NORMAN, OKLA. – Taste is a complex neurological experience that has the potential to provide extensive, and perhaps surprising, information on how the brain makes sense of sensations and the organization of brain pathways. A research project funded by the National Institutes of Health, led by Christian H. Lemon, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, aims to better understand how the brain processes taste and how those neural pathways can evolve. Taste ...

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) announced four high school students were selected from among a pool of graduating high school seniors throughout the US for the  ACM/CSTA Cutler-Bell Prize in High School Computing. Eligible students applied for the award by submitting a project/artifact that engages modern technology and computer science. A panel of judges selected the recipients based on the ingenuity, complexity, relevancy, and originality of their projects. The Cutler-Bell Prize promotes ...

Research Highlights Abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakening and ballooning of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, may result in a life-threatening rupture. In a small, preliminary study examining a potential treatment to keep small abdominal aortic aneurysms from growing to a dangerous size, intravenous administration of immune-modulating cells resulted in a significant decrease in pro-inflammatory cells, and with higher doses, there was a decrease in aneurysm size. In a separate small study, people with abdominal aortic aneurysms ...

The Science Neutrinos are subatomic particles that interact with matter extremely weakly. They are produced in many types of radioactive decays, including in the core of the Sun and in nuclear reactors. Neutrinos are also impossible to block—they easily travel from the core of a nuclear reactor to a detector far away, and even through the Earth itself. Detecting the tiny signals from neutrinos therefore requires huge devices that are extremely sensitive. The SNO+ experiment has just shown that a detector filled with simple water can still detect reactor neutrinos, even though the neutrinos create only tiny signals in the detector. The ...

In a new study, participants showed more empathy for an online anthropomorphic artificial intelligence (A.I.) agent when it seemed to disclose personal information about itself while chatting with participants. Takahiro Tsumura of The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI in Tokyo, Japan, and Seiji Yamada of the National Institute of Informatics, also in Tokyo, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on May 10, 2023. The use of A.I. in daily life is increasing, raising interest in factors that might contribute to the level of trust and acceptance people feel towards A.I. agents. Prior research has suggested that people are ...

Bird and bat fatalities at wind turbines increase during seasonal migrations – information which could aid their protection, according to a study published May 10, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by John D. Lloyd from the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute of Washington DC, USA, and colleagues. While there have been local and regional studies on bird and bat deaths caused by wind turbines, this study looks at data from 248 wind turbine facilities across the United States—almost 30 percent ...

The geochemistry of copper artefacts reveals changes in distribution networks across prehistoric Europe, according to a study published May 10, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jan Piet Brozio of Kiel University, Germany and colleagues. Early copper artefacts are considered to have a high cultural and historical significance in European prehistory, but limited information exists about how copper was used and distributed in Neolithic Europe. In this study, the authors analyzed 45 copper objects, including axes, chisels, and other items, from various sites dating to the 4th and 3rd millennia BC of Northern Central Europe and Southern ...

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284570 Article Title: Metabolomics during canine pregnancy and lactation Author Countries: Switzerland, Germany, Finland Funding: The costs were covered by the Freie Universitaet Berlin (examination, sampling) without any specific funding and PetBiomics Ltd provided material support (Analyses). PetBiomics Ltd employee Claudia Ottka and PetBiomics Ltd chairman Hannes Lohi were involved in the analysis and the preparation of the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and decision to publish. END ...

The catastrophic Australian bushfires in 2019-2020 contributed to ocean cooling thousands of miles away, ultimately nudging the Tropical Pacific into a rare multi-year La Niña event that dissipated only recently. The research was led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and in Science Advances.  La Niña events tend to impact the winter climate over North America, causing drier and warmer than average conditions in the southwest U.S., wetter weather in the Pacific Northwest, and colder temperatures in Canada and the northern U.S. Because the emergence of La Niña can ...

Stephanie Lacour’s specialty is the development of flexible electrodes that adapt to a moving body, providing more reliable connections with the nervous system. Her work is inherently interdisciplinary. So when a neurosurgeon asked Lacour and her team to come up with minimally invasive electrodes for inserting through a human skull, they came up with an elegant solution that takes full advantage of their expertise in compliant electrodes, and inspired by soft robotics actuation.  The results are published in Science Robotics. The challenge? To insert a large cortical electrode array through a small hole in the skull, deploying the device in a space that measures about ...

In an effort to improve fairness or reduce backlogs, machine-learning models are sometimes designed to mimic human decision making, such as deciding whether social media posts violate toxic content policies.  But researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that these models often do not replicate human decisions about rule violations. If models are not trained with the right data, they are likely to make different, often harsher judgements than humans would. In this case, the “right” data are those that have been labeled by humans who were explicitly asked whether items defy a certain rule. Training involves showing a machine-learning ...

Triathlons such as Ironman and Norway's Norseman competition epitomize human endurance with competitors undertaking nearly 150 miles of running, swimming and biking in grueling conditions. But behind the training and resilience may be basic rules of ecology that help determine the victor long before contestants leave the starting line, according to research from Dartmouth. An analysis of nearly 200 Ironman contestants over two decades suggests that performance — specifically in the marathon portion of the event — is linked to how an athlete’s physique is adapted to shedding or retaining heat in certain climates. Published in the journal PLOS ...

A new study in the journal PLOS ONE examines how individuals coped with stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic and which strategies were associated with higher quality of life. The study’s findings provide important insights for both individuals and institutions as they prepare for and respond to future large-scale traumatic events. It was based on responses from more than 1,000 Americans on their experiences and behaviors during the pandemic. The research found that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies were associated with higher quality of life, while avoidant coping had a negative correlation.  Problem-focused coping involves ...

HOUSTON ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. Recent developments include a combination therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, new insights into the evolution of anaplastic thyroid cancer, a promising new treatment approach for PTEN/p53-deficient pancreatic cancer, a novel pan-species artificial intelligence model to detect cancer cells, a ...

A new analysis suggests that about one in seven households across the U.S. may face financial hardship in paying for access to water and wastewater services. Lauren Patterson and colleagues at Duke University, North Carolina, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Water. U.S. households pay utilities for access to water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and sanitation, as well as for wastewater services. However, in recent years, the cost of these services has increased alongside a widening income gap, fueling affordability concerns. ...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a highly contagious disease that affects millions of people each year around the world, resulting in an estimated 160,000 deaths. In the United States, severe RSV causes 6,000 to 10,000 deaths among people 65 years of age or older. On May 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Arexvy, an RSV vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc. It is the first RSV vaccine to be approved in the United States, and according to GSK’s press release, the first for older adults to be approved anywhere in the world. This is a ...

3D printers form objects by layering melted plastic or metal, but this only works on large scales. What you need to fabricate microdevices for which the layering step is not feasible? What if it were possible to print directly into the bulk of an existing three-dimensional material? The research groups of Lynford Goddard and Paul Braun, professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, have been collaborating to develop such a process. They use the technique of multiphoton lithography to print inside an existing ...

Purdue April Consumer Food Insights report explores role of dollar stores in food landscape A market for an expanded grocery selection at dollar stores potentially exists, especially with consumers who live less than 10 minutes away, according to data reported in the April Consumer Food Insights report. The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction and values, support of agricultural and food policies, and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated ...

 As a car travels along a narrow city street, reflections off the glossy paint or side mirrors of parked vehicles can help the driver glimpse things that would otherwise be hidden from view, like a child playing on the sidewalk behind the parked cars. Drawing on this idea, researchers from MIT and Rice University have created a computer vision technique that leverages reflections to image the world. Their method uses reflections to turn glossy objects into “cameras,” enabling a user to see the world as if they were looking through the “lenses” of everyday objects like a ceramic coffee mug or a metallic ...

Artificial intelligence. Gene editing. mRNA vaccines. It’s safe to say the past few decades have felt like the next big wave of medicine. However, what continues to be needed in virtually every field is a personalized approach to care.   That’s certainly needed when it comes to using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat depression, said Medical University of South Carolina Distinguished University Professor Mark George, M.D. TMS uses a magnet to increase brain activity in ...

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common and second deadliest cancer. How colorectal cancer develops is not well understood, but a team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reports in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research that silencing the gene p16, even though the DNA itself does not change, can drive colorectal cancer progression in animal models. The researchers also revealed a strategy that reduced tumor growth and improved survival in tumor-bearing mice, opening new possibilities for future targeted therapies in patients with gene p16 alterations. “Years of research have shown ...

New database offers insight into consequences of language loss Languages, like animal species, can go extinct. More than half of the world’s approximately 7,000 signed and spoken languages are currently endangered. And without intervention they are likely to become extinct, meaning nobody will speak or sign them any longer. While language loss is happening across the world, the costs vary strikingly in different places, according to a new study co-authored by Yale linguist Claire Bowern. Regions where all Indigenous language are endangered — including parts of South America and the United States — ...

Having a large research team isn’t linked to producing higher quality research, finds a new study from the University of Surrey which analysed data from 1.4 million academic papers.   Professor Sorin Krammer, lead author of the study and Professor of Strategy and International Business at the University of Surrey, said:  “Despite the prevalence of large teams in research, there is still a lack of a good understanding of how their size and diversity affects their performance.”   “Our ...

In medicine and science, the term “pathogenesis” describes the origin and development of disease. There is not, however, a broadly accepted term to describe the other half of the equation: the process of healing and recovery. In a new and far-reaching paper, published May 10, 2023 in the journal Mitochondrion, Robert K. Naviaux, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Pathology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, proposes both a term and, more importantly, outlines the array of processes and players, beginning with cellular mitochondria, that drive the healing process – and whose dysfunction underlies chronic illnesses from diabetes ...

“In this review, we describe how aging impacts epigenetics and how nutrition and physical exercise can positively impact the aging process, from an epigenetic point of view.” BUFFALO, NY- May 10, 2023 – A new review paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 8, entitled, “How can we modulate aging through nutrition and physical exercise? An epigenetic approach.” The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, 2.1 billion people worldwide ...