Nearly 200 years ago, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow asserted "Music is the universal language of mankind." Today, scientists at Harvard have published the most comprehensive scientific study to determine if the American poet's words were mere cliché, or cultural truism.
Getting to the doctor's office for a check-up can be challenging for someone with a neurological disorder that impairs their movement, such as a stroke. But what if the patient could just take a video clip of their movements with a smart phone and forward the results to their doctor? Work by Dr. Hardeep Ryait and colleagues at CCBN-University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, publishing November 21 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, shows how this might one day be possible.
The secret recipe nature uses to make the diverse leaf shapes we see everywhere around us has been revealed in research.
When pathogens invade cells, our body combats them using various methods. Researchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have now been able to show how a cellular pump keeps such invading pathogens in check. As the researchers report in Science, this pump causes a magnesium shortage, which in turn restricts bacterial growth.
When studying how organisms evolve, biologists consider most traits, or features, as derived from some earlier version already present in their ancestors. Few traits are regarded as truly "novel."
In a little less than three weeks, red tide bloom intensified greatly along Florida's west coast, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wednesday report.
Adjusting the water flow rate in a river can prevent invasive species from moving upstream and expanding their range. An applied mathematician at UT has developed a partial differential equation model to find the desired flow rate to reduce invasive populations.
Ronda seemed doomed. The six-year-old French mastiff had developed a tumour on her paw that required amputation and the fitting of a prosthetic leg—a rare and complex operation.
Humans, one day, may be able to produce their own electrical energy in the same way electric eels do, according to a research team based in Japan. It's the ultimate goal that begins with understanding precisely how tiny "motors" inside bacteria maintain biological balance.
Where the two hemispheres of Mars meet, the planet is covered in broken-up terrain: a sign that slow-but-steady flows of icy material once forged their way through the landscape, carving out a fractured web of valleys, cliffs and isolated mounds of rock.
Researchers at EPFL have developed a new laser 3-D-printing technique to manufacture metal components with unprecedented resistance to high temperature, damage and corrosion. The method has applications in fields ranging from aerospace to power-generating turbines.
Organosulfur compounds are widely present in our bodies and the natural environment. They are found in onions, shallots and even cauliflower. Medical research finds that when consumed, they can protect against cancer, heart disease and even diabetes. There is also evidence of these compounds' antiviral and antibacterial uses. About a quarter of all pharmaceutical drugs currently use OSCs.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) collaboration, a large group of researchers from CERN and other institutes worldwide, has recently presented a series of precision measurements of the properties of cosmic Helium isotopes 3He and 4He. These measurements were collected by the AMS, a spectrometer located on the International Space Station (ISS).
An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new "warm Jupiter" alien world transiting a main sequence late F-type star on an eccentric orbit. The newfound exoplanet, designated TOI-677 b, is about 20 percent bigger and more massive than Jupiter. The finding is detailed in a paper published November 13 on arXiv.org.
A quartet of researchers with PSL Research University, CNRS, has found that a peptide in male fruit fly semen somehow makes its way to the female fruit fly brain after copulation, resulting in improvements in long-term memory. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, L. Scheunemann, A. Lampin-Saint-Amaux, J. Schor and T. Preat describe their study of memory in fruit flies and what they learned.
Were you among the youngest students in your class? If the answer is yes, you might have felt at a disadvantage compared to your older classmates, and a host of scientific studies has shown that you were right feeling that way.
Climate change is causing previously temperate oceans to become more tropical with coral reef fish moving south, settling in and changing how things work in their new temperate neighborhood, according to a study by The University of Western Australia and international researchers.
A research team led by The University of Western Australia has found that our cells deteriorate and share fewer resources as we age, which can lead to the onset of diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis, cardiovascular disease and cancers.
A protective membrane for cardiac pacemakers developed at ETH Zurich has proved successful in animal trials in reducing the undesirable build-up of fibrotic tissue around the implant. The next step is to test the protective membrane in patients.
Oysters once dominated the ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Bay to return to full ecological health without restoring Crassotrea virginica to its glory days of the Chesapeake's apex filterer.
Can ethics be taught? New research suggests yes, offering the first large-sample study on how rules and ethics training affects behavior and employment decisions in the financial sector.
Researchers at Northeastern have discovered a new antibiotic that could treat infections caused by some of the nastiest superbugs humanity is facing in the antibiotic resistance crisis.
An interdisciplinary team of scientists led by the University of Leeds have uncovered the fundamental mechanism by which human saliva lubricates our mouth. Their multi-scale study opens the door to advancing dry mouth therapies and saliva substitutes—potentially bringing relief to people who suffer from dry mouth, which can affect swallowing, speech, nutritional intake and quality of life.
Math anxiety is far from uncommon, but too often, those who dread the subject simply avoid it. Research from the University of Chicago offers new evidence for the link between math anxiety and avoidance—as well as possible paths toward breaking that connection.
Acinetobacter baumannii is a pathogen that creates serious problems in hospitals throughout the world. It causes opportunistic infections in the bloodstream, urinary tract, and other soft tissues, accounting for as much as 20 percent of infections spread in Intensive Care Units. As one of the pathogens involved in many multidrug-resistant infections caught in hospitals, it was top of the highest priority "Critical" group of antibiotic-resistant pathogens the World Health Organization rated in 2017 as needing further research.
