Science
press releases.

Science12 Apr 2024

Iconic savanna mammals face genetic problems due to fences and roads

Whether by way of Attenborough, Disney or National Geographic, the iconic scene is familiar to many. The ground trembles and clouds of dust swirl as enormous hordes of large animals thunder across the African savanna, cross rivers en masse and are picked off by lions, hyena and crocodiles. The annual migration of 1.3 million wildebeest through Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Masai Mara attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists, and the phenomenon has put the Serengeti on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Besides its majestic sight, the migration of this emblematic species ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organelle

Modern biology textbooks assert that only bacteria can take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a form that is usable for life. Plants that fix nitrogen, such as legumes, do so by harboring symbiotic bacteria in root nodules. But a recent discovery upends that rule. In two recent papers, an international team of scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell. The organelle is the fourth example in history of primary endosymbiosis — the process by which a prokaryotic cell is engulfed by a eukaryotic cell and evolves beyond symbiosis into an organelle. “It’s very rare that organelles ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Embryos in hungry mouse mums postpone development

It’s challenging to sustain a pregnancy when food is short, or conditions are otherwise tough. That’s why many mammalian embryos can postpone their growth to get through periods of environmental stress and then re-enter development when conditions improve. This stalling of development is known as embryonic diapause, and understanding the mechanisms behind it might help improve infertility treatments, such as embryo freezing. Now, researchers at the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, China, have discovered how nutrient depletion is sensed by embryos growing in hungry mouse mums to induce diapause. ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Study finds increased anxiety and PTSD among people who remained in Ukraine

Researchers from the International Blast Injury Research Network at the University of Southampton conducted a survey to understand how the mental health of displaced Ukrainians has been affected by the ongoing war. Their findings, published in PLOS Global Public Health, describe high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety among both refugees and people displaced within Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, at least 13 million people have been displaced from their homes. Both exposure ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Thin oil films enable stable oil and water mixtures sans surfactant

Thin oil films absorbed onto the surface of water droplets lead to anomalously stable, surfactant-free oil and water mixtures, according to a new study. The findings demonstrate a mechanism for stabilizing water droplets in a water-oil emulsification without the need for a surfactant, which could have important technological applications, including the creation of very pure and controlled materials. Oil and water cannot form homogenous mixtures. Instead, when combined, droplets of one fluid will disperse inside the other, forming ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Trapped in the middle: billiards with memory

Adding one simple rule to an idealized game of billiards leads to a wealth of intriguing mathematical questions, as well as applications in the physics of living organisms. This week, researchers from the University of Amsterdam, including two master students as first authors – have published a paper in Physical Review Letters about the fascinating dynamics of billiards with memory. Billiards: a mathematical mystery An idealized version of the game of billiards has fascinated mathematicians for decades. The basic ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

A new spin on organic shampoo makes it sudsier, longer lasting

While there’s no regulation in the U.S. for what’s in organic shampoos, they tend to contain ingredients perceived as safe or environmentally friendly. However, these “clean” shampoos separate and spoil faster than those made with synthetic stabilizers and preservatives. Now, researchers in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering demonstrate that a simple process — spinning organic shampoo at high speeds — improved the final products’ shelf lives and ability to clean hair. Natural emulsifiers, such as xanthan gum and cetyl alcohol, ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Avi Wigderson receives ACM A.M. Turing Award for groundbreaking insights on randomness

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Avi Wigderson as recipient of the 2023 ACM A.M. Turing Award for foundational contributions to the theory of computation, including reshaping our understanding of the role of randomness in computation, and for his decades of intellectual leadership in theoretical computer science. Wigderson is the Herbert H. Maass Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He has been a leading figure in areas including computational complexity theory, algorithms and optimization, randomness and cryptography, parallel and distributed computation, combinatorics, and graph theory, as well as ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

NAWI awarded funding to continue to accelerate research and development for a secure water future

– By Lauren Core The National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), which is led by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has been extended for five more years with $75 million in funding from DOE. NAWI will continue its contributions to helping decarbonize the water and wastewater sectors through investments in technologies that enhance the efficient use of energy for water use, treatment, and distribution. “Water and energy are interdependent – water is used to produce nearly every major energy source, and ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

ERC Advanced Grant: 2.5 million euros for Tobias Brixner

Many people are familiar with the principle of electronic excitation from their physics lessons: electrons in atoms or molecules absorb energy, typically from light, and rise to a higher energy level. This can have various consequences – in photovoltaic technology, the phenomenon ensures that electricity can be generated from sunlight. Measuring electronic excitation according to scientific standards and investigating how excited electrons influence each other is a real challenge: “Electronic excitation and the subsequent processes take place extremely quickly, many things happen simultaneously“, explains Tobias Brixner, Chair of Physical Chemistry ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Proud seafarers have strong doubts about the safety of autonomous ships

The maritime profession is among the world’s oldest professions, and today’s shipping is based on long and proud traditions. Professional pride and commitment are often deeply ingrained in seafarers, and for many, the job is more of a way of life. New technologies will bring about major changes in the work of bridge officers, who have the ultimate responsibility on board Norwegian vessels. Strong doubts about safety “Bridge officers rely on automated systems that are already found on board, such as advanced autopilot systems. However, there is strong scepticism, almost mistrust, that increased automation and autonomous ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

People who use willpower alone to achieve goals, resist temptation, deemed more trustworthy

People who use willpower to overcome temptations and achieve their goals are perceived as more trustworthy than those who use strategies that involve external incentives or deterrents – such as swear jars or internet-blocking apps – according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “The knowledge that people can use external commitment strategies to overcome self-control problems has existed in some form for thousands of years. Since at least the time of Homer and Odysseus, the focus has primarily been on the efficacy of these strategies for the person choosing to engage ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Can we crack the code of cartilage?

Can Jos Malda crack the code of cartilage? In our aging society, healing joint problems is becoming increasingly important. To do this, cartilage damage must become repairable. But so far it has proven impossible to recreate the intricate internal structure of cartilage. Professor Jos Malda has now received an ERC Advanced grant of €2.5 million to crack that code. Bringing biology and technology together Throughout his career, Jos Malda has been concerned with the interface between biology and technology. It took him from studying Bioprocess Engineering in Wageningen to ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

New project explores warfare in animal societies

A major new research project will investigate how and why groups of animals from the same species fight one another. By focussing on warlike species – mongooses and termites – researchers aim to understand how evolution can lead to extreme aggression between groups, the consequences of this and the factors that can lead to peace. The results will help to explain why violence between rival groups evolves in some species but not others, or between some groups and not others – with implications for our understanding of human evolution. The research team, led by Professor ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Mirta Galesic awarded ERC Advanced Grant

[Vienna, April 11, 2024] – The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an Advanced Grant to Mirta Galesic, a resident scientist at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), to study the intricate workings of collective adaptation. The project aims to provide insights into why collectives – from families to entire societies – can be stuck in deadlocks about important problems, such as resolving long-standing political conflicts; or why they sometimes appear incapable of finding seemingly obvious solutions, such ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Twinkle twinkle baby star, 'sneezes' tell us how you are

Fukuoka, Japan—Kyushu University researchers have shed new light into a critical question on how baby stars develop. Using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile, the team found that in its infancy, the protostellar disk that surrounds a baby star discharges plumes of dust, gas, and electromagnetic energy. These 'sneezes,' as the researchers describe them, release the magnetic flux within the protostellar disk, and may be a vital part of star formation. Their findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal. Stars, including our Sun, all develop from what are called stellar nurseries, large ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Pork labelling schemes ‘not helpful’ in making informed buying choices, say researchers

Researchers have evaluated different types of pig farming – including woodland, organic, free range, RSPCA assured, and Red Tractor certified, to assess each systems’ impact across four areas: land use (representing biodiversity loss), greenhouse gas emissions, antibiotics use and animal welfare. Their study concludes that none of the farm types performed consistently well across all four areas – a finding that has important implications for increasingly climate conscious consumers, as well as farmers themselves. However, there were individual farms that did perform well ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Discovery brings all-solid-state sodium batteries closer to practical use

The pursuit of greener energy also requires efficient rechargeable batteries to store that energy. While lithium-ion batteries are currently the most widely used, all-solid-state sodium batteries are attracting attention as sodium is far more plentiful than lithium. This should make sodium batteries less expensive, and solid-state batteries are thought to be safer, but processing issues mean mass production has been difficult. Osaka Metropolitan University Associate Professor Atsushi Sakuda and Professor Akitoshi Hayashi, both of the Graduate School of Engineering, led a research team in developing ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Pacific cities much older than previously thought

New evidence of one of the first cities in the Pacific shows they were established much earlier than previously thought, according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU). The study used aerial laser scanning to map archaeological sites on the island of Tongatapu in Tonga. Lead author, PhD scholar Phillip Parton, said the new timeline also indicates that urbanisation in the Pacific was an indigenous innovation that developed before Western influence. “Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought,” ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Scientists create octopus survival guide to minimize impacts of fishing

Octopuses have been around for hundreds of millions of years, but did you know that most only live for a few years, dying soon after mating or laying eggs? Until now that hasn’t been a problem, but octopus catches have doubled in recent decades as the world strives to meet the nutritional demands of a rising global population. How do we ensure octopus fisheries remain sustainable, protecting the longevity of this ancient animal while guaranteeing the world doesn’t go hungry? An accurate, reliable, cost effective and easy-to-use method to determine an octopus’s ...

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Science11 Apr 2024

Esketamine injection just after childbirth reduces depression in new mothers

A single low dose injection of esketamine given immediately after childbirth reduces major depressive episodes in individuals with depressive symptoms during pregnancy (prenatal depression), finds a clinical trial published by The BMJ today. The results suggest that low dose esketamine should be considered in new mothers with prenatal depressive symptoms. Depression is common during pregnancy and shortly after giving birth and can have several adverse effects on new mothers and their infants. Esketamine ...

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Science10 Apr 2024

The hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology

Ancient Egyptians were known for their religious beliefs and astronomical knowledge of the Sun, Moon, and planets, but up until now it has been unclear what role the Milky Way played in Egyptian religion and culture. A new study by a University of Portsmouth astrophysicist sheds light on the relationship between the Milky Way and the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut. Nut is goddess of the sky, who is often depicted as a star-studded woman arched over her brother, the earth god Geb. She protects the earth from being flooded by the encroaching waters of the void, and plays a key role in the solar cycle, swallowing the Sun as it sets at dusk ...

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Science10 Apr 2024

New 3D-printing method makes printing objects more affordable and eco-friendly

University of Florida engineers have developed a method for 3D printing called vapor-induced phase-separation 3D printing, or VIPS-3DP, to create single-material as well as multi-material objects. The discovery has the potential to advance the world of additive manufacturing. Yong Huang, Ph. D., a professor in UF’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said the printing process he and colleagues developed allows manufacturers to create custom-made objects economically and sustainably. The novel approach was reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. “It is more economical and much simpler than current ...

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Science10 Apr 2024

Exploring the role of MIA-602 in overcoming Doxorubicin-resistance in acute myeloid leukemia

“Our results reveal that MIA-602 may be a useful treatment for Doxorubicin-resistant AML [...]” BUFFALO, NY- April 10, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on April 8, 2024, entitled, “Exploring the role of GHRH antagonist MIA-602 in overcoming Doxorubicin-resistance in acute myeloid leukemia.” Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by the rapid proliferation of mutagenic hematopoietic progenitors in the bone marrow. Conventional therapies include chemotherapy and bone marrow stem cell transplantation; however, they are often associated with poor prognosis. Notably, growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) ...

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Science10 Apr 2024

Nearly half of B2B startups choose not to market themselves, researchers find

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Marketing is one of the most effective ways for an early-stage business-to-business (B2B) startup firm to grow, yet nearly half of such firms that would benefit from it choose not to do any marketing, according to the findings of a paper co-authored by a Smeal College of Business professor and published in the journal Industrial Marketing Management. The researchers focused on systematic marketing — where a firm has an ongoing process of collecting and using customer data to improve its offerings, communications and distribution programs. They specifically examined which startup firms conduct systematic marketing, what causes them to do so and what ...

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