Science
press releases.

Science1 Apr 2024

Canada lynx historic range in US likely wider than previously thought

PULLMAN, Wash. – A broader past could mean a brighter future for Canada lynx in the U.S., according to recent research. The study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, indicates that lynx might do well in the future in parts of Utah, central Idaho and the Yellowstone National Park region, even considering climate change and the lack of lynx in those areas now. Using a model validated by historic records, researchers first found that in 1900, Canada lynx had more suitable habitat in the U.S. than the few northern corners of the country where they are found currently. The study showed ...

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Science1 Apr 2024

A high-boost and high-efficiency DC power converter

A new electrical power converter design achieves a much higher efficiency at lower cost and maintenance than before. The direct current voltage boost converter developed by Kobe University is poised to be a significant contribution to the further development of electric and electronic components across power generation, health care, mobility and information technology. Devices that harvest energy from sunlight or vibrations, or power medical devices or hydrogen-fueled cars have one key component in common. This so-called “boost converter” converts low-voltage direct current input into high-voltage direct current output. Because it is such a ubiquitous ...

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Science30 Mar 2024

Study shows Mpox (monkeypox) antibodies wane within a year of vaccination

New research to be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2024) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April) shows that the antibodies produced by Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara - Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) vaccination against mpox wane significantly within a year of receiving the vaccination – but in people with pre-existing immunity due to childhood smallpox vaccination in childhood, antibody levels remain high in almost all cases. The study is presented by PhD student Dr. Marc Shamier, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Netherlands, from a research team led by Dr Rory de Vries. During the 2022-2023 ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Researchers produce grafts that replicate the human ear

Researchers Produce Grafts that Replicate the Human Ear Using state-of-the-art tissue engineering techniques and a 3D printer, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Engineering have assembled a replica of an adult human ear that looks and feels natural. The study, published online in Acta Biomaterialia on March 16, offers the promise of grafts with well-defined anatomy and the correct biomechanical properties for those who are born with a congenital malformation or who lose an ear later in life. “Ear reconstruction requires multiple surgeries and an incredible amount of artistry ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Hevolution Foundation issues $115 million call for applications for geroscience research opportunities

BOSTON, United States — 29 March, 2024 — Based on the success of its 2023 HF-GRO program effort, Hevolution Foundation is issuing a call for applications for the 2024 iteration of the program. HF-GRO is an international effort to accelerate progress in healthy aging research. The major goal is to identify and support research that will further the Hevolution’s mission of extending healthy lifespan for the benefit of all humanity. HF-GRO will ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Veterans help provide greater insight into Klinefelter and Jacobs syndromes

AURORA, Colo. (March 29, 2024) –Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and collaborators across the country have conducted the largest and most diverse study of men with extra X or Y chromosomes in the US using a large dataset of military veterans. The results could lead to better diagnoses of these underrecognized conditions and earlier treatment of associated diseases. The study was published today in JAMA Network Open. “One in 400 males have an additional X or Y chromosome, however 86 percent of these individuals are not diagnosed,” said ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

How blocking a neural receptor responsible for addiction could reduce alcohol use

LA JOLLA, CA—Scripps Research scientists have found that LY2444296—a compound that selectively blocks the kappa opioid receptor (KOP)—may reduce drinking in cases of alcohol dependence in animal studies. The findings, which were published March 9, 2024, in Scientific Reports, could eventually inform new treatment options for people who experience alcohol use disorder (AUD). “Compounds designed to selectively block the KOP are very promising because this receptor is involved in a lot of mental illnesses, such as ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Researchers discover skin biomarkers in infants that predict early development of food allergies

DENVER — (MARCH 29, 2024) Food allergies occur often in childhood and can be severe or even fatal. Researchers at National Jewish Health are working to develop a program to prevent food allergies and have now identified early predictors of the condition. During a recent study just published online in the March 2024 issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, skin tape strips were collected from the forearms of newborns at the age of two months, an age before there ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Chickadees have unique neural “barcodes” for memories of stashing away food

Your ability to remember and recall moments in time is important for recording life-defining moments and everyday information like where you parked the car. Now researchers reporting in the journal Cell on March 29 have new insight into how those episodic memories are encoded in the brain based on studies of how chickadees store food. Their study finds that chickadees activate unique neural patterns, which they liken to barcodes, each time they cache food in a certain spot. When they go back to retrieve that stored food, their brains light back ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Chickadees are memory geniuses. Their barcode-like neural activity may be to thank

NEW YORK, NY — Black-capped chickadees have extraordinary memories that can recall the locations of thousands of morsels of food to help them survive the winter. Now scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute have discovered how the chickadees can remember so many details: they memorize each food location using brain cell activity akin to a barcode. These new findings may shed light on how the brain creates memories for the events that make up our lives. "We see the world through our memories of objects, places and people," said Dmitriy Aronov, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and an ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Tiny orchid flowers pollinated by tiny flies

Researchers Yuta Sunakawa, Ko Mochizuki, and Atsushi Kawakita of the University of Tokyo discovered the first orchid species pollinated by gall midges, a tiny fly species. This is the first documented case of an orchid species found to be pollinated by gall midges, and it makes the orchids the eleventh such plant family. The findings were published in the journal Ecology. The family of orchids is rich both in numbers and variety. Their range of shapes and sizes is due to having evolved to attract different animal pollinators. However, scientists have only mapped ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Modesty and boastfulness – perception depends on usual performance

When people present themselves as capable or humble, the way this influences other people’s evaluations of one’s true ability and character depends on one’s usual performance. Kobe University and University of Sussex researchers thus add an important factor in our understanding of how the relationship between self-presentation and perception develops with age. People want to be liked. Amongst the many ways of achieving this, making statements about oneself to manipulate other people’s evaluation is called “self-presentation.” Both the ability to do so and the effect this has on others’ evaluation of one’s ability ...

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Science29 Mar 2024

Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no

University of Leeds news Embargo: Thursday 28 March 2024, 23:30 UK time Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no Replacing sugar with artificial and natural sweeteners in foods does not make people hungrier – and also helps to reduce blood sugar levels, a significant new study has found. The double blind randomised controlled trial found that consuming food containing sweeteners produced a similar reduction in appetite sensations and appetite-related hormone responses ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Virtual rehabilitation provides benefits for stroke recovery

A stroke often impacts a person’s ability to move their lower body from the hips down to the feet. This leads to diminished quality of life and mental health in addition to increased susceptibility to falls. But now, UBC Okanagan researchers are exploring new treatment methods to help bridge the service delivery gap, and recovery outcomes, for patients after a stroke. “Shortened length of inpatient stays and continued challenges in transitioning back to the community—including poor access to continued stroke rehabilitation services—have resulted in substantial unmet recovery needs,” ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

A research team from New Jersey Institute of Technology is uncovering mysteries surrounding fluids in nanoporous materials, and has been recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support this research. The research is focused on the elasticity, or compressibility, of fluids in these nanopores. Understanding the elastic properties of fluids has significant implications across multiple disciplines. Engineering applications, geological exploration, materials science and environmental studies ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Women affected by premenstrual disorders have a higher risk of perinatal depression compared with those who do not, according to research published March 28th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine. The relationship works both ways: those with perinatal depression are also more likely to develop premenstrual disorders after pregnancy and childbirth. This study suggests that a common mechanism might contribute to the two conditions. Menstruating women experience cyclical hormone fluctuations through puberty, menstrual cycle, pregnancy ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

All plants mediate their environmental interactions via chemical signals. An example is the alkaloid gramine produced by barley, one of the world’s most widely grown cereals. Gramine provides protection against herbivorous insects and grazing animals and inhibits the growth of other plants. Despite long-standing interest, the key gene for the formation of gramine remained elusive. The researchers discovered a cluster of two genes in barley for gramine biosynthesis. The first gene (HvNMT) had already been discovered 18 years ago. In their study the researchers from IPK and the Leibniz University Hannover now identified a second gene (AMI synthase, HvAMIS), and ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) have a higher risk of perinatal depression. Conversely, women with perinatal depression have a higher risk of developing premenstrual disorders. This is shown in a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal PLOS Medicine. Premenstrual disorders like PMS or PMDD and perinatal depression are similar in the way that symptoms appear in connection with hormonal changes. This fact has given rise to the hypothesis ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

March 28, 2024, Mountain View, CA -- The SETI Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Andrew Siemion will be honored with the prestigious 2024 Drake Award for his exceptional and pioneering contributions to SETI and radio astronomy and his leadership in the field. Siemion's distinguished career includes his role as the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute, Principal Investigator for the Breakthrough Listen Initiative at the University of Oxford, along with holding an Honorary Professorship ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Discovery suggests new strategy against follicular lymphoma

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has identified important drivers of the transformation of a type of blood cancer called follicular lymphoma from a slow-growing form to the aggressive form it takes in some patients. The study, published March 7 in Cancer Cell, showed that while mutations affecting a gene-regulating complex called BAF can put the cancer on a dangerous trajectory, they also make follicular lymphoma highly susceptible to experimental BAF-inhibitor drugs. “These encouraging findings could address critical and urgent challenges with this disease and have prompted us to begin planning clinical trials ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Making the future too bright: how wishful thinking can point us in the wrong direction

Everyone indulges in wishful thinking now and again. But when is that most likely to happen and when could it actually be harmful? A new study, led by the University of Amsterdam (UvA), demonstrates unequivocally that the greater the insecurity and anxiety of a situation, the more likely people are to become overly optimistic – even to the point where it can prevent us from taking essential action. The study's results have now been published in the journal American Economic Review. ‘People aren't purely truth-seekers - many beliefs are influenced by ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

North Carolina takes the lead in PFAs research with Collaboratory’s $3 million investment to expand the state’s research capacity

WILMINGTON, N.C. (March 27, 2024) – The North Carolina Collaboratory – an organization dedicated to advancing scientific research for policymaking within North Carolina – today announced its partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to advance the State’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) research capabilities. Supported by critical appropriations from the North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA), the Collaboratory purchased five state-of-the-art mass spectrometers that continue to position North Carolina at the forefront of academic PFAS research nationally. This new partnership ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Exploring the relationship between HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis – findings from Denmark

In their research article published in Eurosurveillance, von Schreeb et al. challenge existing assumptions regarding the relationship between the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI). According to the concept of sexual risk compensation, the start of PrEP treatment – a drug regimen which effectively prevents acquiring HIV – is associated with rises in STI as people feel protected against HIV while using it. However, von Schreeb et al. argue that available ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

Music: Song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive since 1980

We have been alerted to a potential error in some of the coding used by the authors in their analyses and are looking into this as a matter of urgency. The authors are confident that the main findings of the paper will remain unaltered, however some aspects may be affected and we have removed two sentences from the press release to reflect this. We will provide an update if there are further developments. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The lyrics of English-language songs have become simpler and more repetitive over the past 40 years, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Eva Zangerle and ...

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Science28 Mar 2024

To keep volunteers, connect them

At a time when America needs volunteers more than ever, to tackle social problems from homelessness to disaster recovery, fewer people have been volunteering. The number of volunteers for nonprofit and community-based organizations declined recently for the first time in decades, from 30% of the population in 2019 to 23% in 2021. That’s according to AmeriCorps and the U.S Census Bureau, which have tracked rates of volunteerism since 2002. New research from Yifan Yu, assistant professor of ...

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