Flares from the youngest red dwarfs surveyed are 100 to 1,000 times more energetic than when the stars are older. This younger age is when terrestrial planets are forming around their stars.
Researchers have described a remarkable new species of fish that lived in the sea about 150 million years ago in the time of the dinosaurs. The new species of bony fish had teeth like a piranha, which the researchers suggest they used as piranhas do: to bite off chunks of flesh from other fish.
The first example of prion strains that replicate independently in vitro and in vivo suggests that strain diversity may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study.
By sequencing genetic material at a cell-by-cell level, researchers have described how type 2-high asthma affects the airways and results in mucus production with more detail than ever before. These findings, which help move forward scientific understanding of the biology behind asthma and could inform the development of targeted treatments for asthma and other airway diseases.
Researchers developed a tool, called the Recovery Explorer, that can be used to help guide conservation scientists in making decisions on how to best use limited funds to conserve the greatest number of species. The tool was developed in collaboration with US Fish & Wildlife Services scientists in a two-year project supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center.
Pioneering research has given a fascinating fresh insight into how animal nervous systems evolved from simple structures to become the complex network transmitting signals between different parts of the body.
Scientists have reported unprecedented performance results for a supercapacitor electrode. The researchers fabricated electrodes using a printable graphene aerogel to build a porous three-dimensional scaffold loaded with pseudocapacitive material. In laboratory tests, the novel electrodes achieved the highest areal capacitance (electric charge stored per unit of electrode surface area) ever reported for a supercapacitor.
Neuroscientists have discovered that human dendrites have very different electrical properties from those of other species. These differences may contribute to the enhanced computing power of the human brain.
Physicists from the Advanced Cold Molecule Electron Electric Dipole Moment (ACME) Collaboration have examined the shape of an electron’s charge with unprecedented precision to confirm that it is extremely round. The result, reported in the journal Nature, supports the strength of the Standard Model of particle physics and seems to force several alternative theories into [...]
Diamond nanomaterials are considered hot candidates for low-cost photocatalysts. They can be activated by light and can then accelerate certain reactions between water and CO2 and produce carbon-neutral 'solar fuels'. The EU project DIACAT has now doped such diamond materials with boron and shown at BESSY II how this could significantly improve the photocatalytic properties.
An analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials indicates that supervised aerobic exercise has large antidepressant treatment effects for patients with major depression.
Developed countries imposing their own Security Sector Reform (SSR) processes onto nations recovering from war often rely on entrenched colonial attitudes with no guarantee of success. Researchers looked at the Democratic Republic Congo and Nepal contrasting their outcomes and examining the reasons for success or failure of SSR policies based on Europe. They question whether the systems work in their countries of origin where statistics show ongoing institutional racism.
Collapsible dog bowls and bendable straws seem to work on a common principle, snapping into stable and useful states, but mechanisms have remained elusive. Now a team led by polymer scientists discuss how 'pre-stress' built into the structure helps them function.
Volunteers aged 9-10 with dyslexia took less time to read passages from children's books, possibly thanks to attenuated excitability of the cerebral cortex.
Girls who play video games are three times more likely to choose physical science, technology, engineering or maths (PSTEM) degrees compared to their non-gaming counterparts, according to new research.
Our level of alertness rises and falls over the course of a workday, sometimes causing our energy to drop and our minds to wander just as we need to perform important tasks. To help understand these patterns and improve productivity, researchers have developed a tool that tracks alertness by measuring pupil size, captured through a burst of photographs taken every time users unlock their smartphones.
Scientists have developed a new material and manufacturing process that would make one way to use solar power -- as heat energy -- more efficient in generating electricity.
A recent study finds that parents educated beyond high school have healthier families, as they invest family health care which reduces the likelihood of adverse medical conditions.
A new study found that the social lives of sweat bees -- named for their attraction to perspiration -- are linked to patterns of activity in specific genes, including ones linked to autism.
A new approach to genetic analysis finds associations between environmental factors and pharmacogenes -- genes associated with a person's response to drugs -- sparking ideas for new research at the interface of population genetics and medicine.
