You’ve probably seen nature depicted in art, but how often do you see an artwork hiding in nature? When they saw the back of a lizard in the Southern Western Ghats, a group of scientists from the Thackeray Wildlife Foundation in India were reminded of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. As soon as they figured out it was a new species, it was only apt to name it in honour of the famous painter. “Cnemaspis vangoghi is named for Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) as the striking colouration of the new species is reminiscent of one of his most iconic paintings, The ...

Hyenas are generalist predators (and scavengers) with a broad range of prey species. They are known for hunting (or scavenging) larger mammals such as antelopes and occasionally feed on smaller mammals and reptiles. Being flexible in the choice of prey is a strategy of generalists – and this even extends to small passerine birds, as scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the University of Ljubljana observed in Namibia: Spotted hyenas pursued red-billed queleas, picked them from the ground or the surface of a waterhole and swallowed them whole, at a success rate of approximately one bird every three minutes. These observations were described ...

Using a bioluminescent oxygen indicator, Felix Beinlich and colleagues discovered a spontaneous, spatially defined occurrence of “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain. Their technique offers a way to learn more about brain oxygen tension (pO2), a measure of oxygen delivery and demand in brain tissue that changes dynamically but is not well understood. The findings could have implications for how rest and exercise affect pO2 in the human brain, including the role of these activities in conditions such as dementia, Beinlich et al. suggest. The researchers used a genetically encoded bioluminescent oxygen indicator called Green NanoLuc in mouse cortical astrocytes to ...

The dissolved organic matter (DOM) from hundreds of plant and animal remains could be used to track and possibly restore the health of freshwater bodies, Andrew J. Tanentzap and Jérémy A. Fonvielle write in this Perspective. The broad range of compounds, or chemodiversity, of DOM has multiple effects in freshwaters, including providing nutrients to support food web productivity, reducing or enhancing contamination from pollutants, and influencing the metabolism of microorganisms important to the biogeochemical cycle. DOM may also reduce the heat that ...

There should be mandatory indoor air quality standards, say an international group of experts led by Professor Lidia Morawska.   Professor Morawska, Vice-Chancellor Fellow at the University of Surrey and Distinguished Professor at Queensland University of Technology, led the appeal to the World Health Organization to recognise the airborne transmission of the virus which causes COVID-19 early in the pandemic – and help minimise it.   Now, in a paper published by the prestigious journal Science, Professor Morawska's international team recommends setting standards for ventilation rate and three key indoor pollutants: carbon ...

Women affected by premenstrual disorders have a higher risk of perinatal depression compared with those who do not, according to research published March 28th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. The relationship works both ways: those with perinatal depression are also more likely to develop premenstrual disorders after pregnancy and childbirth. This study suggests that a common mechanism might contribute to the two conditions. Menstruating women experience cyclical hormone fluctuations through puberty, menstrual cycle, pregnancy ...

The human brain consumes vast amounts of energy, which is almost exclusively generated from a form of metabolism that requires oxygen. Consequently, the efficient and timely allocation and delivery of oxygen is critical to healthy brain function, however, the precise mechanics of this process have largely remained hidden from scientists.    A new bioluminescence imaging technique, described today in the journal Science, has created highly detailed, and visually striking, images of the movement ...

All plants mediate their environmental interactions via chemical signals. An example is the alkaloid gramine produced by barley, one of the world’s most widely grown cereals. Gramine provides protection against herbivorous insects and grazing animals and inhibits the growth of other plants. Despite long-standing interest, the key gene for the formation of gramine remained elusive. The researchers discovered a cluster of two genes in barley for gramine biosynthesis. The first gene (HvNMT) had already been discovered 18 years ago. In their study the researchers from IPK and the Leibniz University Hannover now identified a second gene (AMI synthase, HvAMIS), and ...

The source of pollutants in rivers and freshwater lakes can now be identified using a comprehensive new water quality analysis, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge and Trent University, Canada. Microparticles from car tyres, pesticides from farmers’ fields, and toxins from harmful algal blooms are just some of the organic chemicals that can be detected using the new approach, which also indicates the impact these chemicals are likely to have in a particular river or lake. Importantly, the approach can also point to the origin of specific organic matter dissolved in the water, because it has a distinct ...

Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) have a higher risk of perinatal depression. Conversely, women with perinatal depression have a higher risk of developing premenstrual disorders. This is shown in a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal PLOS Medicine. Premenstrual disorders like PMS or PMDD and perinatal depression are similar in the way that symptoms appear in connection with hormonal changes. This fact has given rise to the hypothesis ...

Each day, hundreds of billions of cells in our body cycle through a period of growth and division. Yet in that time, only about 30 minutes is spent on the critical orchestration of mitosis, when chromosomes are carefully segregated from one parent cell to the next generation of two daughter cells. It’s during this crucial period of cell division that things can go haywire. Chromosomes can be misdirected, leading to damaged and diseased cells that progress to different types of cancer. University of California San Diego scientists reporting in the journal Science have found a key mechanism that keeps track of mitosis timing and ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a livestock disease that results in large economic losses to animal agriculture worldwide. The disease can also transmit to humans and cause severe illness and death. Researchers from Penn State, Addis Ababa University and the University of Cambridge have now demonstrated that a vaccine for TB currently used in humans significantly reduces infectiousness of vaccinated livestock, improving prospects for elimination and control. The study published today (March 28) in the journal Science.  The spillover ...

March 28, 2024, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Andrew Siemion will be honored with the prestigious 2024 Drake Award for his exceptional and pioneering contributions to SETI and radio astronomy and his leadership in the field. Siemion's distinguished career includes his role as the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute, Principal Investigator for the Breakthrough Listen Initiative at the University of Oxford, along with holding an Honorary Professorship ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with JLP Health and others, have identified how the tick-borne Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells. The results are published in Nature Microbiology and are an important step in the development of drugs against the deadly disease. Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHF virus) is spread through tick bites and can cause haemorrhagic fever. The disease is serious and has a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent depending on the health status of the person infected. Common symptoms ...

In a recent multi-center study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers examined the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on patients suffering from locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC). Dr. Kyle Rose, urologic oncologist at Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center, was the lead author for the publication. The research included a cohort of 209 patients undergoing NAC, targeting locally advanced and clinically node positive PSCC. The patient group showed a diverse range of disease severity, with a distribution including 7% with stage II, 48% with stage III, and 45% with stage IV PSCC, ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – March 28, 2024) Resistance to chemotherapy is typically associated with poor outcomes for patients with cancer. However, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists demonstrated that in bilateral Wilms tumor (cancer in both kidneys) chemotherapy resistance can point toward a more favorable histology and an ultimatelygood outcome. The study revealed that tumors that do not respond to neoadjuvant, or tumor-shrinking, chemotherapy are predominantly ...

HERSHEY, Pa. — Despite evidence that financial conflicts of interest may influence medical practice and research and may erode patient trust in medical professionals, these relationships remain pervasive. According to a new analysis of the Open Payments platform, a database that tracks payments between physicians and industry, a team led by a Penn State researcher found that doctors received approximately $12.1 billion from drug and device makers between 2013 and 2022.  Their findings published today (March 28) in JAMA. It’s one of the first studies to look at industry payments longitudinally and by specialty.  “Overall, ...

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has identified important drivers of the transformation of a type of blood cancer called follicular lymphoma from a slow-growing form to the aggressive form it takes in some patients. The study, published March 7 in Cancer Cell, showed that while mutations affecting a gene-regulating complex called BAF can put the cancer on a dangerous trajectory, they also make follicular lymphoma highly susceptible to experimental BAF-inhibitor drugs. “These encouraging findings could address critical and urgent challenges with this disease and have prompted us to begin planning clinical trials ...

Everyone indulges in wishful thinking now and again. But when is that most likely to happen and when could it actually be harmful? A new study, led by the University of Amsterdam (UvA), demonstrates unequivocally that the greater the insecurity and anxiety of a situation, the more likely people are to become overly optimistic – even to the point where it can prevent us from taking essential action. The study's results have now been published in the journal American Economic Review. ‘People aren't purely truth-seekers - many beliefs are influenced by ...

NEW ORLEANS, La – Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group have named Ochsner Health one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Job Starters in 2024. In a survey that included more than 75,000 young professionals and more than 540,000 company reviews, Ochsner earned 5 out of 5 stars. As the leading not-for-profit healthcare provider in the Gulf South, Ochsner is committed to championing career development among new professionals. "We at Ochsner are honored to receive recognition as a place of employment that offers ...

In the largest and one of the most ambitious Hubble Space Telescope programs ever executed, a team of scientists and engineers collected information on almost 500 stars over a three-year period. This effort offers new insights into the stars' formation, evolution, and impact on their surroundings.  This comprehensive survey, called ULLYSES (Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards), was completed in December 2023, and provides a rich spectroscopic dataset obtained in ultraviolet light that astronomers will be mining for decades to come. Because ultraviolet light can ...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (March 27, 2024) – The North Carolina Collaboratory – an organization dedicated to advancing scientific research for policymaking within North Carolina – today announced its partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to advance the State’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) research capabilities. Supported by critical appropriations from the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA), the Collaboratory purchased five state-of-the-art mass spectrometers that continue to position North Carolina at the forefront of academic PFAS research nationally. This new partnership ...

Are schools that feature strong test scores highly effective, or do they mostly enroll students who are already well-prepared for success? A study co-authored by MIT scholars concludes that widely disseminated school quality ratings reflect the preparation and family background of their students as much or more than a school’s contribution to learning gains.  Indeed, the study finds that many schools that receive relatively low ratings perform better than these ratings would imply. Conventional ...

In their research article published in Eurosurveillance, von Schreeb et al. challenge existing assumptions regarding the relationship between the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI). According to the concept of sexual risk compensation, the start of PrEP treatment – a drug regimen which effectively prevents acquiring HIV – is associated with rises in STI as people feel protected against HIV while using it. However, von Schreeb et al. argue that available ...

We have been alerted to a potential error in some of the coding used by the authors in their analyses and are looking into this as a matter of urgency. The authors are confident that the main findings of the paper will remain unaltered, however some aspects may be affected and we have removed two sentences from the press release to reflect this. We will provide an update if there are further developments. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The lyrics of English-language songs have become simpler and more repetitive over the past 40 years, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Eva Zangerle and ...