Science

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom and Spain has demonstrated that a technique called fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy in conjunction with a fluorescent probe can identify four-stranded ‘quadruple helix’ DNA structures within nuclei of live cells. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy map of nuclear DNA in live cells stained …

An international team of researchers has discovered a new dichromatic species of bat in the Guinean Nimba Mountains belonging in the genus Myotis. An artist’s impression of Myotis nimbaensis. Image credit: Patricia Wynne. Myotis is the most speciose genus of bats with over 120 living species and a range that …

New research led by the University of Helsinki suggests that dog domestication needs to be understood in terms of competition over resources in the particularly severe environment that prevailed in northern Eurasia during the latter part of the Last Ice Age (29,000 to 14,000 years ago). Humans feeding leftover lean …

A new species of small vulture that lived during the Quaternary period in the Greater Antilles has been identified from fossils found in western Cuba. Hypothetical reconstruction of the Emslie’s vulture (Cathartes emsliei). Image credit: William Suárez. “Two species of New World vultures (family Cathartidae) form part of the modern …

In a study published recently in the journal Nutrients, oolong tea and pure caffeine increased fat breakdown by about 20% in the healthy volunteers; oolong tea continued to have an effect while the participants were asleep. Ingredients in oolong tea can stimulate fat oxidation. Image credit: Sci-News.com. The various types …

  Many planetary scientists believe that Europa might be our best bet to find evidence of alien life in our own backyard. Although, it’s a big backyard, and the planned Europa Clipper mission needs a powerful rocket to reach the Jovian moon. Congress previously required that this mission launch on …

  NASA builds its hardware to last. Missions like Curiosity, Hubble, and New Horizons have survived long past their initial design life. This allows NASA to wring out every bit of science from its most successful missions, and now you can add Juno and InSight to the list. NASA has …

Paleontologists have described the first three-dimensional preservation of soft tissue in Namacalathus hermanastes, a skeletal metazoan (multicellular animal) that lived some 547 million years ago (Ediacaran period) in what is now Namibia, and established a strong evolutionary link between Ediacaran and early Cambrian metazoans. Namacalathus (individuals numbered). Centimeter scale. Image …

A team of physicists from the United States and Japan has experimentally observed a phenomenon called quantum oscillation in a two-dimensional topological insulator — monolayer tungsten ditelluride (WTe2). The team’s findings, published in the journal Nature, hint at the existence of an entirely new type of quantum particle — a …

  The bacterium Clostridium botulinum produces the world’s most potent poison, which can cause paralysis, labored breathing, and death — it’s called botulism. The same toxin also smooths wrinkles in the skin at low concentrations because nature is weird like that. There’s an approved treatment for botulism, but it’s not …