Science
press releases.

Science25 Jan 2024

Potassium-enriched salt is the missing ingredient in hypertension guidelines

A call to include recommendations on low-sodium potassium-enriched salt in hypertension treatment guidelines has been made by an international group of experts today in the American Heart Association’s scientific journal Hypertension. High levels of sodium intake and low levels of potassium intake are widespread, and both are linked to high blood pressure (hypertension) and greater risk of stroke, heart disease and premature death. Using a salt substitute where part of the sodium chloride is replaced with potassium chloride ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

Diverse forests are best at standing up to storms

European forests with a greater diversity of tree species are more resilient to storms, according to new research published in the British Ecological Society journal, Functional Ecology. A new study by researchers at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) reveals that in Europe, the forests that are most resilient to storms are those with a greater diversity of tree species and dominated by slow growing species with high wood density, like oaks. The researchers also found that the positive effect of ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

Avoiding cloudy messaging: Vape prevention campaigns face challenges

Flinders University researchers say that cohesive and collaborative action from preventive health communicators and organisations is needed to inform young people about the devastating harms of vaping. “Despite awareness of the potential harms, recreational vaping is increasing among younger people with our South Australian participants seeing vaping as ‘cleaner’ and less harmful than cigarettes,” says Flinders University’s Dr Joshua Trigg. “We know that nicotine vapes are highly addictive and expose people to harmful chemicals, respiratory irritants, and toxic substances. In order to discourage ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

Lights, detector, action!

Kyoto, Japan -- Our understanding of the world relies greatly on our knowledge of its constituent materials and their interactions. Recent advances in materials science technologies have ratcheted up our ability to identify chemical substances and expanded possible applications. One such technology is infrared spectroscopy, used for molecular identification in various fields, such as in medicine, environmental monitoring, and industrial production. However, even the best existing tool -- the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer or FTIR -- utilizes a heating element as its light source. Resulting detector noise in the infrared region limits the devices' ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

It’s time to address the high rate of Australians with disabilities addicted to smoking

According to a new analysis, almost a quarter of Australians with disabilities smoke when compared to just 12.6% of the wider population. While the number of Australians smoking is declining, the barriers for people with disabilities mean targeted support is needed to develop healthier habits. Flinders University and Cancer Council NSW health experts are recommending new strategies to tackle the alarming smoking rate through targeted government policies, data collection on smoking and training for disability support workers on tobacco prevention ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

A study of how Americans die may improve their end of life

A Rutgers Health analysis of millions of Medicare records has laid the groundwork for improving end-of-life care by demonstrating that nearly all older Americans follow one of nine trajectories in their last three years of life. “Identifying which paths people actually take is a necessary precursor to identifying which factors send different people down different paths and designing interventions that send more people down whatever path is right for them,” said Olga Jarrín, the Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research at Rutgers and corresponding author of the study published in BMC Geriatrics. The team pulled the final three years of clinical records ...

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Science25 Jan 2024

Novel macrolide–DEL-1 axis drives bone regeneration in aging individuals

Niigata, Japan - Scientists from Niigata University discover macrolide-based molecules that increase the expression of DEL-1 protein and help in bone regeneration Periodontitis is characterized by the loss of teeth resulting from inflammation of gums due to bacterial infections. The susceptibility to such bone loss disorders increases with age. The expression of the developmental endothelial locus-1 protein, crucial for bone regeneration, declines with age. Recently, researchers from Niigata University, University of Pennsylvania team identified ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Women and people of color remain “invisible” as most people pick white men as their heroes, study shows

Women and people of colour remain invisible to many people in Britain and the USA as people pick white men as their heroes instead, a study shows. Their achievements are often forgotten or not recognised when people are choosing who inspires them, researchers have found. Most people said their family and friends, people closest to them, were their heroes. These ‘everyday’ heroes accounted for one in three choices in Britian and 41 per cent in the US. In both countries, politicians were popular as heroes, with more common choices including Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Salk Institute Professor Ronald Evans honored with Japan Prize

LA JOLLA (January 22, 2024)—Salk Professor Ronald Evans has been named the 2024 recipient of the Japan Prize in the field of Medical Science and Pharmaceutical Science. The Japan Prize Foundation awards this prestigious international award annually to “express Japan’s gratitude to international society.” "I am delighted to extend my congratulations to Ron for this well-deserved recognition in honor of his discovery of nuclear hormone receptors,” says Salk President Gerald Joyce. “This accomplishment not only reflects the exceptional caliber of Ron’s research ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Can we predict when a migraine attack will occur?

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – Migraine is often underdiagnosed and untreated, and even when it is treated, it can be difficult to treat early enough as well as find strategies to prevent attacks. A new study looks at ways to more accurately predict when a migraine will occur—through the use of mobile apps to track sleep, energy, emotions and stress—to enhance the ability to prevent attacks. The study is published in the January 24, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

ORNL wins five Federal Laboratory Consortium awards

Researchers, staff members and licensees from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory received top honors in the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s annual awards competition for excellence in technology transfer, excellence in technology transfer innovation, outstanding researcher and regional technology transfer. The Federal Laboratory Consortium, or FLC, recently announced 32 award winners, ORNL included, for contributions to technology transfer, which turns cutting-edge research into impactful products and services. The FLC represents more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies and research centers ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Foodborne-pathogen Listeria may hide from sanitizers in biofilms

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An estimated 1,600 people in the U.S. contract a serious infection from Listeria bacteria in food each year and, of those individuals, about 260 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Penn State researchers may now better understand how the bacteria, called Listeria monocytogenes, survive and persist in fruit-packing plants by evading and surviving sanitizers. According to their study, which is now available online and will be published in the June issue of the journal Biofilm, biofilms — comprising otherwise harmless microorganisms that attach to each ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Purdue Innovates awards Purdue researchers $150K to develop innovations for the marketplace

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Four researchers in Purdue University’s colleges of Engineering and Science, the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research and the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery have received a total of $150,000 from the Trask Innovation Fund to strengthen the appeal of their patent-pending intellectual property for commercial use. The fund is managed by the Purdue Innovates Incubator, which provides programming for the Purdue University community to ideate, refine and support their solutions. The fund awards up to $50,000 for short-term projects that enhance the commercial value of Purdue intellectual ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Humpback whales move daytime singing offshore, research reveals

Humpback whale singing dominates the marine soundscape during winter months off Maui. However, despite decades of research, many questions regarding humpback whale behavior and song remain unanswered. New research revealed a daily pattern wherein whales move their singing away from shore throughout the day and return to the nearshore in the evening. The findings were led by the University of Hawaiʻi, in partnership with NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and published in Royal Society Open Science. “Singers may be attempting to reduce the chances of their song being drowned ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Special Feature calls attention to biological invasion research in China

This month, the Ecological Society of America spotlights the challenge posed by invasive alien species in China with the release of a Special Feature, “Management of Biological Invasions in China,” in the latest issue of its journal Ecological Applications. Accelerating rates of biological invasion have led to growing concerns about the destructive impacts of invasive alien species, or IAS, on the environment and human societies. This is especially true in China, which has witnessed a surge in ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Self-powered movable seawall for tsunami protection and emergency power generation

With over 2,780 fishing ports and 993 commercial and industrial ports, Japan faces the challenge of safeguarding these important coastal assets from the destructive forces of tsunamis. A promising solution lies in the form of a movable barrier system, where gates rising from the seafloor act as barriers, protecting ports against tsunamis, storm surges and high waves. However, during natural disasters, power outages may disrupt the electricity needed to operate the gate. To address this, researchers led by Professor Hiroshi Takagi from Tokyo Institute of Technology have proposed ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

New pieces in the puzzle of first life on Earth

Microorganisms were the first forms of life on our planet. The clues are written in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks by geochemical and morphological traces, such as chemical compounds or structures that these organisms left behind. However, it is still not clear when and where life originated on Earth and when a diversity of species developed in these early microbial communities. Evidence is scarce and often disputed. Now, researchers led by the University of Göttingen and Linnӕus University in Sweden have uncovered key findings about the earliest forms of life. In rock ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

New model predicts how shoe properties affect a runner’s performance

A good shoe can make a huge difference for runners, from career marathoners to couch-to-5K first-timers. But every runner is unique, and a shoe that works for one might trip up another. Outside of trying on a rack of different designs, there’s no quick and easy way to know which shoe best suits a person’s particular running style. MIT engineers are hoping to change that with a new model that predicts how certain shoe properties will affect a runner’s performance. The simple model incorporates ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Laura M. Barzilai, JD, LLM, elected Chair of Board of Directors of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)

NEW YORK— The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), a national, nonprofit whose mission is to advance and support healthy aging through biomedical research, is pleased to announce the election of Laura M. Barzilai, JD, LLM, as Chair of the Board of Directors. Stephanie Lederman, EdM, AFAR Executive Director, shares: "The Board of Directors of AFAR unanimously elected Laura Barzilai as Chair in December 2023. For nearly a decade, her contributions as a board member, committee chair, ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Talking tomatoes: How their communication is influenced by enemies and friends

Plants produce a range of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds that influence their interactions with the world around them. In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how the type and amount of these VOCs change based on different features of tomato plants. The smell of cut grass is one of the defining fragrances of summer. Smells like that are one of the ways plants signal their injury. Because they cannot run away from danger, plants have evolved to communicate with each other using chemical signals. They use VOCs for a ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Thomas A. Rando, MD, PhD, elected President of the Board of Directors of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)

The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), a national, nonprofit whose mission is to advance and support healthy aging through biomedical research, is pleased to announce the election of Thomas A. Rando, MD, PhD, as President of the Board of Directors in December 2023. Dr. Rando is currently the Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology at UCLA, where he is a professor of Neurology and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Previously, he ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Fracture risk among living kidney donors 25 years after donation

About The Study: This survey study found a reduced rate of overall fractures but an excess of vertebral fractures among living kidney donors compared with controls after a mean follow-up of 25 years. Treatment of excess vertebral fractures with dietary supplements such as vitamin D3 may reduce the numbers of vertebral fractures and patient morbidity. Authors: Rajiv Kumar, M.B.B.S., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.53005) Editor’s ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

A year of breakthroughs from Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s continues to be a cradle for great discoveries. Our latest Research Annual Report, online now, recounts a remarkable year of scientific advancement supported by a record-high level of research funding from federal, state, industry and philanthropic sources. Among the many accomplishments from more than 1,000 faculty working in 50 research areas: Promising results from the world’s first clinical trial of FLASH proton therapy for cancer treatment Developing the first intestine organoids with functional immune cells, a major step closer to testing potential treatments using these amazing lab-grown tissues Completing ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Ultrasounds can help predict the risk of preterm births, new research shows

Researchers have developed a way to use ultrasound to predict whether a pregnant person is at risk of delivering a baby prematurely, which occurs in upward of 10% of pregnancies in the U.S. The new method — the result of more than 20 years of collaboration between researchers in nursing and engineering at University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — measures microstructural changes in a woman’s cervix using quantitative ultrasound. The ultrasound method works as early as 23 weeks into a pregnancy, according to the research, which is published in ...

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Science24 Jan 2024

Exposure to flame retardants linked to premature birth, higher birth weight

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In the largest study of its kind, researchers at UC Davis Health found that exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants during pregnancy was associated with preterm birth, especially among females. The chemicals were also linked to higher birth weight, a concern for increased obesity risk. The major new research study was published in Environmental Health Perspectives. “The importance of this study lies in unraveling the potential impact of exposure to environmental chemicals during pregnancy on fetal development. Our findings guide our understanding of how these chemicals may be silently seeding lasting challenges ...

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