news 2017

As resistance to existing antibiotics increases, new approaches to serious bacterial infections are needed. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden, together with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in the US, have investigated one such alternative. New approach to resistant bacteria.

The flight speed of birds is more complex than research has previously managed to show. In a new study from Lund University in Sweden, researchers have found that birds use multiple - each one simple yet effective - methods to control their speed in the air and compensate for tailwind, headwind and sidewind.

Researchers from Cardiff University's Otter Project have discovered that genetically distinct populations of wild otters from across the UK have their own regional odours for communicating vital information to each other. The findings could have implications for wild mammal conservation efforts. The study, which profiled chemical secretions from the Eurasian otter, suggests that genetically distinct populations of wild mammals have different odour dialects, which may have been driven by geographical separation.

Autophagy refers to a fundamental recycling process of cells that occurs in yeast, fungi, plants, as well as animals and humans. This process allows cells to degrade their own components and thus activate energy resources to be able to adapt to nutritional needs. In addition, autophagy plays a central role in steering an organism's immune response.

While dinosaurs reigned on dry land and in the sky, other reptiles populated the seas and oceans. Of the latter, plesiosaurs, whose means of locomotion may be described as “underwater flight,” formed the most diverse group. But when did they first appear? The discovery of the oldest of these reptiles provides evidence that they had diversified by the start of the Mesozoic Era, during the Triassic Period.

Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered how high glucose levels — whether caused by diabetes or other factors — keep heart cells from maturing normally. Their findings help explain why babies born to women with diabetes are more likely to develop congenital heart disease.

Researchers at Cardiff University, in collaboration with the University of Dundee, have identified a drug molecule within a medicine used to treat tapeworm infections which could lead to new treatments for patients with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that, according to the charity, Parkinson's UK, affects one person in every 500.

Different types of privacy laws in U.S. states produce markedly different effects on the willingness of patients to have genetic testing done, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT professor. As the research shows, policies that focus on the privacy risks of genetic testing, and ask for patient consent to those risks, lead to a reduction in tests performed.

The Tasmanian tiger genome has been sequenced, making it one of the most complete genetic blueprints for an extinct species. The genetic blueprint provides crucial new information on the biology of this unique marsupial and how the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine ( Thylacinus cynocephalus ) evolved to look so similar to the dingo, despite being very distantly related.

A new way of triggering nerve regeneration to help repair spinal cord injury and in the longer-term potentially paralysis has successfully been demonstrated by University of Bristol scientists. The work is published in PLOS ONE today [Monday 11 December]. There is currently no cure for spinal cord injury or treatment to help nerve regeneration so therapies offering intervention are limited.

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have shown, for the first time, that a naturally occurring hormone plays a vital part in regulating a woman's fertility, a discovery that could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Research by Associate Professor Ravinder Anand-Ivell , Professor Richard Ivell and Yanzhenzi Dai in the School of Biosciences has been published in the online journal Frontiers in Physiology.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers from the University of Bristol have analysed mood indicators in text from 800 million anonymous messages posted on Twitter. These tweets were found to reflect strong patterns of positive and negative moods over the 24-hour day. Circadian rhythms, widely referred to as the 'body clock', allows people's bodies to predict their needs over the dark and light periods of the day.

FINDINGS UCLA scientists have found that a protein known as NOTCH1 helps ward off inflammation in the walls of blood vessels, preventing atherosclerosis — the narrowing and hardening of arteries that can cause heart attacks and strokes. The new finding , from research conducted on mice, also explains why areas of smooth, fast blood flow are less prone to inflammation: levels of NOTCH1 are higher in these vessels.

FINDINGS UCLA neuroscientists are the first to show that rhythmic waves in the brain called theta oscillations happen more often when someone is navigating an unfamiliar environment, and that the more quickly a person moves, the more theta oscillations take place — presumably to process incoming information faster.

Sexualized representations, especially the emphasis of secondary sexual characteristics, can change the way we perceive an individual. An international team of researchers led by Giorgia Silani from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna has shown that empathic feelings and brain responses are reduced when we observe the emotions of sexualized women.

ANN ARBOR-In sports, sometimes a player has to take one for the team. The same appears to be true in the plant world, where reduced individual growth can benefit the broader community. The findings from the University of Michigan's Paul Glaum and André Kessler of Cornell University help explain the persistence of some plant communities when theory predicts they should go extinct.

People with major depressive disorder have alterations in the activity and connectivity of brain systems underlying reward and memory, according to a new study by the University of Warwick. The findings provide clues as to which regions of the brain could be at the root of symptoms, such as reduced happiness and pleasure, or negative memories, in depression.

Grants support creation of new technologies for understanding the brain Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's departments of Biological Sciences and Chemistry , Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center (MBIC) and Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) have received close to $7.5 million in new funding from the National Institutes of Health through the federal BRAIN Initiative to support innovative research and develop tools that will rapidly advance brain research.

Perhaps 2017 might be remembered as the first holiday season when at-home genetic testing kits received the same billing as the latest version of Amazon's electronic assistant Alexa. These kits, which allow consumers to submit a saliva sample via mail and have their DNA sequenced, were a big seller during the four days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year.

Industrial and agricultural activities produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Many bacteria also produce methane as a byproduct of their metabolism. Some of this naturally released methane comes from the ocean, a phenomenon that has long puzzled scientists because there are no known methane-producing organisms living near the ocean's surface.