The mechanism which allows β-lactam antibiotics, including penicillin, to kill MRSA has been revealed for the first time. An international team of researchers led by the University of Sheffield discovered that β-lactam antibiotics kill MRSA (Methicillin Resistant S. aureus) by creating holes in the cell wall which enlarge as the cell grows, eventually killing the […]

The sharpest images ever of living bacteria have been recorded by UCL researchers, revealing the complex architecture of the protective layer that surrounds many bacteria and makes them harder to be killed by antibiotics. The study, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and done in collaboration with scientists at National […]

Pets are not the only ones who experience separation anxiety; their people do too. Washington State University researchers surveyed a sample of new first-year college students leaving pets at home and found that 75% experienced some level of pet separation anxiety—with one in four reporting moderate to severe symptoms. “Students who are struggling with missing […]

Mountain snowpacks around the world are on the decline, and if the planet continues to warm, climate models forecast that snowpacks could shrink dramatically and possibly even disappear altogether on certain mountains, including in the western United States, at some point in the next century. A new study led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory […]

A rare English illuminated medieval prayer roll, believed to be among only a few dozen still in existence worldwide, has been analysed in a new study to expose Catholic beliefs in England before the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Now in private hands and previously unknown to experts, this metre-long roll provides fresh insights into […]

Women serving in the UK military face a considerable risk of emotional bullying, sexual harassment and physical assault, which can have a serious and long-lasting impact on their mental health and wellbeing, finds research published online in the journal BMJ Military Health.  There are currently around 16,500 women serving in the UK military and they make […]

A team of researchers found what seems to be DNA in a 125-million-year-old dinosaur fossil – though how the fragile biomolecules survived fossilisation remains a mystery. Alida Bailleul, a palaeontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and her colleagues found the biomolecules in a portion of cartilage from a Caudipteryx specimen. This peacock-sized theropod dinosaur […]

Although antidepressants are one of the most frequently taken medications in the United States (11% of the population takes antidepressants)[i] [ii], 60% of depressed patients do not benefit from their first antidepressant.[iii] The sales of antidepressants exceed several billion dollars annually.[iv] According to a new study published today from George Mason University, a person’s existing medical conditions […]

Songbirds share the human sense of rhythm, but it is a rare trait in non-human mammals. An international research team led by senior investigators Marco Gamba from the University of Turin and MPI’s Andrea Ravignani set out to look for musical abilities in primates. “There is longstanding interest in understanding how human musicality evolved, but […]

Contrary to widely held gender stereotypes, women are not more emotional than men, researchers say. Feelings such as enthusiasm, nervousness or strength are often interpreted differently between the two genders. It’s what being “emotional” means to men vs. women that is part of a new University of Michigan study that dispels these biases. For instance, […]