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Migratory birds shrinking as climate warms, new analysis of four-decade record shows

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North American migratory birds have been getting smaller over the past four decades, and their wings have gotten a bit longer. Both changes appear to be responses to a warming climate. Those are the main findings from a new University of Michigan-led analysis of a dataset of some 70,000 North American migratory birds from 52 … Read more

Respiration key to increase oxygen in the brain

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Contrary to accepted knowledge, blood can bring more oxygen to mice brains when they exercise because the increased respiration packs more oxygen into the hemoglobin, according to an international team of researchers who believe that this holds true for all mammals. “Standard thought was that mammalian blood is always completely saturated with oxygen,” said Patrick … Read more

Mapping the energy transport mechanism of chalcogenide perovskite for solar energy use

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For solar cells to be widely used in the coming decades researchers must resolve two major challenges: increasing efficiency and lowering toxicity. Solar energy works through a process that converts light into energy called the photovoltaic effect. Certain light sensitive materials when packaged together in a “cell” have the ability to convert energy from light … Read more

Healing power of honey

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Layering minute amounts of Manuka honey between layers of surgical mesh acts as a natural antibiotic that could prevent infection following an operation, new research has shown. Meshes are used to help promote soft tissue healing inside the body following surgery and are common in operations such as hernia repair. However, they carry with them … Read more

Meet DNA’s chaperone

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It’s long been known that the proteins that package DNA—like students at a high school dance—require a chaperone. But what exactly that guardian looks and acts like has been a mystery—until now. A team of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder has cracked the puzzle of the ‘Facilitates Chromatin Transcription’ (or FACT) protein structure. … Read more

Hiring antibodies as nanotechnology builders

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What if we could use antibodies as functional tools for nanotechnology applications? A group of researchers at the University of Rome Tor Vergata started from this simple question and the results of their research are now published in Nature Communications. Nanotechnology enables the design and fabrication of molecular structures of nanoscale dimensions that hold a great … Read more

Female fish can breed a new species if they aren’t choosy about who is Mr. Right

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Fish will mate with a species outside their own if the male’s colouring is attractive enough or if the female can’t see him properly, according to new research. Such ‘mistakes’ in mate choice can lead to the evolution of new species, an international team of scientists found. The group studied 2000 fish and analysed the … Read more

Focused ultrasound may open door to Alzheimer’s treatment

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Focused ultrasound is a safe and effective way to target and open areas of the blood-brain barrier, potentially allowing for new treatment approaches to Alzheimer’s disease, according to initial study results presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). There currently is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the most … Read more

This ‘fix’ for economic theory changes everything from gambles to inequality to Ponzi schemes

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Whether we decide to take out that insurance policy, buy Bitcoin, or switch jobs, many economic decisions boil down to a fundamental gamble about how to maximize our wealth over time. How we understand these decisions is the subject of a new perspective piece in Nature Physics that aims to correct a foundational mistake in economic theory. According to … Read more