Science
press releases.

Science22 Aug 2025

World’s first observation of the transverse Thomson effect

For the first time in the world, a joint research team from NIMS, Nagoya University and The University of Tokyo has successfully observed the transverse Thomson effect—a phenomenon in which metals or semiconductors release or absorb heat when a heat current, charge current and magnetic field are applied orthogonally to each other. This achievement may contribute to advances in physics and materials science related to the conversion between heat, electricity and magnetism, as well as to the development of new thermal management technologies. The research was published in Nature ...

Read the release

Science22 Aug 2025

Mapping fat: How microfluidics and mass spectrometry reveal lipid landscapes in tiny worms

Understanding how fat molecules are distributed and function in living organisms is key to uncovering mechanisms of aging, disease, and metabolism. Caenorhabditis elegans, a transparent roundworm, is a widely used model for studying fat storage due to its genetic similarity to humans and well-defined anatomy. However, visualizing lipids at high resolution in such a small organism has posed a major technical challenge. A research team at Okayama University, Japan, led by Professor Masazumi Fujiwara and his PhD student Ms. Sara Mandic, in collaboration with Professor Ron M. A. Heeren of ...

Read the release

Science22 Aug 2025

Researchers develop an innovative method for large-scale analysis of metabolites in biological samples

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 10 AM BST / 5 AM ET FRIDAY 22 AUGUST 2025 Researchers develop an innovative method for large-scale analysis of metabolites in biological samples More images available via the link in the notes section Researchers from the McCullagh Group in Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry have published an innovative method in Nature Protocols today (22 August) that provides comprehensive analysis of metabolites found in cells, tissues and biofluids. The new method delivers a step-change in capability for analysing highly polar and ionic metabolites. The innovation comes from using anion-exchange chromatography ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Fresh twist to mystery of Jupiter's core

The mystery at Jupiter's heart has taken a fresh twist – as new research suggests a giant impact may not have been responsible for the formation of its core. It had been thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of Jupiter's core material could have mixed up the central region of the gas giant, enough to explain its interior today. But a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests its make-up is actually down to how the growing planet absorbed heavy and light materials as it formed and evolved. Unlike what scientists ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Data-driven designs to improve prosthetic legs

Researchers have developed a new, data-driven way of fitting prosthetic legs which could lead to better fitting prosthetics, in less time and at a lower cost. The technology has been developed by Radii Devices and the University of Southampton, and the results of an NHS trial have been published today [22 August 2025] in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology. The study shows that below-the-knee prosthetic limbs designed using the new approach were as comfortable on average as those created by highly skilled prosthetists, but with more consistent results. Crucially, the new method generates a basic ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Under or over? The twists and turns of genetic research

Under or over? The twists and turns of genetic research DNA is a molecule that can get twisted and tangled - a process that must be closely regulated A research team has developed an automated technique to visualise and measure DNA tangles Technique is so precise it can tell if one DNA segment passes under or over another At school, it’s often presented as a tidy double helix but scientists are revealing the varied and intricate shapes of DNA molecules. DNA is a molecule found in just about every living cell. Because the molecule is long, it ends up twisting on itself and getting tangled. Enzymes in the body try to regulate this process but when that ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Moisture changes the rules of atmospheric traffic jams

New research from Purdue University reveals how moisture influences atmospheric blocking, a phenomenon that often drives heat waves, droughts, cold outbreaks and floods, helping solve a mystery in climate science and improving future extreme weather predictions. The study, titled "Blocking Diversity Causes Distinct Roles of Diabatic Heating in the Northern Hemisphere," was published in Nature Communications. Zhaoyu Liu, a PhD student in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, and Lei Wang, an assistant professor in ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

The “Mississippi Bubble” and the complex history of Haiti

Cambridge, MA – Many things account for Haiti’s modern troubles. A good perspective on them comes from going back in time to 1715 or so — and grappling with a far-flung narrative involving the French monarchy, a financial speculator named John Law, and a stock-market crash called the “Mississippi Bubble.” To condense: After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, France was mired in debt following decades of war. The country briefly turned over its economic policy to Law, a ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Extinct human relatives left a genetic gift that helped people thrive in the Americas

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study provides fresh evidence that ancient interbreeding with archaic human species may have provided modern humans with genetic variation that helped them adapt to new environments as they dispersed across the globe. The study, published in Science, focused on a gene known as MUC19, which is involved in the production of proteins that form saliva and mucosal barriers in the respiratory and digestive tracts. The researchers show that a variant of that gene derived from Denisovans, an enigmatic species of archaic humans, is present in modern Latin ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

The rise of plant life changed how rivers move, Stanford study shows

A new Stanford study challenges the decades-old view that the rise of land plants half a billion years ago dramatically changed the shapes of rivers. Rivers generally come in two styles: braided, where multiple channels flow around sandy bars, and meandering, where a single channel cuts S-curves across a landscape. Geologists have long thought that before vegetation, rivers predominantly ran in braided patterns, only forming meandering shapes after plant life took root and stabilized riverbanks. The new study, which will be published online by the journal Science on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, suggests the theory that braided rivers ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Zoo populations hold key to saving Pacific pocket mouse

CONTACT: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Public Relations 619-685-3291 publicrelations@sdzwa.org sdzwa.org PHOTOS AND VIDEO: https://sandiegozoo.box.com/s/mu2h8bea811yx58oq11fs4q8l3binow8 SAN DIEGO (Aug. 21, 2025) – Endangered Pacific pocket mice, native to Southern California, were once thought to be extinct until a tiny remnant population was rediscovered in the mid-1990s. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance established a conservation breeding and reintroduction program to save the species from extinction. Though there has been significant success with breeding and reintroduction, the species is ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Metalens evolution: From individual devices to integrated arrays

The research group of Prof. Din Ping Tsai from City University of Hong Kong was invited to publish a review article titled “Progress in Metalenses: From Single to Array” in the first issue of Opto-Electronic Technology in 2025. The article provides a structured overview of recent developments in metalenses, with a focus on the gradual transition from single-device optimization to system-level integration based on increasing structural complexity. The article first reviews the long-standing challenges in metalens research, such as broadening the achromatic bandwidth and increasing the aperture size, and highlights representative studies and key breakthroughs in these areas. In ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Advancing disaster response with the EBD dataset

A new dataset, the Extensible Building Damage (EBD) dataset, offers significant improvements in disaster response mapping by combining satellite imagery and deep learning techniques. This dataset, covering 12 natural disasters, uses semi-supervised fine-tuning (SS-FT) to reduce the time and effort traditionally required for manual damage labeling, speeding up disaster recovery efforts globally. Building damage assessments (BDA) are crucial for post-disaster recovery, as they help in identifying areas most in need of urgent assistance. However, current BDA methods suffer from slow dataset development, largely ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

New RP-HPLC method for orlistat analysis validated

A recent study published in Current Pharmaceutical Analysis introduces a robust and validated reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the analysis of orlistat, a widely used anti-obesity drug. The method, developed by researchers from KIET School of Pharmacy in India, ensures accurate quantification and is fully compliant with International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines. The research team, led by Kandasamy Nagarajan, optimized the chromatographic conditions to achieve high sensitivity and precision. "Our method uses an XBridge C8 column and acetonitrile as the mobile phase, providing sharp peaks ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

New era in transthyretin amyloidosis: From stabilizers to gene editing

Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is caused by the misfolding and aggregation of the transthyretin (TTR) protein, leading to multi-organ damage. Two main forms exist: hereditary ATTR (ATTRv), linked to TTR gene mutations, and wild-type ATTR (ATTRwt), associated with aging. Historically underdiagnosed, ATTR carried poor prognoses, particularly in advanced cardiac or neuropathic disease. However, the past decade has seen unprecedented therapeutic advances. Diagnostic Advances Enable Earlier Intervention Improved detection ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

One catalyst, two reactions: Toward more efficient chemical synthesis

Most of the drugs, plastics, and industrial materials widely used today are produced through chemical reactions. In general, most high-performance and sophisticated substances have complex structures, and their assembly involves multiple chemical reaction steps carried out one after another. This creates significant overhead, as each step requires specific conditions, reagents, and catalysts, as well as considerable energy and labor. Tandem reactions offer a promising solution to this issue. The ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Vaginal estrogen tablets may be safe for postmenopausal women who have had a stroke

Research Highlights: Hormone replacement therapy using vaginal estrogen tablets was not associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke for postmenopausal women who have already had a stroke, according to a data analysis from a health registry in Denmark. This is one of the first studies to analyze the risk of recurrent stroke for postmenopausal women using vaginal estrogen. Embargoed until 4 a.m. CT/5 a.m. ET, Thursday, August 21, 2025 DALLAS, August 21, 2025 — Using vaginal estrogen ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Gene sequencing uncovers differences in wild and domesticated crops

With climate change and more frequent extreme weather events, researchers predict that global yields of important crops like maize, rice, and soybeans could decline by 12 to 20% by the end of the century. To prepare, plant scientists are hoping to find ways to improve yields and grow hardier varieties of these crops. New insights into the genetic makeup of wild varieties of common crops show how domestication has changed crop traits over time and propose a new cultivation method to improve genetic diversity. The research was shared in a paper published in Life on July 11. “While domesticated species have originally been bred by cultivating wild species, the resulting reduction in genetic ...

Read the release

Science21 Aug 2025

Nostalgia is an asset in company acquisitions

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- When companies are acquired, conventional wisdom suggests that employee nostalgia for their pre-buyout days is a problem to be eliminated so workers can more quickly adapt to the new owners’ ways of doing business. A new study published in the journal Strategic Organization led by UC Riverside School of Business professors Boris Maciejovsky and Jerayr Haleblian suggests this thinking is wrong—especially when the new owners want to retain the most talented, productive, and informed workers. Nostalgia, they found, serves as a comforting and stabilizing force during takeover periods, when employees feel vulnerable, fear ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

Menopause misinformation is harming care, warn experts

Many direct to consumer menopause services are unnecessary and do not improve care, warn experts in The BMJ today. They argue that the sharp rise in commercial services for women seeking relief for menopausal symptoms raises concerns about the reliability and potential commercial bias of the information, and that symptoms are best assessed by a thorough clinical history with treatment decisions guided by clinical response and patient preferences. One of the most troubling trends arising from this surge is the promotion of routine ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

Companies may be misleading parents with “outrageous claims” about banking baby teeth

Parents are spending thousands of pounds to bank stem cells from their children’s milk teeth – but the recipient companies’ claims about their future medical value are unproven and potentially misleading, reveals an investigation by The BMJ, published today. The companies’ claims include that stem cells banked from teeth are already being used in treatments for autism and diabetes. They also highlight current research using stem cells in multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and heart attacks. Tooth stem cell ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

Tissue origami: Using light to study and control tissue folding

The complex 3D shapes of brains, lungs, eyes, hands, and other vital bodily structures emerge from the way in which flat 2D sheets of cells fold during embryonic development. Now, researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a novel way to use light to influence an animal's own proteins in order to control folding in live embryos. These new findings, detailed Aug. 18 in Nature Communications, may one day lead to a host of applications in biorobotics and medical research. "Being able to precisely control the shape of folds in tissue sheets ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

AABB updates transfusion standards after another massive Carson study

Jeffrey Carson spent more than a decade persuading hospitals that fewer, resource-saving blood transfusions work just as well as more frequent transfusions for most patients. More recently, the Rutgers internist finished a massive study that indicates a major exception to the rule: anemic heart attack patients. That work, published in late 2023 in the New England Journal of Medicine and reinforced by a combined analysis of patients from several studies this past winter, underpins a just-published recommendation from the Association for the Advancement of ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

UCF researcher helps confirm genetic restoration success for Florida panthers

In 1995, scientists translocated eight Texas pumas into Florida in a genetic restoration effort to save the only viable puma population east of the Mississippi from extinction, the Florida panther. The move raised concerns about harmful mutations and genetic swamping — or loss of unique traits. However, a recent study co-authored by UCF Assistant Professor of Biology and Genomics and Bioinformatics faculty cluster member Robert Fitak, found that since the introduction, genetic variation has significantly improved; unique traits have been retained; and harmful mutations, while still present, are largely masked by the restored ...

Read the release

Science20 Aug 2025

Updated lab guide equips researchers with modern tools to identify plant pathogens

A trusted and essential resource for more than four decades, Laboratory Guide for Identification of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria returns in a fully updated fourth edition. This guide remains the most authoritative reference for plant pathologists, diagnosticians, and students who need to accurately identify bacterial plant pathogens using both conventional and cutting-edge methods. Each chapter is authored by leading experts and provides a holistic, comprehensive overview of the genus or genera, including characteristics useful for identification, isolation techniques, and molecular, ...

Read the release