Science
press releases.

Science16 Oct 2025

Expanding farming capabilities will not close Africa’s ‘hidden hunger’ gaps

Expanding farming capabilities will not close Africa’s ‘hidden hunger’ gaps Researchers combined data on demand, production, and resource constraints, moving beyond calories to nutrients that matter for health across all 54 African countries ‘Hidden hunger’ in Africa cannot be addressed by expanding domestic farming alone, according to a new study from Cardiff University. The first-of-its-kind assessment, published in Nature Food, moves beyond calories to measure the availability of nutrients that matter for health, across all 54 African countries. According to the research, limited land and water supply ...

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Science16 Oct 2025

A pill that prints

Soft tissue injuries of the gastrointestinal tract, like ulcers or hemorrhages, can currently be treated only with some form of surgery, which is invasive and may not result in permanent repair. Bioprinting is emerging as an effective treatment that deposits biocompatible ‘ink’ – often made of natural polymers derived from seaweed – directly over the site of tissue damage, creating a scaffold for new cell growth. But like traditional surgical tools, these kinds of bioprinters tend to be bulky and require anesthesia. At the same time, ‘untethered’ ...

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Science16 Oct 2025

Why deep sighs are actually good for us

More than half of all premature babies born before the 28th week of pregnancy develop respiratory distress syndrome shortly after birth. As their lungs are not yet fully developed, they produce too little of the seemingly magical fluid that reduces surface tension in the lungs. As a result, some alveoli collapse – and the lungs are unable to get enough oxygen. Lungs become more deformable Until 40 years ago, this usually spelled death. But then, in the late 1980s, pediatricians developed a life-saving procedure: they extracted the fluid from animal lungs and injected it ...

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Science16 Oct 2025

The European project to reduce the number of animals used in experimentation, VICT3R, adds new partners and increases its budget to €30 million

The VICT3R project is expanding its consortium by adding new beneficiaries and organisations to the network of contract research organisations (CROs) associated with the project. This expansion increases the project budget to €30 million and reinforces VICT3R's mission to transform the way safety is assessed in drug and chemical development, reducing reliance on laboratory animals. New beneficiaries include leading industrial partners such as Servier Group and Zoetis Belgium SA. Servier is an independent international pharmaceutical group governed by a foundation, ...

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Science16 Oct 2025

Sniffer dogs tested in real-world scenarios reveal need for wider access to explosives, study finds

Dogs aren’t just our best friends, they’re also key allies in the fight against terrorism. Thousands of teams of explosive detection dogs and their handlers work 24/7 at airports, transit systems, cargo facilities, and public events around the globe to keep us safe. But canine detection is an art as well as a science: success depends not only on the skill of both dog and human, but also on their bond, and may vary with their physiological state and environmental conditions. Practices are often passed down informally between handlers, which can further hamper the consistency of performance across teams. To remedy this, the American ...

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Science16 Oct 2025

Ex-smokers who relapse may simply be tired of the effort of not smoking

The most reliable predictor of an ex-smoker’s relapse isn’t strong urges to smoke or low confidence in the ability to stay off tobacco – it’s weariness with the efforts to remain a non-smoker, according to a new study published today in Addiction. Ex-smokers appear to return to smoking most often because they’re exhausted from the constant vigilance needed to remain a non-smoker. This effect is called psychological cessation fatigue, and its influence on ex-smokers is not affected by how long you’ve been an ex-smoker or whether you vape to reduce ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Walking, cycling and swimming likely best exercise for knee osteoarthritis

For patients with knee osteoarthritis, aerobic activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming are likely to be the best exercise for improving pain, function, gait performance, and quality of life, finds a study published by The BMJ today. While other exercises may offer complementary benefits to patients, they should not replace aerobic exercise as the main strategy, say the researchers. Osteoarthritis occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of bones wears away, causing pain, swelling, and impaired movement. While any joint can be affected, ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Indian literary genius survived British imperialism in forgotten villages, research reveals

‘Pundits’ kept Sanskrit scholarship alive in remote settlements as British control swept across India, a major new research project will show. The largely forgotten literary figures and their works – ranging from erotic plays to legal treatises – are neglected treasures of Indian intellectual achievement, argue Cambridge researchers. English speakers are familiar with the word ‘pundit’ but few know that it comes from the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning ‘learned’. Now a Cambridge University-led project is ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards announce 2025 Coach of the Year Award watch list

HOUSTON, Oct. 15, 2025 — Twenty-eight college football coaches make up the American Heart Association’s 2025 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award watch list, a list of current coaches in consideration for the annual top honor. The award is given each January to a college football coach for contributions that make the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity and a winning approach to coaching and life – both on and off the field. The American Heart Association, ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

‘Metabots’ shapeshift from flat sheets into hundreds of structures

Researchers have created a class of robots made from thin sheets of material that can snap into hundreds of stable shapes – allowing them to execute a wide variety of actions despite the fact that they have no motor and are made of a single, flat material. These “metabots” essentially resemble animated sheets of plastic, capable of moving around a surface or grasping objects. “We start out with simple polymer sheets that have holes into them, but by applying thin films to the surface of the polymer we’re able to incorporate ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

American Society of Anesthesiologists names Patrick Giam, M.D., FASA, new president

SAN ANTONIO — Patrick Giam, M.D., FASA, physician partner at U.S. Anesthesia Partners in Houston, assistant professor of clinical anesthesiology at the Houston Methodist Academic Institute, clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and adjunct clinical assistant professor of the Texas A&M School of Medicine was today named president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the nation’s largest organization of anesthesiologists. Dr. Giam assumed office at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2025 annual meeting and will serve ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

High-entropy alloy nanozyme ROS biocatalyst treating tendinopathy via up-regulation of PGAM5/FUNDC1/GPX4 pathway

Tendinopathy is a degenerative disease involving tendons, primarily caused by degenerative changes in the collagen fibers within the tendon. Current treatment methods for tendinopathy are diverse, including non-surgical and surgical approaches. Non-surgical treatments mainly consist of rest and immobilization, physical therapy, pharmacological interventions, and traditional Chinese massage, aiming to alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, promote tendon repair, and restore function. For patients with severe conditions or those unresponsive to conservative treatments, surgical interventions ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

New research shows a tiny, regenerative worm could change our understanding of healing

KANSAS CITY, MO — October 15, 2025 — Stem cells in most organisms typically take cues from adjacent cells. But new research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research reveals planarian stem cells ignore their nearest neighbors and instead respond to signals further away in the body. This discovery may help explain the flatworm’s extraordinary ability to regenerate — and could offer clues for developing new ways to replace or repair tissues in humans. The study, published in Cell Reports on October 15, 2025, and led by Postdoctoral Research Associate Frederick “Biff” ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Rising seas and sinking cities signal a coastal crisis in China

A team of scientists led by Rutgers researchers has uncovered evidence that modern sea level rise is happening faster than at any time in the past 4,000 years, with China’s coastal cities especially at risk. The scientists examined thousands of geological records from a number of sources, including ancient coral reefs and mangroves, which serve as natural archives of past sea levels. They reconstructed sea level changes going back nearly 12,000 years, which marks the beginning of the current geological epoch, the Holocene, which followed the last major ice age. Reporting in Nature, their findings show that since 1900, global ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Astrocytes are superstars in the game of long-term memory

Why are we able to recall only some of our past experiences? A new study led by Jun Nagai at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan has an answer. Surprisingly, it turns out that the brain cells responsible for stabilizing memories aren’t neurons. Rather, they are astrocytes, a type of glial cell that is usually thought of as a role player in the game of learning and memory. Published in the scientific journal Nature on Oct 15, the study shows how emotionally intense experiences like fear biologically ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

WSU study finds positive framing can steer shoppers toward premium products

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Consumers are more likely to choose a higher-priced item when it’s correlated with messages that emphasize an increase in the product’s positive attributes—rather than a reduction in its negative ones. When deciding between two products, consumers don’t just compare costs, they also respond to how the relationship between the cost and product attributes is described. A new Washington State University study shows that people perceive a stronger link between price and product attributes when the relationship is ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

A sacred leaf on trial: Scientists urge WHO to support decriminalizing coca

For thousands of years, people in the Andes have chewed the leaves of the coca plant to stave off hunger, treat altitude sickness, and sustain energy. Yet under international law, this ancient crop is treated as harshly as cocaine and fentanyl. Now, scientists say it’s time to end that contradiction. A new international perspective published in Science argues that scientific evidence clearly supports the coca leaf as a benign, useful, and culturally paramount crop plant that should be removed from the list of Schedule I substances – where it currently ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Researchers ‘zoom’ in for an ultra-magnified peek at shark skin

Have you ever wondered what makes shark skin so tough and sleek? It’s dermal denticles – tiny, tooth-like structures that cover a shark’s skin. Made of the same material as teeth and shaped like small scales with grooves, these microscopic armor plates aren’t just for show. Dermal denticles serve important roles in helping sharks glide effortlessly, and protect their skin, especially during mating. Although much is known, researchers still lack a full understanding of how dermal denticle shape changes across different parts of the shark’s body as it grows and if there are differences between ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Rain in the Sahara? UIC researchers predict a wetter future for the desert

The Sahara Desert is one of the driest areas in the world. It gets just 3 inches of precipitation per year — one-tenth of the amount of Chicago’s rain, sleet and snow. But by the second half of the 21st century, rising global temperatures could make the Sahara much wetter, according to UIC researchers. By that time, the North African desert could see 75% more precipitation than its historical norm, as reported in Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science. Under extreme climate conditions, rainfall is expected to increase in southeastern and south-central Africa, too, the researchers said. “Changing rainfall patterns will affect ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Epigenetic “scars”: Unveiling how childhood trauma affects our genes

Child maltreatment, which includes abuse and neglect, is one of the most serious public health concerns worldwide. These adversities leave a lasting impact on the emotional well-being, memory, and social development of affected individuals. The problem, however, reaches far beyond its psychological impact, affecting the brain and biological processes through genetic changes, which have remained unclear until now. A recent study led by Senior Asst. Professor Shota Nishitani and Professor Akemi Tomoda from the Research Center for Child Mental Development at University of Fukui, Japan, in collaboration with Professor Masataka Nagao from the Department of Forensic Medicine, Graduate School ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

‘How drunk do you feel?’: Ozempic, Wegovy may help reduce alcohol use, Virginia Tech researchers find

There’s mounting evidence that popular drugs prescribed for diabetes management and weight loss — better known by trade names like Ozempic and Wegovy — could be effective in reducing alcohol use. A study from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, released this month in Scientific Reports, found that these types of GLP-1 agonists slow the speed at which alcohol enters the bloodstream, which also slows the effects on the brain. “People who drink know there’s a difference between nursing a glass of wine and downing a shot of whiskey,” said Alex DiFeliceantonio, ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Hotter does mean wetter

Kyoto, Japan -- Around the world, we are already witnessing the detrimental effects of climate change, which we know will only become more severe. Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, tropical cyclones, and heat waves are projected to intensify, and this will negatively impact both human society and natural ecosystems. Assessing how climate change affects extreme weather is important not only from a scientific point of view, but also from a practical perspective. It is critical that we start adapting to climate change and mitigating the effects of potential disasters. This situation ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Anna Krylov and Mikhail Yampolsky are the new George Gamow award laureates

George Gamow® award, established by the Russian-American Association of Scientists (RASA-America, Russian-American Science Association) in memory of the outstanding Russian-American physicist, Professor Georgy Antonovich Gamow (1904-1968) and to encourage members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora for outstanding achievements recognized by the wider scientific community, for 2024 is awarded to: Anna Krylov, professor of the University of Southern California “For her pioneering contributions to theoretical and computational chemistry, particularly the development of novel electronic structure ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Methane from overlooked sources higher than predicted in Osaka

Methane is a greenhouse gas that is more than 25 times as potent as CO2 in warming the Earth. Reducing methane emissions is necessary to reduce the impact of global warming. In urban areas, evidence suggests that natural gas use and sewage treatment are responsible for generating methane. However, the extent of the contribution of other sources is unclear, especially in Japan. A research group led by Associate Professor Masahito Ueyama at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Agriculture measured methane and ethane concentrations ...

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Science15 Oct 2025

Photocatalytic olefin double bond cleavage acylation

Research groups led by Qing-Yuan Meng from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xiu-Long Yang from Hebei University recently reported a novel acylation reaction for photocatalytic cleavage of olefin double bonds. Using a metal-free continuous photoredox catalytic strategy, they achieved a tertiary amine-mediated acylation of aromatic olefins via carbon-carbon double bond cleavage under mild conditions, resulting in the synthesis of a series of α-aryl ketones. Through controlled experiments and theoretical calculations, they explored the reaction mechanism, including the cleavage of both the π and σ bonds of the olefins, ...

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