SciTechDaily

Africa’s giant herbivores did not simply vanish in a wave of extinctions. Their evolutionary family tree was slowly running out of new branches. A new study suggests that the long decline of animals such as elephants, hippopotamuses, and their extinct relatives was driven primarily by low rates of speciation. Once a giant species disappeared, another [...]

A mountain of loose rock in Utah hides enough ice to fill 600 Olympic swimming pools, revealing that some of the state’s largest frozen water reserves are almost invisible from the surface. Unlike conventional glaciers, which expose broad expanses of ice, rock glaciers resemble slowly shifting fields of broken stone. Their rocky coverings can conceal [...]

Practice may teach the brain a new movement, but what happens immediately afterward could determine whether that skill lasts. Scientists have long known that repetition alone does not guarantee learning. A newly practiced movement must be stabilized through memory consolidation, a process that continues after training ends. New research in mice suggests that signals arriving [...]

Maternal age effects may arise from reversible epigenetic changes whose impact depends partly on genetics and evolutionary pressures. A mother’s age can leave a biological imprint on her offspring, influencing physical and behavioral traits across many animal species, including humans. These so-called maternal age effects are widespread, but scientists still do not fully understand the [...]

Women with the most antioxidant-rich diets had a strikingly lower prevalence of cervical cancer in a nationwide analysis. A cervical cancer diagnosis is usually traced back to one dominant cause: persistent infection with a high-risk strain of human papillomavirus (HPV). But infection alone does not determine who develops cancer, leaving researchers interested in the other [...]

A hidden hormone disorder may be driving millions of cases of high blood pressure, and a wearable device is revealing what standard tests miss Researchers have used a wearable device to uncover previously hidden hormone patterns in primary aldosteronism, a potentially curable disorder that may affect as many as one in five people with high [...]

A metal surface that becomes more active as it changes could help green hydrogen electrolyzers run harder and longer. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an electrode that combines five metals in a high-entropy antiperovskite structure. Supported on porous nickel foam, the material helped an anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer sustain industrially [...]

Enamel proteins from Homo erectus teeth suggest genetic links to Denisovans while offering a less destructive way to study ancient human fossils. A handful of ancient teeth may preserve clues to a relationship that has remained difficult to trace through fossils alone. Researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese [...]

New research reveals more details about the doomed mission to find the Northwest Passage. Researchers have now identified four additional members of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition, including one sailor whose identity had been debated for more than 100 years. The work was led by anthropologists in the Faculty of Arts at the University of [...]

A microbial metabolite called 3,4 dihydroxybenzoic acid, derived from dietary fiber, improved antitumor immunity in mice. A compound made by gut bacteria during the breakdown of dietary fiber may offer a way to strengthen cancer immunotherapy. In mouse studies, University of Michigan researchers turned that compound into an oral drug that helped T cells attack [...]

When it comes to reducing the risk of depression and anxiety, how often students exercise may matter more than how hard they push themselves. A large Norwegian study found that students who exercised infrequently were more likely to develop clinically defined depression, anxiety, or another common mental disorder over the following year. How often they [...]

A strange honeycomb landscape on Mars may preserve the scars of ancient cycles of rain, drought, and cracking mud. The surface of Mars is home to some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes in the solar system. This is primarily due to the Red Planet lacking several resurfacing processes that Earth possesses, including plate [...]

From tiny glass beads and a map of the Moon to Mercury, a new study uses an indirect method to determine the silicon dioxide content of Mercury’s surface. Mercury’s surface appears to contain substantially less silicon dioxide than researchers previously estimated. A new analysis puts the compound at about 37 percent by mass, up to [...]

Cancer’s spread to distant organs can now be studied using lab-grown bone, lung, and blood vessel tissues. Cancer becomes far more dangerous when it stops being confined to one place. Most cancer deaths are not caused by the original tumor, but by cells that break away, travel through the bloodstream, and establish new tumors in [...]

Salk Institute scientists found that immune cells in the central nervous system identify and kill specific nerve cells in the spinal cords of mice with late-stage ALS, worsening the disease. The findings could help inform new approaches to cancer and autoimmune therapies. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the nerve cells that control movement gradually die, [...]

Earlier development of diverse antimicrobial peptides may help some toad populations survive devastating chytrid fungus outbreaks. A deadly fungus has devastated frog and toad populations around the world, yet some groups eventually begin to recover even while the pathogen remains. Researchers led by University College London (UCL), ZSL, and Imperial College London have now identified [...]

The longer we stay awake, the more certain brain cells appear to turn up the pressure to sleep, eventually making rest nearly impossible to resist. Sleep drive is the biological pressure to rest that builds during waking hours, making it increasingly difficult to stay alert. After prolonged wakefulness, it typically produces longer, deeper recovery sleep, [...]

A tomato contains a hidden ingredient that the eye cannot see, and it may be just as important to liver health as the red pigment that made the fruit famous. Researchers at Tufts University found that phytoene, a colorless precursor used by plants to make lycopene, sharply reduced fatty liver disease in mice. The discovery [...]

An ultra-clean crystal surface allowed individual molecules to preserve quantum coherence at the fundamental Fourier limit. A molecule placed on a surface should be easier to probe and manipulate than one hidden inside a solid or suspended in vacuum. In practice, however, surface contamination creates an unstable, noisy environment that can quickly degrade the molecule’s [...]

Researchers have developed the world’s first heat-driven elastocaloric cooling system, using waste heat and solar energy to support sustainable cooling. A cooling system powered directly by heat rather than an electric motor has worked in laboratory tests, offering a possible way to turn waste heat or solar energy into cooling. The prototype, developed by researchers [...]