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.
It’s a feat three decades in the making: Harvard University chemists have achieved what a new paper calls a “landmark in drug discovery” with the total synthesis of halichondrin. Known to be a potent anti-cancer agent in mouse studies, and found naturally in sea sponges – though only ever in minuscule quantities – the halichondrin … Read more
Oxygen concentrations in both the open ocean and coastal waters have declined by 2-5% since at least the middle of the 20th century. This is one of the most important changes occurring in an ocean becoming increasingly modified by human activities, with raised water temperatures, carbon dioxide content and nutrient inputs. Through this, humans are … Read more
Having a child with a developmental disorder can cause parents to worry about the outcome of further pregnancies. In cases where the genetic mutation causing the disorder is not present in either parent it is assumed to be a one-off event with a very small chance of recurrence. But in some families, the risk of … Read more
Research led by the University of Exeter, published in Scientific Reports and funded by NIHR, found that people who spend at least 120 minutes in nature a week are significantly more likely to report good health and higher psychological wellbeing than those who don’t visit nature at all during an average week. However, no such benefits were … Read more
A team of researchers from the University of Konstanz’s CRC 1214 “Anisotropic Particles as Building Blocks: Tailoring Shape, Interactions and Structures”, which has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2016, has demonstrated a new aqueous polymerization procedure for generating polymer nanoparticles with a single chain and uniform shape, which, as another difference … Read more
New research published in the Journal of Natural History indicates that zebras’ stripes are used to control body temperature after all – and reveals for the first time a new mechanism for how this may be achieved. The authors argue it is the special way zebras sweat to cool down and the small-scale convection currents created between … Read more
Amazonian forests are unlikely to provide enough timber to meet current demand over the long term, even with the use of improved logging practices. That is a key finding of a new study led by the Tropical managed Forests Observatory (TmFO), published today in Environmental Research Letters. Dr Camille Piponiot, junior scientist from the University of … Read more
Intensifying climate change will increase the future risk of violent armed conflict within countries, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. Synthesizing views across experts, the study estimates climate has influenced between 3% and 20% of armed conflict risk over the last century and that the influence will likely increase dramatically. In … Read more
Scientists at The University of Queensland have upended biologists’ century-old understanding of the evolutionary history of animals. Using new technology to investigate how multi-celled animals developed, their findings revealed a surprising truth. Professor Bernie Degnan said the results contradicted years of tradition. “We’ve found that the first multicellular animals probably weren’t like the modern-day sponge … Read more
Type IIa diamonds are by definition stones which have very low nitrogen contents, below analytical detection limits. The presence of nitrogen in a diamond results in a yellow colour, but stones which do not have nitrogen impurities can have excellent white colours, including the top D-colour category. Some Type II diamonds can be very large, … Read more