Science
press releases.

Science19 Jun 2025

Current chemical monitoring data hinders global water risk evaluations

A large-scale analysis of U.S. water quality data reveals that most toxic chemicals remain poorly characterized or undetected in routine monitoring. This is largely due to sparse risk assessment data, as well as detection limits that are too high to capture ecologically relevant concentrations, researchers report. The findings suggest that the true scale of chemical risk to biodiversity and ecosystems may be significantly underestimated. Chemical pollution is widely recognized as a major threat to biodiversity, human health, and the stability of ecosystems worldwide. However, the accelerating rate at which new chemicals are introduced into the environment outpaces the current ability ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

More and more people missing from official data

Researchers are warning that millions of people around the world aren’t being counted in census and survey data, leaving policymakers in the dark about the populations they govern. They say a ‘quiet crisis’ is unfolding with census data due to declining response rates and concerns about the accuracy of the data. In a paper published in Science, researchers from the University of Southampton and Columbia University point to a ‘perfect storm’ of disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, declining confidence in institutions, ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

Two transparent worms shed light on evolution

Two species of worms have retained remarkably similar patterns in the way they switch their genes on and off despite having split from a common ancestor 20 million years ago, a new study finds. The findings appear in the June 19 issue of the journal Science “It was just remarkable, with this evolutionary distance, that we should see such coherence in gene expression patterns,” said Dr. Robert Waterston, professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and a co-senior author of the paper. “I was surprised how well everything lined ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

Nanobody-based 3D immunohistochemistry allows rapid visualization in thick tissue samples

Three dimensional immunohistochemistry (3D-IHC) has transformed our ability to visualize the spatial arrangement of cells and molecules in intact tissues. However, traditional methods are often time-consuming and suffer from poor antibody penetration, which limits their effectiveness in deep tissues. This bottleneck has posed significant challenges in neuroscience, pathology, and biomedical imaging, where rapid and detailed mapping of large tissue volumes is essential. To address these issues, researchers at Juntendo University in Tokyo, Japan, Assistant Professor Kenta Yamauchi ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

When Earth iced over, early life may have sheltered in meltwater ponds

When the Earth froze over, where did life shelter? MIT scientists say one refuge may have been pools of melted ice that dotted the planet’s icy surface. In a study appearing in Nature Communications, the researchers report that 635 million to 720 million years ago, during periods known as “Snowball Earth,” when much of the planet was covered in ice, some of our ancient cellular ancestors could have waited things out in meltwater ponds. The scientists found that eukaryotes — complex cellular lifeforms ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

Alps could face a doubling in torrential summer rainfall frequency as temperatures rise by 2°C

Intense, short-lived summer downpours are expected to become both more frequent and more intense across Alpine regions as the climate warms. In a new study, scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the University of Padova analyzed data from nearly 300 mountain weather stations and found that a 2°C rise in regional temperature could double the frequency of these extreme events. In June 2018, the city of Lausanne in Switzerland experienced an extreme and short-lived rainfall episode, with 41 millimeters of precipitation falling in just 10 minutes. Large parts of the city were flooded, resulting in estimated damage ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

Pandora’s microbes – The battle for iron in the lungs

Bacteria of the genus Pandoraea have not been studied much to date. Their name is reminiscent of Pandora’s box from Greek mythology, which is a symbol of uncontrollable dangers. “We have been working with an antibiotic-resistant bacterium,” says Elena Herzog. She is the first author of the publication and works as a doctoral researcher in the team of Christian Hertweck, the head of the study at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI). However, like so many things in nature, these pathogenic bacteria do not only have negative properties. “Pandoraea bacteria not only harbor risks. They also produce ...

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Science19 Jun 2025

Caution required when heading soccer balls

Heading a soccer ball alters the brain, new research spearheaded by the University of Sydney has found, despite having no immediate impact on cognition. The findings of a world-first experiment add to evidence suggesting heading a ball in the world’s most played sport can impact the brain, even when concussion doesn’t occur. The research was published today in the Sports Medicine - Open journal. The results signal a need for further research into heading’s long-term effects, its authors say, as the ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Positive life outlook may protect against middle-aged memory loss, 16-year study suggests

Higher levels of wellbeing may help reduce the risk of memory loss in middle age, suggests new research, which tracked more than 10,000 over 50-year-olds across a 16-year span. Findings that are published today, in the peer-reviewed journal Aging & Mental Health, found those who said they had higher wellbeing were more likely to subsequently have better scores on memory tests. These people – all of whom were determined as having ‘healthy brains’ – also reported a greater sense of control, independence, and freedom to make choices. This ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Babies can sense pain before they can understand it

Brain networks responsible for sensing, understanding, and responding emotionally to pain develop at different rates in infants, with the conscious understanding of pain not fully developed until after birth, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The authors of the study, published in the journal Pain, investigated how different types of pain processing develop very early on, by scanning the brains of infants born prematurely. Lead author Professor Lorenzo Fabrizi (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology) said: “Pain is a complex ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

A statement on the Supreme Court decision

As experts dedicated to providing patients with compassionate, evidence-based care every day, we are disappointed in the United States vs. Skrmetti decision, which increases the likelihood that other states will limit or eliminate families’ and patients’ ability to access medical care. As doctors, nurse practitioners, and nurses, we believe that every patient is different. Decisions about medical care must be based on individualized assessments by qualified professionals in consultation with the patient and their parents or legal guardians and guided by well-designed medical evidence. This Supreme Court decision strips patients and families of the choice ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Earliest evidence of humans in the Americas confirmed in new U of A study

Vance Holliday jumped at the invitation to go do geology at New Mexico's White Sands. The landscape, just west of Alamogordo, looks surreal – endless, rolling dunes of fine beige gypsum, left behind by ancient seas. It's one of the most unique geologic features in the world. But a national park protects much of the area's natural resources, and the U.S. Army uses an adjacent swath as a missile range, making research at White Sands impossible much of the time. So it was an easy call for Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist and geologist, to accept an invitation in 2012 ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Hey Doc, you got something for snails?

Kyoto, Japan -- Sea cucumbers spend their lives prowling the ocean floor, scavenging for food and generally minding their own business. We can see snails leading similar lives, slimy but not bothering anyone. Yet some species of tiny sea snails are a bother: they are common parasites of sea cucumbers. Extensive taxonomic research has been conducted on these host-parasite interactions in Japan, where sea cucumbers are a seafood delicacy -- for humans. Despite these previous studies, however, local species richness still contains some unknowns. Parasites of the sea cucumber species Holothuria atra have been thoroughly investigated, but those of Holothuria leucospilota have not. This is ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Key evidence links Harbin individual’s nearly complete skull to a Denisovan

“What Denisovans looked like, despite their genetic contributions to present-day East Asians and Oceanians?” This is one of the most important questions that has arisen since the discovery of the Denisovans 15 years ago. Now, recent research by a team led by FU Qiaomiei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and JI Qiang of Hebei GEO University has helped answer this question by confirming that a nearly complete hominin skull discovered near Harbin belongs to the Denisovan lineage. It dates back to at least 146,000 years ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Study finds addictive screen use, not total screen time, linked to youth suicide risk

New research found that youth who become increasingly addicted to social media, mobile phones or video games are at greater risk of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and emotional or behavioral issues. The study, published June 18 in JAMA, was led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley. Unlike previous studies that focused on total screen time at one point in a child’s life, this study looked at how young people’s patterns of compulsive or “addictive” use changed over time. These patterns included ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Stargazing flight: how Bogong moths use the night sky to navigate hundreds of kilometers

In a world-first discovery, researchers have shown that Australia’s iconic Bogong moth uses constellations of stars and the Milky Way to navigate hundreds of kilometres across the country during its annual migration – making it the first known invertebrate to rely on a stellar compass for long-distance travel. The landmark study, published today (Thursday 19 June) in Nature, reveals how this unassuming nocturnal moth combines celestial navigation with Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint a specific ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

National UCD Foundation to build network, create roadmap for future research in urea cycle disorders

The National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation (NUCDF), the leading patient advocacy group for people affected by urea cycle disorders (UCDs), today announced the launch of a two-year national project to establish the multistakeholder NUCDF Partner Network and develop a roadmap for future research in these rare disorders. The project is funded through the Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program, an initiative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Urea cycle disorders (UCDs) are eight related genetic disorders of protein metabolism that can lead to high ammonia resulting in coma, brain damage, ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Credit scores of corporate executives may reveal their decisions

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The personal credit scores of top-level corporate executives can help explain their decision making in the corporate environment, at least when it involves evaluating risk, a new study suggests. Researchers at The Ohio State University conducted an experiment with a national sample of high-level executives and found that those with subprime credit scores tended to be “yes persons” – even when it was counterproductive. In contrast, executives with prime ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Salk Institute scientist Deepshika Ramanan named Rita Allen Foundation Scholar

LA JOLLA (June 18, 2025)—Salk Assistant Professor Deepshika Ramanan has been named a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, a distinction given to early-career leaders in the biomedical sciences whose research holds exceptional promise for revealing new pathways to advance human health. "Shika’s exceptional talent, determination, collaborative spirit, and mentorship skills make her a very deserving recipient of this award,” says Salk President Gerald Joyce. “Her bold approach to important but underappreciated topics in immunology is likely ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

To encourage scientific thinking, it is better to instruct than to reward

People are generally very good at detecting cause-effect relationships. This ability helps us understand the world, learn, make decisions, and predict the future. In short, it helps us adapt and survive. In fact, we are so good at spotting causal patterns that sometimes we find connections that don't really exist. As a result, we fall into the so-called causal illusion, i.e., we mistakenly believe that one event causes another, when, in fact, both are unrelated. A typical example occurs in the field of health when we assume that a pseudoscientific treatment is effective (therefore, ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Sevenfold boost in lifespan of anode-free all-solid-state batteries using MoS₂ thin films

South Korean researchers have developed a technology that improves the lifespan of next-generation anode-free all-solid-state batteries (AFASSBs) by sevenfold using a cost-effective two-dimensional material. A collaborative team led by Dr. Ki-Seok An and Dr. Dong-Bum Seo of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), along with Prof. Sangbaek Park’s group at Chungnam National University, successfully enhanced the durability of AFASSBs by applying a molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) sacrificial layer grown via metal–organic chemical vapor deposition ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Father-daughter bonding helps female baboons live longer

Besides humans, very few mammals receive care from their fathers. But when species do, it may benefit their children. New research from the University of Notre Dame found that the strength of early-life father-daughter relationships predicts meaningful differences in the survival of female baboons. Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study evaluated the impact father baboons may have when they choose to co-reside or interact with their daughters, even though baboon mothers provide all essential care. Until now, the consequences of early-life paternal relationships of offspring were mostly unknown. “Male baboons tend ...

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Science18 Jun 2025

Puberty blockers do not cause problems with sexual functioning in transgender adults

During puberty, all kinds of hormonal changes take place in the body, which lead to the development of external sexual characteristics, such as breast growth, a lower voice or body hair growth. For transgender young people, who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth, these are often undesirable changes, which can be very drastic. Puberty blockers can temporarily halt these developments and give young people time to explore their gender identity. Although puberty blockers have been proven to contribute to the mental well-being of transgender young people, little is known about the influence of puberty blockers on sexual satisfaction and sexual problems later ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

New hormonal pathway links oxytocin to insulin secretion in the pancreas

“Although the detailed mechanism for the stimulation of intra-islet GLP-1 secretion remains to be elucidated and further studies are required, as far as we know, our present study is the first to report the effect of Oxt on inducing intra-islet GLP-1 secretion.” BUFFALO, NY — June 17, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 5, on May 1, 2025, titled “Oxytocin modulates insulin and GLP-1 secretion in pancreatic islets.” In this study, scientists from Fukushima Medical ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Optimal management of erosive esophagitis: An evidence-based and pragmatic approach

gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a prevalent gastrointestinal disorder, with up to 20% of patients developing complications like Erosive esophagitis (EE), Barrett’s esophagus, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. EE, characterized by mucosal necrosis and erosions, presents with symptoms ranging from heartburn to dysphagia and gastrointestinal bleeding. Despite effective pharmacologic treatments, 15% of patients exhibit refractory disease. This review synthesizes current evidence to guide clinicians in diagnosing and managing EE, balancing pharmacologic ...

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