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press releases.

Science26 Feb 2025

Study: Extreme heat may speed up aging in older adults

A new USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology study suggests greater exposure to extreme heat may accelerate biological aging in older adults, raising new concerns about how climate change and heat waves could affect long-term health and aging at the molecular level. People in neighborhoods that experience more days of high heat show greater biological aging on average than residents of cooler regions, said Jennifer Ailshire, senior author of the study and professor of gerontology and sociology at the USC Leonard Davis School. Biological age is a measure of how well the body functions at the molecular, cellular, and system ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

When the wild things are: URI team reports on mammalian daily activity with surprising results

KINGSTON, R.I. – Feb. 26, 2025 – Animal antics have captured public attention and viral views across the U.S. in the last few years with the advent of mini cameras that capture the movements of animals in front yards nationwide, from bear to deer. A University of Rhode Island-based group has taken the camera concept one step further and then some, generating a massive dataset of animal images, not for entertainment, but for science. When the Global Animal Diel Activity Project results were analyzed, researchers made some unique discoveries. Put together, researchers across the country and around the world generated a more focused picture of animal ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

UMCG perfusion technique for donor livers gets worldwide followings

The perfusion technique developed at UMCG to test the quality of donor livers led to a record number of liver transplants last year. Not only in Groningen, but throughout the Netherlands. Meanwhile, there is worldwide interest in this perfusion technique. Donor livers can only be stored outside the body for a short time, up to 6 to 10 hours. The organ must therefore get to the recipient as quickly as possible. As a result, transplants have always been under great time pressure. The UMCG has had an ‘Organ Preservation & ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Hidden allies

Endophytes: A plant’s friends or foes Endophytes are microorganisms that live inside plants. Some of these organisms, mostly bacteria or fungi, make the plants sick, while others have no harmful effect on the plants or are even beneficial. Previous studies of endophytic fungi living inside certain grasses have shown that these fungi provide the grasses with a defense against predators. However, little has been known about whether this is also true for trees. The current study investigated the influence of an endophytic fungus of the genus Cladosporium on the herbivore defense of the black poplar Populus nigra, as well as the effects on the insect communities that live on poplars. "We ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

MD Anderson Research Highlights for February 26, 2025

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Study identifies biomarkers for predicting treatment response in metastatic breast cancer Standard treatment for patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative (HR+/HER2-) ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Two papers by Walhout lab in Nature highlight novel metabolic principles

Two papers published today in the journal Nature describe a significant advance in understanding the complex functions of the metabolic network. The research is from the lab of Marian Walhout, PhD, the Maroun Semaan Chair in Biomedical Research and chair and professor of systems biology, which has been engaged with fundamental questions of metabolism for more than a decade. According to Dr. Walhout, organisms constantly monitor their nutrient intake and adjust their metabolism to generate biomass and energy; their ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Some fuel lodges in the inner walls of fusion vessels. Researchers now have a better idea of how much.

To develop a practical fusion power system, scientists need to fully understand how the plasma fuel interacts with its surroundings. The plasma is superheated, which means some of the atoms involved can strike the wall of the fusion vessel and become embedded. To keep the system working efficiently, it’s important to know how much fuel might be trapped. “The less fuel is trapped in the wall, the less radioactive material builds up,” said Shota Abe, a staff research physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Abe is the lead researcher on a new study published in Nuclear ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Bismuth-based catalysts: Promising candidates for electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 has been recognized as a promising strategy to convert ambient atmospheric CO2 into valuable products. Bismuth-based catalysts have garnered the widespread attention of researchers due to their cost-effectiveness, low toxicity, and high natural abundance. Significant progress has been made toward enhancing the reactivity of catalyst structures through innovative synthesis techniques and engineering. Advances include the use of flow cells and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) cells to attain high cathodic current densities of over 200 mA cm-2 with superior ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Novel photochromic glass can store rewritable 3D patterns

For decades researchers have been exploring how to store data in glass because of its potential to hold information for a long time — eons — without applying power. A special type of glass that changes color in different wavelengths of light, called photochromic glass, holds promise for stable, reusable data storage. Now, researchers have developed a doped photochromic glass that has the potential to store rewritable data indefinitely, according to research published in ACS Energy Letters. Certain types of ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

At your service: How older adults embrace demand-responsive transportation

In residential areas, where a growing number of older people live, the first- and last-mile mobility between their homes and bus stops has become a social problem. Older adults are encouraged to relinquish their licenses and rely on public transportation. Demand-responsive transport (DRT) has the potential to address this social problem. DRT is a mode of transportation that dispatches on demand to pick up and drop off passengers according to their needs. However, older adults’ lesser acceptance of digital solutions poses a challenge to this new system. Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Helium in the Earth's core

Researchers from Japan and Taiwan reveal for the first time that helium, usually considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under high pressures. They used a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to find this, and the discovery suggests there could be huge amounts of helium in the Earth’s core. This could challenge long-standing ideas about the planet’s internal structure and history, and may even reveal details of the nebula our solar system coalesced from. If you’ve ever seen a volcanic eruption and wondered what might be coming ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

Study: First female runner could soon break the 4-minute-mile barrier

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister pushed through the finishing tape at Iffley Road track in Oxford, England, and collapsed into the arms of friends after becoming the first human to run a mile in less than four minutes. “It was the running equivalent to summiting Mount Everest for the first time,” said University of Colorado Boulder Integrative Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. “Prior to Bannister, it was considered impossible—beyond the limits of human physiology.” Seven decades later, a female runner has yet to follow ...

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Science26 Feb 2025

UK Armed Forces servicewomen face unique set of hurdles for abortion access/care

UK Armed Forces servicewomen needing an abortion face a unique set of hurdles around access and care, as well as stigma and judgemental attitudes from senior (usually male) colleagues, indicates the first study of its kind, published online in the journal BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health. Although based on a relatively low response rate, the findings prompt the researchers to call for more information and policy on abortion provision, both for service personnel and military healthcare professionals. In the UK around 1 in 3 women ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Humans inherited their flexible joints from the earliest jawed fish

The efficient architecture of our joints, which allows our skeletons to be flexible and sturdy, originated among our most ancient jawed fish ancestors, according to a study published February 25th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Neelima Sharma of the University of Chicago and colleagues. Synovial joints are a key feature of most vertebrate skeletons, providing more mobility and stability compared to other joint types. A synovial joint allows bones or cartilage to slide past each other with the aid of a lubricated cavity between them. These joints are present in land vertebrates and bony fish, suggesting this feature had evolved in the common ancestors of these groups, but ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Mimicking shark skin to create clean cutting boards

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2025 – Keeping work surfaces clean during meat processing is a challenge. Bacteria from meat can attach, grow, and build up to create a biofilm that is difficult to remove, even on stainless steel surfaces used in industrial facilities. It can also aggregate, clumping together into an invisible mass that is stronger than individual cells, making it harder to kill using food-grade antibacterial surface cleaners. In a paper published this week in Journal of Laser Applications, from AIP Publishing and the Laser Institute of America, researchers from the Hopkirk Research Institute, New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre, ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

New technique reveals how the same mutations give rise to very different types of leukaemia

Barcelona, 25 February 2025 - Myeloid leukaemias are among the most aggressive blood cancers and have low survival rates. Today, leukaemia patients undergo genetic analysis to identify mutations and select the most appropriate treatment. However, even among patients with the same mutation, disease progression and response to therapy can vary significantly. A study led by ICREA researcher Dr. Alejo Rodríguez-Fraticelli at IRB Barcelona, and funded by Fundación CRIS contra el cáncer, has now revealed these differences can be explained by the fact that not all blood stem cells ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Hormones may have therapeutic potential to prevent wrinkles, hair graying

WASHINGTON—Hormones may be leveraged to treat and prevent signs of aging such as wrinkles and hair graying, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society journal Endocrine Reviews. Until now, only a limited number of hormones, mainly topical retinoids (retinol and tretinoin) and estrogen which is typically used to treat side effects of menopause, have been used in clinical practice as anti-skin aging compounds. This study reviews a new class of hormones and their anti-aging properties. “Our paper highlights key hormone players that orchestrate pathways of skin aging such as ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Clashing with classmates: Off-putting traits spark enemy relationships

It is unpleasant to have an enemy. Most people try to avoid hostilities that escalate to the point of mutual antagonism. Which raises the question: What does it take to make an enemy? One possible answer is that aversive or off-putting behaviors increase the likelihood of clashes with others that lead to lasting enmity. Yet without longitudinal data, it’s unclear which comes first – being aversive or being disliked – making it hard to distinguish between the causes and the consequences of having an enemy. New research from Florida Atlantic University clearly establishes the order of effects. The results, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

AI’s emotional blunting effect

Ask a Large language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT to summarize what people are saying about a topic, and although the model might summarize the facts efficiently, it might give a false impression of how people feel about the topic. LLMs play an increasingly large role in research, but rather than being a transparent window into the world, they can present and summarize content with a different tone and emphasis than the original data, potentially skewing research results. Yi Ding and colleagues compared a climate dataset of 18,896,054 tweets that mentioned "climate change" from January 2019 to December 2021 to rephrased tweets prepared by LLMs. The authors found that the ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

We need a new definition of dyslexia, research says

A new definition of dyslexia is needed to more accurately describe the learning disorder and give those struggling with dyslexia the specific support they require, says new research. Dyslexia has had several different definitions over the years and this murky and complicated history means it can be a postcode lottery for children who may have dyslexia, or those who have been diagnosed but can’t access the support they need. The first step to fixing this issue, new research has argued, is to redefine dyslexia and adopt the new definition across the UK. The research was conducted by the University of Birmingham, the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC), Kings College London, ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Smart is sexy: evolution of intelligence partly driven by love

The Beatles said it best: Love is all you need. And according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU), the same is true in the animal kingdom. Well, at least for mosquitofish – a matchstick-sized fish endemic to Central America and now found globally. According to the ANU scientists, male mosquitofish possess impressive problem-solving skills and can successfully navigate mazes and other tests. Males that perform better have a higher chance of mating. Lead author Dr Ivan Vinogradov said male mosquitofish ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

MD Anderson researchers develop novel antibody-toxin conjugate

HOUSTON ― Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a novel antibody-toxin conjugate (ATC) designed to stimulate immune-mediated eradication of tumors. According to preclinical results published today in Nature Cancer, the new approach combined the benefits of more well-known antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with those of immunotherapies. ADCs have emerged as a breakthrough in recent years due to their modular design, which enables precise delivery of therapies to tumors by targeting specific proteins expressed on cancer cells. These conjugates ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Virginia Tech study reveals that honeybee dance ‘styles’ sway food foraging success

As far as animals go, honeybees are world-class dancers. While not as deep and complex as a Super Bowl half-time show, the bees' moves, known as the “waggle" dance, convey very specific food foraging instructions to their nestmates. The direction the dancer moves explains to other bees which way to go, and the duration of the waggle dance, or the “run,” shows how far to go. Once other bees have been convinced to follow the directions, they are “recruited.” After receiving the instructions, these ...

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Science25 Feb 2025

Nerve fibers in the inner ear adjust sound levels and help compensate for hearing loss in mice, study finds

The brain may play a role in helping the ear regulate its sensitivity to sound and compensate for hearing loss by sending a signal to a structure in the inner ear known as the cochlea, according to a study that was just published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The discovery could help researchers develop treatments for tough-to-treat hearing disorders such as hyperacusis, where everyday sounds seem uncomfortably loud, and tinnitus, a sensation of ringing, buzzing or other sound in the ear when there is no external source. The findings were powered by a new ...

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Science24 Feb 2025

GLP-1RAs may offer modest antidepressant effects compared to DPP4is but not SGLT-2is

Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, threads, and Linkedin Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. ---------------------------- 1. ...

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