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.
You’ve probably seen a lichen, even if you didn’t realize it. If you’ve ever meandered through the forest and wondered what the crusty stuff on trees or rocks was, they’re lichens, a combination of algae and fungi living together almost as if they were one organism. And since they can grow on bare rocks, scientists … Read more
New research indicates that the benefits of a dietary compound on kidney health may depend on an individual’s genetics. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of JASN, may be helpful for tailoring interventions to prevent or treat kidney disease. Glutathione S-transferase mu-1 (GSTM1) is an enzyme that plays a role in ridding the … Read more
The terahertz frequency range – which sits in the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light – offers the potential for high-bandwidth communications, ultrahigh-resolution imaging, precise long-range sensing for radio astronomy, and much more. But this section of the electromagnetic spectrum has remained out of reach for most applications. That is because … Read more
Light can be directed in different directions, usually also back the same way. Physicists from the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne have however succeeded in creating a new one-way street for light. They cool photons down to a Bose-Einstein condensate, which causes the light to collect in optical “valleys” from which it … Read more
Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia. “This is one of the most important events in the evolution of life on this planet–without which we as a species would not exist,” said Gane … Read more
These days it’s easy to resolve questions about paternity with over-the-counter test kits. Now, researchers have put DNA evidence together with long-term genealogical data to explore similar questions of biological fatherhood on a broad scale among people living in parts of Western Europe over the last 500 years. The findings reported in Current Biology on November 14 … Read more
An international team of scientists working with Heliconius butterflies at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama was faced with a mystery: How do pairs of unrelated butterflies from Peru to Costa Rica evolve nearly the same wing-color patterns over and over again? The answer, published in Current Biology, forever changes the way evolution is understood. “Our … Read more
A new study, Resource use of great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran) off eastern Australia, which is the first of its kind to determine the role of large adult great hammerhead sharks in coastal food chains, has found that they are apex predators (top of the food chain) in the coastal ecosystem because they specialise in … Read more
Not enough physical activity and too much sitting and screen-time have been linked with suicidal thoughts and behaviours in adolescents in developing countries, in a University of Queensland-led study. UQ School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences researcher Associate Professor Asad Khan said suicide-related issues had become a major public health challenge in low and middle … Read more
In the UK alone, around 900,000 people are living with heart failure and almost 1.4 million have survived a heart attack. After such an event, pacemakers are often fitted to either speed up the heart or to overcome electrical conduction problems between different chambers of the heart. There is no cure for heart failure; its … Read more