Science
press releases.

Science1 Aug 2025

5 advances to protect water sources, availability

Water is an essential requirement for life on Earth — it supports everything from cellular processes to ecosystems. Five papers published in ACS journals provide new insights to help protect natural water sources and ensure that more people have access to safe drinking water. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org. Reducing salt contamination of tidal rivers. Across the globe, the saltwater portion of tidal rivers — which rise and fall with the ocean tides — has been traveling farther upstream in the last few decades. Researchers publishing in Environmental ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

OU Scholar awarded Fulbright for Soviet cinema research

University of Oklahoma Associate Professor Dustin Condren, Ph.D., has been named a 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Scholar by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Condren is among around 400 scholars selected nationwide for the prestigious international award. The Fulbright Scholars program aims to promote mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and those from other nations. Candidates are chosen based on their academic achievements and the strength of their proposed project. “We are immensely proud of Dr. Condren for being ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Study reveals hidden drivers of asthma flare-ups in children

A recent multicenter clinical trial has uncovered inflammatory pathways that contribute to asthma flare-ups in children that occur despite treatment, according to findings published in JAMA Pediatrics. Eosinophilic asthma is characterized by high levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell involved in the body’s immune response. While eosinophils typically help fight infections, in eosinophilic asthma, they accumulate in the lungs and airways, causing chronic inflammation, swelling and damage to the respiratory system. Eosinophilic asthma is driven by type 2 (T2) inflammation, an immune response ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Melanoma ‘sat-nav’ discovery could help curb metastasis

Researchers have discovered a protein which is critical for steering melanoma cancer cells as they spread throughout the body. The malignant cells become dependent on this protein to migrate, pointing to new strategies for impeding metastasis. The protein eIF2A is generally thought to spring into action when a cell is under stress, helping ribosomes launch protein synthesis. But according to a study published today in the journal Science Advances, eIF2A has a completely different role in melanoma, helping cancerous cells control movement. “Malignant cells that metastasize ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

SFU researchers develop a new tool that brings blender-like lighting control to any photograph

Lighting plays a crucial role when it comes to visual storytelling. Whether it’s film or photography, creators spend countless hours, and often significant budgets, crafting the perfect illumination for their shot. But once a photograph or video is captured, the illumination is essentially fixed. Adjusting it afterward, a task called “relighting,” typically demands time-consuming manual work by skilled artists. While some generative AI tools attempt to tackle this task, they rely on large-scale neural networks and billions of training images to guess how light might interact with a scene. But the process is often ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Pups in tow, Yellowstone-area wolves trek long distances to stay near prey

Berkeley — Gray wolf pups are born nearly helpless: blind, deaf and lacking the acute sense of smell of their elders. They usually remain in the safe confines of their den until they are at least three weeks old. That is why UC Berkeley biologists were surprised to observe gray wolves near Yellowstone National Park traveling 20 kilometers or more over rugged, mountainous terrain, with very young pups in tow. “The first time I saw a camera trap photo of a wolf carrying its pup, I just cracked up because the pup is being carried by its butt,” said Avery Shawler, first author of a new study presenting the findings, which appeared ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Making molecules make sense: A regional explanation method reveals structure–property relationships

In cheminformatics, where machine learning is transforming our understanding of how molecular properties are predicted and explained, a critical challenge has long remained: making these powerful but often "black box" models easier to interpret. Recently, researchers at the Australian National University developed a breakthrough solution: a "regional explanation" method that helps reveal how molecular structures drive their properties. This research was published June 3 in Intelligent ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Partisan hostility, not just policy, drives U.S. protests

Partisan animosity is a powerful driver of protest participation -- sometimes nearly matching or even exceeding concern about the actual issues, according to a new study published in the journal Social Forces. The research, conducted by political scientist Seth Warner at the University of Connecticut, analyzed three nationally representative surveys fielded between 2014 and 2022. Each focused on a different protest movement: Black Lives Matter, the climate movement, and the Tea Party. Warner matched survey questions to these movements’ core grievances ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Large language models reshape the future of task planning

A comprehensive survey published May 23 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal maps out the role of large language models in task planning, underscoring the growing influence of artificial intelligence in complex decision-making tasks. Traditionally reliant on expert systems and manual configuration, task planning is essential for organizing action sequences to achieve defined goals, and is now being redefined by the advanced reasoning capabilities of large language models. The survey offers a comprehensive synthesis of how these models are reshaping ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

MS may begin far earlier than previously thought

The earliest warning signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) may emerge more than a decade before the first classical neurological symptoms occur, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. Published today in JAMA Network Open, the study analyzed the health records of more than 12,000 people in British Columbia and found that those with MS began using healthcare services at elevated rates 15 years before their first MS symptoms appear. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about when the disease truly begins, offering the most comprehensive ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Announcing Immortal Dragons as Tier 4 Sponsor of ARDD 2025

The University of Copenhagen is excited to announce Immortal Dragons as Tier 4 Sponsor of the 12th Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting, the world's largest conference on aging research in the biopharmaceutical industry that will transpire on August 25 - August 29, 2025 on-site at the Ceremonial Hall, University of Copenhagen, and online. Immortal Dragons is a purpose-driven longevity fund headquartered in Singapore, supporting 15+ portfolio companies in longevity and radical life extension technologies. Immortal Dragons values impact rather than economic return, supporting moonshot longevity startups in radical life extension, key areas include: Wholebody replacement, ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Announcing Mitra Bio as Tier 3 Sponsor of ARDD 2025

The University of Copenhagen is excited to announce Mitra Bio as Tier 3 Sponsor of the 12th Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting, the world's largest conference on aging research in the biopharmaceutical industry that will transpire on August 25 - August 29, 2025 on-site at the Ceremonial Hall, University of Copenhagen, and online. “ARDD sits at the intersection of frontier longevity science and real-world impact—exactly where Mitra Bio wants to be,” said Shakiba Kaveh, PhD, co-founder & CEO of Mitra Bio. “By sponsoring this year’s meeting, we hope to support the longevity science community and share our insights ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Hearing loss lowers prospects of employment and higher income for young Americans

Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory disability. Approximately 1.6 billion people around the world currently live with from some degree of hearing loss, and the WHO has forecast that this number will rise to 2.5 billion by 2050. People with hearing loss tend to experience more stress and anxiety at school or work, and as a result take more days off sick. The annual global cost of unaddressed hearing loss may run to $1 trillion. Now, a long-term observational study has found that young adults with hearing difficulties in the US have less educational ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Dramatically lower temperature, same high performance!

Dr. Jung-Dae Kwon's research team at the Energy & Environmental Materials Research Division of the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS, President Chul-Jin Choi) has successfully developed an amorphous silicon optoelectronic device with minimal defects, even using a low-temperature process at 90°C. Notably, the team overcame the limitations of high-temperature processing by precisely controlling the hydrogen dilution ratio—the ratio of hydrogen to silane (SiH₄) gas—enabling the fabrication of high-performance ...

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Science1 Aug 2025

Searching for a lethal needle in a haystack: synthetic opioid 1000 times more potent than morphine

A synthetic opioid 1000 times more potent than morphine is infiltrating the street drug trade in Adelaide, Australia, sparking fears of a wave of overdoses that could be lethal. In the first study of its kind in South Australia, University of South Australia researchers have detected traces of nitazene in samples of discarded injecting equipment, plastic bags, vials and filters from public disposal bins at local needle and syringe program sites. Their findings are published today in the Drug & Alcohol Review. Using highly sensitive ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Extremists use gaming platforms to recruit - study

New research published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology reveals how extremist groups are exploiting the popularity of video games to recruit and radicalise impressionable users. The study shows that gaming-adjacent platforms, which allow users to chat and live stream while playing, are being used as “digital playgrounds” for extremist activity and that video game players are being deliberately “funnelled” by extremists from mainstream social media platforms to these sites, in part ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Nearly 70% of U.S. children in car crashes with a fatality were not using proper child passenger restraints, study finds

Despite national guidelines, state laws and known safety benefits of child passenger restraint systems (CRS), suboptimal practices were found in nearly 70% of children under 13 years old who were involved in car crashes with a fatality from 2011 to 2021, according to a study published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. “Given the continued problem of suboptimal child passenger safety practices among children across the country, there is a need for innovative, targeted programs to promote correct and consistent use of age-appropriate car seats, ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

The key to lowering your water bill may already be at your door

Doorbell cameras are already used for home security. But what if they could save you money on your water bill? Researchers from Texas A&M University have developed an innovative irrigation system that combines doorbell cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to make lawn irrigation more efficient. Their recently published paper details this sustainable irrigation system, dubbed ERIC by the researchers. The ERIC system makes home irrigation smarter, leading to increased efficiency and sustainability. The study shows that ERIC can help users save ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

4D images show heat shield damage goes below the surface

Rather than completely burning up when a spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere, its heat shield’s outer surface is sacrificed to protect the rest of the vehicle. The carbon fibers decompose, dissipating the heat. It was assumed that this only happens on the surface, but in a recent study, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and four other institutions gained new information about how the protective carbon fiber material evolves, not just at the surface, but beneath, where structural failure could occur and threaten the life of the vehicle. According ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Do you want to freeze a cloud? Desert dust might help

In brief: Using 35 years of satellite data, researchers observed a consistent pattern for ice cloud formation stemming from desert dust in the atmosphere. The way clouds freeze is vital piece of the puzzle for climate models. For the first time, researchers demonstrate that ice formation follows the same pattern at different scales expanding the scope of this type of research. A new study shows that natural dust particles, swirling in from faraway deserts can trigger freezing of clouds in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. This subtle mechanism influences how much sunlight clouds reflect and how they produce rain and snow — with major implications for climate ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Nanodevice uses sound to sculpt light, paving the way for better displays and imaging

Light can behave in very unexpected ways when you squeeze it into small spaces. In a new paper in the journal Science, Mark Brongersma, a professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University, and doctoral candidate Skyler Selvin describe the novel way they have used sound to manipulate light that has been confined to gaps only a few nanometers across – allowing the researchers exquisite control over the color and intensity of light mechanically. The findings could have broad implications in fields ranging from computer and virtual reality displays to 3D holographic imagery, optical communications, ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Twinkle, twinkle leopard seal: songs below the ice flow like nursery rhymes

In a study published today, UNSW Sydney researchers found that the underwater songs of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) in Antarctica share structural similarities with the nursery rhymes often sung by humans to their young. “Leopard seal songs have a surprisingly structured temporal pattern,” says Lucinda Chambers, a UNSW PhD candidate and lead author of the study. “When we compared their songs to other studies of vocal animals and of human music, we found their information entropy — a measure of how predictable or random ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Potato evolved from tomato 9 million years ago

An international research team has uncovered that natural interbreeding in the wild between tomato plants and potato-like species from South America about 9 million years ago gave rise to the modern-day potato. In a study publishing in the Cell Press journal Cell, researchers suggest this ancient evolutionary event triggered the formation of the tuber, the enlarged underground structure that stores nutrients found in plants like potatoes, yams, and taros. “Our findings show how a hybridization event between species can spark the evolution of new traits, allowing even more ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Big data begins to crack the cold case of endometriosis

Big Data Begins to Crack the Cold Case of Endometriosis Records from millions of patients at UC health centers found correlations between endometriosis, one of the most common diseases in women, and a bounty of other diseases. Scientists at UCSF have found that endometriosis — a painful chronic disease affecting 10% of women that often goes undiagnosed — often occurs alongside conditions like cancer, Crohn's disease, and migraine. The research could improve how endometriosis is diagnosed and, ultimately, how it is treated; and it paints the sharpest portrait yet of a condition that is ...

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Science31 Jul 2025

Light-based listening: Researchers develop a low-cost visual microphone

WASHINGTON — Researchers have created a microphone that listens with light instead of sound. Unlike traditional microphones, this visual microphone captures tiny vibrations on the surfaces of objects caused by sound waves and turns them into audible signals. “Our method simplifies and reduces the cost of using light to capture sound while also enabling applications in scenarios where traditional microphones are ineffective, such as conversing through a glass window,” said research team leader Xu-Ri Yao from Beijing ...

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