Author Archives: Science News Releases

Evolved to train to run: Most sedentary people may not realise, but humans evolved physical desire for endurance training

In the last century something unexpected happened: humans became sedentary. We traded in our active lifestyles for a more immobile existence. But these were not the conditions under which we evolved. David Raichlen from the University of Arizona, USA, explains that our hunter-gatherer predecessors were long-distance endurance athletes. ‘Aerobic activity has played a role in the evolution of lots of different systems in the human body, which may explain why aerobic exercise seems to be so good for us’, says Raichlen. However, he points out that testing the hypothesis that we evolved for high-endurance performance is problematic, because most other mammalian endurance athletes are quadrupedal. ‘So we got interested in the brain as a way to look at whether evolution generated exercise behaviours in humans through motivation pathways’, says Raichlen.

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Thorium-borate crystals remove 96% nuclear waste from water – in lab study

While the costs associated with storing nuclear waste and the possibility of it leaching into the environment remain legitimate concerns, they may no longer be obstacles on the road to cleaner energy.

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Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output

High-gain nuclear fusion could be achieved in a preheated cylindrical container immersed in strong magnetic fields, according to a series of computer simulations performed at Sandia National Laboratories.

nuclear fusion energy

Prototype assembly of MagLIF system - the top and bottom coils enclose the lit target. Photo by Derek Lamppa, Sandia National Laboratories.

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Noise pollution hurts plant life too

A growing body of research shows that birds and other animals change their behavior in response to manmade noise, such as the din of traffic or the hum of machinery. But human clamor doesn’t just affect animals. Because many animals also pollinate plants or eat or disperse their seeds, human noise can have ripple effects on plants too, finds a new study.

Noise pollution plants

A new study finds that man-made noise has ripple effects on plants such as piñon pine, whose natural seed dispersers tend to avoid noisy areas. Photo courtesy of Clinton Francis, NESCent.


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Earlier spring snowmelt decreases flowers, hurts butterflies

Mormon Fritillary butterfly on aspen daisy spring flower

A Mormon Fritillary butterfly feeding on an aspen fleabane daisy, a main nectar source. Credit: Carol Boggs, Stanford University

Early snowmelt caused by climate change in the Colorado Rocky Mountains snowballs into two chains of events: a decrease in the number of flowers, which, in turn, decreases available nectar. The result is decline in a population of the Mormon Fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia.

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After US also Europe falls prey to invasive Drosophila suzukii – plague threat

invasive drosophila fruit fly

Drosophila suzukii caught in Spain. Out of 3,000 Drosophilae species only two are damaging to fruit crops. Here is one, invading from Asia to the US and now Europe.

Coming from the Asian continent, Drosophila suzukii has only been in Spain for a short time. Far away from slipping through into the Iberian Peninsula, it accelerated towards the north of Europe where it has already crossed the Alps. Amongst its preferred target are cherries and red fruits but any type of fruit is suitable for it to lay its eggs. This insect is posing a threat to the fruit of more and more European countries.

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Deadly Chagas disease spreading in US? 50% of kissing bugs infected, 38% bite humans

In the spring of 1835, Charles Darwin was bitten in Argentina by a “great wingless black bug,” he wrote in his diary.

“It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one’s body,” Darwin wrote, “before sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards round & bloated with blood.”

Chagas disease kissing bug

Biologist Lori Stevens of the University of Vermont finds a surpring number of kissing bugs in the US contain human blood. Half of them also carry a potentially deadly parasite, which can cause Chagas disease. Is the kissing bug speading as a consequence of climate warming?

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Sea level rise brings millions of Americans at risk of storm surge flooding

Nearly four million Americans, occupying a combined area larger than the state of Maryland, find themselves at risk of severe flooding as sea levels rise in the coming century, new research suggests.

Sea level rise flooding

Figure 4 - 2nd of two Environmental Research Letters SLR publications. Sea level rise storm surge flooding risk along US coast. For the ensemble average estimate of relative SLR at each gauge, projected return periods, by 2050, for floods currently qualifying as 100 yr events.

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Neonicotinoid insecticides again linked to honeybee CCD

New research has linked springtime die-offs of honeybees critical for pollinating food crops — part of the mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder (CCD) — with technology for planting corn coated with insecticides. The study, published in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology, appears on the eve of spring planting seasons in some parts of Europe where farmers use the technology and widespread deaths of honeybees have occurred in the past.

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