Science
press releases.

Science12 Sep 2024

An exit for even the deepest rabbit holes: Personalized conversations with chatbot reduce belief in conspiracy theories

Personalized conversations with a trained artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot can reduce belief in conspiracy theories – even in the most obdurate individuals – according to a new study. The findings, which challenge the idea that such beliefs are impervious to change, point to a new tool for combating misinformation. “It has become almost a truism that people ‘down the rabbit hole’ of conspiracy belief are almost impossible to reach,” write the authors. “In contrast to this pessimistic view, we [show] that a relatively brief conversation with a generative AI model can produce ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

How is open access transforming science communication?

In a Policy Forum, Mark McCabe and Frank Mueller-Langer explore how new open access (OA) mandates and agreements are changing how scientists share their work. They outline key contemporary unknowns in the open access landscape, as well as avenues for continued research. Since 2003, many national governments and international organizations have supported the Berlin Declaration on Open Access (OA) to Knowledge. More recently, some governments and organizations have introduced mandates to ensure open access ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

New research reveals how El Nino caused the greatest ever mass extinction

Mega ocean warming El Niño events were key in driving the largest extinction of life on planet Earth some 252 million years ago, according to new research. The study, published today in Science and co-led by the University of Bristol and China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), has shed new light on why the effects of rapid climate change in the Permian-Triassic warming were so devastating for all forms of life in the sea and on land. Scientists have long linked this mass extinction to vast volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia. The resulting carbon dioxide emissions rapidly accelerated climate warming, resulting in widespread stagnation and the collapse ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

The insulator unraveled

Aluminum oxide (Al2O3), also known as alumina, corundum, sapphire, or ruby, is one of the best insulators used in a wide range of applications: in electronic components, as a support material for catalysts, or as a chemically resistant ceramic, to name a few. Knowledge of the precise arrangement of the surface atoms is key to understanding how chemical reactions occur on this material, such as those in catalytic processes. Atoms inside the material follow a fixed arrangement, giving rise to the characteristic shapes ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Polar molecules dance to the tunes of microwaves

The interactions between quantum spins underlie some of the universe’s most interesting phenomena, such as superconductors and magnets. However, physicists have difficulty engineering controllable systems in the lab that replicate these interactions. Now, in a recently published Nature paper, JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Jun Ye and his team, along with collaborators in Mikhail Lukin’s group at Harvard University, used periodic microwave pulses in a process known as Floquet engineering, to tune interactions between ultracold potassium-rubidium molecules in a system appropriate for studying fundamental magnetic ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Retinopathy associated with hair dye

About The Study: This case report describes a woman who presented with bilateral blurry vision a few days after dyeing her hair with hair dye containing aromatic amines. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nicolas Chirpaz, MD, email nicolas.chirpaz@chu-lyon.fr. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.3453) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Killer yeasts may help remedy a craft beer brewing bother

Highlights: Diastatic yeasts can spoil craft beer through hyperattenuation, which boosts the alcohol content and causes bottles to explode. Killer toxins, which are produced by other yeast strains, hint at a remedy. In a proof-of-concept study, researchers found that killer toxins inhibited up to 95% of diastatic yeasts. More work is needed to fine tune the recipe, but killer yeasts may help brewers remedy potentially contaminated beers. Washington, D.C. — Sept. 12, 2024 — When diastatic strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

A majority of Americans can’t recall most First Amendment rights

Less than half of Americans can name most of the rights protected under the First Amendment and under two-thirds can name the three branches of government, according to the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, released annually since 2014. The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s nationally representative survey, conducted in May 2024 with about 1,600 U.S. adults, finds levels of public knowledge largely unchanged from 2023. As was true last year, most Americans could name only a single right guaranteed by the First Amendment: freedom of speech, provided by nearly 3 in 4 respondents. The survey also found strong public support for ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

2024 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists announced

NEW YORK, September 12, 2024 – For the second time, the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences named three women scientists as Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Each will receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific prize offered to America’s most promising, faculty-level scientific researchers under 42. Three independent juries – one each for life sciences, chemical sciences, and physical sciences & engineering – composed of some of America’s most distinguished scientists selected the three winning Laureates. An additional 15 Finalists will each receive ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Collaborative three-campus QB3 research team awarded $12 million CIRM grant to study origins of autism in diverse population

A QB3-led team uniting researchers from the University of California campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz was awarded a $12 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to investigate the origins of autism using sophisticated cellular models called “neural organoids.” This grant is the first funding brought in by QB3’s Collaborative Research initiative, which was recently created to address major challenges in human health by leveraging research talent and resources across the UC campuses served by QB3. "We are grateful for the support provided by the CIRM team to craft a highly successful application ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Cannabis and older adults: Poll shows current use patterns, beliefs and risks

Whether they’re using it for recreational or medical reasons, a sizable percentage of people in their 50s and older have smoked, eaten, drunk or applied to their skin at least one form of cannabis in the past year, a new poll shows. In all, 21% of people age 50 and older said they used a form of cannabis that contains the psychoactive compound THC at least once in the past year, according to new findings from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. The poll report focuses on use of cannabis ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

SOPHiA GENETICS announces poster presentations at ESMO 2024

Boston, MA and Rolle, Switzerland, September 12, 2024 – SOPHiA GENETICS (Nasdaq: SOPH), a cloud-native healthcare technology company and a global leader in data-driven medicine, will be presenting multiple posters at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 being held in Barcelona, Spain September 13-17, 2024. The ESMO Congress is a globally influential oncology platform for clinicians, researchers, patient advocates, journalists and healthcare industry representatives from all over the world. The details of the presentations are as follows: Title: ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Big algebras: A dictionary of abstract math

Several fields of mathematics have developed in total isolation, using their own ‘undecipherable’ coded languages. In a new study published in PNAS, Tamás Hausel, professor of mathematics at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), presents “big algebras,” a two-way mathematical ‘dictionary’ between symmetry, algebra, and geometry, that could strengthen the connection between the distant worlds of quantum physics and number theory. Technical Toolkit: Symmetry and commutativity, from esthetics to functionality Symmetry is not just a question of esthetics and equilibrium, but also a highly recurrent feature throughout the domains ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

Kids in families with too much screen time struggle with language skills

Screens have become ubiquitous in our daily lives — which means they’ve also become part of children’s lives too. So what effect does this have on children’s developing brains, especially critical language skills? To understand this, scientists in Estonia surveyed the parents of more than 400 children about their screen use, their children’s screen use, and their children’s language skills. They found that parents who use screens a lot also have children who use screens a lot, and that children’s higher screen time is associated with poorer language skills. “Our ...

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Science12 Sep 2024

UTokyo attosecond institute welcomes Nobel laureate

Nobel laureate Pierre Agostini, winner of the 2023 prize in physics, will headline a special two-day event hosted by the University of Tokyo on Sept. 26-27. The keynote lecture by Agostini, renowned for this pioneering work in attosecond science, will be part of a larger symposium bringing together researchers from around the world to celebrate the university’s planned Attosecond Laser Facility (ALFA), and discuss the latest developments and future directions of attosecond science. Have you taken a photo of a fast-moving animal or vehicle and noticed how blurry the subject can be? This is likely because the faster a moving subject is, the faster the camera’s shutter needs ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Laughter may be as effective as drops for dry eyes

Laughter may be as effective as eye drops in improving symptoms of dry eye disease, finds a clinical trial from China published by The BMJ today The researchers suggest that laughter exercise could be an initial treatment for relieving symptoms of dry eye disease. Dry eye disease (DED) is a chronic condition estimated to affect around 360 million individuals worldwide. Common symptoms include uncomfortable, red, scratchy or irritated eyes. Evidence suggests that laughter therapy alleviates depression, anxiety, stress, and chronic pain, while strengthening immune ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Large-scale population analysis confirms reassuring safety profile of tirzepatide

As more people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are taking medications to help manage blood sugar levels and weight loss, concerns about whether these drugs are safe have emerged. Now real-world evidence from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database reveals a reassuring safety profile for tirzepatide (TZP). The findings to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Madrid (9-13 Sept), and published in the The Journal of Endocrinological Investigation (link below) reveal that, compared to the widely used class of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), TZP has similar gastrointestinal ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Tirzepatide associated with greater weight loss in women than men

All doses of tirzepatide, a medication approved in the EU to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, consistently reduced body weight in women and men, but women experienced greater weight loss, according to new post hoc research to be presented at this year’s Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Madrid (9-13 Sept). The post hoc analysis, which included the four SURMOUNT trials [1], compared tirzepatide with a placebo for up to 72 to 88 weeks in 4,677 adults (2,999 females, 1,678 males) living with obesity, highlighting potential sex differences in the response. Tirzepatide, a once-weekly glucose-dependent ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Biogeochemistry scientists from around the world, led by the ASC's Margenot, publish position paper on tackling “hidden” phosphorus

As the world tries to mitigate agriculture’s effect on the environment, much of the story can be found in the soils, which stores and cycles nutrient elements of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Biogeochemistssuch as Andrew Margenot, Associate Director of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center, are set to find answers, but for Margenot and other biogeochemistry experts who specialize in studying phosphorus cycling, the challenge is first being able to accurately measure where phosphorus has accumulated in the

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Science11 Sep 2024

Clovis people used Great Lakes camp annually 13,000 years ago

Graphics // Photos The earliest humans to settle the Great Lakes region likely returned to a campsite in southwest Michigan for several years in a row, according to a University of Michigan study. Until recently, there was no evidence that people from the Clovis period had settled the Great Lakes region. Clovis people appeared in North America about 13,000 years ago, during the geologic epoch called the Pleistocene. During the Pleistocene, sheets of glaciers covered much of the world, including Michigan, making the land inhospitable for human settlers. But a 2021 U-M study confirmed that Clovis people built ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Can having a stroke change your sleep?

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People who have had a stroke may be more likely to sleep too much or too little compared to those without prior stroke, according to a study published in the September 11, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that stroke causes abnormal sleep; it only shows an association. “Sleeping the right amount is considered essential for ideal brain and heart health,” said study author Sara Hassani, ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Trust in police declined among Black Chicago residents after Jacob Blake shooting

Survey data collected from Chicago, Illinois at the time of the 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake in nearby Wisconsin shows that trust in police plummeted among Black residents after the shooting. Jonathan Ben-Menachem and Gerard Torrats-Espinosa of Columbia University in New York, U.S., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on September 11, 2024. For young minority men in the U.S., police violence has become a leading cause of death. Prior research has explored how police violence and misconduct might reduce trust in police, but most studies have been limited in ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Quitting smoking reduces risk of atrial fibrillation

Quitting cigarettes can significantly lower a person’s risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib) compared to those who continue to smoke, according to a study published today in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology. The findings show that the benefits of quitting start right away, suggesting that it is possible to reverse the risk of negative health outcomes. “The findings provide a compelling new reason to show current smokers that it’s not too late to quit and that having smoked in the past doesn’t ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

How many people have A-Fib? Three times more than we thought

Atrial fibrillation, a rapid, irregular heart beat that can lead to stroke or sudden death, is three times more common than previously thought, affecting nearly 5% of the population, or 10.5 million U.S. adults, according to new estimates from UC San Francisco. A-Fib, as the condition is commonly known, has been on the rise for at least the past decade, driven by the aging of the population, along with increasing rates of hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Earlier projections had estimated that 3.3 million U.S. adults ...

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Science11 Sep 2024

Examining the hypertension control cascade in adults with uncontrolled hypertension in the US

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, more than 50% of adults with uncontrolled hypertension in the U.S. were unaware of their hypertension and were untreated, and 70.8% of those who were treated had hypertension that remained uncontrolled. These findings have serious implications for the nation’s overall health given the association of hypertension with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, LaTonia C. Richardson, PhD, email lcrichardson@cdc.gov. To access the embargoed study: ...

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