The Oceanography Society (TOS) has selected Dr. Jeremy Horowitz as a recipient of the TOS Early Career Award, recognizing his outstanding early-career research contributions, impact, and promise for continued achievement in oceanography, along with his strong record of mentorship, outreach, and collaborative science. Dr. Horowitz will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland. Dr. Horowitz is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and an internationally ...

HOUSTON, Jan. 14, 2026 — Kennesaw State University’s Jerry Mack has been named as the recipient of the American Heart Association’s 2025 Paul “Bear” Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year Award. This award celebrates the achievements of an individual who has not had any previous head coaching experience at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. Coach Mack will be recognized with the honor during the 40th Annual Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards ceremony presented by Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System on January 21, 2026 at Houston’s Post Oak Hotel. The event will be broadcast ...

Teeth provide a wealth of information about the lives of Iron Age Italians, according to a study published January 14, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Roberto Germano of Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and colleagues. Comparing the lifestyles of ancient cultures requires detailed information about the lives of long-deceased individuals. Human teeth are an excellent resource for this data, being very resilient structures that act as archives of life history information. In this study, Germano and colleagues combined multiple dental analyses to interpret details about health and diet in the Iron Age Italian site of Pontecagnano, dating to the 7th ...

A new study suggests that, with low to moderate levels of global greenhouse emissions in coming decades, more of India could become suitable for growing avocados. However, with high enough emissions, growing zones could shrink and destabilize by 2070. G. Karunakaran of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Indian Institute of Horticultural Research and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on January 14, 2026. Rising global demand for avocados makes them an economically significant fruit ...

Pregnant individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher levels of pro-inflammatory immune molecules, known as cytokines, in their vaginal mucosa than their healthy counterparts, according to a new study published January 14, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Ana Maldonado-Contreras of University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, U.S., and colleagues. However, the study also suggested that higher-quality diets, with more vegetables and fewer added sugars, are associated with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in pregnant women both with and without IBD. Pregnant individuals with IBD ...

Underwater photos show seabirds, seals and fish interacting with a tidal turbine in Washington State Article URL: https://plos.io/4jjG9cB Video caption: A seal swims past while the turbine is stationary (video playback is at 25% speed). Video credit: Cotter et al., CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Video link: https://plos.io/4j1tc71 Article title: Observations of marine animal interactions with a small tidal turbine Author countries: U.S. Funding: The development and deployment of the Turbine Lander was sponsored by the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC) under Naval Sea Systems Command ...

1 in 5 surveyed UK adults who have experienced the death of a pet report it as more distressing than experienced human deaths, with significant rates of prolonged grief disorder symptoms also being reported following pet loss Article URL: https://plos.io/3LmqYmf Article title: No pets allowed: Evidence that prolonged grief disorder can occur following the death of a pet Author countries: Ireland Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Polyester microfibers in soil negatively impact the development of cherry tomato plants in experiments, raising concerns over the potential effect of high levels of such contaminants Article URL: https://plos.io/3Ne0e7W Article title: Polyester microfibers delay growth of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) throughout the lifecycle Author countries: Canada Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

LGBTQ+ adults may be around twice as likely to be unemployed or to report workforce non-participation compared to heterosexual adults, per large representative Australian survey Article URL: https://plos.io/3YWSv0y Article title: Work participation disparities among LGBTQ+ Australians: Insights from a nationally representative cohort study Author countries: Australia Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Horses can smell fear: In experiments where horses smelled sweat from scared humans, they reacted to scary and sudden events with increased fear and reduced human interaction Article URL: https://plos.io/49nDTft Article title: Human emotional odours influence horses’ behaviour and physiology Author countries: France Funding: This study was granted by ANR Emodour (grant number ANR-23-CE20-0033) and Institut Français du Cheval et de l’Équitation (IFCE, grant number 32001331 Cognition Emotion). PJ was funded ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Adolescence marks an important transition not just socially and physically, but neurologically. During this period, higher cognitive functions such as planning, problem-solving, and decision-making gradually mature. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of neural circuit development remain poorly understood. Key to this process are synapses—the functional connections between neurons allow information to flow through the brain. Previously, it has long been hypothesized that synapse numbers increase during childhood and then decrease during adolescence. It has ...

Scientists have identified a promising target for treatment of a devasting autoimmune disease affecting the brain. The discovery could lead to the development of new therapies for a disease triggered by an attack on one of the key neurotransmitter receptors in the brain, the NMDA receptor. It also raises the potential for a blood test to detect a signal of the condition and enable earlier treatment with existing therapies. The study from Oregon Health & Science University published today in the journal Science Advances. The condition may be best known by the bestselling autobiography and the 2016 motion picture, ...

The Oceanography Society (TOS) has named Professor Dr. Oliver Zielinski a Fellow of the Society, recognizing his outstanding and sustained contributions to oceanography through scientific innovation, leadership, education, and service. The TOS Fellows Program honors members whose careers have significantly advanced understanding and stewardship of the ocean while strengthening the global oceanographic community. Dr. Zielinski will be recognized at The Oceanography Society Honors Breakfast, February 24, 2026, during the Ocean Sciences Meeting in ...

New research published in The Economic and Labour Relations Review, a UNSW-based journal, found there’s still much more to do to improve today’s working conditions for women across the world. The collection offers what its guest editors – Dr Yuvisthi Naidoo from the Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney and Honorary Associate Professor Anne Junor from the School of Business, UNSW Canberra – describe as a ‘necessary stocktake’ of how paid and unpaid work continues to both enable and limit women’s safety, wellbeing and economic power. “Overall, this collection addresses emerging and ...

Researchers led by Rice University’s Guido Pagano used a specialized quantum device to simulate a vibrating molecule and track how energy moves within it. The work, published Dec. 5 in Nature Communications, could improve understanding of basic mechanisms behind phenomena such as photosynthesis and solar energy conversion. The researchers modeled a simple two-site molecule with one part supplying energy and the other receiving it, both shaped by vibrations and their environment. By tuning the system, they could directly observe energy moving from donor to acceptor and study how vibrations and energy loss influence that transfer, providing a controlled way to test theories ...

Social media is often criticized for fueling misinformation and violence, but it could actually play a role in preventing genocide and mass atrocities – if used strategically. A new paper co-authored by Binghamton University Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm examined social media hashtag campaigns during times of crisis and found that digital platforms can aid in atrocity prevention if they are tailored to the context of the crisis at hand.  “Governments are increasingly using social media, though often not with ...

CHICAGO—January 14, 2026—The American Ornithological Society (AOS) bestows the Wesley Lanyon Award every two years on an early-career ornithologist who authors the best integrative avian science review paper published in either AOS journal (Ornithology or Ornithological Applications). The award is given in honor of Wesley “Bud” Lanyon, who served as the 37th President of the American Ornithologists’ Union, one of the AOS’s predecessor societies. The 2025 AOS Wesley Lanyon Award is given to lead author Bryce W. ...

Researchers from the Centre for Palaeogenetics have managed to analyse the genome from a 14,400-year-old woolly rhinoceros, recovered from a tissue sample found preserved inside the stomach of an ancient wolf. The study, published in Genome Biology and Evolution, shows that woolly rhinos remained genetically healthy until the end of the last Ice Age. The species therefore probably died out due to a rapid collapse of the population, rather than a slow demographic decline. “Sequencing the entire genome of an Ice Age animal found in the stomach of another animal has never been done before,” says the study’s last author, Camilo Chacón-Duque, ...

A team of engineers has made major strides in generating the tiniest earthquakes imaginable.   The team’s device, known as a surface acoustic wave phonon laser, could one day help scientists make more sophisticated versions of chips in cellphones and other wireless devices—potentially making those tools smaller, faster and more efficient.  The study was conducted by Matt Eichenfield, an incoming faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder, and scientists from the University of Arizona and Sandia National Laboratories. The researchers ...

Artificial intelligence promises to accelerate scientific discovery and open new frontiers of inquiry. But new research from James Evans (Faculty Co-Director of Novel Intelligence; Max Palevsky Professor of Sociology & Data Science; and Director of the Knowledge Lab) and colleagues reveals how AI tools are expanding individual scientists’ capabilities but narrowing the collective scope of science. Published in Nature, the study analyzed 41.3 million research papers to find that scientists who use AI publish 3.02 times as many papers, receive 4.85 times ...

The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology behind flexible cell phones, curved monitors, and televisions could one day be used to make on-skin sensors that show changes in temperature, blood flow, and pressure in real time. An international collaboration, led by researchers from Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea and Drexel University, has developed a flexible and stretchable OLED that could put the technology on track for this use and a range of new applications. Recently reported in Nature, their work improves on existing technology by integrating a flexible, phosphorescent polymer layer and transparent electrodes made from MXene nanomaterial. The result is an ...

Polyamines are small molecules naturally present in all cells and are critical in guiding cellular decisions, whereas an alteration in the abundance of these metabolites is invariably observed in pathological scenarios such as cancer or ageing. Despite decades of research, the mechanisms through which polyamines control cellular decisions has remained obscure. A collaborative study recently published in the prestigious journal Nature and led by scientists in CIC bioGUNE, reports the discovery of a mechanism that reformulates our understanding about the actions of polyamines in health and disease. Using an integrated approach that combined molecular simulations, ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional nationwide study of resident physicians in high-burnout specialties, longer work hours were associated with higher stress and self-perceived competency, but not with burnout. This suggests that work hours alone may not explain high burnout levels in residency; a more comprehensive approach beyond work hour restrictions is needed to support resident well-being in training. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sydney F. Tan, MD, email stan75@wisc.edu. To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, parental quality of life was lowest during the premature infant’s hospitalization. A family-centered approach, with timely and tailored support from the neonatal intensive care unit through the postdischarge period, is essential to protect and promote parental well-being. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Zubair Amin, MHPE, email paeza@nus.edu.sg. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The ...

LA JOLLA (January 14, 2025)—Dealing with an infection isn’t as straightforward as simply killing the pathogen. The body also needs to carefully steer and monitor its immune response to prevent collateral damage. This regulation, called disease tolerance, is crucial to protecting our tissues while the immune system tackles the infection head-on. To survive an infection, your body must activate a tolerance mechanism that is compatible with the specific progression of your disease. So, if your body is changing over the course of your lifetime, does that mean the specific mechanisms it uses to survive an immune onslaught change, too? Salk scientist Janelle Ayres, ...