openscience

Men with higher exposure to the substance DEHP, a so-called phthalate, have lower sperm motility and may therefore experience more difficulties conceiving children, according to a new study.

Information is the basis of smart mobility. Information technology can support the car driver in safe, inexpensive, and sustainable driving or organize reliable exchange of information among electric mobility users, cars, charging poles, fleet operators, workshops, and service providers. A new project now presents an electronic system that acquires data in real time and exchanges them across borders of systems in a standardized manner.

The central supermassive black hole of a recently discovered galaxy has been found to be far larger than should be possible, according to current theories of galactic evolution. New work shows that the black hole is much more massive than it should be, compared to the mass of the galaxy around it.

Brazil’s public authorities regularly publish “blacklists” of municipalities with high illegal deforestation rates. This environmental policy tool is working: scientists have found that the public shaming strategy reduced Amazon forest loss in the blacklisted districts by 26% per year.

The risk for hospitalization doubles for kids with asthma who are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a study. The study strengthens the association that previous studies have shown which links secondhand smoke exposure with increased asthma prevalence, poorer asthma control and increased symptoms.

Fluctuating sea levels and global cooling caused a significant decline in the number of crocodilian species over millions of years, according to new research. In the future, the researchers suggest that a warming world caused by global climate change may favour crocodylian diversification again.

Visitors to two popular parks in South London are at risk of coming into contact with ticks that can transmit Lyme disease to humans, according to new research.

The ability to walk has been restored following a spinal cord injury, using one's own brain power, according to research. The preliminary proof-of-concept study shows that it is possible to use direct brain control to get a person's legs to walk again.

By studying a system that couples matter and light together, like the universe itself, researchers have now found that crossing a quantum phase transition at intermediate speeds generates the richest, most complex structure. Such structure resembles 'defects' in an otherwise smooth and empty space.

Liquid crystals are familiar to most of us as the somewhat humdrum stuff used to make computer displays and TVs. Even for scientists, it has not been easy to find other ways of using them. Now a group of researchers is putting liquid crystals to work in a completely unexpected realm: as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Why do babies smile when they interact with their parents? Could their smiles have a purpose? A team of computer scientists, roboticists and developmental psychologists confirm what most parents already suspect: when babies smile, they do so with a purpose -- to make the person they interact with smile in return. To verify their findings, researchers programmed a toddler-like robot to behave like the babies they studied and had the robot interact with undergraduate students.

Scientists have successfully defeated a dangerous intestinal pathogen, Clostridium difficile, with a drug targeting its toxins rather than its life. C. difficile is responsible for more than 250,000 hospitalizations and 15,000 deaths per year in the United States, costing the country more than $4 billion in health-care expenses, said the study's senior author.

Researchers used a brain-to-brain interface they developed to allow pairs of participants to play a '20 question' style game by transmitting signals from one brain to another over the Internet. Their experiment is thought to be the first to demonstrate that two brains can be directly linked to allow someone to accurately guess what is on another person's mind.

A 9,000-year-old case of human decapitation has been found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in Brazil.

Can women with low platelet counts safely undergo epidural/spinal anesthesia during labor? Available evidence suggests a low rate of complications related to abnormal blood clotting for this large group of patients.

A low-cost method of removing phosphates from tile drainage water has been developed, and may help protect lakes and streams. Using steel byproducts to trap phosphates in simulated tile drainage water, the researchers envision installing a steel-containing cartridge as an add-on to nitrate-capturing bioreactors.

Agricultural inputs such as nitrogen and phosphorous alter soil microbial communities, which may have unintended environmental consequences, new research from an ecologist shows.

Most recreational anglers who target deep-water reef fish in Florida recognize barotrauma symptoms, and researchers think they can teach the other 30 percent to help save the fish. By doing so, anglers would play a key role in sustaining the state’s valuable fisheries.

When faced with a change to our environment, we have to make appropriate decisions, which usually involves the orbitofrontal cortex. Yet unexpectedly, scientists have discovered that a brain region located in the thalamus also plays a crucial role in using these evolved skills.

The majority of patients who undergo routine, uncomplicated operations prefer online postoperative consultations to in-person visits, according to results from a new study.