Consumers will pay higher prices for palm oil made by companies that help to protect endangered species, finds a new study by North American and U.K. researchers. Palm oil is widely used in processed food and cosmetics. But the conversion of tropical forests to oil palm plantations has devastated a huge number of plant and animal species, including tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans. The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that shoppers' willingness to pay more for sustainably grown palm oil could create profitable ...

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined that toothed whales lack functional Mx genes -- a surprising discovery, since all 56 other sequenced mammals in the study possess these genes to fight off viruses like HIV, measles and flu. Modern toothed whales, including dolphins, orcas and sperm whales, have inherited defunct copies of the Mx1 and Mx2 genes, profoundly altering their immune systems. The basic role of these Mx genes is to make proteins that fight viral infections. The researchers hope that understanding this newly discovered mysterious ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Measures taken to protect ecosystems and the environment could also deliver public health benefits, according to a study published today. While research has shown that nearly one quarter of the global burden of disease can be attributed to poor environmental quality, very little scientific evidence supports the claim that the conservation of ecosystems benefits human health. To address this knowledge gap, Subhrendu Pattanayak, a Duke professor of global health, environment and public policy, and his colleagues analyzed an extensive set of data consisting ...

Washington, DC-- The matter that makes up distant planets and even-more-distant stars exists under extreme pressure and temperature conditions. This matter includes members of a family of seven elements called the noble gases, some of which--such as helium and neon--are household names. New work from a team of scientists led by Carnegie's Alexander Goncharov used laboratory techniques to mimic stellar and planetary conditions, and observe how noble gases behave under these conditions, in order to better understand the atmospheric and internal chemistry of these celestial ...

In a study that twists nature's arm to gain clues into the varied functions of the bacterial genome, North Carolina State University researchers utilize a precision scalpel to excise target genomic regions that are expendable. This strategy can also elucidate gene regions that are essential for bacterial survival. The approach offers a rapid and effective way to identify core and essential genomic regions, eliminate non-essential regions and leads to greater understanding of bacterial evolution in a chaotic pool of gene loss and gene acquisition. In a paper published ...

This news release is available in Portuguese. Many animal species, including humans, live and breed in groups with complex social organizations. The impact of this social structure on the genetic diversity of animals has been a source of disagreement between scientists. In a new study now published in the latest edition of the scientific journal PNAS*, Barbara Parreira and Lounes Chikhi from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC; Portugal) show that social structure is important to maintain the genetic diversity within species. The researchers provide a new mathematical ...

Belonging to multiple groups that are important to you boosts self-esteem much more than having friends alone, new research has found. CIFAR fellows Nyla Branscombe (University of Kansas), Alexander Haslam and Catherine Haslam (both University of Queensland) recently collaborated with lead author Jolanda Jetten on experiments to explore the importance of group memberships for self-esteem. Working with groups of school children, the elderly, and former homeless people in the United Kingdom, China and Australia, their studies showed consistently that people who belong ...

The environmental movement is making a difference - nudging greenhouse gas emissions down in states with strong green voices, according to a Michigan State University (MSU) study. Social scientist Thomas Dietz and Kenneth Frank, MSU Foundation professor of sociometrics, have teamed up to find a way to tell if a state jumping on the environmental bandwagon can mitigate other human factors - population growth and economic affluence - known to hurt the environment. "We've used new methods developed over the years and new innovations Ken has developed to add in the politics ...

Using Twitter and Google search trend data in the wake of the very limited U.S. Ebola outbreak of October 2014, a team of researchers from Arizona State University, Purdue University and Oregon State University have found that news media is extraordinarily effective in creating public panic. Because only five people were ultimately infected yet Ebola dominated the U.S. media in the weeks after the first imported case, the researchers set out to determine mass media's impact on people's behavior on social media. "Social media data have been suggested as a way to track ...

Vitamin D plays an important part in the human immune response and deficiency can leave individuals less able to fight infections like HIV-1. Now an international team of researchers has found that high-dose vitamin D supplementation can reverse the deficiency and also improve immune response. "Vitamin D may be a simple, cost-effective intervention, particularly in resource-poor settings, to reduce HIV-1 risk and disease progression," the researchers report in today's (June 15) online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers looked at ...

MAYWOOD, IL - Poverty is known to be a strong risk factor for end-stage kidney disease. Now, a first of-its-kind study has found that the association between poverty and kidney disease changes over time. The percentage of adults beginning kidney dialysis who lived in zip codes with high poverty rates increased from 27.4 percent during the 1995-2004 time period to 34 percent in 2005-2010. The study, by corresponding author Holly Kramer, MD, MPH and colleagues at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, is published in the journal Hemodialysis International. Researchers ...

For the last decade, astronomers have observed curious "hotspots" on Saturn's poles. In 2008, NASA's Cassini spacecraft beamed back close-up images of these hotspots, revealing them to be immense cyclones, each as wide as the Earth. Scientists estimate that Saturn's cyclones may whip up 300 mph winds, and likely have been churning for years. While cyclones on Earth are fueled by the heat and moisture of the oceans, no such bodies of water exist on Saturn. What, then, could be causing such powerful, long-lasting storms? In a paper published today in the journal Nature ...

New research by NOAA, University of Alaska, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the journal Oceanography shows that surface waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas could reach levels of acidity that threaten the ability of animals to build and maintain their shells by 2030, with the Bering Sea reaching this level of acidity by 2044. "Our research shows that within 15 years, the chemistry of these waters may no longer be saturated with enough calcium carbonate for a number of animals from tiny sea snails to Alaska King crabs to construct and maintain their shells ...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a groundbreaking new energy-absorbing structure to better withstand blunt and ballistic impact. The technology, called negative stiffness (NS) honeycombs, can be integrated into car bumpers, military and athletic helmets and other protective hardware. The technology could have major implications for the design and production of future vehicles and military gear to improve safety. The new NS honeycomb structures are able to provide repeated protection ...

ALEXANDRIA VA, JUNE 15, 2015 - A statistical analysis of poll performance in battleground states over the last three presidential elections shows polling firms produced estimates that were fairly accurate in 2004 and 2008, but underestimated support for President Obama in 2012, a new article reports. The article's authors--Ole J. Forsberg and Mark E. Payton, professors in the department of statistics at Oklahoma State University--believe the culprit for bad polling in the 2012 election may have roots in "outdated and possibly flawed sampling methodology" that resulted ...

SAN FRANCISCO--For many generations, Bedouin people living in the Abu Dabbab area on the Egyptian Red Sea coast have heard distinct noises--like the rumbling of a quarry blast or cannon shot--accompanying small earthquakes in the region. Now, a new study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America offers an explanation for this uniquely noisy seismic event. Seismic activity in the area of the Egyptian seaside resort Abu Dabbab may be caused by an active fault that lays below a 10-kilometer thick block of old, now rigid igneous rock. The surface of ...

(Philadelphia, PA) - It's long been known that scratching evokes a rewarding and pleasurable sensation in patients with chronic itch. Now, researchers in the Department of Dermatology and Temple Itch Center at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM) may be closer to understanding why. Using advanced fMRI imaging, the researchers looked at activity in the brain while 10 chronic itch patients and 10 healthy subjects scratched an itch. They found that areas of the brain involved in motor control and reward processing were more activated in chronic itch patients while ...

There is little information about bee populations in Alaska, where native bee pollination is critical to the maintenance of subarctic ecosystems. A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the USDA have now completed a two-year study on bumble bees in agricultural areas in the region. The research was published in the Biodiversity Data Journal. Pollination is one of the most fundamental processes sustaining agricultural production and natural ecosystems. While decrease in bee populations is a common concern, most press coverage has been directed towards Colony ...

Recent genomic research has prompted a petition that calls for the reclassification of African elephants from one threatened species to two endangered species to protect both from imminent extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FSW) has 90 days to respond to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org, a public interest environmental organization dedicated to the protection of native species and their habitats. The Center requests that the FWS recognize the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and savannah elephant ...

A strain of bacteria that "breathes" uranium may hold the key to cleaning up polluted groundwater at sites where uranium ore was processed to make nuclear weapons. A team of Rutgers University scientists and collaborators discovered the bacteria in soil at an old uranium ore mill in Rifle, Colorado, almost 200 miles west of Denver. The site is one of nine such mills in Colorado used during the heyday of nuclear weapons production. The research is part of a U.S. Department of Energy program to see if microorganisms can lock up uranium that leached into the soil years ...

Zinc plays an important role in a woman's ability to successfully breast-feed her child, according to health researchers. It has long been known that zinc, an essential trace element, is passed to infants through mother's breast milk. The levels of zinc in mother's milk and the effects of zinc deficiency in infants have been previously studied, but the role of zinc in breast development and function in lactating mothers is a relatively new area of research. The protein ZnT2 transports zinc in specific tissues in the body, including the mammary glands. Shannon L. Kelleher ...

This news release is available in German. ETH material engineers found that the performance of ion-conducting ceramic membranes that are so important in industry depends largely on their strain and buckling profiles. For the first time, scientists can now selectively manipulate the buckling profile, and thus the physical properties, allowing new technical applications of these membranes. "Ionics, ion-based data processing and energy conversion, is the electronics of the future", says Jennifer Rupp, a professor of Electrochemical Materials at ETH Zurich, and therewith ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The high seas of Mars may never have existed, according to a new study that looks at two opposite climate scenarios of early Mars and suggests that a cold and icy planet billions of years ago better explains water drainage and erosion features seen on the planet today. For decades, researchers have debated the climate history of Mars and how the planet's early climate led to the many water-carved channels seen today. The idea that 3 to 4 billion years ago Mars was once warm, wet and Earth-like with a northern sea -- conditions that could have led ...

Researchers who paired Siamese fighting fish in mock fights found that winning fish could supply more energy to their muscles during fights than losing fish. The findings link the invisible processes going on inside cells to tangible consequences in the visible world, and they show how a behavior such as aggression can be affected by underlying biochemical processes that help sustain an animal's life. "Conspicuous adaptations like antlers are usually what come to mind when thinking about traits that maximize success in aggressive interactions, but as these interactions ...

Rich, creamy, nutritious and now cancer fighting. New research reveals that molecules derived from avocados could be effective in treating a form of cancer. Professor Paul Spagnuolo from the University of Waterloo has discovered a lipid in avocados that combats acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by targeting the root of the disease - leukemia stem cells. Worldwide, there are few drug treatments available to patients that target leukemia stem cells. AML is a devastating disease and proves fatal within five years for 90 per cent of seniors over age 65. Spagnuolo's new avocado-derived ...