Stroke is the second most common cause of death worldwide, yet it can often be prevented. Each year, some 17 million people worldwide will have a stroke and almost 6 million of them will die. Research seeks to guide rehabilitation, to help maintain brain function after a stroke, and to develop treatments to repair the […]
Nature
Women and minorities still face uphill struggle in UK science
Campaign group suggests ‘quick wins’ to begin levelling the playing field. Even with the government’s attempts to increase the representation of women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in science and mathematics, progress in the United Kingdom has remained too slow, according to a report published today by a UK non-profit organization. “Looking back over […]
You don’t always know what you’re saying
People’s conscious awareness of their speech often comes after they’ve spoken, not before. If you think you know what you just said, think again. People can be tricked into believing they have just said something they did not, researchers report this week. The dominant model of how speech works is that it is planned in […]
Dietary fibre acts on brain to suppress appetite
Mouse study suggests that brain activity, not gut hormones, accounts for fibre’s weight-control action. People have long been told that a diet high in fibre can help to fight obesity, but how it does so has been unclear. A study of mouse metabolism now suggests that a product of fibre fermentation may be directly affecting […]
UK foreign aid turns to research
£375 million from development budget will be redirected to science partnerships with middle-income economies. The United Kingdom has launched a five-year, £375 million (US$630 million) fund to support science and innovation partnerships with researchers in developing countries that will focus on economic development. Read more in Nature.
Sponsor a fish and save Canada’s experimental lakes
Fans of environmental science can now play a direct role in helping Canada’s unique Experimental Lakes Area continue to do the research it has done for decades. The International Institute for Sustainable Development, based in Winnipeg, took over running the ELA on 1 April, after the federal government eliminated funding for the decades-old environmental research […]
The changing colour of fat
The different functions of white, brown and beige fat might yield new targets in the fight against obesity and metabolic disease. When you think of fat in the human body, you might picture a homogenous, white substance, much like a block of lard. But researchers are learning that the role of fat in metabolism changes […]
Pests worm their way into genetically modified maize
Broadening of rootworm resistance to toxins highlights the importance of crop rotation. Even with biotech crops, farmers still need to make use of age-old practices such as crop rotation to fight insect pests. That’s the lesson to be drawn from the latest discovery of resistance to the pest-fighting toxins added to maize — also known […]
New contender for ‘fat gene’ found
Researchers may have been focusing on the wrong gene. Scientists studying what they thought was a ‘fat gene’ seem to have been looking in the wrong place, according to research published today in Nature. It suggests instead that the real culprit is another gene that the suspected obesity gene interacts with. In 2007, several genome studies […]
Storm brewing over WHO sugar proposal
Industry backlash expected over suggested cut in intake. Scientists are gearing up for a battle with the food industry after the World Health Organization (WHO) moved to halve its recommendation on sugar intake. Nutrition researchers fear a backlash similar to that seen in 2003, when the WHO released its current guidelines stating that no more […]