Research announcements from universities, hospitals and scientific institutions. Explore the stories, people and discoveries behind the headlines.
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In a 52-student trial across Chicago public schools, robots that openly admitted lacking emotions helped fourth-graders master social-emotional learning vocabulary more effectively than robots given fictional backstories and feelings.
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New modeling from Rice University reveals that SMC proteins fold replicating bacterial DNA into accordion-like structures, creating repulsive forces that drive chromosome copies apart — explaining how bacteria split their genomes without the spindle machinery human cells require.
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Eesha Oza, a freshman biomedical engineering student, led a study analyzing 62 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the colon spanning 70 years, producing the most comprehensive review of a cancer so rare it makes up just 0.02% to 0.1% of all colon cancers.
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Researchers found banned antibiotic residues in fish from Brazil's Piracicaba River, then showed that the aquatic plant Salvinia auriculata can strip antibiotics from water — while also discovering that the plant's presence sometimes made remaining drugs more bioavailable to fish.
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A new study maps the overlap between unregistered groundwater wells, former industrial zones, and known contamination sites across the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area, revealing that 22 million residents face an invisible water safety crisis driven by decades of unmonitored solvent pollution.
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The RURAL Heart and Lung study found that Assumption Parish residents without a high school diploma are more than twice as likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, with 75% obesity rates versus 48% for those with some college education.
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A new study calculates that biochar produced from bioenergy crops grown on China's abandoned farmland could remove atmospheric CO2 for roughly $9.60 per ton, compared to about $91 per ton for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The approach could scale to 1.88 billion tons annually under optimized conditions.
Read the releaseMayo Clinic delivered 93 IV chemotherapy infusions to 10 patients at home with no treatment-related reactions or catheter infections. The pilot study, published in NEJM Catalyst, supports a model that combines virtual care and remote monitoring to move cancer treatment out of infusion centers.
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Researchers redesigned sewage sludge biochar through a stepwise extraction and reprocessing method, then loaded it with Bacillus velezensis bacteria. Applied to cabbage, the combination increased aboveground biomass by nearly 40% and reshaped root-zone microbial communities to favor nitrogen cycling.
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Fine biochar particles suppress crop disease quickly but lose effectiveness; coarser particles release nutrients gradually, sustaining beneficial microbe populations that fight soil pathogens for longer. The distinction could reshape how farmers apply biochar.
Read the releaseA decade-long study of more than 25,000 U.S. adults found that people living in densely developed neighborhoods had a 2.5% lower risk of first-time stroke, challenging assumptions that urban environments harm cardiovascular health.
Read the releaseA UCLA study in Nature Neuroscience shows that when cold mice huddle for warmth, their prefrontal cortex monitors both their own behavior and that of their groupmates. Silencing that brain region in some animals makes them passive, but untouched groupmates compensate so precisely that body temperatures stay stable.
Read the releaseThe largest UK survey on drink spiking to date estimates roughly one million adults were victims in the past year. Only 23% reported the incident to police. Women accounted for 58% of cases, with bars and social events the most common settings.
Read the releaseA study published in Science used fiber-optic sensors to monitor water movement through soil minute by minute, showing that plowed farmland loses its ability to channel rainfall to deep root zones. Undisturbed soil acts as a natural sponge; tilled soil does not.
Read the releaseHarvard geoscientists have found the oldest direct evidence that Earth's tectonic plates were moving 3.5 billion years ago. Their analysis of rocks from Australia's Pilbara Craton reveals rapid drift, rotation, and the earliest known geomagnetic reversal.
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The Robert A. Winn Career Development Award has expanded beyond oncology and cardiology for the first time, offering two-year $240,000 grants to early-career neuropsychiatry physician-scientists committed to running inclusive clinical trials. Applications for Cohort 6 close May 4, 2026.
Read the releaseA study combining data from 51 eczema patients and mouse models identifies prodynorphin-positive sympathetic neurons as the link between psychological stress and skin inflammation. These neurons recruit eosinophils through the CCL11-CCR3 pathway, and removing them reduces stress-driven flares.
Read the releaseIndependent researchers reexamined Monte Verde, a landmark Chilean archaeological site long dated to 14,500 years ago. Their geological analysis places the site between 8,000 and 4,000 years old, suggesting older radiocarbon dates were skewed by redeposited ancient material. Other pre-Clovis sites remain unaffected.
Read the releaseIn a study of 4,196 participants evaluating 110 pairs of animal sounds from 16 species, researchers found that humans reliably preferred the same sounds animals favor for mate selection. The overlap held across insects, frogs, birds, and mammals, supporting Darwin's idea of a shared aesthetic sense.
Read the releasePrimary boreal forests in Sweden store 72% more carbon than managed secondary forests across all pools combined. The gap, driven largely by massive soil carbon reserves, is 2.7 to 8 times greater than earlier estimates, suggesting climate models may seriously overvalue forest-based bioenergy.
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University of Washington researchers repurposed earthquake-monitoring fiber optics to measure how tilling damages soil structure. The technique revealed that plowed fields lose their capillary networks, causing rain to pool on the surface rather than soak in, increasing erosion and flood risk.
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Researchers from Stanford and Lund University measured carbon in over 200 Swedish forest plots and found old-growth forests store 72% more carbon than managed replacements. The soil beneath undisturbed forests alone contains more carbon than managed forests do across all compartments combined.
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A Kyoto University and RIKEN team discovered that the protein DHX29 acts as a quality sensor on ribosomes, detecting inefficient codons in mRNA and triggering their degradation. The finding reveals a direct molecular link between codon choice and gene expression in human cells.
Read the releaseSwedish researchers spent nearly ten years mapping the nation's old-growth forests and found they store 83% more carbon than managed forests. The soil alone in primary forests holds as much carbon as everything in managed forests combined, trees, dead wood, and soil included.
Read the releaseHarvard geoscientists analyzed over 900 rock samples from Western Australia's Pilbara Craton and found that tectonic plates were shifting latitude by tens of centimeters per year as early as 3.5 billion years ago, ruling out the theory that early Earth had a single, unbroken shell.
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