News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Medical researchers have discovered a molecule linking the tiny creatures that call our guts home to levels of fat in our bodies. “We now have a molecular mechanism that provides a starting point to understand our microbiome as a link between our diet and our body composition,” explained Emory University biochemist Dean Jones. Hints … Read more
Jupiter’s auroras – the lights that dance around its poles – are the most distinct in our solar system and over a thousand times brighter than Earth’s aurora. Now, a new study confirms that these otherworldly polar lights come from a unique source: space lava. Jupiter‘s moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar … Read more
Sweeping the ocean floor at hundreds of points throughout the world, researchers have revealed an astonishing diversity of microscopic life thriving in the deepest and darkest parts of our planet. The sediment collected at each spot was analyzed for environmental DNA (eDNA), which marine animals shed as they go about their lives. While sea … Read more
The most massive stars in the Universe are also the shortest-lived. The more mass a star has, the more quickly it burns through its fuel reserves, resulting in lifespans that are less than around 10 million years. This fascinating fact leads us to a puzzle. Most of these stars are found relatively close to … Read more
The climate crisis enveloping Earth impacts the lowest depths of the sea and the most remote parts of the planet. And new research shows that it’s also causing change at the highest points of the world. Scientists studying South Col – Mount Everest’s highest glacier – have reported that rapid ice loss is occurring … Read more
All manner of croaks, chirps, and deep trombone moans permeate Earth’s waters, just like the cacophony of sounds that fill its forest air. For example, reefs are surprisingly noisy places, and many of the noisemakers are fish. “We’ve known for a long time that some fish make sounds, but fish sounds were always perceived as … Read more
Humans’ sense of smell may indeed be gradually fading, according to a study that has found people carry different versions of two scent receptors for musk and body odor. Olfactory receptors detect airborne chemicals that waft into our noses, but smell receptors vary immensely from one person to the next. Any two people, on … Read more
In the last few years, the deeply frustrating medical area of chronic migraine prevention has been revolutionized thanks to the discovery that a protein called calcitonin gene-related peptide, or CGRP, plays a role in the condition. While several drugs containing antibodies that block or bind the protein have now entered the market and are helping … Read more
A long-term study tracking just over a thousand participants has found regular cannabis smoking can change the function of your lungs as you age. Unlike smoking a cigarette, however, cannabis seems to impact a person’s breathing in a slightly different way. Over adulthood, tobacco smoking is associated with a progressive decline in how much air … Read more
Sometimes astronomers and astrophysicists are working at such gigantic, mind-bending scales – in terms of both distance and time – that you can’t help but be awestruck at the new discoveries they keep coming out with. Case in point: a temperature check of the Universe in its youngest phase, just 880 million years after … Read more