After scanning Komodo dragon specimens with high-powered X-rays, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin think they have an answer: other Komodo dragons. Jessica Maisano, a scientist in the UT Jackson School of Geosciences, led the research, which was published on September 10, 2019, in the journal The Anatomical Record. Her co-authors are Christopher Bell, a professor in the Jackson School; Travis Laduc, an assistant professor in the UT College of Natural Sciences; and Diane Barber, the curator of cold-blooded animals at the Fort Worth Zoo....

The interest in these findings lies in the fact that it is the most modern piece of the kind so far regarding the Neanderthal period and the first one found in the Iberian Peninsula. This circumstance widens the temporary and geographical limits that were estimated for this kind of Neanderthal ornaments. This would be “the last necklace made by the Neanderthals,” according to Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo. “Neanderthals used eagle talons as symbolic elements, probably as necklace pendants, from the beginnings of the mid-Palaeolithic,” notes Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo....

A new study estimates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world’s leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases. And the greater the improvement in people’s handwashing habits at airports, the more dramatic the effect on slowing the disease, the researchers found. The findings, which deal with infectious diseases in general including the flu, were published in late December, just before the recent coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, but the study’s authors say that its results would apply to any such disease and are relevant to the current outbreak....

University of Ottawa-led team found a new viral entry for SARS-CoV-2 and suggests it may be able to use proteins to infect a wider range of cells. One of the many pressing research undertakings by the scientific community amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has focused on ways the coronavirus manages to enter host cells. Now, in a study adding to the pool of knowledge about viral entry, Dr. Marceline Côté’s Faculty of Medicine lab and collaborators have published a highly compelling study showing a previously unrecognized entryway for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and the driver of the global health crisis that’s transformed the world....

In a major breakthrough for uterine serous carcinoma (USC) — a chemo-resistant, aggressive form of endometrial cancer, Yale researchers have defined the genetic landscape of USC tumors, findings that point to new treatment opportunities. The collaborative team—which included researchers with expertise in gynecological cancer, genomics, and computational biology— identified a number of new genes that are frequently mutated in USC. The results of this comprehensive genetic analysis of USC are published in the January 28 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) online early edition....

Adverse events were more common in those receiving the drug. The anti-inflammatory drug hydroxychloroquine does not significantly reduce admission to intensive care or death in patients hospitalized with pneumonia due to COVID-19, finds a study from France published by The BMJ on May 14, 2020. A randomized clinical trial from China also published on May 14, 2020, shows that hospitalized patients with mild to moderate persistent COVID-19 who received hydroxychloroquine did not clear the virus more quickly than those receiving standard care....

They found spin liquid behavior in 3D, due to a so-called hyper hyperkagome lattice. The experimental data fit extremely well to theoretical simulations also done at HZB. Quantum spin liquids: a rare phenomenon Quantum spin liquids are rare and have so far been found mainly in two-dimensional magnetic systems. Three-dimensional isotropic spin liquids are mostly sought in materials where the magnetic ions form pyrochlore or hyperkagome lattices. An international team led by HZB physicist Prof....

Northwestern University researchers have published a study that could help solve one of seismology’s main challenges — predicting when the next big earthquake will occur on a fault. Seismologists traditionally believed that large earthquakes on faults follow a regular pattern and occur after the same amount of time as between the previous two. However, the Earth doesn’t always comply, as earthquakes can sometimes occur sooner or later than expected. Until now, seismologists lacked a way to explain this unpredictability....

Good news for those with busy schedules who find it difficult to fit in a gym workout: a new study from Edith Cowan University suggests that you may be able to reduce your weight training routine by half and still achieve the same results. The research found that one type of muscle contraction is most effective at building muscle strength and size and that the emphasis should be on lowering weights rather than lifting them....

With projections of 9.5 billion people by 2050, humankind faces the challenge of feeding modern diets to additional mouths while using the same amounts of water, fertilizer, and arable land as today. Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting those needs by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields. The gene, called Scarecrow, is the first discovered to control a special leaf structure, known as Kranz anatomy, which leads to more efficient photosynthesis....

“If I had only two of these animals that looked very different, I would say, ‘Well, they’re different species, for sure.’ But variation inside animal species can sometimes fool you,” says Janet Voight, associate curator of zoology at the Field Museum and the lead author of the paper in the Bulletin of Marine Science. “That’s why we need to look at multiple specimens of species to see, does that first reaction based on two specimens make sense?...

What they found was much more interesting. “We created a mouse that eats fat but doesn’t get fat,” said Anne Eichmann, Ensign Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Professor of Cellular And Molecular Physiology. The “failure” led Eichmann’s team headed by Associate Research Scientist Feng Zhang to discover that the absence of two molecules helped “zip up” specialized vessels in lymphatic tissue and prevent the uptake of fat particles called chylomicrons, they report on August 10 in the journal Science....

A number of new life-saving therapies rely on reconfiguring human immune cells to act as living drugs within the body. For instance, CAR-T therapies rely on genetically modifying T cells, a subset of a patient’s immune cells, to recognize and destroy cancers. However, the reengineering process has been cumbersome and inefficient. This led a Yale team headed by Sidi Chen, assistant professor of genetics and in the Systems Biology Institute, to utilize a system that relies on the cell’s own repair machinery to integrate new genes into its genome....

Using the European X-ray astronomy satellite XMM-Newton(1), researchers from CNRS(2) and CEA (3) have discovered a new source of cosmic rays. In the vicinity of the remarkable Arches cluster, near the center of the Milky Way, these particles are accelerated in the shock wave generated by tens of thousands of young stars moving at a speed of around 700,000 km/h. These cosmic rays produce a characteristic X-ray emission by interacting with the atoms in the surrounding gas....

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Adelaide has provided the first anatomical description of the female snake clitoris, in a first-of-its-kind study. PhD Candidate Megan Folwell from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, led the research. “Across the animal kingdom female genitalia are overlooked in comparison to their male counterparts,” said Ms. Folwell. “Our study counters the long-standing assumption that the clitoris (hemiclitores) is either absent or non-functional in snakes....

Just ima­gine, you are sit­ting on a sunny beach, con­ten­tedly let­ting the warm sand trickle through your fin­gers. Mil­lions of sand grains. What you prob­ably can’t ima­gine: at the same time, bil­lions upon bil­lions of bac­teria are also trick­ling through your fin­gers. Between 10,000 and 100,000 mi­croor­gan­isms live on each single grain of sand, as re­vealed in a study by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen....

The work is an overview of the authors’ own studies, as well as publications on conservation and variability in the genomes of viruses that store their genetic material in the form of RNA molecules. The authors put together previously discrete facts and formulated general trends that explain the sustainability of genomes and at the same time their ability to quickly change and preserve beneficial mutations. In the course of reproduction of RNA viruses, their genomes experience lots of mutations (errors that occur when strains of nucleotides are copied....

The electrons are naturally transported as part of biological processes in all living cells, from bacteria and fungi to plants and animals. By introducing electrodes, the cells can be utilized to generate electricity that can be used externally. Previous research had created fuel cells using bacteria but it required constant feeding. This new approach uses photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy, to generate current....

A new theory of consciousness has been developed by a researcher at Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, describing why it evolved, what it is useful for, which disorders influence it, and why it is so difficult to diet and resist other urges. “In a nutshell, our theory is that consciousness developed as a memory system that is used by our unconscious brain to help us flexibly and creatively imagine the future and plan accordingly,” explained corresponding author Andrew Budson, MD, professor of neurology....

2D materials, which consist of a few layers of atoms, may well be the future of nanotechnology. They offer potential new applications and could be used in small, higher-performance, and more energy-efficient devices. 2D materials were first discovered almost 15 years ago, but only a few dozen of them have been synthesized so far. Now, thanks to an approach developed by researchers from EPFL’s Theory and Simulation of Materials Laboratory (THEOS) and from NCCR-MARVEL for Computational Design and Discovey of Novel Materials, many more promising 2D materials may now be identified....