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Science

Gender stereotypes embedded in natural language

Gender stereotypes harm people of both genders—and society more broadly—by steering and sometimes limiting people to behaviors, roles, and activities linked with their gender. Widely shared stereotypes include the assumption that men are more central to professional life while women are more central to domestic life. Other stereotypes link men with math and science and women with arts and liberal arts. Perhaps surprisingly, research has shown that countries with higher economic development, individualism, and gender-equality tend to also have more pronounced gender differences in several domains, ...

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Microautophagy is essential for preventing aging
Science

Microautophagy is essential for preventing aging

Osaka, Japan – To age or not to age! How does aging affect organisms on a cellular level? What mechanisms help cells survive self-inflicted or external harm? It is known that lysosomes—critically important cellular structures—are crucial for digesting damaged cellular components and pathogens, and maintain stability within cells and tissues. But can they also be repaired, and if so, how? In a study published this month in EMBO Reports, researchers from Osaka University and Nara Medical University have shown that damaged lysosomes are repaired by a mechanism called “microautophagy” and have identified two key regulators of this ...

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The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awards $10.5 million to new Allen Distinguished Investigators
Science

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awards $10.5 million to new Allen Distinguished Investigators

SEATTLE, WASH.—November 21, 2023—Uncovering biological properties of extracellular vesicles, which play a vital role in how cells communicate, and understanding how sex hormones drive behavior and development are two areas that the new cohorts of Allen Distinguished Investigators will research, thanks to over $10 million in funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The 18 researchers will develop technologies, design approaches, and uncover insights into fundamental areas of human biology. 2023 Allen Distinguished Investigators Kenneth Witwer, ...

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Babies as young as four months show signs of self-awareness - study
Science

Babies as young as four months show signs of self-awareness - study

Babies as young as four months old can make sense of how their bodies interact with the space around them, according to new research from the University of Birmingham. The findings, published today (21 November 2023) in Scientific Reports, shed new light on how self-awareness develops. Experts from the Birmingham BabyLab showed babies a ball on a screen moving towards or away from them. When the ball was closest to them on the screen, the babies were presented with a ‘touch’ (a small vibration) on their hands, whilst their brain activity was being measured. The data collection for the study was conducted at Goldsmiths (University of London). The researchers ...

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Trilobites rise from the ashes to reveal ancient map
Science

Trilobites rise from the ashes to reveal ancient map

Ten newly discovered species of trilobites, hidden for 490 million years in a little-studied part of Thailand, could be the missing pieces in an intricate puzzle of ancient world geography. Trilobites are extinct sea creatures with half-moon-shaped heads that breathed through their legs. A 100-page monograph in the British journal offers great detail about the new species, including one named in honor of Thai Royal Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The trilobite fossils were trapped between layers of petrified ash in sandstone, ...

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Science

Novel research unveils methodological approach to study why some individuals are prone to weight gain, while others are protected from weight gain

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Even though it’s known that people who have a higher genetic risk for obesity generally have a higher body mass index (BMI), researchers have unveiled a new methodological approach to find out why some individuals are more susceptible to weight gain than others for reasons not related to their genetic liability to obesity, according to a study published in Obesity, The Obesity Society’s (TOS) flagship journal. The study is the first of its kind to determine in a pair of twins with large intrapair BMI differences whom of the co-twins had acquired a BMI that deviated from their genetically-informed BMI. “This novel approach opens doors ...

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Science

High temperatures may have caused over 70,000 excess deaths in Europe in 2022

The burden of heat-related mortality during the summer of 2022 in Europe may have exceeded 70,000 deaths according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a research centre supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation. The authors of the study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, revised upwards initial estimates of the mortality associated with record temperatures in 2022 on the European continent. In an earlier study, published in Nature Medicine, the same team used epidemiological models applied to weekly temperature and mortality data in 823 regions in 35 European countries and estimated the number ...

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Ochsner participates in study showing aspirin may not be necessary with LVAD
Science

Ochsner participates in study showing aspirin may not be necessary with LVAD

A groundbreaking study recently published in JAMA indicates that aspirin may not be necessary as part of an antithrombotic regimen for patients with a fully magnetically levitated left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Ochsner Health surgical director for the Mechanical Assist Device Circulatory Support Program, Dr. Aditya Bansal, was a contributing author on the study known as the ARIES-HM3 trial. The ARIES-HM3 trial, a randomized trial involving 628 patients with advanced heart failure, compared the outcomes of patients who received aspirin (100 mg/d) with those who received a placebo in addition to a vitamin K antagonist ...

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Science

Calls for improved support about menstruation changes during perimenopause

Perimenopausal women need better education and support about how their periods might change towards the end of their reproductive life, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The research, published in Post Reproductive Health, highlighted how as women approach the menopause, their periods may become unpredictable, heavy and cause worse premenstrual symptoms – including mood swings, breast tenderness and headaches. The team of researchers from the UCL EGA Institute of Women’s Health and Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, ...

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Science

Why emotions stirred by music create such powerful memories

Key takeaways UCLA psychologists used music to manipulate emotions of volunteers and found the dynamics of their emotions molded otherwise neutral experiences into memorable events. The tug of war between integrating memories and separating them helps to form distinct memories, allowing people to understand and find meaning in their experiences, and retain information. These findings could hold therapeutic promise in helping people with PTSD and depression. Time flows in a continuous stream — yet our ...

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Low-quality studies on early interventions for autism dominate the field, says researchers
Science

Low-quality studies on early interventions for autism dominate the field, says researchers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that autism is becoming more common in young children. In an effort to improve the challenges young autistic children face as part of their early development, researchers have focused on developing and evaluating nonpharmaceutical interventions that can be provided in early childhood. Micheal Sandbank, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine, is an expert on the research supporting these early interventions, which informs clinical practice across the United States. A new comprehensive meta-analysis, led by Sandbank, shows that many low-quality ...

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Potential therapeutic target found to combat tuberculosis, a disrupted NAD(H) homeostasis
Science

Potential therapeutic target found to combat tuberculosis, a disrupted NAD(H) homeostasis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It has been uncertain how Mycobacterium tuberculosis deflects the immune response in humans, though evidence has pointed to host immunometabolism — the intrinsic link between metabolism in immune cells and their immune function. The pathogen M. tuberculosis is known to disrupt a metabolic pathway called glycolysis in infected myeloid cells, which include macrophages, through an unclear mechanism. A more accurate understanding of this pathogenic mechanism could provide a target against the bacterium that caused 1.6 million deaths in 2021, along with 10 million new cases of tuberculosis every year. Now a study published ...

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Science

New research demonstrates more effective method for measuring impact of scientific publications

Newly published research reexamines the evaluation of scientific findings, proposing a network-based methodology for contextualizing a publication’s impact. This new method, which is laid out in an article co-authored by Alex Gates, an assistant professor with the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, will allow the scientific community to more fairly measure the impact of interdisciplinary scientific discoveries across different fields and time periods. The article was published ...

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People watched other people shake boxes for science. Here’s why
Science

People watched other people shake boxes for science. Here’s why

When researchers asked hundreds of people to watch other people shake boxes, it took just seconds for almost all of them to figure out what the shaking was for. The deceptively simple work by Johns Hopkins University perception researchers is the first to demonstrate that people can tell what others are trying to learn just by watching their actions. Published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study reveals a key yet neglected aspect of human cognition, and one with implications for artificial intelligence. “Just by looking ...

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Science

Anti-bias police training improved performance and reduced discrimination-based complaints significantly

In recent years, many police departments have mandated or encouraged anti-bias training. This has occurred in response to government-imposed measures such as consent decrees or as a proactive attempt to enhance public perceptions of police following actions that have raised concerns about racially motivated and other discriminatory practices. In a new study, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of an anti-bias training intervention in one Californian jurisdiction. The study found that officers who received the training had improved performance scores (measured by Body Worn Camera footage), decreased disparity in how they treated different groups of people, ...

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Science

Massive 2022 eruption reduced ozone levels

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15, 2022 in the South Pacific, it produced a shock wave felt around the world and triggered tsunamis in Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Peru and the United States. It also changed the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere in the year following the eruption, leading to unprecedented losses in the ozone layer of up to 7% over large areas of the Southern Hemisphere, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National ...

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Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST
Science

Remarkably detailed view of “teenage galaxies” from just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang revealed by JWST

Pasadena, CA—Galaxies that formed just 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang are unusually hot and glow with light from surprising elements, like nickel, according to new work led by Carnegie’s Gwen Rudie and Northwestern University’s Allison Strom. Studying “teenage galaxies” from the ancient universe can teach scientists about how these massive systems of stars mature and evolve. Their findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, are part of the CECILIA (Chemical Evolution Constrained using Ionized Lines in Interstellar Aurorae) ...

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Boomerang-like beams of light
Science

Boomerang-like beams of light

Researchers at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics have superposed two light beams twisted in the clockwise direction to create anti-clockwise twists in the dark regions of the resultant superposition. The results of the research have been published in the prestigious journal “Optica”. This discovery has implications for the study of light-matter interactions and represents a step towards the observation of a peculiar phenomenon known as a quantum backflow. “Imagine that you are throwing a tennis ball. The ball starts moving forward with positive momentum. If the ball doesn’t hit an obstacle, you are unlikely to expect it to suddenly ...

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Are vanadium flow batteries worth the hype? (video)
Science

Are vanadium flow batteries worth the hype? (video)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2023 — There’s a century-old technology that’s taking the grid-scale battery market by storm. Based on water, virtually fireproof, easy to recycle and cheap at scale, vanadium flow batteries could be the wave of the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPtaDqLsbnM Reactions is a video series produced by the American Chemical Society and PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to Reactions at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions and follow us on Twitter @ACSReactions. The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise ...

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These bats use their penis as an “arm” during sex but not for penetration
Science

These bats use their penis as an “arm” during sex but not for penetration

Mammals usually mate via penetrative sex, but researchers report November 20 in the journal Current Biology that a species of bat, the serotine bat, (Eptesicus serotinus) mates without penetration. This is the first time non-penetrative sex has been documented in a mammal. The bats’ penises are around seven times longer than their partners’ vaginas and have a “heart-shaped” head that is seven times wider than the vaginal opening. Both the penises’ size and shape would make penetration post-erection impossible, and the researchers show that, rather than functioning as a penetrative ...

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Half of tested caviar products from Europe are illegal, and some aren’t even caviar
Science

Half of tested caviar products from Europe are illegal, and some aren’t even caviar

Wild caviar, a pricey delicacy made from sturgeon eggs, has been illegal for decades since poaching brought the fish to the brink of extinction. Today, legal, internationally tradeable caviar can only come from farmed sturgeon, and there are strict regulations in place to help protect the species. However, by conducting genetic and isotope analyses on caviar samples from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine—nations bordering the remaining wild sturgeon populations—a team of sturgeon experts found evidence that these regulations are actively being broken. Their results, ...

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Science

App-based interventions for moderate to severe depression

About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 randomized clinical trials of app interventions with 1,470 participants, the feasibility and efficacy of mobile app interventions were supported in treating moderate and severe depression, and practical implications were also provided for developing effective app-based interventions in clinical practice. Authors: Ji-Won Hur, Ph.D., of Korea University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For ...

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In many major crop regions, workers plant and harvest in spiraling heat and humidity
Science

In many major crop regions, workers plant and harvest in spiraling heat and humidity

A global study of major crops has found that farmworkers are being increasingly exposed to combinations of extreme heat and humidity during planting and harvest seasons that can make it hard for them to function. Such conditions have nearly doubled across the world since 1979, the authors report, a trend that could eventually hinder cultivation. The most affected crop is rice, the world’s number one staple, followed closely by maize. As temperatures rise, the trend has accelerated in recent years, with some regions seeing 15-day per-decade increases in extreme humid heat during ...

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Science

Bentham Science announces release of "Amazon Web Services: The Definitive Guide for Beginners and Advanced Users"

In a world driven by digital transformation, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has emerged as a powerhouse, providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments. Bentham Science is delighted to unveil "Amazon Web Services: The Definitive Guide for Beginners and Advanced Users," a comprehensive text that simplifies the complexities of AWS, making it accessible to graduate students, professionals, and academic researchers in computer science, engineering, and information technology. Key Features: Hands-On Approach for Beginners: The book adopts a practical, hands-on approach, ensuring that beginners can dive into AWS ...

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Suboptimal follow-up, prevention in geriatric fall-related head trauma
Science

Suboptimal follow-up, prevention in geriatric fall-related head trauma

Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries in the United States for adults ages 65 and older. With 1 in 4 older adults falling annually, 27,000 deaths, 8 million emergency department (ED) visits, and 800,000 hospitalizations have occurred. Follow-up after an ED-related fall visit is essential to initiate preventive strategies in these patients who are at very high risk for recurrent falls. Currently, it is unclear how frequently follow up occurs and whether preventive strategies are implemented. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators explored this issue by investigating ...

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