Science
press releases.

Science16 Jul 2025

Universal method unlocks entropy calculation for liquids

Osaka, Japan - A groundbreaking new method developed at The University of Osaka calculates the entropy of liquids using a non-empirical approach, requiring only the atomic species as input. This revolutionary technique eliminates the need for extensive experimental data, paving the way for enhanced predictions of chemical reactions and optimization of industrial applications involving liquids. The researchers employed computational simulations based on fundamental physical principles (called density-functional theory in the technical term) to model atomic interactions within ...

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Science16 Jul 2025

Intensity of opioid use appears to be higher in fentanyl era

Illegal opioids can create substantial harms, but the extent of those harms depends on multiple factors, including the amount consumed. In a new study, researchers assessed whether opioid consumption intensity varies appreciably over time or context. They found that intensity—as opposed to prevalence—of illegal opioid use varies enormously. These findings have implications for drug treatment and policy. The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, RAND, and the University of Maryland, appears in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. The supply of illegal opioids ...

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Science16 Jul 2025

'Adventurous’ vs ‘homebody’ anemonefish – research reveals key influences in diversification and evolution

Research Summary This work aimed to understand how anemonefish — the colorful reef dwellers best known from Finding Nemo — evolved into such a diverse group of species. Scientists have long assumed that their tight-knit relationship with sea anemones, their protective hosts, was the main engine behind their evolutionary diversification. But the team wondered if other ecological factors could also have played a critical role. This question matters because anemonefish are one of the few examples of adaptive radiation in marine environments ...

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Science16 Jul 2025

Only Amazon MTurk’s ‘master’ workers provide reliable research data quality

A new study led by Dr. Vadim Axelrod, of the Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University, has revealed serious concerns about the quality of data collected on Amazon Mechanical Turk’s (MTurk) — a platform widely used for behavioral and psychological research. MTurk, an online crowdsourcing marketplace where individuals complete small tasks for payment, has served as a key resource for researchers for over 15 years. Despite previous concerns about participant quality, the platform remains popular within the academic community. Dr. Axelrod’s ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Lost English legend decoded, solving Chaucerian mystery and revealing a medieval preacher’s meme

University of Cambridge media release Lost English legend decoded, solving Chaucerian mystery and revealing a medieval preacher’s meme UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 US EDT ON TUESDAY 15TH JULY 2025 / 00:01 UK TIME (BST) ON WEDNESDAY 16TH JULY 2025 A medieval literary puzzle which has stumped scholars including M.R. James for 130 years has finally been solved. Cambridge scholars now believe the Song of Wade, a long lost treasure of English culture, was a chivalric romance not a monster-filled epic. The discovery solves the most famous mystery ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Eyes on the prize: Decoding eye contact

For the first time, a new study has revealed how and when we make eye contact—not just the act itself—plays a crucial role in how we understand and respond to others, including robots. Led by cognitive neuroscientist Dr Nathan Caruana, researchers from the HAVIC Lab at Flinders University asked 137 participants to complete a block-building task with a virtual partner. They discovered that the most effective way to signal a request was through a specific gaze sequence: looking at an object, making eye contact, then looking back at the same object. ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

New study reveals gendered language patterns in children’s television across 60 years

Abu Dhabi, UAE, July 15, 2025: A comprehensive new study from NYU Abu Dhabi’s Science Division analyzed scripts from nearly 7,000 episodes of children’s TV shows in the United States spanning 1960 to 2018. It uncovered enduring biased patterns in how male and female characters are portrayed through language. Using advanced natural language processing techniques, the researchers examined how words referring to men or boys and to women or girls were used in children’s TV scripts, focusing ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Understanding relationship development: Towards a more rigorous approach

URBANA, Ill. – Gaining a better understanding of how romantic relationships develop over time is key to helping couples maintain a satisfying union and overcome challenges. Researchers and practitioners rely on theories to provide insights, and it’s important that they are accurate and reliable. A new paper from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discusses how contemporary methodologies can be applied to common relationship theories in a more rigorous way. “How relationships change influences relational, individual, and broader family functioning,” said ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

UNM study finds link between Grand Canyon landslide and Meteor Crater impact

Geology is full of detective stories about Earth’s history, and a new paper in Geology by University of New Mexico Distinguished Professors Emeritus Karl Karlstrom and Laurie Crossey, along with their co-authors, links two iconic geologic landmarks of the American Southwest: the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. The article, titled Grand Canyon landslide-dam and paleolake triggered by the Meteor Crater impact at 56 ka, highlights the striking coincidence in the geologic ages of a meteor impact and a landslide dam that blocked the Colorado River, forming a paleolake in the Grand Canyon about ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

New research helps narrow down uncertainties in near-term precipitation projections for the Asian Water Tower

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QP), often referred to as the "Asian Water Tower", is a vital source of water for nearly two billion people. Understanding how precipitation patterns in this region will change in the coming decades is crucial for water resource management and climate adaptation. However, projecting near-term precipitation changes has been challenging due to significant uncertainties in climate models. A new study published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters addresses this issue by analyzing near-term (2026–2055) precipitation projections for the QP using 100 ensemble members from the MPI-ESM climate model. The research ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Researchers use OCT imaging to uncover how the fallopian tube transports embryos

WASHINGTON — In a new mouse study, researchers have used optical coherence tomography (OCT) to uncover new insights into how the fallopian tube transports preimplantation embryos toward the uterus for pregnancy. These findings help lay the foundation for understanding certain causes of infertility and pregnancy complications in people. The fallopian tube, also known as the oviduct, is a tubular structure that connects the ovary and the uterus. It is responsible for several critical processes that lead to pregnancy, including transporting eggs and sperm, hosting fertilization and transporting preimplantation embryos as they develop. “Most of the oviduct’s ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Review suggests ending adult boosters for tetanus, diphtheria

The United States could safely drop tetanus and diphtheria booster shots for adults and save an estimated $1 billion a year, according to a new review led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. The safety and savings depend on maintaining strong childhood vaccination rates, researchers emphasized. “By maintaining high childhood vaccination coverage, we not only protect kids, but we may actually be able to reduce adult booster vaccinations,” said lead author Mark Slifka, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. “That would save $1 billion a year in the U.S. while maintaining ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

ESMT Berlin welcomes Rebecca Schaumberg to faculty

On July 1, 2025, Rebecca Schaumberg joined ESMT Berlin as an assistant professor of organizational behavior. Rebecca Schaumberg’s research combines psychological theory with business practice and focuses on the role of self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, pride, and embarrassment in organizational contexts. Her work shows how these emotions shape decision-making, leadership processes, and organizational cultures. Her research has been published in leading academic journals, including Psychological Science, Academy of Management Journal, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Schaumberg ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

FAU receives NIH grant to investigate amphetamine addiction

Lucia Carvelli, Ph.D., associate professor of neuroscience at Florida Atlantic University’s Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute, has received a $571,675 grant from the National Institutes of Health to advance critical research into how amphetamines affect brain function. Her work could pave the way for new therapies targeting substance use disorders and dopamine-related neurological conditions such as ADHD. Amphetamine and its derivatives – including methamphetamine – are among the most widely abused drugs worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 32,000 ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Most of us love memes. But are they a form of comics?

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Once upon a time – way back in the twentieth century – people got their laughs from reading comics in the newspaper. Today, many of us get our chuckles by seeing (and sharing) humorous memes online. But are these two cultural phenomena really that different? In a new article, comics scholar Michelle Ann Abate argues that memes are an important new type of digital comic. “Memes use a lot of the same visual and verbal elements that go into a comic, and those elements function in a very similar way. So yes, memes ...

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Science15 Jul 2025

Scientists discover a simple set of rules that may explain how our tissues stay organized

Every day, your body replaces billions of cells—and yet, your tissues stay perfectly organized. How is that possible? A team of researchers at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute and the University of Delaware believe they’ve found an answer. In a new study published today in the scientific journal Biology of the Cell, they show that just five basic rules may explain how the body maintains the complex structure of tissues like those in the colon, for example, even as its cells are constantly dying and being replaced. This research is the product of more than 15 years of collaboration between mathematicians and cancer biologists ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Record-breaking human imaging project crosses the finish line: 100,000 volunteers provide science with most detailed look inside the body

There is an accompanying press briefing being hosted by the Science Media Centre in the UK. Please contact UK Biobank for the details. In a remarkable achievement that is already impacting how we detect and diagnose disease, UK Biobank has completed the world’s largest whole body imaging project, scanning the brains, hearts, abdomens, blood vessels, bones and joints of 100,000 volunteers. These scans, on this scale, show us what is happening in people’s bodies as they age so we can understand how, why and when we get sick. Since 2015, UK Biobank’s imaging data have been released in batches1 ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Insomnia could be key to lower life satisfaction in adults with ADHD traits, study finds

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01AM UK TIME ON TUESDAY 15 JULY 2025 Insomnia could be key to lower life satisfaction in adults with ADHD traits, study finds Insomnia could explain why adults with ADHD traits report having a lower quality of life, according to new research led by the University of Southampton and the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience. A study published today [15 July] in BMJ Mental Health found that having higher ADHD traits was associated with a lower quality of life and that insomnia could be part of the reason why. At least ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Parenthood not lessening loss for widowed people, 25 years of interviews suggest

Widowed parents who enjoy close relationships with their adult children still struggle with loneliness, according to the first study of its kind. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Aging & Mental Health, the analysis spanning 25 years was based on interviews with more than 5,500 men and women including those whose spouse had died. The findings contradict commonly held assumptions that indicate widowed parents experience much lower levels of loneliness than those without children. Although the bond between bereaved women and their offspring is strengthened, the authors of this new study say this is insufficient to fill the emotional void left after the death of ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Vapes more effective for smoking cessation than nicotine gum and lozenges

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 14 July 2025 Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, threads, and Linkedin Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. ---------------------------- 1. ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Here’s how we help an iconic California fish survive the gauntlet of today’s highly modified waterways

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.—Imagine a world where just six out of every 100 newborns make it to their teenage years, the rest unable to survive post-apocalyptic environmental conditions that have become too strange and dangerous for human life. That’s the plight of California’s once-thriving Chinook salmon, a population that now sees 94% of its juveniles die within the few weeks they spend trying to reach the sea from the freshwater sources where they first hatched. This tragic reality is almost entirely due to how their native waterways in the state’s Central Valley have been turned ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

For tastier and hardier citrus, researchers built a tool for probing plant metabolism

A new tool allows researchers to probe the metabolic processes occurring within the leaves, stems, and roots of a key citrus crop, the clementine. The big picture goal of this research is to improve the yields, flavor and nutritional value of citrus and non-citrus crops, even in the face of increasingly harsh growing conditions and growing pest challenges. To build the tool, the team – led by the University of California San Diego – focused on the clementine (Citrus clementina), which is a cross between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange. The effort is expected to expand well beyond the clementine in order to develop actionable information for increasing the productivity ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Optogenetic platform illuminates new antiviral strategies

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — UC Santa Barbara researchers and collaborators from campus biotech spinoff Integrated Biosciences, as well as Harvard, MIT and genomics company Illumina Ventures are using optogenetics — the use of light to probe the functions of living tissue — to find compounds to help our bodies more effectively help themselves in times of physiological stress. Using an optogenetic platform developed in synthetic biologist Max Wilson’s lab at UCSB, they have already discovered dozens of molecules that can act as pan-antivirals and, specifically, two chemical scaffolds that could serve as promising development candidates ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

A new theory explaining oscillations in tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR)

NIMS has developed a new theory that explains why tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) —used in magnetic memory and other technologies— oscillates with changes in the thickness of the insulating barrier within a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). This oscillation was clearly observed when NIMS recently recorded the world’s highest TMR ratio. Understanding the mechanisms behind this phenomenon is expected to significantly aid in further increasing TMR ratios. This research was published as a letter article in Physical ...

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Science14 Jul 2025

Kindness counts—even to a five-day-old baby

They’ve barely opened their eyes, but newborn babies already seem to prefer nice behaviours. New research reveals that infants just five days old can tell the difference between two distinct forms of prosocial and antisocial behaviour—and they prefer the prosocial. This suggests that some parts of how humans understand and evaluate the social world may be built into the brain from birth. “These babies have almost no experience with the social world, and yet they’re already picking up on friendly versus unfriendly interactions, on helping versus hindering. That could be telling us something ...

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