Science
press releases.

Science31 Jul 2024

Does it matter that the ovaries are the most rapidly aging organs in the female body?

CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 1, 2024)—Because of the aging of the ovaries, a woman’s fertility gradually declines, and she eventually enters menopause. The onset of menopause puts women at a significantly higher risk of various diseases such as cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. A new study suggests that a shorter reproductive lifespan is linked with a higher risk of multimorbidity. Results of the survey are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society. The effect of reproductive-related factors on women’s health has become a focus of interest and study in recent years. Previous studies have identified the ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Study examines suicide contagion following celebrity deaths, opening avenues for prevention

New research models the rapid and expansive spread of suicidal behaviors following the suicides of Robin Williams in 2014, and of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, which occurred three days apart in 2018. Columbia University researchers developed a computer model to examine the dynamics underlying suicide contagion. They found that both the 2014 and 2018 events led to large increases in suicidal thought and behavior. The findings, which appear in the journal Science Advances, provide a framework for quantifying suicidal contagion to better understand, prevent, and contain its spread. “The model we developed ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

3D models provide unprecedented look at corals’ response to bleaching events

In a new study, marine biologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Arizona State University are providing a first-of-its-kind glimpse into coral “bleaching” responses to stress, using imaging technology to pinpoint coral survival rates following multiple bleaching events off the island of Maui. Their findings were published July 31 in the journal PLOS ONE. Using a time series of coral reef 3D models from Maui, a team of researchers led by Scripps Oceanography’s Smith Lab tracked the bleaching response of 1,832 coral colonies from 2014 to ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Study finds White Western women have lower body appreciation and greater media pressure to look thin

White Western women have lower body appreciation and experience greater pressure from the media to be thin compared to Black Nigerian and Chinese women across all ages, according to new research. The study, carried out by psychologists at Durham University (UK), and published in PLOS ONE, explored the impacts of age and sociocultural pressures on body appreciation (feelings of positivity and pride about one’s body) amongst White Western, Black Nigerian and Chinese women. Whilst all three groups had relatively stable body appreciation across ages, there were significant cultural differences. White ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Humans are born to run

The 2024 Summer Olympics are in full swing. One of the marquee events is of course the marathon, a grueling test of fitness and athleticism. When it comes to endurance running, humans are among the very top mammals in their athletic prowess. While we may not be the best sprinters in the animal kingdom, we can run steadily for long distances, even in hot weather. Our locomotor muscles are dominated by slow-twitch, fatigue-resistant fibers and our unique ability to sweat allows our bodies to effectively dissipate heat. Humans are so good at endurance running, it seems we were born to do it. But why? A theory of endurance In ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

A new use for propofol in treating epilepsy?

The general anesthetic propofol may hold the keys to developing new treatment strategies for epilepsy and other neurological disorders, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Sweden’s Linköping University. In their study, published July 31 in Nature, the researchers determined the high-resolution structural details of how propofol inhibits the activity of HCN1, an ion channel protein found on many types of neurons. Drug developers consider inhibiting HCN1 a promising strategy for treating neurologic disorders including epilepsy and chronic pain. The researchers also found, to their surprise, that when HCN1 contains ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

State policies regulating firearms and changes in firearm mortality

About The Study: In this comparative effectiveness study of state firearm policies, the joint effect estimates of combinations of firearm laws were calculated, showing that restrictive firearm policies were associated with substantial reductions in firearm mortality. Although policymakers would benefit from knowing the effects of individual policies, the estimated changes in firearm mortality following implementation of individual policies were often small and uncertain. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

City-level sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and youth body mass index percentile

About The Study: Sugar-sweetened beverage excise taxes were associated with lower body mass index percentile among youth in this cohort study. Policymakers should consider implementing sugar-sweetened beverage excise taxes to prevent or reduce youth overweight and obesity and, ultimately, chronic disease, particularly among children younger than 12 years. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, email deborah.r.young@kp.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24822) Editor’s ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Impact of neighborhood resources on resilience after trauma

E. Kate Webb, PhD, a research fellow at McLean Hospital who works in the Neurobiology of Fear Laboratory and Neurobiology of Affective and Traumatic Experiences Laboratory, led an investigation into whether individual resources and neighborhood resources, like greenspace, might impact neurobiology and the trajectory of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Her research was published July 31st in JAMA Psychiatry. What led you to examine the link between neighborhood characteristics and PTSD? About 46 million people experience ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Unraveling a key junction underlying muscle contraction

The connections between the nervous system and muscles develop differently across the kingdom of life. It takes newborn humans roughly a year to develop the proper muscular systems that support the ability to walk, while cows can walk mere minutes after birth and run not long after. University of California San Diego researchers, using powerful new visualization technologies, now have a clear picture of why these two scenarios develop so differently. The results offer new insight into understanding muscle contraction in humans that may help in developing future treatments for muscular diseases. “In this study we set out to understand ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Strong El Nino makes European winters easier to forecast

Heavy rain and flooding in Brazil in November could tell forecasters whether December, January and February in Britain will be cold and dry or mild and wet. This is because forecasting European winter weather patterns months in advance is made simpler during years of strong El Niño or La Niña events in the tropical Pacific Ocean, a new study has found. A strong El Nino or La Nina in the Pacific Ocean can bring big changes in temperatures, wind patterns and rainfall patterns to South America. When ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

For bigger muscles push close to failure, for strength, maybe not

When performing resistance training such as lifting weights, there’s a lot of interest in how close you push yourself to failure – the point where you can’t do another rep – and how it affects your results. While research has looked at this concept in different ways, to date, no meta-analysis has explored the pattern (i.e., linear or non-linear) of how the distance from failure (measured by repetitions in reserve) affects changes in muscle strength and size. As such, it’s ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Surprising finding in glioblastomas:

Glioblastomas are highly aggressive, usually incurable brain tumors. If all therapeutic options are exhausted, patients have an average life expectancy of less than two years. Now researchers from the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) at the West German Tumor Center Essen have made a surprising discovery: in the vicinity of glioblastomas, they found islands of highly potent immune cells in the neighboring bone marrow of the skull, which play a central role in defending against cancer. The new data may open up prospects ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Study finds many cocoa products contaminated by heavy metals

For Embargoed Release: July 31, 2024 at 3:00 am ET USA Media Contact: Katelyn Deckelbaum, katelyn.deckelbaum@gwu.edu and Kathy Fackelmann, kfackelmann@gwu.edu Study Finds Many Cocoa Products Contaminated by Heavy Metals Dark chocolate lovers may want to limit their consumption to an ounce a day to stay on the safe side, according to the authors WASHINGTON (July 24, 2024) - A new study from George Washington University found a disquieting percentage of cocoa products in the U.S. contain heavy metals that exceed guidelines, including higher concentrations in organic products. GW researchers analyzed ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

Monarch butterflies need help, and a little bit of milkweed goes a long way

Monarch butterflies, with their striking orange and black wings, are some of the most recognizable butterflies in North America. But they're in trouble. Monarch caterpillars can only eat the leaves of milkweed, a native wildflower. As milkweed has disappeared, so have the monarchs, to the point that they're at risk of extinction. Research shows that planting milkweed in home gardens can add significant monarch habitat to the landscape. In a new study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

New report shows greater interest in labor unions, especially among young workers

A new report from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy reveals significant changes in support for labor unions among U.S. workers. The report, published by the Economics Policy Institute, delves into the evolving attitudes toward unions and identifies three major shifts are occurring in U.S. workers: a recent, marked decline in opposition to labor unions, a rise of workers who are interested in—but unsure about—unions and an emerging generation gap in attitudes toward unionization between younger and older workers. “While we compared levels of support for workplace unionization ...

Read the release

Science31 Jul 2024

New collaborative research generates lessons for more adaptive lake management

“Sometimes the crazy ideas lead to watershed improvements.” That was a key takeaway from new research conducted by Utah State University, published in the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Using Google Sheets during video calls, 26 Colorado River Basin managers and experts took on water user roles to discuss consuming, banking and trading Colorado River water. As Western states face aridity and reservoir levels depleting, more ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Former Cal Poly biological sciences professor first Cuban-American to be inducted into the Academy of Sciences in Cuba

The first Cuban-American to be inducted into the Academy of Sciences in Cuba is a retired Cal Poly biology professor and renowned microbiologist. In May 2024, Professor Emeritus Raul J. Cano was awarded membership in the Academy’s headquarters in the National Capitol building in Havana. Cano, who previously received national attention for his work with amber dating back millions of years, has been heavily involved in research and clinical projects in Cuba over the past five years. Cano partnered with Clinical Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras in Havana for clinical research in probiotics. ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

NIFA grant supports innovative blackberry research in Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ryan Dickson, an assistant professor of horticulture for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been developing research since 2018 on growing blackberries indoors and recently secured a nearly $750,000 grant to further that work over the next four years. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and is home to the largest public-sector breeding program for fresh-market blackberries in the United States. ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Study reveals impact of concern about misinformation on Americans’ media consumption habits

Most Americans are aware of fake news and misinformation. In a new study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania sought to uncover whether the threat of misinformation drives Americans to seek out news sources that reflect their own political beliefs. The study, published in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, found that Democrats, older individuals, and those with higher education levels are more concerned about misinformation in general and that, compared to Republicans, ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Research warns of “systematic weaknesses in jury decisions”

There are “systemic weaknesses” in the way juries make decisions – and these are likely to be contributing to the conviction of innocent people, failures to convict the guilty, and inequalities, new research warns. The current legal rules involving procedure and evidence are not consistently designed based on robust evidence about how the juries make decisions, but the system could function better, according to a new book. Dr Rebecca Helm, from the University of Exeter, outlines how juries are likely to struggle to make effective legal decisions in predictable case types, including cases involving sexual offences in which testimony ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Study finds genetic variant among people who experience a rare recovery from ALS

DURHAM, N.C. – Though exceedingly rare, some people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) partially or fully recover from the lethal neurodegenerative disease. A better understanding of this baffling phenomenon, reported in medical literature for at least 60 years, could point to potential new treatment approaches. To that end, researchers at Duke Health and St. Jude’s Research Hospital launched a study of ALS recovery patients and found certain genetic factors that appear to protect ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Watch ut IKEA: CMU Researchers eye knitted furniture

Yuichi Hirose has a dream — a dream that someday everyone will have access to a machine capable of knitting furniture. This machine wouldn't just knit the furniture's exterior fabric, but would use knitting to fashion solid three-dimensional chairs, tables and other objects. Tired of that love seat? Just unravel it and reuse the yarn to knit yourself an ottoman. This new fabrication technique — first envisioned by Hirose, a robotics Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science — is called solid knitting. The idea captured his imagination more than a decade ago. And now, working with a research team headed by James ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

Enjoy your work? Don’t sell yourself short. Buyers are willing to pay more for products you enjoy producing

Researchers from Tilburg University, Northwestern University, and Lehigh University published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines how a seller’s enjoyment in making a product influences buyers’ willingness to pay and the price the seller charges. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Production Enjoyment Asymmetrically Impacts Buyers’ Willingness to Pay and Sellers’ Willingness to Charge” and is authored ...

Read the release

Science30 Jul 2024

FSU researchers identify unique phenomenon in Kagome metal

In traditional Japanese basket-weaving, the ancient “Kagome” design seen in many handcrafted creations is characterized by a symmetrical pattern of interlaced triangles with shared corners. In quantum physics, the Kagome name has been borrowed by scientists to describe a class of materials with an atomic structure closely resembling this distinctive lattice pattern. Since the latest family of Kagome metals was discovered in 2019, physicists have been working to better understand their properties and potential applications. A new study led by Florida State University Assistant Professor of ...

Read the release