When there is a choice, wolves in Mongolia prefer to feed on wild animals rather than grazing livestock. This is the discovery by a research team from the University of Göttingen and the Senckenberg Museum Görlitz. Previous studies had shown that the diet of wolves in inland Central Asia consists mainly of grazing livestock, which could lead to increasing conflict between nomadic livestock herders and wild predatory animals like wolves. The study has been published in the journal Mammalian Biology. Around three million people live in Mongolia, making it the most sparsely populated country in the world. In addition, there are more than 40 million grazing animals. These animals are not just a source of food but also the ...

By 2030 only EV's will be in production, meaning manufacturers are racing to create a high-energy battery that's affordable and charges efficiently, but conventional battery cathodes cannot reach the targets of 500Wh/Kg Lithium-excess cathodes offer the ability to reach 500Wh/Kg but unlocking their full capacity means understanding how they can store charge at high voltages. A new X-ray study lead by WMG, University of Warwick has resolved how the metals and oxygen facilitate the charge storage at high voltages. High energy storage batteries for EVs need high capacity battery cathodes. New lithium-excess magnesium-rich cathodes are expected to replace existing nickel-rich cathodes but understanding how the magnesium and oxygen accommodate charge storage at high ...

As investors set their sights on the mineral resources of the deep seabed, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is developing regulations that will govern their future exploration and possible exploitation. A new IASS Policy Brief, published in cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), presents three recommendations to ensure that future deep seabed mining would be to the common benefit all humankind, as required by international law. The ecosystems of the deep ocean are complex and provide a wide range of benefits to humankind. Oceans soak up carbon dioxide and act as a natural buffer to global warming in addition to regulating the climate and serving as an important ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Researchers report that 4-6-year-old children who walk further than their peers during a timed test - a method used to estimate cardiorespiratory health - also do better on cognitive tests and other measures of brain function. Published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, the study suggests that the link between cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive health is evident even earlier in life than previously appreciated. Most studies of the link between fitness and brain health focus on adults or preadolescent or adolescent children, said doctoral student Shelby Keye, who led the new research with Naiman Khan, a professor of kinesiology and ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Workers with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds are typically in high demand - but the demand isn't so overwhelming that a "skills gap" exists in the labor market for information technology help desk workers, one of the largest computer occupations in the U.S., says new research from a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies labor economics and work issues. The incidence of prolonged hiring difficulties for STEM workers is modest, with only 11%-15% of IT help desks in the U.S. showing vacancy patterns that might be consistent with persistent hiring frictions, said Andrew Weaver, a professor ...

The mechanism that keeps arterial blood pressure stable in black and white tegu lizards (Salvator merianae) even as their body temperature varies substantially is more efficient at lower than higher external temperatures, contrary to what has always been believed, and vascular regulation plays a key role in pressure adjustments, according to an article published in PLOS ONE by researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The research was supported by FAPESP. The findings pave the way for more investigation of the physiology of ectothermic animals, which rely on external environmental factors to regulate body temperature, and of novel applications for the method used in ...

A new study concluding out of Lusaka, Zambia last summer has found that as many as 19% (almost 1 in 5) of recently-deceased people tested positive for COVID-19. A new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, challenges the common belief that Africa somehow "dodged" the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that low numbers of reported infections and deaths across Africa may simply be from lack of testing, with the coronavirus taking a terrible but invisible toll on the continent. Published in The BMJ, the study found that at least ...

Neutralizing antibodies develop within two weeks of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, but their durability and intensity can vary by individual, prompting concerns about the prospects of long-lasting immunity and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. In a PLOS ONE paper, published online February 11, 2021, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that individual immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may be limited by the major histocompatibility complex or MHC, a set of variable genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. Specifically, ...

Dreams take us to what feels like a different reality. They also happen while we're fast asleep. So, you might not expect that a person in the midst of a vivid dream would be able to perceive questions and provide answers to them. But a new study reported in the journal Current Biology on February 18 shows that, in fact, they can. "We found that individuals in REM sleep can interact with an experimenter and engage in real-time communication," said senior author Ken Paller (@kap101) of Northwestern University. "We also showed that dreamers are capable of comprehending questions, engaging in working-memory operations, and producing answers. ...

Dogs may be able to recognize their own body as an obstacle and also understand the consequences of their own actions, according to a study involving 32 pet dogs published in Scientific Reports. Previous research has shown that dogs have complex cognitive capabilities, such as empathy and social learning, but whether they also show any form of self-awareness was not clear. Péter Pongrácz and Rita Lenkei tested dogs in a 'body as an obstacle' task, during which the dogs had to pick up and give a toy to their owner, whilst standing on a small mat to which the toy was attached. In order to lift the toy, the dogs had to leave the mat. The authors found that dogs left the mat more frequently and sooner when the ...

The simplest of organic molecules have a much more complex relationship with oxygen than previously thought. Researchers from KAUST and their international collaborators have shown that alkanes participate extensively in autoxidation reactions with oxygen molecules1. The discovery, which overturns current chemical wisdom, has implications for air quality prediction and efficient fuel combustion in engines. Autoxidation is a chemical process in which oxygen molecules rapidly and sequentially add to organic molecules in a radical chain reaction. The process is critical for ...

New research published in Nature Food warns that heat stress in animals caused by rising temperatures and humidity will occur more frequently and for longer periods, impacting milk and meat productivity for dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, goat, pigs and poultry across East Africa. Analysis of historical data from 1981-2010 shows that livestock have already been progressively subjected to heat stress conditions. According to projections, this is set to worsen significantly, with severe implications for livestock unable to cope with the extra heat. Authors warn that 4-19% of current meat and milk production occurs in areas where dangerous heat stress conditions are likely to increase in frequency from 2071-2100. If climate conditions ...

The gut microbiome is an integral component of the body, but its importance in the human aging process is unclear. ISB researchers and their collaborators have identified distinct signatures in the gut microbiome that are associated with either healthy or unhealthy aging trajectories, which in turn predict survival in a population of older individuals. The work is set to be published in the journal Nature Metabolism. (Once the embargo lifts, you can access the paper here.) The research team analyzed gut microbiome, phenotypic and clinical data from over 9,000 people - between the ages of 18 and 101 years old - across three independent cohorts. The team focused, ...

Shifting world views and putting nature at the heart of decision-making is key to achieving transformative change COVID-19 recovery plans are an unmissable opportunity to invest in nature and reach net zero emissions by 2050 The world can transform its relationship with nature and tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises together to secure a sustainable future and prevent future pandemics, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) that offers a comprehensive blueprint for addressing our triple planetary emergency. The report, ...

As obesity becomes a growing issue worldwide - nearly tripling over the last-half century - scientists are trying to gain a better understanding of the condition at the molecular level. Now, new research led by UC San Francisco scientists suggests that a single protein could play an outsize role in weight gain. As reported in Nature Metabolism on February 18, 2021, UCSF's Davide Ruggero, PhD, and colleagues found that mice in which activity of a protein called eIF4E is diminished, either genetically or pharmaceutically, gain only half the weight of other mice, even if all the mice eat a high-fat diet. "These mice ...

What The Study Did: Characteristics associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in patients after severe COVID-19 were analyzed in this observational study. Authors: Delfina Janiri, M.D., of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, Italy, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.0109) Editor's Note:  The article includes conflict of interest disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. INFORMATION: Media ...

What The Study Did: This study examined how lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic changed the spoken communication environments of children with cochlear implants by comparing the sounds they were exposed to before and during the resulting closures of schools and nonessential businesses. Authors: Karen A. Gordon, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2020.5496) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest ...

What The Study Did: This is a diagnostic study that examines the accuracy and acceptability of a 3-dimensionally printed swab for identifying SARS-CoV-2. Authors: David M. Allen, M.D., of the National University of Singapore, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2020.5680) Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. INFORMATION: Media ...

Over 20.5 million years of life may have been lost due to COVID-19 globally, with an average of 16 years lost per death, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Years of life lost (YLL) - the difference between an individual's age at death and their life expectancy - due to COVID-19 in heavily affected countries may be two to nine times higher than YLL due to average seasonal influenza. Héctor Pifarré i Arolas, Mikko Mÿrskyla and colleagues estimated YLL due to COVID-19 using data on over 1,279,866 deaths in 81 countries, as well as life ...

Viruses are the most numerous biological entities on the planet. Now researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have identified over 140,000 viral species living in the human gut, more than half of which have never been seen before. The paper, published today (18 February 2021) in Cell, contains an analysis of over 28,000 gut microbiome samples collected in different parts of the world. The number and diversity of the viruses the researchers found was surprisingly high, and the data opens up new research avenues for understanding how viruses living in the gut affect human health. The human gut is an incredibly biodiverse environment. In addition to bacteria, hundreds of thousands of viruses ...

The incidence of surgical site infections after an operation is an important quality indicator for hospitals. An overview from six European countries published in 2017 documented increased costs and, in some cases, significantly poorer surgical outcomes due to SSIs. The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) and authorities in the U.S. have therefore defined criteria for recording and documenting the rate of surgical site infections per procedure. Swissnoso has issued binding guidelines for Switzerland based on these criteria. The study investigated to what extent surgical site ...

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) plays a major role in the early detection of various types of cancer. A research group led by Specially Appointed Professor Katsumi Kaneko of the Research Initiative for Supra-Materials (RISM), Shinshu University have discovered a method to separate oxygen-18 from oxygen-16, an essential isotope for PET diagnosis, at high speed and high efficiency. The results of this research were recently published online in the journal Nature Communications. The novel method for the rapid and efficient separation of O-18 from O2-16, which ...

Covid-19 has not made people any less concerned about climate change - despite the pandemic disrupting and dominating many aspects of their lives, a study suggests. Over a period of 14 months - including the first three months of the Covid-19 lockdown - neither concern about climate change nor belief in the severity of the problem declined in the UK, the research found. Researchers compared responses to the pandemic with the financial crisis of 2008 to better understand how worries and priorities can change in a crisis. In contrast to the economic collapse of 2008, which led to reduced concern with environmental issues, the pandemic has not decreased people's belief in the severity of climate change. The findings shed light on how a concept called the finite pool ...

A team of researchers has devised a method using smartphones in order to measure food consumption--an approach that also offers new ways to predict physical well-being. "We've harnessed the expanding presence of mobile and smartphones around the globe to measure food consumption over time with precision and with the potential to capture seasonal shifts in diet and food consumption patterns," explains Andrew Reid Bell, an assistant professor in New York University's Department of Environmental Studies and an author of the paper, which appears in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Food consumption ...

Menopause is associated with several physiological changes, including loss of skeletal muscle mass. However, the mechanisms underlying muscle wasting are not clear. A new study conducted in collaboration between the universities of Minnesota (USA) and Jyväskylä (Finland) reveals that estrogen deficiency alters the microRNA signalling in skeletal muscle, which may activate signalling cascades leading to loss of muscle mass. Menopause leads to an estrogen deficiency that is associated with decreases in skeletal muscle mass and strength. This is likely due to changes in both muscle function and the size of muscle cells commonly referred to as fibers. "The mechanistic role of estrogen in the loss of muscle mass had not been established. In our study, we focused on signaling cascades ...