Science
press releases.

Science5 Feb 2025

How does light affect citrus fruit coloration and the timing of peel and flesh ripening?

Citrus fruit rind color has long been used as an indicator of ripeness, but for some fruits such as mandarin fruit in the Chongqing region of China, the peel and flesh do not ripen synchronously, with the flesh usually reaching maturity while the peel is still green. This is a characteristic that seriously affects its commercial value. In new research published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, investigators have discovered how red and blue LED light can stimulate color change in mandarin fruit. Experiments showed that this light exposure causes ...

Read the release

Science5 Feb 2025

Male flies sharpened their eyesight to call the females' bluff

With bloated bellies and hairy legs, female flies try to look bigger to get food from courting mates. But male flies, in turn, have sharpened their eyesight to call their bluff. A new study by researchers from the Universities of Gothenburg and Stockholm suggests that this is an ongoing evolution where both sexes try to outsmart each other. For the first time, researchers have been able to show that also males can develop traits that help them pass on their genes despite the manipulative adaptations of the opposite sex. In different species of dance flies, there is a clear correlation between how richly decorated the female ...

Read the release

Science5 Feb 2025

Explaining science in court with comics

Imagine being summoned as a juror in a murder trial. The expert responsible for analyzing DNA traces at the crime scene has just explained that they match the defendant’s profile. “Then the culprit must be them,” you think. At this point, however, the expert adds: “The sample, however, is partially degraded.” What does this mean? How does this information affect your judgment? The scientist further explains that there is a one-in-a-billion probability that other people could match the identified genetic profile. ...

Read the release

Science5 Feb 2025

‘Good’ cholesterol may be linked to heightened glaucoma risk among over 55s

‘Good’ (HDL) cholesterol, usually considered to be beneficial for health, may be linked to a heightened risk of the serious eye condition, glaucoma—at least among the over 55s— suggest the results of a large observational study, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Paradoxically, ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol, usually regarded as harmful to health, may be associated with a lower risk of glaucoma, a condition that damages the optic nerve, potentially leading to irreversible sight ...

Read the release

Science5 Feb 2025

Generally, things really do seem better in morning, large study suggests

Generally, things really do seem better in the morning, with clear differences in self-reported mental health and wellbeing across the day, suggest the findings of a large study published in the open access journal BMJ Mental Health. People generally wake up feeling in the best frame of mind in the morning but in the worst around midnight, the findings indicate, with day of the week and season of the year also playing their part. Mental health and wellbeing are dynamic in nature, and subject to change over both short and extended periods, note the researchers. But relatively few studies have looked at how these might change over the course of the day, and those studies that ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Unlock sales growth: Implement “buy now, pay later” to increase customer spending

Researchers from Imperial College Business School and University of Leeds published a Journal of Marketing study that examines the impact of BNPL installment payments on retail sales. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Buy Now Pay Later: Impact of Installment Payments on Customer Purchases” and is authored by Stijn Maesen and Dionysius Ang. Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) is an increasingly popular payment method, allowing customers to spread payment into interest-free installments over a few weeks or months. Worldwide ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

NFL wives bring signature safe swim event to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 4, 2025 — The American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health, is promoting water safety, a multi-market priority initiative for the Off the Field National Football League Wives Association. The American Heart Association provided Hands-Only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) education as part of the safe swim event held at Tulane University’s Reily Center on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The event welcomed nearly ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Study probes how to predict complications from preeclampsia

The existing prediction models for severe complications of preeclampsia are most accurate only in the two days after hospital admission, with deteriorating performance over time, according to a new study published February 4th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Henk Groen of University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and colleagues. Preeclampsia is a potentially life-threatening condition that can occur during pregnancy; of women diagnosed with preeclampsia, 5-20% will develop severe complications. Two existing PIERS (Pre-eclampsia Integrated ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Contribution of cannabis use disorder to new cases of schizophrenia has almost tripled over the past 17 years

Ottawa, ON, February 4, 2025 – The proportion of new cases of schizophrenia associated with a cannabis use disorder has risen from 4% pre-legalization to 10% after cannabis legalization in Ontario, according to new research. A new study from researchers at ICES, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa’s Department of Family Medicine, and Bruyère Health Research Institute and published in the journal JAMA Network Open used data capturing the healthcare visits of everyone living in Ontario, Canada to track whether the liberalization of medical cannabis in 2015 and legalization of non-medical ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Half a degree rise in global warming will triple area of Earth too hot for humans

New assessment warns area the size of the USA will become too hot during extreme heat events for even healthy young humans to maintain a safe body temperature if we hit 2°C above preindustrial levels. For those aged over 60, the same 2°C rise would see more than a third of the planet’s land mass cross this critical ‘overheating’ threshold An international group of scientists, led by King’s College London, has revealed how continued global warming will lead to more parts of the planet becoming too ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Globetrotting not in the genes

Painted lady butterflies are world travelers. The ones we encounter in Europe fly from Africa to Sweden, ultimately returning to areas north and south of the Sahara. But what determines whether some butterflies travel long distances while others travel short distances? A group of scientists, including from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), shows that the different migration strategies are shaped by environmental conditions rather than being encoded in the butterfly’s DNA. It is a warm summer day in June. A group of scientists with sunhats and nets is hiking along a trail in the Catalan mountains. They meticulously search for painted ladies—vibrant orange ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

WSU researcher pioneers new study model with clues to anti-aging

SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington State University scientists have created genetically-engineered mice that could help accelerate anti-aging research. Globally, scientists are working to unlock the secrets of extending human lifespan at the cellular level, where aging occurs gradually due to the shortening of telomeres–the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that function like shoelace tips to prevent unraveling. As telomeres shorten over time, cells lose their ability to divide for healthy ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

High PM2.5 levels in Delhi-NCR largely independent of Punjab-Haryana crop fires

International collaborative research led by Aakash Project* researchers at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) show an unequivocal contribution of crop residue burning (CRB) to air pollution in the rural/semi-urban regions of Punjab and Haryana, and a relatively lower contribution than previously thought to the Delhi national capital region (NCR). We have installed 30 units of compact and useful PM2.5** in situ instrument with gas sensors (CUPI-Gs) and have continuously recorded air pollutants in 2022 and 2023. New analytical methods have been developed to assess ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Positive emotions plus deep sleep equals longer-lasting perceptual memories

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) have uncovered how perceptual memories linked to positive emotions, such as joy or happiness, are strengthened during sleep. The study, published in the scientific journal Neuron, could help scientists understand the neurological basis for overcoming conditions like drug or sexual addiction. Why do emotional events, whether positive or negative, create strong, long-lasting memories of external information such as music, scene smells and textures received at the events? We know that sleep is essential for memory consolidation, the process that turns new events into memories, but do not ...

Read the release

Science4 Feb 2025

Montana State scientists publish new research on ancient life found in Yellowstone hot springs

BOZEMAN – In a new publication in the journal Nature Communications, Montana State University scientists in College of Agriculture highlight fresh knowledge of how ancient microorganisms adapted from a low-oxygen prehistoric environment to the one that exists today. The work builds on more than two decades of scientific research in Yellowstone National Park by MSU professor Bill Inskeep. The article, titled “Respiratory Processes of Early-evolved Hyperthermophiles in Sulfidic and Low-oxygen Geothermal Microbial Communities” was published Jan. 2. Authors Inskeep, a professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, and Mensur ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Revolutionary lubricant prevents friction at high temperatures

Through a multi-university collaboration, researchers at Virginia Tech have discovered a new, solid lubricating mechanism that can reduce friction in machinery at extremely high temperatures. It works well beyond the breakdown temperature of traditional solid lubricants such as graphite, and the findings were published in Nature Communications. “This breakthrough solid-state lubricant could change how we design materials for high-tech engines, making them last longer and work better under extreme conditions,” said Rebecca Cai, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and one of the ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Do women talk more than men? It might depend on their age

The stereotype that women are much more talkative than men is pervasive across many cultures, but a widely reported study by University of Arizona researchers in 2007 refuted the claim, finding that men and women speak roughly the same number of words per day – around 16,000. A new, larger follow-up to that study paints a more nuanced picture, suggesting that women may be the chattier gender, but only during a certain period of life. "There is a strong cross-cultural assumption that women talk a lot more than men," said ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

JMIR Publications announces new CEO

(Toronto, February 3, 2025) JMIR Publications, the leading open access publisher in digital health and open science, announced today that Sean Jeong has been appointed as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 23, 2025. Dr Gunther Eysenbach, founder of JMIR Publications, will be stepping down as CEO after over two decades of transformative leadership to focus on new opportunities for innovation in academic publishing, including artificial intelligence (AI)–driven solutions and the advancement of Plan P. He will continue to serve as the editor in chief of the Journal of Medical ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Octopuses have some of the oldest known sex chromosomes

The octopus just revealed another one of its secrets: what determines its sex. University of Oregon researchers have identified a sex chromosome in the California two-spot octopus. This chromosome has likely been around for 480 million years, since before octopuses split apart from the nautilus on the evolutionary tree. That makes it one of the oldest known animal sex chromosomes. The finding also is evidence that octopuses and other cephalopods, a class of sea animals that includes squid and nautiluses, do use chromosomes to determine their sex, answering a longstanding mystery among biologists. “Cephalopods are already such interesting creatures, ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

High-yield rice breed emits up to 70% less methane

Rice cultivation is responsible for around 12% of global methane emissions, and these emissions are expected to increase with global warming and as the human population continues to grow. Now, scientists have identified chemical compounds released by rice roots that determine how much methane the plants emit. On February 3 in the Cell Press journal Molecular Plant, they report that this information enabled them to breed a new strain of rice that emits up to 70% less methane. “This study shows that you can have low methane and ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Nearly half of adults mistakenly think benefits of daily aspirin outweigh risks

For years, healthy older adults were advised by doctors to take a low-dose aspirin daily as a way to reduce the risk of heart attack. But in March 2019, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (AHA) announced new guidelines and no longer routinely recommended a daily dose of aspirin for healthy adults over the age of 70 because the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding outweighs the benefits. Nearly five years later, many Americans still have not received the message. The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania finds in a new health survey that nearly half (48%) of U.S. ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Could lycopene—a plant extract—be an effective antidepressant?

Emerging evidence suggests that lycopene—a natural plant extract—may have antidepressant properties. New research in Food Science & Nutrition reveals the mechanisms behind its antidepressant effects. In mice with depressive-like behaviors, brain analyses revealed impairments in the hippocampus. Lycopene treatment lessened these impairments and reversed the animals’ depressive-like traits. Lycopene treatment boosted the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein with roles in many aspects of brain function. Experiments indicated that a signaling pathway involving BDNF (called the BDNF-TrkB pathway, ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Breaking barriers in thioxanthone synthesis: a double aryne insertion strategy

Thioxanthones are fascinating organic compounds that have found their way into many industrial and everyday applications. In the printing industry, for example, they help inks dry faster when exposed to light thanks to their light-absorption properties, making the printing process quicker and more efficient. Some thioxanthones have been developed into FDA-approved drugs used to treat parasitic infections and cancer. Additionally, their effectiveness as photocatalysts has led some researchers to explore their potential as stabilizers against electrical breakdown. Thioxanthones have also been ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Keeper or corner?

Our brain is remarkably flexible in producing different reactions to supposedly comparable situations. The same sensory information can lead to different decisions depending on the behavioral context. One example of this is a penalty kick in soccer: a player can either choose the empty corner of the goal as the target or aim directly at the goalkeeper in the hope that he will jump aside. Both decisions are based on the same perception of the goalkeeper's position, but lead to completely different actions. Neuroscientists at the German Primate Center (DPZ) - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have investigated how the brain implements this ...

Read the release

Science3 Feb 2025

Observing ozonated water’s effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 in saliva

Disinfecting surfaces is crucial in keeping bacteria and viruses at bay, but the cleaning solutions could be ineffective if met with neutralizing compounds. Ozonated water has a strong disinfection effect on mold and bacteria, and is also shown to work on SARS-CoV-2, which is responsible for COVID-19. The downside is that ozonated water breaks down quickly in the presence of organic matter, which reduces its effectiveness. SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through droplets mixed with bodily fluids, such as saliva and nasal mucus which contain organic matters. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate how effective ozonated water is in the presence of ...

Read the release