Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth's mantle below the continents. Assistant Professor Emma Tomlinson from Trinity College Dublin and Queensland University of Technology's Professor Balz Kamber have just published their research in leading international journal, Nature Communications. The seven continents on Earth today are each built around a stable interior called a craton, and geologists believe that craton stabilisation some 2.5 - 3 billion years ago was critical to the emergence of land masses on Earth. Little is known about how cratons and their supporting ...

A pioneering study of U.S nitrogen use in agriculture has identified 20 places across the country where farmers, government, and citizens should target nitrogen reduction efforts. Nitrogen from fertilizer and manure is essential for crop growth, but in high levels can cause a host of problems, including coastal "dead zones", freshwater pollution, poor air quality, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions. The 20 nitrogen "hotspots of opportunity" represent a whopping 63% of the total surplus nitrogen balance in U.S. croplands, but only 24% of U.S. cropland area. In total, ...

Modern medical technology is helping scholars tell a more nuanced story about the fate of an ancient king whose violent death indirectly led to the reunification of Egypt in the 16th century BC. The research was published in Frontiers in Medicine. Pharaoh Seqenenre-Taa-II, the Brave, briefly ruled over Southern Egypt during the country's occupation by the Hyksos, a foriegn dynasty that held power across the kingdom for about a century (c. 1650-1550 BCE). In his attempt to oust the Hyskos, Seqenenre-Taa-II was killed. Scholars have debated the exact nature of the pharaoh's death since his mummy was first discovered and studied in the 1880s. These and subsequent examinations -- including an X-ray study in the 1960s -- noted the dead king had suffered several severe head injuries but no ...

Although interest in studying prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latinx individuals has increased recently, there is still limited existing research with this population. Evidence shows that prosocial behaviors (actions intended to benefit others) are a marker of healthy social functioning and can both support positive development (such as academic achievement) and mitigate problematic outcomes (such as anxiety and depression). An important question is whether prosocial behavior is fostered by parents in ways that are specific to their cultural groups or through more universal aspects of parenting. A new longitudinal study in the United States examined relations among parenting, culture, and prosocial behaviors in U.S. Mexican youth. The findings were published in a Child ...

Children raised in neighborhoods with low socio-economic status are at risk for low academic achievement. A new longitudinal study followed young children from such neighborhoods from birth until age seven to explore whether children's capacity to act kindly or generously towards others (prosocial behavior) - including peers, teachers, and family - is linked to their ability to perform well in school. The study showed that prosocial behavior may mitigate academic risk across early childhood. The findings were published in a Child Development article written by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Leeds, and the Bradford Institute for Health Research. "Identifying factors that can help children achieve academic ...

A research team in Korea has developed a ceramic fuel cell that offers both stability and high performance while reducing the required amount of catalyst by a factor of 20. The application range for ceramic fuel cells, which have so far only been used for large-scale power generation due to the difficulties associated with frequent start-ups, can be expected to expand to new fields, such as electric vehicles, robots, and drones. The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that a team led by Dr. Ji-Won Son at the Center for Energy Materials Research, through joint research with Professor Seung Min Han at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), has developed a new technology ...

Your morning cereal or oatmeal. The bread on your sandwich. The corn chips for your snack, and the cookies for dessert. Not one would be possible with the humblest of ingredients: the seed. Seeds such as wheat, rice and corn directly provide about 70% of the calories eaten by people every day. And they ultimately provide nearly every morsel of food, either by providing feed for livestock or by being grown into fruits and vegetables. It's no overstatement to say that without seeds, civilization would be impossible. But seeds need our help. They are under stress from climate change, and under pressure to feed a growing population. Scores ...

Researchers from University of Calgary, University of Montana, HEC Paris, and University of Cincinnati published a new paper in the Journal of Marketing that explores the linguistic aspects of a name that can influence brand perceptions without people even realizing it. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled "Is Nestlé a Lady? The Feminine Brand Name Advantage" and is authored by Ruth Pogacar, Justin Angle, Tina Lowrey, L. J. Shrum, and Frank Kardes. What do iconic brands Nike, Coca-Cola, and Disney have in common? They all have linguistically feminine names. In fact, the highest-ranking companies on Interbrand's Global Top Brands list for the past twenty years have, on average, more feminine names than lower-ranked companies. ...

A study recently completed in Europe and North America indicates that the composition of wintering and breeding bird communities changes in line with global warming. However, wintering bird communities are considerably faster at tracking the changing climate compared to breeding communities. Climate change is driving species' distribution towards the poles and mountaintops, resulting in changes to bird communities. As a considerable share of birds are migratory species, with the distance they travel varying by species, the rate of change in bird communities is different in the breeding season and in the winter. ...

Some of the planet's rarest metals - used in the manufacture of smartphones and other electrical equipment - are increasingly being found in everyday consumer plastics, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Plymouth and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tested a range of new and used products including children's toys, office equipment and cosmetic containers. Through a number of detailed assessments, they examined levels of rare earth elements (REEs) but also quantities of bromine and antimony, used as flame retardants in electrical equipment and a sign of the presence of recycled electronic plastic. The results showed one or more REEs were found ...

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB*) people are significantly more likely to have mental health conditions and report alcohol and drug misuse than heterosexual people - according to a new study led by UCL researchers in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and City, University of London. The findings, published today in Psychological Medicine, come despite apparently more tolerant societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships. Given this continued disparity, the report's authors are now calling for Government action to ensure equity in health and social care services. They highlight the need for improved awareness among health professionals ...

Each year an estimated 1.2 million Chinese citizens die prematurely due to poor air quality. And public health consequences are particularly dire during extreme air quality events, such as infamous "Airpocalypse" winter haze episodes. A team of Northwestern University researchers wondered if widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could help China avoid these deadly events. The answer? It depends. In a new study, the researchers concluded air quality and public health benefits of EVs -- as well as their ability to reduce carbon emissions -- in China are dependent on the type of transport electrified and the composition of the electric grid. The study was published today (Feb. 16) in the February 2021 issue of the journal Earth's Future. "A ...

As most of us learned in school, plants use sunlight to synthesize carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into carbohydrates in a process called photosynthesis. But nature's "factories" don't just provide us with food -- they also generate insights into how ecosystems will react to a changing climate and carbon-filled atmosphere. Because of their ability to make valuable products from organic compounds like CO2, plants are known as "primary producers." Gross primary production (GPP), which quantifies the rate of CO2 fixation in plants through photosynthesis, is a key metric to track the health and performance of any plant-based ecosystem. A research team with the U.S. Department of Energy's Center for ...

DAVIS, Calif., Feb 16, 2021 - Researchers publishing in the peer-review journal Frontiers in Pediatrics report that pre-term infants fed Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (activated B. infantis EVC001) experienced significantly lower level of intestinal inflammation, 62% less diaper rash, and required 62% fewer antibiotics- all of which are critical health indicators in neonatal care. The study, END ...

A pair of UCR studies reveal that living with a romantic partner helps people feel more socially connected during COVID-19. But no other pandemic-era social dynamic carries notable benefits, the researchers found: not your kids, not kibitzing with your bestie on Facetime, and not your adorable-adoring pets. "Research prior to the pandemic has long shown that partners are one of the strongest predictors of social connection and well-being," said UCR researcher Karynna Okabe-Miyamoto, lead co-author of the study, published recently in the journal Plos One. "And our research during the current COVID-19 pandemic has shown the same. Living with a partner uniquely buffered declines in social ...

Findings from a new Geisel-led study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, reveal that there is substantial variation across different regions of the country in the intensity of fracture-associated drug (FAD) use among long-term care facility residents, and that areas with greater use of these prescription drugs experience higher hip fracture rates. In recent decades, the use of prescription medications has increased dramatically in the U.S. due to factors such as improvements in the ability to detect disease, expanding treatment options, and an aging population. For many Americans over age 65, these medications provide an effective means of managing disease and improving quality of life and longevity. However, many commonly prescribed drugs--such ...

DALLAS, Feb. 15, 2021 -- Understanding the sex differences in cardiovascular disease presentation and outcomes remains a major research priority demonstrated by the record number of submissions for this year's Go Red for Women® special issue of the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation, published online today. Circulation editors said more than 100 manuscripts were submitted this year, the most ever in the five years in which the current editorial board has published the special issue. "Undeniably, cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer of women around the world, taking the lives of 1 in 3 women. Even one life lost is too many, because we know much of heart disease and stroke is preventable and treatable," said Circulation Editor-in-Chief ...

Ithaca, N.Y. - At a glacier near the South Pole, earth scientists have found evidence of a quiet, slow-motion fault slip that triggers strong, fast-slip earthquakes many miles away, according to Cornell University research published in Science Advances. During an earthquake, a fast slip happens when energy builds up underground and is released quickly along a fault. Blocks of earth rapidly slide against one another. However, at an Antarctic glacier called Whillans Ice Plain, the earth scientists show that "slow slips" precede dozens of large magnitude 7 earthquakes. "We found that there is almost always a precursory 'slow slip' before an earthquake," ...

WHAT Gliomas are common brain tumors that comprise about one third of all cancers of the nervous system. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers tested a novel combination treatment approach on mice with tumors with characteristics similar to human astrocytomas--a type of slow-growing glioma--and found tumor regression in 60 percent of the mice treated. These encouraging results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could be the first step toward developing a treatment for this type of brain cancer. Led by senior authors Maria Castro, Ph.D. and Pedro Lowenstein, M.D., Ph.D. along with a team of researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Centerb in Ann Arbor specifically ...

High levels of public support for strict measures to control COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic did not reflect high levels of public trust in the UK government's honesty, transparency or motives, suggests a new study published in PLOS One. The 'mixed-methods' project, a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and University College London (UCL), involved collecting data from more than 9,000 adults living in the UK using an online survey. It found that during the first wave of COVID-19 (April 2020) 95% of participants were in support of the government having powers to enforce behaviour change. However, only around half (52%) thought that the government was actually doing a good job of controlling COVID-19. Even fewer (36%) thought ...

New research has found that a group of genes that reduces the risk of developing severe COVID-19 by around 20% is inherited from Neanderthals These genes, located on chromosome 12, code for enzymes that play a vital role in helping cells destroy the genomes of invading viruses The study suggests that enzymes produced by the Neanderthal variant of these genes are more efficient which helps protect against severe COVID-19 This genetic variant was passed to humans around 60,000 years ago via interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals The genetic variant has increased in frequency over the last millennium and is now found ...

Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues have demonstrated that nanoengineered biodegradable microcapsules can guide the development of hippocampal neurons in an in vitro experiment. The microcapsules deliver nerve growth factor, a peptide necessary for neuron growth. The paper describing this work was published in the journal Pharmaceutics. Many neurodegenerative conditions that can lead to severe disorders are associated with depleted levels of growth factors in the brain - neuropeptides that help neurons grow, proliferate and survive. Some clinical studies of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases have shown that delivering these growth factors to specific degenerating neurons can have a therapeutic effect. ...

Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a simple way to better evaluate the potential of novel materials to store or release heat on demand in your home, office, or other building in a way that more efficiently manages the building's energy use. Their work, featured in Nature Energy, proposes a new design method that could make the process of heating and cooling buildings more manageable, less expensive, more efficient, and better prepared to flexibly manage power from renewable energy sources that do not always deliver ...

Last year, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany showed that a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neandertals. Now the same researchers show, in a study published in PNAS, that Neandertals also contributed a protective variant. Half of all people outside Africa carry a Neandertal gene variant that reduces the risk of needing intensive care for COVID-19 by 20 percent. Some people become seriously ill when infected with SARS-CoV-2 while others get only mild or no symptoms. In addition to ...

How do plants build resilience? An international research team led by the University of Göttingen studied the molecular mechanisms of the plant immune system. They were able to show a connection between a relatively unknown gene and resistance to pathogens. The results of the study were published in the journal The Plant Cell. Scientists from "PRoTECT" - Plant Responses To Eliminate Critical Threats - investigated the molecular mechanisms of the immune system of a small flowering plant known as thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). PRoTECT ...