Science
press releases.

Science12 Oct 2023

Coffee and cocoa plants at risk from pollinator loss

Tropical crops such as coffee, cocoa, watermelon and mango may be at risk due to the loss of insect pollinators, finds a new study led by UCL and Natural History Museum researchers. Published in Science Advances, the study explores the intricate interplay between climate change, land use change, and their impact on pollinator biodiversity, ultimately revealing significant implications for global crop pollination. The study, which compiled data from 1,507 crop growing sites around the world and catalogued 3,080 insect pollinator species, exposes a concerning trend – the combined pressures ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Caution: Content warnings do not reduce stress, study shows

Advocates for the use of trigger warnings suggest that they can help people avoid or emotionally prepare for encountering content related to a past trauma. But trigger warnings may not fulfill either of these functions, according to an analysis published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Instead, warnings appear to heighten the anticipatory anxiety a person may feel prior to viewing sensitive material while making them no less likely to consume that content, wrote Victoria M. E. Bridgland of ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

"Two-factor" screening of newborns enhances congenital hearing loss management

Nearly 30 million Chinese individuals experience hearing loss (HL), with around 60% of these cases being hereditary. HL is the second most common congenital disability in China, with an estimated 30,000 babies in China born with HL each year and face the challenges of medical expenses and education-related issues. To understand if concurrent hearing screening and high-throughput genetic screening could improve the effectiveness of newborn HL programs, a new study by Minghong Zhao, Xuemei Luo, Qinfei ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Race and ethnicity and primary language in emergency department triage

About The Study: In this study of 249,000 visits to seven academic and community hospital emergency departments, patients who identified as Black, Hispanic, and Other race and ethnicity were assigned less acute Emergency Severity Index scores than their white peers despite having received more involved physician workups, suggesting some degree of mistriage. Clinical decision support systems might reduce these disparities but would require careful calibration to avoid replicating bias. Authors: Joshua W. Joseph, M.D., M.S., ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

We can respond to verbal stimuli while sleeping

Sleep is generally defined as a period during which the body and mind are at rest—as if disconnected from the world. However, a new study led by Delphine Oudiette, Isabelle Arnulf, and Lionel Naccache at Paris Brain Institute shows that the frontier between wakefulness and sleep is much more porous than it seems. The researchers have shown that ordinary sleepers can pick up verbal information transmitted by a human voice and respond to it by contracting their facial muscles. This astonishing ability occurs intermittently during almost all stages of sleep—like windows of connection with the outside world were temporarily opened on this occasion. These new findings ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Letting go of an extra weight to control sleeping sickness

Letting go of an extra weight to control sleeping sickness A new study led by Luísa Figueiredo, group leader at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM; Portugal), and published today in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology* found a new strategy by the host to cope with Trypanosoma brucei infection. Trypanosoma brucei is the parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans, and nagana in cattle, which remain a public health ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Simulations of ‘backwards time travel’ can improve scientific experiments

Physicists have shown that simulating models of hypothetical time travel can solve experimental problems that appear impossible to solve using standard physics. If gamblers, investors and quantum experimentalists could bend the arrow of time, their advantage would be significantly higher, leading to significantly better outcomes. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have shown that by manipulating entanglement – a feature of quantum theory that causes particles to be intrinsically linked – they can simulate what could happen if one could travel backwards in time. So that gamblers, investors and ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Could you correctly identify someone wearing sunglasses from a distance of 20 meters?

This comprehensive study focused on three key factors: distance, lighting and facial masking, and their impact on the ability of eyewitnesses to later correctly identify individuals they have seen. In the study, eyewitnesses were asked to identify perpetrators they had seen from various distances (5, 12.5 or 20 metres) and in different lighting conditions (daylight or deep twilight). The perpetrators were shown both with and without facial masking (sunglasses, hood, or both sunglasses and hood). The key finding of the study is that distance plays a crucial role – the longer the distance, the harder it is ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Hostile sexism linked to less responsive parenting

Fathers and mothers who believe that men should hold the power and authority in the family exhibit less responsive parenting behavior, according to a new article in Social Psychological and Personality Science. This research provides the first behavioral evidence demonstrating that hostile sexism is linked to less responsive parenting by both fathers and mothers. Hostile sexism is characterized by beliefs that men should hold power and authority in society. Its harmful effects are well-established, especially in predicting harmful behavior toward women. However, this new research highlights its impact on parenting ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

New study unveils stretchable high-resolution user-interactive synesthesia displays for visual–acoustic encryption

The future of human-machine interfaces is on the cusp of a revolution with the unveiling of a groundbreaking technology - a stretchable high-resolution multicolor synesthesia display that generates synchronized sound and light as input/output sources. A research team, led by Professor Moon Kee Choi in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNIST, has succeeded in developing this cutting-edge display using transfer-printing techniques, propelling the field of multifunctional displays into new realms of possibility. Traditionally, multifunctional ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Extreme habitats: Microbial life in Old Faithful Geyser

Contributed by Arianna Soldati, GSA Science Communication Fellow Pittsburgh, Pa., USA: An eruption of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is a sight to behold. Indeed, millions of tourists flock to the park each year to see it. Hot water and steam are ejected in the air to a height of 100–180 feet approximately every 90 minutes. Many adjectives come to mind to describe it: powerful, mesmerizing, unique, otherworldly . . . homey? Not so much. Yet new research by Lisa M. Keller, published on PNAS Nexus earlier this year and to be presented on Sunday at the Geological Society of America’s GSA Connects 2023 meeting, shows that for ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Private renting is making you age faster

A new study, jointly conducted by the University of Adelaide and University of Essex, has found that renting, rather than owning, a private-sector home leads to faster biological ageing. The negative health impacts of renting were shown to be greater than those of experiencing unemployment or being a former smoker. “Our findings demonstrate that housing circumstances have a significant impact on biological ageing, even more so than other important social determinants, such as unemployment, for example, and therefore health impacts should be an important consideration shaping housing policies,” ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Inhibiting an enzyme associated with aging could help damaged nerves regrow and restore strength

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine and Sanford Burnham Prebys have demonstrated a new way to accelerate recovery from peripheral nerve injury by targeting an enzyme that was thought to be responsible for muscle wasting with aging. Damage to the peripheral nervous system (the nerves that form the communications network between the brain, spinal cord and body) is debilitating; the effectiveness of physiotherapy as treatment is limited. Whether from trauma, disease or aging, nerve function declines and/or is lost, resulting in diminished strength and even paralysis. In ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

A better ‘map’ of the lights you see when you close your eyes can improve ‘bionic eye’ outcomes

Researchers at Monash University have identified a new way of mapping ‘phosphenes’ – the visual perception of the bright flashes we see when no light is entering the eye – to improve the outcome of surgery for patients receiving a cortical visual prosthesis (‘bionic eye’). Cortical visual prostheses are devices implanted onto the brain with the aim of restoring sight by directly stimulating the area responsible for vision, the visual cortex, bypassing damage to the retina of ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Civics test policy fails to increase youth voter turnout, researchers find

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A civics test policy mandated in 18 states that focuses on rote memorization and testing of political knowledge did not improve youth voter turnout as intended, according to Penn State College of Education researchers. As an alternative, they recommend a thorough integration of practical information on the voter registration process within social studies curricula. “Providing students opportunities to really engage with what leadership means, having discussions and debates with leaders and politicians, mock elections… ...

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Science12 Oct 2023

Uncovering the emotional scars: Study reveals significant stigma associated with female adult acne

(Thursday, 12 October 2023, Berlin, Germany) New research reveals that acne significantly influences how individuals are perceived in social settings. Faces with acne are seen as less attractive, trustworthy, confident, successful, dominant and happy, with adult female acne having the strongest negative effect. 1 This ground-breaking research, presented today at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2023, assessed the effect of different anatomical variants of acne on natural gaze patterns and social perception.1 The researchers tracked the eye movements of 245 participants (mean age: 31.63 years; SD: ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Study to examine why some breastfeeding moms struggle with milk supply and how this affects the infant

Human milk is known to provide numerous health benefits to infants, including lower risks of infection, childhood obesity, allergies and autoimmune diseases, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. Yet some 60% of new parents struggle to meet their breast-feeding goals, and an inadequate milk supply is the most frequent reason given for earlier-than-desired weaning. A team of breast cancer-breast ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

The good and bad uses of biomass for California

As California works to meet climate and air quality goals, a key to the transition will come from biomass, which is renewable organic material from plants and animals. New research from the University of California, Davis, published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy, examines the good and bad uses of biomass and the best pathways to meet California’s goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 85% of 1990 levels by 2045. “California is fortunate in having a large biomass resource,” said lead author Peter Freer-Smith, an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant Sciences. “Finding ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

New study finds link between subjective and objective memory decline

MINNEAPOLIS – Among people who report memory and thinking problems, some show no signs of a problem on standard tests, while others have subtle declines on their tests. A new study shows that people who have subtle problems with these tests may have an increased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to dementia. The study is published in the October 11, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Several studies have found that people with subjective ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Epiphytes, amazing plants like moss and bromeliads found in trees, face growing threats

Orchids, mosses, ferns—or epiphytes, defined as nonparasitic plants that grow on other plants—are crucial for Earth’s biodiversity and play essential roles in forests around the world, building habitat in trees for myriad other life forms, from bacteria and insects to birds and reptiles. However, the very attributes that have enabled epiphytes to thrive in forest canopies are now making them vulnerable to both natural and human-caused disturbances, according to Nalini Nadkarni, the University of Utah biologist renowned for her pioneering work studying and conserving treetop ecosystems. In a study published this month, Nadkarni found these vital plants ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Study links selfies to higher ratings of slimness

In a new study, participants tended to rate women’s bodies as slimmer when viewed in selfie photographs than in photographs taken from other angles. Ruth Knight of York St John University, UK, and Catherine Preston of the University of York, UK, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on October 11. Popular on social media, selfies are portraits taken by the photo’s subject, who positions the camera away from their body but pointed back at themself. Prior research has suggested that viewing selfies might affect viewers’ judgments of the photo subjects’ attractiveness and could, in some cases, lead to ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Groundbreaking achievement as bionic hand merges with user’s nervous and skeletal systems, remaining functional after years of daily use

Karin's life took a dramatic turn when a farming accident claimed her right arm over 20 years ago. Since then, she endured excruciating phantom limb pain. “It felt like I constantly had my hand in a meat grinder, which created a high level of stress and I had to take high doses of various painkillers.” In addition to her intractable pain, she found that conventional prostheses were uncomfortable and unreliable, and thus of little help in daily life. All this changed when she received groundbreaking bionic technology that allowed her to wear a much more functional ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Evolutionary secrets of ‘Old Tom’ and the killer whales of Eden revealed by genetic study

Evolutionary biologists have for the first time decoded the genetic lineage of a famous killer whale and a pod that once worked alongside whale hunters off the coast of New South Wales. In the Australian tradition of claiming New Zealand’s celebrities as its own, Old Tom, the leader of a pod of killer whales that famously helped whalers hunt baleen whales in the 20th century, has ancestral links to modern-day killer whales in New Zealand, according to new DNA research. Old Tom also shared a common ancestor with killer whales from Australasia, the North Pacific, and North Atlantic Oceans, but is most similar to modern New Zealand killer whales. However, most of Tom’s ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Experiencing record-breaking heat days affects perception of weather trends

PHILADELPHIA -- New research published by a team at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania finds that experiencing days in which the temperature exceeds previous highs for that time of year affects people’s perception of weather trends. Published in Scientific Reports, the study “Record-breaking Heat Days Disproportionately Influence Heat Perceptions” finds that living in an area with record-breaking heat effectively increases perceptions that the weather is getting hotter. The research was co-authored by economist Timothy Hyde, a postdoctoral fellow in APPC’s Science of Science Communication Division, and psychologist and communication ...

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Science11 Oct 2023

Warm summers and wet winters yield better wine vintages

Wine quality is notorious for varying from year to year, but what makes for a “good year”? In a paper publishing October 11 in the journal iScience, researchers show that weather plays an important role in determining wine quality. By analyzing 50 years’ worth of wine critic scores from the Bordeaux wine region in relation to that year’s weather, the researchers showed that higher quality wine is made in years with warmer temperatures, higher winter rainfall, and earlier, shorter ...

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