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.
They sport some of the most impressive headgear in the insect world, yet they’re no bigger than a kernel of corn. They live all over the world, including in Storrs, mostly found in woods and gardens, but a select few have one of the best views of campus from their cozy mesh tents inside the … Read more
By introducing a chemical cocktail to granulosa cells, researchers in China induced the cells to transform into functional oocytes in mice. Once fertilized, these oocytes were then successfully able to produce healthy offspring, showing no differences from naturally bred mice. The chemical reprogramming method appears December 24 in the journal Cell Reports. Ovarian follicles are the … Read more
This holiday season, Global Wildlife Conservation is offering the chance to give the gift of a healthy planet through a beta initiative with www.conserve.org, where site visitors can permanently conserve an acre of cloud forest in the Guatemala highlands for $84. The novel project launches just in time for the holidays. Guatemala’s northern highlands are … Read more
Cultural evolution has been the dominant driver of range contractions in megafauna taxa across China since the beginning of Common Era, with little or no direct importance of climate. A research team led by Aarhus University along with collaborators from Nanjing University analyzed maps of megafauna distribution dynamics and societal development based on Chinese archival … Read more
A continental-scale census and analysis of root-inhabiting microorganisms reveals that plants across Europe consistently harbour a small group of unexpectedly abundant ‘core’ microorganisms, irrespective of soil conditions and climate. This contrasts to strong effects of the local environment on the composition of surrounding soil microbial communities and on the relative fitness of different populations of … Read more
Using the largest database of pollinating insects ever compiled from various sources, including the collections of the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), a mixed team of French researchers, notably from the Centre d’Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (MNHN – CNRS – SU) and European researchers, studied changes in the flight period of … Read more
An international team of brain researchers achieved a breakthrough in uncovering a switch-like mechanism that flips the brain between two motivational states in larval zebrafish, a model organism in neuroscience. In one state, the fish slows down its movements and focuses on hunting for prey. In the opposing state, the animal speeds up and explores … Read more
Indigenous wisdom and modern science are helping to bring a highly nutritious seed to the world’s attention. University of Queensland ethnobotanist Dr Boyd Wright has been working with the Kiwirrkurra in Western Australia’s Gibson Desert, investigating the seed of the native tree, warrilyu (Eucalyptus pachyphylla). “This seed has been eaten by the Kiwirrkurra people for … Read more
Predator-prey cycles are among the fundamental phenomena of ecological systems: the population sizes of predators and their prey, for instance foxes and hares, are frequently subject to regular oscillations. In a long-term experiment, an international team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Bernd Blasius from the University of Oldenburg observed these oscillations in rotifer and … Read more
With growing populations and climate uncertainty, water security is a global concern. Many nations operate desalination plants, which remove salt from seawater to make it drinkable. These facilities typically discharge excess salt as hypersaline brine back into the ocean, with uncertain ecological effects. Now, researchers in Environmental Science & Technology report that a large desalination plant in … Read more