Science
press releases.

Science15 Jul 2024

Understanding the 3D ice-printing process to create micro-scale structures

Advances in 3D printing have enabled many applications across a variety of disciplines, including medicine, manufacturing, and energy. A range of different materials can be used to print both simple foundations and fine details, allowing for the creation of structures with tailored geometries. However, creating structures with micro-scale, precise internal voids and channels still poses challenges. Scaffolds used in tissue engineering, for example, must contain a three-dimensional complex network of conduits that mimic the human vasculature. With traditional additive manufacturing, where the material is deposited layer ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

New research shows a frictionless state can be achieved at macroscale

UTICA, NY – The president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly), Dr. Winston “Wole” Soboyejo, and postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Tabiri Kwayie Asumadu, have published a revolutionary new paper titled, "Robust Macroscale Superlubricity on Carbon-Coated Metallic Surfaces." This paper explores an innovative approach to reducing friction on metallic surfaces – a significant advancement that could have major real-world impacts. The study shows that superlubricity – a state with virtually no friction that was once believed to only be achievable at nanoscale – can now be maintained at macroscale for extended time ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

A novel and unique neural signature for depression revealed

HOUSTON - (July 15, 2024) - As parents, teachers and pet owners can attest, rewards play a huge role in shaping behaviors in humans and animals. Rewards – whether as edible treats, gifts, words of appreciation or praise, fame or monetary benefits – act as positive reinforcement for the associated behavior. While this correlation between reward and future choice has been used as a well-established paradigm in neuroscience research for well over a century, not much is known about the neural process underlying it, namely how the brain encodes, ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Receptors make dairy cows a prime target for influenza, ISU team finds

AMES, Iowa – As highly pathogenic avian influenza has spread in dairy herds across the U.S., the virus is being detected in raw milk. A new study by a broad team of researchers at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine helps explain why. Sialic acid, a sugar molecule found on the surface of some animal cells, acts as a receptor for influenza. Without sialic acid providing an entry point to attach, invade and infect, a flu virus is unlikely to find a potential host hospitable. Before the recent HPAI outbreak ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

You're just a stick figure to this camera

Images A new camera could prevent companies from collecting embarrassing and identifiable photos and videos from devices like smart home cameras and robotic vacuums. It's called PrivacyLens and was made by University of Michigan engineers. PrivacyLens uses both a standard video camera and a heat-sensing camera to spot people in images from their body temperature. The person's likeness is then completely replaced by a generic stick figure, whose movements mirror those of the person it stands in for. The accurately animated stick figure allows a device relying on the ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Scorching storms on distant worlds revealed in new detail

Astronomers have created the most detailed weather report so far for two distant worlds beyond our own solar system. The international study – the first of its kind – reveals the extreme atmospheric conditions on the celestial objects, which are swathed in swirling clouds of hot sand amid temperatures of 950C. Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers set out to capture the weather on a pair of brown dwarfs – cosmic bodies that are bigger than planets but smaller than stars. These brown dwarfs, named collectively ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

How does superglue work, and what the heck is electroadhesion? (video)

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2024 — How would you stick a slice of banana to a sheet of copper? Until a few months ago, you couldn’t. But a new discovery called “hard-soft electroadhesion” enables chemists to stick almost any hydrogel to almost any metal, using nothing but an electric current. And you can unstick the materials simply by reversing the current. Recently reported in ACS Central Science, this astonishingly general phenomenon works with a wide variety of gels (including fruits, vegetables, meat and fish) and conductors (including metals and graphite). Join our host George as he attempts to replicate electroadhesion in his basement ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Substantia nigra pathology, contact sports play, and parkinsonism in chronic traumatic encephalopathy

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of contact sports athletes with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), years of contact sports participation were associated with substantia nigra tau pathology and neuronal loss, and these pathologies were associated with parkinsonism. Repetitive head impacts may incite neuropathologic processes that lead to symptoms of parkinsonism in individuals with CTE. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Ann C. McKee, M.D. (amckee@bu.edu) and Thor D. Stein, M.D., Ph.D. (tdstein@bu.edu). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.2166) Editor’s ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

When certain boys feel their masculinity is threatened, aggression ensues

It’s been long established that certain men become aggressive when they see their manhood as being threatened. When does this behavior emerge during development—and why? A new study by a team of psychology researchers shows that adolescent boys may also respond aggressively when they believe their masculinity is under threat—especially boys growing up in environments with rigid, stereotypical gender norms. The findings, reported in the journal Developmental Science, underscore the effects of social pressure that many boys face to be stereotypically masculine. “We know that not all men respond aggressively to manhood threats—in ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Safe, successful pregnancies possible after alloHCT

Findings refute former consensus that pregnancies post-transplant are nearly impossible, highlight need for increased fertility counseling (WASHINGTON, July 15, 2024) — Despite treatment-related fertility challenges, female patients can become pregnant and give birth to healthy children after undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT), according to a study published in Blood. During alloHCT, stem cells from a healthy donor are transplanted to individuals with hematologic cancers or benign hematologic disorders such as leukemia and sickle cell disease. Procedural improvements in the administration of alloHCT ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Study unveils complexity of zoonotic transmission chains

[Vienna, July 11 2024] — Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna have dissected the complex interactions involved in zoonoses, which affect worldwide over two billion people annually. They introduce the concept of a "zoonotic web," a detailed network representation of the relationships between zoonotic agents, their hosts, vectors, food sources, and the environment. "Zoonotic diseases, which can be transmitted between animals and humans, are a significant public health concern, and our study highlights the importance of a holistic approach to understanding and managing these ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Caught in the actinium

The element actinium was first discovered at the turn of the 20th century, but even now, nearly 125 years later, researchers still don’t have a good grasp on the metal’s chemistry. That’s because actinium is only available in extremely small amounts and working with the radioactive material requires special facilities. But to improve emerging cancer treatments using actinium, researchers will need to better understand how the element binds with other molecules. In a new study led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Localization of anion exchange membrane water electrolysis is a step forward!

A research team led by Dr. Sung Mook Choi of the Korea Institute of Materials Science, a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has developed a one-step electrode fabrication process for the first time in South Korea. This process produces electrodes, a key component of anion exchange membrane water electrolysis, directly from raw materials to a mass-producible level. The team successfully applied this process to a commercial-scale stack of anion exchange membrane water ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Opioid prescribing to reduce overdoses, misuse

New research aims to help reduce the quantity of unused prescription opioids after emergency department visits and lessen the risk of opioid misuse and overdose. The study is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.231640. VIEW EMBARGOED ARTICLE Overprescribing is linked to opioid misuse and overdose, with household supplies of opioids associated with an increased risk of overdose, as many people do not dispose of unused medications safely. In Canada, ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Big boost for new epigenetics paradigm: CoRSIVs, first discovered in humans, now found in cattle

A study published in Genome Biology opens new possibilities to improve production efficiency in the cattle industry and potentially animal agriculture more broadly. A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Cornell University and the USDA discovered that, like humans, cattle have CoRSIVs. CoRSIVs are regions of the genome carrying chemical markers on the DNA that provide information that may allow farmers to predict and select desirable cattle characteristics, such as milk production, female fertility and resistance to disease. “Most people know that each person ...

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Science15 Jul 2024

Doctors suffering burnout need compassion not blame, says top GP

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff suffering burnout should be shown compassion and not blamed for being unwell, according to a leading GP. Clare Gerada says employers often treat physicians as ‘naughty schoolchildren’ when they go sick or suffer mental health problems. Professor Dame Gerada, past president of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), is calling for more comprehensive guidance that focuses on ‘kindness’ and ‘sensitivity’. The doctor, who helped found mental health charity, Doctors in Distress, addresses the need for major reform in a new book aimed at reforming care for doctors and nurses ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

HarvestHub app tackles supply chain, food insecurity issues

The COVID-19 pandemic infiltrated almost every aspect of society and life in 2020, even in ways people wouldn’t have immediately expected. Stores that typically have no problem stocking shelves were struggling to keep pace with the sudden demand for cleaning supplies along with everything from toilet paper to Sriracha chili sauce. While these issues aren’t as devastating as the larger health ramifications, they did shed new light on supply chain weaknesses and how that system adapts to rapid and vast market shifts. Factory closures ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

Mathematics outreach program awarded Dolciani grant

Two years after launching a new mathematics outreach program, a team of Texas A&M University professors has been awarded a Dolciani Mathematics Enrichment Grant to support their program's efforts to promote math enrichment for high school students. The Program for Research in Mathematics (PReMa) was established in 2022 by four members of Texas A&M’s Department of Mathematics: Dr. Sherry Gong, Dr. Wencai Liu, Dr. Kun Wang and Dr. Zhizhang Xie. The program, directed by Wang, targets high school students living in Texas and neighboring states. Designed to cultivate a deep appreciation and understanding of advanced ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

2023 Rolling Hills Estates landslide likely began the winter before

Key takeaways Landslides triggered by intense rainfall can sometimes be predicted along with incoming storms, but dry-season landslides often take people by surprise. The July 2023 Rolling Hills Estates landslide that destroyed 12 homes seemed to come out of nowhere, but new research shows it began as early as December 2022. Researchers are developing a database that will enable scientists to plug in new data to monitor potential landslides in real time and possibly predict them. Californians are familiar with landslides that occur around storms, when saturated soil and ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

Research shows gamified investment sites have risks for novice investors

TORONTO - What happens when online investment trading platforms start to resemble games that keep people playing for hours, with badges and exploding confetti to reward investors for their engagement? For those who know what they’re doing, it won’t make much of a difference. New research from the University of Toronto engaging nearly 1,000 volunteers in artificial investment scenarios shows that more informational features such as price change notifications might even help savvy investors execute ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

UMass Amherst food scientist rises to the challenge of giving marbled fatty feel and taste to plant-based meat

One of the challenges of creating realistic-looking and delectable plant-based meat is mimicking the marbled effect of animal fat that many carnivores expect and enjoy. A University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist has a plan to tackle this quandary by developing new technology supported by a $250,000 grant from the Good Food Institute. The not-for-profit think tank promotes plant-based alternatives to meat, dairy and eggs, as well as cultivated “clean meat” grown from animal cells in a facility. The technology proposed ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

Texas A&M research collaboration uncovers how domestic rabbits become feral in the wild

Researchers at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) have uncovered how natural selection “rewilds” domestic rabbits. The study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, helps answer the question of how normally tame rabbits — which have many natural predators — can become a force of ecological destruction when purposefully or accidentally reintroduced to the wild. Here Comes Peter Cottontail Every gardener knows how much of a nuisance rabbits can be, but ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

Researchers discover a new neural biomarker for OCD

A recent study from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital has identified a specific neural activity pattern as a novel biomarker to accurately predict and monitor the clinical status of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who have undergone deep brain stimulation (DBS), a rapidly emerging therapeutic approach for severe psychiatric disorders. The study, led by led by Drs. Sameer Sheth and Wayne Goodman along with co-lead authors, Drs. Nicole Provenza, ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

Vivid portrait of interacting galaxies marks Webb’s second anniversary

Two for two! A duo of interacting galaxies commemorates the second science anniversary of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which takes constant observations, including images and highly detailed data known as spectra. Its operations have led to a “parade” of discoveries by astronomers around the world. “Since President Biden and Vice President Harris unveiled the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope two years ago, Webb has continued to unlock the mysteries of the universe,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “With remarkable images from the ...

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Science12 Jul 2024

With gene editing, mice with a form of inherited deafness can hear again

Researchers have used gene editing to restore hearing in adult mice with a type of inherited hearing loss. They showed that shutting down a damaged copy of a gene called a microRNA (miRNA) enabled the animals to regain hearing. The approach by a research team supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported in Science Translational Medicine, may eventually lead to potential treatments for inherited hearing loss in people. Zheng-Yi Chen, DPhil., and his colleagues at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston and other institutions studied a rare form of genetic deafness called autosomal dominant deafness-50 (DFNA50). ...

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