News – Page 3 – PossibleThreat Articles

US corn yields get boost from a global warming 'hole'

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Agriculture and Food, Climate, Endangered Plants, Environmental Awareness, Environmental Issues, Food and Agriculture, Global Warming, Nature

The global average temperature has increased 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 100 years. In contrast, the Corn Belt of the U.S., one of the most agriculturally productive regions of the world, has experienced a decrease in temperatures in the summer during the growing season. Known as the 'US warming hole,' this anomalous cooling phenomenon, which occurred in tandem with increasing rainfall, was responsible for boosting corn yields by 5 to 10 percent per year, according to a new study.

News Science

Deformed wing virus genetic diversity in US honey bees complicates search for remedies

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Biochemistry Research, Biotechnology, Bird Flu Research, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Invasive Species, Microbes and More, Virology

Deformed Wing Virus (DWV), one of the leading causes of honey bee colony losses, is much more genetically diverse in the United States than previously thought. The diverse lineages of this virus are all equally bad for bees, and they make it more complicated to develop antiviral therapeutics, which could be the basis for developing a vaccine for the virus.

News Science

Schizophrenia risk gene linked to cognitive deficits in mice

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Disorders and Syndromes, Gene Therapy, Genes, Memory, Mental Health, Mental Health Research, Personalized Medicine, Schizophrenia

Researchers have discovered in mice how one of the few genes definitively linked to schizophrenia, called SETD1A, likely confers risk for the illness. Mice genetically engineered to lack a functioning version of the enzyme-coding gene showed abnormalities in working memory, mimicking those commonly seen in patients. Restoring the gene's function corrected the working memory deficit and counteracting its deficiency also repaired neuronal circuit deficits in adult mice — suggesting clues for potential treatment strategies.

News Science

Vision scientists disprove 60-year-old perception theory

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Brain Injury, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Diseases and Conditions, Eye Care, Healthy Aging, Human Biology, Perception, Psychology

Vision researchers have disproved a long-standing theory of how the human vision system processes images, using computational models and human experiments. The findings could have implications for the understanding of human vision and diagnosis of vision anomalies.

News Science

Obesity exacerbates many causes of death, but risks are different for men and women

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Chronic Illness, COPD, Diabetes, Diet and Weight Loss, Diseases and Conditions, Fitness, Heart Disease, Obesity

People who carry around unhealthy amounts of weight don't just have heart disease and diabetes to worry about. Obesity is implicated in two thirds of the leading causes of death from non-communicable diseases worldwide and the risk of certain diseases differs for men and women.

News Science

Possible approach to block medulloblastoma growth

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Brain Injury, Brain Tumor, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Cancer, Colon Cancer, Learning Disorders, Lung Cancer, neuroscience

Researchers have identified a potential approach to stop the growth of the most common type of brain tumor in children.

News Science

Deep inside the brain: Unraveling the dense networks in the cerebral cortex

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Animal Learning and Intelligence, Biology, Brain Tumor, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Intelligence, mice, Nervous System, neuroscience, Psychology Research

Mammalian brains, with their unmatched number of nerve cells and density of communication, are the most complex networks known. While methods to analyze neuronal networks sparsely have been available for decades, the dense mapping of neuronal circuits is a major scientific challenge. Researchers have now succeeded in the dense connectomic mapping of brain tissue from the cerebral cortex, and quantify the possible imprint of learning in the circuit.

News Science

Higher local earthworm diversity in temperate regions than in the tropics

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Biodiversity, Ecology, Ecology Research, Environmental Awareness, Nature, New Species, Rainforests, Soil Types

In any single location, there are typically more earthworms and more earthworm species found in temperate regions than in the tropics. Global climate change could lead to significant shifts in earthworm communities worldwide, threatening the many functions they provide.

News Science

How Ebola virus disables the body's immune defenses

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Biology, Ebola, Immune System, Lymphoma, Microbes and More, Microbiology, Virology, Viruses

A new study uncovered new information on why the Ebola virus can exert such catastrophic effects on the infected person. They've described for the first time how the virus disables T cells, an important line of immune defense, thus rendering the infected person less able to combat the infection.

News Science

Genetic risk factor for laryngeal paralysis in miniature bull terriers identified

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Agriculture and Food, Biochemistry Research, Biotechnology, Dogs, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Life Sciences, Veterinary Medicine

Laryngeal paralysis is a serious and sometimes deadly disease in some dog breeds that prevents proper opening of the larynx for breathing. Specialists in canine head and neck surgery and geneticists have identify a mutation responsible for laryngeal paralysis in Miniature Bull Terriers, enabling the development of a genetic test for the disease.