Snacks provide, on average, about one-fourth of most people's daily calories. With nearly one in three adults in the United States overweight and more than two in five with obesity, researchers are investigating how Americans can snack smarter.
Retreat of tropical glaciers foreshadows changing climate’s effect on the global ice
As they are in many places around the globe, glaciers perched high in the Andes Mountains are shrinking. Now, researchers have uncovered evidence that the high-altitude tropical ice fields are likely smaller than they've been at any time since the last ice age ended 11,700 years ago.
Modern behavior explains prehistoric economies
What if the 'Market Economy' always existed? Archaeologists tried to answer this question by researching how much Bronze Age people used to spend to sustain their daily lives. Their results show that, starting at least 3,500 years ago, the spending habits of prehistoric Europeans were not substantially different from what...
Climate anomalies may play a major role in driving cholera pandemics
New research suggests that an El Nino event may have aided the establishment and spread of a novel cholera strain during an early 20th-century pandemic, supporting the idea that climate anomalies could create opportunities for the emergence of new cholera strains.
Warming stops tiny organisms working together
Hotter conditions prevent two tiny organisms working together for mutual benefit, new research shows.
3D models provide unprecedented look at corals’ response to bleaching events
Marine biologists are providing a glimpse into coral 'bleaching' responses to stress, using imaging technology to pinpoint coral survival rates following multiple bleaching events off the island of Maui. Using a time series of coral reef 3D models from Maui, the researchers tracked the bleaching response of 1,832 coral colonies...
The next generation of RNA chips
An international research team has succeeded in developing a new version of RNA building blocks with higher chemical reactivity and photosensitivity. This can significantly reduce the production time of RNA chips used in biotechnological and medical research. The chemical synthesis of these chips is now twice as fast and seven...
Mass extinction 66 million years ago triggered rapid evolution of bird genomes
Study finds that the mass extinction caused by an asteroid about 66 million years ago led to critical changes in bird genomes that ultimately sparked the incredibly diversity living birds.
Barriers designed to prevent saltwater intrusion may worsen inland flooding
Building protection barriers without accounting for potential inland flooding risks from groundwater can eventually worsen the very issues they aim to solve.
Scientists devise method to secure Earth’s biodiversity on the moon
New research led proposes a plan to safeguard Earth's imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon's permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen.