news 2015

Mice suffer from a decrease in biological fitness if their internal clock is mixed up Mice with deviant internal rhythms due to a genetic mutation have fewer offspring and shorter life spans than normal conspecifics whose rhythms follow the 24-hr cycle of a day more accurately. This discovery was made by a team of scientists led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Princeton University.

Does legal marijuana tempt pot users to consume more alcohol - or are they likely to opt for cannabis instead of chardonnay? A University of Washington team of researchers sought to address those questions in the context of evolving marijuana policies in the United States. Their , published online Dec.

Transmissible cancers - cancers which can spread between individuals by the transfer of living cancer cells - are believed to arise extremely rarely in nature. One of the few known transmissible cancers causes facial tumours in Tasmanian devils, and is threatening this species with extinction. Today, scientists report the discovery of a second transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils.

A wide variety of fruits and vegetables contain oxalate. But humans and most other animals lack the ability to metabolize this molecule - that is, to break it down while digesting it. And so for some people, a buildup of oxalate is associated with kidney stones, arthritis, and even kidney failure. At the same time, some plants, fungi, and bacteria are able to break down oxalate.

High-throughput, Machine-Learning Tool Could Help Researchers Better Understand Synaptic Activity in Learning and Disease Electron micrograph of stained somatosensory cortex synapses that were identified using a machine-learning algorithm. Image credit: Saket Navlakha and Alison L. Barth. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new approach to broadly survey learning-related changes in synapse properties.

Magnesium infused with dense silicon carbide nanoparticles could be used for airplanes, cars, mobile electronics and more Matthew Chin At left, a deformed sample of pure metal; at right, the strong new metal made of magnesium with silicon carbide nanoparticles. Each central micropillar is about 4 micrometers across.

Researchers discover mechanism that halts solar eruptions before they blast into space Posted December 23, 2015; 01:00 p.m. by John Greenwald, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Among the most feared events in space physics are solar eruptions, massive explosions that hurl millions of tons of plasma gas and radiation into space.

Scientists have identified a type of immune cell in the lungs of humans that may help fight respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The virus is one of the main causes of childhood hospitalisation, severe lung infection in the elderly, and the common cold. The researchers found that a type of immune cell, called a resident memory'T cell, is particularly active during RSV infection.

12/23/2015 How many messages have been written in my WhatsApp chat? Who sends the most pictures' And who rarely participates in conversations? "WhatsAnalyzer" developed by Anika Schwind and Michael Seufert from the University of Würzburg's Institute of Computer Science now gives the answer to this question.

It's been a busy year for animal health and welfare stories, so we are taking a look back at a few of the highlights. From whales to fruit flies, our researchers have made fascinating discoveries from right across the animal kingdom. Test tube foal The first foal to be born as a result of IVF for 15 years marks the first step to producing an embryo bank that could be the last lifeline for some rare, traditional British breeds that are on the verge of disappearing.

From the smallest ever printed colour image and the world's largest plant seeds to the darkest matter in the infinite expanse of the universe - over the past year, ETH research has focussed on all animate and inanimate aspects of the natural world, presenting fascinating results and ingenious inventions.

Charismatic business leaders can cause their followers to suppress emotions, which can harm companies over the long term, according to new research. Remember that even the most charismatic person is only human. Jochen Menges While charismatic leaders may be magnetic, they can cause their followers to suppress emotions, which can harm companies through increased strain, lower job satisfaction and reduced information exchange among employees, according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

A study led by UCLA's Dr. Edward Garon has found an immunotherapy drug to be more effective than chemotherapy in treating people with advanced lung cancer. The study also showed that the drug, pembrolizumab , was effective in a wider population of people than previously thought. Researchers compared pembrolizumab to the chemotherapy drug docetaxel in a clinical trial involving more than 1,000 people with PD-L1-expressing non-small cell lung cancer.

Written by Glenn Roberts Scientists have for the first time viewed how bacterial proteins self-assemble into thin sheets and begin to form the walls of the outer shell for nano-sized polyhedral compartments that function as specialized factories.

Study finds city exhibits more signs of diversity than others worldwide - Diversity in Coventry makes it an ideal model for other developed countries planning diabetes care - Study reveals that one in 10 Coventry residents is from an ethnic minority, but one in three residents with diabetes is an ethnic minority - Study also highlights food and language as the most common barriers to providing diabetes care for ethnic minorities Cities across the developed world should look to Coventry when they plan diabetes services for ethnic minorities.

It is well established that white roofs can help mitigate the urban heat island effect, reflecting the sun's energy back into space and reducing a city's temperature under normal weather conditions. In a new study of Guangzhou, China, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers working with Chinese scientists found that during a heat wave, the effect is significantly more pronounced.

Two papers from UCL show that having early chemotherapy improves survival for men with prostate cancer. The papers, published in the Lancet and Lancet Oncology , report the results from the STAMPEDE clinical trial and a meta-analysis. Both papers looked at the use of a chemotherapy drug called docetaxel.

Scientists from Imperial College London have identified for the first time two clusters of genes linked to human intelligence. Called M1 and M3, these so-called gene networks appear to influence cognitive function - which includes memory, attention, processing speed and reasoning. Crucially, the scientists have discovered that these two networks - which each contain hundreds of genes - are likely to be under the control of master regulator switches.

HERSHEY, Pa. Zinc levels in breast milk may be able to serve as an indicator of breast function during lactation, according to Penn State health researchers. In previous studies, Shannon L. Kelleher and colleagues found that the protein ZnT2 is critical for secreting zinc into breast milk, and women who have mutations in the gene that encodes ZnT2 have substantially lower milk zinc levels, leading to severe zinc deficiency in exclusively breast-fed infants.

Depending on its age, condition and even engine, how much does an individual vehicle pollute the urban air? Researchers from Heidelberg University are looking into the matter. The team led by environmental physicist Dr. Denis Pöhler has developed an innovative device that can measure nitrogen dioxides in the exhaust of the preceding vehicle.