Flower power on Indian farms helps bees and boosts livelihoods
Planting flowers beside food crops on farms in India attracts bees, boosts pollination and improves crop yield and quality, researchers have found.
Science & Technology
Study gives grandmother gecko a place of honor — and a new name
Paleontologists have identified a new fossil lizard, found in the western United States, which they say was an ancestor of modern geckos. And they gave it a name that honors the lead researcher’s grandmother and great aunt. The discovery of the new spe…
How do you make a robot smarter? Program it to know what it doesn’t know
Engineers have come up with a new way to teach robots to know when they don’t know. The technique involves quantifying the fuzziness of human language and using that measurement to tell robots when to ask for further directions. Telling a robot to pick…
How to stay on task
Our ability to pay attention to tasks—a key component of our everyday lives—is heavily influenced by factors like motivation, arousal and alertness. Maintaining focus can be especially challenging when the task is boring or repetitive.
Alcohol consumption may have positive and negative effects on cardiovascular disease risk
A new study found that alcohol consumption may have counteractive effects on CVD risk, depending on the biological presence of certain circulating metabolites — molecules that are produced during or after a substance is metabolized and studied as biom…
Heart over head? Stages of the heart’s cycle affect neural responses
Optimal windows exist for action and perception during the 0.8 seconds of a heartbeat, according to new research. The sequence of contraction and relaxation is linked to changes in the motor system and its ability to respond to stimulation, and this co…
Breathing highway air increases blood pressure
A new study found that unfiltered air from rush-hour traffic significantly increased passengers’ blood pressure, both while in the car and up to 24 hours later.
Macaque trials offer hope in pneumonia vaccine development
A research team has successfully developed a novel pneumococcal vaccine by combining the team’s proprietary mucosal vaccine technology with pneumococcal surface proteins that can cover a wide range of serotypes. Experiments were conducted using mice an…
Cracking the code: Researchers unravel how mutant protein drives cancer growth
Researchers have solved a mystery about the most important driver of cancer development – a mutant protein found in half of all cancers – and how it contributes to tumor growth.
Scientists unveil promising target for Alzheimer’s disease treatment
A research team has identified VCAM1, a cell surface protein found on immune cells of the brain, as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), paving the way for developing novel therapeutics to combat this debilitating condition.