Science
press releases.

Science20 Sep 2024

Kowalski, Salonvaara receive ASHRAE Distinguished Service Awards

Building equipment and envelope scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were recognized for research excellence during the ASHRAE 2024 summer conference held in Indianapolis. Stephen Kowalski and Mikael Salonvaara received the Distinguished Service Award, which salutes members who have served the society with distinction in chapter, regional and society activities. Kowalski and Salonvaara have each been active members of ASHRAE for more than 25 years and have supported the organization’s Technical and Standards Project Committees. ASHRAE is the largest international professional organization ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Evolved in the lab, found in nature: uncovering hidden pH sensing abilities

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator In a groundbreaking study led by Sarah Worthan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Behringer Lab at Vanderbilt University, scientists have successfully evolved microbial cultures that possess the ability to sense pH changes, enabling rapid responses to environmental fluctuations. Along with highlighting the power of lab-driven evolution, this discovery also led to finding similar mutations in nature in emerging pathogens and coral symbionts—organisms that navigate challenging pH shifts in their environments and are ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

What role does a tailwind play in cycling’s ‘Everesting’?

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2024 – Within the cycling realm, “to Everest” involves riding up and down the same mountain until your ascents total the elevation of Mt. Everest — 8,848 meters. After a new cycling “Everesting” record was set a few years ago, a debate ensued on social media about the strong tailwind the cyclist had on climbs — 5.5 meters per second (20 kilometers per hour or 12 miles per hour) — when he set the record. To what extent did the tailwind help him? Should limits be set on the allowed ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Projections of extreme temperature–related deaths in the US

About The Study: This cross-sectional study found that extreme temperature–related deaths in the contiguous U.S. were projected to increase substantially by mid–21st century, with certain populations, such as non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adults, projected to disproportionately experience this increase. The results point to the need to mitigate the adverse outcome of extreme temperatures for population health. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sameed Ahmed M. Khatana, MD, MPH, ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Walking in lockstep

Osaka, Japan – Walking is an activity that is often taken for granted. Most people usually think they can multitask by “walking and chewing gum” simultaneously with hardly any taxation of their mental effort. Indeed, each leg can move rhythmically independently of the other, controlled by its side of the spinal cord. However, the ability of the human brain to coordinate the gait so that a walker’s legs are half a stride out of phase with each other, called the “antiphase relationship,” is not so trivial when an obstacle or asymmetry occurs, such as a curve in the path. A better understanding of how a normal walking cadence is maintained ...

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Science20 Sep 2024

Cooler heads prevail: New research reveals best way to prevent dogs from overheating

FOR MORE INFORMATION Michael San Filippo Senior Media Relations Manager American Veterinary Medical Association Cell/Text: 847-732-6194 msanfilippo@avma.org Cooler heads prevail: New research reveals best way to prevent dogs from overheating (SCHAUMBURG, Illinois) September 19, 2024— As temperatures continue to soar across the country, a simple yet innovative technique could be the key to keeping dogs safe from heat-related illnesses. New research published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) reveals that teaching dogs ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Food fussiness a largely genetic trait from toddlerhood to adolescence

Fussy eating is mainly influenced by genes and is a stable trait lasting from toddlerhood to early adolescence, finds a new study led by researchers from UCL (University College London), King’s College London and the University of Leeds. The study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry and funded by the UK mental health charity MQ Mental Health Research, compared survey results of parents with identical or non-identical twins in England and Wales from the ages of 16 months to 13 years. The ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Celebrating a century of scholarship: Isis examines the HSS at 100

Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society is widely recognized as a leading voice in the history of science. George Sarton founded the journal in 1912, and two years later the History of Science Society (HSS) was formed to advance the journal’s mission and centralize the nascent discipline. The September 2024 issue of Isis pays tribute to the centennial anniversary of the HSS with a collection of articles that delve into the rich history of the society and its publications. In their introduction to the issue, editors Alexandra Hui and Matthew Lavine write that the issue can be seen as “a love letter of sorts: to the Isis readership, ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Key biomarkers identified for predicting disability progression in multiple sclerosis

A pioneering study presented today at ECTRIMS 2024 has identified critical biomarkers that can predict disability worsening in multiple sclerosis (MS). The breakthrough research has the potential to transform treatment strategies for millions of MS patients worldwide, paving the way for more personalised and effective treatment plans.1 In this multicentre observational study, conducted across 13 hospitals in Spain and Italy, Dr. Enric Monreal and his team found that elevated serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) levels—a protein indicating nerve cell damage—at the onset of MS can predict both relapse-associated worsening (RAW) and progression independent ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Can captive tigers be part of the effort to save wild populations?

Captive tigers in the United States outnumber those living in the wild. The World Wildlife Federation estimates around 5,000 of the big cats reside in the U.S., mostly owned by private citizens. The health of this population is a genetic mystery for conservation groups and researchers interested in how the captive tigers could help stabilize or restore wild tiger populations. Are the privately owned animals just like tigers in the wild, or do they reflect characteristics popular in the illegal trade? Are they a hodgepodge of wild tiger ancestry, ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Elam named as a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society

Jeffrey Elam, senior chemist, Distinguished Fellow, and founder of the atomic layer deposition (ALD) research program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, was named as a fellow of the Electrochemical Society (ECS), which focuses on advancing theory and practice at the forefront of electrochemical and solid-state science and technology. Elam, who has been with the lab since 2002, has been a trailblazer in thin film coating science and technology for over 20 years, ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Study reveals gaps in access to long-term contraceptive supplies

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have found that despite legislation in 19 states requiring insurers to cover a 12-month supply of contraception, patients aren’t receiving a year’s worth of their prescription; most receive just three months or less. Their study recently published in the journal JAMA Health Forum shows that policies requiring coverage of a 12-month supply of short-acting hormonal contraception — most commonly the birth control pill — have not been fully implemented, resulting in no substantial increases nationally in year-long prescription orders. This leaves many patients at an increased risk for unintended ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Shining a light on the roots of plant “intelligence”

All living organisms emit a low level of light radiation, but the origin and function of these 'biophotons' are not yet fully understood. An international team of physicists, funded by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, has proposed a new approach for investigating this phenomenon based on statistical analyses of this emission. Their aim is to test whether biophotons can play a role in the transport of information within and between living organisms, and whether monitoring biophotons could contribute to the development of medical techniques for the early diagnosis of various diseases. Their analyses of the measurements of the faint glow emitted by lentil ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Pushing kidney-stone fragments reduces stones’ recurrence

Sometimes all it takes is a little push. That is the conclusion of a recently published study in which doctors used a handheld ultrasound device to nudge patients’ kidney-stone fragments. As many as 50% of patients who have kidney stones removed surgically still have small fragments remaining in the kidneys afterward. Of those patients, about 25% find themselves returning for another operation within five years to remove the now-larger fragments. UW Medicine researchers found, however, that patients ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Sweet success: genomic insights into the wax apple's flavor and fertility

A recent study has successfully decoded the autotetraploid genome of the wax apple, uncovering its genetic evolution and key factors driving fruit diversity. The research highlights the fruit’s rich antioxidant profile, with promising implications for human health and breeding strategies aimed at enhancing nutritional value. Wax apple (Syzygium samarangense), known for its crisp texture, rose-like aroma, and health benefits, faces breeding challenges due to its complex genetic diversity and limited genomic data. These obstacles have hindered efforts to improve key fruit qualities such as size and sugar ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

MD Anderson Research Highlights for September 19, 2024

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Genetic factors underscore disparities in colorectal cancer survival Patients with colorectal cancer have varied overall survival, but it remains unclear how the frequency of certain gene mutations among different racial and ethnic groups influences outcomes. To investigate, researchers led by John Paul Shen, M.D., and ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Preconception and early-pregnancy BMI in women and men, time to pregnancy, and risk of miscarriage

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that optimizing body mass index (BMI) in women and men from the preconception period onward might be an important strategy to improve fertility and reduce the risk of miscarriage. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, MD, PhD, email v.jaddoe@erasmusmc.nl. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.36157) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Revolutionary visible-light-antenna ligand enhances samarium-catalyzed reactions

Samarium (Sm), a rare earth metal, is important to organic chemists because of the ability of its divalent compounds to efficiently perform single-electron transfer reductions. Samarium iodide (SmI2) is moderately stable and can operate under mild conditions at room temperature, making it highly useful for producing pharmaceuticals and biologically active materials. However, most reactions require SmI2 in quantities equal to or greater than the stoichiometric amount and necessitate the use of harmful chemicals, making the process resource-intensive and expensive to manage. Several approaches have been studied to reduce ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

A new forecasting model based on gene activity predicts when Japan’s cherry buds awake from dormancy

Fukuoka, Japan – Japan in spring is famous for its cherry blossoms, or sakura, which begin flowering in the southern region of Kyushu and blaze upwards to the remote north of Hokkaido. The most abundant cherry tree cultivar, Somei Yoshino, is the iconic symbol of spring, as the cloned trees flower simultaneously at each site, creating a fleeting explosion of white-pink blossom that enraptures locals and tourists alike. The flowering forecasts of Somei Yoshino are poured over for months before flowering, as visitors plan their trips and locals ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

New mechanism uncovered for the reduction of emu wings

Researchers have uncovered a fascinating mechanism behind the reduction and asymmetry of emu wing bones. The wings not only show significant shortening, but the skeletal elements also fuse asymmetrically, a phenomenon traced back to the absence of muscle formation in the distal regions of the wings. During development, this lack of muscle leads to insufficient mechanical stress, which is crucial for proper bone formation. The team identified muscle progenitor cells with a unique dual identity, combining characteristics of both somite１-derived myogenic and lateral plate mesoderm2 cells. These ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Zeroing in on the genes that snakes use to produce venom

Only about ten percent of the world’s roughly 4,000 snake species have venom strong enough to seriously hurt a human, but that’s enough for snake bites to be an important public health concern. To help better understand how snakes make their venom and how venoms differ from one species to another, researchers developed a new way to zero in on the genes that snakes use in venom production. Their work was published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources. “We’ve developed a tool that can tell us which venom-producing genes are present across an entire snake family in one fell swoop,” says Sara Ruane, the Assistant Curator of Herpetology in the ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Your Zoom background could influence how tired you feel after a video call

Part of many people’s pandemic experience included working from home. Even after lockdowns, videoconferencing remains a big part of life as people continue to work remotely, connect with families and friends online, and attend virtual events hosted on videoconferencing platforms. Spending hours on video calls, however, can be exhausting and manifest as physical, emotional, or cognitive tiredness – a phenomenon known as videoconferencing fatigue (VF). Now, researchers in Singapore have asked if a relationship between virtual backgrounds and VF exists and ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Serial-autoencoder for personalized recommendation

In the last decade, auxiliary information has been widely used to address data sparsity. Due to the advantages of feature extraction and the no-label requirement, autoencoder-based methods addressing auxiliary information have become quite popular. However, most existing autoencoder-based methods discard the reconstruction of auxiliary information, which poses a huge challenge for better representation learning and model scalability. To solve the problems, a research team led by Zhu YI published their new research on 15 August 2024 in Frontiers of Computer Science co-published by Higher Education Press and Springer Nature. The team proposed a novel representation ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

How do look for microbes in nature that are beneficial to plant?

Cucumber is a common vegetable on people’s table because of its crisp and refreshing characteristics. In order to meet the market demand throughout the year, cucumber is now mainly planted in facility greenhouses. However, the loss of soil nutrients and the accumulation of pathogenic microorganisms are inevitable in successive years of cultivation. Cucumber corynespora leaf spot, also known as cucumber target spot disease, is a major foliar disease that causes cucumber yield reduction, and its pathogen is the Corynespora cassiicola. The pathogen harms cucumber leaves, causing irregular spots and affecting the photosynthesis ...

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Science19 Sep 2024

Rugged Falklands landscape was once a lush rainforest

A researcher from the University of Southampton (UK) has found evidence that the treeless, rugged, grassland landscape of the Falkland Islands was home to a lush, diverse rainforest up to 30 million years ago. A study by Dr Zoë Thomas, leading an international team of scientists, reveals that the South Atlantic archipelago was once covered in cool, wet woodland – similar to the present day rainforests found in Tierra del Fuego, off the tip of South America. The scientists conducted the research after clues to the whereabouts of buried remains of the ancient forest reached them via word-of-mouth in the tight knit community of Port Stanley, the Falklands’ ...

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