Science
press releases.

Science5 Nov 2025

Scripps Research team identifies sugar molecules that trigger placental formation

LA JOLLA, CA—During the first weeks of pregnancy, the developing placenta in a mother’s womb undergoes a dramatic change. Individual cells merge, forming a continuous barrier that will spend the next nine months ferrying oxygen and nutrients to the growing fetus while keeping the mother's immune system at bay. When this structure fails to form properly, pregnancies are at higher risk of complications, including preeclampsia and restricted fetal growth. Now, scientists at Scripps Research have identified a key player in the placenta’s transformation—a molecule called galectin-3 that binds to sugar molecules on specific ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Want to be more persuasive? Talk with your hands, UBC study finds

Words matter — but your hands might matter more, according to a new UBC study which found that purposeful hand gestures can make speakers appear more competent and persuasive. The Sauder School of Business research, analyzed 2,184 TED Talks using AI and automated video analysis. Researchers isolated more than 200,000 hand gestures into 10-second clips and compared them against audience engagement metrics, such as ‘likes’ on social media while controlling for factors like gender, occupation, language, ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Two main gene discovery methods reveal complementary aspects of biology

The two main approaches for discovering disease genes reveal distinct aspects of biology, a new study shows. While both methods are widely used, the research found that they identify different genes, with major implications for drug development. Publishing online Nov. 5 in Nature, the study revolves around the human genome, which contains thousands of genes that provide instructions for making proteins, as well as regulatory DNA that controls when genes turn on. The new investigation takes a genome-wide ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

FAU’s CAROSEL offers new ‘spin’ on monitoring water quality in real time

Beneath the surface of lakes and coastal waters lies a hidden world of sediment that plays a crucial role in the health of aquatic ecosystems. “Benthic fluxes” of nitrogen and phosphorus, such as releases of these dissolved nutrients from sediments to their overlying waters, can fuel algae growth and toxic harmful algal blooms (HABs), which degrade water quality, disrupt wildlife and recreation, and reduce property values. Sediments act as a natural archive, offering historical insights into ecosystem health. However, to fully understand nutrient exchanges between sediment and water, scientists rely on measurements of benthic fluxes, like the amount of nitrogen transported across ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Study: College women face greater risk of sexual violence than others

Young women attending college face a dramatically higher risk of sexual violence than those who don’t, especially if they live on campus, according to a new analysis of national crime data by Washington State University researchers. The findings were stark: Between 2015 and 2022, the six-month risk of sexual violence was 74% higher for college-enrolled women ages 18-24 than for those not enrolled. Among college students, the rate among women living on campus was triple that of commuter students. Those figures represented a sharp change from 2007-2014, when the risk of sexual violence was similar between college women and those not attending college — and ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

UBCO researchers apply body preservation technique to wood

A technique used for the long-term preservation of human and animal remains is now being tested on one of Canada’s most iconic building materials—the Western red cedar. Plastination, originally designed to embalm the dead, is now being used to improve the functionality and durability of advanced composite materials. A team from UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering has been experimenting with the technique and previously published a study that examined the plastination of bamboo to create a strong and durable composite building material. The researchers have taken that work one step further, and in their latest study demonstrated the ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Fishes, young and old, are shrinking in Michigan's inland lakes

A new study led by the University of Michigan shows that changes in climate are also changing the size of fishes in Michigan's inland lakes. Using data that covered 75 years and nearly 1,500 lakes, researchers have shown that, for several species, old and young fish in 2020 were significantly smaller than their typical size in 1945. "Climate change is altering the size of different organisms around the world, including fishes in lakes here in Michigan," said Peter Flood, a postdoctoral research fellow at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, or SEAS. "And most of those changes we're seeing in Michigan fishes are declines in size through time." Flood ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Predicted CO2 levels cause marked increase in forest temperatures

Elevated carbon dioxide levels generated as a result of climate change could significantly increase the temperatures found within the canopies of the world’s woodlands and forests, new research has suggested. A study by researchers from the UK, Ghana and the USA used thermal imaging technology and other sensors to measure the leaf temperatures found at CO2 levels forecast to occur in 2050. It found that temperatures within the forest canopies rose by around 1.3°C as a direct consequence of increases in CO2 – from an average of 21.5°C under current conditions to 22.8°C at the predicted 2050 ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Delta.g appoints current Chair of Serendipity Capital and former HSBC Holdings Group CFO Ewen Stevenson as Chair of the Board

Delta.g, the UK quantum technology company pioneering quantum gravity sensing for subsurface intelligence, today announced the appointment of Ewen Stevenson as Chair of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Ewen Stevenson is a veteran banker with over 20 years of senior management experience and a record in strategic transformation, value creation, innovation, and leadership. He is currently Chair of Serendipity Capital who led Delta.g’s recently closed seed funding round. Prior to Serendipity Capital, he served as Group Chief Financial Officer of HSBC Holdings, following four years as Group Chief Financial Officer of The Royal Bank of Scotland. Prior ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

ELSI to host first PCST Symposium in Japan, advancing science communication across Asia

The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo is proud to announce that it will host the PCST Japan Symposium 2025, to be held from 11–13 November 2025. This joint international symposium marks the first time the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network brings a symposium to Japan, and the seventh conference of the Japan SciCom Forum (JSF). The symposium will bring together researchers, practitioners, educators, and policymakers from across Asia and beyond to explore the strategic development of science communication in non-Western contexts. It is organised around two central questions that guide its themes: ‘how can we establish ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Bioinspired dual-phase nanopesticide enables smart controlled release

Millions of tons of pesticides are used each year to protect crops, but traditional formulations release too quickly, degrade easily, and leach away, leading to low efficiency and environmental risks. Compared with the costly and time-consuming development of new pesticides, creating smart controlled-release formulations from existing ingredients is a simpler and more effective way to improve efficiency and reduce ecological harm. A team led by Prof. WU Zhengyan and Prof. ZHANG Jia from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a bioinspired prussian blue/PNIPAM nanohybrid ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

High‑performance wide‑temperature zinc‑ion batteries with K+/C3N4 co‑intercalated ammonium vanadate cathodes

As demand for safe and low-cost energy storage grows, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising candidates. However, their practical application is hindered by cathode instability and poor low-temperature performance. Now, researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Shenzhen University, led by Professor Zijian Li, have developed a novel K⁺ and C3N4 co-intercalated NH4V4O10 (KNVO-C3N4) cathode that delivers exceptional performance across a wide temperature range. Why K⁺/C3N4 Co-Intercalation ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Prioritized Na+ adsorption‑driven cationic electrostatic repulsion enables highly reversible zinc anodes at low temperatures

As renewable energy storage demand grows, the limitations of aqueous zinc metal batteries (AZMBs) in subzero environments become more pronounced. Now, researchers from Harbin University of Science and Technology and Fudan University, led by Professor Xin Liu and Professor Dongliang Chao, have presented a breakthrough solution using trace Na2SO4 as an electrolyte additive. This work offers valuable insights into developing next-generation energy storage technologies that can overcome low-temperature challenges. Why Na₂SO₄ Matters Cost-Effective: Na2SO4 is an abundant, low-cost inorganic ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Study finds moral costs in over-pricing for essentials

When companies hike prices on essentials like food, medicine, or medical devices, the financial rewards may be immediate—but the reputational damage may linger and ultimately cost more in the long run. That’s the finding of a study led by UC Riverside School of Business professor Margaret C. Campbell. Consumers, the research shows, judge prices for essential goods and services not just through the lens of supply and demand, but also through their sense of morality. “If companies are perceived as taking advantage of vulnerable people—like the elderly or the uninsured—they may make ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Australian scientists uncover secrets of yellow fever

University of Queensland researchers have captured the first high-resolution images of the yellow fever virus (YFV), a potentially deadly viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that affects the liver. They’ve revealed structural differences between the vaccine strain (YFV-17D) and the virulent, disease-causing strains of the virus. Dr Summa Bibby from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience said despite decades of research on yellow fever, this was the first time a complete 3D structure of a fully mature yellow fever virus particle had been recorded at near-atomic resolution. “By utilising the well-established Binjari virus platform developed here at ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

Voting behaviour in elections strongly linked to future risk of death

Voting behaviour in elections is strongly linked to the future risk of death, and is likely a stronger determinant of health than education—considered a key influence on health—suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Over the past several years, voting in national and local elections has increasingly been seen as a potential social determinant of health—the non-medical factors that influence health and wellbeing—explain the researchers. And previously published research suggests that voters generally have better health than non-voters, but it’s not clear if ...

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Science5 Nov 2025

The science behind people who never forget a face

What is it that makes a super recogniser – someone with extraordinary face recognition abilities – better at remembering faces than the rest of us? According to new research carried out by cognitive scientists at UNSW Sydney, it’s not how much of a face they can take in – it comes down to the quality of the information their eyes focus on. “Super-recognisers don’t just look harder, they look smarter. They choose the most useful parts of a face to take in,” says Dr James Dunn, lead author on the research that published ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

Study paints detailed picture of forest canopy damage caused by ‘heat dome’

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A satellite imagery analysis shows that the 2021 “heat dome” scorched almost 5% of the forested area in western Oregon and western Washington, turning foliage in canopies from a healthy green to red or orange, sometimes within a matter of hours. Damage to foliage leads to a range of problems for trees including reduced photosynthesis and increased vulnerability to pests and disease, scientists at Oregon State University say. The study by researchers at OSU and ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

Registration and Abstract Submission Open for “20 Years of iPSC Discovery: A Celebration and Vision for the Future,” 20-22 October 2026, Kyoto, Japan

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) today announced that registration and abstract submission are open for the ISSCR International Symposium: 20 Years of iPSC Discovery: A Celebration and Vision for the Future, co-sponsored by the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine. The symposium will take place 20–22 October 2026 in Kyoto, Japan. Developed in partnership with the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, the scientific program is chaired by Shinya Yamanaka, recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

Half-billion-year-old parasite still threatens shellfish

A new study has unexpectedly discovered that a common parasite of modern oysters actually started infecting bivalves hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs went extinct. The research, published in iScience, used high-resolution 3D scans to look inside 480-million-year-old shells from a Moroccan site known for its exceptionally well-preserved sea life. The scans revealed a series of distinctive patterns etched both on the surface of the fossils and hidden inside them. “The marks weren’t random scratches,” said Karma Nanglu, a UC Riverside paleobiologist who led the research. “We saw seven or eight of these perfect question mark shapes on each ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

AC instead of DC: A game-changer for VR headsets and near-eye displays

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2025 — LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are essential components in near-eye displays like virtual reality and augmented reality headsets and smart glasses, along with electronics like cameras and medical equipment. Conventional LEDs use direct current power, which requires two contacts, like the positive and negative contacts to connect a battery. As device form factors continue to shrink, fabricating nano-LEDs requires each of the hundreds of microscopic components to touch both contacts, which presents a complicated alignment problem for device manufacturers. In Applied Physics Letters, ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

New study shows people with spinal cord injuries are more likely to develop chronic disorders

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham shows that patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries (TSCI) are at a higher risk of developing a myriad of chronic health problems, regardless of age, location of the injury and prior health status. Their results are published in JAMA Network Open. “The journey doesn't end when patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries leave the hospital or rehab,” said corresponding author Saef Izzy, MD, FAAN, FNCS, a neurologist in the Department of Neurology at Mass General Brigham. “Programs should be implemented to identify patients at risk so that ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

Jülich researchers reveal: Long-lived contrails usually form in natural ice clouds

Contrails form when hot exhaust gas from an aircraft’s engine mixes with the cold air at an altitude of about 10 kilometres. In dry air, most contrails dissipate quickly. In cold, humid air, however, they can persist for several hours and develop into extensive cirrus clouds. Cirrus clouds are high, thin ice clouds at an altitude of about 5 to 12 kilometres, which often appear as delicate, wispy veils in the sky. Until now, researchers had assumed that long-lived contrails form mainly in clear skies, where they exert their warming effect. However, the new study shows that they mostly form within existing natural ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

More than 100,000 Norwegians suffer from work-related anxiety

Bullying and lack of psychological support from managers top the list of workplace factors that can lead to serious mental health problems, according to a new investigation of work-related anxiety in four countries. The study shows that 11.2 per cent of people in Norway have reduced capacity for work due to work-related anxiety. “Work-related anxiety is not just stress. Anxiety is the worry that follows you home, steals your sleep, and meets you again the next day at work,” said Leon De Beer, an associate professor at the Norwegian ...

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Science4 Nov 2025

A sequence of human rights violations precedes mass atrocities, new research shows

The road to genocide doesn’t begin with bullets and mass graves, but with more subtle violations. Declining workers’ rights or compromises on the right to a fair trial may come first. Brutality by law enforcement and prison guards becomes widespread. The judiciary loses its independence from the executive branch. And then, more serious signs follow: Freedom of speech is restricted for a specific group of people, and then their right to assemble in public places. Members of this group may find themselves increasingly imprisoned for their beliefs, ...

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