Science
press releases.

Science29 Jan 2025

Moderate exercise keeps appetite at bay

A recent study involving researchers at Murdoch University’s Health Futures Institute has revealed that moderate-intensity exercise can significantly influence appetite-related hormones and perceptions in males with obesity. The study, titled “Acute effect of exercise on appetite-related factors in males with obesity,” provides new insights into how exercise can aid appetite control and weight management. One of the study authors, Associate Professor Timothy Fairchild from Murdoch’s School ...

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Science29 Jan 2025

Calorie labels on menus could make eating disorders worse

Calorie labels on restaurant menus are negatively impacting people with eating disorders, according to a new study published today in the BMJ Public Health. The review, which is the first of its kind, is led by researchers at King’s College London. It found that individuals who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder changed their behaviours if presented with a menu featuring calorie labels. This included avoiding restaurants, triggering eating disorder thoughts and paying more attention to calorie labels as identified by eye tracking research. The research found that some people with eating disorders reported that seeing menu labels reinforced ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

New clues to the mechanism behind food tolerance and allergies

With every bite of food we take, our intestinal immune system must make a big decision. Tasked with defending us from foreign pathogens, these exquisitely sensitive cells somehow distinguish friend from foe—destroying invaders while tolerating food and helpful bacteria. How the gut separates the good from the bad has long puzzled scientists. Now, new research identifies specific gut cell types that communicate with T cells—prompting them to tolerate, attack, or simply ignore—and explains how these opposing responses are triggered. The findings, published in Science, give scientists ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Can you really have it all? New study reveals how to succeed at work without sacrificing your free time

New INFORMS Organization Science Study Key Takeaways: Integrating work-related learning into leisure activities can enhance confidence, build new skills and support professional growth. Leisure-work synergizing is most effective for individuals who prefer blending work and personal life rather than keeping them separate. Overdoing leisure-work synergizing may lead to fatigue, emphasizing the importance of balance to maintain its benefits. BALTIMORE, MD, January 28, 2025 – Could your favorite hobbies help you get ahead at work? New research published in the INFORMS journal Organization Science explores “leisure-work ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Western Kenyan farmers favor restoring land with native trees. Yet barriers remain

African nations have grand ambitions to green up landscapes with trees; the Kenyan government, for example, launched an initiative to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. The hope is that new trees could help fight desertification, create opportunities for livelihood diversification, support nutritional diets, restore biodiversity in highly degraded land and capture planet-heating carbon. Restoring lands using trees could empower millions whose livelihoods depend on working the land while generating multiple environmental and social benefits. Yet tree planting projects often fall short because ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

First mouse with two male parents to reach adulthood

A team of stem cell scientists have successfully used embryonic stem cell engineering to create a bi-paternal mouse—a mouse with two male parents—that lived until adulthood. Their results, publishing on January 28, 2025, in the Cell Press journal Cell Stem Cell, describe how targeting a particular set of genes involved in reproduction allowed the researchers to overcome previously insurmountable challenges in unisexual reproduction in mammals. Scientists have attempted to create bi-paternal mice before, but the embryos ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Standardizing provider assessments reveals important information about gun and opioid access for veterans at risk of suicide

PHILADELPHIA—Standardizing an assessment process currently used by doctors during care discussions with veterans at risk for suicide in other context could shed more light on the risks related to firearms and opioids. The findings from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were reported today in JAMA Network Open. They found that fewer veterans reported having access to firearms than expected—either because some didn't mention it to their doctor, it wasn't ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Paywalls shape newspaper coverage

Adopting paywalls subtly shapes newspaper coverage, according to a study. Online journalism is increasingly found behind paywalls, as outlets pivot from funding their operations by selling ads to relying on subscriptions for revenue. This shift has raised questions about how newspapers might adjust their coverage to cater to paid subscribers' desires for popular news and soft news—entertainment, lifestyle, sports, and human-interest stories—at the expense of providing local news and maintaining democratic accountability. Paramveer S. Dhillon ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

An injectable hydrogel for local bone densification

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone resorbs faster than it is formed, gradually weakening its structure over time and leading to fractures. Although the condition is well recognized, Dominique Pioletti, head of the Laboratory of Biomechanical Orthopedics in EPFL’s School of Engineering, emphasizes that the economic and societal impacts of osteoporosis fractures are often underestimated. “In the absence of effective preventive measures, around 40% of women aged 50 will suffer at least one major osteoporotic fracture; in ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Forgery and fiscal fraud: a new papyrus from Israel reveals a spectacular criminal case from the Roman empire

Scholars from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unveil a unique papyrus from the collections held by the Israel Antiquities Authority, offering rare insights into Roman legal proceedings and life in the Roman Near East. In a new publication in the international scholarly journal Tyche, the research team reveals how the Roman imperial state dealt with financial crimes – specifically, tax fraud involving slaves – in the Roman provinces of Iudaea and Arabia. The new papyrus furnishes a strikingly direct view of Roman jurisdiction and legal practice, as well as important new information ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Kenya study highlights complexity of tree-planting schemes

Research with smallholder farmers in Kenya shows that tree-planting schemes must account for complex local issues and preferences. Tree planting is central to many countries’ climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation goals, and Kenya alone plans to plant 15 billion trees by 2032. Adding trees and shrubs to farmland (called agroforestry) can boost biodiversity, carbon storage, soil health, food production and income. But many tree-planting schemes overlook diversity and promote a narrow range of species. The new study – led by the University of Exeter – examined the factors that enable or prevent Kenyan smallholders from increasing the diversity of ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Regularly seeing the same GP could free up NHS appointments, research shows

New research indicates that regularly seeing the same GP could reduce workload in practices and hospitals, potentially freeing up appointments for patients. The study was conducted by Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, the University of Exeter Medical School and St Leonard’s Practice in Exeter. The research focuses on continuity of care – whether there’s any benefit from patients seeing the same GP at most of their appointments. This continuity has been steadily decreasing in patient care since 2012, and increasingly patients see multiple GPs within a practice, or temporarily placed GPs, known as locums. Now, the new research, published in the ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Young adults more active after starting work, but sleep less – unless working from home

When young adults start working, the amount of daily physical activity they do increases sharply, only to fall away again over the new few years, while the amount of sleep they get falls slightly, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Cambridge. The increase in physical activity was mainly seen in those doing semi-routine occupations such as bus driving or hairdressing, and routine occupations such as cleaning or waiting, or technical jobs. There was little change seen among people entering managerial or professional occupations. The largest drop in levels of physical activity was seen ...

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Science28 Jan 2025

Archaeologists find ‘lost’ site depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that a house in England is the site of a lost residence of Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, and shown in the Bayeux Tapestry. By reinterpreting previous excavations and conducting new surveys, the team from Newcastle University, UK, together with colleagues from the University of Exeter, believe they have located a power centre belonging to Harold Godwinson, who was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Bosham, on the coast of West Sussex, is depicted ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

AI-based tool uses speech patterns to detect moderate to severe depression

Background and Goal: Depression impacts an estimated 18 million Americans each year, yet depression screening rarely occurs in the outpatient setting. This study evaluated an AI-based machine learning biomarker tool that uses speech patterns to detect moderate to severe depression, aiming to improve access to screening in primary care settings. Study Approach: The study analyzed over 14,000 voice samples from U.S. and Canadian adults. Participants answered the question, “How was your day?” with at least 25 seconds of free-form ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Annals of Family January/February 2025 Tip Sheet

Editorial Family Medicine Journal Editors Suggest Guiding Principles for AI Use in Publishing Background: This editorial by editors of family medicine journals provides a unified stance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in family medicine research and publishing. Editorial Stance: Family medicine journals must address the implications of AI, including ethical considerations, accuracy, and potential for bias. The authors recommend guiding principles for AI use in family medicine publishing, emphasizing: Full disclosure of AI tool use in research and manuscript preparation Accountability ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

former NIJ director proposes new framework to enhance rigor, impact of criminal justice intervention evaluations

Experimental research is fundamental to criminology, but reaching consensus on rigorous evidence and using that evidence to determine what works remains an ongoing challenge to the field. In a new article, the former director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice programs, proposes a framework to situate both the role of rigorous evaluation and its results in a more robust understanding of the effectiveness of social programs. According to her new framework, the more deliberate the implementation of a social program, the more likely it will yield its intended impact. “Deliberate implementation can ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

New research shows a scientific approach can optimize bike lane planning

January 27, 2025 New research shows a scientific approach can optimize bike lane planning. Toronto – When it comes to opinions about bike lanes, few of us are stuck in neutral. Love them or hate them though, new research says a dose of scientific rationality can help locate them in the best places. Congestion is minimized while more people ditch the car in favour of emissions-free, two-wheeled commuting. Working with two other academics, smart city researcher Sheng Liu pulled data and talked to city planners in Vancouver and Chicago to develop a model that can help ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Hear ye! Hear ye! Yale researchers uncover new complexities in human hearing

New Haven, Conn. — Yale physicists have discovered a sophisticated, previously unknown set of “modes” within the human ear that put important constraints on how the ear amplifies faint sounds, tolerates noisy blasts, and discerns a stunning range of sound frequencies in between. By applying existing mathematical models to a generic mock-up of a cochlea — a spiral-shaped organ in the inner ear — the researchers revealed a new layer of cochlear complexity. The findings offer fresh insight into the remarkable capacity and accuracy of human hearing. “We set out to understand how the ear can tune itself to detect faint sounds without becoming ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Gugliucci takes office as the Gerontological Society of America’s president

Marilyn R. Gugliucci, MA, PhD, FAGHE, FGSA, AGSF, FNAOME, of the University of New England (UNE) College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) has been installed as the new president of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging. She was elected by GSA’s membership, which consists of 6,000 researchers, educators, practitioners, and other professionals. Gugliucci is the 81st person to hold the office since the Society was founded in 1945. As president, she will oversee matters of GSA’s governance and strategic planning, while also managing the program for GSA’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting. ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

How tiny algae shaped the evolution of giant clams

Giant clams, some of the largest mollusks on Earth, have long fascinated scientists. These impressive creatures can grow up to 4.5 feet in length and weigh over 700 pounds, making them icons of tropical coral reefs. But these animals don’t bulk up on a high-protein diet. Instead, they rely largely on energy produced by algae living inside them. In a new study led by CU Boulder, scientists sequenced the genome of the most widespread species of giant clam, Tridacna maxima, to reveal how these creatures adapted their genome to coexist with algae. The findings, published Jan. 4 in the journal Communications Biology, offer ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Men and women equally attracted to younger partners, UC Davis study suggests

Men and women alike are drawn to younger partners, whether or not they realize it. The conclusion came from a University of California, Davis, study of 4,500 blind dates of people seeking a long-term partner. “After a blind date, participants were slightly more attracted to younger partners, and this trend was equally true for men and women,” said Paul Eastwick, UC Davis professor of psychology and lead author on the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Hominin presence in Eurasia dated to almost 2 million years ago

The subject of when early hominins, closely related ancestors to humans, first left Africa to begin their slow dispersal across the globe is a matter of ongoing discussion among anthropologists. The general consensus has been that hominins were present in Eurasia at least 1.8 million years ago, but some ephemeral traces of hominins have hinted at an earlier presence. New evidence by an international team of researchers now pushes that date back to almost 2 million years ago. This evidence for hominins in Eurasia earlier than ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Researchers uncover new approach to predict pain sensitivity

In an international effort, researchers at Western University, the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD) and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) uncovered how specific patterns in brain activity can predict an individual’s sensitivity to pain, expanding opportunities for improved pain management strategies. The new study was published Jan. 27 in JAMA Neurology. It found the combination of two biomarkers in the brain – corticomotor excitability (CME), excitability in the region of the brain that controls movement, and peak alpha frequency (PAF), a neural marker associated with cognitive performance – can accurately and reliably distinguish high- ...

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Science27 Jan 2025

Scientists develop ultra-thin absorbers with record-breaking bandwidth

Absorbing layers have been fundamental to advancements in technologies like energy harvesting, stealth systems, and communication networks. These absorbers efficiently capture electromagnetic waves across broad frequency ranges, enabling the development of sustainable, self-powered devices such as remote sensors and internet of things (IoT) systems. In addition to energy applications, these layers are pivotal in stealth technology, where they minimize radar visibility and enhance the performance of aircraft and naval systems. They also play a crucial role in improving communication networks by reducing ...

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