Mathematicians have come up with a way to explore strange 3D spaces that could be related to the shape of the universe

A molecule shaped like a bow tie changes colour in the presence of toxic chemicals, which could make it useful for monitoring air

Since the discovery of Asgard archaea in 2015, evidence has mounted that these peculiar single-celled organisms could be the source of all complex life – including us

From the development of our remarkable brains to the geographic divides in the way we vote, our shape-shifting planet has guided the path of humanity

As many parts of the world's biggest economy begin to reopen after weeks of stay-at-home orders that slowed the spread of the coronavirus but gutted jobs, Americans should not expect a quick return to growth, U.S. Federal Reserve officials said on Friday.

Just like our individual identity makes us unique, brand identity helps a business set itself apart from its competitors in the market. An organization’s brand design shapes a company and its products. We recently caught up with one of our savvy lead...

A European coalition is forming around an approach to using smartphone technology to trace coronavirus infections which, it's hoped, will enable borders to reopen. Joe Davies reports.

A European coalition is forming around an approach to using smartphone technology to trace coronavirus infections which, it's hoped, will enable borders to reopen. Joe Davies reports.

Title: More Babies Today Have Irregular Head Shape: Expert
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2012 4:05:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: Skateboarding Mishaps Send 176 U.S. Kids to ERs Every Day
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: AHA News: How Pregnant Woman's High Blood Pressure Can Change Shape of Baby's Heart
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2020 12:00:00 AM

Key Points

Sperm head shaping is a key event in spermiogenesis and is tightly controlled via the acrosome–manchette network. Linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complexes consist of Sad1 and UNC84 domain–containing (SUN) and Klarsicht/ANC-1/Syne-1 homology (KASH) domain proteins and form conserved nuclear envelope bridges implicated in transducing mechanical forces from the manchette to sculpt sperm nuclei into a hook-like shape. However, the role of LINC complexes in sperm head shaping is still poorly understood. Here we assessed the role of SUN3, a testis-specific LINC component harboring a conserved SUN domain, in spermiogenesis. We show that CRISPR/Cas9-generated Sun3 knockout male mice are infertile, displaying drastically reduced sperm counts and a globozoospermia-like phenotype, including a missing, mislocalized, or fragmented acrosome, as well as multiple defects in sperm flagella. Further examination revealed that the sperm head abnormalities are apparent at step 9 and that the sperm nuclei fail to elongate because of the absence of manchette microtubules and perinuclear rings. These observations indicate that Sun3 deletion likely impairs the ability of the LINC complex to transduce the cytoskeletal force to the nuclear envelope, required for sperm head elongation. We also found that SUN3 interacts with SUN4 in mouse testes and that the level of SUN4 proteins is drastically reduced in Sun3-null mice. Altogether, our results indicate that SUN3 is essential for sperm head shaping and male fertility, providing molecular clues regarding the underlying pathology of the globozoospermia-like phenotype.

Recent progress has been made in identifying genomic regions implicated in trait evolution on a microevolutionary scale in many species, but whether these are relevant over macroevolutionary time remains unclear. Here, we directly address this fundamental question using bird beak shape, a key evolutionary innovation linked to patterns of resource use, divergence, and speciation, as a model trait. We integrate class-wide geometric-morphometric analyses with evolutionary sequence analyses of 10,322 protein-coding genes as well as 229,001 genomic regions spanning 72 species. We identify 1434 protein-coding genes and 39,806 noncoding regions for which molecular rates were significantly related to rates of bill shape evolution. We show that homologs of the identified protein-coding genes as well as genes in close proximity to the identified noncoding regions are involved in craniofacial embryo development in mammals. They are associated with embryonic stem cell pathways, including BMP and Wnt signaling, both of which have repeatedly been implicated in the morphological development of avian beaks. This suggests that identifying genotype-phenotype association on a genome-wide scale over macroevolutionary time is feasible. Although the coding and noncoding gene sets are associated with similar pathways, the actual genes are highly distinct, with significantly reduced overlap between them and bill-related phenotype associations specific to noncoding loci. Evidence for signatures of recent diversifying selection on our identified noncoding loci in Darwin finch populations further suggests that regulatory rather than coding changes are major drivers of morphological diversification over macroevolutionary times.

Chris struggles with grains. Anna Marie goes on a month long Final Fantasy journey. Pascal enjoys being called “commander.” Kelley is underwhelmed by her ‘mon....

Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding the structure of a key genetic molecule, called RNA, and revealing for the first time how these changes impact RNA's function. The research team developed a bioinformatics technique to resolve separate structures of RNA rather than viewing them as a 'blur' that averaged multiple structures. This underpinned their discovery that the structure of RNA can influence how cells function.

Astronomers using the MeerKAT telescope at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cape Town, South Africa, have solved a longstanding mystery of X-shaped radio galaxies. Many galaxies far more active than the Milky Way have enormous twin jets of radio waves extending far into intergalactic space. Normally these go in opposite directions, coming from [...]

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions into isolation, video games are seeing a surge in usage as people seek entertainment and social interaction. When we surveyed gaming-focused VCs in October, Andreessen Horowitz partner Jonathan Lai predicted that “next-generation games will be bigger than anything we’ve seen yet,” eventually reaching “Facebook scale.” This month, […]

GRANT SHAPPS announced the Government is introducing a £2 billion travel scheme to encourage Britons to use alternative transport as the UK slowly relaxes lockdown measures.

As many parts of the world's biggest economy begin to reopen after weeks of stay-at-home orders that slowed the spread of the coronavirus but gutted jobs, Americans should not expect a quick return to growth, U.S. Federal Reserve officials said on Friday.

Read our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

Read our live coronavirus updates HERE

But speaking at the daily Covid-19 Downing Street press conference, Mr Shapps revealed that there was popular demand for the test slots with 16,000 people registering on Friday morning alone. Around 5,000 also got home test kits. While around 46,000 had tried to apply through the site.

Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar said it would instead fly The Spirit of Kent on a circuit around the Biggin Hill airfield at 8pm on Thursday, to coincide with the nation's weekly "Clap for our Carers" event.

The NHS coronavirus contact tracing app will be trialled in the Isle of Wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month, the Transport Secretary said.

Fewer people would have died from coronavirus in the UK if the country had greater testing capacity sooner, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said.

Experts believe they are more closely related to crocodiles and dinosaurs and birds than they are to lizards and snakes

After watching three of the world's top male pole vaulters test their athleticism in a virtual backyard competition on Sunday, Canadian-record holder Alysha Newman wants to be part of a remote women's event she believes will be held in the coming weeks.

A European coalition is forming around an approach to using smartphone technology to trace coronavirus infections that, its backers hope, could help to reopen borders without unleashing a second wave of the pandemic.

The true test of just how real Manchester United are prepared to get in the transfer market this summer will be their response to interest in Paul Pogba.

The Transport Secretary will lead Saturday's briefing

Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles during the time of the dinosaurs, and scientists don't know much about their ancestry. But by CT-scanning the fossil of one of the first ichthyosaurs, scientists discovered pebble-shaped teeth hidden in its short snout. These strange teeth, probably used for crushing the shells of snails and clam-like bivalves, help illuminate the ways that early ichthyosaurs filled different roles in Triassic marine ecosystems.

Nightingale pioneered many of the practices carried out today, such as maintaining good hygiene and regularly washing hands

The Secretary of State will be joined at Downing Street with deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam.

As a rule, if the economy is going well then US presidents get re-elected. If it's going badly, they lose. But will that hold in a global health emergency?

Certain vitamins, minerals and other supplements can support your immune system as a whole, even though they haven’t been researched for their impact on COVID-19 specifically.

The NRL ticks another box ahead of its planned restart later this month, as the players officially sign off on a new pay agreement ahead of a return to training this week.

Monica Miller explains the alphabet soup of possible recession shapes for the coronavirus-hit global economy.

The United States alleges that the state of New York has failed to house thousands of individuals with mental illness who currently reside in large, institutional “adult homes” in the most integrated setting, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

In response to written questions submitted last month regarding the potential for delays, FDA had stated that “CDER remains fully capable to continue daily activities, while responding to the public needs of the current COVID-19 outbreak.” In a subsequent blog … Continue reading →

Republicans, once confident of keeping their Senate majority in the fall election, now fear Democrats have a fresh advantage as the coronavirus crisis has reshaped campaigns.

Mahatma Gandhi famously claimed that ‘India lives in her villages’. The focus of his political and social work, and his philosophical writings, was that India was essentially an agrarian civilization, and that it must remain that way. In fact, India had always lived in her towns too. Our epics spoke of the fabled cities of [...]

May 7, 2020

History is replete with irony, but rarely more poignantly than in the summer of 2016 when, on 23 June, the UK voted to leave the European Union and the next day, 24 June, the EU published its Global Strategy document asserting its ambition of “strategic autonomy.” Whither Franco-British defense cooperation in such chaotic circumstances? This paper attempts to provide the outline of an answer to that question.

Nov 13, 2019

The authors investigate how the executives of the two largest research institutes for photovoltaic technologies — the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, USA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Freiburg, Germany — have made use of public framing to secure funding and shape the technological development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The article shows that the executives used four framing dimensions (potential, prospect, performance, and progress) and three framing tactics (conclusion, conditioning, and concession), and that the choice of dimensions and tactics is tightly coupled to the characteristics of the specific technologies pursued by the research institutes.

Nov 13, 2019

The authors investigate how the executives of the two largest research institutes for photovoltaic technologies — the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, USA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Freiburg, Germany — have made use of public framing to secure funding and shape the technological development of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The article shows that the executives used four framing dimensions (potential, prospect, performance, and progress) and three framing tactics (conclusion, conditioning, and concession), and that the choice of dimensions and tactics is tightly coupled to the characteristics of the specific technologies pursued by the research institutes.