Science
press releases.

Science19 Sep 2025

When metabolism provides more than fuel

Pregnant women rely on a balanced diet and supplements to deliver proper nutrients to their babies, to ensure they grow healthfully. Such nutrients contribute to fueling development and providing cellular building blocks that lead to healthy brains, bones, organs, and immune systems. While this kind of nutritional preparation helps during pregnancy, EMBL scientists found that metabolism – the way cells break down food into energy – during embryonic development does more than just provide energy and cellular building blocks for proper embryonic development. Metabolism has a surprising signalling element. And by modulating metabolism in a tailored fashion, they could ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

New research shows how plant roots bend and growth downward toward gravity

Scientists have uncovered how the plant hormone auxin helps roots bend and downwards towards gravity – a process called gravitropism - even after encountering obstacles in soil. Experts from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences and Shanghai Jiao Tang University (SJTU), identified how auxin activates a specific gene, which strengthens cell walls on the lower side of the root. This reinforcement prevents growth below while allowing cells above to expand, making the root bend downward. The findings have been published today in Science Advances. Root ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Sandia team creates X-ray images of the future

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in the late 1800s while experimenting with cathode ray tubes, it was a breakthrough that transformed science and medicine. So much so that the basic concept remains in use today. But a team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories believes they’ve found a better way, harnessing different metals and the colors of light they emit. “It’s called colorized hyperspectral X-ray imaging with multi-metal targets, or CHXI MMT for short,” said project lead Edward Jimenez, an optical engineer. Jimenez has been working with materials scientist Noelle Collins and electronics ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Inhaling cannabis may greatly increase your risk of getting asthma

Inhaling Cannabis May Greatly Increase Your Risk of Getting Asthma If you’re looking to reduce your chances of developing lung disease, say experts at UC San Francisco, then it may be smart to avoid inhaling cannabis. A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that inhaling marijuana every day is associated with a 44% increased chance of developing asthma. It also increased the odds of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by 27%. The COPD risk may be understated, since the disease takes decades to develop, and the researchers ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Modeling the impact of MMR vaccination strategies on measles outbreaks in Texas

About The Study: The findings of this study highlight the critical role of improving measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination coverage to prevent large-scale measles outbreaks, particularly in regions with declining immunization rates. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kaiming Bi, Ph.D., email kaiming.bi@uth.tmc.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.3992) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

How an ant’s nose knows

Ant societies are built on scent. Pheromones guide the insects to food, warn them of predators, and regulate the rhythms of their colonies. This chemical communication system is governed by a simple rule: one receptor, one neuron. Ant genomes contain hundreds of odorant receptor genes, each encoding a receptor tuned to specific chemicals. Were a neuron to express multiple receptors at once, the messages arriving in the brain would be scrambled, and the ant would lose its finely tuned sense of smell. Now, scientists working with the clonal raider ant have discovered the unique process ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

JMIR Publications announces expansion of members subscribed to Jisc Unlimited Open Access Partnership

(Toronto, September 19, 2025) JMIR Publications, a leading open-access digital health research publisher, and Jisc, the United Kingdom's not-for-profit organization providing digital services for research and education, are pleased to announce a significant expansion of their Flat-Fee Unlimited Open Access Partnership. Effective August 1, 2025, 6 new research institutions – the University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, University of Leeds, University of Southampton, and University of Warwick – have joined this collaborative ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

American Academy of Pediatrics hosts 2025 National Conference & Exhibition in Denver

AAP media contacts: Lisa Robinson, 630-626-6084, lrobinson@aap.org Alex Hulvalchick, 630-626-6282, ahulvalchick@aap.org American Academy of Pediatrics hosts 2025 National Conference & Exhibition in Denver Thousands of pediatric care providers and specialists will learn the latest in pediatric education, share research and attend seminars hosted by experts on infectious diseases, ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Stakeholders meet to discuss national peatland impact plans for Finland, Germany, Netherlands

Between 2nd and 10th September around 40 stakeholders involved in protecting and restoring peatlands and wetlands in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland joined a series of online workshops to develop impact plans that aim to influence policies and markets in each country, to scale up the restoration of degraded peatlands. The meetings were organised by the EU-funded research project WET HORIZONS, the UNEP’s Global Peatlands Initiative, Wetlands International, and Eurosite - the European Land Conservation Network, who are coordinating the European Peatlands Initiative. “The ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Consistent policy, not “patchwork” regulations, recommended for the coexistence of crops

Australian farmers face inconsistent guidelines when it comes to crop regulations across genetically modified (GM), organic and other crop frameworks, according to new research from the University of Adelaide. “Even though different sectors in Australian cropping regulate coexistence of both genetically modified and organic crops, they do so in different ways,” says lead researcher Michail Ivanov, whose review was published in Griffith Law Review. “For example, different standards or codes of conduct recommend different physical barriers or buffer zones between paddocks to ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

LEDs shed light on efficient tomato cultivation

Researchers including those from the University of Tokyo have successfully grown large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, both rich in nutrients, in tightly controlled environments where the light source was energy-efficient LEDs. Such methods were often limited by the types or sizes of plants that could thrive in such conditions. This feasibility study demonstrates the researchers’ method is suitable for urban environments, potentially even in space, and can offer food security in the face of climate change or extreme weather conditions. Pizza, pasta, soup, salad, the tomato ...

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Science19 Sep 2025

Bright squeezed light in the kilohertz frequency band

Bright squeezed light, exhibiting sub-shot-noise quantum noise combined with significant optical power, is essential for enhanced sensitivity in quantum metrology and precision measurement. In the deep application within the field, the squeezing must be extended to kHz–MHz bandwidth with milliwatt optical power. However, it remains a longstanding challenge to achieve this goal with conventional technologies, since they suffer from low-frequency technical noise and vacuum noise coupling, which caps ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Process for dealing with sexual misconduct by doctors requires major reform

The current process for managing sexual misconduct perpetrated by doctors in the UK requires major reform, say experts in The BMJ today. Mei Nortley and colleagues argue that sanctioning of doctors is inconsistent and overly reliant on subjective evidence and they call for a dedicated, evidence driven approach “that treats sexual misconduct by doctors not as a regulatory outlier, but as the grave abuse of trust it truly is.” They point to several recent high profile cases that have ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Early humans may have walked from Türkiye to mainland Europe, new groundbreaking research suggests

Continuous landmasses, now submerged, may have made it possible for early humans to cross between present-day Turkiye and Europe, new landmark research of this largely unexplored region reveals. The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, unveil a previously undocumented Paleolithic presence in Ayvalık and more importantly could redocument our species’ migration into the continent. It has long been thought that Homosapien reached Europe primarily coming via the Balkans and the Levant, from Africa into the Middle East. However, with this new discovery of 138 lithic artifacts at 10 sites, across a region ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Guangdong faces largest chikungunya outbreak on record

A new editorial in Biocontaminant reports that Guangdong Province is experiencing the largest outbreak of chikungunya fever ever recorded in China, with more than 4,000 confirmed cases since late July. Shunde District of Foshan alone has reported over 3,600 infections, and cases have also spread to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao. Chikungunya fever is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, the same vectors responsible for dengue and Zika. The disease, marked by fever and severe joint pain, does not spread directly between people, making mosquito control the key to prevention. “The outbreak reflects both the global spread of chikungunya and the favorable ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

So what should we call this – a grue jay?

Biologists at The University of Texas at Austin, who have reported discovering a bird that’s the natural result of a green jay and a blue jay’s mating, say it may be among the first examples of a hybrid animal that exists because of recent changing patterns in the climate. The two different parent species are separated by 7 million years of evolution, and their ranges didn’t overlap as recently as a few decades ago. “We think it’s the first observed vertebrate that’s hybridized as a result of ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Media alert: The global burden of CVD

JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, and the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation are hosting a UNGA side event to discuss data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study, the largest and most comprehensive source of health data with nearly 16,500 expert contributors in 168 countries. Speakers will present the most up-to-date data for 204 countries and territories, and discuss trends observed from 1990 to 2023 at the regional, national, and subnational levels. This work directly supports progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3.4, by equipping stakeholders ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

El Niño spurs extreme daily rain events despite drier monsoons in India

Although El Niño suppresses overall monsoon season rainfall across India, a new study finds that it also, counterintuitively, sharply increases the likelihood of extreme daily downpours in the country’s wetter regions. The findings suggest that the processes that drive this intensification may play an important role in driving extreme rainfall variability under climate change in other tropical locations. It’s long been known that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts a ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Two studies explore the genomic diversity of deadly mosquito vectors

Two of the world’s deadliest mosquito vectors – Aedes aegypti and Anopheles funestus – have evolved, spread, and adapted in ways that complicate global disease control, two studies show. The findings trace the human-linked origins of Ae. aegypti’s invasive lineage. They also reveal the rapid emergence of insecticide resistance in An. funestus. Collectively, they reveal the urgent need for more tailored and innovative interventions against malaria and dengue. Top of Form“Both [studies] provide important insights into the … the complex role that human activity, both passive and intentional, ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Zebra finches categorize their vocal calls by meaning

Zebra finches can not only distinguish the full range of their species’ vocalizations but also organize them by meaning, according to a new study. The results suggest a surprising level of semantic understanding in the birds. Many social animals use a rich repertoire of vocalizations to communicate their needs, emotions, and awareness of the environment. Researchers have long tried to decode these sounds – essentially the species’ “language” – by grouping them into call types based on how they sound, the situations in which they are used, and how other animals respond. However, it is unclear whether these ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Analysis challenges conventional wisdom about partisan support for US science funding

In the United States, Republican control of the House or presidency has often coincided with higher federal science appropriations, say Alexandar Furnas and colleagues in a Policy Forum. They base their findings – which challenge the conventional wisdom about partisan support for science – on an analysis of decades of U.S. science- and research-related appropriations data. “Overall, our findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between political control and federal science funding,” write the authors. “[The analysis] underscores the importance of framing science ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

New model can accurately predict a forest’s future

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — One of the great challenges of ecology is to understand the factors that maintain, or undermine, diversity in ecosystems, researchers write in a new report in the journal Science. The researchers detail their development of a new model that — using a tree census and genomic data collected from multiple species in a forest — can predict future fluctuations in the relative abundance of those species. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer led the new research with Andy Jones, a professor ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

With no prior training, dogs can infer how similar types of toys work, even when they don’t look alike

As infants, humans naturally learn new words and their associations—like the fact that forks are related to bowls because both are used to consume food. In a study publishing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on September 18, a team of animal behavior experts demonstrate that dogs can categorize objects by function, too. In a series of playful interactions with their owners, a group of Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs were able to distinguish between toys used for tugging versus fetching, even when the toys in question didn’t share any obvious physical ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Dogs can extend word meanings to new objects based on function, not appearance

BUDAPEST, Hungary — A new study publishing in Current Biology on September 18 by the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University reveals that dogs with a vocabulary of toy names—known as Gifted Word Learners—can extend learned labels to entirely new objects, not because the objects look similar, but because they are used in the same way. In humans, “label extension” is a cornerstone of early language development. In non-humans, until now, it had only been documented in few so-called language-trained individual animals, after years of intensive training in captivity. But ...

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Science18 Sep 2025

Palaeontology: South American amber deposit ‘abuzz’ with ancient insects

The first amber deposits in South America containing preserved insects have been discovered in a quarry in Ecuador, reports a paper in Communications Earth & Environment. The finding provides a snapshot of a 112-million-year-old forest on the supercontinent Gondwana, and presents new possibilities for studying a currently little-known ancient ecosystem. Amber (fossilised tree resin) samples have a wide date range, with the earliest dated to 320 million years ago, but there is a notable increase in the number of samples in the fossil record between 120 million and 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous era ...

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