In the midst of the ongoing global biodiversity crisis, even the smallest habitats like ponds demand our attention. Fragmentation of these habitats—driven by human activities like urbanization, agriculture, and land-use changes—poses a significant threat to biodiversity. Often overlooked in conservation efforts, ponds serve as vital ecological hotspots, supporting diverse species and sustaining essential ecosystem processes. These waterbodies are home to various microbial communities that, despite their tiny size play an indispensable role in ecosystem functioning, acting ...

(Toronto, December 18, 2024) A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research has found that open-world video games can significantly improve relaxation and mental well-being among postgraduate students. Open-world games, known for their expansive environments and player autonomy, offer a form of cognitive escapism that helps players disconnect from daily stressors and enhance their mood. The study, a collaboration between researchers from Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and the University of Graz, Austria, used a mixed methods approach: they combined survey data from 609 players and in-depth interviews of 32 players. Popular titles like The ...

A study of more than 26,000 white dwarf stars has confirmed a long-predicted but elusive effect in these ultra-dense, dying stars: Hotter white dwarfs are slightly puffier than cooler ones, even when they have the same mass. The findings bring scientists one step closer to using these stellar objects as natural laboratories to probe the effects of extreme gravity and hunt for exotic dark matter particles. Details about the research, led by Johns Hopkins University, are published in The Astrophysical Journal. “White dwarfs are one of the best characterized stars that we can work with ...

There are over three billion specimens and cultural objects housed in natural history collections around the world—things like fossils, dried plants, and pinned insects. Close to forty million of them are at the Field Museum in Chicago, mostly behind the scenes in a vast library documenting life on Earth. These collections are used by scientists at the museum and around the world to explore what lived where and when and how living things have changed over time.  However, much of the information about these collections is hard to access, ...

Patients will be better able to benefit from innovations in medical artificial intelligence (AI) if a new set of internationally-agreed recommendations are followed.   A new set of recommendations published in The Lancet Digital Health and NEJM AI aims to help improve the way datasets are used to build Artificial intelligence (AI) health technologies and reduce the risk of potential AI bias.    Innovative medical AI technologies may improve diagnosis and treatment for patients, however some studies have shown that medical AI can be biased, meaning that it works well for some people and not for others. This means some individuals and communities may be ‘left ...

The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC), a pioneering worldwide initiative seeking to cure Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain health, today announced they will work with Janssen Research & Development, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company, and Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, two leading pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, to advance the assay validation of blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) for Alzheimer’s disease for global use in diverse populations. DAC, via its Global Cohorts Program, has enabled ...

Dr. Jwa Eunjin and her research team at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have achieved a significant breakthrough in clean energy technology. The team has successfully enhanced a crucial component of a bio-electrochemical cell, enabling more efficient hydrogen production from microorganisms found in waste. This advancement resolves longstanding power loss challenges in conventional processes, offering a transformative pathway toward large-scale, cost-effective hydrogen production. Biogas, a renewable ...

Asians, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics were significantly less likely than whites to use obesity-management medications to lower their weight compared with whites, new research suggests. The differences could not be fully explained by income or education level, health insurance coverage or clinical need. The study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, is one of the few to compare the use of obesity-management medications across racial and ethnic groups, and the first to consider ...

A review of 3,000 studies also suggests these minute plastic air particles may be causing male and female infertility. Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic into the air, creating a form of air pollution that UC San Francisco researchers suspect may be causing respiratory and other illnesses.   A review of some 3,000 studies implicates these particles in a variety of serious health problems. These include male and female infertility, colon cancer and poor lung function. The particles also may contribute to chronic pulmonary inflammation, ...

Smartwatches and fitness trackers have become ubiquitous forms of wearable tech, accompanying many people throughout their days (and nights). But they may expose the skin to so-called forever chemicals in the process. More expensive wristbands made from fluorinated synthetic rubber revealed particularly high amounts of one forever chemical, perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), according to a study published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters.   “This discovery stands out because of the very high concentrations of one type of forever chemical found in items that are in prolonged contact with ...

To guard against harmful waterborne pathogens, many consumers, including managers of health-care facilities, install antimicrobial silver-containing showerheads. But in ACS ES&T Water, researchers now report that these fixtures are no “silver bullet.” In real-world showering conditions, most microbes aren’t exposed to the silver long enough to be killed. However, the composition of rare microbes in water from these showerheads varied with each type of fixture tested. The stream of droplets and fine mist that form during a shower could be inhaled or swallowed. Installing showerheads ...

After participating in a global clinical trial, leaders at the Children’s Hospital Colorado (Children’s Colorado) Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and the University of Colorado Cancer Center are celebrating results so transformative, they change the standard of care for treating most kids with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. The new therapy is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy, resulting in significantly fewer side effects like severe infections, mouth sores and bone marrow suppression, ...

For roughly a century, ever since Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, fungi have proven to be a goldmine for medicines. They’ve provided treatments for a wide range of diseases, from infections and high cholesterol to organ rejection and even cancer. However, the process by which fungi synthesize some of their most potent compounds remains opaque. This is especially true of cyclopentachromone, a key building block in fungal products whose derivatives have shown promise in fighting cancer and reducing inflammation, among other medicinal properties. Reading Nature’s Instructions While chemists have made progress in creating ...

Mill Valley, CA – December 18, 2024 – The SynGAP Research Fund 501(c)(3) dba Cure SYNGAP1 announced a $108,867 grant to Dr. Michael Courtney and Dr. Li-Li Li at the Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku, Finland, to advance their research on SYNGAP1 missense variants. Their project seeks to better understand the functional impact of these mutations and explore drug repurposing as a potential therapeutic approach.  Dr. Courtney’s team will use advanced phenotyping techniques to assess how SYNGAP1 missense variants impact the protein’s ...

NEW YORK, NY (Dec. 18, 2024)--Women born in the most sexist U.S. states experience faster memory decline in later years compared to women born in the least sexist states, a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons has found.   The difference between being born in the most versus the least sexist state was equivalent to nine years of cognitive aging.  The study is one of a growing number of studies that have investigated links between structural sexism and health. Structural sexism, like structural racism, does not refer to personal incidences but to inequality in resources and power ...

To identify and follow blood vessel-related changes in the brain that contribute to cognitive impairment and dementia, researchers and clinicians typically rely on MRI to evaluate “downstream” biological markers – those at the end of a cascade of events. But a multicenter study led by UCLA researchers could lead to a cost-effective blood test to identify changes occurring near the top of the chain, potentially identifying at-risk patients at an earlier stage. “We studied a protein in the blood that is critical in the formation ...

Adding genetic testing to the evaluation of pediatric patients with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) resulted in more individualized care, including changes in medication, referrals to clinical trials or specialists, and surveillance for potential medical issues, according to a new UCLA Health study.   Children that present with neurodevelopmental differences, such as autism or global development delay, have high rates of co-occurring neuropsychiatric conditions, and almost half have an underlying genetic diagnosis. The current practice of relying on primary care doctors to refer patients to specialists can create delays in diagnoses and interventions for children ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – While large language models like ChatGPT can do well when choosing multiple-choice answers on financial licensing exams, they falter when dealing with more nuanced tasks. A Washington State University-led study analyzed more than 10,000 responses to financial exam questions by the artificial intelligence language models BARD, Llama and ChatGPT. The researchers asked the models to not only choose answers but also explain the reasoning behind them, then compared those text answers to those by human professionals. ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems tend to take on human biases and amplify them, causing people who use that AI to become more biased themselves, finds a new study by UCL researchers. Human and AI biases can consequently create a feedback loop, with small initial biases increasing the risk of human error, according to the findings published in Nature Human Behaviour. The researchers demonstrated that AI bias can have real-world consequences, as they found that people interacting with biased AIs became more likely to underestimate women’s ...

Supporters of research integrity have signed a new declaration calling for data-driven forensics – known as Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) – to lead the charge in detecting, exposing and even preventing fake science. The Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) Paris Declaration was drafted during an event in Paris last week organized and run by Digital Science’s VP of Research Integrity, Dr Leslie McIntosh. The event was hosted at Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) by Dr Guillaume Cabanac, research integrity “sleuth” and professor at the University of Toulouse, as part of his research chair titled ...

Artificial light can wake sleeping fish and attract predators, changing nighttime coral reef communities, according to new research using novel underwater infrared cameras. The study, published today in Global Change Biology, was conducted by an international team of scientists from the UK, France, French Polynesia and Chile and the first large-scale experiment to investigate the impact of light pollution on the nightlife of coral reefs. Lead author, Dr Emma Weschke, from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, ...

Just as some children physically resemble their parents, many scientists have long thought that developing planets should resemble the swirling disk of gas and dust that births them. But, in a new study, a Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists discovered the resemblance might be looser than previously thought. By studying a still-forming exoplanet and its surrounding natal disk, the researchers uncovered a mismatched composition of gases in the planet’s atmosphere compared to gases within the disk. The surprising finding potentially confirms long-held skepticism that scientists’ current model of planet formation is too simplified. The ...

A ground squirrel with cheeks stuffed with nuts, seeds or grains, is a common sight. But a new study provides the first evidence that California ground squirrels also hunt, kill and eat voles. The study, led by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of California, Davis, is the first to chronicle widespread carnivorous behavior among squirrels.  Published in the Journal of Ethology, the study fundamentally changes our understanding of ground squirrels. It suggests that what was considered a granivorous species actually is an opportunistic omnivore and more flexible in its diet than was assumed.  The observations occurred in 2024 — the 12th year of the Long-term ...

Diagnosing osteoarthritis often occurs in the late stages when cartilage degradation is severe, making it difficult to distinguish it from other types of arthritis and to determine the best treatment plan. In work published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, investigators have developed and tested a new diagnostic test that uses two markers found in the synovial fluid of patients’ joints. After assessing levels of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein and interleukin‐8, the team came up with an algorithm based on the ratio of these two markers and validated its efficacy in differentiating osteoarthritis from inflammatory arthritis in 171 human knee synovial ...

Among tree species in the Ecuadorian Amazon, investigators at the Universidad de las Américas, in Ecuador, found that 14% are critically endangered and 47% are endangered. The Plants, People, Planet study indicates that trees with smaller fruits face the greatest threats due to declines of specific animal species that disperse them. The findings reveal that the extinction risk for endemic trees is associated not only with extrinsic factors such as deforestation but also with complex relationships with other living organisms in their environment. “Thus, our results highlight the importance ...