News

The generation of species-specific singing in songbirds is associated with species-specific patterns of gene activity in brain regions called song nuclei, according to a study published November 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Kazuhiro Wada of Hokkaido University in Japan, and colleagues. According to the authors, the findings could be a promising step toward a better understanding of the contribution of multiple genes to the evolution of behaviors.

Reproducibility is a major challenge in experimental biology, and with the increasing complexity of data generated by genomic-scale techniques this concern is immensely amplified. RNA-seq, one of the most widely used methods in modern molecular biology, allows in a single test the simultaneous measurement of the expression level of all the genes in a given sample. New research publishing November 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Shir Mandelbaum, Zohar Manber, Orna Elroy-Stein, and Ran Elkon from Tel Aviv University, identifies a frequent technical bias in data generated by RNA-seq technology, which recurrently leads to false results.

For the first time in the history of space exploration, scientists have measured the seasonal changes in the gases that fill the air directly above the surface of Gale Crater on Mars. As a result, they noticed something baffling: oxygen, the gas many Earth creatures use to breathe, behaves in a way that so far scientists cannot explain through any known chemical processes.

Why has the huge amount of rainfall that hit South Yorkshire had such a large impact on people and property?

Rocket Lab showed off its New Zealand launch and rocket-processing facilities in a new video tour.

The oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing twice as fast as ice in the rest of the Arctic Ocean, according to new research.

An international research collaboration from Poland, the UK and Russia has created a two-dimensional system—a thin optical cavity filled with liquid crystal—in which they trapped photons. As the properties of the cavity were modified by an external voltage, the photons behaved like massive quasiparticles endowed with a magnetic moment, called "spin," under the influence of an artificial magnetic field. The research has been published in Science on Friday, 8 November 2019.

NASA astronomers have detected one of the brightest explosions of X-ray energy ever seen, and they think it came from a greedy neutron star in the Sagittarius constellation.

The more scientists learn about the slumbering brain, the more they realize how vital sleep actually is. Now some researchers hope to develop it into a form of medicine.

Next year, NASA plans to launch a new Mars rover to search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. A new study shows that the rover's Jezero crater landing site is home to deposits of hydrated silica, a mineral that just happens to be particularly good at preserving biosignatures.

Photodetectors are the devices that convert information carried by light into an electric signal that can be processed by electronic circuits and computers. They are found in everyday devices, such as television remotes and motion sensors, and they are a key component in many artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. But the largest, and fastest growing market for them is in data centers and telecommunications—where tens of millions of them are deployed each year to accommodate the skyrocketing storage demands of our computing technology.

A superconducting rotor has been successfully tested on an active wind turbine for the first time.

Multiple strains of the same bacterial species work together to cause deadly infection.

A discovery by a Washington State University-led research team has the potential to inhibit the spread of West Nile virus as well as Zika and dengue viruses.

The lack of a clinically viable method to track and direct cancer drugs to tumors is a big problem for targeted therapeutics.

La Trobe University researchers have revealed for the first time how white blood cells control the final moments of their death, helping their own removal from the human body.

With newly developed technology, medical personnel can manufacture a bandage with drug-delivery capabilities directly onto a wound.

Through early adulthood, exposure to new experiences—like learning to drive a car or memorizing information for an exam—triggers change in the human brain, re-wiring neural pathways to imprint memories and modify behavior. Similar to humans, the behavior of Florida carpenter ants is not set in stone—their roles, whether it is protecting the colony or foraging for food, are determined by signals from the physical and social environment early in their life. But questions remain about how long they are vulnerable to epigenetic changes and what pathways govern social behavior in ants.

As bacteria adapt to hotter temperatures, they speed up their respiration rate and release more carbon, potentially accelerating climate change.

The discovery of the star, known as S5-HVS1, was made by Sergey Koposov from Carnegie Mellon University as part of the Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey (S5). Located in the constellation of Grus—the Crane—S5-HVS1 was found to be moving ten times faster than most stars in the Milky Way.

An international study led from Lund University in Sweden shows that 30 percent of the energy in a certain type of light-absorbing iron molecule disappears in a previously unknown manner. By closing this loophole, the researchers hope to contribute to the development of more efficient solar cells using this iron-based solar cell.

Experiments at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are casting a new light on Egyptian soil and ancient mummified bone samples that could provide a richer understanding of daily life and environmental conditions thousands of years ago.

The Nile River may have emerged around 30 million years ago, driven by the motion of Earth’s mantle.

Don’t trust your eyes—the water’s not moving the way you think it is.

In order to search for life in outer space, astronomers first need to know where to look. A new Northwestern University study will help astronomers narrow down the search.