Science
press releases.

Science7 Nov 2023

The molecular basis of ventilator-induced diaphragm weakness

A study presents evidence that mitochondrial fragmentation is a proximal mechanism underlying ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction (VIDD)—and identifies a possible therapeutic to limit diaphragm atrophy during a stay in intensive care. Previous research has established that many of the cellular pathways responsible for VIDD are kicked off by oxidative stress stemming from diaphragm inactivity. Stefan Matecki and colleagues studied the molecular causes of this oxidative stress in mice. Just six hours on mechanical ventilation was enough to increase expression of dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1), which is involved in mitochondrial ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

Bisphenol A and asthma in mice

The “hygiene hypothesis” posits that allergic asthma can be triggered by a childhood environment that is too clean and sterile. One studied mechanism underlying this relationship is the influence of microbial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which train the immune system. In the absence of LPS, Toll-like receptors in the human body will become more sensitive, which can lead to an exaggerated allergic response to triggers such as house dust mites. Mingliang Fang and colleagues explored how the environmental pollutant bisphenol ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

Mountain goats seek snow to shake off insects

Losing summer snow patches may hit mountain goats hard, according to a study that suggests that goats seek out snow to avoid biting insects. Many cold-adapted species take advantage of patches of snow that linger through the summer, as corridors for travel, sources of drinking water, zones for cooling off, or places to play. As the climate changes, many species will have reduced access to snow patches. Forest Hayes and Joel Berger explored what this lack of summer snow might mean for mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) in Glacier National Park, which has lost 85% of its glaciers since 1850. The team studied goats in the park—along with another population 1,000 ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

Guilt not as persuasive if directly tied to personal responsibility

PULLMAN, Wash. – Invoking a sense of guilt—a common tool used by advertisers, fundraisers and overbearing parents everywhere—can backfire if it explicitly holds a person responsible for another’s suffering, a meta-analysis of studies revealed. While guilt is widely used to try and persuade people to act, research has been mixed on its effectiveness in spurring behavior change. This analysis, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, found that overall guilt had only a small persuasive effect, which is in line with previous research. However, researchers uncovered that guilt worked better ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

Previous genetic association studies involving people with European ancestry may be inaccurate

Researchers have found that previous studies analyzing the genomes of people with European ancestry may have reported inaccurate results by not fully accounting for population structure. By considering mixed genetic lineages, researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that previously inferred links between a genomic variant that helps digest lactose and traits such as a person’s height and cholesterol level may not be valid. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that people with European ancestry, who were previously treated as a genetically homogenous group in large-scale genetic ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

Poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation

Reading, writing and sharing poetry can help people cope with loneliness or isolation and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, a new study shows. Research by the University of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent University, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, found that many people who took to sharing, discussing and writing poetry as a means to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic experienced “demonstrable positive impact on their wellbeing”. The findings are based on a survey of 400 people which showed that poetry helped those experiencing common mental health symptoms as well as those suffering from grief. It was carried out with registered users of the ...

Read the release

Science7 Nov 2023

French love letters confiscated by Britain finally read after 265 years

UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 (US ET) ON MONDAY 6TH NOVEMBER 2023 / 00:01AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2023 Over 100 letters sent to French sailors by their fiancées, wives, parents and siblings – but never delivered – have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written in 1757-8. The messages offer extremely rare and moving insights into the loves, lives and family quarrels of everyone from elderly peasants to wealthy officer’s wives. The messages were seized by Britain’s Royal Navy during the Seven Years’ War, taken to the Admiralty in London ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Oran Young awarded the Mohn Prize 2024

During his long career, Oran Young has been a strong promoter of geopolitical attention to the Arctic. He is a leader in studies of international governance and environmental institutions, and the world's foremost expert on these themes in the Arctic. As a political scientist and environmental researcher, he is recognized for his interdisciplinary research on international institution building, resource management and the human dimension of climate change in the Arctic. – Being selected to receive the 2024 Mohn Prize is an exceptional honour. For me, it’s the capstone of 50 years of active engagement in Arctic affairs, Oran Young says. The Rector ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Regenstrief research scientists participate in national conversation for advancement of aging research

INDIANAPOLIS -- Regenstrief Institute researchers are sharing the stage with other national aging research experts as they participate in the dissemination of scientific advances during the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting on November 8-12 in Tampa, Florida. The meeting provides aging researchers in a variety of disciplines a platform to share stimulating and high-level scholarship. This new and enriching knowledge will shape policy, practice and research for years to come. At the meeting, Regenstrief’s Susan Hickman, ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

New study sheds light on Adélie penguins' reliance on declining sea ice during molt

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 6, NOVEMBER, 2023, 3 PM US EASTERN A groundbreaking study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences underscores the pivotal role that seasonal Antarctic sea ice plays in the annual molting periods of Adélie penguins. Despite the relatively large amount of sea ice still available in the Ross Sea, researchers have discovered a potential bottleneck in the penguins’ annual cycle, which could be exacerbated as the climate continues to change. Unlike most penguin species, the majority of Adélie penguins are thought to carry out their annual molt ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

450-million-year-old organism finds new life in Softbotics

PITTSBURGH—Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with paleontologists from Spain and Poland, used fossil evidence to engineer a soft robotic replica of pleurocystitid, a marine organism that existed nearly 450 million years ago and is believed to be one of the first echinoderms capable of movement using a muscular stem. Published today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the research seeks to broaden modern perspective of animal design and movement by introducing a new a field of study - Paleobionics - aimed at using Softbotics, robotics ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

City and highway lights threaten mountain lion habitats

City lights shine all night amid the bustling traffic, businesses and neighborhoods of Southern California, one of the most populated areas that mountain lions call home. A study from the University of California, Davis, found that mountain lions avoid places with artificial light, even during the day. The finding adds to the list of challenges faced by the big cats in the region, where scientists have warned they may face extinction within decades. The new study, published in the journal Philosophical ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Study highlights optimal timing for assessing orthostatic hypotension in older adults and its impact on fall risk

A new study, "Timing of Orthostatic Hypotension and its Relationship with Falls in Older Adults", has brought critical insights into the assessment of orthostatic hypotension, a drop in blood pressure commonly found among older adults when transitioning from a sitting or lying position to a standing position that can lead to dizziness and falls. Published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) and based on a secondary analysis of the "Study to Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY)," this study examined the prevalence of orthostatic hypotension at different time points after ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

RIT researcher looks for genetic switch to prevent ‘sleeping sickness’ in cattle

As parasites adapt to a warming world, an infectious disease expert at Rochester Institute of Technology has his eye on the tsetse fly in sub-Saharan Africa. The biting fly transmits Trypanosomiasis, or “sleeping sickness,” to cattle there and could someday migrate to northern climates, including to the United States. RIT researcher Bolaji Thomas is leading a $650,000 study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the Agriculture ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Viano receives NSF CAREER Award

Samantha Viano, Assistant Professor, Education, received funding from the National Science Foundation for the project: "CAREER: Second Chance STEM: Uncovering school policies structuring access to and engagement in high school STEM credit recovery." Viano will conduct three individual studies as part of this research. The first study will be located in 14 schools in a large and demographically changing suburban school district. This work will be followed by a survey of optimal policy/practice ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

European wildcats avoided introduced domestic cats for 2,000 years

University of Oxford news release Strict embargo until Monday, 6 November, 2023. 11.00 (ET) or 16.00 (GMT) Domestic cats introduced from the Near East and wildcats native to Europe did not mix until the 1960s, despite being exposed to each other for 2,000 years, according to two research papers published today in Current Biology. An international team has found new archaeological and genetic evidence which transforms our understanding of the history of cats in Europe. The team sequenced and analysed both wild and domestic cats, including ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

First wireless map of worm’s nervous system revealed

This huge step forward in understanding how neurons communicate through extremely short proteins called neuropeptides will help scientists understand how our emotions and mental states are controlled, as well as widespread neuropsychiatric conditions like eating disorders, OCD and PSTD. The map, which details 31,479 neuropeptide interactions between the worm’s 302 neurons, shows where each neuropeptide, as well as each receptor for those peptides, acts in the animal’s nervous system. Neuropeptides allow communication between neurons that are not immediately ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Abortion bans linked to increase in children entering foster system, researchers find

BOSTON – In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, effectively ending 50 years of federal protections to abortion care. As of October 2023, twenty-six states have since enacted laws to ban or restrict abortion access, with 14 states completely banning the procedure. Today, an estimated 25 million American women of childbearing age, or about one third of women ages 15 to 45, live in areas where abortion care is severely restricted. Historically, many states were able to restrict access to abortion even before 2022 through Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws; these laws decrease ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

MD Anderson Research Highlights: SITC 2023 Special Edition

ABSTRACTS: 1534, 777, 1328, 1526, 1330, 545 HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational, and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. This special edition features oral presentations from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 38th Annual Meeting focused on scientific advances and breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy from MD Anderson-led studies. Highlights include fecal microbiome transplants ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

It’s corn! It has the…spots? Researchers supply significant genomic insight into tar spot of corn

First reported in 2015, tar spot is an emerging disease on corn that has rapidly spread across the United States and Canada, causing tremendous yield loss estimated at $1.2 billion in 2021 alone. Tar spot gets its name from its iconic symptoms that resemble the splatter of “tar” on corn leaves, but these spots are in fact brown lesions formed by the fungal pathogen Phyllachora maydis. This destructive pathogen is challenging to research because it cannot survive outside its plant host; therefore, little information is currently known about the mechanisms that contribute to its disease cycle including spore formation, reproduction, and plant ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

A child’s race, ethnicity and/or neighborhood may influence survival after cardiac arrest

Research Highlights: A child’s race, ethnicity and/or the neighborhood where they live may have an impact on their survival and recovery after a cardiac arrest. Black children were more than four times more likely to experience a cardiac arrest compared to white or Hispanic children. Children from neighborhoods with the highest socioeconomic status had the best odds of surviving and functioning well after a cardiac arrest. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 DALLAS, Nov. 6, 2023 — Children’s ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Women stroke survivors believe they will receive worse care in the emergency room

Women who have survived a stroke believe they are less likely to receive adequate emergency care – based on gender and race or ethnicity, a study led by Michigan Medicine and Brown University finds. Researchers analyzed survey data from the American Heart Association Research Goes Red Registry to determine perceptions of emergency care for women with and without a history of stroke. Results published in Stroke reveal that women with a history of stroke were over three times more likely to believe “to a great extent” that they would not receive adequate care in the emergency room based on their gender and race or ethnicity. “It’s clear from our findings ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Plants' ingenious defence against mutational damage

Humans wouldn’t last long without plant mitochondria and chloroplasts. These essential compartments of plant cells famously capture sunlight and power plant life – and so, ultimately, provide all the food we eat.But there’s a problem: Mitochondria and chloroplasts store instructions for their building blocks in their own ”organelle” DNA or oDNA – and this can get mutated. You can see mild effects of this in some “variegated” plants – where leaves get bleached and lose the ability to photosynthesise (see ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Landmark study reveals critical shortage in UK prosthetic and orthotic workforce

A Staffordshire University study has revealed a significant deficit in the number of prosthetists, orthotists, prosthetic and orthotic technicians, and support workers in the UK. The report by the Centre for Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Technologies (CBRT) is formally launched today, 6 November 2023. This research, commissioned by the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO), found there are currently 631 orthotists and 295 prosthetists employed nationwide. However, an additional 142 to 477 prosthetists/orthotists are needed to meet World Health Organization standards of care. "This workforce shortage is worrying," said Professor Nachi ...

Read the release

Science6 Nov 2023

Want the secret to less painful belly flops? These researchers have the answer.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Anyone who’s ever done a belly flop into a swimming pool knows it ends with a blunt-sounding splat, a big splash and a searing red sting. What most people don’t know is why. Daniel Harris does. The assistant professor in Brown University’s School of Engineering says the physics behind the phenomenon aren’t too complex. What happens — and what makes it so painful, he explains — is that the forces from the water surface put up a fierce resistance to the body suddenly going from air to water, which is often still. “All of a sudden, ...

Read the release