Science
press releases.

Science21 Jul 2025

SwRI’s Sidney Chocron named Ballistics Science Fellow

SAN ANTONIO — July 21, 2025 —Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Dr. Sidney Chocron has been named a Ballistic Science Fellow by the International Ballistics Society. The honor is awarded to members who have made numerous contributions to ballistics science. Chocron specializes in the nonlinear response of materials under high strain rates. His work primarily focuses on unconventional tests and computer modeling of materials, such as his research studying the impact of foam and ice on the Space Shuttle thermal protection ...

Read the release

Science21 Jul 2025

Potty pressure: 1 in 5 parents report struggles with toilet training

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Transitioning from diapers to the toilet is a major step for young children — and their parents. Now a new report shines a light on just how bumpy that journey can be. One in five parents say their child had potty anxiety during toilet training and another one in five say the process was harder than they expected, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Learning to use the toilet is a major step in a young child’s development and requires time, patience, and consistency,” said Mott Poll Co-Director and Mott pediatrician Susan Woolford, M.D. “Our ...

Read the release

Science21 Jul 2025

Scientists uncover hidden bone structures in the skin of Australian monitor lizards and it could unlock the secrets to their evolutionary success

Beneath the scales of Australia’s iconic monitor lizards (commonly known as goannas), scientists have discovered an unexpected secret: a hidden layer of bony skin structures known as osteoderms. These structures, which have been long overlooked, may hold the key to understanding how these ancient reptiles not only survived but thrived in one of the world’s harshest environments. The findings, published today in the prestigious Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, mark the first large-scale global study of osteoderms in lizards and snakes. The international collaboration brought together researchers from Australia, Europe and the United States, who ...

Read the release

Science20 Jul 2025

Teenage diaries from Stalin’s Russia reveal boys’ struggles with love, famine and Soviet pressure to achieve

University of Cambridge media release Teenage diaries from Stalin’s Russia reveal boys’ struggles with love, famine and Soviet pressure to achieve UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 US EDT ON SUNDAY 20TH JULY 2025 / 00:01 UK TIME (BST) ON MONDAY 21ST JULY 2025 Overlooked diaries written by teenage boys in pre-war Soviet Russia reveal relatable perspectives on love, lust, boredom, pressure to succeed and trying to fit in; but also experience of famine, exile and conscription ...

Read the release

Science18 Jul 2025

Taking the sting out of ulcerative colitis

Osaka, Japan – Ulcerative colitis (UC) causes misery for millions worldwide. It affects the large intestine, causing pain, cramping, and frequent bowel movements with bloody diarrhea. Although some people go through periods when they feel well, the disease will suddenly flare up, causing another cycle of pain, diarrhea, and weight loss. There is currently no cure. The intestinal flora plays a vital role in UC, but the exact role is unclear. In healthy people, the intestinal flora contains a wide variety of microbes that help digestion and provide benefits for the whole body. In contrast, the intestinal flora of people with UC is unbalanced, with fewer beneficial microbes ...

Read the release

Science18 Jul 2025

More than just larks and owls!

Everyone knows that if you want to enjoy the full experience of the dawn chorus in the forests of Central Europe, or carry out scientific research on bird species, you have to get up very early in the morning. Until now however, detailed data about daily and seasonal patterns in birdsong have only been available for a few species, as the observations required are time-consuming. A research team from the University of Göttingen and the Northwest German Forest Research Institute has now, for the first time, analysed the song ...

Read the release

Science18 Jul 2025

Call for nominations: 2026 Dan David Prize

The Dan David Prize is the world’s largest history prize, recognizing up to 9 outstanding early and midcareer scholars and practitioners in the historical disciplines each year. Each Dan David Prize winner is awarded $300,000 to acknowledge their achievements and support future work. We are pleased to announce that nominations for the 5th cycle of the new Dan David Prize are now open. The deadline for nominations for the 2026 Prize is September 24, 2025. Nominees can come from anywhere in the world and work in any field related to the study of the human past, both within academia and outside it. The list of previous winners ...

Read the release

Science18 Jul 2025

rcssci: Simplifying complex data relationships with enhanced visual clarity

The recent release of the rcssci R package represents a significant advancement in the way researchers visualize and analyze complex relationships between continuous variables and their outcomes. The package introduces an innovative methodology for creating more refined and aesthetically pleasing Restricted Cubic Spline (RCS) plots, offering four distinct styles for enhanced data interpretation. These improvements not only increase the statistical clarity of the results but also provide a more user-friendly interface for researchers working across various types of regression models. “We’ve seen a need in the research community for a more intuitive and visually ...

Read the release

Science18 Jul 2025

Researchers discover that sound stress alone can prolong and intensify pain

Pain is an important physiological response in living organisms. While physical pain is an outcome of tissue damage, pain can manifest as diverse unpleasant sensory and emotional experiences. Many studies report that emotional or psychological stress enhances pain responses. Furthermore, mice housed with other mice experiencing inflammatory pain exhibit a ‘bystander effect’ with heightened pain sensitivity, or ‘hyperalgesia.’ However, the effects that underpin social pain transmission remain elusive. Rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations in the form of high-pitched squeaks in response to various stimuli, including pain, in ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

What is chronic venous insufficiency?

DALLAS, July 17, 2025 — In light of reports from the White House that President Donald J. Trump has been diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI), the American Heart Association is sharing important information on the condition and its association with cardiovascular risk factors, disease and increased risk of death. According to the Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, chronic venous insufficiency (a form of chronic venous disease) is highly prevalent - especially in older adults. ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Cracking the code of force-driven chemistry

When asked to think of a chemical reaction, you might picture bubbling liquids in a beaker, or maybe applying heat to a mixture until something transforms. But some of the most important reactions in nature and industry don’t need heat or solvents. Instead, they need force. Mechanochemistry is where physical pressure or stress triggers chemical reactions. Imagine molecules being rammed together like bumper cars, or shaken up in a giant cocktail shaker. That shaking and colliding happens every day inside ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

UCalgary led research helps kids with acute gastroenteritis recover at home

Most children seeking emergency department (ED) care due to vomiting are discharged home. Although they usually feel better when they leave the ED, the vomiting recurs in nearly one-third of children. Dr. Stephen Freedman, MD, a pediatric ED physician, led a national study to evaluate if sending children who present for care with frequent vomiting from an acute intestinal infection are better off when provided with an anti-vomiting medication to take, as needed, at home. “When children are really sick, it’s ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

“Sisters together’: Antiracist activism and the fight for trans inclusion at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, hosted from 1976 to 2015, brought together lesbian feminists for a celebration of culture and activism. Today, the festival is perhaps best known for its controversial "womyn-born-womyn” attendance policy, which excluded trans women from participation. A new article in Signs: Journal of Women and Culture in Society examines the fight for trans inclusion at Michfest and positions it within a rich history of activism at the festival, including antiracist activism by women of color. In 1991, a woman named Nancy Jean Burkholder was expelled from the Michfest grounds on the basis ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

UTIA’s Robert Burns receives Gold Medal Honor from ASABE

An engineer with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has received one of three Gold Medal awards for 2025 from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). Robert T. Burns, a distinguished professor in the UT Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, was honored at the ASABE Annual Meeting on July 16. Burns received the Cyrus Hall McCormick – Jerome Increase Case Gold Medal, which recognizes exceptional and meritorious engineering achievement in agriculture that has resulted in new concepts, products, processes or methods that advanced the development of agriculture. His current academic efforts include coordinating the ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

First winner of AAAS-Chen Institute Prize builds tool to visualize biomolecular interactions

For his work to help capture and view dynamic small-scale behaviors of biomolecules that have gone unseen – and which are critical to applications like drug development – Zhuoran Qiao has been awarded the inaugural Chen Institute and Science Prize for Al Accelerated Research. The prize recognizes innovative young researchers who apply techniques in artificial intelligence to help the research community solve important problems and accelerate their work. “I was thrilled to partner with the Chen Institute to launch this new prize initiative,” said Yury V. Suleymanov, senior editor at Science. “Our winner, ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

New study in JAMA Network Open shows current approaches to assessing preeclampsia risk are failing the majority of pregnant moms

South San Francisco, CA (July 17, 2025) - A new study sponsored by Mirvie, which is the first to evaluate U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines for preeclampsia risk and aspirin prescription in a single, nationally representative, prospective population, found while high-risk factors had sufficient value in estimating risk, there’s limited value for the moderate risk category - leading to nonspecific recommendations for aspirin use, a recognized prevention tool. This cohort study of 5684 participants, culled from the multi-center Miracle of Life prospective study, found the guidelines ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Research Spotlight: evaluating the effectiveness of guidelines to predict the risk of preeclampsia

Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Dr. McElrath: Preeclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disease that complicates 7-10% of pregnancies. While recent advances in understanding the underlying causes of PE have been made, predicting its occurrence has historically been difficult because it is a complex condition that likely results from a variety of causes and can present in different ways. To address this challenge, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reviewed ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Pigment researchers create vivid yellows, oranges, reds that are durable, non-toxic

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University pigment researchers are using a rare mineral discovered in Norway more than a century ago as a road map for creating new yellows, oranges and reds that are vibrant, durable, non-toxic and inexpensive. The new pigments also carry energy-saving potential: Their ability to reflect heat from the sun means that buildings and vehicles coated in them will require less air conditioning. The study led by Mas Subramanian, who made color history in 2009 with the discovery of a vivid blue pigment now known commercially as YInMn Blue, was published in Chemistry of Materials. Funded by the National Science Foundation, ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Cannabis use and benign salivary gland neoplasms

About The Study: The results of this study suggest an association between cannabis use disorder and benign salivary gland tumors. Future prospective research with large samples and data on cannabis dosing, method of use, and benign salivary gland neoplasm pathology is required to further assess and confirm this association. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Niels C. Kokot, MD, email niels.kokot@med.usc.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2025.1955) Editor’s ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

The secret to resolutions? Enjoy the pursuit, not the outcome

ITHACA, N.Y. — Why is it so hard to stick to New Year’s resolutions all year long? A new study from Cornell University has found an answer: The key to achieving goals is less about the outcome and more about enjoying the journey. The findings, published July 15 in Psychological Science, challenge the assumption that if a goal is important or valuable, we’ll naturally be more likely to stick with it. Instead, they show people are more likely to stay committed to resolutions that are fun, engaging, and personally rewarding. “Across ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

New aging clock predicts early risk of muscle loss in older adults

“Non-sarcopenic, community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults could be validly classified in terms of their individual musculoskeletal ageing trajectories with a novel muscular clock, MAA.” BUFFALO, NY — July 17, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on June 9, 2025, titled “Developing a quantitative estimate of muscle age acceleration by a novel phenotypic clock: cross-sectional study in healthy, middle-aged and older adults.” In this study, led by first authors Lucia Ventura, Antonella Cano and Marco Morrone, along with corresponding ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Does being a proficient swimmer mean you are safe in the water?

Learning to swim is important, especially in a country like Norway, where many people live near the coast, a river, or a lake. For this reason, swimming instruction is included in the physical education curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools. But does the swimming instruction children in Norway receive actually help when the knowledge and skills are needed the most? “In Norway, swimming instruction mainly takes place in stable, controlled and predictable environments, such as heated swimming pools,” explained Jon Sundan, from the ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Uncovering the hidden emerging pathogen behind Aspergillosis cases in Japan

Aspergillus is a fungus that is commonly found in the environment, both indoors and outdoors. This fungus species can cause aspergillosis—a respiratory infection affecting the lungs. A. fumigatus, A. nidulans, and A. niger are some of the common species within the Aspergillus genus that cause aspergillosis. In high-risk populations, such as immunocompromised individuals, aspergillosis can be life-threatening and lead to poor patient outcomes. Previous research studies have identified A. latus as an allodiploid hybrid species containing gene sequences from two distinct species: A. spinulosporus and an unknown species related to A. quadrilineatus. Owing to its allodiploid hybrid ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Neanderthals at two nearby caves butchered the same prey in different ways, suggesting local food traditions

A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals that Neanderthals living in two nearby caves in northern Israel—butchered their food in noticeably different ways. Despite using the same tools and hunting the same prey, groups in Amud and Kebara caves left behind distinct patterns of cut-marks on animal bones, suggesting that food preparation techniques may have been culturally specific and passed down through generations. These differences cannot be explained by tool type, skill, or available resources, and may reflect practices such as drying or aging meat before butchering. The findings provide rare insight into the ...

Read the release

Science17 Jul 2025

Specialty of the house: Neanderthals at two nearby caves butchered the same prey in different ways, suggesting local food traditions

Did Neanderthals have family recipes? A new study suggests that two groups of Neanderthals living in the caves of Amud and Kebara in northern Israel butchered their food in strikingly different ways, despite living close by and using similar tools and resources. Scientists think they might have been passing down different food preparation practices. “The subtle differences in cut-mark patterns between Amud and Kebara may reflect local traditions of animal carcass processing,” said Anaëlle Jallon, ...

Read the release