Super sensitive to B.O.? Maybe blame your genes
Posted on May 16, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 1007 words
| Patria Henriques
Genes may partly determine how strongly you smell the noxious aroma of a stinky armpit, new research shows.
Similarly, your genetics influence how you perceive the smell of galaxolide, a "woody" synthetic musk used in fragrances and cleaning products, according to a new study, published Thursday (Feb. 3) in the journal PLOS Genetics(opens in new tab). The new research reveals that people perceive these familiar scents as more or less intense depending on which versions of specific genes they carry.
[Read More]Will We Really Find Alien Life Within 20 Years?
Posted on May 16, 2023
| 7 minutes
| 1362 words
| Arica Deslauriers
At a June 27 press conference, Russian astronomer Andrei Finkelstein said that extraterrestrials definitely exist, and that we're likely to find them within two decades.
"The genesis of life is as inevitable as the formation of atoms," said Finkelstein, the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Applied Astronomy Institute in St. Petersburg. He was speaking at the opening of an international symposium on the search for extraterrestrial civilizations that was being held at the institute.
[Read More]'Gardens and graveyards' of coral discovered in hidden canyons off Australia's coast
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 609 words
| Fernande Dalal
The South Australian coast is surrounded by a labyrinth of underwater canyons, many of them still unexplored. Last week, an international team of researchers (and their underwater robot companion) completed a survey of three such canyons, uncovering a hidden world of both thriving coral gardens and ash-white coral graveyards.
According to the expedition members, the fate of these hidden ecosystems, which sit in the immediate path of the increasingly warm water flowing out of Antarctica's Southern Ocean, could be a preview of how farther-flung ocean life will react to ongoing global warming.
[Read More]Children can be stealth superspreaders of malaria to mosquitoes
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1104 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Children infected with malaria can become "superspreaders" and pass the parasite to droves of local mosquitoes, even if the kids never develop symptoms of the disease, a new study suggests.
Since this disease is passed from humans to mosquitoes and then back again, rather than from person to person, this finding is worrisome.
If malaria goes untreated in these asymptomatic children, the parasites will continue to circulate among mosquitoes, even in places that employ intensive malaria controls like insecticides, bednets, and free diagnostic tests and treatments.
[Read More]Flu Vaccine and Narcolepsy: New Findings May Explain Link
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 853 words
| Arica Deslauriers
An unusual increase in narcolepsy cases in Europe was linked to a new flu vaccine used there, and now researchers may have figured out why: A protein in the vaccine appears to mimic one in the brain that plays a role in the sleep disorder.
People with narcolepsy experience severe daytime sleepiness and "sleep attacks," in which they suddenly fall asleep for a short time. The vaccine that was linked to the disorder was used in 2009 and 2010 to protect against the H1N1 strain of flu, which is sometimes called the swine flu.
[Read More]Frozen with Fear? How the Love Hormone Gets You Moving
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 707 words
| Patria Henriques
In frightening situations, people tend to freeze, but not recent moms, who charge ahead. Now a new study shows how the brain speedily delivers the hormone oxytocin — which new mothers have in elevated levels, starting with childbirth — to where it's needed, freeing them to protect their young.
The study, done in rats, revealed that oxytocin rushes to the brain region governing fear, called the amygdala, courtesy of special cells that act like a neurological expressway.
[Read More]Genetically Modified Rice Fights Allergies
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 277 words
| Arica Deslauriers
What if the food we ate fought allergies instead of causing them? A new form of rice can, researchers announced this week. But is it safe?
The breakthrough is a first-of-its-kind advance toward the next generation of genetically modified foods intended to improve consumers' health, the scientists in Japan said.
The new transgenic rice designed to fight a common pollen allergy appears safe in animal studies, the researchers report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
[Read More]Growing Human Kidneys in Rats Sparks Ethical Debate
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 7 minutes
| 1347 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Researchers say they have developed a new technique that will get more kidneys to people who need transplants, but the method is sure to be controversial: The research shows that it is feasible to remove a kidney from an aborted human fetus, and implant the organ into a rat, where the kidney can grow to a larger size.
It's possible that further work could find a way to grow kidneys large enough that they could be transplanted into a person, the researchers said, although much more research is needed to determine whether this could be done.
[Read More]Less Invasive Autopsy Should Be Standard Practice, Study Says
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 443 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A new, less invasive method of conducting autopsies could one day replace the traditional procedure for diagnosing the causes of many deaths, according to a new study.
Researchers found that the less invasive method, which involves CT scans, allowed examiners to determine the cause of death in 193 (92 percent) of 210 deaths that they investigated. These deaths occurred due to natural causes, such as illness.
"Over the years, there have been several attempts to develop alternative approaches to the invasive autopsy, to limit the extent to which the cadaver is dissected,"
[Read More]Mysterious Toe Rings Found on Ancient Egyptian Skeletons
Posted on May 15, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 859 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Archaeologists have discovered two ancient Egyptian skeletons, dating back more than 3,300 years, which were each buried with a toe ring made of copper alloy, the first time such rings have been found in ancient Egypt.
The toe rings were likely worn while the individuals were still alive, and the discovery leaves open the question of whether they were worn for fashion or magical reasons.
Supporting the magical interpretation, one of the rings was found on the right toe of a male, age 35-40, whose foot had suffered a fracture along with a broken femur above it.
[Read More]