California singing fish’s midbrain may serve as a model for how mammals control vocal expressions

Vocal diversity in fishes and tetrapods. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43794-y For talkative midshipman fish—sometimes called the “California singing fish”—the midbrain plays a robust role in initiating and patterning trains of sounds used in vocal communication. The midbrain in these fish, it turns out, may serve as a useful model for how mammals and … Read more

New research shows ‘juvenile’ T. rex fossils are a distinct species of small tyrannosaur

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new analysis of fossils believed to be juveniles of T. rex now shows they were adults of a small tyrannosaur, with narrower jaws, longer legs, and bigger arms than T. rex. The species, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was first named decades ago but later reinterpreted as a young T. rex. The first … Read more

Using electricity, scientists find promising new method of boosting chemical reactions

Electrocatalysis enables facile organic halide activation. a, Selective reductive activation of organic halides over aldehydes and ketones is limited due to the similar reduction potentials accessed via OSET. b, Inner-sphere reductive activation of organic halides via molecular electrocatalysis or catalytic electrodes drives the reduction potential of organic halides to more positive potentials. c, This work … Read more

Researchers propose ‘RNAkine’ nomenclature for naming extracellular ncRNAs

In addition to conventional secreted factors, cells also secrete ncRNA molecules (RNAkines). The molecular types of secreted factors are in bold, and representative examples or subfamilies, such as chemokines, are listed. The figure provides an overview of the diverse types of secreted factors contributing to intercellular signaling. Abbreviations: circRNA, circular RNA; lncRNA, long noncoding RNA; … Read more

From NYC to DC and beyond, cities on the East Coast are sinking

The above graphic features: a spatial map of vertical land motion on the East Coast (left panel); primary, secondary, and interstate roads on Hampton Roads, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, Virginia (top right panel); and John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (bottom right panel). The yellow, orange and red areas on these maps denote areas … Read more

Strategies to engineer metal-organic frameworks for efficient photocatalysis

Strategies on engineering the structure of MOFs for efficient photocatalysis were summarized in this review. Personal opinions on the opportunities and challenging as well as the developing trend of MOF-based photocatalysis were also addressed. Credit: Chinese Journal of Catalysis The ever-increasing global energy shortage and the worsening of the environment urgently require the substitution of … Read more

Moderna stock jumps after Oppenheimer upgrade on pipeline potential

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images Shares of Moderna jumped more than 15% on Tuesday after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to “outperform,” saying the Covid vaccine maker could market five products by 2026. The upgrade follows a dismal 2023 for Moderna, whose only commercially available product is its Covid shot. The company’s stock has … Read more

New research shows the Cerne Abbas Giant was a muster station for King Alfred’s armies

Aerial view showing the field below the giant and the “herepath” curving up onto Giant Hill from the bottom right, Cerne Abbas, Dorset, England. Photo: Pete Harlow, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Speculum (2023). DOI: 10.1086/727992 New research from the University of Oxford concludes that the Cerne Abbas Giant was originally carved as … Read more

Aunts, aunties and ‘tías’ offer protection to their LGBTQ youth relatives

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers have found that aunts play a crucial role in supporting the well-being of their LGBTQ youth relatives, including preventing them from experiencing homelessness. These findings are published in Socius, an open access journal. The research paper, coauthored by Brandon Andrew Robinson, associate professor and chair of the University of California, … Read more

New ultra-short period binary discovered

TMTS light curve and Lomb–Scargle periodogram for J0526. Credit: arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2312.13612 Using the Tsinghua University–Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new binary known as TMTS J052610.43+593445.1. The newfound system is an ultrashort-orbital-period binary consisting of a subdwarf star and a white dwarf companion. The finding … Read more