RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Gravitational Waves, ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein almost a century ago, were detected for the first time in 2015. A new study led by Yanou Cui, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, reports that very simple forms of matter could create detectable gravitational wave backgrounds soon after the Big Bang.  “This mechanism of creating detectable gravitational wave backgrounds may shed light on ...

Employers and recruiting firms frequently infuse job postings with words and phrases like “ambitious,” “thinks outside the box,” “communicates persuasively” and “thinks strategically.” However, according to a forthcoming Management Science study, such keywords signify “rule-bender” (versus “rule-follower”) language and heavily draw narcissistic applicants who are more likely to engage in unethical or fraudulent behavior–significantly ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- No one likes to feel like they’re not getting the respect or courtesy they deserve. Think about the last time you felt talked down to, or treated as inferior, or got worse customer service than another person in line. But by the time most Americans reach adulthood, Blacks may have developed better coping skills for these disappointments than their white counterparts, potentially limiting the toll such experiences take on their mental health. That’s one of the key takeaways of a Duke University study looking at how young men and women in the U.S. react ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 4 P.M. ET Thursday, July 11, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ##   As the oil and gas industry continues its rapid expansion throughout North America, a growing body of research has linked fossil fuel development to physical and mental health conditions during and after pregnancy, including preterm birth, birth defects, and psychological stress. But it appears that oil and gas production may be hazardous to this population even before they become pregnant.  A new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers suggests that ...

Integrating medical and research data, ensuring secure data sharing, and using advanced AI models offer immense possibilities to mitigate the impact of chronic immune-mediated diseases (CIMDs) affecting 10% of Europeans. The consortium aims to transform complex biological information into actionable insights. WISDOM believes novel computational tools can provide valuable knowledge and guide decision-making throughout the patient journey, from diagnosis to treatment optimization. “As a key partner in the WISDOM project, the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform (EMSP) is committed to ensuring that patients' voices and perspectives are central to ...

MISSOULA – Since 2006, a fast-moving disease known as white-nose syndrome has killed an estimated 6.7 million bats, wiping out entire colonies and decimating creatures that provide an integral means of pest control. In response, a first-of-its-kind study by the University of Montana recently was funded by the National Science Foundation to provide critical insights on three North American bat species that are adapting to the dual threats of this disease and climate change. Awarded nearly $3 million dollars, the project will officially start Sept. 1, but groundwork already is well underway this summer. Although infectious diseases occur naturally in wildlife ...

Key takeaways The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a spherical shape, and has cleared away other objects near its orbit around the sun.  Scientists now recognize the existence of thousands of planets, but the IAU definition applies only to those within our solar system. The new proposed definition specifies that the body may orbit one or more stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and sets mass limits that should apply to planets everywhere. Planetary scientists are proposing ...

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, a lifelong chronic infection prevalent in about 30% of the human population. It poses little harm to healthy individuals but can result in severe consequences for immunocompromised people. If infection occurs during pregnancy, the parasite can cross the placenta and cause retinal or neurological issues in the developing fetus, and potentially death in severe cases. There is currently no vaccine for Toxoplasma infection, and the biological mechanism by which the parasite affects the metabolism of host cells is still understudied. In new research ...

Waltham — July 11, 2024 — An investigational medication designated TAS-303 shows efficacy and safety in treatment of women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI), reports a placebo-controlled clinical trial in the August issue of The Journal of Urology®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Our study adds new evidence that TAS-303 reduces the frequency of incontinence episodes in women with SUI, without the worrisome adverse ...

The fungal pathogen that causes white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats uses different cell entry strategies depending on the host’s hibernation status – cold and inactive, or warm and active. The findings, which required the authors to develop a new bat cell line, highlight potential therapeutic interventions against WNS using epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, like the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug gefitinib. Bats – the second-most diverse group of mammals – play an important part in mitigating agricultural pests and the spread of insect-borne disease. However, millions of hibernating bats across North America are dying from ...

Leveraging one of the world’s oldest biological experiments – which began in 1929 – researchers have uncovered how a major crop, barley, was shaped by both agricultural pressures and its changing natural environment. The results underscore the power of long-term studies in understanding the dynamics of adaptive evolution. The survival of cultivated plants after their dispersal across different environments is a classic example of rapid adaptive evolution. For example, barley, an important neolithic crop, spread widely after domestication over 10,000 years ago to become a staple source of nutrition for humans and livestock throughout Europe, Asia, and Northern ...

New atmospheric particles form when stratospheric air intrudes into the troposphere below, according to a new study, revealing a previously unrecognized mechanism for new particle formation (NPF) in the upper troposphere. The finding suggests that NPF in these regions aloft occurs frequently and over large geographic regions, representing an important source of particles in the free troposphere. Aerosol particles smaller than one micron in diameter are abundant in the troposphere, the lowest layer of ...

Researchers from The University of Queensland have identified how a common bacterium is able to manipulate the human immune system during respiratory infections and cause persistent illness. The research, led by Professor Ulrike Kappler from UQ’s School of Chemical and Molecular Biosciences, studied the virulence mechanisms of Haemophilus influenzae, a bacterium that plays a significant role in worsening respiratory tract infections. “These bacteria are especially damaging to vulnerable groups, such as those with cystic fibrosis, asthma, the elderly, ...

Have you ever placed the palm of your left hand on the back of your right hand, in such a way that all fingers point in the same direction? If you have, then you probably know that your left thumb will not touch its right counterpart. Neither rotations nor translations nor their combinations can turn a left hand into a right hand and vice versa. This feature is called chirality. Scientists at the University of Konstanz have now succeeded to imprint such a three-dimensional chirality onto the wave function of a single electron. They used laser light to shape the electron’s matter wave into left-handed or right-handed coils ...

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have trained a humanoid robot to effortlessly learn and perform a variety of expressive movements, including simple dance routines and gestures like waving, high-fiving and hugging, all while maintaining a steady gait on diverse terrains. The enhanced expressiveness and agility of this humanoid robot pave the way for improving human-robot interactions in settings such as factory assembly lines, hospitals and homes, where robots could safely operate alongside humans or even replace them in hazardous environments like laboratories or disaster sites. “Through expressive and more human-like ...

New research from the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) has provided a complicated glance into young women’s responses to interpersonal conflict, with retaliation often the answer to rejection and perceived social exclusion by other females. The study, published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, highlights the complicated nature of women’s interpersonal relationships by examining the stress arising from rejection, and if the personal characteristics of those imposing the rejection influences ...

Early findings from a small clinical trial provide evidence that a new cellular immunotherapy approach may be effective in treating metastatic solid tumors. In the trial, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) genetically engineered normal white blood cells, known as lymphocytes, from each patient to produce receptors that recognize and attack their specific cancer cells. These initial findings are from people with metastatic colorectal cancer who had already undergone multiple earlier treatments. The personalized immunotherapy shrank tumors in several patients and was able to keep the tumors from regrowing for up to seven months. ...

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted daily life and has raised concerns about its impact on children’s well-being. A new study from the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program (ECHO) sheds light on how a neighborhood’s physical and social environment influenced a child’s well-being before and during the pandemic. According to an analysis of ECHO Cohort data, the neighborhood environment was less likely to be associated with child well-being during the ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Birds migrating. Your cat, returning home from a day of roaming. Bees taking pollen to their hives. You, finding yourself back home without actually remembering the drive from work. Animal navigation is a fundamental behavior, so innate that most of the time we don’t notice that we’re doing it. And yet, so many times a day we (and the animals around us) unerringly find our ways to our target locations whether they be old haunts or new venues, from different directions and even in the dark. How do we do it? That’s the question UC Santa Barbara neurobiologist Sung Soo Kim seeks to ...

CLEVELAND AND NAIROBI — July 11, 2024 — Today, the American Journal of Human Genetics published a perspective piece on the need for an equitable and inclusive future for DNA and ancient DNA (aDNA) research in Africa. The paper, coauthored by an international team of 36 scientists from Africa, North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe, was led by Dr. Elizabeth (Ebeth) Sawchuk of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Dr. Kendra Sirak of Harvard University. DNA from ancient and living African peoples is critical for researchers studying our species’ evolution and population ...

Cooperative hunting, resource sharing, and using the same signals to communicate the same information—these are all examples of cultural sharing that have been observed between distinct animal species. In an opinion piece published June 19 in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, researchers introduce the term “co-culture” to describe cultural sharing between animal species. These relationships are mutual and go beyond one species watching and mimicking another species’ behavior—in co-cultures, both species influence each other in substantial ways. “Co-culture challenges the notion ...

As container ships the size of city blocks cross the oceans to deliver cargo, their huge diesel engines emit large quantities of air pollutants that drive climate change and have human health impacts. It has been estimated that maritime shipping accounts for almost 3 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and the industry’s negative impacts on air quality cause about 100,000 premature deaths each year. Decarbonizing shipping to reduce these detrimental effects is a goal of the International Maritime Organization, ...

Scientists investigating Alzheimer’s disease have determined the structure of molecules within a human brain for the very first time.   Published today in Nature, the study describes how scientists used cryo-electron tomography, guided by fluorescence microscopy, to explore deep inside an Alzheimer’s disease donor brain.  This gave 3-dimensional maps in which they could observe proteins, the molecular building blocks of life a million-times smaller than a grain of rice, within the brain.  The study zoomed in on two proteins that cause dementia– ‘β-amyloid’, a protein that forms microscopic ...

EL PASO, Texas (July 11, 2024) – Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have made significant inroads in understanding how nanoplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — commonly known as forever chemicals — disrupt biomolecular structure and function. The work shows that the compounds can alter proteins found in human breast milk and infant formulas — potentially causing developmental issues downstream. Nanoplastics and forever chemicals are manmade compounds present throughout the environment; a series of recent studies have linked them to numerous ...

What is the structure of a particular molecule? And how do molecules interact with each other? Researchers interested in those questions frequently use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to find answers. In NMR, a powerful external magnetic field is employed to align the spins of atomic nuclei, which are then induced to rotate by an oscillating weak magnetic field generated by coils. A change in voltage as a result can be converted to measurable frequencies. Based on this, researchers can identify the molecular structures while also revealing ...