A visualization of the changes to the colon and the gut bacteria after eating a low-fiber, Western-type diet and then subsequently eating a diet supplemented with fiber. Credit: Shroeder, et al.

Anyone watching their waistline this holiday season may want to pay attention to what their gut bacteria are eating. It’s not just calories that matter in a healthy diet – it’s fiber that resists digestion by the body but is readily eaten by bacteria in the gut. The amount of fiber in someone’s diet can influence weight gain, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and colon health. Two studies with mice, publishing December 21 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, help shed light on how and why fiber has such a powerful effect on the entire body.

“Once the mechanism is understood, it can be exploited in d...

Top alternatives to mean proteins

Health benefits could be even greater if people combined plant proteins with other cholesterol-lowering foods. Substituting 1 to 2 servings of animal proteins with plant proteins every day could lead to a small reduction in the 3 main cholesterol markers for cardiovascular disease prevention, a new study suggests. The health benefits could be even greater if people combined plant proteins with other cholesterol-lowering foods such as viscous, water soluble fibres from oats, barley and psyllium, and plant sterols, said lead author Dr. John Sievenpiper of St. Michael’s Hospital.

Dr...

This illustration shows a “disrupted planet” slowly broken up into a cloud of gas and dust as it orbits the star RZ Piscium about 550 light years from Earth. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

Astronomers have discovered that a distant star, RZ Picseum, 550 light years from Earth, in the constellation Pisces is crushing one or more planets into its orbit into a vast cloud of gas and dust. The discovery may shed light on a brief but volatile period in the history of many solar systems, including our own.

“We know it’s not uncommon for planets to migrate inward in young solar systems since we’ve found so many solar systems with ‘hot Jupiters’ – gaseous planets similar in size to Jupiter but orbiting very close to their stars,” said Pilachowski, who is the Daniel Kirkwood Chair...

A hidden or ‘choked’ jet (white) powering a radio-emitting ‘cocoon’ (pink) is the best explanation for the radio waves, gamma rays and X-rays the astronomers observed. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF: D. Berr

Data distinguish between different theoretical models. 3 months of observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have allowed astronomers to zero in on the most likely explanation for what happened in the aftermath of the violent collision of a pair of neutron stars in a galaxy 130 million light-years from Earth. What they learned means that astronomers will be able to see and study many more such collisions.

On August 17, 2017, the LIGO and VIRGO gravitational-wave observatories combined to locate the faint ripples in spacetime caused by the merger of two superdense neutron stars...