Science
press releases.

Science17 Jun 2025

Living near harmful algal blooms reduces life expectancy with ALS

Living close to cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms — which are present nationwide but are more common in coastal and Great Lake states — heightens the rate of dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a study suggests. These blooms occur when cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, grows dense and out of control, producing toxic agents that can poison people and the environment. Researchers at Michigan Medicine surveyed participants with ALS who were seen at the University ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Chemical analysis of polyphenolic content and antioxidant screening of 17 African propolis samples using RP-HPLC and spectroscopy

Background and objectives Propolis is a resinous material produced by honeybees. Its chemical composition is highly complex and varies significantly depending on geographic region and season. This intrinsic variability presents challenges to the standardization and quality control of propolis. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition, total phenolic content, and antioxidant potential of propolis collected from seventeen geographical regions across Africa. Methods A reverse-phase high-performance ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Suicide risk elevated among young adults with disabilities

Suicide remains one of the most pressing public health crises affecting young adults today, with devastating consequences. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is currently the third leading cause of death among individuals aged 18 to 25, with a 51% increase in suicide deaths between 2000 and 2021. While this trend is deeply concerning for the general population, it is even more alarming for young adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) – a group long overlooked in suicide prevention efforts. Research ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Safeguarding Mendelian randomization: editorial urges rethink in methodological rigor

In recent years, Mendelian randomisation (MR) has revolutionised observational epidemiology by offering a tool to infer causal relationships using genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs). However, its popularity has come at a cost. The editorial by Chen, Guillot, and Schneider in eGastroenterology (2025) titled "Attention to the misuse of Mendelian randomisation in medical research" delivers a timely critique of the field's current trajectory. As MR studies surge, so too do concerns about their quality and interpretive validity. The authors call for stricter methodological scrutiny and offer practical recommendations ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

4 ERC Advanced Grants: 10 million Euro for ISTA

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) in Klosterneuburg receives over 10 million Euro by the European Research Council (ERC). Four research projects – in astrophysics, neuroscience, brain imaging, and math – were awarded around 2.5 million Euro each in the form of a competitive ERC Advanced Grant. ISTA is one of the most successful institutions at winning grants from this EU funding body. The European Research Council awards Advanced Grants to “active researchers who have a track-record of significant research achievements.” They are awarded for a period of up to 5 years and for up to 2.5 ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

ERC awards €2.5 million to TIGEM scientist for project on programmable genetic circuits

The future of gene therapy is arriving in the form of intelligent genetic circuits. Diego di Bernardo, Genomic Medicine Program Coordinator at the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II,” has been awarded a prestigious €2.5 million ERC Advanced Grant for DIMERCIRCUITS — a project that merges synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and biomedical engineering to transform how we ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Tree rings reveal increasing rainfall seasonality in the Amazon

Scientists have used clues locked into tree rings to reveal major changes in the Amazon’s rainfall cycle over the last 40 years: wet seasons are getting wetter and dry seasons drier. Oxygen isotope signals in rings from two Amazon tree species allowed the international research team to reconstruct seasonal changes in rainfall for the recent past. Publishing their findings today (17 June) in Communications Earth and Environment, the researchers reveal that wet season rainfall has increased by 15 - 22%, and dry season rainfall decreased by 5.8 - 13.5% since 1980. The study is a result of a collaboration ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Scientists find unexpected deep roots in plants

Plants and trees extend their roots into the earth in order to draw nutrients and water from the soil—however, these roots are thought to decline as they move deeper underground. But a new study by a multi-institutional team of scientists shows that many plants develop a second, deeper layer of roots—often more than three feet underground—to access additional nourishment. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study reveals previously unrecognized rooting patterns, altering our understanding of how ecosystems respond to changing environmental conditions. More importantly, the study suggests that plants might transport and store fixed carbon deeper than ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Tarantulas bend rules to keep running after losing two legs

It might be hard to imagine, but dropping a limb or two is routine for spiders. If moulting goes wrong or a leg gets stuck, the pragmatic arachnids simply detach the limb just beyond the body joint. Then it regrows within a month when they are young. But how do impaired spiders cope when suddenly relieved of a couple of limbs? Capturing dinner and evading predators could become an issue. However, going down from eight to six legs might not be a problem if spiders are adaptable. Maybe they relearn how to manoeuvre on just ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

Illuminated changes: Enhancing D-lactic acid output with UV irradiation

Amid concerns over rising petroleum prices and resource depletion, organic compounds such as methanol are attracting attention as potential replacements. Though this bodes well in theory, the production of raw materials from methanol relies on costly chemical processes. An energy-saving, bio-based process is necessary for fully tapping into this resource. To make this a reality, Associate Professor Ryosuke Yamada’s team at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Engineering has developed a Komagataella phaffii (K. phaffii) yeast strain that can efficiently produce D-lactic acid, a raw material for ...

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Science17 Jun 2025

LEGO improves maths and spatial ability in the classroom

A simple classroom activity involving a classic childhood staple, LEGO, could improve children’s maths and spatial ability, leading researchers to demand for policymakers to shake up the school curricula and teachers’ professional development. A new study, led by the University of Surrey, tested incorporating LEGO building into the daily teaching curriculum, leading to tangible improvements and boosting abilities for students aged six to seven. The study, which involved 409 children from schools in Surrey and Portsmouth, demonstrated ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Despite overall progress, low birthweight rates still high in certain Indian states

Despite overall progress in bringing down low birthweight numbers across India over the past 30 years, rates remain stubbornly high in certain states, with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, accounting for almost half of all such births, finds research published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. Low birthweight is important, because it often signals underlying maternal health issues and poor nutrition as well as the child’s future cognitive development and susceptibility to chronic conditions in later life, note ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Evolution made us cheats, now free-riders run the world and we need to change, new book warns

University of Cambridge media release Evolution made us cheats, now free-riders run the world and we need to change, new book warns UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 17TH JUNE 2025 To save democracy and solve the world's biggest challenges, we need to get better at spotting and exposing people who exploit human cooperation for personal gain, argues Cambridge social scientist Dr Jonathan Goodman. In Invisible Rivals, published by Yale University Press today, Dr Goodman ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Long-term study reveals Native seeding controls annual, but not perennial, invasive plants in sand grassland restoration

The HUN-REN, CER-IEB Restoration Ecology Research Group monitored vegetation changes over 17-25 years across eight restoration sites, subject to different restoration interventions: seeding with native species, mowing, and carbon amendment. The goal was to understand how these treatments influence the abundance of annual and perennial invasive alien plants over time, and how abundance of invasive species in a 100 m buffer affects invasion dynamics at restoration sites. The results were promising for annual invaders. In most cases, their cover declined over time, especially when native seeding was applied. Seeding proved to be the most ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Exposure to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water linked to lower birthweight, preterm birth, study finds

Babies born to mothers potentially exposed to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water—even at levels below the federal safety standard—were more likely to be born preterm, with lower birthweight, or be smaller than expected, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic in public water systems, this study examines how even lower-level arsenic exposures may still affect pregnancy outcomes in a large population. Previous research ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

More family doctors near retirement, raising concern about future of primary care

Kingston, ON, June 16, 2025 – A new ICES study has found that 1.74 million patients in Ontario are attached to family physicians aged 65 or older, and that many of those patients are elderly and have complex medical needs. The study, published in Canadian Family Physician, explored key trends in the characteristics of comprehensive family physicians (FPs)—those providing care for a broad range of ages and health needs—and the patients attached to them. The researchers found that for the first time, there was no growth of the comprehensive FP workforce, and an overall decline in the number of early career physicians (under 35 years old.) “A ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Clearing out the clutter: how people retain important information from memories

Removing information from memories may help people retain what they want to remember. Studies focus on how the brain removes information by subconsciously not paying attention to these details, but sometimes there is a need to consciously remove unneeded details from memories. This is especially true when details in a memory are perceptibly harmful and lead to, for example, people combating rumination, intrusive negative thoughts, or hallucinations. In a new JNeurosci paper, Jiangang Shan and Bradley Postle, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explored how the brain actively removes unneeded memory content. The researchers recorded the brain activity of nearly 30 ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

XXIX Brazilian Congress of Nutrology

The XXIX Brazilian Congress of Nutrology – CBN 2025 (link: https://abran.org.br/cbn2025/) promises to be a milestone in the health sector, being the main event dedicated to Nutrology in all of Latin America. This exceptional meeting will bring together renowned national and international experts, providing an environment conducive to the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge, the promotion of scientific innovation and the stimulation of integration among nutrology professionals. Scheduled for September 25, 26 and 27, CBN 2025 will take ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Life expectancy of American Indian and Alaska Native persons and underreporting of mortality in vital statistics

About The Study: This longitudinal cohort study found that large life expectancy differences between American Indian and Alaska Native individuals and other U.S. residents have been underestimated due to racial misclassification on death certificates, resulting in the statistical erasure of Indigenous people in routine vital statistics. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jacob Bor, SD, email jbor@bu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Official US records underestimate Native Americans deaths and life expectancy

A new study in JAMA reveals the “statistical erasure” of Indigenous Americans, finding that the gap between AI/AN life expectancy and the national average was 2.9 times greater than official vital statistics indicate. Death rates for American Indians’ and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are far higher than reported in official vital statistics, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher. Published in JAMA, the nationally representative study found that death certificates for at least 41 percent of AI/AN decedents failed to identify them as AI/AN, in most cases misreporting ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Exposure to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water linked to lower birthweight, preterm birth

Babies born to mothers potentially exposed to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water—even at levels below the federal safety standard—were more likely to be born preterm, with lower birthweight, or be smaller than expected, according to a study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. The findings are published in JAMA Network Open. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum contaminant level of 10 micrograms per liter for arsenic in public water systems, this study examines ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Andrea Ballabio, M.D., awarded Beth Levine, M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research from UT Southwestern

Italian medical geneticist Andrea Ballabio, M.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has devoted his career to elucidating the mechanisms underlying genetic diseases, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Beth Levine, M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research from UT Southwestern Medical Center. The $20,000 prize and lecture, established in honor of the late Dr. Levine, who was Director of UT Southwestern’s Center for Autophagy Research, is awarded biennially to exceptional scientists who have made significant contributions to the field of autophagy, ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

The genomic organization of ant superorganisms

Aristotle praised the political organization of ant colonies while ancient Chinese Daoists appreciated ants as illustrative symbols showing how ephemeral human ambitions and power are. Throughout historical and pre-historic times, ant-workers are likely to be the first insects that toddlers relate to when they crawl around on all four. Similar to so much else in biology, the first scientific understanding of ants goes back to Darwin, who spent many pages of the Origin of Species (1859) on these conspicuous social insects. Their very existence seemed to fly ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

High levels of troponin in athletes are not caused by narrowed coronary arteries

Exercising is healthy, but it also puts strain on the heart. During physical exertion, the protein troponin is released—a biomarker indicative of cardiac damage. New research from Radboudumc involving a thousand athletes shows that elevated troponin levels after exercise are not due to coronary atherosclerosis. This suggests that the cause of elevated troponin levels after exertion lies elsewhere. It’s a paradox: regular exercise is healthy and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, yet it also ...

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Science16 Jun 2025

Juvenile great hammerhead sharks rely on South Florida’s Biscayne Bay

An eight-year study highlights Biscayne Bay as a vital nursery and seasonal refuge for great hammerhead sharks, underscoring its importance across life stages and for long-term shark conservation. A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science finds that juvenile great hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna mokarran), a critically endangered species, rely heavily on the resources of Florida’s Biscayne Bay as a nursery habitat during their earliest and most vulnerable years. Nestled within the heart of the Miami metropolitan area, Biscayne Bay is a shallow, subtropical estuary known for its clear ...

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