An international team of scientists has developed a relatively simple mathematical explanation for the rogue ocean waves that can develop seemingly out of nowhere to sink ships and overwhelm oil platforms with walls of water as much as 25 meters high.

The waves stem from a combination of constructive interference - a known phenomenon of colliding waves - and nonlinear effects specific to the complex dynamics of ocean waves. An improved understanding of how rogue waves originate could lead to improved techniques for identifying ocean areas likely to spawn them, allowing shipping companies to avoid dangerous seas.

SAN FRANCISCO - June 21, 2016 - A new study estimates that 9.6 million adults in the United States are highly myopic, or severely nearsighted. Of those, nearly 820,000 have a degenerative form of the disease and more than 41,000 suffer a complication called myopic choroidal neovascularization that could cause long-term vision loss, with women at higher risk. The findings are being published online today in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. This is the first large-scale study ever done to calculate the real-world prevalence of myopic choroidal neovascularization in the United States.

Having diabetes increases the risk of dying from the effects of a heart attack by around 50 per cent, according to a widespread study.

Researchers at the University of Leeds tracked 700,000 people who had been admitted to hospital with a heart attack between January 2003 and June 2013.

Of these, 121,000 had diabetes.

After stripping out the effects of age, sex, any other illnesses and differences in the emergency medical treatment received, the team found stark differences in survival rates.

People with diabetes were 56 per cent more likely to have died if they had experienced a ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attack - in which the coronary artery is completely blocked - than those without the condition.

One of the alterations that most affects the quality of life of the elderly is muscle wastage and the resulting loss of strength, a condition known as sarcopenia. At about 55 years old, people begin to lose muscle mass, this loss continues into old age, at which point it becomes critical. The underlying causes of sarcopenia are unknown and thus no treatment is available for this condition. A study at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) done in collaboration with the University of Barcelona (UB) and the CIBER's area of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) has discovered that Mitofusin 2 is required to preserve healthy muscles in mice.

Venus has an "electric wind" strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere, which may have played a significant role in stripping Earth's twin planet of its oceans, according to new results from ESA's Venus Express mission by NASA-funded researchers.

Why does fresh, hot toast have a more complex flavor than plain bread? Why does cooking raw food in general result in mouthwatering smells and a rich taste? The answer lies with the Maillard reaction, also known as the "browning reaction." By delving into how this process works, Reactions helps you get the most deliciousness out of your cooking. Check it out here:

Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos.

Credit: The American Chemical Society

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which edits a cancer patient's T cells to recognize their tumors, has successfully helped patients with aggressive blood cancers but has yet to show the ability to treat solid tumors. To overcome this hurdle, researchers genetically engineered human T cells to produce a CAR protein that recognizes a glycopeptide found on various cancer cells but not normal cells, and then demonstrated its effectiveness in mice with leukemia and pancreatic cancer. Their proof-of-concept study appears June 21 in Immunity.

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 21, 2016 - In a secure vault in the suburbs of Paris, an egg-sized cylinder of metal sits in a climate-controlled room under three glass bell jars. It is the mass against which all other masses in the world are measured - by definition the quintessential kilogram.

Yet the so-called "Le Grand K" may soon be deposed from the standard-setting throne it has held for the last 127 years. Efforts are afoot in the scientific community to define mass using a fundamental constant of nature instead - a value that in theory can be measured anywhere in the universe and won't change with the smude of a fingerprint or the settling of a fleck of dust.

Most clinical research is not useful to clinicians. This could change.

Many billions of dollars are spent on clinical research every year, yet much of the knowledge produced is not useful for guiding clinical decision making. Because many of the features that make clinical research reliable as a basis for clinical practice can be identified, more useful clinical research could easily be produced at the same or even at massively reduced cost, according to John Ioannidis from Stanford University, US, in an Essay published in PLOS Medicine.

It takes children until they are about 5 years old to learn to take turns with others, while the social skill seems to elude chimpanzees, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The findings show that 5-year-old children adopted a turn-taking strategy more effectively than their younger counterparts, suggesting that the skill emerges as children's cognitive abilities mature.