swansea University expert, has found. The phenomenon is an unconscious evolutionary response aimed at boosting their offspring's chances of successful reproduction. It helps, in part, explain associations between low income, low levels of testosterone before birth, and major causes of mortality such as cardiovascular disease. The study was based on the relationship between the length of a person's index and ring fingers, known as the 2D:4D ratio. A longer ring finger is a marker of higher levels of testosterone, whereas ...

Rising global temperatures are causing frozen Arctic soil-- permafrost--in the northern hemisphere to thaw and release CO2 that has been stored within it for thousands of years. The amount of carbon stored in permafrost is estimated to be four times greater than the combined amount of CO2 emitted by modern humans. Research results from an international team, which includes a researcher from the University of Copenhagen among others, suggests that the newly discovered phenomenon will release even larger quantities of CO2 than once supposed from organic matter in permafrost--a pool of carbon previously thought to be bound tightly and safely sequestered by iron. The amount of stored carbon that is bound to iron and gets converted ...

The high stakes of first dates require would-be partners to make and interpret first impressions. But, can we rely on these first impressions to accurately assess someone's personality? According to researchers from McGill University, the answer is yes, although it may be more difficult than in more casual settings. Forming an accurate impression of an individual on a first date is important because people often rely on these impressions in deciding whether to pursue a romantic relationship. While previous studies have shown that people can form accurate impressions of new acquaintances in platonic settings - like casual conversations with new classmates - the researchers wanted to find out if the ...

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Publishing their work in Nature, scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health found that the orally administered experimental drug EIDD-2801 halts SARS-CoV-2 replication and prevents infection of human cells in a new in vivo lab model containing human lung tissue. Separate phase 2 and 3 clinical trials are ongoing to evaluate EIDD-2801 safety in humans and its effect on viral shedding in COVID-19 patients. The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to rise in many parts of the world, with the highest incidence in the United States. Although some highly efficacious vaccines have been ...

A global survey of healthcare providers by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) and the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO) has revealed unprecedented effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on worldwide healthcare delivery for osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a chronic, age-related disease which is associated with life-changing fragility fractures. Approximately 740,000 people lose their lives following hip fractures every year. The survey report is based on online questionnaires completed from April to June 2020 by 209 healthcare providers in 53 countries: 28% from Europe, 24% from North America, and 19%, 17% and 12% from the Asia-Pacific, Middle ...

DALLAS - Feb. 8, 2021 - World health experts have long suspected that the incidence of COVID-19 has been higher than reported. Now, a machine-learning algorithm developed at UT Southwestern estimates that the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. since the pandemic began is nearly three times that of confirmed cases. The algorithm, described in a study published today in PLOS ONE, provides daily updated estimates of total infections to date as well as how many people are currently infected across the U.S. and in 50 countries hardest hit by the pandemic. As of Feb. 4, according to ...

As teens' use of social media has grown over the past decade, so too has the suicide rate among younger people, with suicide now being the second leading cause of death among those ages 10 to 34. Many have suggested that social media is driving the increased suicide risk, but because social media is still relatively new, it's been difficult to determine its long-term effects on mental health. In the longest study to date on social media use and suicidality, BYU research recently published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence now offers some answers. Through ...

One of the dozens of unusual symptoms that have emerged in COVID-19 patients is a condition that's informally called "COVID brain" or "brain fog." It's characterized by confusion, headaches, and loss of short-term memory. In severe cases, it can lead to psychosis and even seizures. It usually emerges weeks after someone first becomes sick with COVID-19. In the February 8, 2021, issue of the journal Cancer Cell, a multidisciplinary team from Memorial Sloan Kettering reports an underlying cause of COVID brain: the presence of inflammatory molecules in the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord (called the cerebrospinal fluid). The findings suggest that anti-inflammatory drugs, such as steroids, may ...

Exposure to sexual assault in the U.S. military doubled the odds that a service member would leave the military within 28 months, and sexual harassment was associated with roughly 8% of all military separations during this same time period, according to a new report from the RAND Corporation. Specifically, the report estimates that sexual assaults were associated with 2,000 more separations than would normally be expected, and another 8,000 separations were associated with sexual harassment. "Sexual assault and sexual harassment are associated with a wide range of harms to individual service members, but this study highlights another negative impact of these crimes - higher rates of attrition and associated harms to force readiness." said Andrew ...

The world is changing rapidly and in order to serve the human population dealing with those changes, American universities need to change, too. In fact, their role is to model the resiliency that all institutions need to embrace, according to Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow. While many leading universities are poised to advance society and help respond to the challenges of disruptive change through their traditional role in education and discovery, many face a number of barriers that make them less prepared to respond to the rapidly changing conditions and the demands they create. What is emerging is a new type of university, one that steps beyond the American research university model and ...

Not all friendships are created equal. Some friends get along; others struggle to avoid conflict. Conventional wisdom holds that the tenor of a friendship with someone who is nice differs from that with someone who is mean, such that the former discourages negative interactions whereas the latter aggravates them. Although it is logical to assume that children who are mean have friendships characterized by growing strife and that children who are nice report little of the same, these assumptions have not yet been tested in the real-world friendships of children. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science are the first to conduct a longitudinal study to examine the extent to which being "nice" (prosocial behavior) and being "mean" (relationally aggressive ...

A new study from University of Alberta researchers has shown that traumatic or stressful events in childhood may lead to tiny changes in key brain structures that can now be identified decades later. The study is the first to show that trauma or maltreatment during a child's early years--a well-known risk factor for developing mental health conditions such as major depressive disorder in adulthood--triggers changes in specific subregions of the amygdala and the hippocampus. Once these changes occur, researchers believe the affected regions of the brain may not function as well, potentially increasing the risk of developing mental health disorders as adults during times of stress. "Now ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Marching band members in leadership roles are more likely to feel discomfort in the neck and upper back than their less experienced bandmates, who in turn are more susceptible to left-hand pain and cognitive strain, a new study by Oregon State University suggests. The findings also showed that gender had no bearing on how much discomfort a musician felt or the band member's perception of workload. "The study really seems to indicate that a player's level of experience and role within the band are what drive how much discomfort they feel," said industrial ...

Neurons are the primary cells of the nervous system, and the signals that are transmitted between them are responsible for all our actions and our cognitive ability. In particular, learning and memory are believed to be associated with a process called "long-term potentiation," which is the strengthening of connections between specific neurons via continued signal transmission through "synapses" (small gaps between neurons). Long-term potentiation can change the connection between neurons via synapses--by changing their size and composition. Understanding ...

Researchers report that large-scale commercial farms on deforested land in the southern Amazon result in higher temperature increases and less rainfall than small-scale farms. Deforestation has converted swaths of land in the southern Amazon region from rainforest to farmland. The uses of the deforested land are diverse, and activities can range from small-scale farming in rural settlements to large-scale commodity agriculture. Commercial farms in the Southern Amazon can reach hundreds of thousands of hectares in area, exporting millions of tons in grains and beef every year. Eduardo Maeda from the University of Helsinki and colleagues used satellite data to compare areas dominated by different land uses and farm sizes to evaluate their impacts on ...

Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in various mobile electronics. Concerns of global warming and climate change have recently boosted the demand for LIBs in electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic output smoothing. Si has been studied as an active material with a high theoretical capacity of 3578 mAh/g, which is around ten times higher than that of graphite (372 mAh/g). Now, a team of researchers at Osaka University has used flake-shaped Si nanopowder wrapped by ultrathin graphite sheets (GSs) to fabricate LIB electrodes with high areal capacity and current density. Generally ...

Rivers and lakes at high latitudes are considered to be major sources for greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, but these losses are poorly constrained. In a study published in Nature Communications, Umeå University researchers and collaborators quantify carbon emissions from rivers and lakes across Western Siberia, finding that emission are high and exceed carbon export to the Arctic Ocean. High latitude regions play a key role in the global carbon cycle and climate system. An important question is the degree of mobilization and atmospheric release of vast soil carbon stocks, partly stored in permafrost, with amplified warming of these regions. A fraction of this carbon is exported to inland waters and emitted to the atmosphere, yet these ...

Cryopreservation involves preserving biological materials, such as cells, tissues, and organs, at ultra-low temperatures so that they can be revived and used at a later date. To achieve cryopreservation such that the preserved materials are not damaged, scientists use various chemicals called cryoprotectants, which facilitate the freezing process. Unfortunately, many of the existing cryoprotective agents have major limitations. For example, dimethyl sulfoxide is useful for cryopreserving red blood cells, but it is also toxic to the cells. To overcome these limitations, researchers at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and Japan's RIKEN have experimented with a class of chemicals known as polyampholytes, identifying one ...

In research on solar energy and climatology, "clear sky" or "cloudless" conditions are very important. For instance, the number of clear-sky days (number of days having an average cloud cover less than 10%) is a key parameter of solar resource assessments. The instantaneous surface irradiance is highly affected by cloud variations, based on which clear-sky detection (CSD) methods can be developed. However, a general tendency in common among all CSD methods is the detection accuracy deteriorates when aerosol loading increases. "The lack of accurate clear-sky detection data makes it difficult to assess existing clear-sky detection methods in polluted areas," explains Liu Mengqi, a PhD student from the group of Prof. Xiang'ao Xia at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese ...

Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have developed a computational model to calculate 'skeletal age', a personalised estimate of an individual's risk of bone fracture and premature death. The skeletal age calculator, which will be accessible to doctors and health professionals, aims to better identify those at risk of a first bone fracture and subsequent fractures, and also estimates how fractures impact life expectancy. Osteoporosis, a disease which reduces bone strength and increases bone fracture risk, is a major national health issue and estimated to affect over 900,000 Australians. ...

Research groups at University of Helsinki and Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, discovered a new molecular mechanism that promotes cell migration. The discovery sheds light on the mechanisms that drive uncontrolled movement of cancer cells, and also revises the 'text book view' of cell migration. The ability of cells to move within our bodies is critical in wound healing, as well as for immune cells to patrol in our tissues to hunt bacterial and viral pathogens. On the flip-side, uncontrolled movement of cells is a hallmark of cancer invasion and metastasis. The machinery that drives cell migration is a complex network of dynamic filaments composed of a protein actin. Actin exists in monomeric form, but ...

Glaciers are not only melting, but also collapsing in the Third Pole region. In 2016, two glaciers in the western Third Pole's Aru Mountains collapsed, one after another. The first collapse caused nine human casualties and the loss of hundreds of livestock. However, that may not be the end of the catastrophe. According to a study recently published in The Cryosphere, meltwater from ice avalanches has been filling downstream lakes in a way that may cause previously separated lakes to merge within the next decade, thus disrupting the function of ecosystems in the region. "The collapse of Aru glaciers has both short-term and long-term impacts on downstream lakes," said Dr. LEI Yanbin, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research ...

Science always strives to replace complex natural objects and phenomena with simpler models. Scientists of Samara Center for Theoretical Materials Science (SCTMS) of Samara Polytech have developed methods to simplify the crystal structure of a substance to obtain chemically important knowledge. The main approaches are described in the article published in the Structural Chemistry journal IF 2.081 (doi:10.1007/s11224-020-01724-4). "The main goal of simplifying any crystal structure is to understand the features of its structure and properties, and the simplification ...

The BioRescue research project, a programme aiming at saving the northern white rhinoceros from extinction, exemplifies the challenges to overcome when conducting research and conservation in an international consortium in times of a global pandemic. COVID-19 hampered communication and travels, prevented or delayed crucial procedures, caused losses in revenues and by that may have lowered the chances of a survival of the northern white rhino. The consortium adjusted strategies, gained valuable knowledge during these challenging times and continued with its mission. The effects of the pandemic on the BioRescue project are described in detail in a scientific paper published in the Journal ...