Science
press releases.

Science24 Feb 2025

Performance-based reimbursement increases administrative burden and moral distress, lowers perceived quality of care

Performance-Based Reimbursement Increases Administrative Burden and Moral Distress, Lowers Perceived Quality of Care Background and Goal: Performance-based reimbursement (PBR) is a payment system in which clinics receive compensation based on the quality and outcomes of care they deliver, rather than the volume of services provided. Although designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness, the growth of PBR systems has been linked to increased administrative work for physicians. This study examined how PBR affects doctors' perceived ability to provide quality ...

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Science24 Feb 2025

Origin and diversity of Hun Empire populations

The Huns suddenly appeared in Europe in the 370s, establishing one of the most influential although short-lived empires in Europe. Scholars have long debated whether the Huns were descended from the Xiongnu. In fact, the Xiongnu Empire dissolved around 100 CE, leaving a 300-year gap before the Huns appeared in Europe. Can DNA lineages that bridge these three centuries be found? To address this question, researchers analyzed the DNA of 370 individuals that lived in historical periods spanning around 800 years, from 2nd century BCE to 6th century CE, encompassing sites in the Mongolian steppe, Central Asia, and the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe. ...

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Science24 Feb 2025

The Center for Open Science welcomes Daniel Correa and Amanda Kay Montoya to its Board of Directors

(Charlottesville, VA, Feb. 24, 2025) – The Center for Open Science (COS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Correa, Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of American Scientists, and Amanda Montoya, Associate Professor of Quantitative Psychology at UCLA, to the COS Board of Directors. Both will serve three-year terms from 2025 to 2027, bringing valuable expertise in science policy, innovation, research methodology, and open science advocacy. Daniel Correa is the Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of American Scientists, ...

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Science24 Feb 2025

Unexpected discoveries in study of giraffe gut flora

The gut bacteria of giraffes are not primarily determined by what they eat, but by the species they belong to. This is shown in a new study from Uppsala University and Brown University in which researchers have analysed the link between diet and gut flora in three giraffe species in Kenya. The study also provides new knowledge that can help secure the food supply of endangered giraffe species. In a new study published in Global Ecology and Conservation, researchers have analysed the relationship between the diet and microbiome, or gut flora, of giraffes in Kenya. By sequencing plant and bacterial DNA from faecal samples, they were able to investigate both the bacterial composition ...

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Science24 Feb 2025

Unlicensed retailers provide youths with easy access to cannabis in New York City

NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 24, 2025)--A new study, led by researchers at Columbia University, suggests it is easy for youths to purchase cannabis from unlicensed dispensaries in New York City, despite state laws that bar access to recreational cannabis to those under age 21. “Regulation to restrict access in this age group is based on evidence that cannabis affects working memory, brain development, and increases addiction risk when used at an early age,” says Ryan Sultán , an assistant professor ...

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Science22 Feb 2025

Scientists track evolution of pumice rafts after 2021 underwater eruption in Japan

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have carried out an unprecedentedly detailed survey of pumice rafts in the aftermath of the 2021 Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba volcanic eruption in Japan. Using samples from 213 different locations, they considered raft density, the size and roundness of individual pumice, and biological species attached. Their findings revealed three phases in the evolution of drift pumice, involving rounding, fragmentation, and the diversification of attached biological organisms over time. It is said that 85% of volcanic eruptions happen underwater. While their cousins on land might seem more vivid, the effects of underwater eruptions can be just as ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Solving the case of the missing platinum

For nearly two decades, scientists have tried to understand how negatively polarized platinum electrodes corrode, a costly mystery that plagues water electrolyzers, a promising energy technology for making hydrogen, as well as electrochemical sensors using platinum electrodes. Now, a close collaboration between researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Leiden University has finally identified the culprit, potentially paving the way for cheaper hydrogen energy production and more reliable electrochemical sensors. The results were published in Nature Materials. Electrolyzers ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Glass fertilizer beads could be a sustained nutrient delivery system

Agricultural fertilizers are critical for feeding the world’s population, restoring soil fertility and sustaining crops. Excessive and inefficient use of those resources can present an environmental threat, contaminating waterways and generating greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology have addressed those challenges with glass fertilizer beads. The beads control nutrient release, and the researchers say they’re environmentally compatible. “The results show that glass fertilizers can be tailored to plant needs, slowly and sustainably releasing ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Unraveling the mystery of the missing blue whale calves

Only two blue whale births have ever been recorded in human history, both decades ago. This remains an extraordinary mystery given there used to be hundreds of thousands of blue whales before whaling started — even today blue whales number around 10,000 to 25,000­ — and they give birth every two to three years. Not only are births very stealthy, but calves are also only rarely sighted — far less than would be expected from their pregnancy rates. Calves closely follow their moms and are sighted as mother-calf pairs, but why are so few detected? A new University ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Self-imaging of structured light in new dimensions

Researchers of photonics from Tampere University, Finland, and Kastler-Brossel Laboratory, France, have demonstrated how self-imaging of light, a phenomenon known for nearly two centuries, can be applied to cylindrical systems, facilitating unprecedented control of light’s structure with great potential for advanced optical communication systems. In addition, a new type of space-time duality is explored for powerful analogies bridging different fields of optics. In 1836, Henry F. Talbot performed an experiment, where ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Study highlights successes of Virginia’s oyster restoration efforts

Virginia has made significant investments in the restoration of oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay, and now a study led by William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS suggests those management practices are literally paying off in the Rappahannock River. The study, recently published in the Journal of Environmental Management, was led by Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences Ph.D. student Alexandria Marquardt, who presented the results to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission’s (VMRC) Shellfish Management Advisory Committee ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

LLM-based web application scanner recognizes tasks and workflows

A new automated web application scanner autonomously understands and executes tasks and workflows on web applications. The tool named YuraScanner harnesses the world knowledge stored in Large Language Models (LLMs) to navigate through web applications in the same way a human user would. It is capable of working through tasks in a coherent fashion, performing the correct sequence of steps as required by, for example, an online shop. YuraScanner was tested against 20 web applications, unearthing 12 zero-day cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. The technique behind YuraScanner as well as the tool itself have been developed by researchers ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

How does innovation policy respond to the challenges of a changing world?

Researchers from the University of Vaasa, Finland, and Kent Business School, UK, have gathered insights on innovation policy, its current status and future perspectives in their new book “The Evolving Innovation Space”. The book offers research-based insights on how innovation can best be used to drive economic change and to find solutions to global problems. – In a changing world, where geopolitical tensions are rising and artificial intelligence is gaining ground, innovation policy must also be reconsidered from new perspectives, says Helka Kalliomäki, one of the editors. With digital ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

New frailty measurement tool could help identify vulnerable older adults in epic

Investigators at Mass General Brigham have developed a tool that can identify older adults at increased risk of emergency healthcare needs, rehospitalization or death. The tool measured patient frailty, an aging-related syndrome, by integrating the health records of more than 500,000 individuals collected across multiple hospitals at Mass General Brigham. These findings, published in Journal of the American Geriatric Society, could help clinicians care for high-risk patients even without the availability of comprehensive primary care records. “Frailty ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Co-prescribed stimulants, opioids linked to higher opioid doses

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The combination of prescribed central nervous system stimulants, such as drugs that relieve ADHD symptoms, with prescribed opioid medications is associated with a pattern of escalating opioid intake, a new study has found. The analysis of health insurance claims data from almost 3 million U.S. patients investigated prescribed stimulants’ impact on prescription opioid use over 10 years, looking for origins of the so-called “twin epidemic” of combining the two classes of drugs, which can increase the risk for overdose deaths. “Combining the two drugs is associated ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Breakthrough in high-performance oxide-ion conductors using rubidium

Rubidium could be the next key player in oxide-ion conductors. Researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo have discovered a rare rubidium (Rb)-containing oxide-ion conductor, Rb₅BiMo₄O₁₆, with exceptionally high conductivity. Identified through computational screening and experiments, its superior performance stems from low activation energy and structural features like large free volume and tetrahedral motion. Its stability under various conditions offers a promising direction for solid oxide fuel cells and clean energy technologies. Oxide-ion ...

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Science21 Feb 2025

Impacts of workplace bullying on sleep can be “contagious” between partners

Workplace bullying affects not only the employee’s sleep but their partner’s too, according to new research published today. Exposure to bullying by superiors and/or colleagues has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, such as sleep problems. Now research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK, and Complutense University of Madrid and Seville University in Spain, sheds light on the short-term consequences of workplace bullying on various indicators of sleep. These include waking up too early (sleep severity), interference with daily life (sleep impact) and dissatisfaction with own sleep (sleep satisfaction). Writing in ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

How mosquitos hear may inspire new ways to detect natural disasters

One of nature’s most disliked creatures may very well unlock a breakthrough in disaster response. A multidisciplinary Purdue University research team is recreating mosquito antennae to better study their sensitivity to vibrations. Should the research prove fruitful, it could lead to improvements in monitoring and detecting natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Research groups under Purdue professors Pablo Zavattieri and Ximena Bernal conducted this work, which is published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia. “We’re still in the early stages but we’re ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

Child ADHD risk linked to mother’s use of acetaminophen

Fetal acetaminophen exposure increases the likelihood that a child will develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study published Feb. 6 in Nature Mental Health. Prior research shows that upward of 70% of pregnant women use acetaminophen during pregnancy to control pain or reduce fever. The drug, which is the active ingredient of many pain-relief medications, is one of the few considered safe to take during pregnancy by the U.S. Food and Drug ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

3D lung model raises the bar for research

Respiratory diseases are a challenging problem to treat. Inhalable medicines are a promising solution that depend on the ability to deliver tiny particles known as aerosols to the correct location in the lungs at the correct dosage. How effectively this works can get complicated, depending on the drug, delivery method and patient. This is because it is difficult to predict just how much medicine gets in and where it goes in the lung. Similar challenges exist when thinking about measuring an ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

Researchers outline new approach for better understanding animal consciousness

A team of researchers has outlined a new approach for better understanding the depths of animal consciousness, a method that may yield new insights into the similarities and differences among living organisms. The essay, which appears in the journal Science, describes a “marker method” that scientists can use to assess animal consciousness. It involves identifying behavioral and anatomical features associated with conscious processing in humans and searching for similar properties in nonhumans. By making progress in the science of animal consciousness, the authors propose, we can make progress on foundational questions about the nature of consciousness, ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

Study suggests new molecular strategy for treating fragile X syndrome

Building on more than two decades of research, a study by MIT neuroscientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reports a new way to treat pathology and symptoms of fragile X syndrome, the most common genetically-caused autism spectrum disorder. The team showed that augmenting a novel type of neurotransmitter signaling reduced hallmarks of fragile X in mouse models of the disorder. The new approach described in Cell Reports works by targeting a specific molecular subunit of “NMDA” receptors that they discovered plays a key role in how neurons synthesize ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

National Academy of Inventors welcomes 162 emerging inventors

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has announced the 2025 class of Senior Members, comprised of 162 emerging inventors from NAI’s Member Institutions. This year’s class of NAI Senior Members is the largest to date and hails from 64 NAI Member Institutions across the nation. Collectively, they are named inventors on over 1200 U.S. patents. “To see this program grow year over year is a testament to the dedication our Member Institutions have to fostering innovation on their campuses and supporting their inventive staff ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

Narcissists more likely to feel ostracized

Narcissists feel ostracized more frequently than their less self-absorbed peers, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. This may stem not only from being shunned due to their personalities but from a tendency to misinterpret ambiguous social signals as exclusion. “Feeling ostracized is a subjective experience based on the perception of social cues by the individual. Some may be intentionally ostracized, while others may merely believe they are being excluded when that’s not the case,” said lead author Christiane Büttner, PhD, of the University of Basel. “Our findings suggest that ...

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Science20 Feb 2025

Enhancing adhesive performance of polyvinyl alcohol with sub-nanoscale polyoxotungstate clusters under extreme conditions

Water-based adhesives face several challenges despite their environmental benefits. One major issue is that achieving high adhesion strength on various substrates, especially in wet or humid conditions, is difficult due to the inherent properties of water-based systems. Additionally, the volatility of water also leads to issues like bubble formation and uneven drying, affecting the adhesive's performance and appearance. Moreover, formulating water-based adhesives with both high solids content and low viscosity is technically demanding, ...

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