People tend to believe that others will come around to their point of view over time, according to new findings. The findings show that this 'belief in a favorable future' holds across various contexts and cultures, shedding light on some of the causes and consequences of the political polarization evident today.

Recognizing that administrative health care databases can be a valuable, yet challenging, tool in the nation's ongoing pursuit of personalized medicine, statisticians have developed advanced statistical modeling and analytic tools that can make health care and medical data more meaningful.

An unusually cold winter in the US in 2014 took a toll on the green anole lizard, a tree-dwelling creature common to the southeastern United States. A new study offers a rare view of natural selection in this species, showing how the lizard survivors at the southernmost part of their range in Texas came to be more like their cold-adapted counterparts further north.

A new publicly available database will catalog metadata associated with biologic samples, making it easier for researchers to share and reuse genetic data for environmental and ecological analyses. It links publicly available genetic data to records of where and when samples were collected. Such information is critical for comparing biodiversity in different locations worldwide, across time. Despite calls for more data sharing within the research community, researchers have until now lacked the tools they needed.

By analyzing ancient genomes of maize, scientists have found evidence suggesting that eventual agricultural use of the crop throughout the temperate highlands of the US likely occurred due to propagation of varieties with earlier flowering times.

RNAi is a mainstay of contemporary biological research. But how exactly this crucial mechanism functions in humans remains a partial mystery that we are now one step closer to solving. Structural biologists have now published atomic-resolution pictures and a comprehensive analysis of the workings of a part of the RNAi machinery in Molecular Cell. They've discovered how several parts of the machinery work in concert to tamp down gene expression after the attachment of the machinery to an mRNA copied from a gene.

In the last 20 years, the field of animal coloration research has experienced explosive growth thanks to numerous technological advances, and it now stands on the threshold of a new era.

A particular gut microbe can prevent severe flu infections in mice, likely by breaking down naturally occurring compounds -- called flavonoids -- commonly found in foods such as black tea, red wine and blueberries, new research shows.

The combination of a bacterium that normally lives in the gut and a protein-rich diet promotes a more tolerant, less inflammatory gut immune system, according to new research. The findings, in mice, suggest a way to tilt the gut immune system away from inflammation, potentially spelling relief for people living with inflammatory bowel disease.

Astronomers recently discovered a relatively unpopulated region of the main asteroid belt, where the few asteroids present are likely pristine relics from early in solar system history. The team used a new search technique that also identified the oldest known asteroid family, which extends throughout the inner region of the main asteroid belt.

New work is resolving difficult fuel-cell performance questions, both in determining efficient new materials and understanding how they work at an atomic level.

On the North Slope of Alaska, snow is melting earlier in the spring and the snow-in date is happening later in the fall, according to a new study.

Precision medicine has become the leading innovation of cancer treatment. Patients are routinely treated with drugs that are designed to target specific tumors and molecules. Despite the progress that has been made in targeted cancer therapies, the path has been slow and scientists have a long road ahead. In a collaborative project, investigated the emerging field of radiomics has the potential to improve precision medicine by non-invasively assessing the molecular and clinical characteristics of lung tumors.

Common anti-allergy medicines could prove to be an effective treatment for potentially fatal blood clots in the legs, according to new research.

Breast cancer patients who have radiotherapy targeted at the original tumor site experience fewer side effects five years after treatment than those who have whole breast radiotherapy, and their cancer is just as unlikely to return, according to trial results.