Science
press releases.

Science4 Oct 2023

Analysis of grinding tools reveals plant, pigment and bone processing in Neolithic Northern Saudi Arabia

In recent years, studies have revealed that the now-arid region of northern Arabia was once much wetter and greener, providing Neolithic human populations with access to both water and game. The present aridity of the region, however, preserves little organic matter, making a reconstruction of the Neolithic lifestyle difficult. Now, in a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, the National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Heritage Science (CNR ISPC), and University College London present use-wear ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Early human migrants followed lush corridor-route out of Africa

An international team of scientists has found early human migrants left Africa for Eurasia, across the Sinai peninsula and on through Jordan, over 80-thousand years ago. Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK) and Shantou University (China), together with colleagues in Jordan, Australia and the Czech Republic(1), have proved there was a “well-watered corridor” which funnelled hunter-gatherers through The Levant towards western Asia and northern Arabia via Jordan. Their findings, published in the journal Science Advances, support previous research conducted ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Translational Plant Sciences Center sows seeds for new research

The Translational Plant Sciences Center has awarded funding to four new research projects to help them grow and cultivate external funding. The center provided the projects up to $10,000 a year for up to two years to support the development of innovative research leading to extramural support through the Translational Plant Sciences Center (TPSC) Seed Grant program. “This program aims to provide faculty with funds to explore new research by establishing teams composed of labs and partners both inside and outside of TPSC and Virginia Tech ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

MD Anderson Research Highlights for October 4, 2023

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments at MD Anderson include a computer game that helps breast cancer survivors improve symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, a publicly available single-cell atlas of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, new targets for TP53-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a preclinical target ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Research shows strong link between ADHD and car crashes in older adult drivers

In a study on the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its association with crash risk among older adult drivers, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that older adult drivers with ADHD are at a significantly elevated crash risk compared with their counterparts without ADHD. Outcomes included hard- braking events, and self-reported traffic ticket events, and vehicular crashes. Until now research on ADHD and driving safety was largely limited to ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

CHOP researchers find barriers to driver training and licensure, especially among low-income teens

Philadelphia, October 2, 2023 – Researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania have found that teenagers living in lower-income areas of the Columbus, Ohio metro area are up to four times less likely to complete driver training and obtain their driver’s license before age 18. Long travel times to driving schools also impacted enrollment in driver education, affecting those from both higher- and lower-income areas. The findings, originally published in the journals Accident Analysis and Prevention ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Should fathers be screened for postpartum depression?

Dads can suffer from postpartum depression, and a new pilot study at the University of Illinois Chicago suggests they can and should be screened for the condition. Given the intertwined effects of mothers’ and fathers’ physical and mental health, addressing the health of fathers may be a powerful untapped tool in improving the nation’s ongoing maternal health crisis. The researchers got mothers’ permission to interview and screen 24 dads, 30% of whom screened positive for postpartum depression on the same tool ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Portable laboratory devices can detect SARS-CoV-2

Washington, D.C. — A new study has demonstrated rapid and sensitive on-site detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from environmental surfaces using a portable laboratory device. The study was published in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. “Our findings hold promising implications for scenarios where access to testing laboratories is challenging, such as in cruise ships, international travel, remote islands and tourist destinations,” said lead study author Kouichi Kitamura, Ph.D., National Institute of Infectious ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Demystifying the role of plant x- and y-type thioredoxins

The potential for exposure to fluctuating light has necessitated that plants evolve protective mechanisms for when the light intensity exceeds photosynthetic capacity. Under these conditions, reactive oxygen species cause photoinhibition, which hinders photosynthetic efficiency. To counter this loss in photosynthetic efficiency, chloroplasts evolved thioredoxin (Trx) proteins that regulate redox balance within the photosynthetic apparatus and provide a photoprotective function. These proteins allow plants to modulate photosynthesis in response to variations in light intensity. ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Avatars to help tailor glioblastoma therapies

Scientists have created a new zebrafish xenograft platform to screen for novel treatments for an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma, according to a new study by the Gerhardt and De Smet labs published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Joint press release – Max Delbrück Center, VIB, and KU Leuven Glioblastoma is an aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumor in adults. On average, patients survive for only 1.5 years. The standard of care treatment for this disease, which includes surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy, has not changed in 18 years. That’s partly because the cancer is ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Are opioid prescription rates changing for US adolescents?

A new analysis reveals that rates of opioid prescribing to US adolescents have decreased in recent years, primarily limited to non-surgery indications. Opioid prescription rates for surgery have remained stable. The analysis, which is published in Pediatric Anesthesia, assessed data from the 2015–2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, which are nationally representative, large-scale surveys conducted annually by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Among 26,909 children aged 10–19 years, 4.7% underwent a surgical procedure in 2015–2020. ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Extreme fires and heavy rainfall driving platypuses from their homes

Australia’s emerging pattern of severe mega bushfires and heavy rainfall may be driving platypuses from their homes, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has shown. Analysis of platypus DNA in rivers and creek water samples collected before and after the Black Summer 2019-2020 megafires suggest Australia’s beloved semi-aquatic monotremes might be abandoning severely bushfire-affected areas for up to 18 months after a fire, especially if heavy rainfall has followed the fire. The study uses the recent technique of environmental DNA sampling, where animal DNA is collected from water, soil, air, or snow ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Unique voice print in parrots

Parrots are exceptional talkers. They can learn new sounds during their entire lives, amassing an almost unlimited vocal repertoire. At the same time, parrots produce calls so they can be individually recognized by members of their flock—raising the question of how their calls can be very variable while also uniquely identifiable. A study on monk parakeets conducted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona might have the answer: individuals have a unique tone of voice, known as a voice print, similar to that in humans. This finding in a wild parrot raises the possibility that a voice print ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Potential genetic screening for aggressive melanoma

Researchers from The University of Queensland and The Alfred hospital in Melbourne have identified gene variants which may contribute to people being at higher risk for nodular melanoma. Dr Mitchell Stark from UQ’s Frazer Institute said nodular melanoma only accounts for around 14 per cent of invasive melanoma cases, but the aggressive subtype is the largest contributor to melanoma deaths. “Melanoma is highly curable by surgery when diagnosed early, but nodular melanoma is often detected ...

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Science4 Oct 2023

Critical data gaps on doctor assisted deaths in Oregon amid rise in participants

Information on clinical complications is often missing, while key information on the factors behind medical decision-making, the effectiveness of the lethal drugs used, and the extent of palliative care support isn’t even collected, reveals the review. Physician assisted suicide as it’s formally known has been legal in the US state of Oregon since 1997 under the Death with Dignity Act. The legislation allows terminally ill residents over the age of 18 to hasten their death by taking lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor, providing they are capable of making and communicating healthcare ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Legendary UTA professor establishes endowed professorship in heat transfer

Abdolhossein Haji-Sheikh, a retired professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, has made a $500,000 gift to support his former department. The gift creates an endowed professorship in heat transfer, one of Haji-Sheikh’s areas of expertise during his decades of teaching at UTA. The professorship will be awarded in 2026. Haji-Sheikh began his career at what was then Arlington State College in 1966. He said he wants to give back to ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Carol L. Silva elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration

Carol L. Silva, the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor of Political Science in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences and Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Partnerships at the University of Oklahoma, has been elected a 2023 fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. “Carol is an experienced, dynamic leader with an extensive record of excellence in research and building successful multidisciplinary programs and convergent teams focused on grand challenge problems at the intersection of public policy and technology. We congratulate her on this election to the NAPA and look forward to the impact she will make among these national thought ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Join GSA in Tampa for the Nation’s Premier Aging Conference!

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) invites all journalists to attend its 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting — the country’s largest interdisciplinary conference in the field of aging — from November 8 to 12 in Tampa, Florida. Qualified media representatives intending to cover the meeting may register free of charge. More than 3,000 professionals are expected to attend the five-day gathering at the Tampa Convention Center. The theme for 2023 is “Building Bridges > Catalyzing Research > Empowering All Ages,” and the program schedule contains ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Despite increasing rates of tuberculosis in prisons across the globe, current WHO TB prevention guidelines fail to reach incarcerated populations

Despite increasing rates of tuberculosis in prisons across the globe, current WHO TB prevention guidelines fail to reach incarcerated populations. Programs should instead prioritize them, argue a group of researchers from Stanford, Harvard, UCL and a range of other global institutions. ##### In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Medicine: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004288 Article Title: Prioritizing persons deprived of liberty in global guidelines for tuberculosis preventive treatment Author Countries: United States Funding: ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Interconnected factors increase household food insecurity in Brazil

Food insecurity is four times higher in Brazilian households headed by single women of colour than those headed by married white men, according to research published in the open access journal PLOS Global Public Health. Gender inequities, skin colour and children in the home increase the risk of food insecurity and the authors argue that policy makers need to consider intersectionality in programmes to reduce it. In 2021 there were 2.37 billion people suffering from food insecurity, with prevalence higher among women than men. The gender gap has increased in recent years, especially in the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Organizing can give tenants power to effect change

ITHACA, N.Y. – A renter doesn’t generally hold much sway with a landlord or management company, but when tenants organize, their power can be formidable. Jamila Michener, associate professor of government and public policy, who has spent years researching tenant organizing, asserts that tenants acting collectively can wield power in “Racism, Power, And Health Equity: The Case Of Tenant Organizing,” which published Oct. 2 in Health Affairs. “It can feel like these families ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

The World Mitochondria Society will host Targeting Mitochondria 2023 with challenging visions in Berlin

Targeting Mitochondria 2023 Location: Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt, Berlin Date: October 11-13 Network with over 210 participants and stay updated with the latest advancements and research on mitochondria. With more than 83 communications, this year's event promises to expand your understanding of mitochondria and its pivotal role in health and disease. Mitochondria will pave the way for the next breakthroughs in medicine, stated Prof. Volkmar Weissig, president of the World Mitochondria Society (WMS), and Prof. Marvin Edeas Chairman of the scientific committee. We are impressed with the caliber of speakers and the groundbreaking ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

New strategy for eye condition could replace injections with eyedrops

A new compound developed at the University of Illinois Chicago potentially could offer an alternative to injections for the millions of people who suffer from an eye condition that causes blindness. Wet age-related macular degeneration causes vision loss due to the uncontrolled growth and leakage of blood vessels in the back of the eye. A new paper in Cell Reports Medicine led by UIC researcher Yulia Komarova finds that a small-molecule inhibitor can reverse damage from AMD and promote regenerative and healing processes. The drug can also be delivered via eyedrops — an improvement over current ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Enhancing the efficiency of plant regeneration

Crop modification can be traced to the beginning of agriculture and human civilization. Native Americans, for example, developed corn from a wild grass called teosinte more than 7,000 years ago. Methods to increase crop resiliency and sustainability have evolved, and improved, over time. Biotechnology, or the use of biology to develop new products and organisms, is an application that holds great promise for impactful changes to the agricultural systems. Through this method, the DNA in plant cells is modified — for instance ...

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Science3 Oct 2023

Can science take the STING out of runaway inflammation?

CINCINNATI—Until the COVID-19 pandemic exploded, few people outside of research labs and intensive care units had heard of a cytokine storm. But once this dangerous form of infection-triggered runaway inflammation started claiming lives by the thousands, a legion of scientists jumped into the hunt for ways to calm these storms. Now, a study led by immunobiology experts at Cincinnati Children’s, offers important new details on how two elements of our body’s immune system clash with each other to prompt a chain of reactions that can release deadly floods of cell-killing, organ-damaging ...

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