Science
press releases.

Science26 Jun 2023

Penn State researchers discover one-of-a-kind fish is local to lower Susquehanna

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In an attempt to rescue a rare darter in the lower Susquehanna River, a Penn State research team, working with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, has determined that the fish is a distinct subspecies found nowhere else. And that makes the effort to restore its population even more important, the researchers say. A yellow- to olive-colored member of the darter family with dark bars often arrayed in zebra fashion, the Chesapeake logperch is typically just a few inches long, with a small mouth and a short, conical snout. It is believed to only ever have inhabited the lower drainages of the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers, and it has not been seen ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

CHEST® Critical Care launches first issue

Glenview, Illinois – A new scientific publication, CHEST® Critical Care, published its inaugural issue June 22, 2023. As part of the journal CHEST® portfolio, this online-only publication is dedicated entirely to the field of critical care medicine. “I’m ecstatic for this launch. We are grateful to our authors for the trust they put in us and are excited to share their work with our critical care colleagues around the world,” says Hayley Gershengorn, ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Fighting loneliness by finding purpose

A new study co-authored by Patrick Hill, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, offers an important message for our times: A sense of purpose in life — whether it’s a high-minded quest to make a difference or a simple hobby with personal meaning — can offer potent protection against loneliness. “Loneliness is known to be one of the biggest psychological predictors for health problems, cognitive decline, and early mortality,” Hill said. “Studies show that it can ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

New research clarifies connection between autism and the microbiome

The biological roots of autism continue to perplex researchers, despite a growing body of studies looking at an increasing array of genetic, cellular and microbial data. Recently, scientists have homed in on a new and promising area of focus: the microbiome. This collection of microbes that inhabit the human gut has been shown to play a role in autism, but the mechanics of this link have remained awash in ambiguity. Taking a fresh computational approach to the problem, a study published today in Nature Neuroscience sheds new light on the relationship between the microbiome and autism. This research — which originated ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

The Gerontological Society of America selects 2023 Fellows

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has named 49 exemplary professionals as its newest fellows. Fellow status is peer recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology and represents the highest category of GSA membership. This distinction comes at varying points in a person’s career and is given for diverse activities that include research, teaching, administration, public service, practice, and notable participation in the Society. Fellows are chosen from across GSA’s membership groups. The new fellows will be formally ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

SNMMI elects Jean-Luc C. Urbain, MD, PhD, FASNC, as Vice President-Elect at 2023 Annual Meeting

Chicago, Illinois (Embargoed until 9:30 am CDT, Monday, June 26, 2023)—Jean-Luc C. Urbain, MD, PhD, FASNC, professor of radiology/nuclear medicine and medicine, vice chair of theranostics, and director of nuclear medicine at Roswell Park Cancer Center at the University of Buffalo in New York, has been elected vice president-elect for the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). SNMMI introduced a new slate of officers during its 2023 Annual Meeting, held June 24-27. “With the advent of new precision oncology nuclear therapies and the explosion of the field of theranostics, there has never been a more exciting ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Umar Mahmood, MD, PhD, receives first annual SNMMI Minoshima-Pappas Transformational Leadership Award

Chicago, Illinois (Embargoed until 9:30 am, CDT, Monday, June 26, 2023)—Umar Mahmood, MD, PhD, chief of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, director of the Center for Precision Imaging, and associate chair for imaging sciences in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, has been named as the first recipient of the new Minoshima-Pappas Transformational Leadership Award. Mahmood was presented the award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) at its 2023 Annual Meeting. The Minoshima-Pappas Transformational Leadership Award was ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Peter J. H. Scott, PhD, receives SNMMI Sam Gambhir Trailblazer Award

Chicago, Illinois (Embargoed until 9:30 am, CDT, Monday, June 26, 2023)—Peter J. H. Scott, PhD, associate professor of radiology and pharmacology, division director of nuclear medicine, and director of the PET Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Sam Gambhir Trailblazer Award. Scott was presented the award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) at its 2023 Annual Meeting. Scott's nuclear medicine and molecular imaging research spans ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Dry days trigger leaves to send a surprising growth signal telling roots to keep growing

Scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) have discovered a new molecular signalling pathway, triggered when leaves are exposed to low humidity, that ensures plant roots keep growing towards water. In dry soil conditions, plants take action to try and conserve water by producing the drought stress hormone abscisic acid (ABA). For decades plant scientists thought that in response to dry soil, ABA was made in the roots and then transported to the leaves. In this root-to-shoot signalling pathway, ABA closes microscopic leaf pores, called stomata, to prevent water loss from leaves. In recent years, scientists ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Opting to freeze eggs can help women have babies when they are older, but many do not use their frozen eggs

Copenhagen, Denmark: More than 40% of women who chose to freeze their eggs in their 30s were able to have babies later in life when they returned to the fertility clinic, according to research presented today (Monday) at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) [1]. However, many of the women in the study who had frozen their eggs (known as elective oocyte cryopreservation) had not returned to the fertility clinic and many who did return chose fertility treatments that did not involve their frozen eggs. The research was presented by Dr Ezgi Darici, a clinical fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine at ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Fertility may decline early in women treated for Hodgkin lymphoma in childhood, but most who try for babies when they are young are successful

Copenhagen, Denmark: Women treated for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma may face declining fertility at a younger age, according to research presented today (Monday) at the 39th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) [1]. The research also found that women treated for Hodgkin lymphoma may have to try for longer to become pregnant; however, the majority of women in the study who had tried to become pregnant were ultimately successful. The research was presented by Dr Katja Drechsel from the Princess Máxima Centre for Paediatric Oncology, ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

No simple answer for why people believe in conspiracy theories

People can be prone to believe in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying strongly on their intuition, feeling a sense of antagonism and superiority toward others, and perceiving threats in their environment, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The results of the study paint a nuanced picture of what drives conspiracy theorists, according to lead author Shauna Bowes, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Emory ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Wiley and the European College of Sport Science announce partnership

HOBOKEN, N.J. – June 26, 2023 – Wiley, a knowledge company and global leader in research, publishing and knowledge solutions, today announced that it will publish the European Journal of Sport Science (EJSS) on behalf of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) beginning in January 2024, spearheading the journal’s transition to open access. “EJSS is one of the preeminent multidisciplinary sport science journals,” said Allyn Molina, Vice President for Life Sciences at Wiley. “As a publisher at the forefront ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Humans’ evolutionary relatives butchered one another 1.45 million years ago

Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have identified the oldest decisive evidence of humans’ close evolutionary relatives butchering and likely eating one another. In a new study published today, June 26, in Scientific Reports, National Museum of Natural History paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner and her co-authors describe nine cut marks on a 1.45 million-year-old left shin bone from a relative of Homo sapiens found in northern Kenya. Analysis of 3D models of the fossil’s surface revealed ...

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Science26 Jun 2023

Progesterone decreases night sweats & improves sleep in perimenopausal women

New controlled trial research documents that Progesterone (micronized, oral) is effective at decreasing night sweats and improving sleep in perimenopausal women who have menstruated in the last 1-year. Perimenopausal women most want treatment for these two symptoms. Current guidelines prescribe Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) for disturbing hot flushes/flashes or night sweats (vasomotor symptoms, VMS) in all women younger than 60 years. “This guideline assumes that hormone levels and symptoms are the same in the early years of ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

Do warmer temperatures make turtles better mothers?

DURHAM, N.C. -- Warmer temperatures are known to make more turtle eggs become female hatchlings, but new research out of Duke University shows that those females also have a higher capacity for egg production, even before their sex is set. This finding may explain why many animals besides turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination and why the system persists, despite seeming like a risky strategy. It may also provide a troubling glimpse of what could lie ahead in a warming world. What the ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

People are falsely denying firearm ownership, and it’s not who you might think

Some firearm owners may not want researchers to know they own firearms, according to a study by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers. In a study published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, researchers found that based on their answers to a variety of other questions, a group of individuals appeared as though they might be falsely denying firearm ownership when directly asked by researchers. While some of these individuals resemble what previous research indicated to be a typical American firearm owner (e.g., white, male), others looked quite different (racial or ethnic minority, female, ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

NSF CAREER Awardee develops a 1-minute frailty testing platform

A layperson might think of “frail” as simply a synonym for “weak” or “fragile.” But in the medical field, frailty is a specific term, meaning – due to factors including inflammation and hormone shifts – a patient has a lack of physiological reserve, or a reduced ability to tolerate stress. “That stress can be anything from the simple event of falling to getting COVID or another infectious disease,” said Nima Toosizadeh, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and medicine. “Or, it can be a treatment that might be invasive for patients. Knowing who can tolerate the stress is critical.” It ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

When majority men respect minority women, groups communicate better

Kyle Emich, a professor of management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, along with Rachel Amey and Chad Forbes, then with UD’s Psychology and Brain Sciences Department, were searching for clues about why women’s knowledge often gets ignored in the workplace and how to improve the situation. Drawing on both a problem-solving group exercise and measurements of brain activity, their findings, now published by the journal Small Group Research, illustrate ways stereotypes and attitudes can ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

New study reveals global reservoirs are becoming emptier

Water is an essential and indispensable component of humanity’s everyday existence. As the global population grows and the climate warms, so does the water demand. Over the past two decades, global reservoirs have become increasingly empty despite an overall increase in total storage capacity due to the construction of new reservoirs. Led by Dr. Huilin Gao, associate professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, researchers used a new approach with satellite data to estimate the storage variations ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

MedTech Innovation Forum Leads Day One at TCT 2023

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO – June 23, 2023 – Building on the resounding success of last year’s standing-room-only debut, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) and Fogarty Innovation are proud to present an even more dynamic and comprehensive TCT MedTech Innovation Forum in 2023. The highly anticipated program will feature additional learning tracks, expanded networking opportunities, increased attendee capacity, and the TCT Shark Tank Innovation Competition. The day-long interactive summit will take place on the first day of TCT 2023 (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics), ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

The force of blows to the head, not just how many, raises likelihood of CTE

For years, researchers studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, believed the primary cause of it was repetitive hits to the head, whether or not those hits caused concussions. They believed the more frequently that a person sustained head blows, the more likely they were to develop neurological and cognitive struggles later in life. A new collaborative study conducted by researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham, and Harvard Medical School—using brains donated to BU’s ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

Patterns, characteristics of nicotine dependence among adults with cigarette use

About The Study: There were significant reductions in nicotine dependence prevalence from 2006 to 2019 among U.S. adults with cigarette use and all examined subgroups 26 years and older. Adults 50 years and older (especially those with major depressive episode and/or substance use disorder) had the highest nicotine dependence prevalence compared with other age groups, highlighting the importance of assisting with smoking cessation efforts and addressing nicotine dependence for this older population. Evidence-based tobacco cessation strategies tailored to age and comorbidities are ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

BU researcher receives NIH grant to study stress, depression

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, June 23, 2023 Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-3508-7838, ginad@bu.edu BU Researcher Receives NIH Grant to Study Stress, Depression (Boston)—Michael Wallace, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy & neurobiology at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, was awarded a $2.8 million from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health. The award will fund his project "Serotonergic modulation of the circuits and cell-types of the lateral habenula." The award, which runs from 2023-2028, supports his research into the cellular and circuit impacts of serotonin on a brain region implicated in chronic stress and ...

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Science23 Jun 2023

Forensic bitemark analysis for court trials is not supported by sufficient data and “is leading to wrongful convictions”

The commonly-used evidence in trials, bitemark analysis, is not backed up by scientific research – an analysis of current literature, and 12 new studies, shows. Published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the California Dental Association, the research suggests 26 people have been wrongfully convicted, and some even sentenced to death, from the use of this forensic science. “The scientific community does not uphold the underlying premises that human teeth are unique and their unique features transfer to human skin,” states lead author Mary Bush, Associate Professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY. “We find bitemark transfer ...

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