Science
press releases.

Science10 Aug 2023

NIH zebrafish research included in US Postal Service’s “Life Magnified” stamps

A microscopy image created by National Institutes of Health researchers is part of the “Life Magnified” stamp panel issued today by the United States Postal Service (USPS®). The NIH zebrafish image, which was taken to understand lymphatic vessel development in the brain, merges 350 individual images to reveal a juvenile zebrafish with a fluorescently tagged skull, scales and lymphatic system. “Zebrafish are used as a model for typical and atypical human development. It is surprising how much we have in common with ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Making molecules dance to our tune reveals what drives their first movements

Bringing ultrafast physics to structural biology has revealed the dance of molecular ‘coherence’ in unprecedented clarity. How molecules change when they react to stimuli such as light is fundamental in biology, for example during photosynthesis. Scientists have been working to unravel the workings of these changes in several fields, and by combining two of these, researchers have paved the way for a new era in understanding the reactions of protein molecules fundamental for life. The large international research team, led by Professor ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Before reaching the skies, the Himalayas had a leg up, new study shows

Mountain ranges play a key role in global climate, altering weather and shaping the flora and fauna that inhabit their slopes and the valleys below. As warm air rises windward grades and cools, moisture condenses into rain and snow. On the leeward side, it’s quite the opposite. Deserts prevail, a phenomenon known as rain shadow. Thus, the way mountain ranges form is a matter of intense interest among those who study and model climates of the past. That debate will soon grow more heated with a new paper in the journal Nature Geoscience. A team of researchers ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Five-year trajectories of prescription opioid use

About The Study: The results of this study of 3.4 million adults suggest that most individuals commencing treatment with prescription opioids had relatively low and time-limited exposure to opioids over a 5-year period. The small proportion of individuals with sustained or increasing use was older with more comorbidities and use of psychotropic and other analgesic drugs, likely reflecting a higher prevalence of pain and treatment needs in these individuals. Authors: Natasa Gisev, ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Effectiveness of video gameplay restrictions questioned in new study

Legal restrictions placed on the amount of time young people in China can play video games may be less effective than originally thought, a new study has revealed. To investigate the effectiveness of the policy, a team of researchers led by the University of York, analysed over 7 billion hours of playtime data from tens of thousands of games, with data drawn from over two billion accounts from players in China, where legal restrictions on playtime for young people have been in place since 2019. The research team, however, did not find evidence of a decrease in heavy play of games after these ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

MSK Research Highlights, August 10, 2023

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and the Sloan Kettering Institute — a hub for basic science and translational research within MSK — found a potential target against neuroendocrine transformation in lung and prostate cancers; discovered new clues about why donor T cells attack certain tissues in graft-versus-host disease; shed light on why T cells let go of their prey; and used CRISPR interference and dynamic cell-state transitions to discover enhancers that affect early human development. Targeting exportin 1 may help prevent neuroendocrine transformation in lung and prostate cancers Over time, some lung and prostate ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

National QIS Research Centers to host virtual career fair

UPTON, NY– Registration is now open for the third Quantum Information Science Career Fair hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science’s National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. The virtual event takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 13. The event aims to make undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and early-career professionals aware of the wide range of QIS careers they can pursue—including technical and scientific roles as well as positions that facilitate research and bring awareness to the field, such as ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Turning ChatGPT into a ‘chemistry assistant’

Developing new materials requires significant time and labor, but some chemists are now hopeful that artificial intelligence (AI) could one day shoulder much of this burden. In a new study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team prompted a popular AI model, ChatGPT, to perform one particularly time-consuming task: searching scientific literature. With that data, they built a second tool, a model to predict experimental results. Reports from previous studies offer a vast trove of information that chemists need, but finding and parsing the most relevant details can be laborious. ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

Researchers unlock mystery of cartilage regeneration in lizards

A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have published the first detailed description of the interplay between two cell types that allow lizards to regenerate their tails. This research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and published on August 10 in Nature Communications, focused on lizards’ unusual ability to rebuild cartilage, which replaces bone as the main structural tissue in regenerated tails after tail loss. The discovery could provide insight for researchers studying how to rebuild cartilage damaged by osteoarthritis in humans, a degenerative and debilitating disease that affects about 32.5 million adults ...

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Science10 Aug 2023

HKUST researchers pioneers technique to self-assemble high-performance biomolecular films

A research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a novel technique to self-assemble a thin layer of amino acids with ordered orientation over a large area that demonstrates high piezoelectric strength, making the manufacturing of biocompatible and biodegradable medical microdevices, such as pacemaker and implantable biosensor, in the near future possible. The generation of bioelectricity from the piezoelectric effect – reversible conversion between mechanical and electrical energies – has physiological significance in living systems. ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

CDK9 Inhibitors: A promising combination partner in treating hematological malignancies

“[...] CDK9 inhibitors could play a role in future treatments of hematological diseases and could be a great ally when combined with other therapeutic approaches.” BUFFALO, NY- August 9, 2023 – A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on August 7, 2023, entitled, “CDK9 INHIBITORS: a promising combination partner in the treatment of hematological malignancies.” In their new perspective, researchers Daniel Morillo, Gala Vega and Victor Moreno from Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz discuss Cyclin-dependent ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

A novel theory of aging — independent of damage accumulation

“We argue that in multicellular organisms, neighbouring cells are in constant competition.” BUFFALO, NY- August 9, 2023 – A new editorial paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 14, entitled, “A novel theory of ageing independent of damage accumulation.” The underlying cause or causes of aging are an enduring mystery, but in 1977 Kirkwood postulated that organisms might gain a fitness advantage by reducing investment in somatic maintenance if this allowed them to invest more resources in more crucial ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

Two-thirds of turtle injuries and strandings recorded in the Maldives across 12 years arose from entanglement with lost and discarded fishing gear

Two-thirds of turtle injuries and strandings recorded in the Maldives across 12 years arose from entanglement with lost and discarded fishing gear ### Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289167 Article Title: Evaluation of sea turtle morbidity and mortality within the Indian Ocean from 12 years of data shows high prevalence of ghost net entanglement Author Countries: Republic of the Maldives Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. END ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

Research team makes surprising discovery of low-noise genes

While engaging in cell division research, Silke Hauf and members of her lab made a surprisingly quiet discovery. When cells express RNA, there is always some fluctuation, or noise, in how much RNA is produced. Hauf’s group found several genes whose noise dips below a previously established threshold, known as the noise floor, during expression. “We have solid data for this phenomenon,” said Hauf, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. “There are some genes that are different and can have super low noise.” Often upstaged by the more striking, well-publicized high-noise genes, Hauf and her team were intrigued by these ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

A new look inside Ebola's 'viral factories'

LA JOLLA, CA—New research in the journal Nature Communications gives scientists an important window into how Ebola virus replicates inside host cells. The study, led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), reveals the inner workings of "viral factories," clusters of viral proteins and genomes that form in host cells. The research team, which included experts from Scripps Research and UC San Diego School of Medicine, found that Ebola virus's replication machinery forms fascinating microscopic ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

2024 HFSP Nakasone Award nominations are open

The Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) has published the new call for the 2024 HFSP Nakasone Award. Until September 30th, the global scientific community is invited to submit their nominations for this prestigious award. The HFSP Nakasone Award recognizes groundbreaking contributions and breakthrough discoveries in the life sciences. The award celebrates exceptional achievements in scientific excellence, particularly those that have propelled the boundaries of biological knowledge forward. In its 13th ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

Over one million acres of tribal land submerged by dams in the US

Dam constructions have flooded over 1.13 million acres of tribal land in the US contributing to the historic and ongoing struggle against land dispossession for Indigenous peoples in the United States. New research, published in Environmental Research Letters, has identified that a region of tribal land larger than the state of Rhode Island has been submerged by dams in the US. The findings raise concerns about the destruction of ecosystems, cultural heritage, and livelihoods. The new study shows that dams have significantly contributed to land loss of Native people, a factor that ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

Having a bad hair day? Blame your genes!

Philadelphia, August 9, 2023 – The first gene mapping study on human scalp hair whorls not only shows that hair whorl direction has a genetic basis, but also that it is affected by multiple genes. Four associated genetic variants that are likely to influence hair whorl direction are identified, as reported in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier. A hair whorl is a patch of hair growing in a circular pattern around a point specified by hair follicle orientations. As an easily observed human trait, scalp hair whorl pattern is typically defined by the whorl number (single ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

World’s largest study shows the more you walk, the lower your risk of death, even if you walk fewer than 5,000 steps

The number of steps you should walk every day to start seeing benefits to your health is lower than previously thought, according to the largest analysis to investigate this. The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology [1] today (Wednesday), found that walking at least 3967 steps a day started to reduce the risk of dying from any cause, and 2337 steps a day reduced the risk of dying from diseases of the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease). However, the new analysis of 226,889 people from 17 different studies around the world has shown that the more you walk, the greater the health benefits. ...

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Science9 Aug 2023

Theory meets practice

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Scientific findings don’t always translate neatly into actions, especially in conservation and resource management. The disconnect can leave academics and practitioners disheartened and a bit frustrated. “We want conservation science to be informing real-world needs,” said Darcy Bradley, a senior ocean scientist at The Nature Conservancy and a former director of UC Santa Barbara’s Environmental Markets Lab. “Most managers and practitioners also want to incorporate science into their work,” ...

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Science8 Aug 2023

Inflammation slows malaria parasite growth and reproduction in the body

Research led by the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) and the Kirby Institute found that inflammation in the body can slow down the development of malaria parasites in the bloodstream – a discovery that may constitute a potential new strategy for preventing or limiting severe disease. A mosquito-borne disease, malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which invade and multiply within red blood cells. Previous research has shown that the parasites can rapidly sense and respond to conditions within the host by intimately syncing with their internal body clocks. While it is known that the body’s nutrient levels and daily circadian rhythms affect ...

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Science8 Aug 2023

Mothers experiencing depression can still thrive as parents

The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” takes on new significance when a mother of a child is experiencing depression. “Being a mother with depression carries increased risks for a child’s physical and psychological health,” says Dr. Sarah Dow-Fleisner, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Director of the Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families at UBC Okanagan. “But it’s not fated to be, especially if mothers have external supports.” Dr. Dow-Fleisner’s findings, recently published in the ...

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Science8 Aug 2023

Prestigious NSF grants awarded to UTEP early-career faculty

EL PASO, Texas (Aug. 8, 2023) – Two University of Texas at El Paso researchers have earned one of the nation’s highest awards for early-career faculty in 2023. Laura Alvarez, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, received a $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. The funds will support her research in understanding how river landscapes and their ecological and economic values such as hydroelectric ...

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Science8 Aug 2023

Inhibiting NLRP3 signaling in aging podocytes improves longevity

“Together, these results suggest a critical role for the NLRP3 inflammasome in podocyte and liver aging.” BUFFALO, NY- August 8, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 14, entitled, “Inhibiting NLRP3 signaling in aging podocytes improves their life- and health-span.” The decrease in the podocyte’s lifespan and health-span that typify healthy kidney aging cause a decrease in their normal structure, physiology and function. The ability to halt and even reverse these changes becomes clinically relevant ...

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Science8 Aug 2023

New technique measures structured light in a single shot

Structured light waves with spiral phase fronts carry orbital angular momentum (OAM), attributed to the rotational motion of photons. Recently, scientists have been using light waves with OAM, and these special "helical" light beams have become very important in various advanced technologies like communication, imaging, and quantum information processing. In these technologies, it's crucial to know the exact structure of these special light beams. However, this has proven to be quite tricky. Interferometry ...

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