The Earth's inner core is a ball of solid iron about the size of the Moon. This iron core is surrounded by a dynamic outer core of a liquid iron-nickel alloy - along with other, lighter elements - a highly viscous mantle and a solid crust that forms the surface where we live.
That inner core is simultaneously melting and freezing due to circulation of heat in the overlying rocky mantle, according to new research . Over billions of years, the Earth has cooled from the inside out causing the molten iron core to partly freeze and solidify. The inner core has subsequently been growing at the rate of around 1 mm a year as iron crystals freeze and form a solid mass.
A new paper in Nature says the most widely used methods for calculating species extinction rates are "fundamentally flawed" and overestimate extinction rates by as much as 160 percent.
A team of scientists say they have uncovered the basis for drug resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia accounts for about 23 percent of all cases of cancer in children under the age of 15, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Whole body computerized tomography (CT) scanning has helped diagnose the earliest confirmed case of coronary artery disease in history.
The Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon, who lived in Thebes (Luxor) between 1580 and 1550 B.C., lived on a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and a limited amount of meat from domesticated (but not fattened) animals. Wheat and barley were grown along the banks of the Nile, making bread and beer the dietary staples of this period of ancient Egypt. Tobacco and trans-fats were unknown, and lifestyle was likely to have been active.
A gene in the nucleus of muscle and brain cells named
MLIP (Muscle enriched A-type Lamin Interacting Protein)
affects heart development and the aging process, according to a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry .
Mutations in the Lamin gene family are associated with muscular dystrophy and other degenerative heart muscle diseases.
Aggression in mating males is a successful reproductive strategy for individuals but a numerical model says it can drive a species to extinction,
Evolutionary biologists have long debated whether the behavior of the individual is able to influence processes on a population or species level but the possibility of selection at the species level remains controversial. Using a mathematical model, an international team of researchers now say that aggressive male sexual behavior not only harms the female, but can also cause entire populations to die out.
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