Science
press releases.

Science12 Sep 2023

In maize, co-expression of GAT and GR79-EPSPS provides high glyphosate resistance, along with low glyphosate residues

This study is led by Dr Zhihong Lang (Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences). To develop a new bio-breeding resource for glyphosate-resistant maize, a large transgenic maize population was generated with introducing a codon-optimized glyphosate N-acetyltransferase gene, gat, and the enolpyruvyl-shikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene, gr79-epsps, into maize and a transgenic event, designated GG2, was highly resistant to glyphosate in consecutive generations of glyphosate screening. “This result is very encouraging.” Dr Lang says. The ...

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Science12 Sep 2023

Young people who vape more likely to report chronic stress

Milan, Italy: Young people who have used e-cigarettes are more than twice as likely to report experiencing chronic stress, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy [1]. The study was presented by Dr Teresa To, a senior scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. She said: “Research is starting to show how vaping affects young people’s physical and mental health. For example, our previous research has shown that those who vape are more likely to suffer an asthma attack. In this study we were particularly interested in the relationship between vaping, ...

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Science12 Sep 2023

Novel study reveals the accumulation mechanisms of purine alkaloids and catechins in theobromine-rich tea

Camellia ptilophylla, a low-caffeine or decaffeinated tea, is increasingly being recognized for its potential health benefits. However, there is intraspecific diversity in purine alkaloid and catechins components in C. ptilophylla populations. Analyzing the mechanisms behind the accumulation of these metabolites is important for improving tea quality. Beverage Plant Research published online a paper by Associate Professor Binmei Sun and Shaoqun Liu’s team at South China Agricultural University entitled “Differential accumulation mechanisms of purine alkaloids and catechins in Camellia ptilophylla, a natural theobromine-rich ...

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Science12 Sep 2023

Genetic evidence shows that smoking can cause us to age faster

Milan, Italy: A study of nearly 500,000 people has shown that smoking shortens the end fragments of chromosomes in the white blood cells of our immune systems. The length of these end fragments, called telomeres, is an indicator of how quickly we age and our cells’ ability to repair and regenerate. In her presentation to the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy [1], Dr Siyu Dai, who is an assistant professor in the School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, and also an honorary postdoctoral researcher in the department of paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: “Our study shows that smoking status and ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Alive without a pulse: Evolution of durable left ventricular assist devices

https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.15212/CVIA.2023.0056 Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal. Durable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) offer a viable option for patients with advanced heart failure and have been demonstrated to be superior to optimal medical therapy in terms of both mortality and quality of life, in selected patients. However, durable LVADs can be associated with severe morbidity. Because the rates of cardiac ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

ORNL teams receive funding through DOE BRaVE initiative to study biopreparedness

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected three Oak Ridge National Laboratory research teams to receive funding through DOE’s new Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment, or BRaVE, initiative. BRaVE, announced earlier this year, aims to build on biopreparedness research that delivered high-impact results in the fight against COVID-19. In the height of the pandemic, DOE national laboratory scientists combined fields such as biology, high-performance computing and manufacturing to bolster the national supply of personal protective equipment and improve virus testing and treatment. “The advances made ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Big teeth, bigger data

Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Natural Resources and Environment are assessing the efficacy of shark sanctuaries by developing a modeling system that utilizes publicly accessible fishing data to determine shark catch and mortality rates. Published in the journal Science Advances, their findings represent an important step in utilizing data science to tackle oceanic conservation challenges. “Shark sanctuaries are coastal areas designated by countries as places where the targeted ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Firms address corporate scandal with lengthy codes of ethics, study shows

Corporate scandals have been on the rise for the past decade. In 2019, Strategy& (the strategy consulting business unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers) found that for the first time in the history of its annual survey, more CEOs were dismissed for ethical concerns than for poor firm performance or internal board struggles. There has been no shortage of highly publicized scandals, including the BP oil spill in 2010, the Target data breach in 2013 and abuses of financial incentives at Wells Fargo in 2016. A number of CEOs have resigned following alleged inappropriate relations, including Brian Krzanich at Intel, Leslie Moonves at CBS, ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Wifi can read through walls

Researchers in UC Santa Barbara professor Yasamin Mostofi’s lab have proposed a new foundation that can enable high-quality imaging of still objects with only WiFi signals. Their method uses the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction and the corresponding Keller cones to trace edges of the objects. The technique has also enabled, for the first time, imaging, or reading, the English alphabet through walls with WiFi, a task deemed too difficult for WiFi due to the complex details of the letters. For more details ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Antidepressants may reduce negative memories while improving overall memory, according to Rice study

New research from Rice University finds that antidepressants may actually reduce negative memories in individuals suffering from depression while improving overall memory function. The study, “Perceived antidepressant efficacy associated with reduced negative and enhanced neutral mnemonic discrimination,” appears in the latest edition of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. It examines how antidepressant use in depressed individuals affects memories, both good and bad. Stephanie Leal, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice, is the study’s lead author. She said the study’s main finding about the link between antidepressants ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Chaplin receives funding for study integrating neural and momentary assessment of parenting, arousal and adolescent substance use

Tara Chaplin, Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology, received $500,664 from the National Institutes of Health for an Independent Scientist Career Award titled: "Integrating neural and momentary assessment of parenting, arousal, and adolescent substance use." This Independent Scientist K02 Award will provide Dr. Chaplin with cutting edge advanced training to enhance her career and transform her program of research. Through this training, Dr. Chaplin will integrate ecological momentary assessment (EMA) science into her expertise in developmental neuroscience to understand from a neural and momentary level parenting, emotion, and substance use associations ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Smith receives funding for watershed programs

Cynthia Smith, Associate Professor and K12 Education Director, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC), Environmental Science and Policy, received $60,750 from Fairfax County Public Schools for: "FCPS Watershed Programs." This funding began in July 2023 and will end in late June 2024. Since 2010, Smith has worked closely with the FCPS science office to deliver outdoor, hands-on field investigations to 5,200 seventh graders annually. Over 350 Mason students have worked as PEREC field interpreters, honing ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Moran and Yao to study interpretability for neural language models of source code

Kevin Moran, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, and Ziyu Yao, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, are set to receive funding from the National Science Foundation for: "Collaborative Research: SHF: Medium: Toward Understandability and Interpretability for Neural Language Models of Source Code." Moran and Yao will develop a framework and methodology that enables researchers who build AI-powered developer tools and software engineers who use these tools to interpret why the underlying models make the predictions they do. Their objective is to allow researchers to obtain detailed insights into why a model may not ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

How is ceviche ‘cooked?’ (video)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2023 — What does it mean to have “cooked” something? Is heat the only way to break down proteins and transform raw ingredients? If you love ceviche, you know that’s not true … but how exactly does ceviche get “cooked?” No heat source is used, but it still undergoes a process in which proteins are denatured. We’re taking a closer look at proteins, how they denature and what that means for the food on your plate. https://youtu.be/Pw6apr3TBzY?si=RdIYP5j3B0daGtxw Reactions ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

The red fire ant is now established in Europe and could reach the UK

A study published in the prestigious journal Current Biology, led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), has identified 88 red fire ant nests spread over 5 hectares near the city of Syracuse, in Sicily, Italy. These are invasive colonies that could have come from China or the United States, where it is also an invasive species, according to the study's genetic analyses. This work, led by Roger Vila, a scientist at the IBE, with Mattia Menchetti as its first author, an INPhINIT ”la Caixa” ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Invasive red fire ants confirmed in Europe for the first time

One of the most invasive species in the world is Solenopsis invicta, a red fire ant species with a painful sting. Native to South America, the ant has established itself across the globe. In an article publishing in the journal Current Biology on September 11, a group of ant experts confirm that the species has made its way to Sicily—the ant’s first official sighting in Europe. The ants could soon spread all over the continent, the researchers warn, which could cause major environmental, health, and economic problems in Italy and ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Use of tenofovir alafenamide fumarate for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and incidence of hypertension, initiation of statins

About The Study: In this study of people taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV, tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF) use was found to be associated with higher incident hypertension and statin initiation compared with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate use, especially in those 40 years or older. Continued monitoring of blood pressure and lipids for TAF users is warranted. Authors: Adovich S. Rivera, M.D., Ph.D., of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Auxin signaling pathway controls root hair formation for nitrogen uptake

Plants have evolved diverse adaptive strategies to optimize the exploration of light and soil resources from their environments. One of the most prominent adaptive responses is the developmental plasticity of their root systems, which enables plants to efficiently forage nutrient pools that fluctuate in space and time. As a crucial component determining the active root surface, root hairs represent a powerful morphological trait to improve water and nutrient acquisition. Root hairs are extensions of epidermal cells that effectively enlarge the root surface area and facilitate soil exploration for water and nutrients. Root hair development starts with cell fate specification, which ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Hobbies linked to lower depression levels among older people

Having a hobby is linked to fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of happiness, self-reported health and life satisfaction among people aged 65 and over, and this holds true across 16 countries on three continents, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, aimed to see if the benefits of hobbies were consistent in different national settings, and looked at data from 93,263 people aged 65 or over who had enrolled in five existing longitudinal studies in England, Japan, United States, China and 12 European countries. Analysing data from participants spanning four to eight ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

ETH Zurich chooses Symplectic Grant Tracker to promote world-class research

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, is pleased to announce that ETH Zurich has chosen Symplectic Grant Tracker from Digital Science’s suite of flagship products to power its internal funding program, to promote world-​class research with the potential to result in fundamental new knowledge or technologies and exciting discoveries. Designed from the outset to meet research funding needs, Grant Tracker includes features to assist applicants, reviewers, committees and funders and help them to work efficiently and effectively across the grants management lifecycle. The ETH Zurich Research ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Kessler Foundation scientists receive nearly $800,000 in federal grants to advance research in post-stroke neglect and autism

East Hanover, NJ – September 11, 2023 – Three Kessler Foundation research scientists, Timothy Rich, PhD, OTR/L, and Co-Principal Investigators Helen Genova, PhD, and Heba Elsayed, MD, have been awarded $777,325 in federal grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand research in the fields of neglect dyslexia and autism. These studies may provide major steps towards finding innovative solutions for individuals affected by these conditions. Dr. Rich, research scientist in the Center for Stroke Rehabilitation Research, was awarded $626,889 to conduct research on “Gaze, Head Rotation, and Neuroanatomic Correlates of Reading Errors in Neglect Dyslexia.” ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

The venom spider: New genus named after Tom Hardy’s Marvel character

Tom Hardy and his Marvel character Venom have given their names to a newly discovered Australian spider. The genus Venomius and its only current species Venomius tomhardyi were described following an expedition to Tasmania. Scientists MSc Giullia Rossi, Dr Pedro Castanheira and Dr Volker Framenau from Murdoch University (Perth, Australia) partnered with Dr Renner Baptista from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to describe the new genus of orb-weaving spiders published in the open access journal Evolutionary Systematics. Tom Hardy portrays Eddie Brock and his alter-ego Venom, an antihero closely associated with Spider-Man, across ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Press registration now open for one of the world’s largest meetings in fluid dynamics

More than 3,500 scientists from around the world will meet to present new research on the physics of fluids at the 76th annual meeting of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics. The conference will be held in person only at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, Nov. 19-21. News media with valid APS press credentials may register for the meeting at no cost. To request press credentials, visit APS’s virtual press office. Registration will remain open throughout ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

Researchers a step closer to effective heparanase inhibitor

The cellular protein heparanase plays an important role in allowing diseases, including viruses and cancers, to spread within our bodies. For this reason, researchers investigating a wide range of diseases are eager to find an effective heparanase inhibitor. Scientists from the University of Illinois Chicago, along with colleagues at the University of Georgia and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, found a molecule effective at inhibiting heparanase activity related to the herpes simplex virus and reduced the spread of the virus when tested on human cells. The new research is published in Angewandte ...

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Science11 Sep 2023

FAU Harbor Branch researcher receives US patent for underwater imaging device

Underwater imaging plays a critical role in many fields such as marine exploration, oceanographic engineering, environmental protection and identifying dangerous objects on the ocean floor. However, in turbid or turbulent waters, image quality is often severely degraded due to the complexities of the underwater environment and equipment limitations. Underwater captured images often suffer from contrast loss because light is scattered and absorbed as it travels in water, resulting in major degradation of detail and distorted or blurred images. A new invention about the size of a ...

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