Science
press releases.

Science8 Dec 2025

IADR elects George Belibasakis as vice-president

Alexandria, VA, USA – Members of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) have elected George Belibasakis, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden to serve as Vice-president. His term will commence at the conclusion of the 104th General Session of the IADR, which will be held in conjunction with the 55th Annual Meeting of the AADOCR and the 50th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, from March 25-28, 2026 in San Diego, CA, USA. Belibasakis is currently Professor of Clinical Oral Infection Biology, Head of the Division of Oral Health and Periodontology, and Head of Research at the Department of Dental Medicine, ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Australian scientists reveal new genetic risk for severe macular degeneration

Australian researchers have for the first time pinpointed specific genetic changes that increase the risk of severe, sight-threatening forms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A new study, published today in Nature Communications, reveals the specific genetic factors linked to the presence of reticular pseudodrusen - deposits which drive vision loss and are found on the retina of up to 60 per cent of people with advanced AMD. The research, led by the Centre for Eye Research Australia, WEHI and the University of Melbourne, offers a promising new target for treatments aimed at the most severe ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

ASH 2025: Milder chemo works for rare, aggressive lymphoma

MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL DEC. 8, 2025, AT 2:45 P.M. EST) – Most patients with a rare and aggressive form of large B-cell lymphoma can safely receive a less toxic treatment than the intensive chemotherapy often used, according to new research from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Lead researcher Juan Alderuccio, M.D., a hematologist and lymphoma specialist at Sylvester, will present this research Dec. 8 at the American Society of Hematology ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Olfaction written in bones: New insights into the evolution of the sense of smell in mammals

The sense of smell is vital for animals, as it helps them find food, protect themselves from predators and interact socially. An international research team led by Dr Quentin Martinez and Dr Eli Amson from State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart has now discovered that certain areas of the brain skull allow conclusions to be drawn about the sense of smell in mammals. Particularly significant is the volume of the endocast of the olfactory bulb, a bony structure in the skull that is often well preserved even in very old fossils. This volume is closely related to the number of intact odour receptor genes – an important ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

How did Bronze Age plague spread? A sheep might solve the mystery

In the Middle Ages, a plague killed a third of Europe’s population. Fleas carried the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, transmitting the Black Death from infected rats to millions of people. Another, earlier strain of Y. pestis emerged 5,000 years ago in the Bronze Age. It infected people throughout Eurasia for 2,000 years and then vanished. Unlike the Middle Age plague bacterium, this earlier Bronze Age strain could not be transmitted by fleas. How the plague circulated for so long across a vast area has long been a mystery. Now, ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Insufficient sleep associated with decreased life expectancy

A good night’s sleep is more than a luxury: New research from Oregon Health & Science University suggests that insufficient sleep may shorten your life. The study published today in the journal SLEEP Advances. Researchers tapped a vast, nationwide database looking for survey trends associated with average life expectancy county by county. They compared county-level data about average life expectancy with comprehensive survey data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2019 and 2025. As a behavioral driver for life expectancy, sleep stood ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Why are abstinent smokers more sensitive to pain?

Abstinent smokers experience increased pain sensitivity during withdrawal, to the point that they often require more pain relief after surgery. Why? New from JNeurosci, Zhijie Lu, from Fudan University Minhang Hospital, and Kai Wei, from Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, led a team of researchers to explore brain activity linking nicotine withdrawal and pain sensitivity. The researchers found that 30 abstinent ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Alexander Khalessi, MD, MBA, appointed Chief Innovation Officer

UC San Diego Health has appointed Alexander Khalessi, MD, MBA, as the new chief innovation officer. Additionally, he will serve as interim assistant vice chancellor for Health Sciences Innovation and AI at UC San Diego. In this dual role, Khalessi will shape UC San Diego Health innovation strategy and lead the integration of new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), across the health system and academic enterprise. His appointment reflects UC San Diego Health’s commitment to accelerating innovations that support clinicians, strengthen ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Missed signals: Virginia’s septic strategies overlook critical timing, study warns

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Embargoed For Release Until December 8, 2025 Missed Signals: Virginia’s Septic Strategies Overlook Critical Timing, Study Warns Washington, D.C., December 8, 2025 – A new study from the University of Maryland’s Jerin Tasnim, reveals that Virginia's current approach to managing septic system failures misses a critical factor: the time-varying relationship between hydrological stressors and septic system performance. This gap limits the state's ability to proactively identify and intervene in high-risk areas before failures occur—and before ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Lowest suicide rate is in December but some in media still promote holiday-suicide myth

During the year-end holiday season, the suicide rate declines, U.S. health statistics show. The month of December typically has the year’s lowest average daily suicide rate. And yet each year at this time, some news publications repeat the persistent but incorrect belief that suicides rise around the holidays. The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania has been tracking this phenomenon for more than two decades, since the 1999-2000 holiday season. Last year, during the 2024-25 holiday season, December was ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Excessive heat harms young children’s development, study suggests

Climate change—including high temperatures and heat waves—has been shown to pose serious risks to the environment, food systems, and human health, but new research finds that it may also lead to delays in early childhood development. Published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the study found that children exposed to higher-than-usual temperatures—specifically, average maximum temperatures above 86 °F (30 °C)—were less likely to meet developmental milestones for literacy and numeracy, relative to children living in areas with lower temperatures. “While heat exposure has been linked to negative physical and mental ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Myosin XI-1: A key molecular target for salt-tolerant crops

Soil salinity is a key abiotic stress factor. Salt stress substantially impairs plant growth, development, and productivity, significantly reducing crop yields worldwide. It induces various kinds of stress in plant organs, including toxic ion accumulation, oxidative stress, and osmotic stress. Notably, high sodium ion (Na⁺) levels affect protein synthesis, photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient homeostasis, and enzyme activities, causing long-term damage to plants. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying salt tolerance. Recently, scientists have implicated myosin XI, a motor protein that primarily facilitates intracellular trafficking and organelle ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Global first: New Indigenous-led research initiative to revitalize legal orders

Indigenous communities will be empowered to renew and rebuild their own legal systems with support from Next Steps: Rebuilding Indigenous Law, the new research initiative from the University of Victoria (UVic) Faculty of Law. “UVic is in the forefront of a profound shift in how education and research can be done—with Indigenous Peoples as co-creators and leaders,” says Qwul’sih’yah’maht, Robina Thomas, acting president and vice-chancellor of the University of Victoria. “Next Steps not only represents a model ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Getting rest is the best

Getting enough sleep and staying active are two of the most important things we can do for our health, but new research shows that most people struggle to achieve both, and that sleep may hold the key to moving more. A study led by Flinders University analysed more than 28 million days of real-world health data from over 70,000 people across the globe and found that fewer than 13% consistently meet recommended sleep and physical activity targets. The findings suggest that improving sleep quality could be an effective way to boost daily activity. The research team examined data collected over three ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

New study sheds light on Milky Way's mysterious chemical history

Clues about how galaxies like our Milky Way form and evolve and why their stars show surprising chemical patterns have been revealed by a new study. The research, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, explores the origins of a puzzling feature in the Milky Way: the presence of two distinct groups of stars with different chemical compositions, known as the "chemical bimodality". When scientists study stars near the Sun, they find two main types based on their chemical makeup, specifically, the amounts of iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) they contain. These two groups form ...

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Science8 Dec 2025

Why didn’t the senior citizen cross the road? Slower crossings may help people with reduced mobility

Road crossings need to slow down to allow people with mobility issues and older pedestrians enough time to use them, research has indicated. The time interval of crossings in the UK is more than two seconds shorter than people with reduced mobility need, according to a new study by researchers at the Universities of Bath, Birmingham and Exeter. Led by Dr Max Western from the University of Bath Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Change, the study found that just 1.5% of older adults with ...

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Science7 Dec 2025

A sound defense: Noisy pupae puff away potential predators

Insect pupae hiss like snakes for defense. A Kobe University team now reveals the mechanisms, opening the door to further studies involving predator reactions to defensive sounds. Just as you would shout or make noise to drive off a perceived threat, some insects have been known to produce defensive sounds. Some moths, for example, have been observed producing sounds to ward off predators at multiple developmental stages; pupal sound production has so far been attributed mainly to physical friction between body parts. “We became interested in this topic when ...

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Science7 Dec 2025

New findings support a chemo-free approach for treating Ph+ ALL

(ORLANDO, Dec. 7, 2025) A chemotherapy-free combination treatment outperformed a combination of targeted therapy and chemotherapy among patients with Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in a new study. The phase III trial, which included adult patients with no upper age limit, is the first formal comparison of the efficacy and safety of these two approaches in newly diagnosed patients with Ph+ ALL. Researchers say the findings offer reassurance that chemotherapy can be omitted without detrimental effects and suggest that a chemo-free targeted agent and immunotherapy combination could become the new standard of care for this patient group. “The chemo-free approach ...

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Science6 Dec 2025

Roughly one-third of families with children being treated for leukemia struggle to pay living expenses

(ORLANDO, Dec. 6, 2025) Nearly a third of families with children receiving chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) – the most common pediatric cancer – develop serious financial difficulties during their child’s treatment, including losing 25% or more of their household income and struggling to cover the costs of basic living expenses such as housing, food, and utilities. “To our knowledge, this is the first study in pediatric oncology to examine the financial impact associated with cancer treatment by measuring household material hardship and income loss over ...

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Science6 Dec 2025

Study shows no clear evidence of harm from hydroxyurea use during pregnancy

(ORLANDO, Dec. 6, 2025) Taking the sickle cell drug hydroxyurea during or shortly before pregnancy does not appear to cause specific issues in newborns, according to the first prospective study of pregnancies involving hydroxyurea exposure. Since there may yet be undocumented effects, the authors still recommend discontinuing the drug before pregnancy, if possible. However, the findings offer reassurance that hydroxyurea exposure may not cause harm when unplanned pregnancies occur or when the drug is the only or best option ...

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Science5 Dec 2025

NTIDE: Disability employment holds steady after data hiatus

East Hanover, NJ – December 5, 2025 – The December 2025 National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) report shows that employment outcomes for working-aged people with disabilities remain near historic highs, despite broader economic uncertainty. nTIDE reporting was on hiatus while the federal government shutdown delayed the release of employment data, which only recently became available. Although employment and labor force participation edged down slightly in September, both measures continue to outperform year-to-year trends for workers without disabilities. Overall, the findings point to sustained labor market engagement among people with disabilities, ...

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Science5 Dec 2025

Using smartphones to improve disaster search and rescue

HONOLULU, Dec. 5, 2025 — When a natural disaster strikes, time is of the essence if people are trapped under rubble. Conventional search-and-rescue methods use radar-based detection or employ acoustics that rely on sounds made by victims. Since most people carry their phones with them every day, Shogo Takada, a student at the University of Tokyo, is working on a way to use smartphone microphones to assist in locating disaster victims. Takada will present his results Friday, Dec. 5, at 11:45 a.m. HST as part of the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, running Dec. 1-5 in Honolulu, ...

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Science5 Dec 2025

Free radicals caught in the act with slow spectroscopy

Why does plastic turn brittle and paint fade when exposed to the sun for long periods? Scientists have long known that such organic photodegradation occurs due to the sun’s energy generating free radicals: molecules that have lost an electron to sunlight-induced ionization and have been left with an unpaired one, making them very eager to react with other molecules in the environment. However, the exact mechanisms for how and why the energy from the sun’s photons get stored and released in the materials over very long ...

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Science5 Dec 2025

U.S. News & World Report gives Hebrew Rehabilitation Center highest rating

Hebrew Rehabilitation Center’s skilled nursing units have been rated as high-performing and recognized among the Best Nursing Homes of 2026 by U.S. News & World Report. This year, the Rehabilitative Services Units at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Boston and the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center at NewBridge on the Charles in Dedham, MA, were each rated as high-performing, the highest designation available. “We are pleased to receive this recognition from U.S. News & World Report for the quality efforts of the multidisciplinary teams serving our Rehabilitative ...

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Science5 Dec 2025

Optica and DPG name Antoine Browaeys 2026 Herbert Walther Award recipient

WASHINGTON — A pioneer in the field of quantum, Antoine Browaeys, Institut d'Optique, CNRS, France, has been recognized by Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesell­schaft (DPG) with the 2026 Herbert Walther Award. He is honored for the realization of arrays of single neutral atoms held in optical tweezers as a platform for exquisitely controlled quantum simulation of many-body physics, and their development as a candidate platform for scalable quantum computation. “Congratulations to Antoine Browaeys on this well-deserved recognition,” said Jim Kafka, Optica 2025 President. “He is a world-leader ...

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