DURHAM, N.H.—(November 22, 2024)—An archaeologist from the University of New Hampshire and her team have collected data which indicates the presence of a large-scale pre-Columbian fish-trapping facility. Discovered in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (CTWS), the largest inland wetland in Belize, the team dated the construction of these fisheries to the Late Archaic period (cal. 2000-1900 BCE), pre-dating Amazonian examples by a thousand years or more. “The network of canals was designed to channel annual flood waters ...

The South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR) is organizing the São Paulo Advanced School on Disordered Systems, which will take place between April 28 and May 9, 2025, in São Paulo city, Brazil, at the São Paulo State University’s Institute of Theoretical Physics (IFT-UNESP). One of the goals of the school is to reach a broad audience that includes students with a diverse background who are eager to receive systematic training on powerful theoretical methods and who also display a keen interest in complexity ...

While it’s well known that sleep enhances cognitive performance, the underlying neural mechanisms, particularly those related to nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, remain largely unexplored. A new study by a team of researchers at Rice University and Houston Methodist’s Center for Neural Systems Restoration and Weill Cornell Medical College, coordinated by Rice’s Valentin Dragoi, has nonetheless uncovered a key mechanism by which sleep enhances neuronal and behavioral performance, potentially changing our fundamental understanding of how sleep ...

USC has embarked on a collaboration with Autobahn Labs, an accelerator for early-stage drug discovery, to identify and advance cutting-edge scientific findings into new therapies - with a special focus on critical unmet medical needs. “Our collaboration with Autobahn Labs is a pivotal moment for our institution’s mission to bring academic innovations in drug discovery to market,” said Erin Overstreet, PhD, executive director of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, which manages a broad portfolio of university-owned intellectual ...

DETROIT — Wayne State University's Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases (CEID) is launching its participation in World AMR Awareness Week with an urgent message: the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance requires immediate community action, so it is critical to educate, advocate, and act now. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial agents. Because of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of spreading various diseases ...

University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have found a way to simultaneously mitigate three types of defects in parts produced using a prominent additive manufacturing technique called laser powder bed fusion.  Led by Lianyi Chen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UW–Madison, the team discovered the mechanisms and identified the processing conditions that can lead to this significant reduction in defects. The researchers detailed their findings in a paper published on November 16, 2024, in the International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture.   “Previous research has normally focused on reducing one type of defect, but that would ...

New Curtin University-led research has uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot water activity on Mars, revealing the planet may have been habitable at some point in its past.   The study analysed a 4.45 billion-year-old zircon grain from the famous Martian meteorite NWA7034, also known as Black Beauty, and found geochemical ‘fingerprints’ of water-rich fluids.   Study co-author Dr Aaron Cavosie from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the discovery opened up new avenues for understanding ancient Martian hydrothermal systems associated ...

In an era of dwindling glaciers, Southern Patagonia has managed to hold on to a surprising amount of its ice. But, A new study in Scientific Reports from INSTAAR postdoc Matthias Troch suggests that this protective effect might be pushed up against its limits soon. Before making predictions, Troch and his collaborators looked back in time. They used an equation that, when plugged into NASA’s ice-sheet and sea-level system model, simulated glacial dynamics for the past six millenia. The results showed that precipitation, not temperature, was the main culprit of glacier fluctuation during around 4,500, of the past 6,000 years, or 76 percent of the time. In ...

People’s preference for simple explanations of any situation is connected to their desire to execute tasks efficiently, finds a new study from the University of Waterloo. "These findings show that our preference for simpler explanations mirrors how we evaluate actions. Simplicity isn't just valued in explanations—it's part of how we think about achieving results efficiently," said Claudia Sehl, lead author and a PhD candidate in developmental psychology at Waterloo. Sehl collaborated with Waterloo developmental psychology professors Ori Friedman and Stephanie Denison on this study. They conducted seven experiments involving 2,820 ...

Most ants have two morphologically differentiated adult castes - queens and workers - each irreversibly specialized for either reproduction or nonreproductive altruism such as foraging, defense and care of maternal brood. Adult gynes (virgin queens) normally have higher body mass, wings and frontal eyes, as well as enlarged ovaries and a sperm storage organ. In contrast, workers are wingless females with smaller body size and degenerated reproductive tracts, usually without a sperm storage organ. In 1910, the American entomologist ...

Expectant mothers who maintain a diet that meets USDA dietary guidelines during pregnancy may be more likely to have infants with healthy birthweights, steadier growth patterns, and potentially a reduced risk of obesity later in childhood, according to a new study funded by the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program at the National Institutes of Health. The research, involving more than 2,800 mother-child pairs across eight ECHO Cohort Study Sites, suggests that following a healthy ...

Dynamic, reversible modifications of DNA and RNA regulate how genes are expressed and transcribed, which can influence cellular processes, disease development, and overall organismal health. Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are a common but overlooked group of guide RNA molecules that steer chemical modifications to cellular ribosomal RNA (rRNA) targets, like an usher showing someone to their seat in a theater. Researchers from the University of Chicago recently developed a new approach for identifying new cellular RNA targets of snoRNAs. ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, racial and ethnic disparities in early-onset (before 50 years of age) colorectal cancer mortality were evident, with the highest burden among Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic Black individuals. These results provide evidence of the role of social determinants of health in explaining these differences. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Maria Elena Martinez, PhD, email e8martinez@health.ucsd.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.46820) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: This serial cross-sectional study observed a significant decrease in positive reviews for health care facilities post-COVID. These findings underscore a disparity in patient experience, particularly in rural areas and areas with the highest proportions of Black and white residents.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Neil K. R. Sehgal, ME, email neilsehgal99@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.46890) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for ...

Tsukuba, Japan—Physical inactivity is the fourth leading mortality risk factor, following hypertension, smoking, and hyperglycemia. Therefore, acquiring an exercise habit is crucial to maintain and improve health. In Japan, Specific Health Guidance is provided to support the improvement of lifestyle habits, including exercise habits. To develop more efficient health guidance, it is important to identify factors that influence its effectiveness (e.g., characteristics and lifestyle of the target ...

Hydrogen is becoming an increasingly popular choice as we shift towards cleaner energy. It can be burned like traditional fuels, producing only water as a byproduct, and can generate electricity when used in fuel cells. However, as hydrogen production, use, and transportation increase, so do safety concerns. Hydrogen is highly flammable at concentrations as low as 4% and is odorless and colorless, making leaks challenging to detect. To address these concerns, researchers led by Professor Yutaka Majima from Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) have developed a sensor that detects hydrogen at ultra-low concentrations ...

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT, President Kim Byung-Suk) developed a smart monitoring system that applies digital sensing technology to maintain and manage small- and medium-sized aging bridges. This study was conducted as an international matching joint research funded by KICT, and established a foundation for technology diffusion to ASEAN countries through joint research with University of Transport and Communications (UTC) in Vietnam. In general, bridge maintenance monitoring technology is applied to long-span bridges such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges. This monitoring system consumes a lot of resources for design and installation, ...

Current researches show that the standard deviation of the cationic radii, configuration entropy, or maintenance of Ce4+ have a certain impact on the formation of single-phase HEFOs, but the discovered rules are only applicable to partially synthesized material systems and have significant limitations. Furthermore, the range of elements used in the synthesized materials is relatively narrow, which restricts the potential to fully exploit the advantages of high-entropy materials and their vast compositional space. “Inspired by the synthesized HEFOs and the stabilization mechanism ...

A research team at the University of Vienna, led by medicinal chemist Markus Muttenthaler, has developed a new class of oral peptide therapeutic leads for treating chronic abdominal pain. This groundbreaking innovation offers a safe, non-opioid-based solution for conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which affect millions of people worldwide. The research results were recently published in the international edition of the renowned journal Angewandte Chemie. An Innovative Approach to Pain Management Current medications used to treat chronic abdominal pain often rely on opioids. ...

The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) announces new appointments of cancer researchers to lead committees in its expansive scientific program. ECOG-ACRIN is at the forefront of research spanning the cancer care spectrum, from early detection to management of advanced disease. These impactful appointments, which are effective immediately, underscore the group’s commitment to wide-ranging cancer research excellence and premier professional opportunities for researchers.  Angela M. DeMichele, MD, MSCE, is chair of the Breast Cancer Committee, succeeding  ...

Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes’ gaze. The study, published Nov. 22 in Nature Neuroscience, found that a simplified artificial circuit, based on the architecture of this neuronal system, can predict activity in the network. In addition to shedding light on how the brain handles short-term memory, the findings could lead to novel approaches for ...

Penn Engineers have cooked up a new way to improve mRNA delivery, developing an optimal “recipe” for ionizable lipids — key ingredients in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the molecules behind the COVID-19 vaccines and other innovative therapies. The method, described in Nature Biomedical Engineering, mirrors the iterative process of developing a culinary dish and may lead to safer, more effective mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. Just as a chef perfects a dish by experimenting with flavors and textures, the researchers used an iterative process, testing variations to find the ideal structure ...

The global production of semiconductors is growing rapidly and with it the demand for primary products, especially crystalline silicon. However, its production is very energy-intensive and only half of the raw silicon used is actually utilised. This leads to large quantities of waste. In the Christian Doppler Laboratory for New Semiconductor Materials Based on Functionalized Hydrosilanes, which opened today, a team led by laboratory manager Michael Haas from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) is carrying out research on alternatives. Funded by the Austrian Ministry of Economics and Labour, the researchers are working with ...

Children’s books are full of animal characters whose antics capture the hearts and inspire the imaginations of their young readers. However, a new study has shown that iconic characters such as Peter Rabbit – or Toad and Ratty from The Wind in the Willows – can also play an important role in children’s psychological development. The research explored the extent to which different non-human characters influence children’s theory of mind skills, which include the ability to read and predict social changes in the environment through tone of voice, choice of words, or facial expression. For ...

The ITER vacuum vessel sectors, manufactured in South Korea, have been successfully delivered to the ITER construction site in Cadarache, France. South Korea was responsible for manufacturing 4 out of the 9 sectors that make up the ITER vacuum vessel. Starting with the delivery of the first sector in 2020, South Korea has now completed all four sectors, fulfilling its commitment to this significant international project. The ITER vacuum vessel is a key component that sustains the ultra-high-temperature plasma required for nuclear fusion reactions by maintaining a high-vacuum environment. This large structure weighs 5,000 tons and consists of 9 sectors and ...