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.
The world is waking up to the fact that human-driven carbon emissions are responsible for warming our climate, driving unprecedented changes to ecosystems, and placing us on course for the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history. However, new research publishing this week in leading international journal PNAS, sheds fresh light on the complicated interplay of … Read more
How can fossils predict the consequences of climate change? A German research team from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the Alfred Wegener Institute compared data from fossil and marine organisms living today to predict which groups of animals are most at risk from climate change. They published their results … Read more
In the hunt for Earth-like exoplanets – Earth analogues in distant solar systems – astronomers rely on highest precision spectrographs in order to detect the minute Doppler shift in the spectrum of their host stars. The shift is caused by the reflex motion of the star around the common center of mass in the planet-star-system … Read more
The concept of nutrient limitation originated from middle 1840s, when the famous Germany chemist Justus Freiherr von Liebig first proposed the Liebig’s Law of the Minimum based on experiments that added essential nutrients to improve crop productivity. The idea was later introduced to natural plant communities, evoking numerous efforts to evaluate the extent and strength … Read more
Artificial intelligence may soon play a critical role in choosing which depression therapy is best for patients. A national trial initiated by UT Southwestern in 2011 to better understand mood disorders has produced what scientists are calling the project’s flagship finding: a computer that can accurately predict whether an antidepressant will work based on a … Read more
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a graduate research university of science and technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, today announced new research demonstrating that corals pass patterns of DNA to their offspring. This ground-breaking research marks the first-time this process has been observed in animals within the field of biology. The research … Read more
Memory-hungry, power-sapping big data might finally have met its match. Electrical engineers at Northwestern University and the University of Messina in Italy have developed a new magnetic memory device that could potentially support the surge of data-centric computing, which requires ever-increasing power, storage and speed. Based on antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials, the device is the smallest … Read more
Bryophytes are a group of plants that include mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They are often referred to as the early land plants marking the transition from freshwater to a terrestrial ecosystem. The timing of the conquest of land and the relationships among the main lineages of plants have been contentious for a long time. In … Read more
Once a vague scapegoat for a variety of ills, increasing evidence suggests a condition known as “leaky gut” – in which microbes and other molecules seep out of the intestines – may be more common, and more harmful, than previously thought. Leaky gut is most often experienced by older people, patients with cancers or other … Read more
Women who find bearded men less attractive may be deterred due to their potential risk for carrying ticks, bugs and lice, according to a University of Queensland study published today. Senior author Dr Barnaby Dixson from UQ’s School of Psychology said the findings suggested that when women judged men for their eligibility as a partner … Read more