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There are over 100,000 fitness apps currently available on app stores, but despite the variety in choice, there has been little evidence they lead to real-world fitness improvements - until now. Lisa Nguyen A new study from Marc Mitchell, a Western kinesiology professor and Lisa Nguyen, MSc'24, examined whether fitness app usage can result in long-term exercise habits.

Researchers at the ESRF - the European Synchrotron - together with CNRS, ENS de Lyon and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, have unveiled how Atlantic Bluefin tuna transforms the toxic form of mercury into less harmful forms. Their study, published in Environmental Science & Technology , shows that the tuna's edible muscle contains not only toxic methylmercury, but also mercury bound in stable, non-toxic compounds.

The oldest workshop for making shell jewellery has been unearthed at the Palaeolithic site of La Roche-à-Pierrot in Saint-Césaire, Charente-Maritime. Dating back at least 42,000 years and accompanied by red and yellow pigments, this unique assemblage in Western Europe has been linked to the Châtelperronian culture, which marks the transition between the last Neanderthals and the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe.

A new transistor technology does not require semiconductor doping - offering decisive advantages for controlling and reading quantum chips. The smaller electronic components become, the more complex their manufacture becomes. This has been a major problem for the chip industry for years.

Cities and towns surrounded by large areas of woodland are more likely to have ticks in their urban greenspaces, according to a new study. The research, which was led by the University of Glasgow and is published in Nature Cities, found that while the number of ticks remains higher in surrounding countryside, they can also be found in some urban greenspaces - something many people may not be aware of.

Everyday items like car tires, plastic bags and foam cushions come from materials called polymers that can take years to develop and test. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a new approach to create better rubber-like materials more quickly by combining artificial intelligence with human expertise.

There is a growing population of aging Albertans. That's likely not a surprise to most. What might be is the trickle-down effect the growing population of older people, and an increasing number of people with chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and mental health disorders is having on doctor's offices.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is a dangerous malformation of the lungs and diaphragm in which almost a third of affected babies die due to underdevelopment of the lungs. Until now, there have been no concrete approaches to treating this malformation with medication. In an international study, scientists from the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Leipzig University Hospital have been able to show that inflammatory cells play a previously underestimated role in the underdeveloped lungs of children with diaphragmatic hernia before and after birth.

An exotic quantum phenomenon manifests itself under conditions where one would not normally expect it, show scientists at TU Wien (Vienna). Nature has many rhythms: the seasons result from the Earth's movement around the sun, the ticking of a pendulum clock results from the oscillation of its pendulum.

ISTA scientists collect snapdragon flowers in the Pyrenees to trace their ancestry Every season, scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) go on field trips to the Pyrenees. Their mission: gather snapdragon flowers to understand their genetic makeup. In a recently published study in Molecular Ecology, theyshow how nature uses color genes to keep two varieties of snapdragons distinct, even when they share the same habitat.

A new study led by Dr Sarah Zhang from Alliance Manchester Business School has uncovered how small banks in the United States are reacting to growing concerns about data privacy. The research published in the Journal of Corporate Finance shows that when US states announce plans for stronger data privacy laws, small banks quickly boost their investment in IT before such laws are even passed.

Plain packaging of vape pods reduces young people's interest in trying them, but does not reduce interest among adults, according to a new study led by UCL and King's College London researchers. The study, published in the journal Lancet Regional Health and carried out in collaboration with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Brighton and Sussex Medical School researchers, looked at survey responses from 2,770 young people in Great Britain (aged 11-18) and 3,947 adults (18+) in the UK who were shown either branded vape pod packs or standardised packs.

The Bernese Mars camera CaSSIS aboard ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter reveals the glowing atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. Slices from the edge of Mars reveal a layered atmosphere of delicate complexity. A European spacecraft has captured a luminous mille-feuille of dust enveloping the Red Planet in unprecedented detail.

Global climate change and local deforestation affect the rainforest ecosystem in different ways New study quantifies climatic changes in the rainforest due to local deforestation and global climate change quantified separately Data show that deforestation is the main cause, accounting for 75 percent, of the decline in precipitation by 21-millimeter during the dry season since 1985.

Economics Although the average cash holdings (bank deposits) have increased in Denmark since 1996, almost half of the population still only has cash equivalent to one or two months of income. This is not just a temporary situation, according to research from the University of Copenhagen. Danes' low cash holdings are remarkably persistent.

Eliminating toxic and expensive heavy metals in the chemical industry: A new publication from the University of Würzburg Chemistry points the way forward. The team led by chemistry professor Holger Braunschweig at the University of Würzburg is investigating the 'metal-mimetic' properties of main group elements such as boron.

A new study from The University of Manchester has found that a well-known mental health intervention for children may be no more effective than the usual social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes already being taught in primary schools. The research, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology , was led by experts from the Manchester Institute of Education working alongside colleagues from the University of Dundee and Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey.

Molecules passing through the colon epithelium via specialized pathways (goblet cells). In red: the molecules transported (antigens); in blue: the epithelium. Institut Pasteur/Microbiome-Host Interactions/Clara Delaroque and Benoit Chassaing A study conducted in mice by scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm reveals that maternal consumption of dietary emulsifiers can have a negative impact on the gut microbiota of their offspring.

Using a decade of satellite data, researchers have identified 85 previously unknown lakes several kilometres under the frozen surface surrounding the South Pole. Hidden beneath the biggest ice mass on Earth, hundreds of subglacial lakes form a crucial part of Antarctica's icy structure, affecting the movement and stability of glaciers, and consequentially influencing global sea level rise.