Opinion | Stethoscope Hygiene: The Next Frontier in Infection Control?
Dhand is an infectious diseases physician. The evolution of modern medicine has led to a critical reliance on stethoscopes in the daily care of our patients. Stethoscopes, also considered to be the “third hand,” are used routinely by almost all healthcare providers across a variety of patients and hospital locations with more than 5.5 billion […]
Disbelief in human evolution linked to greater prejudice and racism: UMass Amherst research findings consistent across countries, cultures, genders and religions
A disbelief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes and support of discriminatory behavior against Blacks, immigrants and the LGBTQ community in the U.S., according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Similarly, across the globe — in 19 Eastern European countries, […]
Earth’s interior is cooling faster than expected
The evolution of our Earth is the story of its cooling: 4.5 billion years ago, extreme temperatures prevailed on the surface of the young Earth, and it was covered by a deep ocean of magma. Over millions of years, the planet’s surface cooled to form a brittle crust. However, the enormous thermal energy emanating from […]
The evolution of good taste
Does evolution explain why we can’t resist a salty chip? Researchers at NC State University found that differences between the elemental composition of foods and the elemental needs of animals can explain the development of pleasing tastes like salty, umami and sweet. Taste tells us a lot about foods before they are swallowed and digested, […]
Sustained fast rates of evolution explain how tetrapods evolved from fish
One of the biggest questions in evolution is when and how major groups of animals first evolved. The rise of tetrapods (all limbed vertebrates) from their fish relatives marks one of the most important evolutionary events in the history of life. This “fish-to-tetrapod” transition took place somewhere between the Middle and Late Devonian (~400-360 million […]
New study sheds light on evolution of photosynthesis
A Rutgers-led study sheds new light on the evolution of photosynthesis in plants and algae, which could help to improve crop production. The paper appears in the journal New Phytologist. The scientists reviewed research on the photosynthetic amoeba Paulinella, which is a model to explore a fundamental question about eukaryote evolution: why was there a […]