Science
press releases.

Science24 Jul 2025

Integrating sulfur into crystalline nanostructures fuels catalytic activity

‘Sulfur enhances reactivity and lowers energy barriers for hydrogen activation’ New active sites containing sulfur significantly outperformed non-sulfur counterparts in hydrogenation catalysis Research supports production of enzyme-like models in stable materials EVANSTON, Ill. --- Despite natural evidence indicating sulfur’s importance and efficiency as a catalyst for critical redox reactions including hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen to molecule) and dehydrogenation (its opposite), chemists have struggled to manage the enzyme’s complexity and fragility at scale. Now, researchers ...

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Science24 Jul 2025

Study finds large language models (LLMs) use stigmatizing language about individuals with alcohol and substance use disorders

As artificial intelligence is rapidly developing and becoming a growing presence in healthcare communication, a new study addresses a concern that large language models (LLMs) can reinforce harmful stereotypes by using stigmatizing language. The study from researchers at Mass General Brigham found that more than 35% of responses in answers related to alcohol- and substance use-related conditions contained stigmatizing language. But the researchers also highlight that targeted prompts can be used to substantially reduce stigmatizing language in the LLMs’ answers. Results are published in The Journal of Addiction Medicine. “Using patient-centered language can build ...

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Science24 Jul 2025

Less is more: Low-dose olanzapine curbs chemo-induced nausea without the sedation

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting are among the most distressing side effects of anti-cancer treatment, particularly for those receiving highly emetogenic regimens such as anthracycline plus cyclophosphamide combinations. This major side effect compromises a patient’s quality of life and willingness to continue therapy. Therefore, there is a crucial need to devise an effective antiemetic management approach for optimizing cancer care and patient well-being. Against this backdrop, a new study, led by Professor Mitsue ...

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Science24 Jul 2025

Breaking the silence: MyMenoplan.org empowers women to take charge of menopause

Menopause remains one of the most under-discussed stages of life, even though more than 1 million women in the United States experience this natural biological transition each year. Often shrouded in stigma and misinformation, menopause is rarely addressed openly — even though it can profoundly affect a person’s physical, emotional and mental health. To help bridge this gap, clinicians and researchers who have collaborated on women’s health for over 25 years created MyMenoplan.org. The comprehensive, evidence-based website offers personalized menopause information and decision-making tools designed to empower women to make informed healthcare choices. The website ...

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Science24 Jul 2025

Epigenetic regulation of JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN genes contributes to heat tolerance in the heat-tolerant rice cultivar Nagina 22

The study led by Dr. Xiangsong Chen (Wuhan University) and Dr. Haiya Cai (Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences) analyzed the transcriptomes of two rice cultivars, Nagina22 and 93-11, under high-temperature stress. It was found that the expression of JAZ genes specifically increased significantly in N22 at the early stage of heat stress, accompanied by a significant decrease in the expression of downstream response genes of the Jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway. Additionally, exogenous application of JA significantly reduced the heat tolerance of N22, indicating that the suppression ...

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Science24 Jul 2025

Peanut Ubiquitin4 promoter enables stable transgene expression and efficient CRISPR editing

A research team led by Dr. Xiaoqin Liu at the Peking University Institute of Advanced Agricultural Sciences has discovered and characterized a native peanut Ubiquitin4 promoter (AhUBQ4) with strong and consistent transcriptional activity. Recognizing the limitations of foreign promoters like CaMV 35S in peanut transformation—such as gene silencing and expression variability—the team sought a native solution to boost genetic engineering efficiency in this vital crop. Using transcriptome data ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Can Amazon Alexa or Google Home help detect Parkinson’s?

Computer scientists at the University of Rochester have developed an AI-powered, speech-based screening tool that can help people assess whether they are showing signs of Parkinson’s disease, the fastest growing neurological disability in the world. A study published in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease introduces a web-based screening test that asks users to recite two pangrams—short sentences using all 26 letters of the alphabet. Within seconds, the AI analyzes the voice recordings for subtle patterns linked to Parkinson’s, with nearly 86 percent accuracy. Parkinson’s ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

X chromosome switch offers hope for girls with Rett syndrome

Researchers led by UC Davis Health scientist Sanchita Bhatnagar have developed a promising gene therapy that could treat Rett syndrome. The therapy works on reactivating healthy but silent genes responsible for this rare disorder and possibly other X-linked conditions, such as fragile X syndrome. Their findings were published in Nature Communications. About Rett syndrome Rett syndrome is a genetic condition that affects mostly girls. It is caused by a defective MECP2 gene located on the X chromosome. This ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Study lays groundwork for preventing dangerous falls on dry spills

TUCSON, Ariz. — Signs reading “slippery when wet” frequently warn about the dangers of slipping and falling. But floors made slick by dry spills are also a significant hazard – one that’s overlooked and understudied, according to University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers who developed a new way to assess floor slipperiness caused by dry contaminants. “Most people think materials like oil or soapy water are the main cause of slips,” said study lead Jonathan Lee-Confer, PhD, an assistant professor of physical therapy in the School of Health Professions at the U of A Mel and Enid Zuckerman College ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Stopping HRT leads to a period of higher risk of bone fracture for most women

A new study has found that the bone fracture protection women get from menopausal hormone therapy (MHT, also known as HRT) disappears within a year of stopping treatment. In the new study, published in Lancet Healthy Longevity, experts from the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, also found that in most cases, stopping treatment is then followed by some years of elevated fracture risk compared to women who have never used MHT. Fracture risks then falls to be similar to, and then lower than women who have never used ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Rethink the 10,000 a day step goal, study suggests

Walking 7000 steps a day can lower the risk of an early death by up to 47 percent Health benefits increased with every 1000-step increment up until 7000 steps, at which point the benefits began to taper off A major new study led by the University of Sydney suggests that walking 7000 steps a day offers similar health benefits across several outcomes as walking 10,000. Led by Professor Melody Ding from the School of Public Health, the study was published in The Lancet Public Healthand analysed data from 57 studies from ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

New play in the chemical-reaction playbook uncovered

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Speeding up chemical reactions is key to improving industrial processes or mitigating unwanted or harmful waste. Realizing these improvements requires that chemists design around documented reaction pathways. Now, a team of Penn State researchers has found that a fundamental reaction called oxidative addition can follow a different path to achieve the same ends, raising the question of whether this new order of events has been occurring all along and potentially opening up new space for chemical design. A paper describing the research appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

New research supports Ivermectin as an effective strategy to control malaria transmission

Ivermectin administered to the whole population significantly reduces malaria transmission, offering new hope in the fight against the disease. The BOHEMIA trial, the largest study on ivermectin for malaria to date, showed a 26% reduction in new malaria infection on top of existing bed nets, providing strong evidence of ivermectin’s potential as a complementary tool in malaria control. The results of this project, coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) -an institution supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation- in collaboration ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

New research reveals scars of Gambia’s witch hunts

A new United Nations-funded study has highlighted the lasting psychological and social scars left by a state-sponsored witch hunt in The Gambia, more than a decade after it was carried out by former President Yahya Jammeh. The research, led by Professor Mick Finlay of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in collaboration with the University of The Gambia and Nottingham Trent University, is the first academic study into the stigma associated with government-led witchcraft accusations, and includes interviews with victims and their families from the villages most affected by the campaign. Jammeh’s 22-year dictatorship, which ended in 2016, was marked by human rights ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Forever chemicals, lasting effects: Prenatal PFAS exposure shapes baby immunity

New research reveals that tiny amounts of PFAS—widely known as “forever chemicals”—cross the placenta and breast milk to alter infants’ developing immune systems, potentially leaving lasting imprints on their ability to fight disease. University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) researchers tracked 200 local healthy mother–baby pairs, measuring common PFAS compounds in maternal blood during pregnancy and then profiling infants’ key T‑cell populations at birth, six months, and one year. By age 12 months, babies whose mothers had higher prenatal PFAS exposure exhibited ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Colonial-era land-use changes in India led to severe decline in grassland birds, study finds

Ithaca, NY—A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology reveals that colonial-era landscape modifications have resulted in a devastating 80% loss of grassland habitat and significant declines in grassland bird populations in India's Nilgiri hills over the past 170 years. An international research team—led by scientists from Columbia University, the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Tirupati, and 10 other institutions—analyzed an extensive dataset comparing historical land cover ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Matches in online dating illuminated in study of Czech app

Per analysis of heterosexual users of a Czech dating app, men tended to pursue women who were more desirable than themselves, but most instances of reciprocated interest occurred between men and women with more similar levels of desirability. Renata Topinkova of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and Tomas Diviak of the University of Manchester, U.K., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on July 23, 2025. A growing number of couples meet through online dating apps. Prior research has suggested that married couples often share similar characteristics – such as age, ethnicity, or political ideology – and some similarities have ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Grand Canyon was a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the evolution of early animals

A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the natural world’s most iconic sites. The rich fossil discovery – the first such find in the Grand Canyon – includes tiny rock-scraping molluscs, filter-feeding crustaceans, spiky-toothed worms, and even fragments of the food they likely ate. By dissolving the rocks these animals were fossilised in and examining them under high-powered microscopes, researchers led by the University of Cambridge were able to get a highly detailed picture of a unique period in the evolution of life on Earth. The fossilised animals date ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Teen smokers and vapers have higher rates of depression and anxiety, study finds

Adolescents who use either e-cigarettes or conventional tobacco products (CTP)—like cigarettes, cigars, hookah and pipes—are significantly more likely to report symptoms of depression and anxiety than teens who don’t use tobacco products at all, according to a study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Noor Abdulhay of West Virginia University, USA, and colleagues. Tobacco use and mental health challenges are known to have a complex, bidirectional relationship. Understanding the interplay between adolescent ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Immunity to seasonal flu protects against severe illness from bird flu in ferrets

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The fatality rate for H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans historically has been high, with more than half of people dying. Why, then, is the current H5N1 bird flu outbreak — which has caused massive die-offs in wild birds, farmed poultry and even wild mammals — causing mostly mild symptoms in the people it has infected? New research, led by scientists at Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh and published today (July 23) in the journal Science Translational Medicine, indicates that immunity to a seasonal influenza virus known as pandemic H1N1 that began circulating ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Collaborative initiative highlights successes and challenges in global bioethics training

PHILADELPHIA (July 23, 2025) – A new Penn Nursing initiative explores the impact of federally funded international bioethics training programs. The collaborative initiative, published in the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, highlights both the significant achievements and ongoing challenges in building bioethics research capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The collaboration, led by Connie M. Ulrich, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Lillian S. Brunner Chair in Medical and Surgical Nursing in Penn Nursing’s Department of Biobehavioral ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Llama antibodies: New therapeutic avenues against schizophrenia

While current treatments for schizophrenia — a mental illness affecting 1% of the world’s population — can reduce certain symptoms, they have little effect on the cognitive deficits affecting the daily life of patients. Scientists at the Institute of Functional Genomics (CNRS/Inserm/Université de Montpellier) have just designed a nanobody made from llama antibodies that can specifically activate a glutamate receptor involved in regulating neural activity. Administered peripherally via veins or muscles, this new molecule has demonstrated its capacity to break the blood-brain barrier and effectively reach brain receptors. The therapeutic effect of these nanobodies ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

The Evolution of escape

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice Study shows how evolution sent deer mice scurrying down two different paths of escape For a mouse, survival often boils down to one urgent question: flee or freeze? But the best strategy to avoid being snatched and eaten depends on which mouse you are asking. According to a new study by Harvard biologists, two closely-related species of deer mice have evolved very different responses to aerial predators thanks to tweaks in brain circuitry. One species that dwells in densely-vegetated areas instinctively darts for cover while a cousin living in open ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Stealth genetic switch in mosquitoes halts malaria spread

Mosquitoes kill more people each year than any other animal. In 2023, the blood-sucking insects infected a reported 263 million people with malaria, leading to nearly 600,000 deaths, 80% of which were children. Recent efforts to block the transmission of malaria have been stalled because mosquitoes have adapted resistance to insecticides and the parasites within mosquitoes that cause malaria have become resistant to drugs. These setbacks have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impeded ongoing anti-malarial efforts. Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego, Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley and the University of São Paulo have ...

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Science23 Jul 2025

Watermarks offer no defense against deepfakes

New research from the University of Waterloo’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute demonstrates that any artificial intelligence (AI) image watermark can be removed, without the attacker needing to know the design of the watermark, or even whether an image is watermarked to begin with. As AI-generated images and videos became more realistic, citizens and legislators are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of “deepfakes” across politics, the legal system and everyday life. “People want a way ...

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