Science
press releases.

Science12 Feb 2025

Removal of parental consent requirement reduces gestational duration at abortion for minors

Individuals below the age of 18 are faced with significant barriers when receiving abortion care due to additional parental consent requirements. To address this, the 2020 ROE Act in Massachusetts removed these requirements for minors aged 16-17 years. A new study reveals that this policy change led to a ~60-day decrease in gestational duration at abortion among this age group, highlighting the importance and impact of decreasing barriers to abortion access for minors. Adolescents aged 15 to 17 years and those younger than 15 years of age account for 3% and 0.2% of all abortions in the United States, respectively. However, logistical ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Dating is not broken, but the trajectories of relationships have changed

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about romantic relationships have remained much the same, although the trajectories of their relationships have changed somewhat, according ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Biohybrid hand gestures with human muscles

A biohybrid hand which can move objects and do a scissor gesture has been built by a team at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University in Japan. The researchers used thin strings of lab-grown muscle tissue bundled into sushilike rolls to give the fingers enough strength to contract. These multiple muscle tissue actuators (MuMuTAs), created by the researchers, are a major development towards building larger biohybrid limbs. While currently limited to the lab environment, MuMuTAs have the potential to advance future biohybrid prosthetics, aid drug testing on muscle tissue and broaden the potential of biohybrid robotics to mimic real-life forms. “Rock, paper, ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

INSEAD celebrates five years of impact in North America during its second Americas Conference 2025

INSEAD, The Business School for the World, celebrated five years of impact of its San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation during its second Americas Conference 2025 on 7-8 February. Over 250 business leaders, government officials, INSEAD alumni, faculty, and staff convened for insightful and lively conversations centered around the theme: ‘The Future is Now: Bridging Business, Technology, and Humanity’. The central question driving all the debates was: How can we harness the incredible potential of AI while prioritizing the well-being of humanity. Key themes that emerged included the ability for leaders to see beyond AI hype, a need to embrace disruption, ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Tennessee professor receives SAEA Emerging Scholar Award

Charles Martinez, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, recently received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA). The award is presented to high-performing, early-career professionals with demonstrated research and resulting publication activity. Martinez was chosen among peers nationwide for this distinguished honor. He received the award February 3 during the annual SAEA meeting in Irving, Texas. “In a short time, Dr. Martinez has established himself as ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Mothers with incarcerated children shoulder emotional and financial burdens

The financial and emotional toll borne by mothers whose adult children have experienced incarceration is often overlooked but can exacerbate financial burdens, especially for Black mothers, according to new research from Rice University sociologist Brielle Bryan. The study, “Maternal Wealth Implications of Child Incarceration: Examining the Upstream Consequences of Children’s Incarceration for Women’s Assets, Homeownership and Home Equity,” appears in a recent edition of Demography and explores the wealth disparities and racial inequities that intensify these burdens. The research focuses ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Scientists discover new gene-to-gene interaction increasing risk of alopecia

Scientists have discovered an interaction between genes that increases the risk of developing a type of alopecia. In a new JAMA Dermatology study, scientists at King’s College London found that changes in two parts of the genome work together to influence alopecia risk. Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a highly distressing dermatological disorder which is associated with inflammation, scarring and irreversible hair loss. The disease affects an increasing number of patients worldwide and is caused by genetic and environmental factors. The study authors conducted a meta-analysis of four cohorts ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Chinese scientists find key genes to fight against crop parasites

Chinese scientists have identified two key genes responsible for sorghum's resistance to Striga, a parasitic plant that causes significant crop losses. The breakthrough, which also highlights the potential of AI to predict key amino acid sites in strigolactone (SL) transporters, could have wide-ranging applications in enhancing parasitic plant resistance across various crops. This study, published in Cell, was conducted by Prof. XIE Qi's team at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Stronger, safer, smarter: pioneering Zinc-based dissolvable implants for bone repair

Monash research could transform how broken bones are treated, with the development of a special zinc-based dissolvable material that could replace the metal plates and screws typically used to hold fractured bones together. Surgeons routinely use stainless steel or titanium, which stay in the body forever, can cause discomfort and may require follow-up surgeries. A new zinc alloy, designed by Monash biomedical engineers, could solve these problems by being mechanically strong but gentle enough to degrade safely over time while supporting optimal healing. A study published today in Nature shows the research team’s innovative ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Data-driven networks influence convective-scale ensemble weather forecasts

To effectively present the uncertainty of convective-scale weather forecasts, convective-scale ensemble prediction systems have been developed at major operational centers, whose lateral boundary conditions are usually provided by global numerical weather models. Recently, the emergence of AI weather models has provided a new approach to driving convective-scale ensemble prediction systems. AI weather models can produce forecasts for the next 7 to 10 days in just a few minutes, which is around 10,000 times faster than numerical weather models. However, the performance of using the ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Companies quietly switching out toxic product ingredients in response to California law

A new study by Silent Spring Institute and University of California, Berkeley shows how laws that promote greater transparency around harmful chemicals in products can shift markets toward safer products. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, focused on California’s right-to-know law called Proposition 65, or Prop 65. Under the law, the state of California maintains a list of approximately 900 chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. Companies that sell products in California are required to warn people if their products could expose them to harmful ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Can math save content creators? A new model proposes fairer revenue distribution methods for streaming services

As more consumers turn to subscription-based platforms, the distribution of revenue in streaming services has become a crucial issue in the digital economy. Content creators and artists argue that the current models are opaque, frequently neglecting the needs of creators. In response, researchers at UMH have proposed a model based on three allocation rules that could be applied according to various fairness criteria. "Our model is based on three main approaches: the equal division rule, which divides revenue equally among services; the proportional rule, which allocates revenue according ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Study examines grief of zoo employees and volunteers across the US after animal losses

A collaboration of researchers from Colorado State University and Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance surveyed zoo employees and volunteers across the US about their experiences of burnout and grief related to zoo animal losses. Their latest study has found that poor grief support in some US zoos leaves staff feeling limited empathy from leadership, burned out, and unable to openly express their grief after the death of an animal to which they had formed a close emotional bond. The research, published in the journal ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

How Earth's early cycles shaped the chemistry of life

A new study explores how complex chemical mixtures change under shifting environmental conditions, shedding light on the prebiotic processes that may have led to life. By exposing organic molecules to repeated wet-dry cycles, researchers observed continuous transformation, selective organization, and synchronized population dynamics. Their findings suggest that environmental factors played a key role in shaping the molecular complexity needed for life to emerge. To simulate early Earth, the team subjected chemical mixtures to repeated wet-dry cycles. Rather than reacting randomly, the molecules organized themselves, evolved over time, and followed predictable patterns. This challenges ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Ukraine war forces planes to take longer routes, raising CO2

Global aviation carbon dioxide emissions increased by 1% in 2023 because planes had to fly longer routes to avoid Russian airspace, according to a new study. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western airlines were banned from flying over Russia. This forced them to take much longer routes between Europe or North America and East Asia, burning more fuel in the process. Published today (Wednesday, 12 February) in Communications Earth & Environment, the study found that detours caused by the Ukraine war led to planes using 13% more fuel on average compared to their original routes. The impact was even greater for flights between Europe and Asia, which saw a 14.8% increase in ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

High BP may develop at different ages and paces in East & South Asian adults in the UK

Research Highlights: A data analysis projected that South Asian adults living in the United Kingdom may experience elevated blood pressure nine years earlier than East Asian adults on average. The largest blood pressure disparities between South Asian and East Asian adults were projected to be in 18-39-year-old men and 40–64-year-old women. The projected increase in systolic blood pressure in middle age East Asian adults was linked to a nearly 2.5 times higher risk for heart disease caused by blocked arteries and a nearly fourfold greater risk of stroke. Even at an older age, high systolic ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Worm surface chemistry reveals secrets to their development and survival

A new study has revealed the clearest-ever picture of the surface chemistry of worm species that provides groundbreaking insights into how animals interact with their environment and each other. These discoveries could pave the way for strategies to deepen our understanding of evolutionary adaptations, refine behavioural research, and ultimately overcome parasitic infections. Scientists from the University’s School of Pharmacy used an advanced mass spectrometry imaging system to examine the nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus, aiming to characterise species-specific surface chemical ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Splicing twins: unravelling the secrets of the minor spliceosome complex

In human cells, only a small proportion of the information written in genes is used to produce proteins. How does the cell select this information? A large molecular machine called the spliceosome continuously separates the coding and non-coding regions of our genes – and it's doing this even as you read these lines. The spliceosome is critical for the proper functioning of every cell, and numerous genetic disorders are linked to problems with spliceosome function. In most eukaryotic cells, two types of ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Leaf color mysteries unveiled: the role of BoYgl-2 in cabbage

A new study has uncovered a novel P-type PPR protein, BoYgl-2, which plays a crucial role in chloroplast RNA editing and chlorophyll biosynthesis in cabbage. This discovery sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms governing leaf color formation and chloroplast development, filling a significant knowledge gap in plant physiology. By identifying a spontaneous yellow-green leaf mutant and deciphering the function of BoYgl-2, the research paves the way for innovative crop breeding strategies that could enhance plant productivity and agricultural sustainability. Leaf color is more than just an aesthetic trait—it is a vital agronomic characteristic ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

D2-GCN: a graph convolutional network with dynamic disentanglement for node classification

Classic Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) often learn node representation holistically, which would ignore the distinct impacts from different neighbors when aggregating their features to update a node's representation. Disentangled GCNs have been proposed to divide each node's representation into several feature channels. However, current disentangling methods do not try to figure out how many inherent factors the model should assign to help extract the best representation of each node. To solve the problems, a research team led by Chuliang WENG published their new ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Study finds consumer openness to smoke-impacted wines, offering new market opportunities

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Certain groups of consumers appear to be open to drinking smoke-impacted wines, a finding in a new study that could provide market opportunities for winemakers increasingly dealing with the effects of wildfire smoke on grapes. The study by researchers at Oregon State University and in New Zealand found that consumers, particularly those that like smokey flavors in food and beverages, are open to drinking smoke-impacted wines. They also found that the type of information on the label can modulate consumer acceptance. “This ...

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Science12 Feb 2025

Fewer forest fires burn in North America today than in the past—and that's a bad thing

Fewer wildfires burn in North American forests today than in previous centuries, increasing the risk of more severe wildfires, according to research published this week in Nature Communications. The findings may seem counterintuitive, but frequent low-lying surface fires often maintain balance in forests by reducing fuel sources across large areas. The new study led by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station ...

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Science11 Feb 2025

Texas A&M chemist wins NSF CAREER Award

Dr. Alison Altman, an assistant professor in the Texas A&M Chemistry Department, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, which supports early-career faculty in research and education. The award recognizes her work on underexplored elements of the periodic table and her dedication to teaching. For Altman, it’s a launchpad for future discoveries. “It’s an honor to receive this award, as it acknowledges not just my research program but also my teaching efforts,” ...

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Science11 Feb 2025

Study of female genital tract reveals key findings

Seeking to understand what constitutes a healthy vaginal microbiome, a global research collaboration that includes a Rutgers-New Brunswick scientist has reported a series of findings, including identifying which bacteria thwart vaginal disease and determining that microbiomes vary significantly across human populations. Authors of the study, published in Trends in Microbiology, are part of a Belgium-based initiative called the Isala Sisterhood. Members of the group aim to inspire research on microbiomes worldwide by creating a “reference map” of vaginal microbiota. Launched in 2020 at the University of Antwerp, the project has expanded to include more than 3,000 ...

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Science11 Feb 2025

SETI Institute names first Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellow

February 11, 2025, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute awarded the first Frank Drake Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr. Anastasia Yanchilina. Yanchilina will focus on distinguishing biosignatures from false positives across space and time. Her research combines experimental and analytical research to refine biosignature detection techniques. She will conduct lab experiments to generate key mineral analogs and study Earth’s extreme environments to understand what potential signs of life to look for on other planets. “It has long been my scientific dream to explore whether life exists ...

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