The international study, co-authored by the Department of Sociology and the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science’s Dr Aashish Gupta and Professor Ridhi Kashyap, reveals that life expectancy in India suffered large and unequal declines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, mortality across India was 17% higher in 2020 compared to 2019, implying 1.19 million excess deaths in India. This extrapolated estimate is about eight times higher than the official number of COVID-19 deaths in India, and 1.5 times higher than the World Health Organization’s estimates. Ridhi ...

A new study conducted by the Centre for Urban Mental Health at the University of Amsterdam finds that, in a sample of 156,000 UK residents aged 40 and up, urban living is linked to lower levels of well-being, social satisfaction, and economic satisfaction. Urban residents also exhibit greater psychological inequality. The study identifies a ‘Goldilocks zone’ between cities and rural areas, where the highest satisfaction and most equal scores are observed. The percentage of people living in cities has surged from 10% in the 1910s to a projected 68% by 2050. This shift means ...

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are having a positive spillover effect, producing more “trophy-size” fish just outside of the fully protected areas, and the effect is growing stronger over time. That’s according to research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa scientists at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) published today in Science Advances. The research provides the first global assessment of the benefits of MPAs. “Trophy-size” refers to fish that are exceptionally long or heavy and are considered a rare, ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Understanding how soft materials fail under stress is critical for solving engineering challenges as disparate as pharmaceutical technology and landslide prevention. A new study linking a spectrum of soft material behaviors — previously thought to be unrelated — led researchers to identify a new parameter they call the brittility factor, which allows them to simplify soft material failure behavior. This will ultimately help engineers design better materials that meet future challenges. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Simon Rogers and graduate student Krutarth Kamani specialize ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The world around us is constantly being flash photographed by adaptive radar systems. From salt flats to mountains and everything in between, adaptive radar is used to detect, locate and track moving objects. Just because human eyes can’t see these ultra-high frequency (UHF) ranges doesn’t mean they’re not taking pictures. Although adaptive radar systems have been around since World War II, they’ve hit a fundamental performance wall in the past couple of decades. But with the help of modern AI approaches and lessons learned from computer vision, researchers at Duke University have broken through that wall, and they want to bring everyone ...

University of Delaware and Argonne National Laboratory have come up with a chemical reaction that can convert Styrofoam into a high-value conducting polymer known as PEDOT:PSS. In a new paper published in JACS Au, the study demonstrates how upgraded plastic waste can be successfully incorporated into functional electronic devices, including silicon-based hybrid solar cells and organic electrochemical transistors. The research group of corresponding author Laure Kayser, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in ...

Leading health equity researcher Darrell Hudson, MPH ‘05, PhD ‘09, has been named chair of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His appointment for a five-year term, effective August 26, 2024, was approved by the University of Michigan Board of Regents this week. “Dr. Hudson has solidified his national reputation as a leading health equity scholar, making impactful research contributions through rigorous, interdisciplinary, and innovative scholarship,” said F. DuBois Bowman, dean of Michigan Public Health. “His research is timely ...

LAWRENCE — Around the globe, communities at risk from repeated flooding due to climate change face stark decisions. Some communities in peril of flooding may resolve, or be urged, to relocate to a safer location — something known as “managed retreat.” In the United States, flood-prone communities in coastal states like Louisiana and Alaska already have commenced managed retreat inland.  “It's retreating from risk, and we hope to provide decision support for the equitable implementation ...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University was awarded a $3.3 million grant (#R01DA057931) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to examine the genetic mechanisms that underlie fentanyl addiction.   In 2022, fentanyl overdose was the leading cause of death for U.S. adults aged 18 to 45, according to Families Against Fentanyl (2023).   “This alarming statistic highlights the urgent need to understand why some people are more susceptible to fentanyl addiction,” ...

By Leah Shaffer Amyloid-beta (A-beta) aggregates are tangles of proteins most notably associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Despite its constant stint in the limelight, however, researchers have been unable to get a good understanding of how A-beta comes together and breaks apart. “The way A-beta behaves in a variety of environments, including the human brain, is elusive,” said Brian Sun, an electrical systems and engineering alumnus of Washington University in St. Louis who is now an MD/PhD student in the School of Medicine. “There’s an understanding of growth and decay that isn’t ...

New dawn for space storm alerts could help shield Earth's tech Royal Astronomical Society press release RAS PR 24/22 (NAM 8) For immediate release   Space storms could soon be forecasted with greater accuracy than ever before thanks to a big leap forward in our understanding of exactly when a violent solar eruption may hit Earth. Scientists say it is now possible to predict the precise speed a coronal mass ejection (CME) is travelling at and when it will smash into our planet – even before it has fully erupted from ...

In 10 years, solid-state batteries made from rock silicates will be an environmentally friendly, more efficient and safer alternative to the lithium-ion batteries we use today. Researcher at DTU have patented a new superionic material based on potassium silicate - a mineral that can be extracted from ordinary rocks. It is the battery in your electric car that determines how far you can drive on one charge and how quickly you can re-charge. However, the lithium-ion battery, the most widely used electric car battery today, has its limitations— in terms of capacity, safety and also availability. ...

About The Study: In this nested case-control study, completing fecal immunochemical test was associated with a lower risk of overall death from colorectal cancer, particularly in the left colon, and the associations were observed across racial and ethnic groups. These findings support the use of fecal immunochemical test in population-based screening strategies.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Chyke A. Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H., email chyke.doubeni@osumc.edu. To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: Oral corticosteroid use of more than 90 days per year among individuals with atopic dermatitis was associated with a small increased risk of composite adverse outcomes in this large population-based case-control study. Future investigations are warranted to confirm this potential risk of adverse events (AEs) associated with long-term use of oral corticosteroids for patients with exacerbations of atopic dermatitis, and health care professionals should thoroughly weigh the benefits associated with oral corticosteroids ...

About The Study: In this randomized crossover trial of diagnosing solid lesions in the pancreas with or without artificial intelligence (AI) assistance, the joint-AI model demonstrated positive human-AI interaction, which suggested its potential to facilitate a clinical diagnosis. Nevertheless, future randomized clinical trials are warranted. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Aiming Yang, M.D. (yangaiming@medmail.com.cn) and Bin Cheng, M.D. (b.cheng@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.22454) Editor’s ...

Could nature and climate anxieties predict future social behaviours, in the same way that consumer sentiment predicts purchasing and investment?    The suggestion is made in the Cell Press journal One Earth, by Griffith University’s Professor Emeritus Ralf Buckley, in a preview of an article led by Professor Thomas Pienkowski in the UK.    Professor Buckley said the international Global Burden of Disease Study had shown that anxiety and depression were widespread and worsening.   “Economic costs are up to 16% of global GDP, with 19 days per year on average lost ...

Researcher Samantha Boch has studied the impact of incarceration on child and family health for more than a decade. Her latest research examines the health records and health care use of youth, individuals under age 21, who likely have been involved or whose families have been involved in the justice system. The challenge was identifying youth who have been impacted by mass incarceration, as most health care systems don’t routinely ask about incarceration. Families may not disclose that information due to stigma, fear of child protective services involvement, ...

A cutting-edge study revolutionizes coastal wetland mapping by integrating unmanned aerial systems with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and multispectral sensors. This innovative approach provides detailed elevation data and vegetation analysis, enabling highly accurate classifications of diverse wetland types. The research advances conservation by offering a scalable, efficient, and cost-effective method that is instrumental in climate change mitigation strategies and informs policy-making for coastal resilience. Coastal wetlands, situated at the junction of land and water, are vital ecosystems known for their high productivity. They play a key role in carbon ...

New evidence of human occupation in southeast Indonesia dating back 42,000 years offers fresh clues on the route taken by some of the first humans to arrive in our region, according to a study from The Australian National University (ANU).  Lead author and ANU PhD candidate Hendri Kaharudin said the location of the discovery -- at Elivavan on Indonesia’s Tanimbar islands -- makes it especially significant.   “Tanimbar is located just off the ‘Sahul shelf’, which encompasses modern-day Australia, as well as New Guinea,” he said.  “The question ...

The human body hosts a diverse array of microorganisms that maintain a delicate balance crucial for overall health. This microbial harmony can be disrupted by factors like infections, aging, and hormonal changes, leading to dysbiosis—a condition where microbial communities become imbalanced and harmful to health. Postmenopausal women, for instance, are particularly susceptible to recurrent urinary tract infections and inflammation, including cystitis, due to these microbial shifts. Dr. Takanori Sekito from the Department of Urology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan explains, “In postmenopausal women, the vaginal flora changes ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chemists have been working to synthesize high-value materials from waste molecules for years. Now, an international collaboration of scientists is exploring ways to use electricity to streamline the process. In their study, recently published in Nature Catalysis, researchers demonstrated that carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, can be converted into a type of liquid fuel called methanol in a highly efficient manner.  This process happened by taking cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) molecules and spreading them evenly on carbon nanotubes, graphene-like tubes that have unique electrical properties. On their surface was an electrolyte ...

South Korean researchers are revitalizing the nation's world-class cultural heritage through digital transformation. By collaborating with museums, they are bringing the rich history and culture of Korea to life using AI-based technology development. Since 2020, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and the National Museum of Korea have been working together under a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism R&D project to develop and demonstrate key technologies for the digital transformation of Korean cultural heritage. The two institutions have been applying ...

When it comes to helping patients with high blood pressure get their hypertension under control, a new Tulane University study finds that pharmacists and community health workers have the best success rates. The study, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, analyzed data from 100 hypertension trials around the world and compared blood pressure reductions by the type of healthcare professionals who led the interventions. While interventions led by nurses, physicians and multiple healthcare professionals still significantly reduced blood pressure for patients, pharmacists achieved the greatest improvements, followed ...

Direct air capture was identified as one of the ‘Seven chemical separations to change the world’. This is because although carbon dioxide is the main contributor to climate change (we release ~40 billion tons into the atmosphere every year), separating carbon dioxide from air is very challenging due to its dilute concentration (~0.04%). Prof Ian Metcalfe, Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies in the School of Engineering, Newcastle University, UK, and lead investigator states, “Dilute ...

New research led by Oregon Health & Science University reveals a promising approach to developing a universal influenza vaccine — a so-called “one and done” vaccine that confers lifetime immunity against an evolving virus. The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, tested an OHSU-developed vaccine platform against the virus considered most likely to trigger the next pandemic. Researchers reported the vaccine generated a robust immune response in nonhuman primates that were exposed ...