Bio and Medicine
A new, international competition called the Digging into Data Challenge has been announced by four leading research agencies.
Trials showing a positive treatment effect, or those with important or striking findings, were much more likely to be published in scientific journals than those with negative findings.
By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against permanent hearing loss.
Almost everyone knows about winter dangers such as broken bones from falls on icy steps, sidewalks or streets. But cold weather also can cause an important, less obvious danger that can affect older people.
New research shows why a species of tiny worm can learn to ignore an odor – information that could have implications for how human memories are formed.
Images that for the first time show bleeding inside the heart after people have suffered a heart attack have been captured by scientists.
Coral reefs around the world are in serious trouble from pollution, over-fishing, climate change and more. The last thing they need is an infection.
A range of complex surgical operations necessary to treat stroke victims, confront hardened arteries or address blockages in the bloodstream are about to be made safer.
People on low-carbohydrate diets are more dependent on the oxidation of fat in the liver for energy than those on a low-calorie diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a small clinical study.
In terms of diversity and sheer numbers, the microbes occupying the human gut easily dwarf the billions of people inhabiting the Earth. Numbering in the tens of trillions and representing many thousands of distinct genetic families, this microbiome, as it's called, helps the body perform a variety of regulatory and digestive functions, many still poorly understood.
Even though scientists have successfully sequenced the human genome, they still lack a clear picture of exactly how coding and non-coding DNA sequences function together, or how genomes evolve over time.
New research strengthens the link between water pollution and rising male fertility problems.
The first systematic databank dedicated to adhesion molecules and cancer has been released by the Melanoma Molecular Map Project (MMMP) website (www.mmmp.org): an open access resource for the scientific community, which is invited to enrich this database and keep it updated.
Will scientists one day be able to slow the aging of the brain and prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? Absolutely – once the genetic coding associated with neuronal degeneration has been unraveled.
With an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections growing, experts are warning grocery-store pharmacies that antibiotics giveaways are an unhealthy promotional gimmick. If grocery stores want to help customers and save them money during cold and flu season, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) says, they should offer free influenza vaccinations instead.
