Science
press releases.

Science19 Nov 2025

How do winter-active spiders survive the cold?

Spiders of the Clubiona genus, which are among the most important natural enemies of pests found in orchards, are active during the winter. New research in The FEBS Journal reveals the characteristics of antifreeze proteins that these spiders produce that bind to ice crystals and prevent their growth at sub-zero temperatures, which helps the animals avoid freezing. Using mass spectrometry to investigate these proteins at a molecular level, investigators found that although the Clubiona antifreeze proteins resemble those found in beetles and moths, ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

All-you-can-eat: Young adults and ultra-processed foods

Young Americans are gaining weight. An analysis published in The Lancet predicts that one in three Americans age 15 to 24 will meet the criteria for obesity by 2050, putting their health at risk. While genetics, inactivity, and many other factors are at play, diet features prominently. Ultra-processed foods — which make up 55 to 65 percent of what young adults eat in the U.S. — have been associated with metabolic syndrome, poor cardiovascular health, and other conditions in adolescents. Researchers at Virginia Tech wanted to investigate the effects on 18- to 25-year-olds of a diet high in ultra-processed food and a diet without ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

As ‘California sober’ catches on, study suggests cannabis use reduces short-term alcohol consumption

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The “California sober” trend, which involves ditching alcohol in favor of cannabis, is gaining momentum, spreading from Hollywood to health influencers to homes across America. Among the motivations for many adopters is to reduce alcohol use, and a new study on the causal effect of cannabis on alcohol consumption suggests that smoking marijuana may lead people to drink less — in the short term. Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study by researchers at Brown University is the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test whether cannabis use directly changes alcohol consumption. ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

Parental monitoring is linked to fewer teen conduct problems despite genetic risk

Parents may have more influence than they realize when it comes to shaping their children’s behavior, especially for those at higher genetic risk for conduct problems, according to Rutgers Health-led research. The study, published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that consistent parental monitoring – meaning knowing where children are, who they’re with, and what they’re doing – can help offset genetic risk for developing behavior problems during adolescence. Conduct problems, which include aggression, antisocial behavior and rule-breaking, often begin in childhood and are among the most common ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

The hidden rule behind ignition — An analytic law governing multi-shock implosions for ultrahigh compression

Osaka, Japan — Physicists at The University of Osaka have unveiled a breakthrough theoretical framework that uncovers the hidden physical rule behind one of the most powerful compression methods in laser fusion science — the stacked-shock implosion. While multi-shock ignition has recently proven its effectiveness in major laser facilities worldwide, this new study identifies the underlying law that governs such implosions, expressed in an elegant and compact analytic form. A team led by Professor Masakatsu ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

A new method for the synthesis of giant fullerenes

Professor Zaifa Shi's team at Xiamen University developed an ultra-high temperature flash vacuum pyrolysis (UT-FVP) device to form giant fullerenes from single-carbon molecules within a short time (15 s) at extremely high temperatures (∽3000 ℃). Due to the strong intermolecular forces between giant fullerene molecules and soot, traditional ultrasonic or Soxhlet extraction methods cannot separate most giant fullerenes from soot in toluene. To overcome these strong intermolecular forces, two ...

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Science19 Nov 2025

Ape ancestors and Neanderthals likely kissed, new analysis finds

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2025 / 19:01 ET TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2025 Ape ancestors and Neanderthals likely kissed, new analysis finds A new study led by the University of Oxford has found evidence that kissing evolved in the common ancestor of humans and other large apes around 21 million years ago, and that Neanderthals likely engaged in kissing too. The findings have been published today (19 November) in Evolution and Human Behavior. Kissing occurs in a variety of animals, but presents an evolutionary puzzle: it appears to carry high risks, such as disease transmission, while offering no obvious reproductive or survival advantage. Despite kissing carrying cultural ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

New pika research finds troubling signs for the iconic Rocky Mountain animal

A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder carries a warning for one of the Rocky Mountains’ most iconic animals—the American pika (Ochotona princeps), a small and fuzzy creature that often greets hikers in Colorado with loud squeaks. The study draws on long-running surveys of pikas living in a single habitat about 10 miles south of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The researchers discovered that the “recruitment “of juveniles to this site seems to have plummeted ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Almost half of Oregon elk population carries advantageous genetic variant against CWD, study shows

URBANA, Ill. – Chronic Wasting Disease, a prion protein disease that is fatal in elk, deer, and other cervids, has spread rapidly across the United States since it was first identified in 1967. CWD has now reached Idaho near the Oregon border, causing concern for the Columbian white-tailed deer, a rare subspecies found only in two regions in Oregon. The deer have little genetic protection against CWD, but a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that about half of Oregon elk carry a gene that makes them less susceptible to ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Bigger datasets aren’t always better

Cambridge, MA -- Determining the least expensive path for a new subway line underneath a metropolis like New York City is a colossal planning challenge — involving thousands of potential routes through hundreds of city blocks, each with uncertain construction costs. Conventional wisdom suggests extensive field studies across many locations would be needed to determine the costs associated with digging below certain city blocks. Because these studies are costly to conduct, a city planner would want to perform as few as possible while still gathering the most useful data for making an optimal decision. With ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Blink to the beat

Yi Du and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published an article in the open access journal PLOS Biology on November 18th detailing their findings about a new way our bodies naturally respond to music. Given a steady beat, our eyes blink in synchrony. The neurological process that helps us move with the music is known as auditory-motor synchronization. This describes the way you tap your foot along with the radio or bob your head at a concert, or why some runners listen to songs with a specific number of beats per minute ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Researchers enhance durability of pure water-fed anion exchange membrane electrolysis

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis is widely recognized as a key technology for next-generation green hydrogen production. Currently, most AEM systems rely on alkaline supporting electrolytes such as potassium hydroxide, which can cause issues including bipolar plate corrosion, shunt current, and accelerated membrane degradation. Achieving stable operation with pure water feed is the goal for AEM water electrolysis. However, obstacles remain such as the instability of the membrane-electrode three-phase interface, limited current density, and poor durability. In a study published ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

How growth hormone excess accelerates liver aging via glycation stress

“Glycation-lowering strategies may serve as effective treatments for alleviating GH-induced metabolic and inflammatory disruptions in the liver, offering a promising avenue for addressing age-related metabolic diseases associated with GH dysregulation.” BUFFALO, NY — November 18, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Volume 17, Issue 10 of Aging-US on October 3, 2025, titled “Growth hormone excess drives liver aging via increased glycation stress.” In this study, led by first author Parminder Singh ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

SwRI identifies security vulnerability in EV charging protocol

SAN ANTONIO — November 18, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute identified a security vulnerability in a standard protocol governing communications between electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging equipment. The research prompted the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue a security advisory related to the ISO 15118 vehicle-to-grid communications standard. Through internal research, a team of SwRI engineers spoofed signal measurements between an EV and EV supply equipment (EVSE), leading to CISA’s publication of a Common ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

The American Pediatric Society names Dr. Tara O. Henderson as the recipient of the 2026 Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award

November 18, 2025 – The American Pediatric Society (APS) is pleased to announce Tara O. Henderson, MD, MPH, as the recipient of the 2026 Norman J. Siegel New Member Outstanding Science Award, in recognition of her significant contributions to pediatric science. The award will be presented to Dr. Henderson during the APS Presidential Plenary at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2026 Meeting, taking place in Boston, MA, April 24-27. Established in honor of renowned nephrologist Norman J. Siegel, MD, FASN, the award celebrates early-career APS members whose scientific work demonstrates ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Loss of key visual channel triggers rhythmic retinal signals linked to night blindness

Rhythmic electrical activity in the retina (known as pathological oscillations) has been observed in several eye diseases, including congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). These oscillations interfere with the normal transmission of visual information to the brain, often causing degraded or distorted perception. Although scientists have long known that such oscillations occur in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons responsible for sending visual signals to the brain, the cellular mechanism that drives this rhythmic activity has remained elusive. In a recent study published online in The Journal of General Physiology on October 16, ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

New study suggests chiral skyrmion flows can be used for logic devices

In magnetic materials with antisymmetric exchange interactions, novel particle-like spin textures called magnetic skyrmions can appear and be manipulated by electrons. First observed in 2009, they have been created and controlled at room temperature in many materials. Skyrmions, as nonvolatile information carriers, are key in electronic and spintronic devices. Their size can be just a few nanometers, enabling high storage densities. They require low current to move, are topologically stable, and offer nonvolatility and radiation hardness for extreme environments. Over the past decade, most published reports in the field, both experimental and theoretical, have focused on the applications ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

The future fate of water in the Andes

In light of the ongoing fifteen-year megadrought in Chile, an international team of researchers, including Francesca Pellicciotti from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), addressed a bold future scenario. Their findings: by the end of the century, the considerably worn-out glaciers will not be able to buffer a similar megadrought. They call for coordinated global climate policies to develop effective water management strategies. The results were published in Communications Earth & Environment. Could a drought have no end? Fifteen years of severe and persistent drought in Chile have already passed, and the country ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

A new gateway to global antimicrobial resistance data

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing health challenge, reducing the effectiveness of life-saving treatments and increasing the risk of complications from routine medical procedures. To support global AMR research, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) has launched the AMR portal, a central hub that connects bacterial genomes, resistance phenotypes, and functional annotations, all in one place. The first release of the AMR portal is based upon a dataset from Imperial College London obtained from the Comprehensive Assessment of Bacterial-Based Antimicrobial resistance prediction ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Weather behind past heat waves could return far deadlier

The weather patterns that produced some of Europe’s most extreme heat waves over the past three decades could prove far more lethal if they strike in today’s hotter climate, pushing weekly deaths toward levels seen during the COVID pandemic, according to a November 18 study in Nature Climate Change. “We showed that if these same weather systems were to occur after we’ve trapped a lot more heat in the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, the intensity of the heat waves gets stronger and ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

SRL welcomes first Deputy Editor-in-Chief

SRL Editor-in-Chief Allison Bent has appointed Hongfeng Yang as the first deputy editor-in-chief of its journal Seismological Research Letters (SRL). Yang, a professor in the department of Earth and environmental sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, joined the editorial board of SRL as an associate editor in 2018. He will begin the deputy position on 1 December. “I’m looking forward to working more closely with Hongfeng in his new role as deputy editor. The dedication, thoughtfulness and good judgment he exercised as an associate editor will serve him ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Time to act and not react: how can the European Union turn the tide of antimicrobial resistance?

Despite determined efforts by countries and healthcare professionals, Europe is not on track to meet four of the five AMR targets set by the EU Council for 2030*, according to data released on EAAD. Rising AMR, together with a shortage of novel effective treatments, constitutes an evolving major public health crisis in Europe and globally. In an interconnected world, AMR further complicates the health challenges that stem from non-communicable diseases, demographic shifts and healthcare workforce shortages. ‘Tackling AMR requires critical innovation on three key fronts: strong action for responsible antibiotic use, sustained and ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

A new way to trigger responses in the body

Researchers at the University of Tokyo developed an experimental method to induce a strong physiological response linked to psychological pressure by making participants aim for a streak of success in a task. Their findings suggest this approach reproduces pressurelike conditions in a laboratory setting more effectively than traditional methods, affording easier access to the study of this state. That in turn could open up research into how pressure influences human performance in physical and intellectual tasks. Whether in an exam hall or on the field, to “crack” under pressure is a common trope. But what’s the reality behind this idea? It’s easy to assume ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Teeth of babies of stressed mothers come out earlier, suggests study

Children have 20 milk teeth, 10 in each jaw. This set of teeth is important for chewing and speaking, and helps to keep space open for the subsequent set of 32 permanent teeth. Milk teeth begin to develop in the womb around the sixth week of gestation, and gradually come out ('erupt') between six months and three years after birth. However, there is considerable variation in this timing, due to genetics, geography, and an infant's overall health and nutritional status. Now, researchers from the US have shown for the first time that another factor can speed up the timing of teeth eruption: maternal ...

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Science18 Nov 2025

Slimming with seeds: Cumin curry spice fights fat

Nigella sativa (black cumin), the spice that boosts the flavor of curries like korma and paneer also has another use: its seeds have long been used as a medicinal plant in traditional medicine for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Now, a clinical trial led by Osaka Metropolitan University suggests that they also have anti-obesity benefits. To investigate these effects, a team led by Associate Professor Akiko Kojima-Yuasa of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology used cellular experiments and human clinical trials. In ...

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