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.
Tadpoles of frogs that can typically regrow amputated tails or limbs lost their ability to regenerate after researchers blocked the expression of a newly identified gene that is one of the drivers for this regrowth. Furthermore, scientists hypothesize that the loss of appendage regeneration in warm-blooded animals might have been caused by the gain or … Read more
A biomimetic blood vessel was fabricated using a modified 3D cell printing technique and bioinks, which were formulated from smooth muscle cells from a human aorta and endothelial cells from an umbilical vein. The result is a fully functional blood vessel with a dual-layer architecture that outperforms existing engineered tissue and brings 3D-printed blood vessels … Read more
Fish may be more tolerant than previously thought to periods of low oxygen in the oceans, new research shows. The surprising discovery, from research by the University of Exeter and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), was made when investigating the importance of carbon dioxide (CO2) during “hypoxic” (low oxygen) events. The … Read more
Arctic regions have captured and stored carbon for tens of thousands of years, but a new study shows winter carbon emissions from the Arctic may now be putting more carbon into the atmosphere than is taken up by plants each year. The study, published today in Nature Climate Change, warns that winter carbon dioxide (CO2) … Read more
A group of neurons called the corticobasal ganglia projecting neurons are important for vocal learning in young birds, but not in adult birds, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Birdsong, like human speech, is a series of precisely timed movements learned by copying the vocalizations of … Read more
Fossil remains of tiny calcareous algae not only provide information about the end of the dinosaurs, but also show how the oceans recovered after the fatal asteroid impact. Experts agree that a collision with an asteroid caused a mass extinction on our planet, but there were hypotheses that ecosystems were already under pressure from increasing … Read more
People prefer songs with only a moderate amount of uncertainty and unpredictability, according to research recently published in JNeurosci. Scientists have long struggled to understand why activities of little apparent evolutionary value, like listening to music, bring so much pleasure. Previous studies have linked listening to and making predictions about music with activation in reward centers … Read more
A new report published in Nature Climate Change today unveils a land sector roadmap laying out critical actions on forests, farming and food systems the world should take to veer away from spiking global temperatures. The study is the first of its kind to offer a point-by-point identification of specific land use actions, their related … Read more
The next time a river overflows its banks, don’t just blame the rain clouds. Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine have identified another culprit: leafy plants. In a study published today in Nature Climate Change, the UCI researchers describe the emerging role of ecophysiology in riparian flooding. As an adaptation to an … Read more
Stardust, an ultra-high vacuum machine built in the project Nanocosmos ERC, was specifically conceived to simulate, with a high level of control, the complex conditions of stardust formation and processing in the environment of evolved stars. In addition, the AROMA setup was built to analyse the molecular content of the samples synthesized by Stardust. In … Read more