More frequent hot weather and droughts have dealt a significant blow to crop yields, especially for key grains like wheat, barley, and maize, according to a Stanford study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The analysis finds that warming and air dryness – a key factor in crop stress – have surged in nearly every major agricultural region, with some areas experiencing growing seasons hotter than nearly any season 50 years ago. The study also pointed to two important ways that models have missed the mark ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The hospitality industry can leverage the gender characteristics of service robots to influence customers’ decisions, according to new research from a team in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management. Service robots with characteristics typically associated with males may be more persuasive when interacting with women who have a low sense of power, according to the researchers. The team also found that “cute” features in the design of robots — such as big eyes and raised cheeks — may reduce the effect of portrayed robot gender on persuasiveness, as male and female ...

Electronic devices rely on materials whose electrical properties change with temperature, making them less stable in extreme conditions. A discovery by McGill University researchers that challenges conventional wisdom in physics suggests that bismuth, a metal, could serve as the foundation for highly stable electronic components. The researchers observed a mysterious electrical effect in ultra-thin bismuth that remains unchanged across a wide temperature range, from near absolute zero (-273°C) to room temperature. “If we can harness this, it could become important for green electronics,” said Guillaume ...

Drywood termites, the ones that hide in wooden structures, molt about seven times in their lives. UC Riverside researchers have found a chemical preventing them from growing new exoskeletons will also end their infestation of your home. The chemical, bistrifluron, and its ability to kill about 95 percent of a termite colony without off-target effects on mammals, are documented in a paper published in the Journal of Economic Entomology. “This chemical is more environmentally friendly than ones traditionally used for drywood termite infestations,” said Nicholas Poulos, corresponding author of the paper and a doctoral student in UCR’s Department of Entomology. ...

U of T Scarborough researchers have harnessed artificial intelligence (AI) and brain activity to shed new light on why we struggle to accurately recognize faces of people from different races.  Across a pair of studies, researchers explored the Other-Race-Effect (ORE), a well-known phenomenon in which people recognize faces of their own race more easily than others. They combined AI and brain activity collected through EEG (electroencephalography) to reveal new insights into how we perceive other-race faces, including visual distortions more deeply ingrained in our brain than previously ...

BALTIMORE, MD, May 6, 2025 – As communities across the U.S. continue grappling with public safety and police reform, a new study published in the INFORMS journal Management Science offers compelling evidence for a path forward: procedural justice training for police officers, backed by leadership support, can significantly improve officer behavior and strengthen community trust. “At a time when communities are calling for both safer streets and meaningful police reform, our findings offer an important starting point,” says Rodrigo Canales, lead author of the study and professor at Boston University. “When backed by leadership, ...

LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- About 240 miles long, Utah’s Wasatch Fault stretches along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains from southern Idaho to central Utah, running through Salt Lake City and the state’s other population centers. It’s a seismically active normal fault, which means it is a fracture in the Earth’s crust that has moved many times in the past. “Normal faults are observed along different tectonic systems, where the tectonic plates are moving apart,” says Utah ...

„Looking Through Objects. Women in Contemporary Polish Design” – exhibition at Design Museum Brussels The traveling exhibition spotlighting Polish women designers is making its way to Belgium. Opening on May 8 at Design Museum Brussels, Looking Through Objects brings together works of 16 creatives who have been shaping the evolving landscape of Polish design. The curatorial team behind the show includes Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, dean of Faculty Design at SWPS University in Warsaw, along with Gian Luca Amadei and Dario Lombardi.  A story of women shaping Polish ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. [May 6, 2025] — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) hosted an Oncology Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., today, focused on improving care coordination between primary care and oncology providers. The program featured a diverse group of patients, advocates, practitioners, and policy makers weighing in on how to improve cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and long-term survival. Elizabeth Fowler, PhD, JD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, former Deputy Administrator and Director of the Innovation ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—An online physician-led plant-based nutrition intervention program for patients with type 2 diabetes is practical, cost-effective, and successful at improving patient health, finds a new study by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. The program led to reductions in diabetes medications, body weight, A1C, and total and LDL cholesterol levels. “An abundance of research already shows that a plant-based diet is optimal for helping patients ...

Patients suffering from long COVID may exhibit persistent inflammation in the heart and lungs for up to a year following SARS-CoV-2 infection—even when standard medical tests return normal results—potentially placing them at elevated risk for future cardiac and pulmonary conditions. These findings come from a new study conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published April 30, in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The study, the largest of its kind using advanced PET/MRI imaging, discovered significant abnormalities in cardiovascular and pulmonary tissues, as well as altered levels of circulating immune-regulating proteins, ...

May 6, 2025 - Albert Einstein College of Medicine has announced the launch of a new Data Science Institute, a dynamic, state-of-the-art resource that will strengthen researchers’ ability to harness vast amounts of data to drive biomedical breakthroughs and innovations in scientific discovery and patient care. Mimi Kim, Sc.D., professor and head of the division of biostatistics in the department of epidemiology & population health and associate director of the Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore, has been named the institute’s inaugural director. With seed funding from a $7 million anonymous philanthropic gift, ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Half of U.S. adults say they know eating a plant-based diet can improve their health and help prevent chronic diseases, according to a new Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine/Morning Consult survey. However, the survey also showed that just 1 in 5 primary care practitioners discuss this lifesaving message with patients. The poll included 2,203 U.S. adults surveyed April 15 to April 16, 2025. Xavier Toledo, a registered dietitian with the Physicians Committee, a health advocacy group with 17,000 physician members, lauded the findings, which show most people recognize the health benefits of plant-based eating. “What’s missing,” ...

The modern Western-style diet—high in processed foods, red meat, dairy products, and sugar—alters the composition of the gut microbiome in ways that can have a huge impact on health. This dietary pattern, which is also low in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, reduces the variety of microbes in the digestive system and the metabolites they produce. This, in turn, increases risk for several immune system-related conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease. In new research published in Nature, ...

LOGAN, UTAH, USA  -- Exactly 100 years ago, famed Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (yes, the cat guy) postulated his eponymous equation that explains how particles in quantum physics behave. A key component of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's Equation provides a way to calculate the wave function of a system and how it changes dynamically in time. “Quantum mechanics, along with Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity are the two pillars of modern physics,” says Utah State University ...

Silver nanoparticles produced by the fungus Trichoderma reesei could become important allies in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Tests carried out on hamsters showed that they not only inhibited the infection but also reduced the viral load in the lungs, easing inflammation in the rodents. The study, supported by FAPESP, paves the way for the development of nasal sprays and other products to combat several viral diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, shingles and influenza. Silver nanoparticles ...

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Colorado Boulder used a gene-silencing tool and a large library of molecular guides to understand how photosynthetic bacteria adapt to light and temperature changes. They found that even partial suppression of certain genes yielded big benefits in modifying the stress response of wild microbes.   This powerful technique delivers a faster, more comprehensive way to influence microbial traits for biotechnology, providing more insights into gene functions than traditional genome editing and accelerating our ability to augment microbes to produce fuels, chemicals and materials, said ORNL’s Carrie Eckert. Scientists ...

RICHLAND, Wash. — Scientists at Washington State University have found a new way to produce sugar from corn stalks and other crop waste, potentially opening a new pathway to sustainable biofuels. Newly published in Bioresource Technology, their experimental process used ammonium sulfite-based alkali salts to convert corn stover—leftover corn stalks, husks, and other residues—into low-cost sugar for production of biofuels and bioproducts, making the process more economically feasible. "Inexpensive sugar is the key to commercial success for new technologies that make fuels and useful products from renewable biomass," ...

In the first comprehensive investigation into the trends of mental health diagnoses among children with public health insurance, a new study reports the percentage of mental health and neurodevelopmental disorder diagnoses increased substantially in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers from Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta used Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program claims data to analyze trends in mental health and neurodevelopmental ...

A new study from North Carolina State University researchers finds that conversion of forests to urban development or agriculture near streams can have harmful effects on water quality downstream, presenting both health concerns and raising the cost of water treatment. Using a model called the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, researchers mapped out the current and projected future effects of four land-use scenarios at 15 water intake locations across the Middle Chattahoochee watershed in Georgia and Alabama. By combining a series of potential socioeconomic outcomes and climate change models reaching out to 2070, researchers ...

Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, threads, and Linkedin          Below please find a summary of an editorial that will be published online at www.Annals.org. The summary is not intended to substitute for the full article as a source of information. ----------------------------        New CDC nPEP Guidelines should become ‘part of general medical practice’  Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-01885   A new commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine from Roy Gulick, MD, Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases ...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 – The triangle is a small instrument made of a metal rod bent into a triangle shape that is open at one corner. While small, its sound is distinct, with multiple overtones and nonharmonic resonance. But what causes the surprisingly powerful sound? “The triangle instrument produces enchanting and beautiful tones, raising deep and profound questions about the connection between music and physics,” author Risako Tanigawa said. “Optical sound measurement has only been applied to limited subjects until now. By observing the sound field of a triangle for ...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 – From bird flocking to fish schooling, many biological systems exhibit some type of collective motion, often to improve performance and conserve energy. Compared to other swimmers, manta rays are particularly efficient, and their large aspect ratio is useful for creating large lift compared to drag. These properties make their collective motion especially relevant to complex underwater operations. To understand how their group dynamics affect their propulsion, researchers from Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) and the Ningbo Institute of NPU, in China, modeled the motions of groups of manta rays, which they present in Physics of Fluids, by AIP ...

About The Study: In this study using data from retrospectively reported pregnancies from 3 longitudinal cohorts, all sexual minority groups had increased abortion use compared with completely heterosexual participants, and abortion use was heterogeneous; given the higher use of abortion among sexual minority populations, they are more likely to be disproportionately impacted by the narrowing of abortion access in the U.S. after the Supreme Court Dobbs decision. Future research is needed to understand the pathways that contribute to the unique abortion care needs of sexual minority ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults assigned male at birth, exposure to sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE) was associated with adverse cardiovascular health indicators, including elevated diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure, increased systemic inflammation, and higher odds of self-reported hypertension or high blood pressure. These findings underscore the need for public health and policy interventions to enforce ...