Royal Society Open Science Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Aïstopods are a highly specialized group of eel-like legless early tetrapods, four-legged vertebrates, and diverged from the tetrapod family tree early on. This study reports a jaw believed to belong to an aïstopod that lived some 310 million years ago – […]
Massive fungus shows little mutation over 2,500 years 
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Researchers identified a single individual of the fungus Armillaria gallica that was extremely large – covering hundreds of tree root systems over approximately 75 hectares of forest – and at least 2,500 years old. Using whole-genome sequencing, […]
Alternative to “spooky action at a distance”
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) The author proposes two ways to test a strange but consistent alternative to standard quantum physics that could refute the “spooky action at a distance” explanation of the standard theory. Causal quantum theory assumes that measurements are […]
Opioids not much better than alternatives for treating chronic non-cancer pain
JAMA Published December 18, 2018 11:00 ET (News releases from JAMA and McMaster University) This study combined the results of 96 randomized clinical trials with about 26,000 participants to compare opioids with placebo and non-opioid alternative pain medications for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. Opioids were associated with small improvements in pain and physical functioning but […]
SMCC Heads Up | December 18, 2018
Massive-mushroom mutations | Fins-to-limb family tree | Testing “spooky action” | SMCC Heads Up. Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Invasive tick could spread to Canada
Journal of Medical Entomology Published December 13, 2018 (News release from the Entomological Society of America) The Asian longhorned tick, first reported in New Jersey in early 2018, could easily spread into across much of eastern North America and the west coast. Researchers identified the invasive tick’s potential range by comparing North American habitat with the […]
Shimmyin’ stamens permitted rise of wind pollination in flowering plants
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published December 12, 2018 (Brief from the Royal Society) Most flowering plants depend on animal pollinators for producing fertile seeds, but some have evolved wind pollination, a primitive pollination technique. Researchers identified the mechanism driving this transition by characterizing the required physical changes to flowers for switching to wind […]
Broiler chicken: fossil calling card of the Anthropocene
Royal Society Open Science Published December 12, 201 (Brief from the Royal Society) This study identifies broiler (meat) chickens as a symbolic species of how humans have changed the biosphere. With a worldwide population of over 21 billion, broiler chickens outnumber wild bird species populations. The size and shape of the broiler skeleton, and its bone chemistry […]
No-contact solar system produces clean water
Nature Communication Published December 11, 2018 (News release from Nature Research Press) This new device generates clean water vapour from salty or dirty water using sunlight and a light-absorbing material that does not require contact with water. Instead of heating water directly, the material heats black paint that produces infrared light. Water beneath the device absorbs the […]
SMCC Heads Up | December 11, 2018
Wind pollination | Clean-water device | Invasive tick | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Mapping inheritance of rare genetic disease in French Canadians
American Journal of Human Genetics Published December 6, 2018 This study presents an efficient method to infer transmission paths of rare genes through population-scale genealogies. Using a high-quality genealogical dataset of more than three million individuals related to the founding families of Quebec, researchers apply the method to reconstruct the transmission history of a rare recessive-gene […]
Appetite hormone conditions us to crave food when we smell food
Cell Reports Published December 4, 2018 Vulnerability to obesity includes eating in response to food cues, which increase influence through conditioning. Conditioning is largely driven by dopamine, believed to encode the difference between expected and actual rewards. In this study, researchers use fMRI to show a gut-derived hormone that triggers hunger and eating also stimulates dopamine to […]
New hope for cancer patients with dangerous blood clots
New England Journal of Medicine Published December 4, 2018 (News release from the Ottawa Hospital Research Group will be posted here>) A low dose of a drug called apixaban provides the first approach to safely prevent blood clots in people with cancer. This is important because venous thromboembolism is the second leading cause of death in […]
Economics drives fentanyl’s deadly rise
Addiction Published December 4, 2018 (News release from University of California – San Francisco) Fentanyl likely spread because of heroin and prescription pill shortages, and because it was cheaper for large, illegal-drug producers to create than heroin, according to this report on illicit US drug markets. Because fentanyl is added to the supply higher up the dealer chain […]
SMCC Heads Up | December 4, 2018
$$ drive fentanyl crisis | Tool maps rare genes | Food smells and cravings | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Moms’ emotional bonds with their babies after birth predicted during pregnancy
Child Development Published December 4, 2018 (News release from the Society for Research in Child Development) A strong bond between mothers’ and their babies are key to the children’s development, but this bond does not develop instantly. This study shows that responses to images of infants’ facial cues change over the course of pregnancy and early motherhood, […]
