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Don’t Count on Your Chickens Counting

Arguing against the current conventional wisdom – that there is an evolved capacity for number and arithmetic that we share with other species – Rafael Nunez says numerical cognition is not biologically endowed.

Rise of Aggressive Reef Predator From Overfishing May Impede Sea Urchin Recovery, Study Finds

A new study suggests that an aggressive reef competitor—the Threespot Damselfish—may have impeded the recovery of Caribbean long-spined sea urchin populations after a mysterious disease outbreak caused a massive die-off of these animals over three decades ago.

Nano Fiber Feels Forces and Hears Sounds Made by Cells

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a miniature device that’s sensitive enough to feel the forces generated by swimming bacteria and hear the beating of heart muscle cells.

More Natural Dust Improves Air Quality in Eastern China

Man-made pollution in eastern China’s cities worsens when less dust blows in from the Gobi Desert, according to a new study published May 11 in Nature Communications. That’s because dust plays an important role in determining air temperature and thereby promotes winds to blow away man-made pollution. Less dust means the air stagnates, with man-made pollution becoming more concentrated and sticking around longer.

MAGNET Study Sees Potential for MRE in Measuring Liver Fibrosis in Children

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators across the nation, have determined that magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can be an accurate, non-invasive tool to identify liver fibrosis in children. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in children, and scarring of the liver, known as fibrosis, is a major determinant of clinical outcomes.

Bioengineering Professor Christian Metallo Receives 2017 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award

Christian Metallo, a bioengineering professor at the University of California San Diego, has been named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. Metallo is one of 13 faculty members nationwide to receive the honor from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.