Scientific Inquirer, Queens, NY (2021)

h-index, g-index, i10 index, m-quotient, Journal Impact Factor, Altmetrics … it’s long been an intractable issue plaguin...

09/16/2021

New tool may decrease research bias across disciplines, genders and experiences.

h-index, g-index, i10 index, m-quotient, Journal Impact Factor, Altmetrics … it’s long been an intractable issue plaguing the research community — how to assess the relative merits of research objectively across disciplines and make fair comparisons between early career and established researchers, different genders, and even different research disciplines. Now, Flinders University ecologist Professor Corey Bradshaw and colleagues have developed a tool to assess research performance more fairly; one that will level the playing field not just across disciplines, but across genders and careers paths, ironing out the wrinkles for disruptions such as maternity leave....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/16/new-tool-may-decrease-research-bias-across-disciplines-genders-and-experiences/

h-index, g-index, i10 index, m-quotient, Journal Impact Factor, Altmetrics … it’s long been an intractable issue plaguing the research community — how to assess the relative mer…

The Amazon River Basin is home to about 15% of all freshwater fish species known to science, and an estimated 40% yet to...

09/15/2021

This vampire fish doesn’t actually suck blood.

The Amazon River Basin is home to about 15% of all freshwater fish species known to science, and an estimated 40% yet to be named. These include some of the most bizarre fishes: the vampire fishes, locally known as candiru, members of the catfish subfamily Vandelliinae.). They survive by attaching themselves to the bodies of other fish and sucking on their blood, hence their common name....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/this-vampire-fish-doesnt-actually-suck-blood/

The Amazon River Basin is home to about 15% of all freshwater fish species known to science, and an estimated 40% yet to be named. These include some of the most bizarre fishes: the vampire fishes,…

A polynya is a region of open water that is surrounded by sea ice. These areas fluctuate throughout seasons, and weather...

09/15/2021

Researchers find the dynamics behind the remarkable August 2018 Greenland polynya formation.

A polynya is a region of open water that is surrounded by sea ice. These areas fluctuate throughout seasons, and weather events can influence their size and development. Extremely high wind in February 2018 led to a polynya that developed in the Wandel Sea off the coast of Greenland. Climatologists have never observed such a pronounced polynya since the beginning of the satellite era....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/researchers-find-the-dynamics-behind-the-remarkable-august-2018-greenland-polynya-formation/

A polynya is a region of open water that is surrounded by sea ice. These areas fluctuate throughout seasons, and weather events can influence their size and development. Extremely high wind in Febr…

Differences between gut flora and genes from konzo-prone regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may affect th...

09/15/2021

Microbiota composition may make children susceptible to cassava-induced disease.

Differences between gut flora and genes from konzo-prone regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may affect the release of cyanide after poorly processed cassava is consumed, according to a study with 180 children. Cassava is a food security crop for over half a billion people in the developing world. Children living in high-risk konzo areas have high glucosidase (linamarase) microbes and low rhodanese microbes in their gut, which could mean more susceptibility and less protection against the disease, suggest Children’s National Hospital researchers who led the study published in…...

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/microbiota-composition-may-make-children-susceptible-to-cassava-induced-disease/

Differences between gut flora and genes from konzo-prone regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may affect the release of cyanide after poorly processed cassava is consumed, according to…

Making eye contact repeatedly when you’re talking to someone is common, but why do we do it? When two people are having ...

09/15/2021

Good eye contact makes for better conversations.

Making eye contact repeatedly when you’re talking to someone is common, but why do we do it? When two people are having a conversation, eye contact occurs during moments of “shared attention” when both people are engaged, with their pupils dilating in synchrony as a result, according to a Dartmouth study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…...

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/good-eye-contact-makes-for-better-conversations/

Making eye contact repeatedly when you’re talking to someone is common, but why do we do it? When two people are having a conversation, eye contact occurs during moments of “shared attention” when …

Hunter-gatherer populations with a strong seasonal dependence on meat in their diets had fewer people per square kilomet...

09/15/2021

More meat consumption meant smaller populations for hunter-gatherers.

Hunter-gatherer populations with a strong seasonal dependence on meat in their diets had fewer people per square kilometer than those that had abundant plant foods throughout the year. This new result is clear from a study carried out by researchers from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), which analyses how environmental factors influenced the population density of hunter-gatherer societies around the world, and reveals important links between growing season length, diet composition and population density....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/more-meat-consumption-meant-smaller-populations-for-hunter-gatherers/

Hunter-gatherer populations with a strong seasonal dependence on meat in their diets had fewer people per square kilometer than those that had abundant plant foods throughout the year. This new res…

Every winter, thousands of emaciated seabird carcasses are found on North American and European shores. In an article pu...

09/15/2021

Seasonal cyclones can cause starvation in certain sea birds.

Every winter, thousands of emaciated seabird carcasses are found on North American and European shores. In an article published on the 13 September in Current Biology, an international team of scientists including the CNRS1 has shown how cyclones are causing the deaths of these birds. The latter are frequently exposed to high-intensity cyclones, which can last several days, when they migrate from their Arctic nesting sites to the North Atlantic further south in order to winter in more favourable conditions....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/seasonal-cyclones-can-cause-starvation-in-certain-sea-birds/

Every winter, thousands of emaciated seabird carcasses are found on North American and European shores. In an article published on the 13 September in Current Biology, an international team of scie…

Humans acknowledge that personality goes a long way, at least for our species. But scientists have been more hesitant to...

09/15/2021

Squirrels place a premium on good personalities.

Humans acknowledge that personality goes a long way, at least for our species. But scientists have been more hesitant to ascribe personality—defined as consistent behavior over time—to other animals. A study from the University of California, Davis is the first to document personality in golden-mantled ground squirrels, which are common across the western U.S. and parts of Canada. The study, published in the journal…...

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/squirrels-place-a-premium-on-good-personalities/

Humans acknowledge that personality goes a long way, at least for our species. But scientists have been more hesitant to ascribe personality—defined as consistent behavior over time—to other animal…

CHICAGO (September 10, 2021) — Chewing gum after heart surgery may kickstart the digestive tract, helping patients feel ...

09/15/2021

Chewing gum after heart surgery has surprising benefits.

CHICAGO (September 10, 2021) — Chewing gum after heart surgery may kickstart the digestive tract, helping patients feel better and potentially be discharged sooner than those who don't use this generally safe and simple intervention, according to research presented today at the 18th Annual Perioperative and Critical Care Conference from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. “Prior to our study, there were no previously published studies looking at the use of chewing gum in cardiac surgery patients, but we found that it may accelerate the return of gut function,” said Sirivan S....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/15/chewing-gum-after-heart-surgery-has-surprising-benefits/

CHICAGO (September 10, 2021) — Chewing gum after heart surgery may kickstart the digestive tract, helping patients feel better and potentially be discharged sooner than those who don’t use th…

An international research team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has revealed a secret about a marin...

09/15/2021

Researchers knew why this animal’s shell can be hard and soft.

An international research team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has revealed a secret about a marine animal's shell: The researchers have deciphered why the protective cover of the brachiopod Discinisca tenuis becomes extremely soft in water and gets hard again in the air. The study appears today in the journal Nature Communications. The brachiopod Discinisca tenuis…...

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/14/researchers-knew-why-this-animals-shell-can-be-hard-and-soft/

An international research team with participation of the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI has revealed a secret about a marine animal’s shell: The researchers have deciphered why the protective co…

The diversity of human languages can be likened to branches on a tree. If you’re reading this in English, you’re on a br...

09/14/2021

Searching for an ancient common language in the evolutionary tree.

The diversity of human languages can be likened to branches on a tree. If you’re reading this in English, you’re on a branch that traces back to a common ancestor with Scots, which traces back to a more distant ancestor that split off into German and Dutch. Moving further in, there's the European branch that gave rise to Germanic; Celtic; Albanian; the Slavic languages; the Romance languages like Italian and Spanish; Armenian; Baltic; and Hellenic Greek....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/14/searching-for-an-ancient-common-language-in-the-evolutionary-tree/

The diversity of human languages can be likened to branches on a tree. If you’re reading this in English, you’re on a branch that traces back to a common ancestor with Scots, which traces back to a…

Like a spider trapping its prey, our immune system cells cooperate to capture and “eat” bacteria. The newly identified a...

09/14/2021

Immune cells create a net that catch bacteria.

Like a spider trapping its prey, our immune system cells cooperate to capture and “eat” bacteria. The newly identified antibacterial mechanism, reported Sept. 10 in Science Advances, could inspire novel strategies for combating Staphylococcus aureus (staph) and other extracellular bacterial pathogens. It was known that neutrophils — first responder immune cells that migrate to sites of infection — can self-destruct and release their protein and DNA contents to generate neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/14/immune-cells-create-a-net-that-catch-bacteria/

Like a spider trapping its prey, our immune system cells cooperate to capture and “eat” bacteria. The newly identified antibacterial mechanism, reported Sept. 10…

The deforestation of the tropical rainforests is progressing unstoppably. According to scientists at the Helmholtz Centr...

09/14/2021

Deforestatino at the edges of tropical forests can increase carbon emissions.

The deforestation of the tropical rainforests is progressing unstoppably. According to scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), these forests are becoming fragmented at a higher rate than expected. By analysing high-resolution satellite data, they were able to measure even the smallest piece of tropical forest and, for the first time, study the changes in tropical fragmentation. In a paper for…...

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/14/deforestatino-at-the-edges-of-tropical-forests-can-increase-carbon-emissions/

The deforestation of the tropical rainforests is progressing unstoppably. According to scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), these forests are becoming fragmented at …

Plants are constantly exposed to adverse environmental influences and attacks, for example from pest infestation. An int...

09/14/2021

Plants have a natural defense system when attacked.

Plants are constantly exposed to adverse environmental influences and attacks, for example from pest infestation. An international team of researchers led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now described a central part of the signal mechanism used by plants to respond to threats and thus initiate a defence response in unaffected parts of the plant. In the current edition of the journal Science Advances, they describe the role played by the protein MSL10 among others....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/14/plants-have-a-natural-defense-system-when-attacked/

Plants are constantly exposed to adverse environmental influences and attacks, for example from pest infestation. An international team of researchers led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (H…

Large carnivore populations are expanding across Europe and experts are calling for increased support for communities to...

09/14/2021

Conservationists urge cooperation between human and expanding wolf populations.

Large carnivore populations are expanding across Europe and experts are calling for increased support for communities to encourage harmonious relationships with their new neighbours. New research led by the University of Leeds studied three types of rural communities in Spain: one with a permanent presence of wolves; one where they have returned; and one where their return is expected within the next decade....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/13/conservationists-urge-cooperation-between-human-and-expanding-wolf-populations/

Large carnivore populations are expanding across Europe and experts are calling for increased support for communities to encourage harmonious relationships with their new neighbours. New research l…

A genomic surveillance analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa in the first year of the pandemic reveals that the first phase o...

09/12/2021

Genomic surveillance reveals how SARS-Cov-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa.

A genomic surveillance analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa in the first year of the pandemic reveals that the first phase of the pandemic there was caused by importations from outside Africa, and involved limited virus spread, while the second, more deadly phase was fueled by ongoing transmission within the continent and led to emergence of many variants of concern. The findings highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, say the authors; otherwise, it could become a breeding ground for new variants....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/12/genomic-surveillance-reveals-how-sars-cov-2-pandemic-unfolded-in-africa/

A genomic surveillance analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa in the first year of the pandemic reveals that the first phase of the pandemic there was caused by importations from outside Africa, and invo…

BOSTON – HIV is a master of evading the immune system, using a variety of methods to prevent the body from being able to...

09/12/2021

Impaired T cell function precedes loss of natural HIV control.

BOSTON – HIV is a master of evading the immune system, using a variety of methods to prevent the body from being able to find and kill it. The vast majority of people living with HIV require daily medication to suppress the virus and therefore prevent the development of AIDS. But for a small subset of people, this battle between the immune system and the virus looks quite different....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/12/impaired-t-cell-function-precedes-loss-of-natural-hiv-control/

BOSTON – HIV is a master of evading the immune system, using a variety of methods to prevent the body from being able to find and kill it. The vast majority of people living with HIV require d…

Where skeletons are rare, isolated teeth can flesh out our understanding of ancient reptile-dominated ecosystems, accord...

09/12/2021

Ancient teeth reveal surprising diversity of Cretaceous reptiles at Argentina fossil site.

Where skeletons are rare, isolated teeth can flesh out our understanding of ancient reptile-dominated ecosystems, according to a study published September 8, 2021 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ariana Paulina-Carabajal of INIBIOMA (Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente) and CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Argentina, and colleagues. South America hosts some of the world’s most important fossil sites for understanding the history of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/12/ancient-teeth-reveal-surprising-diversity-of-cretaceous-reptiles-at-argentina-fossil-site/

Where skeletons are rare, isolated teeth can flesh out our understanding of ancient reptile-dominated ecosystems, according to a study published September 8, 2021 in the open-access journal PL…

Walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of premature death from all causes by 50% to 70%, c...

09/12/2021

Walking a little more in middle age can do wonders for health.

Walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of premature death from all causes by 50% to 70%, compared to that of other middle-aged people who took fewer daily steps. But walking more than 10,000 steps per day – or walking faster – did not further reduce the risk, notes lead author Amanda Paluch, a physical activity epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst....

https://scientificinquirer.com/2021/09/12/walking-a-little-more-in-middle-age-can-do-wonders-for-health/

Walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of premature death from all causes by 50% to 70%, compared to that of other middle-aged people who took fewer daily steps. But w…