Science
press releases.

Science16 Apr 2025

From disorder to order: scientists rejuvenate aging batteries

A team of scientists led by Prof. LIU Zhaoping at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Chicago and other institutions, has developed zero thermal expansion (ZTE) materials. This innovation has achieved nearly 100% voltage recovery in aging lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), as detailed in a study published in Nature. LIBs have become increasingly essential in the markets for electric vehicles and aircraft. Lithium-rich layered oxide cathode materials can deliver record capacities exceeding 300 mAh/g, thanks to revolutionary oxygen-redox (OR) ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Metabolism shapes life

New research from Barcelona and Dresden: Glycolysis — the process of converting sugar into energy — plays a key role in early development. More than fuel: Glycolysis doesn’t just power cells — it helps steer them toward specific tissue types at critical moments in development. Better embryo models: Stem-cell–based embryo models that rely on glycolysis form structures more similar to natural embryos. Predict and control development in a dish: These findings improve our ability to predict and control how stem-cell-based embryo models will develop, ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

New human “multi-zonal” liver organoids improve injury survival in rodents

One reason why our livers excel at clearing waste from our blood system is that the organ functions according to three key “zones” that perform specific major tasks. So, if scientists hope to create self-growing patches of liver organoid tissue that could help repair damaged organs, it’s important that the lab-grown tissue faithfully reproduce such zones. In a groundbreaking paper published April 16, 2025, in the prestigious journal Nature, a team of organoid medicine experts at Cincinnati Children’s reports achieving just such a milestone – made from human stem cells. When these humanized organoids were transplanted into rodents whose own liver-bile duct system ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Scientists achieve record-breaking growth in miniature, functional liver models

Replicating the liver’s complexity While organoids aim to mimic human organs, the liver’s repertoire of complex functions – and thus the energy it needs to operate – have made it challenging for researchers to grow organoids that proliferate and fully function, says Sato. When prioritizing growth and survival in laboratory settings, hepatocytes, the liver’s main cells, eventually transformed into cells resembling cholangiocytes, which line the bile duct. Hepatocyte functions only lasted 1-2 weeks at most. The study team, led by Ryo Igarashi and Mayumi Oda at the Keio University School of Medicine, ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Nurturing now, thriving later: The lasting power of affectionate mothering

Affectionate mothering in childhood may have a lasting impact on important personality traits, potentially influencing life outcomes such as educational achievement, economic success, and health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The findings suggest that positive maternal parenting could foster important traits such as openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. “Personality traits are strong predictors of important life outcomes, from academic and career success to health and well-being,” ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Term or permanent life insurance? A new study offers guidance

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study offers clarity on one of the most common questions asked of financial professionals: Is term or permanent life insurance right for me? Researchers at The Ohio State University conducted a study of how different life insurance product types were related to whether households had adequate financial resources if an income earner died. They didn’t compare permanent and term life insurance directly, but they calculated how likely households with different life ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

The most distant twin of the Milky Way ever observed

An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy candidate known to date. This ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang and already shows a remarkably mature structure, with a central old bulge, a large star-forming disk, and well-defined spiral arms. The discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and offers important insights into how galaxies can form and evolve so rapidly in the early Universe. The ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

For a while, crocodile

Most people think of crocodylians as living fossils— stubbornly unchanged, prehistoric relics that have ruled the world’s swampiest corners for millions of years. But their evolutionary history tells a different story, according to new research led by the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and the University of Utah. Crocodylians are surviving members of a 230-million-year lineage called crocodylomorphs, a group that includes living crocodylians (i.e. crocodiles, alligators and gharials) and their many extinct ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Scientists find evidence that overturns theories of the origin of water on Earth

Images available via link in the notes section University of Oxford researchers have helped overturn the popular theory that water on Earth originated from asteroids bombarding its surface; Scientists have analysed a meteorite analogous to the early Earth to understand the origin of hydrogen on our planet. The research team demonstrated that the material which built our planet was far richer in hydrogen than previously thought. The findings, which support the theory that the formation of habitable conditions on Earth did not rely on asteroids ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Little birds’ personalities shine through their song – and may help find a mate

In birds, singing behaviours play a critical role in mating and territory defence. Although birdsong can signal individual quality and personality, very few studies have explored the relationship between individual personality and song complexity, and none has investigated this in females, say Flinders University animal behaviour experts. They have examined the relationships between song complexity and two personality traits (exploration and aggressiveness) in wild superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) in Australia, a species in which both sexes learn to produce complex songs. “Regardless of their sex ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

Primate mothers display different bereavement response to humans

Macaque mothers experience a short period of physical restlessness after the death of an infant, but do not show typical human signs of grief, such as lethargy and appetite loss, finds a new study by UCL anthropologists. Published in Biology Letters, the researchers found that bereaved macaque mothers spent less time resting (sleep, restful posture, relaxing) than the non-bereaved females in the first two weeks after their infants’ deaths. Researchers believe this physical restlessness could represent an initial period of ‘protest’ among the bereaved macaque mothers, similar ...

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Science16 Apr 2025

New pollen-replacing food for honey bees brings new hope for survival

PULLMAN, Wash., -- Scientists have unveiled a new food source designed to sustain honey bee colonies indefinitely without natural pollen. Published April 16 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research from Washington State University and APIX Biosciences NV in Wingene, Belgium details successful trials where nutritionally stressed colonies, deployed for commercial crop pollination in Washington state, thrived on the new food source. This innovation, which resembles the man-made diets ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Single mid-afternoon preventer inhaler dose may be best timing for asthma control

A single daily preventer dose of inhaled corticosteroid (beclomethasone), taken mid afternoon, may be the best timing for effective asthma control as it suppresses the usual nocturnal worsening of symptoms more effectively than dosing regimens at other times of the day, suggest the results of a small clinical trial published in the journal Thorax. If the findings are confirmed in larger studies, this approach may lead to better clinical outcomes for patients without increasing unwanted steroidal ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Rapid rise in vaping in Britain has stalled

The study, published in the journal Addiction and funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at survey data on vaping habits in England, Wales and Scotland before and after the UK Government announced plans to restrict vaping, including by banning disposable vapes, in January 2024. The team found that the proportion of people vaping increased by nearly a quarter each year from January 2022 to January 2024, but stayed constant between January 2024 and January this year, including for young people. After January 2024, they also found a substantial decline in the proportion of vapers mainly using disposable e-cigarettes. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, the proportion ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Young minds, big ideas: Florida’s first Invention Convention ignites innovation at USF

TAMPA, Fla. (April 15, 2025) – The University of South Florida recently hosted the inaugural Invention Convention Florida at the University of South Florida, an event noted for showcasing the creativity and problem-solving of the next generation of changemakers. Moere than 150 K–12 student inventors from across the state visited USF’s Tampa campus on April 12 to present original solutions to real-world challenges ranging environmental issues to everyday inconveniences. Invention Convention Florida, ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

New study reveals how to make prescribed forest fires burn safer and cleaner

Prescribed burns literally fight fire with more fire. Often referred to as a “beneficial fire,” they target areas at risk for wildfires and burn away material that could otherwise fuel a future blaze. However, all fires, whether accidental or planned, produce smoke that can cause health and respiratory issues, especially in nearby communities. Burning fires release harmful chemicals, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), that are carcinogenic – PAHs can cause cancer, lung damage, and lead to weakened immunity in those who inhale smoke. Recently, in a study published in Atmospheric ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Holy shift: More Americans finding faith outside church

ITHACA, N.Y. – A "remarkable" transformation is underway in American religious life, new Cornell-led research finds: Large numbers are leaving organized religion – not in favor of secular rationality, but to pursue spirituality in ways that better align with their individual values. This reimagining of religion outside traditional institutions fits within broader social changes that have prioritized individual fulfilment and “finding” oneself, including shifting views about gender and sexuality and the rise of the internet. Spanning political views, it also reflects a revolt against ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

A bowling revolution: Modeling the perfect conditions for a strike

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2025 – With millions of dollars at stake across tournaments and more than 45 million regular annual participants, bowling continues to reign as a top sport in the U.S. A unified model that predicts how a bowling ball behaves down the lane, however, remains elusive. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Princeton, MIT, the University of New Mexico, Loughborough University, and Swarthmore College share a model that identifies the optimal location for bowling ball placement. Employing a system of ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Simulate sound in 3D at a finer scale than humans can perceive

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2025 – Surround-sound speakers can immerse you in a multimedia experience, but what if there was a speaker that could completely re-create a three-dimensional soundscape? The AudioDome is more than just a loudspeaker arrangement — it’s a dome of speakers that can create an immersive sound experience that reproduces sound sources at any location when the listener is placed in the middle. In JASA, published on behalf of the Acoustical Society of America by AIP Publishing, researchers ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Pitt researchers release Phage images with unprecedented detail

Researchers at Pitt have produced the most detailed image to date of a bacteriophage–phage for short–that has allowed them to see for the first time the structural makeup of the part of the phage that directly attaches to its target Mycobacterium cell. “Now you've got like a spec sheet for going in and designing phages so that they’ll bind to different kinds of cells,” said Graham Hatfull, the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. That’s important because of what a phage, which is a kind of virus, does after it binds to a bacterial cell: it pierces a hole in the cell membrane and injects ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Gene variant linked to benign prostate hyperplasia risk in Lebanese men

“Our results indicate a strong association between certain genotypes of the SNP -765 G>C of the PTGS2 gene and BPH.” BUFFALO, NY – April 15, 2025 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget, Volume 16, on April 4, 2025, titled “Association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms of the Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase 1 and 2 genes and cell proliferative prostatic diseases in Lebanon.” The team of researchers led by first author Brock J. Sheehan and corresponding author Ruhul H. Kuddus, from Utah Valley University, discovered that a specific genetic variation ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Teoxane announces new study reinforcing the biocompatibility, safety and efficacy of RHA®4 in dynamic facial support

Teoxane reinforces its commitment to scientific innovation with the publication of a new study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open, providing robust preclinical and clinical evidence on the safety, biocompatibility, and performance of RHA®4* in midface augmentation. The study confirms that RHA®4[1], a resilient hyaluronic acid filler designed for dynamic facial areas[2],[3], integrates harmoniously within subcutaneous adipose tissue, preserving its natural biomechanics while delivering effective volume restoration. ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

Study identifies U.S. hotspots for drinking water quality violations and lack of access to safe, clean water

Herndon, VA, March 25, 2025 -- About two million people in the United States lack access to running water or indoor plumbing in their homes. Another 30 million people live where drinking water systems violate safety rules. Water privatization -- the transfer of public water systems ownership and/or management to private companies -- has been proposed as a potential solution to provide more Americans with safe, clean drinking water. But opponents argue that private companies may prioritize profits over public needs. To investigate how ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

A tale of two hummingbird bills

There are two species of streamertail hummingbirds on the island of Jamaica, West Indies—one with red-billed males (Trochilus polytmus) and the other with black-billed males (T. scitulus). This is a puzzling situation, as many evolutionary biologists have argued that avian speciation is unlikely to occur on small oceanic islands. Caroline Duffie Judy and colleagues investigated the hybrid zone that separates the two species, which is as narrow as 3.2 km. The authors analyzed 186 Trochilus specimens from 12 ...

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Science15 Apr 2025

SynGAP Research Fund (SRF), dba Cure SYNGAP1, announces Board of Trustees Update 2025

Mill Valley, CA – April 15, 2025 – SynGAP Research Fund (SRF), dba Cure SYNGAP1, the leading patient advocacy group dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by SYNGAP1-related disorders (SRD), today announced the appointment of Jaime Aranda, Steve Gore, Heather Mestemaker, and Brian Smith to its Board of Trustees, effective April 15, 2025. They will succeed outgoing Trustees Emily Barnes, Sydney Stelmaszek, and Stella Tavilla, whose terms conclude on April 14, 2025. Additionally, a seat previously held by Pavel Gerovich, who stepped ...

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