Before settling on two wings, birds had four
How did modern birds develop the ability to fly with just two wings" A new study suggests that, in order to achieve such bipedal flight, birds first had to ditch two hind wings over the course of their...
View ArticleA glimpse of life in the deep ocean crust
A new study offers evidence that communities of microorganisms live in the oceanic crust, a widespread, sediment-covered layer buried deep beneath the sea. In a 2004 ocean expedition off the coast of...
View ArticleWings not lost, just hidden in some insects
The only known dorsal appendages of modern insects are wings and their derivatives, which appear exclusively on the second and third thoracic segments. However, wing-like pads are present on other,...
View ArticleMicroelectronic neural bridging of toad nerves to restore static nerve function
The rebuilding of lost motor and sensory functions, caused by an injury or disease of the nervous system, has emerged as one of the most important and challenging tasks in clinical neuroscience.
View ArticleSericin protects against diabetes-induced sciatic nerve injuries
Silkworm cocoon, acocoon shell of Bombyx mori from Bombycidae, is sweet in flavor and warm in nature, characterized as nourishing Yin and moistening dryness as well as promoting production of body...
View ArticleElectroacupuncture for Parkinson’s disease upregulates brain related factors
Electroacupuncture can protect dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of rat models of Parkinson’s disease, but the mechanism is unclear.
View ArticleSevere pathological manifestation of cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) related spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) usually leads to poor outcome. We studied the outcome of 367 surgically treated ICH patients with proven CAA in...
View ArticleMajor causes of fever of unknown origin
Liu Xiaoqing and Shi Xiaochun ect. at the Infectious Diseases Section of Peking Medical College Hospital reported that infetious diseases were still the uppermost cause of FUO and among which...
View ArticleEfficacy and safety of alcohol sclerotherapy
he researchers in West China Hospital of Sichuan University reported a multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled trial that evaluate the efficacy and safety of alcohol sclerotherapy involving...
View ArticleTo survive Ice Age, humans started down path toward agriculture
Researchers may have traced the origin of agriculture in northern China to humans who survived the last Ice Age by exploiting wild grass seeds, beans, and tubers, according to a study. To investigate...
View ArticleClues to an equine hepatitis mystery
Researchers have identified a previously unknown virus as a potential cause of Theiler disease, an acute form of equine hepatitis with mortality rates up to 90%. For nearly a century, the cause of...
View ArticleBullet trains may improve quality of urban life in China
The advent of bullet trains in China may spur social benefits for the nation's citizens, a study suggests. Siqi Zheng and Matthew Kahn examined the socioeconomic reverberations of recently introduced...
View ArticleNottingham leads £2.6m national clinical trial into new stroke treatment
Scientists are leading an international study to investigate the effectiveness of a new treatment on a devastating type of stroke.
View ArticleMaternal diabetes impairs methylation of imprinted gene in oocytes
Offspring of diabetic mothers display a higher incidence of malformations and fetal death, which Dr. Zhao-Jia Ge et al. now link to impaired methylation of maternal imprinting gene Peg3.
View ArticleNew malaria drug could help combat resistance
Drug resistance has reached crisis levels everywhere, but its impact on malaria treatment has been particularly devastating. The mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which causes the...
View ArticleDistinct biology of breast cancer in older women
The research by breast cancer experts at The University of Nottingham could explain why the majority of older women tend to get less aggressive tumours and the results should lead to improvements in...
View ArticleVolcanic magma linked to mass extinction
Climate change triggered by massive volcanism may have caused the widespread loss of terrestrial and marine diversity at the end of the Triassic Period, setting the stage for dinosaurs to dominate...
View ArticleSeismic waves, satellites detect landslides
A new way of detecting landslides takes advantage of the seismic wave data typically used to study earthquakes. The technique could help jumpstart global landslide monitoring. Scientists aren’t sure...
View ArticleA unique mammalian ear
A new view of the mammalian ear may help explain why humans are more susceptible to ear infections and hearing loss. Mammalian ear development involves a rupture of the epithelium and its replacement...
View ArticleOff-road robots
Researchers can learn a lot from a lizard scampering across the desert sand, according to a new study. Like previous studies of motion through air and water, which led to improvements in aircraft wings...
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