Science
press releases.

Science21 Jun 2023

One in five women become pregnant naturally after having a baby conceived with IVF

Around 20% of women who needed fertility treatment, such as IVF, to conceive their first child are likely to get pregnant naturally in the future, finds a new UCL study. The first-of-its-kind research, published in Human Reproduction, analysed data from 11 studies of over 5,000 women around the world between 1980 and 2021, to evaluate how common it is to get pregnant naturally after having a baby conceived by fertility treatment. They found that at least one in five women conceived naturally after having had a baby using fertility treatment such as IVF mostly within 3 years. This figure remained unchanged, even when taking into account the different ...

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Science21 Jun 2023

Xylazine appears to worsen the life-threatening effects of opioids in rats

A new study in rats suggests that xylazine, the active ingredient in a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use, can worsen the life-threatening effects of opioids. The findings imply that when used in combination with opioid drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, xylazine may damage the ability of the brain to get enough oxygen, which is one of the most dangerous effects of opioid drugs and can lead to death. The study, published in Psychopharmacology, was led by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Research has shown xylazine is ...

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Science21 Jun 2023

ASPB welcomes new meetings and membership executive

ROCKVILLE, MD - The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to welcome Jennifer Covington as the Society’s Vice President of Membership and Meetings, an exciting and critical role for the Society as it looks ahead to an evolving landscape for scientific meetings and society membership. As Vice President of Membership and Meetings, Ms. Covington will oversee the development of revenue and results-oriented products and services in the membership, conference, and educational areas. Her responsibilities include the development of online and in-person conferences, workshops, and webinars; digital ...

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Science21 Jun 2023

The American Society of Plant Biologists names 2023 award recipients

The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2023 awards, which honor distinction in service, outreach, education, and research. ASPB Innovation Prize for Agricultural Technology Renata Bolognesi, Stanislaw Flasinski, Sergey Ivashuta, Daniel Kendrick, Curtis Scherder, Gerrit Segers Bayer, Chesterfield, Missouri Charles Albert Shull Award José Dinneny Stanford University, Stanford, California Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership Award John Browse Washington State University, Pullman Natasha Raikhel University of California, Riverside Early Career Award Moisés Expósito-Alonso Carnegie Institute ...

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Science21 Jun 2023

Modern horses have lost their additional toes, scientists confirm

The distant ancestors of modern horses had hooved toes instead of a single hoof, which vanished over time, according to researchers. The animals, such as the Eocene Hyracotherium, had feet like those of a modern tapir: four toes in front and three behind, each individually hooved with an underlying foot pad. In contrast, modern equids such as horses, asses, and zebras, have only a single toe, the left over original third toe on each foot, encased in a thick-walled keratinous hoof, with an underlying triangular frog on the sole that acts as a shock absorber. An international ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Study: Microtargeting works, just not the way people think

Recent U.S. elections have raised the question of whether “microtargeting,” the use of extensive online data to tailor persuasive messages to voters, has altered the playing field of politics. Now, a newly-published study led by MIT scholars finds that while targeting is effective in some political contexts, the “micro” part of things may not be the game-changing tool some have assumed. “In a traditional messaging context where you have one issue you’re trying ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Tonga’s Hunga eruption produced the most intense lightning ever recorded

American Geophysical Union Release No. 23-26 20 June 2023 For Immediate Release This press release and accompanying multimedia are available here: https://news.agu.org/press-release/tongas-hunga-eruption-produced-the-most-intense-lightning-ever-recorded/ Additional study highlights: The 15 January eruption lasted at least 11 hours, several hours longer than previously known The plume produced the highest-altitude lightning flashes ever measured, 20 to 30 kilometers (12 to 19 miles) above sea level Lightning “surfed” giant waves that rippled through volcanic plume Lightning data ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

UNCG spin-off launches national study to help prevent opioid misuse

Prevention Strategies received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue the study and develop a commercially viable intervention tool based on prevention science. Known as WorkWell, it is a tailored mobile health app that represents the next generation of evidence-based, technology-aided intervention programs. The initial pilot program to test the WorkWell app will focus on construction trade workers and nurses, as well as nursing assistants and technicians. These occupations have been disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis and have high mortality ratios. “Opioid-involved overdoses are among the leading causes of death in the United States despite extensive ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Research identifies factors that make correcting misinformation about science more successful

In an article titled “A Meta-analysis of Correction Effects in Science-Relevant Misinformation” published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, University of Pennsylvania social psychologists and communication scholars Man-pui Sally Chan and Dolores Albarracín explain the circumstances under which corrections of misinformation about science are most likely to work or fail, as well as the characteristics of the corrections most likely to succeed. The authors conducted a meta-analysis, a quantitative synthesis of prior research, which involved 60,000 ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Research pilot sets the stage for better, more equitable aortic stenosis care

DALLAS, June 20, 2023 — New research published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes examines the pilot phase of the American Heart Association quality improvement program Target: Aortic Stenosis™. The program aims to lay the groundwork to more reliably measure performance on the quality of aortic stenosis (AS) care from diagnosis to treatment. The Target: Aortic Stenosis program focuses on closing care gaps for patients who are not appropriately diagnosed and referred for initial ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Menon & Maribojoc receive funding for evaluation services for step ahead 2.0 – housing first support services pilot

Menon & Maribojoc Receive Funding For Evaluation Services For Step Ahead 2.0 – Housing First Support Services Pilot Nirup Menon, Professor, Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM), and Roderick Maribojoc, Executive Director, Real Estate Entrepreneurship, received funding for: "Evaluation Services for Step Ahead 2.0 – Housing First Support Services Pilot." Menon and Maribojoc are being funded to evaluate the impact of services in reducing homelessness in Fairfax ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Scientists unearth 20 million years of ‘hot spot’ magmatism under Cocos plate

Ten years ago, Samer Naif made an unexpected discovery in Earth’s mantle: a narrow pocket, proposed to be filled with magma, hidden some 60 kilometers beneath the seafloor of the Cocos Plate. Mantle melts are buoyant and typically float toward the surface — think underwater volcanoes that erupt to form strings of islands. But Naif’s imaging instead showed a clear slice of semi-molten rock: low-degree partial melts, still sandwiched at the base of the plate some 37 miles beneath the ocean floor. Then, the observation provided an explanation for how tectonic plates can gradually slide, ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

The meaning behind the Woodstock character in ‘Peanuts’

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip “Peanuts,” was anything but a hippie. Still, he named the beloved yellow bird character in “Peanuts” Woodstock after the famous counterculture music festival that was attended and celebrated by the younger generation who grew up in the 1960s and ’70s, including many who saw themselves as hippies. The question is why, says Michelle Ann Abate, author of the new book Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts. Based on her critical analysis of the strips featuring Woodstock, ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

How good or evil are you when gaming?

Two papers published by Macquarie University researchers reveal that most of us ignore the meter when a moral choice is clear, but we use it when the choice is more morally ambiguous. And some of us, about ten per cent, will do anything to win. You are playing The Great Fire, a narrative computer game. It’s all about Frankie, an usher in a cinema in regional Australia in the 1940s, who is confronted by a murderous psychopath. Along the way, players have to make choices which affect the progress and outcome of the game. Some are simple black and white decisions, such as ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

New study reveals irrigation’s mixed effects around the world

The analysis, which appears in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, also points to ways to improve assessments in order to achieve sustainable water use and food production in the future. “Even though irrigation covers a small fraction of the earth, it has a significant impact on regional climate and environments—and is either already unsustainable, or verging on towards scarcity, in some parts of the world,” explains Sonali Shukla McDermid, an associate professor in NYU’s Department of Environmental Studies and the paper’s lead author. “But because irrigation supplies 40% of the world’s food, we need to understand ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Fish farms can become biogas producers

Digesting fish waste can allow circular fish and vegetable farms (aquaponics) to produce biogas that can be fed back into the energy system of these farms. This also generates excellent nutrition for plants, according to new research from the University of Gothenburg. There is increasing growth in circular, land-based, combined fish and vegetable farms- often referred to as aquaponics. Aquaponics makes use of nutrient-rich water produced by fish (aquaculture) which can be used to fertilise plants (hydroponics) ...

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Science20 Jun 2023

Face of Anglo-Saxon teen VIP revealed with new evidence about her life

The face of a 16-year-old woman buried near Cambridge (UK) in the 7th century with an incredibly rare gold and garnet cross (the ‘Trumpington Cross’) has been reconstructed following analysis of her skull. The striking image is going on public display for the first time on 21st June, with new scientific evidence showing that she moved to England from Central Europe as a young girl, leading to an intriguing change in her diet. The image and artefacts from the mysterious woman’s ...

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Science19 Jun 2023

Low-dose aspirin use associated with 20% increased anemia risk in older adults

1. Low-dose aspirin use associated with 20% increased anemia risk in older adults Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0675 URL goes live when the embargo lifts An analysis of the ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) trial found that the use of low-dose aspirin was associated with a 20 percent increased incidence of anemia and decline in ferritin, or blood iron levels, in otherwise healthy older adults. These findings suggest that periodic monitoring of hemoglobin should be considered in older patients taking aspirin. The analysis is published in Annals ...

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Science19 Jun 2023

1 in 6 parents say child reports tummy pain at least monthly but many haven’t consulted with a doctor

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Tummy aches are common among kids, with one in six parents in a new national poll saying their child experiences them at least once a month. But not all parents seek professional advice when belly pain becomes a regular occurrence and just one in three are sure they’d know when it might be a sign of a serious problem, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. “Tummy complaints are common among children. This type of pain may be a symptom for a range of health issues, but it can be difficult to know if it’s ...

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Science18 Jun 2023

People with alcohol use disorder impaired after heavy drinking, despite claims of higher tolerance

While heavy drinkers can tolerate a certain amount of alcohol better than light or moderate drinkers, the concept of “holding your liquor” is more nuanced than commonly believed, according to new research from the University of Chicago. The researchers conducted the study with three groups of young adults in their 20s with different drinking patterns. They found that drinkers with alcohol use disorder (or AUD, traditionally known as alcoholism) displayed less impairment on fine motor and cognitive tasks than light or heavy social drinkers after consuming a standard intoxicating dose—equivalent ...

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Science17 Jun 2023

Better tests needed to identify Candida auris susceptibility

Houston, TX – Matching an infection with Candida auris, a pathogenic yeast, to an effective antifungal is a critical clinical decision. That decision relies on susceptibility testing, but commercially available antifungal tests perform poorly for many treatments, researchers at Indiana University and Indiana University Health have found. The investigators, who tested the accuracy of 4 available tests for use with C. auris, present their findings at ASM Microbe 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. C. ...

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Science17 Jun 2023

Wider search needed to improve outcomes for eosinophilic food allergy

The good news: a monoclonal antibody treatment called benralizumab proved quite effective in a clinical trial at depleting the number of eosinophils found in the blood and digestive tract tissues of patients with eosinophilic gastritis. The not-so-good news: eliminating eosinophils was not enough to stop the symptoms people feel with this uncommon and severe form of food allergy. Nor did the treatment affect key measures of gut tissue health and related gene expression patterns. These paradigm-shifting Phase 2 clinical ...

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Science16 Jun 2023

New imaging technique is no last resort

There are various ways to image biological samples on a microscopic level, and each has its own pros and cons. For the first time, a team of researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, has combined aspects from two of the leading imaging techniques to craft a new method of imaging and analyzing biological samples. Its concept, known as RESORT, paves the way to observe living systems in unprecedented detail. For as long as humanity has been able to manipulate glass, we have used optical devices to peer at the microscopic world in ever increasing ...

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Science16 Jun 2023

Disorient the malaria parasite to prevent it from causing harm

With almost 250 million cases a year, 621,000 of them fatal, malaria remains a major public health problem, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes and caused by a microbe of the genus Plasmodium. On its journey from mosquito to human, Plasmodium must adapt to the specificities of the many organs and cells it parasitizes. Microbes do not have sensory organs; instead, they have sensors made of proteins to detect molecules specific to the environments they colonize. While most living organisms share the same types of sensors, Plasmodium is an exception. Biologists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have identified a new type ...

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Science16 Jun 2023

The global human day – A bird’s eye perspective

Everyone has 24 hours per day. Across the global population of 8 billion people this adds up to approximately 190 billion human hours per day. How those hours are spent determines the impacts we have on our surroundings as well as how we experience life. To find out how people around the world use their time, a research team led by McGill University has gathered and analyzed information about both economic and non-economic activities in order to estimate, for the first time, what a day in the life of the world looks like. “At present, we are struggling to come to terms with global challenges, and that calls for fresh perspectives on how the world ...

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