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.
Short-finned pilot whales are found over a wide swath of the world’s oceans, with habitats in the Indian, and Pacific, and North Atlantic oceans. Despite this wide distribution, the whales have been recognized as a single species–but a recent study has found that two unique subspecies actually exist. The study published June 3, 2019, in Molecular … Read more
African mole-rats are insensitive to many different kinds of pain. As an international research team led by the MDC’s Gary Lewin reports in Science, this characteristic has even allowed mole-rats to populate new habitats. Thanks to a genetic change, the highveld mole-rat is able to live alongside venomous ants with painful stings that other mole-rats avoid. … Read more
Physicists and mathematicians use the classical Stefan problem to explain the principles of crystal formation, such as snowflakes . Researchers in the University of Helsinki and Aalto University have now adapted the same principles to explain how tooth enamel gets distributed over the crown during growth. The newly published work provides a theoretical basis for … Read more
Elephants are essential to savannah and forest ecosystems and play an important role in ecotourism in Africa – yet poaching has contributed to a rapid decline in elephant populations in recent decades. An international research team has now released a study presenting a more positive perspective: Severin Hauenstein and Prof. Dr. Carsten Dormann from the … Read more
The multidisciplinary research programme led by the University of Kent maps the nature and diversity of ‘unbelief’ across six countries including Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, UK and the USA The research is supported by a £2.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, and is led by the University of Kent in collaboration with St … Read more
Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study by researchers from the University of Tasmania and CSIRO found the global fishing fleet grew from 1.7 million vessels in 1950 to 3.7 million in 2015. However, despite better technology and increased motorisation, modern fishing vessels take only one fifth of the catch … Read more
The novel reactor, described today in the prestigious academic journal Nature Chemistry, avoids mixing reactant gases by transferring oxygen between reactant streams via a solid state oxygen reservoir. This reservoir is designed to remain close to equilibrium with the reacting gas streams as they follow their reaction trajectory and thus retains a ‘chemical memory’ of the … Read more
Having multiple-birth babies can be a time of wonder and excitement, however, according to the first-ever international collaborative report released today, these babies and their families can face serious disadvantages compared to parents of single-birth babies. Led by Twins Research Australia based at the University of Melbourne, the report identifies common challenges facing these families, … Read more
Anyone who looks at their bowl of salad or at their garden can see how different the shapes of leaves can be. Spinach leaves, for example, have smooth edges and are comparatively simple in form, while parsley leaves are deeply notched and complex, apparently composed of many individual subunits. In a new study published in Cell, … Read more
The Han Chinese are the world’s largest ethnic group, making up 91.6% of modern-day China. As DNA sequencing tools and statistical analyses software have advanced, scientists have been exploring the forces that helped shape the current genetic landscape of Han Chinese. Now, in a new study drawing from the largest study to date of three … Read more