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.
When it comes to getting a date, there’s any number of ways people can present themselves and their interests. One of the newer phenomena is a “foodie call” where a person sets up a date with someone they are not romantically interested in, for the purpose of getting a free meal. New research finds that 23 … Read more
Satellite images, drone photos and even Google Earth could help identify communities most at risk for getting one of the world’s worst tropical diseases. A team led by the University of Washington and Stanford University has discovered clues in the environment that help identify transmission hotspots for schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that is second only … Read more
A major challenge for cancer surgeons is to determine exactly where a tumor starts and where it ends. Removing too much tissue can impair normal functions, but not taking enough can mean the disease could recur. The “MasSpec Pen,” a handheld device in development, could someday enable surgeons to distinguish between cancerous and healthy tissue … Read more
Does having close friends boost your self-esteem, or does having high self-esteem influence the quality of your friendships? Both, according to a meta-analysis of more than two decades of research, published by the American Psychological Association. “For the first time, we have a systematic answer to a key question in the field of self-esteem research: … Read more
Ancient Egyptians considered the Nile river to be the source of all life. The steady northward path of the river has nourished the fertile valleys of northeast Africa for millions of years and in doing so, shaped the course of human civilization. The Nile’s unchanging path, however, has been a geologic mystery because long-lived rivers … Read more
Male lava lizards are sensitive to the timing of their opponents’ responses during contest displays, with quicker responses being perceived as more aggressive, a study in Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology suggests. To avoid injury from male-to-male contests, some animal species display behaviours such as color changes or sequences of movements that showcase body size and … Read more
A meat-eating dinosaur species (Majungasaurus) that lived in Madagascar some 70 million years ago replaced all its teeth every couple of months or so, as reported in a new study published today in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, surprising even the researchers. In fact, Majungasaurus grew new teeth roughly two to thirteen times faster than those of other … Read more
Two children’s milk teeth buried deep in a remote archaeological site in north eastern Siberia have revealed a previously unknown group of people lived there during the last Ice Age. The finding was part of a wider study which also discovered 10,000 year-old human remains in another site in Siberia are genetically related to Native … Read more
Iridium-based metallodrugs are emerging as novel tools to destroy cancer cells by disrupting their intracellular redox balance. Scientists at IMDEA Nanociencia and researchers at ALBA, ESRF and CNB-CSIC have joined efforts to image the anticancer agent at work in the cryopreserved intracellular nano-space. Chemotherapeutics are key players in the clinical setting to fight most types … Read more
Researchers from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, IMDEA Nanociencia and IFIMAC have developed a new method for the fabrication and characterization of atomic-sized photonic cavities, by exploiting the mechano-quantum tunnel effect. This discovery may be fundamental for the understanding and design of new, nanometric size, opto-electronic devices which will be key for the development of … Read more