Science
press releases.

Science19 Jan 2024

How do human capital and pro-market institutions shape ambitious entrepreneurship in good and crisis times?

Scholars and policymakers have highlighted the positive impact of human capital on entrepreneurial activity. Vast attention has also been directed to the beneficial role of pro-market institutions for entrepreneurship. A new article published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal shows that the positive relation between pro-market institutions and growth aspirations is weaker for entrepreneurs with general human capital (higher education), but stronger for those with specific human capital (start-up or investment experience). ...

Read the release

Science19 Jan 2024

Important to involve both parents in breastfeeding

The most important support person for women to succeed in their ambition to breastfeed is the new mother’s partner. The partner also needs to be included through more support from healthcare professionals. Together with Region Sörmland, Uppsala University has implemented a breastfeeding support programme. It provides new parents with structured breastfeeding support throughout the healthcare chain. The study is presented in an article published in the International Breastfeeding Journal. Interviews were conducted to investigate how the partner perceived the support in both the breastfeeding support group and in a control group that had ...

Read the release

Science19 Jan 2024

New research center to explore how ‘untapped Kingdom’ of fungi can change our world

A new research centre focused on harnessing the positive powers of fungi is being established at Cranfield University with a £7.2 million injection of funding from Research England. Fungi are one of the most diverse kingdoms in all living organisms and have an estimated global monetary value of 54.57 trillion US dollars. Long used for food and medicine, only a small proportion of classified fungi species has been studied in detail and developed for industrial use – leaving an estimated three million species yet to be discovered and evaluated. To date, research of fungi has largely focused on mitigating negative effects like disease, toxins and food loss. The ...

Read the release

Science19 Jan 2024

When are opioid prescription limits effective in reducing prescription length?

Study analyzed a West Virginia policy that tailored duration limits to a patient’s clinical setting Researchers found a 27-57% reduction in prescription length with the tailored policy Additional research is needed on potential consequences of limits, such as use of illicit opioids for pain relief CHICAGO --- Many states have passed new laws that place restrictions on the duration of first-time opioid prescriptions to help address the opioid epidemic. While most laws are one-size-fits-all, policies more tailored to the patient, such as their age or clinical setting (outpatient clinic, emergency room, etc.), were more effective ...

Read the release

Science19 Jan 2024

Rice’s Amanda Marciel wins NSF CAREER Award

HOUSTON – (Jan. 19, 2024) – Amanda Marciel describes her current research, supported by a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, as an effort to understand and make “really soft, stretchable stuff.” Expressed more formally, she works at the molecular level to design branch elastomers that return to their original shape after being stretched. “What I’m doing is creating synthetic networks that have a gel-like softness and are highly elastic for such applications as stretchable ...

Read the release

Science19 Jan 2024

Infantile spasms: Speeding referrals for all infants

Infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS), often called infantile spasms, is the most common form of epilepsy seen during infancy. Prompt diagnosis and referral to a neurologist are essential. But research suggests infants are likely to experience delays in referral to a neurologist if their families are from historically marginalized racial/ethnic backgrounds. A new open-access training module for front-line providers from OPENPediatrics, an online learning community launched by Boston Children’s Hospital, aims to change that. The free, publicly accessible Infantile Spasms curriculum includes short lectures and videos illustrating ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

For this beetle, ‘date night’ comes every other day

Life on Earth runs on a 24-hour cycle as the planet turns. Animals and plants have built-in circadian clocks that synchronize metabolism and behavior to this daily cycle. But one beetle is out of sync with the rest of nature. A new study, published Jan. 18 in Current Biology, looks at a beetle with a unique, 48-hour cycle. The large black chafer beetle, Holotrichia parallela, is an agricultural pest in Asia. Every other night, the female beetles emerge from the soil, climb up a host plant ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

National Science Foundation taps NYU Tandon with $5 million grant to advance accessibility

A team at NYU Tandon School of Engineering will kick off the second phase of an ambitious research project that aims to transform navigation and accessibility for many of the 285 million people with blindness and low vision (pBLV) worldwide. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the project a three-year $5 million grant last month. Led by John-Ross Rizzo – an associate professor in NYU Tandon’s Biomedical Engineering department, associate director of NYU WIRELESS, affiliated faculty at the NYU Tandon Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) and associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Knowing what dogs like to watch could help veterinarians assess their vision

Ever wonder what kind of TV shows your dog might choose if they could work the remote control? New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine provides some answers, but the study was more interested in solving a longstanding problem in veterinary medicine than turning canine companions into couch potatoes. According to Freya Mowat, veterinary ophthalmologist and professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s department of surgical sciences, researchers wanted to determine factors, including age and vision, that influence a dog’s ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Don’t look back: The aftermath of a distressing event is more memorable than the lead-up, study suggests

Halfway through a true crime podcast, a morning commuter jerks the wheel to narrowly avoid a collision. When discussing the podcast with a coworker later that day, the driver can easily recall the details of the episode’s second half but retains only a blurry recollection of how it began. A new study from psychologists at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology suggests that we remember the moments immediately following a distressing episode more sharply than the moments leading up to it. Clarifying the relationship ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

A window into plant evolution: The unusual genetic journey of lycophytes

An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable genetic phenomenon in lycophytes, which are similar to ferns and among the oldest land plants. Their study, recently published in the journal PNAS, reveals that these plants have maintained a consistent genetic structure for over 350 million years, a significant deviation from the norm in plant genetics. "The exceptionally slow pace of genomic evolution sets these plants apart," said Dr. Fay-Wei Li, a professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute and a senior author of the study. ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Sea otters may be key drivers of changes in California's kelp forests, according to data spanning a century

Sea otters may be key drivers of changes in California's kelp forests, according to data spanning a century ##### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Climate: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000290 Article Title: Sea otter recovery buffers century-scale declines in California kelp forests Citation: Nicholson TE, McClenachan L, Tanaka KR, Van Houtan KS (2024) Sea otter recovery buffers century-scale declines in California ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

VCU research promotes a business paradigm shift that emphasizes people, not just profit

RICHMOND, Va. (Jan. 18, 2024) – New research from Virginia Commonwealth University fundamentally challenges the paradigm that business organizations should promote profit above all else. Christopher S. Reina, Ph.D., executive director of the VCU Institute for Transformative Leadership, lays out the foundation for transforming business to be much more people-centered and humanistic in “Humanistic Organizing: The Transformative Force of Mindful Organizational Communication.” ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Cobalt-free batteries could power cars of the future

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs. MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries). In a new study, the researchers showed that this material, which could be produced at much lower cost than cobalt-containing batteries, can conduct electricity at similar rates as cobalt batteries. The new battery also has comparable storage ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Study with over 11,000 individuals of African descent finds genetic variants linked to glaucoma

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness around the globe, affecting up to 44 million people. Although people of African ancestry are most frequently and severely affected by this hereditary disease, its genetic underpinnings in this population have rarely been studied. Now, a team of investigators has published findings revealing previously unknown inherited genetic variants that contribute to primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the most common form of the disease. The study was based on the analysis of 11,275 individuals of African descent and is being published January 18, 2024, in Cell. “Individuals with African ancestry are five times more likely to be affected ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Mega-analysis identifies gene variants associated with glaucoma in people of African ancestry

PHILADELPHIA— A new analysis focusing specifically on people of African ancestry identified three gene variants that may be contributing to this population’s susceptibility to developing and being blinded by glaucoma. People of African ancestry are five times as likely as others to develop glaucoma and up to 15 times as likely to be blinded by the condition, but the vast majority of research has used data from people of European ancestry. Led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Nurse home visits have a lasting impact for disadvantaged mothers and daughters

Nurse home visits to disadvantaged mothers can significantly reduce their rates of hypertension and their daughters’ likelihood of obesity, finds a new reanalysis of health data by a team led by a UCL researcher. The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, reanalysed data taken as part of a Nurse-Family Partnership trial started more than 30 years ago – The Memphis New Mothers Study (1990-1994). The researchers found that prenatal and infancy nurse home visits decreased the likelihood of daughters being obese by 55% and being severely obese by 81% in adolescence. Similarly, mothers of girls showed a decrease ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Cannabis and driving in older adults

About The Study: The findings of this study that included 31 participants ages 65 to 79 suggest that older drivers, even if they regularly use cannabis, show evidence of impaired driving performance after smoking cannabis. Weaving was increased and speed was decreased at 30 minutes after smoking, which was not correlated with blood tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations; subjective experience and self-reports of impaired driving persisted for three hours. Authors: Patricia Di Ciano, Ph.D., of the Centre for Addiction ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Next-generation batteries could go organic, cobalt-free for long-lasting power

In the switch to “greener” energy sources, the demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is surging. However, their cathodes typically contain cobalt — a metal whose extraction has high environmental and societal costs. Now, researchers in ACS Central Science report evaluating an earth-abundant, carbon-based cathode material that could replace cobalt and other scarce and toxic metals without sacrificing lithium-ion battery performance. Today, lithium-ion batteries power everything from cell phones to laptops to electric vehicles. One of the limiting factors for realizing a global shift to energy produced by renewable sources — particularly for the transition ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Why animals shrink over time explained with new evolution theory

The mystery behind why Alaskan horses, cryptodiran turtles and island lizards shrunk over time may have been solved in a new study. The new theoretical research proposes that animal size over time depends on two key ecological factors: the intensity of direct competition for resources between species, and the risk of extinction from the environment. Using computer models simulating evolution, the study, published today (Thursday, 18 January) in communications biology, identifies why some species gradually get smaller, as indicated by fossil records. Dr Shovonlal Roy, an ecosystem modeller from the University of Reading who led the research, ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Missing gene could explain infertility

Mice lacking a certain gene are unable to produce offspring because their sperm lack the connection between the tail and the head. A new thesis from the University of Gothenburg indicates a probable cause of male infertility. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have identified a new protein, dubbed by them as “MC2”, that plays a crucial part in the formation of swimmable sperm in mice. This protein is needed to create a functional connection between the head and the tail of the sperm. “The connection is located in the ‘neck’ of the sperm head and facilitates coordinated movement and function ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Revolutionizing grapevine phenotyping: harnessing LiDAR for enhanced growth assessment and genetic insights

In response to the pressing need to reduce pesticide usage and adapt grapevine varieties to climate change, there's an unprecedented effort to phenotype new genotypes using high-throughput methods. Teams globally are developing advanced systems, employing technologies like multispectral cameras and LiDAR, to assess growth traits, photosynthetic capability, and other architectural parameters. However, traditional methods remain time-consuming and less efficient for large-scale studies. The current research gap lies in effectively employing LiDAR technology ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

Revolutionizing grape yield predictions: the rise of semi-supervised berry counting with CDMENet

To improve grape yield predictions, automated berry counting has emerged as a crucial yet challenging task due to the dense distribution and occlusion of berries. While grape cultivation is a significant global economic activity, traditional manual counting methods are inaccurate and inefficient. Recent research has shifted towards deep learning and computer vision, employing detection and density estimation techniques for more precise counts. However, these methods grapple with the variability of farmland and high occlusion rates, leading to significant counting errors. Additionally, creating high-performance ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

GenoDrawing: pioneering plant phenotyping with autoencoders and SNP markers

Advancements in whole-genome sequencing have revolutionized plant species characterization, providing a wealth of genotypic data for analysis. The combination of genomic selection and neural networks, especially deep learning and autoencoders, has emerged as a promising method for predicting complex traits from this data. Despite the success in applications like plant phenotyping, challenges remain in accurately translating visual information from images into measurable data for genomic studies. In November 2023, Plant ...

Read the release

Science18 Jan 2024

USC Office of Research and Innovation names new executive director for USC Stevens Center

Erin Overstreet has been selected as the new executive director of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation where she will oversee the university’s commercialization of USC-driven intellectual property. Overstreet’s expertise and experience embody technology transfer and innovation across the academic, educational, and venture capital sectors; such experience is critical for bridging USC research to a broadened, national technology transfer ecosystem, said Ishwar Puri, senior vice president of the Office of Research and Innovation. “The university has the utmost confidence in Dr. Overstreet’s ability to ...

Read the release