SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
Research published this Wednesday (August 14th) in Scientific Reports describes Clevosaurus hadroprodon, a new reptile species from Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. Its fossils remains – jaws and associated skull bones – were collected from Triassic rocks (c. 237-228 million-years old) making it the oldest known fossil of its kind in Gondwana, the southern supercontinent … Read more
The emotive warnings were made because of global reports that its precursor ‘Finding Nemo’ had inspired a surge in purchases of clown fish, which in turn caused environmental and animal harm. This became known as “the Nemo effect”. The most high profile of the warnings came from the voice of ‘Little Dory’ herself – Ellen … Read more
Advances in adapting the technology for cold climates and offshore use and better methods for predicting wind conditions have fanned significant growth of the use of wind turbines for electricity in the last 40 years. A new report takes stock of where the field is now and what lies ahead. A team of researchers from … Read more
Mice scurry around while foraging for food, but genetics may be the unseen hand controlling these meandering movements. Researchers at University of Utah Health are using machine learning to draw links between genetic controls that shape incremental steps of instinctive and learned behaviors. The results are available online in Cell Reports on August 13. “Patterns of complex … Read more
Consuming flavonoid-rich items such as apples and tea protects against cancer and heart disease, particularly for smokers and heavy drinkers, according to new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU). Researchers from ECU’s School of Medical and Health Sciences analysed data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort that assessed the diets of 53,048 Danes … Read more
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the thinnest optical device in the world—a waveguide that is three layers of atoms thin. The work is a proof of concept for scaling down optical devices to sizes that are orders of magnitude smaller than today’s devices. It could lead to the development of … Read more
Physical manifestations of negative memories in the hippocampus could underlie cognitive symptoms of depression, according to research in mice published in JNeurosci. Inhibiting these manifestations could be a future treatment route. Groups of neurons that are activated after an experience are thought to be the physical representation of memory. These so-called engrams in the hippocampus could … Read more
Largescale ‘disturbances’, including fires, harvesting, windstorms and insect outbreaks, which kill large patches of forest, are responsible for more than a tenth of tree death worldwide, according to new research at the University of Birmingham. The research, published in Nature Geoscience, also showed wide regional variation, with parts of Scandinavia, the USA, Canada and Russia having … Read more
In order to understand advanced materials like graphene nanostructures and optimize them for devices in nano-, opto- and quantum-technology it is crucial to understand how phonons – the vibration of atoms in solids – influence the materials’ properties. Researchers from the University of Vienna, the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, the company … Read more
The largest study ever conducted of its kind has identified where and how to save coral reef communities in the Indo-Pacific, according to an international group of scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other conservation NGOs, government agencies, and universities. The study outlines three viable strategies that can be quickly enacted to help save … Read more