National survey shows different bacteria on cell phones and shoes
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE largest study of its kind in the U.S. shows thousands of different types of bacteria living on cell phones and shoes, including groups that have barely been studied by scientists. “This highlights how much we have to learn about the microbial world around us,” said David Coil, a researcher at the University of California, […]
Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries
Reading Time: 3 minutesDISRUPTED nightly sleep and clogged arteries tend to sneak up on us as we age. And while both disorders may seem unrelated, a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, helps explain why they are, in fact, pathologically intertwined. UC Berkeley sleep scientists have begun to reveal what it is about fragmented nightly sleep […]
Researchers develop new method to map cholesterol metabolism in brain
Reading Time: 2 minutesA TEAM of researchers led by Swansea University have developed new technology to monitor cholesterol in brain tissue which could uncover its relation to neurodegenerative disease and pave the way for the development of new treatments. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, shows the major locations of cholesterol […]
Covid-19 sniffer dogs are here!
Reading Time: 2 minutesWHAT could be more accurate, faster and cheaper than the current diagnostic test kits for Covid-19 detection? It is man’s all-time best friend – yes, dogs! Dogs nature of sniffing everything may be annoying to some humans but looks like researchers around the world are actually benefiting from it. Researchers are now taking advantage of […]
Mathematics can save lives at sea
Reading Time: 3 minutesHUNDREDS of people die at sea every year due to vessel and aeroplane accidents. Emergency teams have little time to rescue those in the water because of the probability of finding a person alive plummets after six hours. Beyond tides and challenging weather conditions, unsteady coastal currents often make search and rescue operations exceedingly difficult. New […]
Anti dengue drug from rubber trees!
Reading Time: 2 minutesTHE rubber industry, unlike many other commodity-related industries in Malaysia is booming with soaring demand for latex surgical gloves with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, if you think rubber trees are only valued for their latex or rubber elastomer here’s a surprise to marvel at. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] Scientists from the Malaysian Rubber Board […]
They live in the most biodiverse place on Earth but they go hungry
Reading Time: 3 minutesMASSIVE seasonal floods mean many ribeirinhos – a marginalised social group who live alongside rivers in Brazil’s Amazonian floodplain forests, struggle to catch enough fish to eat and can go hungry. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] The Purus River, which flows towards the regional capital city of Manaus, undergoes one of the largest annual variations […]
Key nose cells identified as likely COVID-19 virus entry points
Reading Time: 4 minutesTWO specific cell types in the nose have been identified as likely initial infection points for COVID-19 coronavirus. Scientists discovered that goblet and ciliated cells in the nose have high levels of the entry proteins that the COVID-19 virus uses to get into our cells. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] The identification of these cells […]
Scientists monitor brains replaying memories in real time
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIN A STUDY of epilepsy patients, researchers monitored the electrical activity of thousands of individual brain cells, called neurons, as patients took memory tests. They found that the firing patterns of the cells that occurred when patients learned a word pair were replayed fractions of a second before they successfully remembered the pair. Dr. Zaghloul’s […]
Squatting and kneeling may be good for health
Reading Time: 3 minutesA USC-LED STUDY shows that squatting and kneeling may be important resting positions in human evolution — and even for modern human health. Sitting for hours a day is linked to some health risks, including cardiovascular disease, likely because it involves low muscle activity and low muscle metabolism. However, these risks seem paradoxical. For humans, […]