Elephant calves have been found buried. What does that mean?
The myth of elephant graveyards has pervaded popular culture, and recent observations of buried Asian elephant calves may finally give that legend some credence.
The myth of elephant graveyards has pervaded popular culture, and recent observations of buried Asian elephant calves may finally give that legend some credence.
Plants & Animals
12 hours ago
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19
Advanced killer robots are more likely to be blamed for civilian deaths than military machines, new research has revealed. The University of Essex study shows that high-tech bots will be held more responsible for fatalities ...
Social Sciences
Mar 14, 2024
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7
In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers led by Jijie Chai at Westlake University, China, and Jane Parker and Paul Schulze-Lefert at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 14, 2024
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1
While three whales washing up on Hampton Roads beaches in three days is unusual, it is likely indicative of a long-term trend seen along the East Coast.
Plants & Animals
Mar 7, 2024
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23
Mitochondria are organelles that are known for providing the energy currency that fuels chemical reactions within cells, but they are also involved in other important processes vital for cell health including the innate immune ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 1, 2024
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18
Storms pummeling Southern California have dramatically transformed Death Valley National Park, doubling the size of a vast temporary lake that is even visible to orbiting spacecraft.
Earth Sciences
Feb 22, 2024
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After a dry start to winter, California's rainy season is finally well under way.
Environment
Feb 22, 2024
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Uncovering the biochemical mechanisms underlying different types of cell death has the potential to provide targets for the treatment of various diseases. A physiological cytokine combination (TNF+IFNγ) has been identified ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 19, 2024
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6
Wageningen researchers have discovered a molecular self-destruct mechanism in a bacterium living on seaweed. With this mechanism the bacteria sacrifice themselves when they are infected, thus protecting their brothers and ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 16, 2024
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29
Environmental regulators have decided to set a tighter standard for a tiny, but insidious class of air pollution particles linked to serious illnesses and thousands of premature deaths.
Environment
Feb 16, 2024
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23
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Many religions maintain faith in either some kind of afterlife or reincarnation. The effect of physical death on any possible mind or soul remains for many an open question.
Animals almost without exception (see hydra) die in due course from senescence. Intervening phenomena which commonly bring death earlier include malnutrition, predation, disease, accidents resulting in terminal physical injury, or, in extreme circumstances, grave ecosystem disruption. Intentional human activity causing death includes suicide, homicide, and war. Roughly 150,000 people die each day across the globe. Death in the natural world can also occur as an indirect result of human activity: an increasing cause of species depletion in recent times has been destruction of ecological systems as a consequence of the widening spread of industrial technology.
Death in this context is now seen as less an event than a process: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. In general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. Precise medical definition of death, in other words, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and technology advance.
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