Category: Business

Contrary to widespread concerns that global crop yields have stagnated in recent decades, a comprehensive study of worldwide food production finds yields have continued to grow at roughly the same rate since the 1960s. John Baffes of the World Bank and Xiaoli Etienne of the University of Idaho, U.S., report these findings on November 27,…

Manmade sounds such vehicle traffic can mask the positive impact of nature soundscapes on people’s stress and anxiety, according to a new study published November 27, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paul Lintott of the University of the West of England, U.K., and Lia Gilmour of the Bat Conservation Trust, U.K. Existing…

The cells in our bodies are like bustling cities, running on an iron-powered system that uses hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) not just for cleaning up messes but also for sending critical signals. Normally, this works fine, but under stress, such as inflammation or a burst of energy use, oxidative stress damages cells at the genetic level….

Dr. Sofia Sheikh from the SETI Institute led a study that sheds new light on how pulsar signals — the spinning remnants of massive stars — distort as they travel through space. This study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, was performed by a multi-year cohort of undergraduate researchers in the Penn State branch of the…

Regenerative medicine holds the extraordinary promise that future patients in need of new cells, tissues or organs will no longer have to rely on donors. Organ shortages and cell type mismatches will become past problems, replaced by safe, on-demand options for anyone who needs a transplant. This revolutionary field still faces many challenges, including the…

When NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, it captured grainy photographs of large ice-covered moons. Now nearly 40 years later, NASA plans to send another spacecraft to Uranus, this time equipped to see if those icy moons are hiding liquid water oceans. The mission is still in an early planning stage. But researchers…

University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have found a way to simultaneously mitigate three types of defects in parts produced using a prominent additive manufacturing technique called laser powder bed fusion. Led by Lianyi Chen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison, the team discovered the mechanisms and identified the processing conditions that can lead to…

Insecticides have been used for centuries to counteract widespread pest damage to valuable food crops. Eventually, over time, beetles, moths, flies and other insects develop genetic mutations that render the insecticide chemicals ineffective. Escalating resistance by these mutants forces farmers and vector control specialists to ramp up use of poisonous compounds at increasing frequencies and…

The Golgi apparatus modifies, sorts and packages proteins to be sent to their final destinations, whether that’s within or outside of the cell. It’s a core function, but little studied in the setting of cancer immunology, especially when compared to other organelles like the mitochondria or endoplasmic reticulum. “So we were interested in looking a…

A new study from Northwestern Medicine reveals a troubling rise in severe maternal health issues and birth complications in Illinois from 2016 to 2023, closely linked to increases in chronic health conditions affecting pregnancy, such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, mental health disorders and especially obesity, which saw the largest increase in annual rates….

We’ve all been there. Moments after leaving a party, your brain is suddenly filled with intrusive thoughts about what others were thinking. “Did they think I talked too much?” “Did my joke offend them?” “Were they having a good time?” In a new Northwestern Medicine study, scientists sought to better understand how humans evolved to…

Spanish explorers may have brought the first peach pits to North America, but Indigenous communities helped the ubiquitous summer fruit really take root, according to a study led by a researcher at Penn State. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that Indigenous political and social networks and land use practices played key roles in…

Researchers at Rice University have found a new way to improve a key element of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) systems, which convert heat into electricity via light. Using an unconventional approach inspired by quantum physics, Rice engineer Gururaj Naik and his team designed a thermal emitter that can deliver high efficiencies within practical design parameters. The research…

The world’s thinnest spaghetti, about 200 times thinner than a human hair, has been created by a UCL-led research team. The spaghetti is not intended to be a new food but was created because of the wide-ranging uses that extremely thin strands of material, called nanofibers, have in medicine and industry. Nanofibers made of starch…

Chemists have developed a novel way to capture and convert carbon dioxide into methane, suggesting that future gas emissions could be converted into an alternative fuel using electricity from renewable sources. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas that accounts for a large part of Earth’s warming climate, and is produced by power plants, factories…

Experts convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified five elements of a brain-based condition that has emerged as a leading cause of vision impairment starting in childhood in the United States and other industrialized nations. Known as cerebral (or cortical) visual impairment (CVI), some estimates suggest that at least 3% of primary…

New cathode materials are being developed to further increase the capacity of lithium batteries. Multilayer lithium-rich transition metal oxides (LRTMOs) offer particularly high energy density. However, their capacity decreases with each charging cycle due to structural and chemical changes. Using X-ray methods at BESSY II, teams from several Chinese research institutions have now investigated these…

As whooping cough cases rise in the U.S., a new nasal vaccine developed by Tulane University may hold the key to reducing the spread of the highly contagious respiratory disease. Current pertussis vaccines are widely used and effective at preventing whooping cough, caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. However, the vaccines fail to clear bacteria…

New research has found that a flavanol-rich cocoa drink can protect the body’s vasculature against stress even after eating high-fat food. Food choices made during periods of stress can influence the effect of stress on cardiovascular health. For example, recent research from the University of Birmingham found that high-fat foods can negatively affect vascular function…

In the United States and globally, alcohol consumption is a major cause of preventable death and disability and increases liver disease, mental health disorders and accidents. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine explored U.S. trends in alcohol-related deaths from 1999 to 2020 overall as well as by age, gender, race and region,…

Clinical visits by patients suffering ocular surface eye conditions more than doubled during times when ambient particulate matter from air pollution was in the atmosphere, signaling a possible association between climate change and ocular health, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The study, published Wednesday in the journal…

Fish stocks along the West African coast have declined significantly over the past five decades, threatening food security and the livelihoods of the fishing communities that depend on them, according to a study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) in collaboration with Fundação Maio Biodiversidade (FMB)….

AI-based technologies are rapidly learning to see, converse, calculate and create. One thing they still don’t do well, however, is measure or “feel” surfaces — a purely mechanical function. “AI has more or less acquired the sense of sight, through advances in computer vision and object recognition,” says Stevens physics professor Yong Meng Sua. “It…

The idea of maturing oocytes in the ovary to produce offspring has been implemented in various ways. One such method, ovarian transplantation, is a relatively simple procedure for obtaining eggs, compared to in vitro culture of ovaries and follicles. However, it is still difficult to transplant ovaries into cellular immunodeficient mice and produce offspring from…

A new UC Davis Health study has uncovered how Salmonella bacteria, a major cause of food poisoning, can invade the gut even when protective bacteria are present. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains how the pathogen tricks the gut environment to escape the body’s natural defenses. The digestive…

A novel test developed by Duke-NUS researchers enables real-time monitoring of T cells that have been engineered to fight cancer, after re-introduction into the body of a cancer patient. This simple and innovative test provides clinicians with the ability to track the function of these cancer-fighting cells over the course of the treatment. T cells…

Adults exhibit a general tendency to make better decisions than adolescents, and this improvement drives an increase in specific and more sophisticated choice behaviors, according to a study published November 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Vanessa Scholz and Lorenz Deserno from the University of Würzburg, Germany, and colleagues. Learning and decision-making change…

Can light itself cast a shadow? It may sound like a philosophical riddle, but researchers have found that under certain conditions, a laser beam can act like an opaque object and cast a shadow. The discovery challenges the traditional understanding of shadows and opens new possibilities for technologies that could use a laser beam to…

An asteroid struck Mars 11 million years ago and sent pieces of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these chunks of Mars eventually crashed into the Earth somewhere near Purdue and is one of the few meteorites that can be traced directly to Mars. This meteorite was rediscovered in a drawer at Purdue…

A recent study by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, in collaboration with the MSB Medical School Berlin and the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, shows that switching to an opt-out organ donation policy, where all adults are presumed organ donors unless they explicitly opt out, does not increase…

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have reached a record high in 2024, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project science team. The 2024 Global Carbon Budget projects fossil carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions of 37.4 billion tonnes, up 0.8% from 2023. Despite the urgent need to cut emissions to slow climate change,…

In the race to develop robust perception systems for robots, one persistent challenge has been operating in bad weather and harsh conditions. For example, traditional, light-based vision sensors such as cameras or LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) fail in heavy smoke and fog. However, nature has shown that vision doesn’t have to be constrained by…

The sooner a lay rescuer (bystander) starts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a person having a cardiac arrest at home or in public, up to 10 minutes after the arrest, the better the chances of saving the person’s life and protecting their brain function, according to preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s…

Much of modern life depends on the coding of information onto means of delivering it. A common method is to encode data in laser light and send it through optic cables. The increasing demand for more information capacity demands that we constantly find better ways of encoding it. Researchers at Aalto University’s Department of Applied…

Blistering heat, freezing cold, and overflowing sewage water: These were the living conditions that formerly incarcerated people in Colorado said they suffered inside the state’s prisons and jails. In a new paper, drawing on accounts from nearly three dozen previously incarcerated people, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder reveal a disturbing story of how…

Any boomer, gen xer, millennial, gen zer or alpha who’s studied geology has likely gained foundational knowledge from Edwin Dinwiddie McKee’s landmark studies of the Grand Canyon’s sedimentary record — even if they don’t readily recognize McKee’s name. The legendary scientist, who lived from 1906-1984, studied and documented the stratigraphy and sedimentation of Colorado Plateau…

New research reveals for the first time how a major Antarctic ice shelf has been subjected to increased melting by warming ocean waters over the last four decades. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) say the study — the result of their autonomous Seaglider getting accidentally stuck underneath the Ross Ice Shelf —…

By studying tomato varieties that produce fruit in exceptionally hot growing seasons, biologists at Brown University identified the growth cycle phase when tomatoes are most vulnerable to extreme heat, as well as the molecular mechanisms that make the plants more heat tolerant. The discovery, detailed in a study in Current Biology, could inform a key…

Teams of mountaineering mice are helping advance understanding into how evolutionary adaptation to localized conditions can enable a single species to thrive across diverse environments. In a study led by Naim Bautista, a postdoctoral researcher in Jay Storz’s lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the team took highland deer mice and their lowland cousins on…

Facebook and Instagram can boost wildlife conservation efforts through public awareness and engagement, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Communication. The findings based on the caracal — a wild cat native to Africa with distinctive tufted ears — demonstrate how social media can harness support for the predators, which some farmers…

When it comes to electrically conductive nanomaterials, graphene — stronger and lighter than steel and more conductive than copper — has been shown to be an excellent choice for a wide range of technologies. Physicists are working to learn more about this impressive form of naturally occurring elemental carbon, which is composed of a single…

New research suggests that adding a small amount of physical activity — such as uphill walking or stair-climbing — into your day may help to lower blood pressure. The study, published in Circulation, was carried out by experts from the ProPASS (Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep) Consortium, an international academic collaboration led by the…

Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change made an ordinary drought into an exceptional drought that parched the American West from 2020-2022. A study by UCLA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientists has found that evaporation accounted for 61% of the drought’s severity, while reduced precipitation only accounted for 39%. The research found…

When performing knee replacement surgery, also called total knee arthroplasty, doctors traditionally try to align the hip, knee, and ankle in a straight line, forming a neutral alignment, rather than replicating the patient’s original alignment. Now, in an effort to understand which approach is better, researchers from Kyushu University collected convincing evidence in favor of…

Large language models can do impressive things, like write poetry or generate viable computer programs, even though these models are trained to predict words that come next in a piece of text. Such surprising capabilities can make it seem like the models are implicitly learning some general truths about the world. But that isn’t necessarily…

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are warning that artificial intelligence tools gaining popularity in the fields of genetics and medicine can lead to flawed conclusions about the connection between genes and physical characteristics, including risk factors for diseases like diabetes. The faulty predictions are linked to researchers’ use of AI to assist genome-wide association studies. Such…

Mosquito larvae grow faster if they’re exposed to particular bacteria, according to a new study that could help global health programmes. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes spread illnesses including dengue, yellow fever and Zika. Anti-disease programmes breed and release non-biting male mosquitoes that are either sterile or prevent transmission of diseases. These mass release programmes can be…

Researchers including a Johns Hopkins University evolutionary biologist report they have analyzed a fossil of an extinct giant meat-eating bird — which they say could be the largest known member of its kind — providing new information about animal life in northern South America millions of years ago. The evidence lies in the leg bone…

Windblown dust from the shrinking Salton Sea harms the respiratory health of children living nearby, triggering asthma, coughing, wheezing and disrupted sleep, USC research shows. The findings also indicate that children living closest to the sea, who are exposed to more dust in the air, may be the most affected. The study, published in Environmental…

A new USC study involving 8,500 children from across the country reveals that a form of air pollution, largely the product of agricultural emissions, is linked to poor learning and memory performance in 9- and 10-year-olds. The specific component of fine particle air pollution, or PM2.5, ammonium nitrate, is also implicated in Alzheimer’s and dementia…

As heatwaves become more intense, cities are looking for strategies that can help keep neighborhoods cooler. A new tool developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has already helped identify potential solutions in Houston, a city where the impact of heat can vary significantly in different communities. Researchers Kwun Yip Fung, Zong-Liang…

Member states of the European Union are obliged to designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) as part of the Natura 2000 network. These areas are designed to guarantee the preservation and restoration of bird populations. However, due to the paucity of data about rare species, it was not known how well these areas worked. Researchers at…

New Cornell University research has found that, unlike birds, the evolution of bats’ wings and legs is tightly coupled, which may have prevented them from filling as many ecological niches as birds. “We initially expected to confirm that bat evolution is similar to that of birds, and that their wings and legs evolve independently of…

While many people believe that poor sleep during pregnancy is inevitable, new research has determined that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTi) while pregnant can not only improve sleep patterns but also address postpartum depression. Researchers from UBC’s Okanagan and Vancouver campuses, as well as the University of Calgary, discovered that delivering CBTi during pregnancy…

Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) aims to collect millions to billions of high-quality, highly contextualized vocalizations in order to understand how sperm whales communicate. But finding the whales and knowing where they will surface to capture the data is challenging — making it difficult to attach listening devices and collect visual information. Today, a Project…

Anecdotes abound of wildlife behaving “drunk” after eating fermented fruits, but despite this, nonhuman consumption of ethanol has been assumed to be rare and accidental. Ecologists challenge this assumption in a review publishing October 30 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. They argue that since ethanol is naturally present in nearly…

A monkey randomly pressing keys on a typewriter for an infinite amount of time would eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare purely by chance, according to the Infinite Monkey Theorem. This widely known thought-experiment is used to help us understand the principles of probability and randomness, and how chance can lead to unexpected…

Discoveries that impact lifespan and healthspan in fruit flies are usually tested in mice before being considered potentially relevant in humans, a process that is expensive and time intensive. A pioneering approach taken at the Buck Institute leapfrogs over that standard methodology. Utilizing cutting-edge machine learning and systems biology, researchers analyzed and correlated huge data…

Rice University researchers have developed an electrochemical reactor that has the potential to drastically reduce energy consumption for direct air capture, the removal of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. The new reactor design could be a part of the solution to the pressing problem of emission impacts on the climate and biosphere by enabling…

Red deer may become less sociable as they grow old to reduce the risk of picking up diseases, while older house sparrows seem to have fewer social interactions as their peers die off, according to new research which shows humans are not the only animals to change our social behaviour as we age. A collection…

A genetic signature in newborns can predict neonatal sepsis before symptoms even start to show, according to a new study. The study, led by UBC and SFU researchers in collaboration with the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit The Gambia, has the potential to help healthcare workers diagnose babies earlier, including in lower- and middle-income countries…

“Our finding that enhanced melting of Arctic sea-ice likely resulted in significant cooling in northern Europe in the earth’s past is alarming,” says Mohamed Ezat from the iC3 Polar Research Hub, lead author of the new study. “This reminds us that the planet’s climate is a delicate balance, easily disrupted by changes in temperature and…

It feels like narcissism is everywhere these days: politics, movies and TV, sports, social media. You might even see signs of it at work, where it can be particularly detrimental. Is it possible to keep a workplace free of destructive, manipulative egotists? More and more organizations have come to San Francisco State University’s experts in…

The type of semiconductive nanocrystals known as quantum dots are both expanding the forefront of pure science and also hard at work in practical applications including lasers, quantum QLED televisions and displays, solar cells, medical devices, and other electronics. A new technique for growing these microscopic crystals, published this week in Science, has not only…

Researchers from the University of Virginia have made significant strides in the rapidly advancing field of 3D-printed concrete by developing a more sustainable, printable cementitious composite. This new material, which combines graphene with limestone and calcined clay cement (LC2), offers enhanced strength and durability while significantly reducing carbon emissions, making it a powerful solution for…

Asthma is currently an incurable disease that severely impairs quality of life, with recurring symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. As of today, about 4 percent of the world’s population suffers from asthma, with more than 30 million new cases arising annually. Evidence suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution of fine…

A recent commentary published in The Lancet journal highlights the critical importance of skeletal muscle mass in the context of medically induced weight loss, particularly with the widespread use of GLP-1 receptor agonists. These medications, celebrated for their effectiveness in treating obesity, have raised concerns regarding the potential for substantial muscle loss as part of…

New Zealand’s native stoneflies have changed colour in response to human-driven environmental changes, new research shows. Just published in the journal Science, the University of Otago study provides arguably the world’s most clear-cut case of animal evolution in response to change made by humans. Co-author Professor Jon Waters, of the Department of Zoology, says the…

Approximately 71 to 95 million people in the Lower 48 states — more than 20% of the country’s population — may rely on groundwater that contains detectable concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, for their drinking water supplies. These findings are according to a U.S Geological Survey study published Oct. 24….

What keeps some immune systems youthful and effective in warding off age-related diseases? In a new paper published in Cellular & Molecular Immunology, USC Stem Cell scientist Rong Lu and her collaborators point the finger at a small subset of blood stem cells, which make an outsized contribution to maintaining either a youthful balance or…

How long a person can stand — on one leg — is a more telltale measure of aging than changes in strength or gait, according to new Mayo Clinic research. The study appears today in the journal PLOS ONE. Good balance, muscle strength and an efficient gait contribute to people’s independence and well-being as they…

Cutting off cancer cells’ access to fat may help a specific type of cancer treatment work more effectively, reports a study by Van Andel Institute scientists. The findings, published in Cell Chemical Biology, lay the groundwork for developing tailored dietary strategies to help anti-cancer medications better kill malignant cells. “We want to make cancer treatment…

A new study has found that after watching a docudrama about the efforts to free a wrongly convicted prisoner on death row, people were more empathetic toward formerly incarcerated people and supportive of criminal justice reform. The research, led by a team of Stanford psychologists, published Oct. 21 in Proceedings of the National Academy of…

Eight cities in the United States have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, which contribute to health issues including obesity and Type 2 diabetes. New research from the University of Washington investigated responses to sweetened beverage taxes using the purchasing behavior of approximately 400 households in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia — all of which…

A new University of Maryland-led discovery could spur the development of new and improved treatments for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a rare genetic disorder with no known cure that causes accelerated aging in children. Published in the journal Aging Cell on October 18, 2024, in collaboration with researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…

McMaster University researchers have discovered a previously unknown cell-protecting function of a protein, which could open new avenues for treating age-related diseases and lead to healthier aging overall. The team has found that a class of protective proteins known as MANF plays a role in the process that keep cells efficient and working well. The…

Research led by the University of Oxford has found that oceanographic connectivity (the movement and exchange of water between different parts of the ocean) is a key influence for fish abundance across the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). The findings have been published today in the ICES Journal of Marine Sciences. Connectivity particularly impacted herbivorous reef…

Mississippi State University is part of a European-American collaboration studying how human activities, like fertilizer use and polluting, are impacting nitrogen-fixing plants which are crucial for maintaining healthy ecosystems by adding nitrogen to the soil. MSU Assistant Professor Ryan A. Folk of the Department of Biological Sciences co-authored a study published today [Oct. 18] in…

University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science professor Nikolaos Sidiropoulos has introduced a breakthrough in graph mining with the development of a new computational algorithm. Graph mining, a method of analyzing networks like social media connections or biological systems, helps researchers discover meaningful patterns in how different elements interact. The new algorithm addresses…

Trees are the most abundant natural resource living on Earth’s land masses, and North Carolina State University scientists and engineers are making headway in finding ways to use them as sustainable, environmentally benign alternatives to producing industrial chemicals from petroleum. Lignin, a polymer that makes trees rigid and resistant to degradation, has proven problematic. Now…

If you’ve ever struggled to reduce your carb intake, ancient DNA might be to blame. It has long been known that humans carry multiple copies of a gene that allows us to begin breaking down complex carbohydrate starch in the mouth, providing the first step in metabolizing starchy foods like bread and pasta. However, it…

Increased risk for autism appears to be linked to the Y chromosome, a Geisinger study found, offering a new explanation for the greater prevalence of autism in males. The results were published today in Nature Communications. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive…

How do we distinguish threat from safety? It’s a question important not just in our daily lives, but for human disorders linked with fear of others, such as social anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A microscope image, from the laboratory of Steven A. Siegelbaum, PhD, at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, displays a powerful technique scientists…

A new technique allows astronomers to home in on planets beyond our solar system that are in line with each other and with Earth to search for radio signals similar, for example, to ones used to communicate with the rovers on Mars. Penn State astronomers and scientists at the SETI Institute spent 28 hours scanning…

Two thirds of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in tropical forests are experiencing new temperature conditions as our climate changes, research shows. KBAs identify the most important places on Earth for species and their habitats. The new study — by Exeter, Manchester Metropolitan and Cambridge universities — assessed 30 years of temperature conditions below the forest…

An international team of researchers have discovered seven new species of tree frogs that make otherworldly calls in the rainforests of Madagascar. Their strange, high-pitched whistling calls sound more like sound effects from the sci-fi series Star Trek. As a result, the researchers have named the new species after seven of the series’ most iconic…

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder — also known as ADHD — is typically thought of as a childhood condition. But more adults are realizing that their struggles with attention, focus and restlessness could in fact be undiagnosed ADHD, thanks in large part to trending social media videos racking up millions of views. A new national survey of…

NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The spacecraft launched at 12:06 p.m. EDT Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida….

Researchers at the University of Dundee have revealed in the greatest detail yet the workings of molecules called ‘protein degraders’ which can be deployed to combat what have previously been regarded as ‘undruggable’ diseases, including cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Protein degrader molecules are heralding a revolution in drug discovery, with more than 50 drugs of…

When something draws us in like a magnet, we take a closer look. When magnets draw in physicists, they take a quantum look. Scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University and the University of Tokyo have successfully used light to visualize tiny magnetic regions, known as magnetic domains, in a specialized quantum material. Moreover, they successfully manipulated…

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons spacecraft simultaneously set their sights on Uranus recently, allowing scientists to make a direct comparison of the planet from two very different viewpoints. The results inform future plans to study like types of planets around other stars. Astronomers used Uranus as a proxy for similar planets beyond our…

Multimaterial 3D printing enables makers to fabricate customized devices with multiple colors and varied textures. But the process can be time-consuming and wasteful because existing 3D printers must switch between multiple nozzles, often discarding one material before they can start depositing another. Researchers from MIT and Delft University of Technology have now introduced a more…

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization in young children due to respiratory complications such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Yet little is understood about why some children develop only mild symptoms while others develop severe disease. To better understand what happens in these cases, clinician-scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding…

Researchers have used the chemical fingerprints of zinc contained in meteorites to determine the origin of volatile elements on Earth. The results suggest that without ‘unmelted’ asteroids, there may not have been enough of these compounds on Earth for life to emerge. Volatiles are elements or compounds that change into vapour at relatively low temperatures….

Hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines offer great promise in the fight against climate change because they are powerful without emitting any earth-warming carbon. They can power heavy-duty trucks and buses and are suited for off-road and agricultural equipment and backup power generators, providing cleaner alternatives to diesel engines. Yet they are not entirely clean. They emit…

A new study has found some cancers to be slightly more frequent in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) than in people without MS. The study is published in the October 9, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Types of cancers found to have a small increased risk…

Male fruit flies have several tricks for finding a mate, from sensing pheromones in the dark to relying on visual cues in the light. Now, new research reveals that these tiny suitors are leveraging a flexible network of modular brain circuits to quickly adapt to different mating signals. The study, published in Nature, is the…

A Rutgers University-New Brunswick professor who has devoted his career to resolving the mysteries of higher mathematics has solved two separate, fundamental problems that have perplexed mathematicians for decades. The solutions to these long-standing problems could further enhance our understanding of symmetries of structures and objects in nature and science, and of long-term behavior of…

As tools powered by artificial intelligence increasingly make their way into health care, the latest research from UC Santa Cruz Politics Department doctoral candidate Lucia Vitale takes stock of the current landscape of promises and anxieties. Proponents of AI envision the technology helping to manage health care supply chains, monitor disease outbreaks, make diagnoses, interpret…

A research team led by the University of California, Irvine has engineered an efficient new enzyme that can produce a synthetic genetic material called threose nucleic acid. The ability to synthesize artificial chains of TNA, which is inherently more stable than DNA, advances the discovery of potentially more powerful, precise therapeutic options to treat cancer…

Drug discovery is much like working a jigsaw puzzle. The chemical compounds behind drug molecules must be shaped to fit with the proteins in our bodies to produce therapeutic effects. That requirement for a meticulous fit means the creation of new drugs is extremely complex and time-consuming. To speed up the puzzle-fitting process, researchers at…

Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades, new research shows. The Antarctic Peninsula, like many polar regions, is warming faster than the global average, with extreme heat events in Antarctica becoming more common. The new study — by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire, and the…

In the first study to report real-world outcomes from ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy for multiple myeloma, patients experienced efficacy and safety results similar to those seen in clinical trials, according to results published today in Blood. Of 236 patients who received cilta-cel infusions at 16 U.S. medical centers in 2022,…

Whenever cells divide, there is a high risk of damage to the genetic material. After all, the cell has to duplicate its entire genetic material and copy billions of genetic letters before it divides. This repeatedly results in “reading errors” of the genome. However, other factors are also responsible for the accumulation of DNA damage…

In new research, a team led by University of Cincinnati researchers has identified a potential new way to make radiation more effective and improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer that has spread to the brain. The study, led by first author Debanjan Bhattacharya, PhD, was recently published in the journal Cancers. Research background According…

A research team from the University of California, Irvine is the first to reveal that a molecule in the brain — ophthalmic acid — unexpectedly acts like a neurotransmitter similar to dopamine in regulating motor function, offering a new therapeutic target for Parkinson’s and other movement diseases. In the study, published in the October issue…

Researchers at Virginia Tech are using wrist-worn voice recorders to capture real-world data to better understand what happens when people lose their balance. The study, led by Michael Madigan in the College of Engineering, builds on years of his own foundational work and prior research conducted by the University of Michigan Medical School. “In the…

A new study by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Phoenix and the University of California Davis Health identified a new target for developing a therapy to treat atrial fibrillation, the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm. Atrial fibrillation, commonly called AFib or AF, causes about 1 in 7 strokes,…

New research shows how growing Queensland regions can learn from biodiversity and carbon offsetting efforts to better meet water quality targets. The study, led by The University of Queensland researcher Joseph McMahon from the Reef Catchments Science Partnership, explores how the integrity of water quality offsets — critical to protecting the health of the Great…

Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists in this week’s Policy Forum in the journal Science. They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over…

The findings underscore the importance of further research to enhance our understanding of urban heat dynamics in subtropical and tropical regions, ensuring that heat mitigation efforts are informed by the most accurate data available. A recent study published in the journal PLOS Climate on October 2, 2024, examines the effectiveness of using land surface temperatures…

Polar sea ice is ever-changing. It shrinks, expands, moves, breaks apart, reforms in response to changing seasons, and rapid climate change. It is far from a homogenous layer of frozen water on the ocean’s surface, but rather a dynamic mix of water and ice, as well as minute pockets of air and brine encased in…

Outdoor air pollution from power plants, fires and cars continues to degrade human, animal and environmental health around the globe. New research shows that even pollution levels that are below government air-quality standards are associated with differences in children’s brains. A University of California, Davis, research team systematically analyzed 40 empirical studies, the majority of…

A new study documents how Southern Californians are chronically being exposed to toxic airborne chemicals called plasticizers, including one that’s been banned from children’s items and beauty products. Plasticizers are chemical compounds that make materials more flexible. They are used in a wide variety of products ranging from lunchboxes and shower curtains to garden hoses…

Imagine having to straighten up a messy kitchen, starting with a counter littered with sauce packets. If your goal is to wipe the counter clean, you might sweep up the packets as a group. If, however, you wanted to first pick out the mustard packets before throwing the rest away, you would sort more discriminately,…

For the first time ever, researchers have witnessed — in real time and at the molecular-scale — hydrogen and oxygen atoms merge to form tiny, nano-sized bubbles of water. The event occurred as part of a new Northwestern University study, during which scientists sought to understand how palladium, a rare metallic element, catalyzes the gaseous…

The risk of being born with a major heart defect is 36% higher in babies who were conceived after assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), according to results of a very large study published in the European Heart Journal today. Researchers say the finding is important since congenital heart defects are the…

Read the following sentence: “Donald Trump and Kamala Harris walked into the bar, she sat down at a table.” We all immediately know that it was Kamala who sat at the table, not Donald. Pronouns like “she” help us to understand language, but pronouns can have multiple meanings. Depending on the context, we understand who…

A new study published in the journal Science suggests that an ordinary old log could help refine strategies to tackle climate change. A team of researchers led by University of Maryland Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor Ning Zeng analyzed a 3,775-year-old log and the soil it was excavated from. Their analysis, published on September 27,…

A new international study has revealed the genetic impact of hunting in northern elephant seals. Published today  in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the research shows that this species narrowly escaped extinction by hunting, resulting in lasting genetic effects in the present population. Fifteen German, British and US researchers from seven universities and four research institutions…

In 2022, nearly 619,000 global deaths due to malaria were caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent, prevalent, and deadly human malaria parasite. For decades, the parasite’s resistance to all antimalarial drugs has posed a big challenge for researchers working to stop the spread of the disease. A team led by scientists at UC Riverside,…

The risk of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, especially in 2021, according to a new study led by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine. Monthly increases in SUID in 2021 coincided with a resurgence of seasonal respiratory…

A rescue effort can take many forms — a life raft, a firehose, an airlift. For animals whose populations are in decline from inbreeding, genetics itself can be a lifesaver. Genomic research led by the University of California, Davis, reveals clues about montane red foxes’ distant past that may prove critical to their future survival….

Sea robins are unusual animals with the body of a fish, wings of a bird, and walking legs of a crab. Now, researchers show that the legs of the sea robin aren’t just used for walking. In fact, they are bona fide sensory organs used to find buried prey while digging. This work appears in…

Is our home galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, a special place? A team of scientists started a journey to answer this question more than a decade ago. Commenced in 2013, the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) Survey studies galaxy systems like the Milky Way. Now, the SAGA Survey just published three new research articles that…

Adults with hemophilia B saw their number of bleeding episodes drop by an average of 71 percent after a single infusion of gene therapy, according to the results of an international Phase III clinical trial published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the buzz phrase of 2024. Though far from that cultural spotlight, scientists from agricultural, biological and technological backgrounds are also turning to AI as they collaborate to find ways for these algorithms and models to analyze datasets to better understand and predict a world impacted by climate change. In a recent…

A new analysis of satellite data finds that the record surge in atmospheric methane emissions from 2020 to 2022 was driven by increased inundation and water storage in wetlands, combined with a slight decrease in atmospheric hydroxide (OH). The results have implications for efforts to decrease atmospheric methane and mitigate its impact on climate change….

A multi-institutional research team led by Georgia Tech’s Hailong Chen has developed a new, low-cost cathode that could radically improve lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) — potentially transforming the electric vehicle (EV) market and large-scale energy storage systems. “For a long time, people have been looking for a lower-cost, more sustainable alternative to existing cathode materials. I…

A study of mostly climate science believers shows just how easily information — and misinformation — can blur people’s sense of the truth. All it takes is repetition. In recent research published in the journal PLOS ONE, USC and Australian researchers explored the powerful effect of repetition on people’s beliefs. In two rounds studies, they…

One major reason why it has been difficult to develop an effective HIV vaccine is that the virus mutates very rapidly, allowing it to evade the antibody response generated by vaccines. Several years ago, MIT researchers showed that administering a series of escalating doses of an HIV vaccine over a two-week period could help overcome…

Fever temperatures rev up immune cell metabolism, proliferation and activity, but they also — in a particular subset of T cells — cause mitochondrial stress, DNA damage and cell death, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have discovered. The findings, published Sept. 20 in the journal Science Immunology, offer a mechanistic understanding for how cells respond…

A research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a computational workflow for analyzing large data sets in the field of metabolomics, the study of small molecules found within cells, biofluids, tissues, and entire ecosystems. Most recently, the team applied this new computational tool to analyze pollutants in seawater in…

Lasso peptides are natural products made by bacteria. Their unusual lasso shape endows them with remarkable stability, protecting them from extreme conditions. In a new study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers have constructed and tested models for how these peptides are made and demonstrated how this information might be used to advance lasso peptide-based…

The Colorado River is a vital source of water in the Western United States, providing drinking water for homes and irrigation for farms in seven states, but the basin is under increasing pressure from climate change and drought. A new computational tool developed by a research team, led by Penn State scientists, may help the…

As anyone who’s spent time in the saddle knows, riding a horse can be hard on your body. But can it change the way your skeleton looks? The answer, according to archaeologists from the University of Colorado Boulder: It’s complicated. In a new study, the team drew on a wide range of evidence — from…

Indiana University researchers have uncovered key insights into the dangerous phenomenon of “river avulsion,” offering a way to predict when and where rivers may suddenly and dramatically change course. Published in Nature, this breakthrough study sheds light on a process that has shaped human history through devastating floods and continues to threaten millions of people…

By staring into the hellish landscape of Jupiter’s moon Io — the most volcanically active location in the solar system — Cornell University astronomers have been able to study a fundamental process in planetary formation and evolution: tidal heating. “Tidal heating plays an important role in the heating and orbital evolution of celestial bodies,” said…

A drug approved for treating the blood cancer multiple myeloma may offer a safe and effective way to reduce the risk of severe nosebleeds from a rare but devastating bleeding disorder. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), the world’s second-most-common inherited bleeding disorder, affects approximately 1-in-5,000 people and can have life-threatening complications, but there are currently no…

People whose diet more closely resembles the MIND diet may have a lower risk of cognitive impairment, according to a study published in the September 18, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Results were similar for Black and white participants. These results do not prove that the…

As urban centers in mountainous regions grow, more people are driven to build on steeper slopes prone to slow-moving landslides, a new study finds. Slow-moving landslides are frequently excluded from estimates of landslide risk, but they could threaten hundreds of thousands of people globally, the researchers conclude. Slow-moving landslides can move as little as one…

A new type of OLED (organic light emitting diode) could replace bulky night vision goggles with lightweight glasses, making them cheaper and more practical for prolonged use, according to University of Michigan researchers. A memory effect in the OLEDs could also lead to computer vision systems that both sense and interpret incoming light signals and…

A new study suggests that neighborhoods with fewer educational, health, environmental, and socioeconomic resources may increase one’s risk for preterm birth and contribute to the racial gap in preterm birth in the Commonwealth. Preterm birth, defined as a live birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, is the second-leading cause of infant mortality in the United…

To a group of autistic adults participating in a Rutgers study, giddiness manifests like “bees”; small moments of joy are like “a nice coffee in the morning” that yields “a sense of elevation”; anger starts with a “body-tensing” boil, then headaches. Contrary to common perceptions and years of research that autistic people can’t describe their…

Researchers at University of California San Diego have published new guidelines that could help scientists significantly improve their results when quantifying the interactions between DNA and proteins. Understanding these interactions is critical to our understanding of human biology in general, and can also help scientists develop new treatments for a wide range of diseases, including…

Now, a team of UBC Okanagan researchers believe they have found a way to harness the strengths of both technologies in a way that could be life-changing — and life-saving — for many. Dr. Hadi Mohammadi and his fellow researchers in the Heart Valve Performance Laboratory at UBC Okanagan are focused on developing the mechanical…

A drug that delivers chemotherapy directly to tumors has shown impressive activity against some of the hardest-to-reach cancer cells: those that have spread to the brain in patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. The findings, from an international clinical trial led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers, reinforce earlier findings of the benefits of the drug…

A Cleveland Clinic study identified key factors that can impact the long-term weight loss of patients with obesity who were prescribed injectable semaglutide or liraglutide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes or obesity. The study was published in JAMA Network Open. “In patients with obesity who were prescribed semaglutide or liraglutide, we found that…

Interim data from the Phase I dose escalation part of the mRNA cancer immunotherapy (mRNA-4359), show promise in patients with advanced solid cancers. The investigational mRNA cancer immunotherapy is targeted for patients with lung cancer, melanoma and other solid tumours. Nineteen patients with advanced stage cancers received between one and nine doses of the immunotherapy…

News about biofuels sometimes mentions used cooking oil as a feedstock, but if these substances contain animal fat, they can solidify in colder temperatures. This happens because, chemically, the fatty acids of these and many other saturated fats have long carbon chains with single bonds. Enter the euglena. An Osaka Metropolitan University team has found…

Taking inspiration from enzymes, chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed a catalyst to simplify the synthesis of ethers, key functional components of many drugs, foods, personal care items and other consumer goods. The catalyst puts the two chemical ingredients in just the right proximity and position to come together, bypassing the need for…

Batteries lose capacity over time, which is why older cellphones run out of power more quickly. This common phenomenon, however, is not completely understood. Now, an international team of researchers, led by an engineer at the University of Colorado Boulder, has revealed the underlying mechanism behind such battery degradation. Their discovery could help scientists to…

A new study by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), and the National Oceanography Centre found that the strength of the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream system and…

People who have had a stroke may be more likely to sleep too much or too little compared to those without prior stroke, according to a study published in the September 11, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that stroke causes abnormal…

Phase separation, when molecules part like oil and water, works alongside oxygen diffusion to help memristors — electrical components that store information using electrical resistance — retain information even after the power is shut off, according to a University of Michigan led study recently published in Matter. Up to this point, explanations have not fully…

As Rohit Velankar, now a senior at Fox Chapel Area High School, poured juice into a glass, he could feel that the rhythmic glug, glug, glug was flexing the walls of the carton. Rohit pondered the sound, and wondered if a container’s elasticity influenced the way its fluid drained. He initially sought the answer to…

A new study has found that the increase in soil erosion in coastal areas due to desertification is worsening flood impacts on Middle Eastern and North African port cities. The researchers focused their observations on the devastating 2023 floods in the city of Derna, Libya, which took the lives of more than 11,300 people and…

Maryam Shanechi, the Sawchuk Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and founding director of the USC Center for Neurotechnology, and her team have developed a new AI algorithm that can separate brain patterns related to a particular behavior. This work, which can improve brain-computer interfaces and discover new brain patterns, has been published in the…

Cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the most common treatments for depression, can teach skills for coping with everyday troubles, reinforce healthy behaviors and counter negative thoughts. But can altering thoughts and behaviors lead to lasting changes in the brain? New research led by Stanford Medicine has found that it can — if a therapy is…

Older women struggling with urinary incontinence can benefit from regular, low-impact exercise, with yoga as well as stretching and strengthening showing benefits in a new study published Aug. 27 in Annals of Internal Medicine. The research, led by scientists at Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, is part of a larger effort…

A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified and successfully demonstrated a new method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%. The approach was discovered using molecular simulations run on the lab’s supercomputers, followed by pilot testing and analysis. The…

Older adults who are more vulnerable to financial scams may have brain changes linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, the fifth leading cause of death among…

Water contamination by the chemicals used in today’s technology is a rapidly growing problem globally. A recent studyby the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 98 percent of people tested had detectable levels of PFAS, a family of particularly long-lasting compounds, also known as forever chemicals, in their bloodstream. A new filtration material developed…

Bacteria use their internal 24-hour clocks to anticipate the arrival of new seasons, according to research carried out with the assistance of an ‘ice bucket challenge.’  This discovery may have profound implications for understanding the role that circadian rhythms – a molecular version of a clock – play in adapting species to climate change, from…

In a pioneering new study, researchers made the skin on the skulls and abdomens of live mice transparent by applying to the areas a mixture of water and a common yellow food coloring called tartrazine. Dr. Zihao Ou, assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is lead author of the study,…

A better understanding of the inner workings of neutron stars will lead to a greater knowledge of the dynamics that underpin the workings of the universe and also could help drive future technology, said the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign physics professor Nicolas Yunes. A new study led by Yunes details how new insights into how…

Building a robot takes time, technical skill, the right materials — and sometimes, a little fungus. In creating a pair of new robots, Cornell University researchers cultivated an unlikely component, one found on the forest floor: fungal mycelia. By harnessing mycelia’s innate electrical signals, the researchers discovered a new way of controlling “biohybrid” robots that…

Over the past 12,000 years, humans in Europe have dramatically increased their ability to digest carbohydrates, expanding the number of genes they have for enzymes that break down starch from an average of eight to more than 11, according to a new study by researchers from the U.S., Italy and United Kingdom. The rise in…

Around 4 billion years ago, an asteroid hit the Jupiter moon Ganymede. Now, a Kobe University researcher realized that the Solar System’s biggest moon’s axis has shifted as a result of the impact, which confirmed that the asteroid was around 20 times larger than the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs on Earth,…

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a world leader in molten salt reactor technology development — and its researchers additionally perform the fundamental science necessary to enable a future where nuclear energy becomes more efficient. In a recent paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers have documented for…

A national survey in the UK conducted as part of University of Exeter research has found huge variation in treatment for ADHD, highlighting the struggle many young adults face once they turn 18. Researchers have warned that the current system is failing many young adults as they transition from children’s to adult’s services — suddenly…

Cities in the Global South are more exposed to extreme heat because they lack cooling green spaces, new research shows. The study found that Global South cities have just 70% of the “cooling capacity” provided by urban greenery in the Global North. With temperatures rising, combined with the “urban heat island” effects that make cities…

Wearable, long-term continuous heart monitors helped identify 52% more cases of atrial fibrillation compared to usual care, but that did not lead to a reduction in hospitalizations due to stroke, according to a study led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute. The findings, reported Sept. 1 at the European Society of Cardiology meeting and published…

A team of international researchers has uncovered a surprising genetic mechanism that influences the vibrant and complex patterns on butterfly wings. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team, led by Luca Livraghi at the George Washington University and the University of Cambridge, discovered that an RNA molecule,…

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have found a new method to increase both speed and success rates in drug discovery. The study, published Aug. 30 in the journal Science Advances, offers renewed promise when it comes to discovering new drugs. “The hope is we can speed up…

Tuberculosis is a confounding scourge. It’s the leading cause of death from infectious disease in the world, and yet it’s estimated that those deaths represent perhaps 5% of infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Antibiotics can take credit for saving the lives of some of those with Mtb, but a chasm nevertheless persists between the prevalence…

A recent study finds that hope appears to be more beneficial than mindfulness at helping people manage stress and stay professionally engaged during periods of prolonged stress at work. The study underscores the importance of looking ahead, rather than living “in the moment,” during hard times. Mindfulness refers to the ability of an individual to…

The cardiovascular safety of interrupting beta-blocker could not be shown in comparison to continuation in patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI) and there was no benefit to the patients’ quality of life, according to late-breaking research presented August 30 at ESC Congress 2024.1 “Improvements in MI management and data from observational studies have…

A new chemical process can essentially vaporize plastics that dominate the waste stream today and turn them into hydrocarbon building blocks for new plastics. The catalytic process, developed at the University of California, Berkeley, works equally well with the two dominant types of post-consumer plastic waste: polyethylene, the component of most single-use plastic bags; and…

Chemists at the University of Amsterdam have developed a method to furnish a range of molecules with a trifluoromethyl group attached to a sulphur, nitrogen or oxygen atom. Their procedure, which has just been published in Science, avoids the use of PFAS reagents. It thus provides an environmentally friendly synthesis route for pharmaceutical and agrochemical…

Supermassive black holes typically take billions of years to form. But the James Webb Space Telescope is finding them not that long after the Big Bang — before they should have had time to form. It takes a long time for supermassive black holes, like the one at the center of our Milky Way galaxy,…

Rates of violence in Viking Age Norway and Denmark were long believed to be comparable. A team of researchers including University of South Florida sociologist David Jacobson challenges that assumption. Their findings show that interpersonal violence — violence not meted out as punishment by authorities — was much more common in Norway. This is evident…

A team of researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has discovered that aoudad — an animal in the sheep and goat family — can catch and spread many of the same respiratory pathogens that can impact desert bighorn sheep, a native species in Texas that often shares its…

Rare-earth elements are everywhere in modern life, found in everything from the smart device you’re reading this on to the LED lightbulbs overhead and neodymium magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines. However, purifying these critical metals from ores with complex mixtures is a nasty business involving strong acids and hazardous solvents, and is primarily…

A team of researchers led by Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientists has analyzed crop yields of more than 1,500 fields on six continents, and found that production worldwide of important, nutritionally dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes is being limited by a lack of pollinators. The results, detailed in Nature Ecology & Evolution,…

The SETI Institute, the Berkeley SETI Research Center and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research announced a groundbreaking study using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. Led by Dr. Chenoa Tremblay of the SETI Institute and Prof. Steven Tingay of Curtin University, this research is the first to search for signs of…

A team of researchers at Michigan State University has discovered a set of methods that enabled the first successful CRISPR-based genome editing in Nile grass rats. The study, published in BMC Biology, is the first to successfully edit genomes in Nile grass rats. As diurnal rodents, Nile grass rats have similar sleep/awake patterns to humans…

A study out of Michigan State University found that nondeceptive placebos, or placebos given with people fully knowing they are placebos, effectively manage stress — even when the placebos are administered remotely. Researchers recruited participants experiencing prolonged stress from the COVID-19 pandemic for a two-week randomized controlled trial. Half of the participants were randomly assigned…

Nearly half of counties in the United States have at least one ‘pharmacy desert’ where there is no retail pharmacy within 10 miles, according to a new study published by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center — Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC — James). “As…

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a metabolic switch in the immune system’s T cells that is essential to the generation of memory T cells — which confer lasting immunity to previously encountered pathogens — and a T cell subtype found in tumors that drives anti-tumor responses during immunotherapy. Led by Ludwig Lausanne’s Ping-Chih…

The sounds babies make in their first year of life may be less random than previously believed, according to a language development researcher from The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Pumpki Lei Su, an assistant professor of speech, language, and hearing in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is co-lead author on two…

The elimination of damaged cell components is essential for the maintenance of the body’s tissues and organs. An international research team led by the University of Bonn has made significant findings on mechanisms for the clearing of cellular wastes, showing that strength training activates such mechanisms. The findings could form the basis for new therapies…

Inflammation of the abdominal cavity in human fetuses resulting from a perforation of their intestine is likely to be caused by proteins contained in the fetal stool. This is the result of a Kobe University study that establishes a new mouse model allowing research and drug development for a condition that is otherwise difficult to…

An international team of 45 researchers studying meteor showers has found that not all comets crumble the same way when they approach the Sun. In a paper published in the journal Icarus this week, they ascribe the differences to the conditions in the protoplanetary disk where comets formed 4.5 billion years ago. “The meteoroids we…

In a struggle that probably sounds familiar to dieters everywhere, the less a Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) worm eats, the more slowly it loses fat. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have discovered why: a small molecule produced by the worms’ intestines during fasting travels to the brain to block a fat-burning signal during this time….

Who are we? Why are we here? As the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song suggests, we are stardust, the result of chemistry occurring throughout vast clouds of interstellar gas and dust. To better understand how that chemistry could create prebiotic molecules — the seeds of life on Earth and possibly elsewhere — researchers investigated…

A study in mice has found that the bacteria Bifidobacterium breve in the mother’s gut during pregnancy supports healthy brain development in the fetus. Researchers have compared the development of the fetal brain in mice whose mothers had no bacteria in their gut, to those whose mothers were given Bifidobacterium breve orally during pregnancy, but…