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press releases.

Science27 May 2025

Tip Sheet Summaries May/June 2025

Editorial To Improve Screenings With Technology, Focus on People First Background: This issue of Annals of Family Medicine includes four original studies that illustrate valuable concepts to consider when incorporating technology in screening to improve early detection and management of disease. Editorial Stance: These studies highlight the importance of centering any digital health intervention on the patient’s specific clinical needs. The authors emphasize that digital tools work best when they work with, rather than replace, clinicians. Additionally, the authors stress that we must ...

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Science27 May 2025

Employees assigned more complex projects early in their work history had better outcomes later in their careers

Employees’ early work experiences in an organization can significantly affect their socialization. Much of the research on this topic has documented how certain organization-wide practices succeed or fail in making newcomers so-called good citizens, but little is known about how different early experiences lead to varied socialization outcomes. In a new study, researchers examined the impact of early project team assignments on newcomers’ career kickoffs. They found that those assigned to more complex projects during this phase had better outcomes later in their careers. The study, ...

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Science27 May 2025

Researchers unveil epigenetic mechanism of cold adaptation in rice

Chinese researchers recently uncovered molecular evidence supporting Lamarckism—a long-debated theory from the early 19th century that acquired characteristics can be inherited. The evidence was revealed in a new study by scientists from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which deciphered the evolutionary patterns of cold adaptation during rice's northward expansion. The study was published on May 22 in Cell. Led by Prof. CAO Xiaofeng, the researchers demonstrated that DNA methylation—a form of epigenetic variation ...

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Science27 May 2025

Hitting the right notes to play music by ear

Learning to play music by ear is challenging for most musicians, but research from a team at the University of Waterloo may help musicians-in-training find the right notes. The Waterloo team analyzed a range of YouTube videos that focused on learning music by ear and identified four simple ways music learning technology can better aid prospective musicians – helping people improve recall while listening, limiting playback to small chunks, identifying musical subsequences to memorize, and replaying notes indefinitely. “There ...

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Science27 May 2025

High-speed binary phase-engraved superpixels improve complex light modulation

Complex modulation of optical fields (i.e., the control of light’s amplitude and phase) is vital to the application of lasers in diverse fields, such as optical communication, three-dimensional display, biomedical imaging, and astronomy. Yet, despite dazzling progress seen by applications of complex field modulation (CFM), improvements to technical capabilities such as accuracy, speed, and versatility remain highly in demand. Key to the overall performance of CFM technologies are spatial light modulators (SLMs): advanced devices that provide two-dimensional arrays of electronically addressable pixels whose optical properties can be independently controlled to ...

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Science27 May 2025

Oldest whale bone tools discovered

Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a study conducted by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University of British Columbia. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable insight into the marine ecology of the time. Whales, the largest animals on Earth, were an important ...

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Science27 May 2025

Study: Emotional responses crucial to attitudes about self-driving cars

PULLMAN, Wash. -- When it comes to public attitudes toward using self-driving cars, understanding how the vehicles work is important—but so are less obvious characteristics like feelings of excitement or pleasure and a belief in technology’s social benefits. Those are key insights of a new study from researchers at Washington State University, who are examining attitudes toward self-driving cars as the technology creeps toward the commercial market—and as questions persist about whether people will readily adopt them. The study, published in the journal Transportation Research, ...

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Science27 May 2025

In dry conditions, locust babies are born with their first lunch

Locusts have undersized babies—with their first lunch already in their guts—in dry conditions. Desert locusts have two distinct modes—solitary and gregarious—that are behaviorally and visibly different. The insects also live in the Sahara desert, an environment with frequent dry conditions. Koutaro Ould Maeno and colleagues explored how a lack of moisture and the presence of other locusts shift reproductive resource allocation in the insects. In lab experiments, the authors raised locusts in crowds and in isolation. Crowd-reared females produced fewer, larger eggs than females raised in ...

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Science27 May 2025

Chronic renal failure: Discovery of a crucial biomarker

In a world first, Canadian scientists at the CRCHUM, the hospital research centre affiliated with Université de Montréal, have identified microRNA able to protect small blood vessels and support kidney function after severe injury. For the four million people diagnosed with chronic renal failure in Canada—and millions more abroad—this scientific advancement could have a major impact on early diagnosis and prevention of the disease. Previously, there was no known reliable biomarker for evaluating the health of these capillaries and for developing ...

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Science27 May 2025

Study quantifies the sleep loss and disruption experienced by new mothers

DARIEN, IL – A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting quantifies the amount of sleep loss experienced by first-time mothers in the weeks after giving birth and is the first to identify the unique type of sleep disruption that persists throughout the first months of motherhood. Results show that the average daily sleep duration of new mothers was 4.4 hours during the first week after giving birth compared with a pre-pregnancy sleep duration of 7.8 hours. Their longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep also fell from 5.6 hours at pre-pregnancy to 2.2 hours in the first week after delivery. Nearly one-third of participants (31.7%) went more than 24 hours without sleep ...

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Science27 May 2025

Location matters: Belly fat compared to overall body fat more strongly linked to psoriasis risk

Philadelphia, May 27, 2025 – Researchers have found that central body fat, especially around the abdomen, is more strongly linked to psoriasis risk than total body fat, particularly in women. This link between central fat and psoriasis remained consistent regardless of genetic predisposition, indicating that abdominal fat is an independent risk factor. The study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier, provides insights that could help improve early risk prediction and guide personalized prevention strategies. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that can have a significant impact on quality of life. Many individuals with psoriasis also ...

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Science26 May 2025

New guideline focused on managing hypertension in primary care

A new guideline to diagnose and treat hypertension is aimed at helping primary care clinicians, including family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists, manage the disease. The new guideline, the first of 2 from Hypertension Canada, is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.241770, and will be republished with permission in Canadian Family Physician and Canadian Pharmacists Journal, with a summary in Canadian Nurse. Hypertension is the most common modifiable risk factor for heart disease and death, affecting about 1 in 4 adults in Canada. Canada has been a ...

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Science25 May 2025

A root development gene that’s older than root development

A gene that regulates the development of roots in vascular plants is also involved in the organ development of liverworts — land plants so old they don’t even have proper roots. The Kobe University discovery highlights the fundamental evolutionary dynamic of co-opting, evolving a mechanism first and adopting it for a different purpose later. When scientists discover that a gene is necessary for the development of a trait, they are quick to ask since when this gene has been involved in this and how the evolution of the gene has ...

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Science25 May 2025

Research reveals missed opportunities to save George Floyd’s life

The murder of George Floyd could have been avoided if police had responded to the concerns of bystanders reveals research led by Lancaster University. George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25 2020. For the first time, psychologists have analysed 12 videos recorded on the body-worn cameras of the attending officers, the smartphones of bystanders and local CCTV cameras from 19:55 until 20:42 (CST) on the date of his death. Their research published in American Psychologist examines the range of verbal and physical ...

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Science25 May 2025

HKUST discovers novel elastic alloy achieving 20x temperature change and 90% carnot efficiency in solid-state heat pumping

Researchers at the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed a novel elastic alloy called Ti₇₈Nb₂₂, which achieves remarkable efficiency for solid-state heat pumping and exhibits a reversible temperature change (ΔT) ability that is 20 times greater than that of conventional metals when stretched or compressed, offering a promising green alternative to traditional vapor-compression heating and cooling technologies. Nearly half of the world’s energy is consumed for heating, including district heating in the building sector and process heating in various industrial sectors. Currently, global heat ...

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Science23 May 2025

Assembly instructions for enzymes

In biology, enzymes have evolved over millions of years to drive chemical reactions. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) now derived universal rules to enable the de novo design of optimal enzymes. As an example, they considered the enzymatic reaction of breaking a dimer into two monomer molecules. Considering the geometry of such an enzyme-substrate-complex, they identified three golden rules that should be considered to build a functional enzyme. First, the interface of both enzyme and molecule should be located at their respective smaller end. This way, a strong coupling between both of them ...

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Science23 May 2025

Flowers unfold with surprising precision, despite unruly genes

Flowers grow stems, leaves and petals in a perfect pattern again and again. A new Cornell study shows that even in this precise, patterned formation in plants, gene activity inside individual cells is far more chaotic than it appears from the outside. This finding has important implications for plant engineering, where scientists design artificial gene switches to control growth or behavior. Understanding how plants manage genetic “noise” could also inform research in other fields, from synthetic ...

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Science23 May 2025

Daytime boosts immunity, scientists find

Embargoed to 14:00 (2:00 pm) US Eastern Time Friday, 23 May 2025 or NZT 06:0 6am Saturday 24 May 2025: A breakthrough study, led by scientists at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, has uncovered how daylight can boost the immune system’s ability to fight infections. The team focused on the most abundant immune cells in our bodies, called ‘neutrophils’, which are a type of white blood cell. These cells move quickly to the site of an infection and kill invading bacteria. The researchers used zebrafish, a small freshwater fish, as a model organism, because its genetic ...

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Science23 May 2025

Charge radius of Helium-3 measured with unprecedented precision

A research team led by Professor Randolf Pohl from the Institute of Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has achieved a significant breakthrough in determining fundamental properties of atomic nuclei. For the first time, the team conducted laser spectroscopy experiments on muonic helium-3 at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. Muonic helium-3 is a special form of helium in which the atom’s two electrons are replaced by a single, much heavier muon. Yesterday, the results ...

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Science23 May 2025

Global, regional, and national burden of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage

About The Study: Although the global age-standardized burden rates of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) more than halved over the last 3 decades, SAH remained one of the most common cardiovascular and neurological causes of death and disabilities in the world, with increasing absolute case numbers. These findings suggest evidence for the potential health benefits of proactive public health planning and resource allocation toward the prevention of SAH. Nontraumatic SAH represents the third most common stroke type after ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage, accounting for 5% to ...

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Science23 May 2025

Kyoto conundrum: More hotels than households exist in ancient capital

While moderate touristification can bring economic benefits to cities, overtourism has adverse social effects on residents and visitors. To prevent this, it is necessary to understand the disrupted balance between tourist accommodations and residential housing. Junior Associate Professor Haruka Kato investigated the spatial patterns and geographic characteristics of tourism-accommodation hotspots in proximity to tourist locations in Kyoto, one of the most famous tourist cities in the world. In this study, the tourism-accommodation intensity index was calculated using the ratio of the number of accommodation rooms to that of households. The results revealed that ...

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Science23 May 2025

Study reveals influence behind illegal bear bile consumption in Việt Nam

SAN DIEGO (May 22, 2025) – A new scientific study led by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance researchers sheds light on the social dynamics that drive the continued consumption of bear bile in Việt Nam, revealing that gift-giving among close social networks plays a crucial role in sustaining demand. The findings suggest that conservation efforts could be more effective if they focus on shifting behaviors within influential social groups rather than broad public awareness campaigns. Bear bile, extracted from the gallbladders of Asiatic black bears and sun ...

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Science22 May 2025

Early testing could make risky falls a thing of the past for elderly people

As we get older, our bodies stop performing as they once did. We aren’t as strong as we once were, we don’t see as well as we used to and we start becoming less mobile. These changes inevitably lead to almost a third of people over the age 65 falling each year, resulting in injuries and occasionally death. In the United States alone, it costs the healthcare system billions of dollars annually. However, while aging is a certainty, falling may be preventable. ‘One big challenge is that small balance impairments can go unnoticed until someone actually falls. So, we wanted to ask: Can we detect these impairments before someone gets hurt?’ explains Jiaen ...

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Science22 May 2025

Even weak tropical cyclones raise infant mortality in poorer countries, USC-led research finds

Tropical cyclones, including storms below hurricane and typhoon strength, were associated with a sharp rise in infant mortality in low- and middle-income countries during the first two decades of this century, according to new research published in Science Advances. The findings point to a critical need for stronger disaster response and child health protections in vulnerable regions, especially as climate change increases the frequency and severity of these storms. Infants in these regions exposed to tropical cyclones before they were born ...

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Science22 May 2025

New ketamine study promises extended relief for depression

Roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population is afflicted with major depressive disorder at any given time, and up to 20 percent will exhibit MDD symptoms over their lifetimes. Yet despite its prevalence, methods to treat MDD often fall short for a not-insignificant portion of the population. Antidepressants—the standard of treatment—don’t work for 30 percent with MDD. When infused at a low dose ketamine shows remarkable efficacy as a rapidly acting antidepressant, with effects observed within hours even in patients who have been resistant to other ...

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