PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Language a barrier in biodiversity work

2025-05-16
(Press-News.org) A University of Queensland study has shown scientific knowledge on the conservation of endangered species is often overlooked when not presented in English.

PhD candidate Kelsey Hannah examined articles about the protection and management of birds, mammals, and amphibians and compared how often those in English and 16 other languages were cited in further work.

“The 500 papers in my study were published in peer-reviewed journals and available internationally to people working in conservation,” Ms Hannah said.

“Across the board, the non-English language papers had significantly fewer citations.

“The English-language articles had a median of 37 citations while the non-English articles had a median of zero.”

Ms Hannah said the number of citations was unchanged regardless of the robustness of the study design or even the conservation status of the study species.

“This suggests the reason this work isn’t being noticed is a lack of visibility or lack of search effort because of language barriers,” she said.

“One thing that did make a difference for non-English-language articles was providing an English abstract – those articles had 1.5 times as many citations.”

The analysis showed that many non-English-language studies had a high number of citations within their own language, but cross-language citations were very low.

“A Japanese study of the Oriental stork in 2011 for example only had citations in Japanese – even though the species is also endangered in China, Korea and Russia,” Ms Hannah said.

“This means timely and relevant work may not be being seen by the people who can use it to understand and address the conservation challenges of many species.”

Associate Professor Tatsuya Amano at UQ’s School of the Environment said it was crucial that language was not a barrier in addressing the ongoing global biodiversity crisis.

“A lot of the world's biodiversity is in areas where English is not the primary language,” Dr Amano said.

“If we're missing out on information from those regions, and not making decisions using that expertise, conservation efforts could have less impact.

“We encourage researchers to think about the accessibility of their work and consider providing multi-lingual abstracts.

“Importantly, English speaking scientists could remember to look beyond English language studies when conducting research to gain a broader perspective.”    

This work is a part of translatE and is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, and a University of Queensland Research Training Program Scholarship.

The research is published in Conservation Biology.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

School dinners may encourage picky teenagers to eat better, says new study

2025-05-16
Having school dinners rather than packed lunches could encourage picky eating 13-year-olds to eat a wider variety of foods, according to a new University of Bristol-led study.  The findings are published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics today [15 May]. The research showed when children who were picky eaters as preschoolers got to choose their own food (school dinners) at lunchtime, they were less picky in what they ate, compared with a packed lunch. To the research team’s knowledge, this is the first time that lunchtime food behaviours in picky children have been studied outside of the home, and ...

Study suggests loss of lung capacity begins between the ages of 20 and 25

2025-05-15
A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by ”la Caixa” Foundation, in collaboration with the Clínic-IDIBAPS, has shown for the first time, how lung capacity evolves from childhood to old age. The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, provide a new basic framework for assessing lung health. Until now, it was thought that lung function increased until it peaked at around 20–25 years of age, after which it stabilised. It was also thought that in later adulthood, lung function begins to decline as the ...

California chief nurse officer recognized as national champion for women’s health

2025-05-15
DALLAS, May 14, 2025 — Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the No. 1 killer of women and nearly 45% of women over age 20 are living with some form of cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all. Katrina (Kat) Ascencio-Holmes, the Heart Association’s 2025 National Woman of Impact™ Winner, from Sacramento, California, is working to change that. She’s shining a spotlight on women’s health while raising funds to fuel the lifesaving mission of the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of all health, through the Go Red for Women® movement. As ...

Dental and vision services among veterans in Medicare Advantage vs traditional Medicare

2025-05-15
About The Study: Although Medicare Advantage (MA) plans offer and directly market supplemental benefits for dental and vision services, veterans enrolled in MA used these services with the same frequency as veterans in traditional Medicare (TM). Moreover, MA plans spent only modestly more on dental services and vision services for veterans than TM, including for emergency dental services. After accounting for private insurance plans used by TM enrollees and out-of-pocket spending, total spending on dental services was no different for veterans in MA vs TM.  Corresponding Author: To contact ...

Under embargo: Mount Sinai experts to present new research on preeclampsia, doula care and more at 2025 2025 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting

2025-05-15
Women’s health experts from the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will present new research at the 2025 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 16–18. Please let me know if you would like to coordinate an interview about their forthcoming presentations. Mount Sinai obstetricians and gynecologists are also available to comment on breaking ...

Study reveals a deep brain region that links the senses

2025-05-15
New Haven, Conn. — Humans perceive and navigate the world around us with the help of our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. And while scientists have long known that these different senses activate different parts of the brain, a new Yale-led study indicates that multiple senses all stimulate a critical region deep in the brain that controls consciousness. The study, published May 15 in the journal NeuroImage, sheds new light on how sensory perception works in the brain and may fuel the ...

Bismuth’s mask uncovered: Implications for quantum computing and spintronics materials

2025-05-15
Whether bismuth is part of a class of materials highly suitable for quantum computing and spintronics was a long-standing issue. Kobe University research has now revealed that the true nature of bismuth was masked by its surface, and in doing so uncovered a new phenomenon relevant to all such materials. There is a class of materials that are insulators in their bulk, but robustly conductive at their surface. As this conductivity does not suffer from defects or impurities, such “topological materials,” as they are called, are expected ...

Two HIV vaccine trials show proof of concept for pathway to broadly neutralizing antibodies

2025-05-15
LA JOLLA, CA and NEW YORK, NY—A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus. Traditional approaches haven’t worked—largely because HIV mutates rapidly and hides key parts of itself from the immune system. Now, a new study combining data from two separate phase 1 clinical trials shows that a targeted vaccine strategy can successfully activate early immune responses relevant to HIV, and, in one trial, further advance them—a key step toward a long-sought goal in vaccine development. ...

Ewell joins Gerontological Society of America’s Board of Directors

2025-05-15
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization focused on aging — has named Stephen Ewell, MBA, MS, of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation as an at-large member of its Board of Directors. GSA’s Board of Directors provides governance oversight, establishes Society policy, sets the organization’s strategic plan, and oversees implementation thereof. It comprises 12 members representing the broad diversity of the Society’s membership. Ewell’s three-year term became effective January 1. Ewell is ...

Large study traces prehistoric human expansion into South America, where genomic studies have been lacking

2025-05-15
A large-scale genomic study of over 1,500 individuals from 139 underrepresented Indigenous groups across northern Eurasia and the Americas sheds new light on the ancient migrations that shaped the genetic landscape of North and South America. The results reveal distinct ancestry patterns and early diversification of Indigenous South American populations. The late Pleistocene saw the migration of humans from North Asia into North and South America beginning by at least 23,000 years ago, according to archaeological evidence. This expansion was rapid – genetic evidence suggests northern and southern Native American ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

From blood sugar to brain relief: GLP-1 therapy slashes migraine frequency

Variability in heart rate during sleep may reveal early signs of stroke, depression or cognitive dysfunction, new study shows

New method to study catalysts could lead to better batteries

Current Molecular Pharmacology impact factor rises to 2.9, achieving Q2 ranking in the Pharmacology & Pharmacy category in 2024 JCR

More time with loved ones for cancer patients spared radiation treatment

New methods speed diagnosis of rare genetic disease

Genetics of cardiomyopathy risk in cancer survivors differ by age of onset

Autism inpatient collection releases genetic, phenotypic data for more than 1,500 children with autism

Targeting fusion protein’s role in childhood leukemia produces striking results

Clear understanding of social connections propels strivers up the social ladder

New research reveals why acute and chronic pain are so different – and what might make pain last

Stable cooling fostered life, rapid warming brought death: scientists use high-resolution fusuline data reveal evolutionary responses to cooling and warming

New research casts doubt on ancient drying of northern Africa’s climate

Study identifies umbilical cord blood biomarkers of early onset sepsis in preterm newborns

AI development: seeking consistency in logical structures

Want better sleep for your tween? Start with their screens

Cancer burden in neighborhoods with greater racial diversity and environmental burden

Alzheimer disease in breast cancer survivors

New method revolutionizes beta-blocker production process

Mechanism behind life-threatening cancer drug side-effect revealed

Weighted vests might help older adults meet weight loss goals, but solution for corresponding bone loss still elusive

Scientists find new way to predict how bowel cancer drugs will stop working – paving the way for smarter treatments

Breast cancer patients’ microbiome may hold key to avoiding damaging heart side-effects of cancer therapies

Exercise-induced protein revives aging muscles and bones

American College of Cardiology issues guidance on weight management drugs

Understanding the effect of bedding on thermal insulation during sleep

Cosmic signal from the very early universe will help astronomers detect the first stars

With AI, researchers find increasing immune evasion in H5N1

Study finds hidden effects of wildfires on water systems

Airborne fungal spores may help predict COVID-19 & flu surges

[Press-News.org] Language a barrier in biodiversity work