Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for May 17, 2019:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | Sedimentary, dear Johnson: Is NASA looking at the wrong rocks for clues to Martian life?In 2020, NASA and European-Russian missions will look for evidence of past life on Mars. But while volcanic, igneous rock predominates on the Red Planet, virtually the entire Earth fossil record comes from sedimentary rocks. |
 | SpaceX postpones launch of its first internet network satellitesSpaceX postponed a launch of 60 satellites into low-Earth orbit that was scheduled for Thursday night, possibly until next week, citing a need for software updates. |
 | Planet-hunter CubeSat images Los AngelesA small satellite designed to hunt for new planets beyond the solar system recently looked down at Earth to capture an image of California's "City of Stars." |
 | Mission control 'saves science'Every minute, ESA's Earth observation satellites gather dozens of gigabytes of data about our planet—enough information to fill the pages on a 100-metre long bookshelf. Flying in low-Earth orbits, these spacecraft are continuously taking the pulse of our planet, but it's teams on the ground at ESA's Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, that keep these explorers afloat. |
 | Lunar South Pole Atlas—a new online reference for mission plannersThe Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), managed by Universities Space Research Association (USRA), has compiled and made available an atlas of the Moon's south pole. Given NASA's recent direction to implement Space Policy Directive-1 landing astronauts at the south pole by 2024, the LPI has compiled a series of maps, images, and illustrations designed to provide context and reference for those interested in exploring this area. |
Technology news
 | A social perception scheme for behavior planning of autonomous carsTo navigate dynamic environments, autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be able to process all information available to them and use it to generate effective driving strategies. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have recently proposed a social perception scheme for planning the behavior of autonomous cars, which could help to develop AVs that are better equipped to deal with uncertainty in their surrounding environment. |
 | Wearable cooling and heating patch could serve as personal thermostat and save energyEngineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a wearable patch that could provide personalized cooling and heating at home, work, or on the go. The soft, stretchy patch cools or warms a user's skin to a comfortable temperature and keeps it there as the ambient temperature changes. It is powered by a flexible, stretchable battery pack and can be embedded in clothing. Researchers say wearing it could help save energy on air conditioning and heating. |
 | When an aircraft landing system is made to enter the spoofing zoneJust what the airplane passenger who is always skittish does not want to hear: Radio navigation on planes for landing purposes is not secure; signals can be hacked. |
 | Study aims to improve capturing wind power for energy productionScientists have released the first of several reports outlining major results that could help wind industry officials manage wind power facilities more efficiently and increase renewable energy production. |
 | Virtual reality game simulates experiences with raceVideo games that use virtual reality to create immersive experiences have become increasingly popular for entertainment and for research. However, the representation of race in these simulations is often shallow—and fails to go beyond physical appearance attributes like skin color. |
 | Researchers imagine a cheaper, fairer marketplace for digital goodsE-commerce is sizzling. Last year, consumers spent more than $517 billion online with US merchants, up 15 percent from the year before, according to Internet Retailer. |
 | Baidu posts first quarterly loss since IPO, top exec quitsChinese internet giant Baidu has posted its first quarterly loss since going public in 2005, and the head of its core search business resigned as the company struggles to grow sales. |
 | Could the fabled Orient Express take to the rails again?It conjures up the atmosphere of rail travel from a bygone golden age, steaming through Europe experiencing top-notch cuisine and the company of fellow passengers who could be writers or spies. |
 | WhatsApp, security and spyware: what happenedFacebook-owned WhatsApp's revelation of a security flaw allowing hackers to inject spyware on smartphones raised fresh concerns about the security of the mobile ecosystem. |
 | App converts aerial crop photos into real-time metrics of plant growth and crop healthAgricultural researchers have long used small-plot trials to test a myriad of practices, such as selecting the best seeds, fertilizer and crop-control products, and depending on their eyes and opinions to determine what works best. |
 | A new era in 3-D printingIn the mid-15th century, a new technology that would change the course of history was invented. Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, with its movable type, promoted the dissemination of information and ideas that is widely recognized as a major contributing factor for the Renaissance. |
 | Cyber attacks are rewriting the 'rules' of modern warfare—and we aren't prepared for the consequencesGovernments are becoming ever more reliant on digital technology, making them more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In 2007, Estonia was attacked by pro-Russian hackers who crippled government servers, causing havoc. Cyber attacks in Ukraine targeted the country's electricity grid, while Iran's nuclear power plants were infected by malware that could have led to a nuclear meltdown. |
 | Alibaba faces consumer complaints in EuropeSix European consumer rights associations said Friday they have asked national authorities to look into illegal practices by firms using the AliExpress site of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. |
 | Germany green-lights e-scooters on roads, not pavementsGermany on Friday authorised battery-powered scooters on its streets and cycle paths but banned them from pavements to protect pedestrians as the two-wheeled craze continues to spread across Europe. |
 | Facebook breakup could boost China rivals: SandbergFacebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Friday a breakup of big US technology would not address "underlying issues" facing the sector and suggested that such a move could help rivals in China. |
 | Fuel subsidies defy green trend amid rising climate alarmEven as warnings of climate catastrophe and calls for greener economies grow ever louder, the world is still spending hundreds of billions of dollars every year to subsidise the fossil fuels that are causing the planet to overheat. |
 | HP Enterprise buying supercomputer star CrayHewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) on Friday announced a $1.3 billion deal to buy supercomputer maker Cray, part of a move to expand into data analysis from connected devices . |
 | EU adopts powers to respond to cyberattacksThe European Union on Friday adopted powers to punish those outside the bloc who launch cyberattacks that cripple hospitals and banks, sway elections and steal company secrets or funds. |
 | Crisis-hit Nissan shakes up board, keeps bossJapanese car giant Nissan shook up its executive board Friday, adding a top director from partner Renault as it battles the fallout from the Carlos Ghosn saga and disappointing results. |
 | Amazon invests in British food courier DeliverooUS online titan Amazon has taken a stake in Deliveroo, the British food delivery company said on Friday. |
 | Walmart reports jump in profit, warns on tariffsWalmart reported a jump in first-quarter earnings on Thursday on increased US store sales and e-commerce growth but warned that higher US tariffs could hit its business. |
 | EasyJet losses deepen in first halfBritish low-cost airline EasyJet said Friday that first-half net losses more than quadrupled due to "tough" market conditions and high fuel costs. |
Medicine & Health news
 | New findings could lead to improved vaccinations against sexually transmitted infectionsIn a study published today in the Nature Communications, researchers from King's College London have shown how skin vaccination can generate protective CD8 T-cells that are recruited to the genital tissues and could be used as a vaccination strategy for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). |
 | Owning a dog is influenced by genetic make-upA team of Swedish and British scientists have studied the heritability of dog ownership using information from 35,035 twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry. The new study suggests that genetic variation explains more than half of the variation in dog ownership, implying that the choice of getting a dog is heavily influenced by an individual's genetic make-up. |
 | Groundbreaking genetic discovery shows why Lupus developsIn a world first, researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have shown previously ignored rare genetic mutations are a major cause of lupus. |
 | Imagine: Our attitudes can change solely by the power of imaginationSometimes in life there are special places that seem to stand out to us—a school playground, perhaps an old church, or that inconspicuous street corner where you were kissed for the first time. Before the kiss you had never even noticed that corner. It's as if the special experience with that beloved person transferred positive emotion to the location. Our attitude towards these places thus suddenly changes—they become valuable to us. But could this also happen purely by the power of imagination rather than by actual experiences? |
 | Identifying the molecular structure of one of Alzheimer's stickier culpritsIn a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Colorado Denver and Binghamton University are the first to map the molecular structure and dynamics of an aggressive protein modification that spurs on Alzheimer's disease. |
 | Scientists capture first-ever video of body's safety test for T-cellsFor the first time, immunologists from The University of Texas at Austin have captured on video what happens when T-cells—the contract killers of the immune system, responsible for wiping out bacteria and viruses—undergo a type of assassin-training program before they get unleashed in the body. A new imaging technique that allowed for the videos, described today in the journal Nature Communications, holds promise for the fight against autoimmune disorders such as Type 1 diabetes. |
 | A new approach to targeting cancer cellsA University of California, Riverside, research team has come up with a new approach to targeting cancer cells that circumvents a challenge faced by currently available cancer drugs. |
 | Bowel cancer rising among young adults in EuropeThe rate of bowel cancer—otherwise known as colorectal cancer or CRC—is rising among adults aged 20-49 in Europe, suggests research published online in the journal Gut today. |
 | Study urges mandatory measles jabs as cases surgeVaccination against measles should be mandatory for children before they start school in order to prevent future outbreaks of the resurgent disease, according to new analysis released Friday. |
 | Study examines consequences of workplace bullyingNew research reveals how frequently being the target of workplace bullying not only leads to health-related problems but can also cause victims to behave badly themselves. |
 | Research reveals insulin-producing beta cells may change function in diabetesA revolutionary new study using only materials derived from humans has revealed that insulin-producing beta cells can change their function in diabetes—and that this change may be reversible. |
 | Partial breast irradiation effective treatment option for low-risk breast cancerPartial breast irradiation produces similar long-term survival rates and risk for recurrence compared with whole breast irradiation for many women with low-risk, early stage breast cancer, according to new clinical data from a national clinical trial involving researchers from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC—James). |
 | Ultrasound used to trigger insulin release in mice shows promise for diabetes therapyThe World Health Organization ranks Type 2 diabetes among the most common causes of death in the world. Current treatments can help the body use insulin at various stages of the disease, but they can also be expensive and subject patients to lifelong medication regimens and side effects. Thanks to new therapeutic ultrasound technology, one promising alternative looks to reshape how early Type 2 diabetes is managed. |
Colorectal cancer incidence on the rise among young adults in several high-income countriesThe incidence of colon and rectal cancer in adults younger than 50 years has increased substantially over the latest available 10-year period in several high-income countries, going against a decline or stabilisation trend in the incidence of colorectal cancers within the overall populations of high-income countries. | |
 | For many HIV+ women, daily survival takes precedence over viral suppressionAccording to scientists who study women infected with HIV, statistics often paint an impressionist view of the lives of these women that misses the granular detail that tells the real story. The imprecise big picture is that most of this population is doing a good job at suppressing the virus, but facts gathered on the ground show that many struggle with issues of daily living that can make taking a pill to keep HIV at bay difficult. |
 | Tobacco and e-cigarette promotions spark teens' use of nicotine products, study findsOwning items that promote e-cigarettes and other alternative tobacco products doubles the likelihood that a young person will try these products, a new study led by the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. The finding illustrates the influence of such marketing on teenagers. |
 | Study finds narrowing gender gap in youth suicidesNew research from Nationwide Children's Hospital finds a disproportionate increase in youth suicide rates for females relative to males, particularly in younger youth aged 10-14 years. The report, which describes youth suicide trends in the United States from 1975 to 2016, appears this week in JAMA Network Open. |
 | Preventing relapse in recovery from cocaine use disorderA study conducted at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil and described in an article published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence may help healthcare workers identify patients who risk relapse after undergoing treatment for cocaine use disorder. |
 | Majority of campus alcohol policies fail to receive 'most effective' rating from expertsAlcohol policy experts and researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who evaluated common university alcohol policies found that fewer than half of the approaches for reducing problematic alcohol consumption rated as "most effective." |
 | Why onlookers often don't report sexual harassmentWhy don't good people report bad things? |
 | Report advocates for adoptive parent leaveA new report calling for paid "attachment leave" for newly adopting Canadian families is reaching the ears of policy-makers in Ottawa, where advocates hope their call find its way into federal party platforms. |
 | Research looks to halt stress-induced seizuresFor the over one million Canadians living with traumatic brain injury, the likelihood of developing epilepsy increases significantly because of their injury. When faced with stress or anxiety, that likelihood increases even more dramatically. |
 | Only 3% of children in England visit dentist before their first birthday, study findsResearch led by the University of Birmingham has revealed that just three percent of children in England visited the dentist before their first birthday. |
 | Viruses to stop cholera infections – the viral enemy of deadly bacteria could be humanity's friendIn the latest of a string of high-profile cases in the U.S., a cocktail of bacteria-killing viruses successfully treated a cystic fibrosis patient suffering from a deadly infection caused by a pathogen that was resistant to multiple forms of antibiotics. |
Responding to adverse childhood experiences - An evidence reviewPublic Health Wales' Policy, Research and International Development directorate in conjunction with the Public Health Collaborating Unit at Bangor University, has produced a new report 'Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences'. | |
 | Watch out, that cookbook might give you salmonellaFoodborne pathogens account for about four million illnesses in Canada annually, affecting one in eight Canadians. |
 | Some women with psychotic disorders are more vulnerable around the time of menstruationMothers on the Edge, a recent documentary by Louis Theroux, told the stories of four new mothers admitted to specialist mental health units for a range of serious conditions including anxiety, depression and psychosis—triggered by recent motherhood. |
 | Adult-onset IBD linked to higher mortalityWhile the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease) in adulthood is tied to a higher mortality, the actual number of deaths has been falling, a Swedish study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Gut reports. Now it is a case of ascertaining which of the newer treatments are the most efficacious, say the researchers. |
 | New cancer strategies promising, says researcherDr. Tim Fenton, an expert in cancer research at the University, says the announcement of new strategies to overcome the evolution of drug resistance in tumours could dramatically increase the effectiveness of cancer therapies. |
 | Encouraging critically necessary blood donation among minoritiesBetter community education and communication are critical for increasing levels of blood donation among minorities, according to a study by researchers at Georgia State University and Georgia Southern University. |
 | Avelumab and axitinib approved for treatment of renal cell carcinoma(HealthDay)—Avelumab (BAVENCIO) was approved this week for first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in combination with axitinib, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced. |
 | Could hypnotherapy be alternative to opioids for pain?(HealthDay)—Hypnosis might sound like a magic trick to some, but the therapy can be an effective pain reliever, a new review shows. |
 | What to do when your child throws a fit(HealthDay)—You know the scenario—your child has a meltdown, leaving you frustrated, embarrassed and arguing even though your brain says it's a battle you're not likely to win. |
 | Americans increasingly open about mental health(HealthDay)—Americans are becoming more positive about mental health, although some stigma remains, according to the results of a new poll released by the American Psychological Association (APA). |
 | Guidelines updated for TB screening, treatment in health care workers(HealthDay)—Guidelines have been updated for screening and treatment for tuberculosis (TB) infection among health care personnel, according to research published in the May 17 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. |
 | Black women more likely to die of breast cancer, especially in the SouthWhen Felicia Mahone was 27, she felt her breast and found a mass. Breast cancer had killed nearly all the women in her family—her mother, two aunts and two cousins. Her doctor, though, downplayed the lump, assuring her everything would be all right. |
 | Being sick in the morning can be different from being sick at nightIn a review published May 17 in the journal Trends in Immunology, researchers discuss how time of day affects the severity of afflictions ranging from allergies to heart attacks. |
 | Cancer drug could be repurposed to provide treatment for brain aneurysmsAn important class of drug used to treat cancer patients could be used to treat brain aneurysms, according to new research published this week. |
 | FDA approves venetoclax for chronic, small lymphocytic leukemia(HealthDay)—Venetoclax (VENCLEXTA) has been approved to treat adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday. |
 | Heroin overdose ED visits decreased from 2017 to 2018(HealthDay)—From 2017 to 2018, there was a decrease in heroin overdose emergency department visits, although the declines were not consistent among states, according to a study published online May 16 in the American Journal of Public Health. |
 | Thresholds found for unilateral optic nerve lesions in MS(HealthDay)—A new anatomic threshold may be useful for identifying unilateral optic nerve lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the May issue of the Annals of Neurology. |
 | Study describes TBI caregiver QOL measurement system(HealthDay)—A new tool, the Traumatic Brain Injury Caregiver Quality of Life (TBI-CareQOL), combines five new measures and 10 existing measures and can identify health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among caregivers of individuals with TBI, according to a study published in the April issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. |
 | Sugary drinks and fruit juice may increase risk of early death(HealthDay)—Most folks know that sugary drinks aren't healthy, but a new study finds fruit juices are not much better. |
 | First anticoagulant approved for preventing VTE recurrence in children(HealthDay)—Fragmin (dalteparin sodium) injection has been granted the first approval for subcutaneous use in preventing recurrence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in children aged 1 month or older, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced. |
 | Sleep duration tied to adverse measures of glycemia(HealthDay)—Self-reported short and long sleep are both associated with adverse measures of glycemia among adults with prediabetes, according to a study published online May 10 in Diabetes Care. |
 | Researchers develop electric field-based dressing to help heal wound infectionsResearchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have found a way to charge up the fight against bacterial infections using electricity. |
 | Clinical trial improves treatment of genetic ricketsA new study shows a drug developed in conjunction with investigators at Indiana University School of Medicine to alleviate symptoms of a rare musculoskeletal condition is significantly more effective than conventional therapies. The findings are published in Lancet. |
Study finds Adelaide's depression hot spotsPoorer, disconnected suburbs are more likely to have depression 'hot spots', according to a new study focused on Adelaide from The Australian National University (ANU). | |
 | Blister packaging for drugs in nursing homes: Much discussed, but hardly investigatedIn blister packaging, a pharmacy (or a service provider commissioned by it) portions and packs the prescribed drugs of a patient according to weekdays and times of day, sorted into individual transparent packages (blisters). In this way, one can see at a glance when tablets should be taken and whether all tablets have been taken as planned. |
 | Nivolumab with ipilimumab: Combination has added benefit in advanced renal cell carcinomaRenal cell carcinoma is one of the cancers for which the range of promising treatment options has become considerably wider in recent years. In several early benefit assessments since 2013, the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has already been able to determine an added benefit of a new drug in comparison with the respective appropriate comparator therapy (ACT). |
 | How the Trump prescription for drug prices transparency could make health care well againWhen it comes to the prescription drugs America use, too often money is the last thing consumers think about. Formulaic prescription drug ads are part of the reason why. |
 | North carolina sues electronic cigarette maker JUUL(HealthDay)—North Carolina is suing electronic-cigarette manufacturer JUUL for allegedly marketing its products to children and misleading the public about the health risks of the products. This lawsuit is the first filed by a state over JUUL's alleged marketing toward teens, CNN reported. |
 | Essentials for growing tasty herbs on your windowsill(HealthDay)—Whether you have a dedicated space in an outdoor garden or just a few buckets on a small patio, there's nothing quite like having your own herb garden for giving your cooking fresh flavor boosts. |
 | Quinn on Nutrition: Carbs—how low can we go?"Fruit has carbs? I had no idea," a stunned patient told me recently. |
 | Early dengue virus infection could 'defuse' Zika virus"We now know for sure that Zika virus infection during pregnancy can affect the unborn foetus in such a way that the child develops microcephaly and other severe symptoms," explains Prof Felix Drexler, a virologist at Charité who has been developing diagnostic tests for Zika and other viruses at the DZIF. Just a few years ago, pictures of affected newborns were cause for worldwide dismay and perplexity. "However, what we did not understand then was that high incidence of microcephaly seemed to occur particularly in northeastern Brazil," says Drexler. Why are expecting mothers in these regions at a higher risk of developing a severe Zika-associated disease than in other regions? The scientists consequently began to search for cofactors that have an influence on whether a Zika infection during pregnancy will develop fatal consequences or not. |
Missouri, latest US state to restrict abortionThe Missouri House passed a bill on Friday banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, making it the latest US state to pass restrictions on ending a pregnancy. | |
Biology news
 | Scientists propose rethinking 'endangered species' definition to save slow-breeding giantsConservation decisions based on population counts may fail to protect large, slow-breeding animals from irrevocable decline, according to new research coinciding with Endangered Species Day. |
 | Researchers dish the dirt on soil microbesSoil microbes are wild, unpampered and uncultured. |
 | How one fern can soak up so much arsenic—and not dieArsenic-contaminated soil and groundwater pose risks to millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Cleaning up the toxic metal is a laborious and expensive process, with some remediations of arsenic reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars. |
 | New computer program can help crack precision medicineResearchers from ANU have helped develop a new computer program to find out a person's genetic make-up, bringing us a step closer to an era of precision medicine. |
 | Researchers unravel mechanisms that control cell sizeWorking with bacteria, a multidisciplinary team at the University of California San Diego has provided new insight into a longstanding question in science: What are the underlying mechanisms that control the size of cells? |
 | Earliest evidence of the cooking and eating of starchNew discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave in South Africa's southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically modern humans were roasting and eating plant starches, such as those from tubers and rhizomes, as early as 120,000 years ago. |
 | Dangerous pathogens use this sophisticated machinery to infect hostsGastric cancer, Q fever, Legionnaires' disease, whooping cough—though the infectious bacteria that cause these dangerous diseases are each different, they all utilize the same molecular machinery to infect human cells. Bacteria use this machinery, called a Type IV secretion system (T4SS), to inject toxic molecules into cells and also to spread genes for antibiotic resistance to fellow bacteria. Now, researchers at Caltech have revealed the 3-D molecular architecture of the T4SS from the human pathogen Legionella pneumophila with unprecedented details. This could in the future enable the development of precisely targeted antibiotics for the aforementioned diseases. |
 | The USDA announces new vision for animal genomicsA new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) blueprint, published today in Frontiers and Genetics, will serve as a guide for research and funding in animal genomics for 2018-2027 that will facilitate genomic solutions to enable producers to meet increasing future demands for animal products by a growing world population. |
 | Study dives deep into saving endangered sharkMackerel sharks are large, fast-swimming apex predators that include Hollywood heavy-hitters like great whites (Jaws), mako (Deep Blue Sea) and the now-extinct Megalodon (The Meg). One of the smallest mackerel sharks is the porbeagle—on average less than two metres long—and it's one of the most critically endangered species of shark, too. |
 | Study reveals role of neonatal brain cells in early bonding in mammalsWhat drives the social bond between offspring and caregivers in the first few days of life? A Yale-led team of researchers has found clues in specific neurons in the brains of neonatal mice that are associated with feeding. |
 | AI-powered 'knowledge engine' a game-changer for antibiotic resistanceA groundbreaking project to tackle one of the world's most pressing and complex health challenges—antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—has secured a $1 million boost. UTS will lead a consortium of 26 researchers from 14 organisations in the development of an AMR 'knowledge engine' capable of predicting outbreaks and informing interventions, supported by a grant from the Medical Research Future Fund. |
 | Wild wheat relative genes to aid in battle against trio of pestsWheat curl mite, greenbug and Hessian fly have long been troublemaker pests for Texas wheat, but a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists is ready to go high tech to help control them. |
 | Ocean twilight zone scientists tackle the challenge of bringing light into darknessOceanographers studying creatures in the ocean twilight zone are facing an optical dilemma. They need to observe the fish in order to study them, but at ocean depths of 200 meters and beyond, there's very little natural light trickling down from the surface. This means that submersibles developed to image and track these animals need to be equipped with lights that can illuminate the animals—and do so without scaring them off. |
 | Cell polarity: An aurora over the poleEven before the fertilised egg or zygote can start dividing into daughter cells that form the future tissues and organs during the development of a multicellular organism, the symmetrical zygote needs to become asymmetrical or polarised in shape and molecular organisation. The master switch that triggers the symmetry breaking process in the zygotes of the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), was identified in a recent study, led by Assistant Professor Fumio Motegi, Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). This work was published in Developmental Cell in March 2019. |
 | Selective application of contraceptives may be most effective pest controlSince the mid-20th century, the global human population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7.7 billion, according to the most recent United Nations estimate. Much of this growth was due to the unprecedented agricultural expansion made possible by the widespread use of synthetic pesticides starting in the 1950s. |
 | China creates app to recognize PandasChina has developed an app that allows conservationists to identify individual pandas using facial recognition technology, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday. |
 | Making the best of sparse informationNew findings reported by LMU researchers challenge a generally accepted model of echolocation in bats. They demonstrate that bats require far less spatial information than previously thought to navigate effectively. |
 | Changes in subsistence hunting threaten local food securityScientists with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and WCS Ecuador Program publishing in the journal BioTropica say that subsistence hunting in Neotropical rain forests—the mainstay of local people as a source of protein and a direct connection to these ecosystems—is in jeopardy from a variety of factors. |
 | The deadly odds of pigeon racing in the PhilippinesIt is a brutal 600-kilometre gauntlet during which competitors face searing heat, wild seas, vicious predators, and the threat of kidnapping. |
 | Activists petition court to halt Japan dolphin huntCampaigners on Friday urged a court in Japan to halt so-called "drive hunting" of dolphins in the country as part of an unprecedented lawsuit that argues the practice violates Japanese law. |
 | Dutch aquifers bank rainwater to help farmers avoid going bustClimate change is increasing the risk of water shortages across Europe, but researchers in the Netherlands are hoping to ease pressure by generating a steady supply of clean water and heat from deep underground reservoirs known as aquifers. |
 | Ernst Haeckel: Pioneer of modern science"By ecology, we understand the whole science of the organism's relationship with the surrounding outside world, which includes in a broader sense all 'existential conditions'. These are partly organic and partly inorganic in nature; both the former and the latter are, as we have previously shown, of utmost importance for the form of the organisms, because they force them to adapt to them." |
This email is a free service of Science X Network
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please unsubscribe here.
You are subscribed as jmabs1@gmail.com. You may manage your subscription options from your Science X profile
No comments:
Post a Comment