Science
press releases.

Science1 Oct 2024

Squid-inspired fabric for temperature-controlled clothing

WASHINGTON, October 1, 2024 – Too warm with a jacket on but too cold without it? Athletic apparel brands boast temperature-controlling fabrics that adapt to every climate with lightweight but warm products. Yet, consider a fabric that you can adjust to fit your specific temperature needs. Inspired by the dynamic color-changing properties of squid skin, researchers from the University of California, Irvine developed a method to manufacture a heat-adjusting material that is breathable and washable and can be integrated into flexible fabric. They published their ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Nominate a stroke hero today: 2025 Stroke Hero Awards open for submissions

DALLAS, Oct. 1, 2024 – Strokes can strike at any age, challenging survivors to overcome physical, emotional and cognitive changes. Nominations are open now for the 2025 Stroke Hero Awards from the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, which is celebrating a century of lifesaving impact this year. The awards recognize stroke survivors, caregivers, advocates and experts making a difference in the stroke community. Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke[1], according to the American Heart Association’s 2024 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update. Nearly 1 in 4 stroke survivors face the ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Seven years on, INSEAD study reveals #MeToo's unexpected impact

Seven years after actor Alyssa Milano’s tweet launched the #MeToo movement into the global consciousness, attitudes towards sexual harassment and assault have shifted in many countries. A new study shows that the movement’s impact doesn’t stop there. INSEAD professors Frédéric Godart and David Dubois, alongside Clément Bellet of Erasmus University Rotterdam, found that #MeToo triggered far-reaching changes in consumer behaviour. Sales of stereotypically feminine shoes like high heels dropped significantly weeks after the #MeToo movement swept the media ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Age trumps gender, income and postcode for consumers' clothing habits

The first-ever nationwide study into how Australians use and dispose of clothing has revealed people are buying too many clothes and are unsure how to discard them responsibly. Conducted by RMIT University and commissioned by the Kmart Group and the Queensland Government, a study of 3,080 Australians explored how they acquired, used and disposed of their clothing. Australians are among the world’s biggest clothing consumers, importing 1.4 billion units or over 383,000 tonnes annually. But each year, more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill. The authors recommend establishing a national textile collection program for unwearable clothing that ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Researchers develop method to obtain fine spatial and temporal resolution land surface temperature data

Scientists need fine spatial and temporal resolution land surface temperature (LST) data for many types of research and applications. Spatio-temporal fusion, a technique that combines data from multiple sources to create high-resolution images with both spatial (space) and temporal (time) details, is an important solution for researchers needing fine spatio-temporal resolution LST data. A team of researchers propose a new spatio-temporal fusion method based on Restormer (RES-STF). Their work is published in the Journal of Remote Sensing on August 21, 2024. LST data, the measurement ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Vaccinating the young to save the old in the Tropics

A model suggests that vaccinating children and teens against the flu can help protect the elderly in tropical countries. Influenza kills up to 650,000 people worldwide every year. In part due to the lack of strong seasonality and differences in vaccine supply, optimal vaccination strategies for the tropics may differ from those in temperate zones. Joseph Servadio and colleagues parameterized an age-structured mathematical model of influenza transmission to the asynchronous, non-annual epidemiology of tropical influenza in Vietnam, a country with low vaccine coverage. The model includes three subtypes of the flu virus. Vaccinating year-round was found to be ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Nudges fail to reduce online hate

Seven nudges aiming to reduce hateful speech online all failed—but the nudges unexpectedly succeeded in increasing engagement with harmless and wholesome content. Controlling hate speech is an ongoing challenge for online communities. In a pre-registered experiment, Tatiana Celadin and colleagues compared the effects of seven “nudges,” messages designed to promote prosocial behaviors: reminding posters of descriptive norms, injunctive norms, or personal norms; cooling down negative emotions; stimulating deliberation or empathy; and highlighting reputation. Over 4,000 Americans recruited through the online platform ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Women more likely to choose wine with feminine labels

PULLMAN, Wash. – To appeal to the majority of consumers, winemakers may want to pay as much attention to what’s on the bottle as what’s in it. A three-part experimental study led by Washington State University researchers found that women were more inclined to purchase wine that had labels with feminine gender cues. The more strongly the participants identified with other women, a phenomenon called “in-group identification,” the greater this effect was. A feminine label also influenced their expectation that they would like the wine better. With women representing 59% ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Cool roofs could have saved lives during London’s hottest summer

As many as 249 lives could have been saved in London during the 2018 record-setting hot summer had the city widely adopted cool roofs, estimates a new study by researchers at UCL and the University of Exeter. The paper, published in Nature Cities, analysed the cooling effect that roofs painted white or other reflective colours would have on London’s ambient temperature between June and August 2018, the city’s hottest summer. From June through August, the average temperature around London was 19.2 degrees C, about ...

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Science1 Oct 2024

Research heralds new era for genetics

UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 10AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 1 OCTOBER 2024. Peer reviewed | Observational study | People Research led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London is heralding in a new era for genetic sequencing and testing. In the largest study of its kind to date, published today in Nature Medicine, an international group of researchers led by Queen Mary used new bioinformatics techniques to scan the genetic profiles of 80,000 people to understand the frequency of specific expansions of short repetitive DNA sequences in the general population. These expansions are the most common cause of inherited neurological ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Sylvester study: MRI provides early warning system for glioblastoma growth

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL SEPT. 30, 2024, AT 5:40 P.M. EDT) – A new study shows the potential power of imaging paired with radiation to shape treatment for glioblastoma patients in real time. The study, led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is the first to quantify tumor changes in glioblastoma patients receiving MRI-guided radiation therapy. This novel technique, also known as MRI-linear accelerator or MRI-linac, pairs ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Making soybeans smarter

Ron Mittler is on a quest to create a smarter soybean. For years, mid-Missouri has withstood unpredictable weather patterns, including drought, heat waves and flooding — conditions that are known to hamper agricultural yields and make it difficult for farmers to produce. While we can’t control the weather, Mittler and his team are working to harness soybean crops’ natural ability to adapt to unfavorable weather conditions while also increasing their yields. Working with $2.4 million from ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Wnt happens in kidney development?

A group of essential signaling molecules known as the Wnt pathway emerged early in the evolution of multicellular life. Scientists have been studying Wnt actions for four decades to comprehend its complex roles in development and disease. In development of the mammalian kidney, USC Stem Cell scientists from Andy McMahon’s lab undertook a pair of complementary studies, published today in the journal Development, that provide new insight into the critical role of Wnt signaling in initiating the development of the mammalian kidney. “Many stem and progenitor cells require Wnt signaling, ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Researchers harness liquid crystal structures to design simple, yet versatile bifocal lenses

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed a new type of bifocal lens that offers a simple way to achieve two foci (or spots) with intensities that can be adjusted by applying external voltage. The lenses, which use two layers of liquid crystal structures, could be useful for various applications such as optical interconnections, biological imaging, augmented/virtual reality devices and optical computing. “Most liquid-crystal-based devices are made from single-layer structures, but this limits light field modulation ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Suicide attempts decreased after adding suicide care to primary care, study finds

After suicide care was integrated into routine primary care visits, researchers saw a 25% decrease in the rate of suicide attempts in the following 90 days, a new Kaiser Permanente study finds. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first to show that suicide risk screening in primary care, followed by safety planning, improved suicide prevention efforts in a health care setting. The trial took place at Kaiser Permanente clinics in Washington state, using data from January 2015 to July 2018. “Our findings are important because we know many people seek primary care prior to fatal and nonfatal suicide attempts,” ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

One in three Americans has a dysfunctional metabolism, but intermittent fasting could help

LA JOLLA (Sept 30, 2024)—More than one-third of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that significantly raise a person’s risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These conditions include high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, excess abdominal fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels. In a new clinical trial, researchers at the Salk Institute and University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that time-restricted eating—also known as intermittent fasting—could offer significant health benefits to adults with metabolic syndrome. Patients ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Purdue-led TOMI project receives $3.5M grant to turn a decade of data into new tools and strategies for tomato farmers

Purdue-led TOMI project receives $3.5M grant to turn a decade of data into new tools and strategies for tomato farmers WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana ranks third in the nation for tomato production. Lori Hoagland, a professor in Purdue University’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, recently received ​​a third grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) for the Tomato Organic Management and ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

When detecting depression, the eyes have it

Hoboken, N.J., September 30, 2024 – It has been estimated that nearly 300 million people, or about 4% of the global population, are afflicted by some form of depression. But detecting it can be difficult, particularly when those affected don’t (or won't) report negative feelings to friends, family or clinicians. Now Stevens professor Sang Won Bae is working on several AI-powered smartphone applications and systems that could non-invasively warn us, and others, that we may be becoming depressed. “Depression is a major challenge,” says Bae. “We want to help.” "And since most people in the world today use smartphones daily, this could ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

A river is pushing up Mount Everest’s peak

Mount Everest is about 15 to 50 metres taller than it would otherwise be because of uplift caused by a nearby eroding river gorge, and continues to grow because of it, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in Nature Geoscience, found that erosion from a river network about 75 kilometres from Mount Everest is carving away a substantial gorge. The loss of this landmass is causing the mountain to spring upwards by as much as 2 millimetres a year and has already increased its height by between 15 and 50 metres over the past 89,000 years. At 8,849 metres high, Mount Everest, also known as Chomolungma in Tibetan or Sagarmāthā ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Cause-specific mortality rates among the US Black population

About The Study: This study highlights that progress in reducing excess mortality rates among Black individuals was made primarily in reducing deaths from cancer and cardiovascular diseases among males and from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes among females. However, this progress was stalled or reversed by an increase in mortality from external causes, such as assaults and accidents, as well as a stagnation in advancements against cardiovascular diseases during periods without decrease. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Harlan M. Krumholz, ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Redlining and time to viral suppression among persons with HIV

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest the enduring effects of systemic racism on present-day health outcomes among persons with HIV. Regardless of their neighborhood’s contemporary level of gentrification, individuals diagnosed with HIV while living in historically redlined neighborhoods may experience a significantly longer time to viral suppression. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, John R. Bassler, MS, email jbassle1@uab.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.5003) Editor’s ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Amy Vandiver, MD, PhD, of UCLA receives the 2024 Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty

NEW YORK — The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty: Amy Vandiver, MD, PhD, Clinical Instructor Clinician-Investigator Track, University of California Los Angeles. Established in 2020, the Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty is a one- to two-year award given to junior faculty (MDs and PhDs) to conduct aging-related Omics (GerOmics) research. Omics is a rapidly evolving, multi-disciplinary, and emerging field that encompasses genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

A new and unique fusion reactor comes together with PPPL's contributions

Like atoms coming together to release their power, fusion researchers worldwide are joining forces to solve the world’s energy crisis. Harnessing the power of fusing plasma as a reliable energy source for the power grid is no easy task, requiring global contributions. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) — a U.S. national laboratory funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) — is leading several efforts on this front, including collaborating on the design and development of a new fusion device at the University of Seville in Spain. The SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) strongly ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

New synthesis strategy could speed up PFAS decontamination

HOUSTON – (Sept. 30, 2024) – Rice University engineers have developed an innovative way to make covalent organic frameworks (COFs), special materials that can be used to trap gases, filter water and speed up chemical reactions. COFs have the potential to address significant environmental challenges, including energy storage and pollution control. An example of that is their potential use in the decontamination of “forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco and his team have described a new way to synthesize high-quality ...

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Science30 Sep 2024

Genetic link between bipolar disorder and epilepsy unveiled in groundbreaking study

Kunming, China - A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered compelling evidence of a genetic link between bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) and epilepsy, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of these complex neuropsychiatric conditions. The study, published in Genomic Psychiatry on September 30, 2024, reveals shared genetic variants and a causal relationship between the two disorders, opening new avenues for research and treatment. Led by Dr. Ming Li from the Kunming ...

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