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A new study has concluded that modern cityscapes have been possibly changing birds into better problem solvers compared to their counterparts living in the wild or rural regions. Published recently in Behavioral Ecology, the McGill University research paper discovered that city birds studied by researchers were dissimilar to their rural counterparts in a number of ways.

In a statement, first author Jean-Nicolas Audet, a PhD candidate at McGill, said, “We found that not only were birds from urbanized areas better at innovative problem-solving tasks than bullfinches from rural environments, but that surprisingly urban birds also had a better immunity than rural birds”.

On Monday, scientists said climate change has moved French wines into unexplored territory, and may push producers to reposition, or abandon the grape varieties that played an important role in giving prominence to their vineyards.

Scientists reported in Nature Climate Change that since 1980, emerging conditions in northern climes like Champagne and Burgundy, and in sun-drenched Bordeaux, have vitally altered the ‘harvest equation’ that represented these regions. French wine is ranked among the highest in the world.

University of Michigan scientists have detected 19 new pieces of viral DNA strands, lurking within human genome after they evaluated DNA information from 2,500 individuals. The latest discovery highlights the impact of certain virus strains and their ability to impact human DNA for generations. The DNA strands were left by viruses that infected human ancestors for the first time, hundreds of thousands of years back.

The scientists behind the genome research project studied 2,500 people and detected that a stretch of newfound DNA, present in 50 of the participants, contained an intact, full genetic recipe for a total virus. The detailed findings of U-M and Tufts University research team have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Late Tuesday, commercial Cygnus cargo ship was launched into space. Streaking into the Florida night sky, it is on a delivery mission, carrying a record-setting load of NASA experiments and gear to the International Space Station (ISS).

Yesterday, at 11:05 pm the Orbital ATK-built Cygnus blasted off atop an Atlas V rocket EDT in a smooth liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Packed with over 3.5 tons of supplies, the cargo ship is likely to arrive at the space station early on March 26.

The flight is the second for Orbital ATK's improved Cygnus craft on an Atlas V rocket given by the United Launch Alliance. The company representatives said that the cargo ship has onboard even more cargo as compared to the Orbital ATK's last record-breaking flight in December.

Humans are being wide off the mark regarding severity of global sea level rise, said a team of researchers in a new study published this week in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. The study team informed that the planet could experience much more rise in sea levels than previously estimated, thanks to climate change which is going to worsen in the future. The research team said that 2 degree Celsius target set by climate scientists and policymaker isn’t enough.

Several nations around the globe have pledged to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit planet’s warming to 2 degrees Celsius by the next century, but these efforts are not sufficient to control sea level rise, suggested the study published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Health professionals may no longer be allowed to wear powdered surgical gloves as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to ban most of the surgical gloves that are made with powder on the surface.

There are some latex gloves that can harm both a patient and a doctor, announced the U.S. FDA on Monday. Powdered surgical gloves are easier to wear, but they could cause a number of problems including breathing issues and wound inflammation, as per the agency.

A government-funded study found that the ban will not affect manufacturer sales and glove supplies in the country. Most of the powdered gloves have been banned, and just six manufacturers are still supplying these gloves in the country, said FDA.