Page 405 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

Mechanism of action of botulinum toxin: the light chain of (BT-A) cleaves SNAP-25 (synaptosome-associated protein of 25 KDa) and consequently prevents the release of acetylcholine into the neuromuscular junction. Image credit: Ali S. Al-Ghamdi et al, doi: 10.1016/j.jdds.2014.06.002.

Novel Compound Strongly Inhibits Botulinum Neurotoxin

Nov 6, 2018 by News Staff

A newly-identified natural compound called nitrophenyl psoralen could be used as a treatment to reduce paralysis induced by botulism, a rare illness caused...

The Inaccessible Island rail (Atlantisia rogersi). Image credit: Peter G. Ryan.

Scientists Crack Mystery of World’s Smallest Flightless Bird: Inaccessible Island Rail

Nov 5, 2018 by News Staff

Inaccessible Island, the westernmost of three islands in the Tristan Archipelago, is located about 2,250 miles (3,600 km) east of Porto Alegre, Brazil,...

Zarrillo et al report the earliest evidence of cacao use in the Americas and the first archaeological example of its pre-Columbian use in South America. Image credit: Stana.

Birthplace of Cacao Identified in Amazon Region

Nov 5, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has found that the upper Amazon region gave birth to the domesticated Theobroma cacao, the plant from which chocolate...

This Hubble image shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy ESO 338-4. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Beautiful Dwarf Galaxy

Nov 5, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of a small galaxy called ESO 338-4. This Hubble image shows the blue compact dwarf...

Polar bears’ habitat and food sources are shrinking at an alarming rate. Image credit: Skeeze.

WWF Study Shows 60% Decrease in Vertebrate Population Counts

Nov 5, 2018 by Sam Sander Effron

It is no secret that climate change and environmental negligence have been worsened by human activity and accelerated industrialization over the past century,...

Eating fish such as salmon, trout and sardines as part of a healthy diet can reduce asthma symptoms in children. Image credit: Dana Tentis.

Mediterranean Diet Enriched with Fatty Fish Could Reduce Asthma Symptoms in Children

Nov 5, 2018 by News Staff

A Mediterranean diet supplemented with two fatty fish meals per week might be a potential strategy for reducing airway inflammation in childhood asthma. Eating...

Atomic chamber in which tractor beams were created. Image credit: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing.

Physicists Create Tractor Beam for Atoms

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

Rather than sucking space ships into a space-station, a tractor beam created by University of Adelaide researcher Ashby Hilton and his colleagues pulls...

The Natewa swallowtail (Papilio natewa). Image credit: Greg Kerr.

Lepidopterists Discover New Swallowtail Species on Fiji

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

A beautiful new species of swallowtail butterfly has been discovered on the Pacific Island of Vanua Levu, Fiji. The Natewa swallowtail (Papilio natewa)....

An artist impression of Huanansaurus ganzhouensis. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Modern Birds Inherited Colored Eggs from Their Dinosaur Ancestors, Study Says

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

Modern birds inherited their egg color from non-avian dinosaur ancestors that laid eggs in fully or partially open nests, according to new research led...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arriving at Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Dawn Mission Ends as Spacecraft Runs Out of Fuel

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

NASA declares Dawn, a mission to the two largest bodies in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, over after the spacecraft depletes...

Mycobacteria are frequently abundant in showerheads, and many showerheads harbor mycobacterial lineages that include known pathogens.

New Study Finds Correlation between Showerhead Bacteria and Lung Infections

Nov 2, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Bacteria thrive in showerheads and throughout household water distribution systems. While most of these bacteria are innocuous, some are potential pathogens,...

American cockroaches deter emerald jewel wasps with a vigorous defense. Image credit: K.C. Catania, doi: 10.1159/000490341.

Cockroaches Karate Kick Parasitoid Wasps to Avoid Becoming ‘Zombies’

Nov 1, 2018 by News Staff

The emerald jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is renowned for its ability to zombify the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) with a sting to the brain....

An artist’s interpretation of elephant birds foraging in the ancient forests of Madagascar at night. Image credit: John Maisano / University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences.

Study: Elephant Birds were Nocturnal, Possibly Blind

Nov 1, 2018 by News Staff

The recently extinct Malagasy elephant birds included the largest birds ever discovered. Seven species are recognized across two genera, including the...

This mosaic of images from the MDIS Narrow Angle Camera on NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft shows the impact crater Hokusai, located on Mercury at a latitude of 58°N. The crater has an impressive system of rays, which extend as much as a thousand kilometers (more than 600 miles) across the planet and are the longest that have yet been identified on Mercury. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The Great Wave that Brought Water to Mercury

Nov 1, 2018 by James Romero

The impact that formed Mercury’s spectacular 100-km (62-mile) wide Hokusai crater, named after the famous Japanese artist, who created the Great Wave...

This Hubble image shows the Serpens Nebula, a stellar nursery about 1,300 light-years away. Within the nebula, in the upper right of the image, a shadow is created by the protoplanetary disk surrounding HBC 672. While the disk of debris is too tiny to be seen even by Hubble, its shadow is projected upon the cloud in which it was born. In this view, the feature, the Bat Shadow, spans approximately 200 times the diameter of our own Solar System. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Cosmic ‘Bat Shadow’

Nov 1, 2018 by News Staff

Like a fly that wanders into a flashlight’s beam, a protoplanetary disk surrounding the young star HBC 672 is casting a giant shadow, nicknamed the ‘Bat...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Researchers Create 3D Model of Neanderthal Rib Cage

Oct 31, 2018 by News Staff

Our close evolutionary cousins may have had a subtle, but somewhat different breathing mechanism compared to anatomically modern humans, according to a...

This visualization uses data from simulations of orbital motions of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit around the supermassive black hole. Image credit: ESO / GRAVITY Collaboration / L. Calçada.

Astronomers Observe Interstellar Material Orbiting Close to Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Oct 31, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have detected flares of infrared radiation coming from the...

Artist’s conception of NASA’s Kepler space telescope. Image credit: NASA / Ames / Dan Rutter.

NASA Ends Kepler Space Telescope’s Science Operations

Oct 31, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, which spent nine years in deep space collecting data that detected thousands of exoplanets, has run out of fuel needed...

A radio image of hydrogen gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud as observed by CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope. Image credit: Naomi McClure-Griffiths et al / CSIRO’s ASKAP Telescope.

Small Magellanic Cloud is Losing Its Star-Forming Material, Astronomers Find

Oct 31, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope has discovered that a nearby dwarf galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud has...