Science
press releases.

Science23 Dec 2025

Diversifying US Midwest farming for stability and resilience

Researchers find that diversifying crops and integrating livestock improves farm efficiencies and ecosystem services in the US Midwest. Mathieu Delandmeter, Bruno Basso, and colleagues used a validated crop simulation model to assess 18 management scenarios across 46 million hectares over three decades at high spatial resolution. The authors compared corn monoculture to diverse rotations with cover crops and integrated pasture-cattle systems, looking at each system's productivity, profitability, yield stability, ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Cannabis-based products show limited short-term benefit for chronic pain, with increased risk of adverse effects

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 22 December 2025 Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Cannabis products with more THC slightly reduce pain but cause more side effects

A new systematic evidence review finds that cannabis products that carry relatively high levels of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, may provide short-term improvements in pain and function. However, the review found THC-based products led to an increased risk of common adverse symptoms like dizziness, sedation and nausea. At the same time, the review found that recent randomized controlled trials involving products mainly or only containing ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Working in groups can help Republicans and Democrats agree on controversial content moderation online

Over half of Americans believe tech companies should take action to restrict extremely violent content on their platforms, according to Pew data, yet even trained content moderators consistently disagree in their decisions for how to classify hate speech and offensive images. A new study by Annenberg School for Communication Professor Damon Centola and Stanford University Assistant Professor Douglas Guilbeault (Ph.D. ‘20) has identified a key mechanism to aid content moderators, even those across the political aisle, in reaching consensus on classifying controversial material online: working in teams. In an experiment involving over 600 participants ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

UC review: Maximizing workplace opportunity for veterans

Despite the fact that the U.S. is home to over 15 million military veterans that make up more than 6% of the total workforce, little research is available about their quantitative impact on the economy. “I noticed after publishing a couple papers and a book chapter that no one has done a review in this area,” explained the University of Cincinnati’s Daniel Peat, PhD, who specializes in military-affected individuals in business management. “That’s usually a sign that there’s a bit of an immaturity in the field itself.” That’s why he and his team published a new research ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

From generation to complex control: Metasurfaces make perfect vortex beams "within reach"

Vortex phenomena are widespread in nature, from typhoons to ocean currents. In the field of optics, vortex beams, which carry orbital angular momentum, have spiral wavefronts and ring-shaped intensity distributions, showing great potential in quantum information processing, particle manipulation, and other applications. However, the ring-shaped intensity and orbital angular momentum of traditional vortex beams are influenced by the topological charge, limiting their use in scenarios involving multiple beam superposition. The advent of perfect vortex beams has addressed this issue their ring-shaped ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Exploring why some people may tend to persistently make bad choices

When people learn that surrounding visuals and sounds may signify specific choice outcomes, these cues can become guides for decision making. For people with compulsive disorders, addictions, or anxiety, the associations between cues and choice outcomes can eventually promote poor decisions as they come to favor or avoid cues in a more biased manner. Giuseppe di Pellegrino, from the University of Bologna, led a study to explore associative ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Next-generation vision model maps tree growth at sub-meter precision

Forests and plantations play a vital role in carbon sequestration, yet accurately monitoring their growth remains costly and labor-intensive. Researchers have developed an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) model that produces high-resolution canopy height maps using only standard RGB imagery. By integrating a large vision foundation model with self-supervised enhancement, this method achieves near-lidar accuracy, enabling precise, low-cost monitoring of forest biomass and carbon storage over large areas. Monitoring forest canopy structure is essential for understanding global carbon cycles, assessing tree growth, and managing plantation resources. Traditional lidar ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Genes aren’t destiny for inherited blindness, study shows

Key Takeaways: Inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs) were found by Mass Eye and Ear researchers to occur in only 28% of people who carry IRD genetic variants. Findings challenge conventional models of rare disease genetics, with implications for genetic testing and treatment. A new study challenges what’s long been assumed about genetic variants thought to always cause inherited blindness. Investigators from Mass General Brigham used large public biobanks to determine that genes thought to cause inherited retinal degenerations (IRDs) with 100% certainty only led to disease in fewer than 30% of cases. ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Super Mario Bros. help fight burnout: New study links classic games to boosted happiness

(Toronto, December 22, 2025) A new study published by JMIR Serious Games reports that popular video games, such as the Super Mario Bros. and Yoshi games, may offer meaningful emotional benefits for young adults. The research, titled “Super Mario Bros. and Yoshi Games’ Affordance of Childlike Wonder and Reduced Burnout Risk in Young Adults: In-Depth Mixed Methods Cross-Sectional Study,” found that these lighthearted, familiar games can spark a sense of childlike wonder that boosts overall happiness, which in turn reduces burnout risk. The research team conducted in-depth interviews with university ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Federal EITC has unexpected result, researchers say – it decreases domestic violence

Fifty years since the federal earned income tax credit went into effect and a team of researchers from UConn and City University of New York have identified an unintended benefit of the antipoverty program – a significant reduction in rates of intimate partner violence among unmarried women. “There’s been enough literature to show that good things happen because of the earned income tax credit, but what was surprising to us is the relatively large effect it has on intimate partner violence,” says UConn’s David Simon, an associate professor of economics and study co-author. ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

Researchers identify gene that calms the mind and improves attention in mice

Attention disorders such as ADHD involve a breakdown in our ability to separate signal from noise. The brain is constantly bombarded with information, and focus depends on its ability to filter out distractions and detect what matters. Stimulant medications improve attention by boosting activity in circuits known to govern attention, such as the prefrontal cortex. But a new study reveals a surprising alternative: reduce background activity as a way of turning down extraneous noise. In a paper published in Nature Neuroscience, ...

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Science22 Dec 2025

The impact of family dynamics on eating behaviour – how going home for Christmas can change how you eat

As the holiday season approaches, many families will gather around the dinner table, sharing meals and memories. But what if the way we eat during these gatherings is shaped by more than just tradition? Psychology research shows that our families and upbringing have a massive impact on how we eat and our relationship towards food. In fact, these influences are so profound that they can mean some people dread visiting family for the festivities. In an in-depth study of the psychology of eating, Professor in Health Psychology Jane Ogden delves into the profound impact of family dynamics on eating behaviour, ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Lessons from the Caldor Fire’s Christmas Valley ‘Miracle’

In what came to be called the “Christmas Valley miracle,” the Lake Tahoe Basin communities of Christmas Valley and Meyers were spared in late August 2021 when the massive Caldor Fire entered the basin, burning more than 222,000 acres and forcing roughly 30,000 people to evacuate during one of the hottest, driest summers on record. Outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin, the fire destroyed over 1,000 structures, many of them homes. Decades of fuel-reduction treatments conducted by federal, state and local land managers to protect people’s communities well before the fire are widely credited for ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Ant societies rose by trading individual protection for collective power

Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? The famous question, though implausible, reflects a ubiquitous tradeoff between quantity and quality. Now, a new study shows that this dilemma operates in biology at the evolutionary scale. Research published on December 19, 2025, in the journal Science Advances found that certain ant species structure their colonies by favoring quantity over quality. These species invest less into each individual’s cuticle—the protective layer of the exoskeleton—which liberates nutritional resources ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Study models the transition from Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe

Using a specially developed simulation model, researchers at the University of Cologne have traced and analysed the dynamics of possible encounters between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans on the Iberian Peninsula during the Palaeolithic period for the first time. Between approximately 50,000 and 38,000 years ago, the first anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe, where they encountered Neanderthal populations. The team analysed the respective settlement areas and the movement patterns of both groups. Were there any interactions between the groups, and did they mix? And how were population dynamics influenced by climatic events? The ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

AIs fail at the game of visual “telephone”

Generative AIs may not be as creative as we assume. Publishing December 19 in the Cell Press journal Patterns, researchers show that when image-generating and image-describing AIs pass the same descriptive scene back and forth, they quickly veer off topic. From 100 diverse prompts, the AI pairs consistently settled on 12 themes, including gothic cathedrals, natural landscapes, sports imagery, and stormy lighthouses. These recurrent themes likely reflect biases in the ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Potential changes in US homelessness by ending federal support for housing first programs

About The Study: In July 2025, an Executive Order was issued that ended support for Housing First and sought to eliminate discretionary federal spending on such programs. Though not all housing offered on a Housing First basis would end if federal funding for these programs ceased, there will nevertheless be harmful consequences. This study projects that the number of people experiencing homelessness will increase by 5% within a year in addition to the already increasing trend. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Joshua A. Barocas, MD, email joshua.barocas@cuanschutz.edu. To ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Ending federal support for housing first programs could increase U.S. homelessness by 5% in one year, new JAMA study finds

AURORA, Colo. (Dec. 18, 2025) – Eliminating federal funding for Housing First programs, initiatives that provide people experiencing homelessness (PEH) with stable housing without requiring sobriety or treatment, could lead to a sharp rise in homelessness nationwide, according to a new study published today in JAMA Health Forum. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz estimate that ending support for federally funded permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid rehousing (RRH) programs would result in 44,590 additional ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Bharat Innovates 2026 National Basecamp Showcases India’s Most Promising Deep-Tech Ventures

The Bharat Innovates 2026 National Basecamp was formally inaugurated today at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), marking a significant milestone in India’s efforts to identify, strengthen, and globally position its most promising deep-tech innovations. The three-day National Basecamp, taking place from December 18 to 20, 2025, brings together approximately 400 shortlisted startups and research-led innovations that have been selected through a rigorous, multi-stage national screening process. The shortlisted startups and innovators are some of India’s brightest and most impactful, with the potential to ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Here’s what determines whether your income level rises or falls

Economists call it “income mobility”. This means how easy or difficult it is for you or your family to go up or down in income compared to others in the community around you. People in Norway have a high level of income mobility. It is quite possible for people to increase their incomes. But also for those incomes to drop. “Your income is the sum of what you earn from work and from capital income,” says Professor Roberto Iacono at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Blocking a key inflammatory pathway improves liver structure and vascular function in cirrhosis, study finds

Researchers from Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) in Spain have identified an effective strategy to reduce structural liver damage and improve hepatic vascular function in cirrhosis. The study, published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, also reveals a key inflammatory mechanism that contributes to liver injury and could be targeted to develop new treatments for a disease responsible for more than one million deaths worldwide each year. The work was led by Rubén Francés ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Continuous spread: Raccoon roundworm detected in nine European countries

FRANKFURT. While the spread of raccoons in Europe is often discussed, their companion tends to remain unnoticed: The raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis arrived in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century with the first raccoons from North America. Since their release or escape from fur farms, raccoons have spread uncontrollably across large parts of Central Europe – and their parasite with them. Germany is now considered the main distribution area for both species in Europe. Dangerous ...

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Science19 Dec 2025

Pinochet’s prisoners were tormented with music but still found solace in it, a new book reveals

University of Cambridge media release Pinochet’s prisoners were tormented with music but still found solace in it, a new book reveals UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 US (ET) ON THURSDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2025 / 00:01AM (UK TIME ON FRIDAY 19TH DECEMBER 2025 110 years after Augusto Pinochet’s birth, Chile has just elected a new far-right President, José Antonio Kast, who has praised the dictator's legacy. At the same time, a new book exposes the brutal and tender realities of political imprisonment during the dictatorship (1973–1990) through the power of music. Music and Political ...

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Science18 Dec 2025

AI-assisted device can improve autism care access

Access to autism evaluations through specialty health care is notorious for long wait times across the United States. In Missouri, many families wait nearly a year for a diagnostic appointment. AI might be a solution to cutting the wait, according to researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Lead author Kristin Sohl and her team partnered with Cognoa, Inc. to test their FDA-approved medical device, CanvasDx, for primary care clinicians in areas without autism care. It incorporates AI algorithms into patient data and makes a prediction of a positive or negative ...

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