Studying longer-term effects on elephants from poaching

Poaching has longer-term effects on elephant populations than originally thought, according to a pair of studies published recently by researchers at Colorado State University and Save the Elephants. This new research shows that orphaned juvenile elephants have less chance of survival in a herd, and that losing them has a significant impact on population growth or decline.

Newly discovered cell type in human skin contributes to inflammatory skin diseases

A team of international scientists and clinical experts have unraveled a new cell type in human skin that contributes to inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis (PSO). Their study findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in September 2021. The team hails from A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), in collaboration with the Skin Research Institute of Singapore (SRIS), Singapore's National Skin Centre, Department of Dermatology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan, and industry partner Galderma.

Effect of electrons with negative mass in novel semiconductor nanostructures

A large international research collaboration led by Dr. Kai-Qiang Lin and Professor John Lupton from the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at the University of Regensburg has been able to measure the effect of electrons with negative mass in novel semiconductor nanostructures. The international team includes scientists from Berkeley and Yale (U.S.), Cambridge (England) and Tsukuba (Japan).

Research sheds light on violence and mental health in Brazilian favelas

Favela residents with more personal experience and fear of violence have higher levels of mental distress and poorer quality of life, according to the main finding of the international research Building the Barricades.

Animals died in 'toxic soup' during Earth's worst mass extinction: A warning for today

The end-Permian mass extinction event of roughly 252 million years ago—the worst such event in earth's history—has been linked to vast volcanic emissions of greenhouse gases, a major temperature increase, and the loss of almost every species in the oceans and on land.

Excavation of a Hispano-Visigothic grave at Ojo Guareña

This summer, a tomb embedded in the rock by the main entrance to the San Tirso and San Bernabé Hermitage situated in the karst complex of Ojo Guareña (Merindad de Sotoscueva, Burgos) was excavated; its structure of slabs holds the skeleton of an adult individual in the supine position, with its head to the west, set between two small limestone blocks.

Rare artefacts discovered on the Murray River

New research by archaeologists has described rare shell artifacts discovered at Calperum Station and Murrawong (Glen Lossie) on the Murray River in South Australia.

Destroying vegetation along fences and roads could worsen our extinction crisis

What do koalas, barking owls, greater gliders, southern rainbow skinks, native bees, and regent honeyeaters all have in common? Like many native species, they can all be found in vegetation along fences and roadsides outside formal conservation areas.

Skeletal muscle grown in a dish offers insight into neuromuscular diseases

In the fight against diseases like ALS, USC Viterbi biomedical engineering researchers have created a powerful lab model to better see how our muscles and neurons connect.

Measuring 'social cohesion' and why its recent dip matters

COVID-19 has upended so many aspects of our lives in Australia, it can be hard to remember what life was like before the pandemic. It's also hard to remember what we feared would happen when the pandemic first struck.

Study: Broad bipartisan support for social media 'labeling' to counter misinformation, problematic speech

There is broad bipartisan support among self-identified liberals and conservatives that social media companies should add warning labels to posts that contain misleading information, or that could lead to the spread of misinformation, data from a new study by Northeastern researchers in the College of Arts, Media and Design shows.

Unearthing ancient Australia winds back the clock millions of years

What did prehistoric life look like in Australia? The skeletons of ancient creatures buried for millions of years are shedding light on marsupial evolution.

Race, not job, predicts economic outcomes for Black households

During the decade-long economic recovery following the Great Recession, Black households lost much more wealth than white families, regardless of class or profession, according to new research from Duke University's Samuel DuBois Cook Center for Social Equity.

Game-changer for clean hydrogen production

Curtin University research has identified a new, cheaper and more efficient electrocatalyst to make green hydrogen from water that could one day open new avenues for large-scale clean energy production.

This is what it looks like when a black hole snacks on a star

While black holes and toddlers don't seem to have much in common, they are remarkably similar in one aspect: Both are messy eaters, generating ample evidence that a meal has taken place.

Chemical discovery gets reluctant seeds to sprout

Seeds that would otherwise lie dormant will spring to life with the aid of a new chemical discovered by a UC Riverside-led team.

'Happy' SpaceX tourist crew spend first day whizzing around Earth

SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 crew spent their first day in orbit conducting scientific research and talking to children at a pediatric cancer hospital, after blasting off on their pioneering mission from Cape Canaveral the night before.

Desolate villages face famine in Madagascar drought

Nothing to eat, nothing to plant. The last rain in Ifotaka fell in May, for two hours.

California wildfires threaten famous giant sequoia trees

Firefighters wrapped the base of the world's largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning Thursday in California's rugged Sierra Nevada.

Chinese astronauts return to earth after 90-day mission

Chinese astronauts returned to earth Friday after completing the country's longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing's drive to become a major space power.

Ground-breaking bacteria-killing viruses unite with antibiotics to fight devastating antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Mycobacterium abscessus, a relative of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis and leprosy, is responsible for particularly severe damage to human lungs and can be resistant to many standard antibiotics, making infections extremely challenging to treat. However, there is hope. Bacteria are vulnerable to naturally occurring viruses, called bacteriophages; for every species of bacteria, there is a unique bacteriophage that will destroy it. Scientists are testing new therapies that combine bacteriophages with the antibiotics that we currently use, to treat antibiotic-resistant infections. In their current Disease Models & Mechanisms article, Laurent Kremer and colleagues from Université de Montpellier, France, and University of Pittsburgh, USA, investigate the antibacterial effects of a new combination therapy, treating infections caused by the antibiotic-resistant bacteria M. abscessus with a bacteriophage and an antibiotic.