California's most economically and culturally important species among those most vulnerable to projected climate change

Los Angeles, CA – February 12, 2025—Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in wearable health technology by developing a novel self-healing electronic skin (E-Skin) that repairs itself in seconds after damage. This could potentially transform the landscape of personal health monitoring. In a study published in Science Advances, scientists demonstrate an unprecedented advancement in E-Skin technology that recovers over 80% of its functionality within 10 seconds of being damaged – a dramatic improvement over existing technologies that can take minutes or hours to heal. The technology seamlessly combines ultra-rapid self-healing capabilities, reliable ...

Extreme fire seasons in recent years highlight the urgent need to better understand wildfires within the broader context of climate change. Under climate change, many drivers of wildfires are expected to change, such as the amount of carbon stored in vegetation, rainfall, and lightning strikes. Quantifying the relative importance of these processes in recent and future wildfire trends has remained challenging, because previous climate computer model simulations did not capture the full coupling between climate change, lightning, wildfires, smoke and corresponding shifts in solar ...

The research team led by KIM Jae Kyoung, Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at KAIST and Chief Investigator of the Biomedical Mathematics Group at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), has unveiled new insights into how weather influences the spread of dengue fever. Their study identifies temperature and rainfall as critical factors driving the global surge in dengue cases and offers actionable strategies for mitigating the disease's impact. Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease, poses an increasingly alarming public health challenge. According to the World Health Organization, reported dengue cases surged from 4.1 ...

INSEAD, The Business School for the World, celebrated five years of impact of its San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation during its second Americas Conference 2025 on 7-8 February. Over 250 business leaders, government officials, INSEAD alumni, faculty, and staff convened for insightful and lively conversations centered around the theme: ‘The Future is Now: Bridging Business, Technology, and Humanity’.  The central question driving all the debates was: How can we harness the incredible potential of AI while prioritizing the well-being of humanity. Key themes that emerged included the ability for leaders to see beyond AI hype, a need to embrace disruption, ...

A study published in Science Advances reveals a novel strategy that allows tumors to evade the body’s immune response critical for their elimination. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions discovered in a mouse model of non-small cell lung cancer that tumors that express protein MAGE-4 and have lost the Pten gene, a tumor suppressor, accelerate their development and progression into metastasis. In the mouse model and human tumor samples, MAGE-4 drives the accumulation of plasma immune cells that suppress antitumor immunity. The study points at novel potential therapeutic ...

Dungeness crab, Pacific herring, and red abalone are among the marine species most vulnerable to the changing climate's effect on California's coastal waters, a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers finds. In a paper published on February 12 in the journal PLOS Climate, the team seeks to help the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in its efforts to develop and implement climate-ready fisheries management strategies that adapt to challenges such as rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation. The study, "A Collaborative Climate Vulnerability Assessment of California Marine Fishery Species," was led by Timothy Frawley, an assistant ...

Charles Martinez, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, recently received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA). The award is presented to high-performing, early-career professionals with demonstrated research and resulting publication activity. Martinez was chosen among peers nationwide for this distinguished honor. He received the award February 3 during the annual SAEA meeting in Irving, Texas. “In a short time, Dr. Martinez has established himself as ...

A new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides the first empirical evidence that loggerhead sea turtles can learn and remember the unique magnetic signatures of different geographic regions. This discovery offers new insights into how turtles and other migratory animals navigate vast distances to reach specific foraging and breeding grounds. The findings, published in the journal Nature, also suggest that sea turtles possess two distinct magnetic senses that function differently to detect the Earth’s magnetic field.  Loggerhead turtles are famous for their extraordinary ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Heart surgery is a serious and invasive medical procedure, and that can be intimidating for a patient. A new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that virtual reality (VR) can be an effective tool to reduce preoperative anxiety in older patients undergoing their first open-heart surgery. While much of the research to date using VR involved younger patient populations, these research findings suggest that immersive VR was effective and well tolerated in older ...

The financial and emotional toll borne by mothers whose adult children have experienced incarceration is often overlooked but can exacerbate financial burdens, especially for Black mothers, according to new research from Rice University sociologist Brielle Bryan. The study, “Maternal Wealth Implications of Child Incarceration: Examining the Upstream Consequences of Children’s Incarceration for Women’s Assets, Homeownership and Home Equity,” appears in a recent edition of Demography and explores the wealth disparities and racial inequities that intensify these burdens. The research focuses ...