Science

Cerebrovascular changes, including reduced cerebral blood flow, occur early in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and may accelerate disease progression. In a study published online this week in the journal Hypertension, nilvadipine — a calcium channel blocker used to treat high blood pressure — increased cerebral blood flow in the …

Domestication shaped wolves (Canis lupus) into dogs (Canis familiaris) and transformed both their behavior and their anatomy. A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that dogs have the levator anguli oculi medialis, a muscle responsible for raising the inner eyebrow, which wolves do …

  Astronomers around the world were thrilled in 2016 when the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of an exoplanet around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth. The Centauri system contains a few more stars, though. Now, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) has gotten an upgrade that will help …

Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, informs the brain about sufficiency of fuel stores. When insufficient, leptin levels fall, triggering increases in appetite. A study by researchers from Yale University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School has demonstrated a mechanism by which low leptin stimulates food intake in …

An international team of researchers has found that the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük (7100-5950 BCE) experienced overcrowding, infectious diseases, violence and environmental problems. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski. Çatalhöyük …

  Mars is home to dust storms, several robots, and as of today, a new crater. Images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show a fresh impact crater on the surface. Conditions on Mars may eventually sweep the details away, but the reliable probe has spotted the crater while it’s …

A team of researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of Alabama has found that the first multicellular organisms probably weren’t like the modern-day sponge cells, but were more like a collection of cells that could transition into multiple types, much like modern stem cells that give rise …

Although NASA’s Cassini mission ended in 2017, science continues to flow from the data collected. In a series of papers in the journal Science, planetary researchers analyzed data from Cassini’s ring grazing orbits (December 2016 to April 2017) and its Grand Finale phase (April to September 2017). Key among the …

The domesticated almond tree (Prunus amygdalus) has been feeding humans for millennia. Derivation from the wild, bitter, and toxic almond required loss of the cyanogenic diglucoside amygdalin. A team of European scientists has sequenced the almond genome and analyzed the genomic region responsible for this shift. Almond kernels. The almond …

  Astronomers predict that our Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with Andromeda, and we’ve got just a few billion years to brace for impact. However, the Milky Way might have a history of smashing up other galaxies. A new analysis suggests that our galaxy may have collided …