Science
press releases.

Science5 Sep 2023

Positive body image linked to better life satisfaction

Having more positive body image is strongly associated with better psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction, according to a new study led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in England. Published in the journal Body Image, the research is one of the largest studies ever conducted on the topic of body image, involving 56,968 participants in 65 nations. The research was focused on ‘body appreciation’, defined as “accepting, holding favourable opinions toward, and respecting the body, while also rejecting media-promoted appearance ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

AADOCR announces MIND the Future Class of 2023-2024

Alexandria, VA -- The American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR) is pleased to announce the program participants (mentees) for the fourth cohort of the AADOCR Mentoring an Inclusive Network for a Diverse Workforce of the Future (AADOCR MIND the Future): Shaun Abrams NIH/NIDCR, Bethesda, MD Craniofacial development, anomalies, stem cell biology Jean Calvo University of California, San Francisco Pediatric dentistry, dental education, patient safety, individuals with special needs Louise M. Dornelas-Figueira University of Florida, Gainesville Oral ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Disparities in who dwells behind crumbling US levees

American Geophysical Union 5 September 2023 Release 23-33 For Immediate Release This press release is available online at: https://news.agu.org/press-release/disparities-in-who-dwells-behind-us-levees/ Key points: Tens of millions of people live in areas protected by at least one levee in the United States Nationally, members of historically disadvantaged or underserved groups are more likely to be overrepresented in communities living behind levees People of Hispanic descent are most likely to be overrepresented behind levees, with ~40% overrepresentation ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Mason researchers studying zoonotic transmission pathways

Taylor M. Anderson, Assistant Professor, Geography and Geoinformation Science, and Amira Roess, Professor, Global Health and Epidemiology, are studying zoonotic transmission pathways. Specifically, the researchers received funding for the project: "Investigating zoonotic transmission pathways to better understand and predict the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in urban and suburban landscapes: a case study of the white-tailed deer." They aim to investigate unknown transmission pathways at the human-wildlife interface in urban ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Emergency department pediatric readiness and disparities in mortality based on race and ethnicity

About The Study: In this study of 633,000 children treated in 586 emergency departments across 11 states, mortality of Black children was greater than that of white children at all quartile levels of readiness among those with acute medical emergencies but not traumatic injuries. Increased readiness was associated with decreased mortality overall, and it decreased most for Black children with acute medical emergencies. Authors: Peter C. Jenkins, M.D., M.Sc., of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, is the corresponding ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Cardiac arrest survival at EMS agencies in catchment areas with primarily Black and Hispanic populations

About The Study: Risk-standardized survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were 1.9% lower at emergency medical service (EMS) agencies working in Black and Hispanic catchment areas than in white catchment areas in this study including 764 EMS agencies. This difference was not explained by EMS response times, rates of EMS termination of resuscitation, or first responder rates of initiating cardiopulmonary resuscitation or applying an automated external defibrillator. These findings suggest there is a need for further assessment of these discrepancies. Authors: Paul S. Chan, M.D., M.Sc., Saint Luke’s Hospital ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

ERC starting grants: 400 bright minds awarded over €628 million

This funding, part of the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, will be invested in scientific projects spanning all disciplines of research. For example, a geochemist in the Netherlands will study Venus’ atmosphere to better understand habitability beyond Earth; a computer scientist in Germany seeks to make virtual reality more inclusive to physically disabled people; a geneticist in the UK aims to analyse parasites that cause malaria; and a researcher in Israel is set to investigate how algorithms are used at work to supervise employees. ERC President Professor Maria Leptin said: “It is part of our mission to give early-career talent the independence to pursue ambitious ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Dr. Niels Schröter wins ERC Starting Grant

This is the first ERC Starting Grant to be hosted at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics. ChiralTopMat aims to provide the direct experimental observation of chiral spin-hedgehogs in structurally chiral crystals and to explore ways to control their properties for applications in magnetic memory devices. Moreover, another focus will be to test the stability of topological Berry curvature monopoles against strong electronic interactions that Schröter’s group recently discovered in a chiral topological semimetal, a material that combines structural ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Scammers can abuse security flaws in email forwarding to impersonate high-profile domains

Sending an email with a forged address is easier than previously thought, due to flaws in the process that allows email forwarding, according to a research team led by computer scientists at the University of California San Diego. The issues researchers uncovered have a broad impact, affecting the integrity of email sent from tens of thousands of domains, including those representing organizations in the U.S. government–such as the majority of U.S. cabinet email domains, including state.gov, ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Experts propose new global definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome

Sept. 5, 2023 – In a new report posted online in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a global consensus conference of 32 critical care experts with broad international representation and from diverse backgrounds has proposed a new definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In addition to the experts, critical care societies from around the world provided input, once they received feedback from their members. The report, which builds on the 2012 Berlin Definition of ARDS, will be published Jan. 1, 2024 in the American Thoracic Society’s AJRCCM. ARDS is a life-threatening illness in which the lungs ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Crowdsourcing contests: Understanding what brings high rewards, low risk

AMES, IA – During Frito-Lay's first "Crash the Super Bowl" contest in 2006, thousands of participants submitted 30-second videos promoting Doritos. Entries were winnowed down to five finalists, and a public vote selected the winning commercial, which aired during the most watched American television broadcast of the year. The ad boosted Doritos sales and pulled in awards, sparking other big brands, like Nestlé, BMW and Fisher-Price, to launch their own crowdsourcing contests. "Crowdsourcing has become more prevalent over the last decade. It can generate innovative ideas and solutions and engage ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Does a “surprise” factor in gift-giving affect beneficiaries’ gratitude? Scientists answer

Gratitude is a strong emotion, usually felt by a person who benefits from an intentional good deed of another person. Receiving gifts or benefits can instill a feeling of gratitude in people who receive them, i.e., beneficiaries, encouraging them to be more prosocial, while also helping to create a bond with their benefactors. This has led several researchers to examine the determinants of gratitude. Interestingly, beneficiaries often have preconceived beliefs about receiving a benefit. For instance, they may have no prior expectations of receiving a ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Clarissa Campbell and Barbara Maier at CeMM receive ERC Starting Grants

Two scientists at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have received prestigious ERC Starting Grants from the European Commission: Clarissa Campbell and Barbara Maier. In Clarissa Campbell's laboratory, researchers are working to better understand the interplay between the immune system and metabolism. Barbara Maier and her team are researching the role of lymph nodes in the context of cancer. (Vienna, 5 September 2023) The ERC grants are among the most prestigious and competitive research grants offered ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Faster postal service linked to better voter turnout

PULLMAN, Wash. – A more efficient U.S. Postal Service can increase voter turnout in all states regardless of their mail voting laws, according to a Washington State University study. WSU researcher Michael Ritter analyzed election data from 2012 through 2020, when the pandemic encouraged many more people than usual to vote by mail. He found that in general more accessible mail voting laws, such as universal mail-in voting and no-excuse mail voting, increased the probability that individuals would vote. Restrictive laws, such as requiring ...

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Science5 Sep 2023

Study confirms it: Opposites don't actually attract

Opposites don’t actually attract. That’s the takeaway from a sweeping CU Boulder analysis of more than 130 traits and including millions of couples over more than a century. “Our findings demonstrate that birds of a feather are indeed more likely to flock together,” said first author Tanya Horwitz, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG). The study, published Aug. 31 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, confirms what individual studies have hinted at for decades, defying the age-old adage that “opposites ...

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Science4 Sep 2023

Uncovering thalassemia diversity in southern china through next-generation sequencing

Around 5.2% of the global population carries abnormal hemoglobin genes [1]. Each year, 300,000 to 500,000 children are born with severe hemoglobinopathies worldwide, with approximately 80% of these cases occurring in developing countries [2]. Thalassemia is the most common hereditary hemoglobinopathy and occurs in 4.4 out of every 10,000 live births [3]. It is prevalent in Mediterranean coastal areas, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and southern China. A previous study indicated that Ganzhou, the southernmost city in Jiangxi province, had a thalassemia prevalence ...

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Science4 Sep 2023

New study uncovers the Causes of the Qing Dynasty's Collapse

The Qing Dynasty in China, after over 250 years, crumbled in 1912. Led by the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), an international research team has pinpointed key reasons behind the collapse, revealing parallels to modern instability and offering vital lessons for the future. China is considered today to be the world's largest economy (in terms of PPP). However, this position is not new. In 1820, China's economy already held the top spot, accounting for 32.9% of the global GDP. In the interim, there was a period of decline followed by a resurgence. In 1912, after over 250 years in power, the Qing Dynasty collapsed despite being considerably wealthier at the time ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Could insights from ants help people build better transportation networks?

Key takeaways Ants can either forage for food as individuals or recruit other members of their colonies to help search for or carry food back to their nests. UCLA biologists found that the strategies ants use to forage play a bigger role in how they build their nests than innate, evolutionary “blueprints” do. When building nests, ants strike a balance between transportation efficiency and architectural constraints. Researchers say that observation could help humans design more efficient transportation systems tailored to specific needs. Could ants’ nests hold the secret to reducing traffic congestion on the 405 Freeway? In a new study, UCLA biologists ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Invasive spotted lanternfly may not damage hardwood trees as previously thought

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In 2012, when the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) arrived in the U.S. from its home in China, scientists, land managers, and growers were understandably concerned that the sap-feeding insect would damage native and commercial trees. New long-term research led by Penn State has discovered that hardwood trees, such as maple, willow and birch, may be less vulnerable than initially thought. “Since the lanternfly was first introduced to the northeastern U.S., the question has been, ‘How at-risk are our forests?’ said Kelli Hoover, professor of entomology at Penn State. “So far, we haven't had a good answer. Our study is the first ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Hot Jupiter blows its top

A planet about 950 light years from Earth could be the Looney Tunes’ Yosemite Sam equivalent of planets, blowing its atmospheric ‘top’ in spectacular fashion. The planet called HAT-P-32b is losing so much of its atmospheric helium that the trailing gas tails are among the largest structures yet known of an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system, according to observations by astronomers. Three-dimensional (3D) simulations on the Stampede2 supercomputer of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) helped model the flow of the planet’s atmosphere, ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Kidder receives American Chemical Society’s 2023 Mid-Career Award

Michelle Kidder, a senior R&D staff scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the American Chemical Society’s Energy and Fuels Division’s Mid-Career Award for sustained and distinguished contributions to the field of energy and fuel chemistry. She was recognized for her scientific community service, leadership and contributions. Her research focuses on novel material development, methods and advanced characterizations for the separation and reaction chemistry of renewable energy resources including lignin and carbon dioxide. Kidder, ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Mukherjee elevated to senior member of IEEE

Subho Mukherjee, an R&D associate in the Vehicle Power Electronics Research group at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elevated to the grade of senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. Senior IEEE members have made significant contributions to the profession and worked in the engineering field for 10 years or more. As an electrical engineer, Mukherjee focuses on wireless power charging and developing wide bandgap semiconductor-based ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

nTIDE August 2023 Jobs Report: Record-breaking employment trend continues for people with disabilities

East Hanover, NJ – September 1, 2023 – Labor Day weekend brings more good news for people with disabilities, with record-breaking highs for labor force participation and employment-to-population ratio, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). In comparison, both indicators declined slightly for people without disabilities. Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing July 2023 to August 2023) Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Precarious employment conditions can increase risk of early death

People without a secure job contract can reduce their risk of premature death by 20 per cent if they gain permanent employment, a study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community reports. According to the researchers, the results indicate that job security on the Swedish labour market needs to improve. Precarious employment is a term that is used to describe jobs with short contracts (e.g. temping), low wages and a lack of influence and rights, all of which lead to a working life without predictability and security. In the present study, the researchers have examined how this affects the risk of death. “This is ...

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Science1 Sep 2023

Research explores why daughters in Chinese families of son preference fail to break from sustained exploitation

New research from Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) unveils the extent of sustained exploitation within many Chinese families that have a clear preference for sons over daughters – and why daughters can stay ‘trapped’ in this situation throughout their lives. The new study explores Chinese families that have a strong preference for sons, where daughters are expected to make substantial financial or labour contributions to their parents before and after marriage– often to subsidise the schooling and living ...

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