ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Reawakened geyser does not foretell Yellowstone volcanic eruptions
• Scientists develop new approach to understanding massive volcanic eruptions
• Uncovering how plants see blue light
• Focusing on diversion yields positive results for kids with behavioral issues
• More women embracing 'going flat' after mastectomy
• Antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Fluoride to the rescue?
• New tool for reconstructing ancient sea ice to study climate change
• Supercapacitors challenge batteries
• Pandas' popularity not protecting neighbors
• Single-cell analysis of metastatic gastric cancer finds diverse tumor cell populations associated with patient outcomes
• Scientists discover how mother-of-pearl self-assembles into a perfect structure
• Better together: Scientists discover applications of nanoparticles with multiple elements
• Prediabetes subtypes identified
• Astronomers agree: Universe is nearly 14 billion years old
• First glimpse of polarons forming in a promising next-gen energy material
• A high order for a low dimension
• Research shows a few beneficial organisms could play key role in treating type 2 diabetes
• Inflammation from ADT may cause fatigue in prostate cancer patients
• In kefir, microbial teamwork makes the dream work
• New data-driven global climate model provides projections for urban environments
• Alert system shows potential for reducing deforestation, mitigating climate change
• Using artificial intelligence to find new uses for existing medications
• Why patients with cancer spread to the liver have worse outcomes
• Surprising news: Drylands are not getting drier
• Long live the efficient, pure-blue OLED
• Risk of extinction cascades from freshwater mussels to a bitterling fish
• A polarization-driven guide to making high-performance, versatile solar cells
• Innovative battery chemistry revolutionizes zinc-air battery
• Drug discovery study identifies promising new compound to open constricted airways
• Frequent travel could make you 7% happier
• Pollutants rapidly changing the waters near Ieodo Island
• Oregon's Medicaid expansion improved prenatal care access, birth outcomes
• How to identify heat-stressed corals
• Vaping combined with smoking is likely as harmful as smoking cigarettes alone, study finds

Reawakened geyser does not foretell Yellowstone volcanic eruptions Posted: 04 Jan 2021 02:01 PM PST Geyser eruptions, like volcanic eruptions, are a mystery, so the reactivation of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone in 2018 provided an opportunity to explore why geysers turn off and on, and what determines their periodicity. Researchers found little evidence of magma moving below the geyser, meaning no sign of imminent hydrothermal eruptions, but did discover a relationship between the height of the column and the depth of the water reservoir.

Scientists develop new approach to understanding massive volcanic eruptions Posted: 04 Jan 2021 02:00 PM PST An international volcanology team has created a first-of-its kind tool that can aid scientists in understanding past explosive eruptions that shaped the earth and improve the way of estimating hazards of future eruptions.

Uncovering how plants see blue light Posted: 04 Jan 2021 11:59 AM PST Plants can perceive and react to light across a wide spectrum. New research shows how plants can respond to blue light in particular by revealing the structure of cryptochrome-2, the molecule that reacts to blue light.

Focusing on diversion yields positive results for kids with behavioral issues Posted: 04 Jan 2021 11:34 AM PST Researchers found that focusing on diversion -- instead of detention -- yields positive results for youth with behavioral health issues.

More women embracing 'going flat' after mastectomy Posted: 04 Jan 2021 11:34 AM PST A growing number of women forgoing reconstruction after a mastectomy say they're satisfied with their choice, even as some did not feel supported by their physician, according to a new study.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Fluoride to the rescue? Posted: 04 Jan 2021 11:15 AM PST Scientists have long been aware of the dangerous overuse of antibiotics and the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant microbes that have resulted. While over-prescription of antibiotics for medicinal use has unsettling implications for human health, so too does the increasing presence of antibiotics in the natural environment. The latter may stem from the improper disposal of medicines, but also from the biotechnology field, which has depended on antibiotics as a selection device in the lab.

New tool for reconstructing ancient sea ice to study climate change Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST A previously problematic molecule turns out to be a reliable proxy for reconstructing sea ice, a new study by Brown University researchers shows.

Supercapacitors challenge batteries Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST A team has developed a highly efficient supercapacitor. The basis of the energy storage device is a novel, powerful and also sustainable graphene hybrid material that has comparable performance data to currently utilized batteries.

Pandas' popularity not protecting neighbors Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST Doubt is cast on the long-held hope that the conservation protections granted pandas and other adored threatened species extended to their wildlife neighbors, calling for broader conservation efforts.

Single-cell analysis of metastatic gastric cancer finds diverse tumor cell populations associated with patient outcomes Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST Researchers who profiled more than 45,000 individual cells from patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), a specific form of metastatic gastric cancer, defined the extensive cellular heterogeneity and identified two distinct subtypes correlated with patient survival.

Scientists discover how mother-of-pearl self-assembles into a perfect structure Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST Researchers describe, how structural defects in self-assembling nacre attract and cancel each other out, eventually leading to a perfect periodic structure.

Better together: Scientists discover applications of nanoparticles with multiple elements Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST As catalysts for fuel cells, batteries and processes for carbon dioxide reduction, alloy nanoparticles that are made up of five or more elements are shown to be more stable and durable than single-element nanoparticles.

Prediabetes subtypes identified Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST All prediabetes is not the same: in people in the preliminary stages of type 2 diabetes, there are six clearly distinguishable subtypes, which differ in the development of the disease, diabetes risk, and the development of secondary diseases. The new classification can help in the future to prevent the manifestation of diabetes or the development of diabetes complications through targeted prevention.

Astronomers agree: Universe is nearly 14 billion years old Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST From an observatory high above Chile's Atacama Desert, astronomers have taken a new look at the oldest light in the universe. Their observations, plus a bit of cosmic geometry, suggest that the universe is 13.77 billion years old - give or take 40 million years.

First glimpse of polarons forming in a promising next-gen energy material Posted: 04 Jan 2021 10:19 AM PST Polarons affect a material's behavior, and may even be the reason that solar cells made with lead hybrid perovskites achieve extraordinarily high efficiencies in the lab. Now scientists have used an X-ray free-electron laser to directly see and measure the formation of these ephemeral atomic lattice distortions for the first time.

A high order for a low dimension Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST Spintronics refers to a suite of physical systems which may one day replace many electronic systems. To realize this generational leap, material components that confine electrons in one dimension are highly sought after. For the first time, researchers created such a material in the form of a special bismuth-based crystal known as a high-order topological insulator.

Research shows a few beneficial organisms could play key role in treating type 2 diabetes Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST Researchers have found that a few organisms in the gut microbiome play a key role in type 2 diabetes, opening the door to possible probiotic treatments for a serious metabolic disease affecting roughly one in 10 Americans.

Inflammation from ADT may cause fatigue in prostate cancer patients Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST Researchers are investigating whether inflammation in the body, a side effect of ADT, contributes to these symptoms in prostate cancer patients. They pinpoint a specific inflammation marker that is associated with increased fatigue in this group of patients.

In kefir, microbial teamwork makes the dream work Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST While scientists know that microorganisms often live in communities and depend on their fellow community members for survival, mechanistic knowledge of this phenomenon has been quite limited. Researchers have now combined a variety of state-of-the-art methods to better understand the microbial communities. This revealed that cooperation allows the microbes to do something they can't do alone.

New data-driven global climate model provides projections for urban environments Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST Cities only occupy about 3% of the Earth's total land surface, but they bear the burden of the human-perceived effects of global climate change, researchers said. Global climate models are set up for big-picture analysis, leaving urban areas poorly represented. In a new study, researchers take a closer look at how climate change affects cities by using data-driven statistical models combined with traditional process-driven physical climate models.

Alert system shows potential for reducing deforestation, mitigating climate change Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:40 AM PST Forest loss declined 18% in African nations where a new satellite-based program provides free alerts when it detects deforestation activities.

Using artificial intelligence to find new uses for existing medications Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST Scientists have developed a machine-learning method that crunches massive amounts of data to help determine which existing medications could improve outcomes in diseases for which they are not prescribed.

Why patients with cancer spread to the liver have worse outcomes Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST A new study finds that tumors in the liver siphon off critical immune cells, rendering immunotherapy ineffective. But coupling immunotherapy with radiotherapy to the liver in mice restored the immune cell function and led to better outcomes.

Surprising news: Drylands are not getting drier Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST A new study shows the importance of long-term soil moisture changes and associated soil moisture-atmosphere feedbacks in future predictions of water availability in drylands. The researchers identified a long-term soil moisture regulation of atmospheric circulation and moisture transport that largely ameliorates the potential decline of future water availability in drylands, beyond that expected in the absence of soil moisture feedbacks.

Long live the efficient, pure-blue OLED Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST In work that could help to solve the challenge of finding blue light sources matching the performance of red and green ones for displays using organic light-emitting diodes, researchers have demonstrated devices that produce pure-blue emission with high efficiency, maintain brightness for relatively long times, and lack any expensive metal atoms -- a set of properties that has so far been difficult to obtain simultaneously.

Risk of extinction cascades from freshwater mussels to a bitterling fish Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST Reproduction of native and invasive bitterling fishes and their hybridisation was studied in Japan. We collected mussels in which these bitterlings lay their eggs, kept them in aquaria, collected eggs/larvae ejected from mussels, and genotyped them. We found that hybrids occurred when local mussel density was low. The rapid decline of the host mussels and artificial introduction of an invasive congener interacted to cause the rapid decline of a native fish.

A polarization-driven guide to making high-performance, versatile solar cells Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST When solar cells are exposed to sunlight, certain bound 'charge pairs' are generated in its components, which need to be separated for photocurrent generation. Ferroelectric materials, due to their spontaneous electric polarization, are highly efficient at charge separation but do poorly in light-to-electricity conversion. Now, scientists have demonstrated using theoretical calculations that antiperovskite oxides, a class of ferroelectric materials, show large absorption of sunlight, making them suitable photoabsorbers for thin film solar cells.

Innovative battery chemistry revolutionizes zinc-air battery Posted: 04 Jan 2021 08:04 AM PST The zinc-air battery is an attractive energy storage technology of the future. Based on an innovative, non-alkaline, aqueous electrolyte, an international research team has developed a new battery chemistry for the zinc-air battery which overcomes the previous technical obstacles.

Drug discovery study identifies promising new compound to open constricted airways Posted: 04 Jan 2021 06:46 AM PST In a preclinical study, researchers identified and characterized 18 new compounds (agonists) that activate bitter taste receptor subtype TAS2R5 to promote relaxation of human airway smooth muscle cells. The cross-disciplinary team found 1,10 phenanthroline-5,6-dione (T5-8 for short) was 1,000 times more potent than some of the other bronchodilator agonists tested, and it demonstrated marked effectiveness in human airway smooth muscle cells grown in the laboratory.

Frequent travel could make you 7% happier Posted: 04 Jan 2021 06:46 AM PST People dreaming of travel post-COVID-19 now have some scientific data to support their wanderlust. A new study shows frequent travelers are happier with their lives than people who don't travel at all.

Pollutants rapidly changing the waters near Ieodo Island Posted: 04 Jan 2021 06:46 AM PST A research team identifies the cause of ocean fertilization in northeast Asian waters.

Oregon's Medicaid expansion improved prenatal care access, birth outcomes Posted: 04 Jan 2021 06:46 AM PST A pair of recent studies found that Oregon's Medicaid expansion in 2014 has led to increased prenatal care among low-income women, as well as improved health outcomes for newborn babies.

How to identify heat-stressed corals Posted: 04 Jan 2021 04:58 AM PST Researchers have found a novel way to identify heat-stressed corals, which could help scientists pinpoint the coral species that need protection from warming ocean waters linked to climate change, according to a new study.

Vaping combined with smoking is likely as harmful as smoking cigarettes alone, study finds Posted: 04 Jan 2021 04:58 AM PST People who smoked traditional cigarettes in addition to using e-cigarettes experienced health effects as harmful as those who smoked cigarettes exclusively; those effects are associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and death, a new study has found. In a large data analysis of more than 7,100 U.S. adults, researchers examined the association of cigarette and e-cigarette use with inflammation and oxidative stress as biomarkers predicting cardiovascular disease.

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