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.
Cardiologists have issued a stark warning about the dangers of e-cigarettes, particularly for young people, as results of new research show the damage they cause to the brain, heart, blood vessels and lungs. The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal today (Wednesday), also identifies some of the mechanisms involved, for which there has been … Read more
The generation of species-specific singing in songbirds is associated with species-specific patterns of gene activity in brain regions called song nuclei, according to a study published November 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Kazuhiro Wada of Hokkaido University in Japan, and colleagues. According to the authors, the findings could be a promising step toward a … Read more
The lack of a clinically viable method to track and direct cancer drugs to tumors is a big problem for targeted therapeutics. But a new ultrasonic method proposed by biomedical engineers from Qifa Zhou’s team at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles could enable acoustic control and real-time tracking of drug release within … Read more
With newly developed technology, medical personnel can manufacture a bandage with drug-delivery capabilities directly onto a wound. Electrospinning is a well-developed method for developing polymer fibers for a wide variety of applications. If biocompatible materials are used, the fibers produced can be used for biomedical applications. But electrospinning requires very high voltages, making direct deposition … Read more
An ant the size of a lion isn’t as far-fetched as you would think. From as small as a sesame seed to the size of a big cat, ants come in all sizes – in augmented reality, at least. Augmented reality provides an interactive experience of the ‘real world’ with the help of computer-generated images … Read more
At first sight it appears implausible that the directed, ordered, and complex development and functionality of the nervous system may share relevant features with such dysregulated, seemingly chaotic malignant brain tumors that we know as yet incurable malignant gliomas. But in the recent years it became evident that brain tumors recapitulate many steps of normal … Read more
Each time a newborn baby hiccups, it triggers a large wave of brain signals which could help the baby learn how to regulate their breathing, finds a new UCL-led study. The study, published in Clinical Neurophysiology, was based on brain scans of newborn infants. “The reasons for why we hiccup are not entirely clear, but there … Read more
A new study co-led by researchers in the U.S. and China has pushed back the first-known physical evidence of insect flower pollination to 99 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period. The revelation is based upon a tumbling flower beetle with pollen on its legs discovered preserved in amber deep inside a mine in northern … Read more
New research shows that many larval fish species from different ocean habitats are ingesting plastics in their preferred nursery habitat. Many of the world’s marine fish spend their first days to weeks feeding and developing at the ocean surface. Larval fish are the next generation of adult fish that will supply protein and essential nutrients … Read more
A new study by researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Aslak Grinsted, Peter Ditlevsen and Jens Hesselbjerg shows that hurricanes have become more destructive since 1900, and the worst of them are more than 3 times as frequent now than 100 years ago. A new way of calculating the destruction, compensating for … Read more