news 2017

Mammals only started being active in the daytime after non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out about 66 million years ago (mya), finds a new study led by UCL and Tel Aviv University's Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. A long-standing theory holds that the common ancestor to all mammals was nocturnal, but the new discovery reveals when mammals started living in the daytime for the first time.

!- Start of DoubleClick Floodlight Tag: Please do not remove Activity name of this tag: UCB001CP Retargeting URL of the webpage where the tag is expected to be placed: http://unknown This tag must be placed between the Vision scientists at UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto have discovered that naturally occurring molecules known as lipid mediators have the potential to halt the progression of glaucoma, the world's second-leading cause of blindness.

Ever sleep poorly and then walk out of the house without your keys' Or space out while driving to work and nearly hit a stalled car? A new study led by UCLA's Dr. Itzhak Fried is the first to reveal how sleep deprivation disrupts brain cells' ability to communicate with each other. Fried and his colleagues believe that disruption leads to temporary mental lapses that affect memory and visual perception.

Researchers already know that gelatin-covered electrode implants cause less damage to brain tissue than electrodes with no gelatin coating. Researchers at the Neuronano Research Centre (NRC) at Lund University in Sweden have now shown that microglia, the brain's cleansing cells, and the enzymes that the cells use in the cleaning process, change in the presence of gelatin.

A potential new antidepressant and antianxiety treatment with a unique mechanism of action has been developed by scientists at the University of Bath. The compound has shown significant potential after studies in mice. The research is published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. Around one in six adults will experience depression in their lifetimes.

One in five pregnant women around the world are harbouring a potentially deadly bacterium that could kill their babies, according to new research. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) disease is a preventable condition caused by bacteria that colonise the vagina and birth canal, and can be fatal to unborn babies and infants if not detected and treated.

Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an accurate, scalable approach for monitoring cancer DNA from blood samples. Reporting , the team demonstrates that nearly 90 percent of a tumor's genetic features can be detected in blood samples using whole-exome sequencing, and that the method can be effectively applied in up to 49 percent of patients with advanced cancer - a number likely to increase as sequencing becomes cheaper.

AUSTIN, Texas - Scientists are developing a set of medical tests called liquid biopsies that can rapidly detect the presence of cancers, infectious diseases and other conditions from only a small blood sample. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin are developing a new tool for liquid biopsy that could soon provide doctors with a more complete picture of an individual's disease, improving their chances of finding the best treatment, while also sparing patients the pain, inconvenience and long wait times associated with surgical biopsies.

Early flowering, early fruiting: Anecdotal evidence of climate change is popping up as quickly as spring crocuses, but is it coincidence or confirmation that plants' timing is shifting in response to warming temperatures? Scientists have had few tools to piece together disparate, anecdotal data into a collective, bigger picture.

Mass extinctions were followed by periods of low diversity in which certain new species dominated wide regions of the supercontinent Pangaea, reports a new study. The findings indicate that mass extinctions may have predictable consequences and provide insights into how biological communities may be expected to change in the future as a result of current high extinction rates.

MIMS-scientist publish in the high-impact Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, ISME . An important survival strategy in bacteria is the release of toxic substances, which can attack and kill cells and other bacteria. One of these substances are D-amino acids, which are secreted to the environment at high concentrations by very diverse bacteria.

Scientists have identified a key chemical within the 'memory' region of the brain that allows us to suppress unwanted thoughts, helping explain why people who suffer from disorders such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and schizophrenia often experience persistent intrusive thoughts when these circuits go awry.

Researchers from KU Leuven and the Francis Crick Institute have pinpointed 27 novel genes thought to prevent cancer from forming. Their findings could help develop personalised cancer treatments that target these genes. "Our cells have two copies of tumour suppressor genes that, when lost in mutated cells, cause cancer," says Jonas Demeulemeester.

A study published in the journal Science by a research team from Gustave Roussy, INSERM, INRA, AP-HP, IHU Médiaterranée Infections* and Paris-Sud University shows that prescribed antibiotics impair the efficacy of immunotherapy in cancer patients. It is important to consider that more than 20% of patients living with cancer receive antibiotics.

A discovery that bees have individual flying direction preferences could lead to strategies for steering drone aircraft fleets. Researchers at The University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute have found that honeybees have individually distinct biases in "left and right-handedness" when flying through obstacles.

The Australian National University (ANU) has played a leading role in the discovery of a new species of orangutan, which has been described for the first time in the latest edition of the Current Biology journal. The Tapanuli orangutan is a population of just 800 apes located in a small patch of forest in the north of Indonesian island Sumatra, making it the most endangered of the now seven known species of great apes.

Scientists have shown how vaccinating against a common cause of pneumonia leads to lethal strains of bacteria being replaced by less harmful strains. The study provides a clearer picture of the complex population structures of bacteria and how different strains struggle to establish themselves. According to the researchers, the findings could help to optimise new vaccines by predicting how they will change bacterial populations in the longer term, based on how common certain genes are among the bugs.

In the Earth Microbiome Project , an extensive global team led by researchers at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, University of California San Diego and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory collected more than 27,000 samples from diverse environments. They analyzed the collections of microbes, or microbiomes, in each sample to generate the first reference database of bacteria colonizing the planet.

An international team, including researchers from Cardiff University, has discovered a new orangutan species within Indonesia. Pongo Tapanuliensis , otherwise known as the Tapanuli Orangutan, was found in the three Tapanuli districts of North Sumatra after close analysis of the ape inhabitants of the Batang Toru Ecosystem.

New genetic data bear witness to transatlantic ties severed by slavery and triangular trade. Scientists 1 from the Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse (CNRS/Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier/Paris Descartes University) and Ecological Anthropology and Ethnobiology (CNRS/MNHN) research units have shown that members of Maroon communities in South America - formed over four centuries ago by Africans who escaped slavery - have remarkably preserved their African genetic heritage (98%).