Science
press releases.

Science9 Sep 2025

Achieving low resistance and high performance in MTJs using high-entropy oxides

A NIMS research team has developed a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) featuring a tunnel barrier made of a high-entropy oxide composed of multiple metallic elements. This MTJ simultaneously demonstrated stronger perpendicular magnetization, a higher tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio (i.e., the relative change in electrical resistance when the magnetization directions of the two ferromagnetic layers switch between parallel and antiparallel alignments) and lower electrical resistance. These properties may contribute to the development of smaller, higher-capacity and higher-performance hard disk drives (HDDs) and magnetoresistive random ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

NIH funds first-of-its-kind center to study resilience and aging

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – America’s population is the oldest it has ever been. And though older people are more independent than ever, they face a huge care gap, one that challenges families, communities and healthcare systems. Enter the Center for Seniors Uniting Nationwide to Support Health, INtegrated care, and Economics, known as the Center for SUNSHINE, an interdisciplinary collaboration funded by a $901,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for the first two years to establish the center, with the potential for up to six years of support. Co-led by the University of Maryland School of Public Health (UMD SPH) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Mesonephric carcinoma and mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma of the female genital tract

Mesonephric carcinoma (MC) is a rare cervical adenocarcinoma originating from mesonephric remnants, characterized by diverse architectural patterns and a distinct immunophenotype. A subset of adenocarcinomas in the endometrium and ovary with similar morphology but lacking association with mesonephric remnants is classified as mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma (MLA). This review synthesizes current knowledge on the clinicopathological and molecular features of MC and MLA, emphasizing their diagnostic challenges, differential diagnoses, and clinical behavior. Mesonephric Remnants and Hyperplasia Mesonephric remnants are vestiges of the Wolffian ducts, ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

No sign of toxic effects of inhaled anesthesia in young children

CHICAGO – Preliminary findings from a new clinical trial show no adverse neurodevelopmental effects after brief inhaled anesthesia and surgery in infants and young children, reports the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). A "balanced" strategy using a lower dose of the inhaled anesthetic sevoflurane did not lead to meaningful short-term differences in IQ or child behavior problems, according ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

High consumption of ultra-processed foods linked to systemic inflammation

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrially altered products – like soda, snacks and processed meats – packed with additives and stripped of nutrients. Hundreds of new ingredients, previously unknown to the human body, now make up nearly 60% of the average adult’s diet and almost 70% of children’s diets in the United States. These products reduce nutritional value, extend shelf life, and tend to increase how much people consume. In the U.S., UPFs account for about 60% of daily calorie ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Inside an academic scandal: a story of fraud and betrayal

In 2012 Max Bazerman, along with four coauthors, published an influential paper showing that “signing first”—that is, promising to tell the truth before filling out a form—produced greater honesty than signing afterward. In 2021, academic sleuths revealed that two of the experiments in the paper were fraudulent, triggering what would become one of the most significant academic frauds of the twenty-first century. In Inside an Academic Scandal, Bazerman tells the sobering story of how fraud in a published paper about inducing honesty upended countless academic careers, wreaked havoc in organizations ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Innovative ultrasonic regeneration restores nano-phase change emulsions for low-temperature applications

Phase change emulsions (NPCEs) have significant potential for energy storage and temperature regulation due to their high energy density and efficient heat transfer. However, in most conventional NPCEs, performance under low-temperature and shear conditions is often compromised, leading to droplet coalescence and instability. A team of scientists has developed a high-energy ultrasonic regeneration strategy that enables real-time restoration of NPCE performance without interrupting the operation cycle. Their work was published in the journal Industrial Chemistry & Materials on July 28. “We aim to develop a robust emulsion system that can withstand ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Finalists announced for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists

September 9, 2025 – New York – The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences today announced the Finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. The Awards recognize scientific advances made by researchers in the United States across the following disciplines: Life Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences & Engineering. Subra Suresh, ScD, Former Director of the National Science Foundation and current President of the Global Learning Council in Switzerland, will announce the three 2025 ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Scientists find curvy answer to harnessing “swarm intelligence”

Birds flock in order to forage and move more efficiently. Fish school to avoid predators. And bees swarm to reproduce. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have sought to mimic these natural behaviors as a way to potentially improve search-and-rescue operations or to identify areas of wildfire spread over vast areas—largely through coordinated drone or robotic movements. However, developing a means to control and utilize this type of AI—or “swarm intelligence”—has proved challenging. In a newly published paper, an international team of scientists describes a framework designed to advance swarm intelligence—by controlling flocking and ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

PALOMA-2 study: Subcutaneous amivantamab every 4 weeks plus lazertinib shows high response rate in EGFR-mutated NSCLC

(Barcelona, Spain--September 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM CEST / UTC +2)— A new analysis from the PALOMA-2 study presented today shows that subcutaneous administration of amivantamab every four weeks (Q4W), in combination with daily oral lazertinib, yields a high objective response rate in patients with previously untreated EGFR-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The results were presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC). In the fully enrolled Cohort 5 of the PALOMA-2 trial, the Q4W dosing regimen was shown to maintain similar efficacy compared ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Racial stereotypes can make us see weapons where they don’t exist

Unarmed Black civilians are three times more likely to be shot and killed by police officers than unarmed white civilians in the U.S. In tragic cases in recent years, unarmed Black men holding innocuous objects like a wallet, cell phone, or vape pen were killed by police officers because those objects were misidentified as weapons. These split-second fatal mistakes, often under ambiguous and stressful conditions, have sparked urgent debates about their causes and how to fix them. A new brain-imaging study from researchers at Columbia University ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

Graz researchers discover what stiffens the aorta

Cardiovascular diseases remain the most common cause of death worldwide. In Europe, they account for over 40 percent of all deaths. However, known risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or high blood pressure cannot fully explain the high mortality rate or the number of cardiovascular diseases. Scientists in Graz have now investigated a new factor that is closely linked to cardiovascular mortality. Elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood led to a stiffer and less elastic aorta in an animal model. These findings contribute to the current understanding ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

How evolution explains autism rates in humans

A new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, finds that the relatively high rate of Autism-spectrum disorders in humans is likely due to how humans evolved in the past. About one in 31 (3.2%) children in the United States has been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that around one in 100 children have autism. From an evolutionary perspective, many scientist believe that autism and schizophrenia may be unique to humans. ...

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Science9 Sep 2025

The older we get, the fewer favorite songs we have

Do you think that Spotify's suggestions for new music becomes stranger all the time? It may be because of you. In a unique study with researchers from University of Gothenburg, 15 years of listening data shows that musical taste becomes more refined with age. Music is a strong marker of identity – but what we listen to changes with age. The results may not be that surprising, but now there is scientific evidence for the first time through an analysis of how listening habits change over time. The international study from University of Gothenburg, Jönköping University and University of Primorska, ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Pre-conception radiation exposure from CT scans increases risk for miscarriage and birth defects

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 8 September 2025 Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

For video-on-demand platforms, release strategy matters: streaming episodes gradually boosts consumers’ searches, subscription rates

The market for video-on-demand platforms has grown rapidly in the last decade, with nearly 90% of U.S. households subscribing to a service, and most subscribers having four or more platforms. In this context, and as more than a third of U.S. subscribers cancel their subscriptions within short periods, retaining subscribers and maximizing engagement have become crucial to the industry. In a new study, researchers examined how the release strategy of shows—gradually or all at once—influences users’ engagement and subscription rates at a video-on-demand platform. The study found that each approach has its merits, but that gradually releasing shows boosts consumers’ ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Sleep strengthens muscle and bone by boosting growth hormone levels. Here's how

As every bodybuilder knows, a deep, restful sleep boosts levels of growth hormone to build strong muscle and bone and burn fat. And as every teenager should know, they won't reach their full height potential without adequate growth hormone from a full night's sleep. But why lack of sleep — in particular the early, deep phase called non-REM sleep — lowers levels of growth hormone has been a mystery. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Cell, researchers from University ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Scientists discover why the flu is more deadly for older people

Scientists have discovered why older people are more likely to suffer severely from the flu, and can now use their findings to address this risk. In a new study, which is published in PNAS, experts discovered that older people produce a glycosylated protein called apoplipoprotein D (ApoD), which is involved in lipid metabolism and inflammation, at much higher levels than in younger people. This has the effect of reducing the patient’s ability to resist virus infection, resulting in a more serious disease outcome. The team established that highly elevated ApoD production ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

The salmon superfood you’ve never heard of

In northern California, salmon are more than just fish—they’re a cornerstone of tribal traditions, a driver of tourism and a sign of healthy rivers. So it may not come as a surprise that NAU and University of California Berkeley scientists working along the region’s Eel River have discovered a micro-scale nutrient factory that keeps rivers healthy and allows salmon to thrive. The scientists’ new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals how a partnership ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

A new bystander effect? Aggression can be contagious when observing it in peers.

People who repeatedly observe aggression have a higher likelihood of engaging in violent behavior later in life. In a new JNeurosci paper, Jacob Nordman and colleagues, from Southern University of Illinois School of Medicine, used mice to explore the environmental factors and neural mechanisms that lead to the aggression that witnesses later acquire. In a behavioral paradigm created by this research group, mice observed known peers or unfamiliar strangers attack intruder mice. Only male witnesses later displayed increased aggression themselves, and this happened only after watching familiar peers attack intruders. What neural mechanism might be driving ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Young children are not the main drivers of language change

Theoretical study by Limor Raviv, Damian Blasi and Vera Kempe, argues that children are not likely to be the main force behind linguistic innovation. For more than a century, scholars have repeated a powerful idea: that the mistakes children make when learning to speak are the seeds of language change. From 19th-century linguist Henry Sweet’s famous claim that “if languages were learnt perfectly by the children of each generation, then languages would not change,” to contemporary studies, the notion that children drive language evolution has been ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Nicotine pouches may offer path to reduced tobacco harm, Rutgers study finds

As lawmakers and public health experts debate the safety of nicotine pouches, researchers from Rutgers Health found that for now, most adults that use these products also have a history of tobacco use and may be choosing these products as a possible step toward reducing or quitting more dangerous forms of nicotine delivery. The findings – believed to be the first national estimates of daily nicotine pouch use in the U.S. – were published in JAMA Network Open. Faced with declining cigarette sales, tobacco manufacturers in the U.S. are turning to tobacco-free nicotine ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Dr. Gianluca Ianiro wins a prestigious grant from the European Research Council (ERC)

The MicroRestore project, presented by Dr. Gianluca Ianiro, has been awarded one of the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants, intended for talented young scientists who have completed their doctoral studies (PhD) no more than seven years ago. Following a rigorous selection process and an in-person interview, an international panel of experts draws up a merit ranking that rewards scientific excellence. The ERC Starting Grant—worth €1.5 million and lasting five years—is a highly prestigious recognition, that had never before been awarded to a researcher from the Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli/Università ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

Seaweed snare: Sargassum stops sea turtle hatchlings in their tracks

Every year, sea turtles hatch on Florida’s beaches and make their way from the sand to the ocean – a critical journey that determines their chances of survival. As these hatchlings navigate obstacles such as artificial lights, beach debris and predators like birds and crabs, a new hazard looms. Sargassum seaweed washing up on Florida’s shores in record amounts is more than just a nuisance for beachgoers – it’s becoming a serious threat to vulnerable sea turtle hatchlings. While it’s long been known that obstacles on the beach can slow down hatchlings and put ...

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Science8 Sep 2025

EA5181 phase 3 trial finds no OS benefit for concurrent and consolidative durvalumab vs consolidation alone in unresectable stage 3 NSCLC

(Barcelona, Spain September 8, 2025, 10:45 a.m. CEST / UTC +2) — Treating patients who have stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with durvalumab concurrent with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and continuing as consolidation therapy did not improve overall survival compared to consolidation durvalumab alone, according to research presented today at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC). Consolidation durvalumab improves survival ...

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