Science
press releases.

Science14 Mar 2025

With bird flu in raw milk, many in U.S. still do not know risks of consuming it

PHILADELPHIA – Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) located H5N1 bird flu virus in samples of raw, or unpasteurized, milk in tests in four states in April 2024, and bird flu has been detected in commercially sold raw milk, many Americans do not know that consuming raw milk and its products poses greater health risks than consuming pasteurized milk and its products, especially for children. Consuming raw milk can expose one to Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Listeria, and Brucella – and, potentially, H5N1 bird flu. A majority of U.S. adults (56%) knows that drinking raw milk from cows, sheep, or goats is less safe than drinking pasteurized milk. ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

A closer look at biomolecular ‘silly putty’

Biomolecular condensates are shifting blobs in our cells that organize cellular matter. They are distinct molecular communities made of DNA, RNA and proteins that “condense” molecules to key locations, yet they frequently defy description. Partly this is because they are so small, they cannot be measured using traditional microscopes. “These blobs were once described as being ‘liquid-like’ because some of them were observed to kiss, fuse, drip and flow like raindrops on windshields,” said Rohit Pappu, Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

Oxytocin system of breastfeeding affected in mothers with postnatal depression

The oxytocin system – which helps release breast milk and strengthens the bond between mother and baby – may be affected during breastfeeding in mothers experiencing postnatal depression, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The new research, published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, investigated the link between maternal mood and the oxytocin pathway during breastfeeding, in mothers with and without symptoms of postnatal depression. Oxytocin is a hormone that is released in both the brain and body. It plays a central role in childbirth and breastfeeding, ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

Defensive firearm use is far less common than exposure to gun violence

Those with access to firearms rarely use their weapon to defend themselves, and instead are far more likely to be exposed to gun violence in other ways, according to a Rutgers Health study. An overwhelming majority of firearm users, or about 92%, indicated they never have used their weapons to defend themselves, with less than 1% say they did in the previous year, a new study by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center found. “Adults with firearm access are far more likely to be exposed to gun violence than they are to defend themselves with their firearms,” ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

Lifetime and past-year defensive gun use

About The Study: In this survey of adults with firearm access, defensive gun use (DGU) was rare relative to gun violence exposure. Perceived threats may not necessitate DGU, and given the association between DGU and gun violence exposure, the consequences of DGU may be substantial. Narratives centering DGU as a consideration in firearm policies may misstate the risk profile of firearm access. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Michael D. Anestis, PhD, email mda141@sph.rutgers.edu. To access the ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

Breaking free from dependence on rare resources! A domestic high-performance permanent magnet emerges!

The Nano Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), led by Dr. Tae-Hoon Kim and Dr. Jung-Goo Lee, has successfully developed a groundbreaking grain boundary diffusion process that enables the fabrication of high-performance permanent magnets without the use of expensive heavy rare earth elements. This pioneering technology, marks the world’s first achievement in this field. Permanent magnets are key components in various high-value-added products, including electric vehicle (EV) motors and robots. However, conventional permanent magnet manufacturing processes have been heavily dependent on ...

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Science14 Mar 2025

Violence is forcing women in Northern Ireland into homelessness, finds new report

Violence is trapping women across Northern Ireland in cycles of trauma and homelessness, with some facing further abuse in temporary accommodation, despite moving there to find a place of safety. The research from Heriot-Watt University and University of Edinburgh was commissioned by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and funded by the Oak Foundation. It is based on in-depth interviews with women with lived experience of violence over five areas of Northern Ireland. The areas include Belfast and Derry, one smaller urban area in County Down, and two more rural areas of County Antrim and County Fermanagh. The report also covers findings from focus groups with frontline workers ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Dramatic increase in research funding needed to counter productivity slowdown in farming

ITHACA, N.Y. – Climate change and flagging investment in research and development has U.S. agriculture facing its first productivity slowdown in decades. A new study estimates the public sector investment needed to reverse course. In the paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers model both the dampening effects of climate change on U.S. agriculture and the accelerating effects of publicly funded research and development (R&D) – and use the estimates to quantify the investment in research required to maintain agricultural productivity through 2050. They find that a 5% to 8% per year growth in research investment ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

How chemistry and force etch mysterious spiral patterns on solid surfaces

Key takeaways Curiosity about a mistake that left tiny dots on a germanium wafer with evaporated metal films led to the discovery of beautiful spiral patterns etched on the surface of the semiconductor by a chemical reaction. Further experiments showed that the patterns arise from chemical reactions that are coupled to mechanical forces through the deformation of a catalyzing agent. The new system is the first major advance in experimental methods to study chemical pattern formation since the 1950s. Studying these complex systems will help scientists understand other natural processes, from crack formation in materials to how stress ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Mesozoic mammals had uniform dark fur

The early mammals that lived alongside the dinosaurs upwards of 150 million years ago (mya) were likely covered in dark and dusky greyish-brown fur, according to a quantitative reconstruction of Mesozoic mammal coloration, hinting at their shrouded and nocturnal nature. The findings, drawn from a comparative analysis of fossilized melanosomes, provide insights into the ecology and evolutionary history of early mammals. From communication to camouflage, animal coloration plays an important role in numerous behavioral ecological ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

NIH’s flat 15% funding policy is misguided and damaging

The U.S. National Institutes of Health’s recent decision to impose a 15% cap on facilities and administrative (F&A) cost reimbursements threatens to undermine the quality and sustainability of university research by slashing indirect funding by $4 billion. In a Policy Forum, Jeongwon Choi and colleagues argue that this policy is fundamentally flawed, as it disregards the essential role of indirect costs, such as infrastructure, utilities, and administrative support, in enabling scientific research. The current system, governed by rigorous federal oversight and audits, ensures that F&A reimbursements are fair and necessary, varying across institutions based on actual costs. NIH’s ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Scientists solve decades-long Parkinson’s mystery

WEHI researchers have made a huge leap forward in the fight against Parkinson’s disease, solving a decades-long mystery that paves the way for development of new drugs to treat the condition. First discovered over 20 years ago, PINK1 is a protein directly linked to Parkinson’s disease – the fastest growing neurodegenerative condition in the world. Until now, no one had seen what human PINK1 looks like, how PINK1 attaches to the surface of damaged mitochondria, or how it is switched on. In ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

English translation of harnessing data for improved productivity: managing the full life cycle of data licensed at the London Book Fair

On March 11, 2025, at the China Collective Stand of the London Book Fair, Tsinghua University Press (TUP) and the University of Toronto Press (UTP) sign a licensing agreement for the English version of Harnessing Data for Improved Productivity: Managing the Full Life Cycle of Data. This collaboration is a big step forward in putting China’s data management innovations on the global map, showcasing the nation’s cutting-edge achievements through leading ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

US bird populations continue alarming decline, new report finds

ITHACA, NY.—The release of the 2025 U.S. State of the Birds report was announced today at the 90th annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The report, produced by a coalition of leading science and conservation organizations, reveals continued widespread declines in American bird populations across all mainland and marine habitats, with 229 species requiring urgent conservation action. The report comes five years after the landmark 2019 study that documented the loss of 3 ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Co-authored USF study identifies ‘surprising’ cause of sargassum blooms in Caribbean

TAMPA, Fla. (March 13, 2025) – The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has puzzled researchers since 2011. A recent study published in Nature Communications may have identified what drove a tipping point that established the phenomenon in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Using computer modeling, a team of international researchers demonstrated that sargassum blooms were brought to the tropics by strong ocean currents and wind and thrived in ideal growing conditions. Specifically, two consecutive years of a strong negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a shift in atmospheric pressure over the Atlantic that changes circulation and wind patterns, pushed sargassum into the tropics starting ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Retiring abroad puts older adults at risk for loneliness, study finds

Many people dream of retiring to a warmer, less expensive country. But retirees who move abroad may be at greater risk of loneliness than those who stay in their home country, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “International retirement migration is increasingly popular in Europe and around the world. On social media you see all the people in Europe sunbathing in Spain, American retirees are moving to Mexico and Japanese retirees to Malaysia,” said study lead author Esma Betül Savaş, MSc, of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographics Institute. “Although these retirement migrants generally ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

ENDO 2025 opens media registration

WASHINGTON—Members of the media can now register to cover hormone health and science advances at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. The meeting will take place July 12-15, in San Francisco, Calif. ENDO 2025 offers journalists the opportunity to discuss groundbreaking research with world-renowned experts in diverse fields, including obesity, diabetes, reproductive health, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, bone health and thyroid cancer. The meeting is the premier global conference in endocrinology research and clinical care. The event is expected to draw thousands of people from all over the world. This year’s program will feature ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Watching nature scenes can reduce pain, new study shows

A new neuroimaging study has revealed that viewing nature can help ease how people experience pain, by reducing the brain activity linked to pain perception. Published in the journal Nature Communications and led by a team from the University of Vienna and University of Exeter, the research offers a promising foundation for new types of non-pharmacological pain treatments. Using an fMRI scanner, researchers monitored the brain activity of 49 participants in Austria, as they received pain delivered through a series of small electric shocks. When they were watching videos of a natural scene compared to ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

Literary theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak named 2025 Holberg Prize Laureate

(BERGEN, Norway) – Today, the Holberg Prize—one of the largest international prizes awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology—named Indian scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak as its 2025 Laureate. Spivak is University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. She will receive the award of NOK 6,000,000 (approx. EUR 515,000) during a 5th June ceremony at the University of Bergen, Norway. Spivak is considered one of the most influential global intellectuals of our time, and she has shaped literary criticism and philosophy since the ...

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Science13 Mar 2025

The long wait for bees to return to restored grasslands

Recovered grasslands need more than 75 years of continuous management to regain their biodiversity because specialized pollinators are slow to return. Kobe University's finding underscores the importance of preserving old grasslands as reservoirs of biodiversity, even if it is just as ski slopes. Grasslands worldwide are rapidly disappearing due to land-use conversion and abandonment, leading to a well-documented loss of grassland biodiversity. Restoring abandoned grasslands by removing woody vegetation and resuming traditional land management practices has positive effects ...

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Science12 Mar 2025

Vocal changes in birds may predict age-related disorders in people, study finds

University of Arizona neuroscientists studying the brains of songbirds have found that aging alters the gene expressions that control the birds' song. The finding could lead to earlier diagnoses and better treatments for human neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, which are known to hinder vocal production in their early stages. The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, found that networks of interacting genes, in a region of the bird's ...

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Science12 Mar 2025

Dynamic acoustics of hand clapping, elucidated

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a scene toward the end of the 2006 film, “X-Men: The Last Stand,” a character claps and sends a shock wave that knocks out an opposing army. Sunny Jung, professor of biological and environmental engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was intrigued. “It made me curious about how the wave propagates when we clap our hands,” Jung said. Jung is senior author of a study, published March 11 in Physical Review Research, that elucidates the complex physical mechanisms and fluid dynamics involved in a handclap, with potential applications in bioacoustics ...

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Science12 Mar 2025

AAN, AES and EFA issue position statement on seizures and driving safety

MINNEAPOLIS — The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the Epilepsy Foundation of America (EFA) have issued a consensus position statement on seizures, driver licensure and medical reporting. The position statement is published on March 12, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). It was developed with the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee, a joint committee of the AAN, the American Neurological ...

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Science12 Mar 2025

Want to climb the leadership ladder? Try debate training

For those looking to climb the corporate ladder in the U.S., here’s an idea you might not have considered: debate training. According to a new research paper, people who learn the basics of debate are more likely to advance to leadership roles in U.S. organizations, compared to those who do not receive this training. One key reason is that being equipped with debate skills makes people more assertive in the workplace. “Debate training can promote leadership emergence and advancement by fostering individuals’ assertiveness, which is a key, valued leadership characteristic in U.S. organizations,” says MIT Associate Professor Jackson Lu, one of the scholars ...

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Science12 Mar 2025

China discovers terrestrial "Life oasis" from end-Permian mass extinction period

A new study reveals that a region in China's Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or "Life oasis" for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period. The research, published in Science Advances, challenges the widely held view that terrestrial ecosystems suffered the same catastrophic losses as marine environments during this period. The discovery, led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (NIGPAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides the first conclusive fossil evidence ...

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