In a breakthrough study published this week in The Journal of Physiology, researchers at the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) demystify the energetic cost of humpback pregnancy and shed light on the unique vulnerabilities of migratory humpback mothers-to-be. With an arsenal of tools that range from cutting-edge technology to historical whaling records, the research was done in close partnership with Alaska ...

In a Policy Forum, scientists discuss lifeforms composed of mirror-image biological molecules – also known as “mirror life” – and say creation of such lifeforms, which could evade immune mechanisms and predators, warrants careful consideration. The hallmark of mirror organisms is reversed chirality – a feature that would render them resistant to normal forms of biological degradation, making them useful for applications like long-lasting therapies. While these organisms haven’t yet been observed in nature, and the capability to create them is likely at least ...

As its 2024 Breakthrough of The Year, Science has named the development of lenacapavir – a promising new injectable drug that prevents HIV infection. The award also recognizes related work surrounding gaining a new understanding of the structure and function of HIV’s capsid protein. Despite decades of advancements, HIV continues to infect more than a million people annually, with a vaccine remaining elusive. However, a new injectable drug, lenacapavir, offers hope by providing six ...

The 2014-2016 Pacific marine heatwave wiped out more than half – roughly 4 million – of Alaska’s common murre (Uria aalge) seabirds, representing the largest documented vertebrate die-off linked to warming oceans, according to a new study. “Although research on the impacts of global warming on marine birds has clearly suggested major shifts in species’ ranges and abundance, documented changes have been gradual (years to decades),” write the authors. “To our knowledge, this study is the first to show that climate impacts can be swift (1 ...

A genomic study encompassing more than 300 genomes spanning the last 50,000 years has revealed how a single wave of Neandertal gene flow into early modern humans left an indelible mark on human evolution. Among other findings, the study reports that modern humans acquired several Neanderthal genes that ended up being advantageous to our lineage, including those involved in skin pigmentation, immune response, and metabolism. To date, sequencing of Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes has revealed substantial gene flow between these archaic hominins ...

There is no question that the Sun is a temperamental star, as alone this year’s unusually strong solar storms prove. Some of them led to remarkable auroras even at low latitudes. But can our star become even more furious? Evidence of the most violent solar “tantrums” can be found in prehistoric tree trunks and in samples of millennia-old glacial ice. However, from these indirect sources, the frequency of superflares cannot be determined. And direct measurements of the amount of radiation reaching the Earth from the Sun have only been available since the ...

A new analysis of DNA from ancient modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe and Asia has determined, more precisely than ever, the time period during which Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, starting about 50,500 years ago and lasting about 7,000 years — until Neanderthals began to disappear. That interbreeding left Eurasians with many genes inherited from our Neanderthal ancestors, which in total make up between 1% and 2% of our genomes today. The genome-based estimate is consistent with archeological evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals lived side-by-side in Eurasia for between 6,000 and 7,000 years. The analysis, which involved present-day human genomes ...

The study of ancient DNA has greatly advanced our knowledge of human evolution, including the discovery of gene flow from Neandertals into the common ancestors of modern humans. Neandertals and modern humans diverged about 500,000 years ago, with Neandertals living in Eurasia for the past 300,000 years. Then, sometime around 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, modern human groups left Africa and spread across Eurasia, encountering Neandertals along the way. As a result, most non-Africans harbor one to two percent ...

LA JOLLA (December 12, 2024)—The decision between scrambled eggs or an apple for breakfast probably won’t make or break your day. However, for your cells, a decision between similar microscopic nutrients could determine their entire identity. If and how nutrient preference impacts cell identity has been a longstanding mystery for scientists—until a team of Salk Institute immunologists revealed a novel framework for the complicated relationship between nutrition and cell identity. The answers came while the researchers ...

After modern humans left Africa, they met and interbred with Neandertals, resulting in around two to three percent Neandertal DNA that can be found in the genomes of all people outside Africa today. However, little is known about the genetics of these first pioneers in Europe and the timing of the Neandertal admixture with non-Africans. A key site in Europe is Zlatý kůň in Czechia, where a complete skull from a single individual who lived around 45,000 years ago was discovered and previously ...

Viruses that infect and kill bacteria, called phages, hold promise as new treatment types for dangerous infections, including strains that have become resistant to antibiotics. Yet, virologists know little about how phages persist in the populations of bacterial cells they infect, hampering the development of phage therapies. Published online December 13 in the journal Science, a new study offers the first evidence that a single bacterial species, the host of a phage, can maintain a diverse community of competing phage species. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman ...

Murres, a common seabird, look a little like flying penguins. These stout, tuxedo-styled birds dive and swim in the ocean to eat small fish and then fly back to islands or coastal cliffs where they nest in large colonies. But their hardy physiques disguise how vulnerable these birds are to changing ocean conditions. A University of Washington citizen science program — which trains coastal residents to search local beaches and document dead birds — has contributed to a new study, led by federal scientists, documenting the devastating effect of warming waters on common murres in Alaska. In 2020, participants of the UW-led Coastal ...

AMHERST, Mass. — A new study in Science by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Cincinnati has mapped 35 years of river changes on a global scale for the first time. The work has revealed that 44% of the largest, downstream rivers saw a decrease in how much water flows through them every year, while 17% of the smallest upstream rivers saw increases. These changes have implications for flooding, ecosystem disruption, hydropower development interference and insufficient freshwater supplies. Previous attempts to quantify ...

mRNA vaccines clearly saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, but several studies suggest that older people had a somewhat reduced immune response to the vaccines when compared with younger adults. Why? Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital, led by Byron Brook, PhD, David Dowling, PhD, and Ofer Levy, MD, PhD, found some answers — while providing proof-of-concept of a new system that can model mRNA vaccine responses in a dish. This, in turn, could help expedite efforts to make ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. –  Dr. Mika Hamer is about to go ghost hunting. Thanks to a $100K grant from the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation (RWJF), the University of Maryland School of Public Health researcher aims to uncover the extent of so-called “ghost networks” in Medicare Advantage health insurance plans.  A “ghost network” describes the difference between advertised in-network healthcare providers for a given insurance plan and the providers who are in fact available to deliver care to patients enrolled in those plans – meaning a patient ...

Some patients with diabetes develop a serious condition known as diabetic cardiomyopathy, which is slow and cannot be directly attributed to hypertension or other cardiovascular disorders. This often under-diagnosed  heart function impairment is one of the leading causes of death in diabetic patients and it affects both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. There is no current specific drug treatment or clinical protocol approved to address this disease. A study published in the journal Pharmacological Research describes a potential target that could spur the ...

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, University of Michigan researchers dug deeper into the numbers-only data of COVID-19-era suicides and evaluated the narratives contained in reports from coroners, medical examiners, police and vital statistics.   The researchers sought to understand how the crisis influenced suicide deaths in the first year of the pandemic, how the response by governments, employers and others influenced individuals, and if their handling could inform future public health responses.   "Our study adds much-needed context and meaning to the data that have assumed the deaths are ...

Soil plays a much bigger role in the spread of antibiotic resistance than one might imagine. Surprisingly, the ground beneath us is packed with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) — tiny codes that allow bacteria to resist antibiotics. Human activities, such as pollution and changing land use, can disturb soil ecosystems and make it easier for resistance genes to transfer from soil bacteria and infect humans. Jingqiu Liao, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, is on a mission to understand how soil bacteria contribute to ...

For parents trying to shield their children from online threats, limiting screen time is a common tactic. Less time scrolling, the rationale goes, means less exposure to the psychological dangers posed by social media.  But research from Rutgers University-New Brunswick upends this assumption. Writing in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Jessica L. Hamilton, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences, reports that screen time ...

In a recent study published in Engineering, a team of researchers led by Wenyu Zhang from South China Agricultural University has developed a groundbreaking cotransporter system that combines a tracked rice harvester and transporter for fully autonomous harvesting, unloading, and transportation operations. The key innovation of this system lies in the proposed dual-unloading mode, which includes two distinct methods: harvester waiting for unloading (HWU) and transporter following for unloading (TFU). In the HWU system, the harvester halts and summons the transporter when its ...

Physicists have long theorized the existence of a unique state of matter known as a quantum spin liquid. In this state, magnetic particles do not settle into an orderly pattern, even at absolute zero temperature. Instead, they remain in a constantly fluctuating, entangled state. This unusual behavior is governed by complex quantum rules, leading to emergent properties that resemble fundamental aspects of our universe such as the interactions of light and matter. Despite its intriguing implications, experimentally proving ...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Adding strong evidence in support of “walkable” neighborhoods, a large national study found that the built environment can indeed increase how much people walk. The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, showed a strong connection between place and activity by studying about 11,000 twins, which helps control for family influences and genetic factors. The researchers found that each 1% increase in an area’s “walkability” resulted in 0.42% increase in neighborhood walking. When scaled up, that means a 55% increase in the walkability of the surrounding neighborhood ...

The long-term erosion and corrosion issues during the development of offshore oil and gas fields pose significant threats to the safe and efficient operation of these facilities. Superhydrophobic coatings, known for their ability to reduce interactions between corrosive substances and substrates, have garnered considerable attention. However, their poor mechanical properties often hinder their long-term application in practical working environments. To address this challenge, a research team led by Prof. Yuekun Lai from Fuzhou University and Prof. Xuewen Cao from China University of Petroleum (East China) has developed a biomimetic dental enamel coating with ...

In a recent study published in Engineering, a team of researchers led by Bo Hu and Changzheng Shao from Chongqing University in China has introduced a novel method for evaluating the real-time dynamic reliability of composite power systems integrated with renewable energy sources (RES). The research addresses the challenges posed by the uncertainties associated with RES, which have been a significant obstacle in ensuring the stable and reliable operation of power grids. The increasing integration of RES, such as wind and solar power, into the power grid has brought about concerns regarding power imbalance and load shedding due to their ...

The future of breast cancer screening and risk-reducing strategies is being shaped by artificial intelligence (AI), according to a review article published by Cell Press on December 12 in the journal Trends in Cancer. “We discuss recent advances in AI-assisted breast cancer risk prediction, what this means for the future of breast cancer screening and prevention, and the key research needed to progress mammographic features from research into clinical practice,” says senior study author Erik Thompson of the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Breast tissue that appears white on ...