From work meetings to first dates, it’s essential to adjust our behavior for success. In certain situations, it can even be a matter of life or death. So how do we switch our behavior when situations change? Published in Nature Communications, neuroscientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) describe the neural basis of behavioral flexibility in mice, with insights which may help us understand a wide variety of diseases and disorders, from addiction to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to Parkinson’s disease.  “The brain mechanisms behind changing ...

In brief:   How the brain tracks distance: MPFI scientists identified how hippocampal neurons encode distance traveled without relying on visual cues.   A new neural code: Neuronal activity patterns act as a two-phase code to mark movement onset and track elapsed distance.  Why it matters: These patterns may help the brain stitch moment-to-moment experiences into a memory of an event.  Alzheimer’s relevance: The work may offer insight into early navigation problems commonly ...

Patients with depression are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and a new study suggests that stress may help explain why. Research from Mass General Brigham suggests that this increased risk is driven by stress-related brain activity, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic inflammation. They also found that patients with both depression and anxiety were at even higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those diagnosed with just one condition. The findings, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, suggest that stress reduction and related therapeutic targets hold potential ...

A new study presents robust evidence on the role of lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers discovered that LPCs—compounds that transport a variety of healthy fatty acids to the brain—either promote Alzheimer’s or protect against it, depending on a person’s genetics. Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons led the study with collaborators in the ...

One of the main proteins that contributes to Alzheimer’s disease is called phospho-tau (p-tau). When p-tau gets too many phosphate groups attached to it (a process called hyperphosphorylation), it starts to stick together and form clumps called “tangles” inside of brain nerve cells. A new study from Mass General Brigham investigators shows that tau hyperphosphorylation may be a consequence of an antiviral response that protects the brain from infection. Results are published in Nature Neuroscience. “As a geneticist, I always wondered why humans had evolved ...

Researchers have developed a new “color-coded” genetic method that makes it easy to distinguish male and female mosquitoes. This innovation can help solve a major bottleneck in mosquito control strategies that rely on releasing only sterile males. The approach uses gene editing to produce dark males and pale females, offering a practical and safer alternative to current sex-separation techniques. A new study led by Doron Zaada and Prof. Philippos Papathanos from the Department of Entomology at Hebrew University, introduces a powerful genetic approach for separating male and female mosquitoes, an essential step for ...

A research team at Duke University has developed a new AI framework that can uncover simple, understandable rules that govern some of the most complex dynamics found in nature and technology. The AI system works much like how history’s great “dynamicists” – those who study systems that change over time – discovered many laws of physics that govern such systems’ behaviors. Similar to how Newton, the first dynamicist, derived the equations that connect force and movement, the ...

New research from Northern Arizona University shows detailed CO2 emissions for the United States from 2010 to 2022.   In the first of a series of data releases, professor Kevin Gurney of NAU’s School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) authored a study, published today in Scientific Data, that includes a database of 13 years of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Future releases will include neighborhood- and city-specific ...

The worldwide push for sustainability requires better, more durable batteries to support renewable energy systems and our ubiquitous electronic devices. While lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the go-to solution, future calls for alternatives built on materials more widely available than lithium. Because sodium is abundant and available at low-cost, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are a leading candidate for replacing LIBs while still meeting global energy demands. The key to SIBs’ remarkable performance lies partly in the material used at the negative electrode called hard carbon (HC). This low crystalline, porous type of carbon can store large amounts ...

The US Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), which helps offset a portion of child or dependent care expenses, requires that both parents in married households, or the primary caregiver in single-parent and divorced households, participate in paid employment. Research published in Health Economics reveals that early childhood exposure to the CDCTC may affect children’s long-term health in complex ways. The study is based on data from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which was started in 1968 with a nationally representative sample of around 5,000 ...

Researchers have developed an electronic nose that can reliably sense and identify mold, which causes various health issues for humans and animals, as well as damage to homes and other buildings and structures. As reported in a study published in Advanced Sensor Research, the e-nose uses nanowires that detect gas concentrations by measuring changes in electrical resistance resulting from gas molecules interacting with a sensing material. Experiments revealed that the e-nose can detect and identify two common indoor mold species, Stachybotrys ...

Severe weather events have long-term health consequences for vulnerable older adults, according to a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society based on data following Hurricane Harvey. When they analyzed Medicare claims data for nearly 1.8 million fee-for-service beneficiaries aged ≥65 years in Texas and Louisiana, investigators found that older adults who lived through high rainfall during Hurricane Harvey had a 3% elevated risk of dying within 1 year of the hurricane. Mortality risk was highest among those with chronic health conditions ...

Sodium-ion batteries are a cheaper and more abundant alternative to lithium-ion batteries, and they could power future electric cars and grid storage if they could be made to store enough energy. NaNi1/3Fe1/3Mn1/3O2 is a material used for sodium-ion batteries, but it suffers from various constraints. In research published in Carbon Energy, scientists used what’s called a valence engineering strategy to modify the oxidation state of this material so that it is both higher energy and more practical. The modification led to a sodium-ion battery that lasts longer, works well ...

A review in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology summarizes the multiple benefits of sport participation for people with cerebral palsy. The authors present a summary of available sports, as well as adaptations, to help clinicians discuss parasport participation with patients and families with cerebral palsy and related conditions. The review provides a practical, evidence-informed resource that can help families, clinicians, and community leaders understand the wide-ranging value of parasports. By reframing engagement in sport ...

Research published in Health Economics indicates that regular childcare provided by grandparents can ease the pressures on parents but may have some negative impacts on children’s health. The study, which was based on data from more than 11,000 children and nearly 9,000 parents in Germany, used geographic distance between families and grandparents to identify the effects of regular grandparental care. Mothers reported higher satisfaction with both their leisure time and childcare situations—by 11% and 9%, respectively—when grandparental care was available. Fathers also had ...

People from the Nordic countries are often selected as international mediators in wars and armed conflicts. In a new book, peace researchers at Uppsala University describe what makes mediators specifically from the Nordic countries so popular. Where do they come from, why do they take on these missions and what sort of mandate do they have? The Nordic countries have a long history of mediating in peace processes. Dag Hammarskjöld, Anna Lindh and Staffan de Mistura are three examples. Hans Grundberg is acting as mediator in the current negotiations on Yemen. History offers many examples of mediation initiatives and processes aimed at alleviating ...

Whether a species just freshly emerged, or it has been around for millions of years does not dictate its vulnerability. This has been the assumption of an old debate on whether species’ age plays a role in extinction risk.  Researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) have now led an international study that challenges this idea, at least when it comes to sharks and rays. According to their study, young species are by far the most likely to go extinct.   The team examined data from over 20,000 fossil records worldwide dating back to the Cretaceous period, using innovative methods to reconstruct the ...

Ninety-nine percent of global newborn deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where pregnant women often struggle to access adequate fetal monitoring. In Tanzania, with 24 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births, a new wireless fetal heart rate monitoring technology is showing promise in preventing newborn complications and deaths. A recent study led by researchers from Hiroshima University, Japan, and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania, evaluated the effectiveness of a mobile cardiotocography device for monitoring fetal heart rate (iCTG) in pregnant women at four primary health facilities ...

Griffith University is delighted to announce renowned archaeologist and 2019 Father of the Year Dr Bandit Heeler has been offered a professorial chair. Dr Bandit Heeler, a Brisbane-based blue heeler of international repute, is celebrated for his fieldwork in the remote jungles of Indonesia, his landmark publications on the ritual significance of dance-mode freezing in pre-literate societies, and his seminal studies on the development of a language capacity in the Cockapoo. Griffith University’s Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said the appointment was ...

A research team led by Chang Keke from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed an innovative machine learning framework (PAMCs-MP) for predicting the mechanical properties of particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (PAMCs). Despite limited existing datasets, the approach uses extensive pre-training on larger aluminium alloy datasets to guide multi-objective optimization tasks effectively. The model achieves high predictive accuracy, R² values of over 92% for ultimate tensile strength and over 90% for elongation, demonstrating ...

Catalytic dry reforming of methane (DRM) is a key reaction for the sustainable utilization of major greenhouse gases, CO2 and CH4. However, conventional DRM often suffers from severe catalyst deactivation due to high temperature requirements. Applying direct current (DC) to catalyst materials has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome these limitations, yet the underlying DC-enhanced catalytic mechanism remains elusive. Here, we unveil the non-thermal catalytic origin of DC-applied DRM over Pd/CeO2 through multimodal operando analyses, providing a microscopic physicochemical framework ...

Chronic breathlessness, a symptom often overlooked by healthcare systems, is associated with longer lengths of hospital stay on already overstretched healthcare resources, says new Flinders University research. A new study, published in the Australian Health Review, highlights an urgent need for clinicians and policymakers to recognise chronic breathlessness as a major driver of hospital admissions and healthcare costs. Historically, health systems have focused on sudden, short-term episodes of breathlessness (acute breathlessness), ...

Key points Paleontologists working in a cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola have discovered the first-known instance of ancient bees nesting inside pre-existing fossil cavities. Burrowing bees generally prefer to make their nests out in the open. There is only one other documented case of burrowing bees making their nests inside caves. In this case, the likely cause for this aberrant behavior is a lack of topsoil outside the cave and an abundance of accumulated silt within. Many of the fossils were likely transported to the cave by giant barn owls. Evidence, ...

About 20,000 years ago, a family of owls lived in a cave. Sometimes, they would cough up owl pellets containing the bones of their prey, which landed on the cave floor. And, researchers have just discovered, ancient bees would use the bones’ empty tooth sockets as nests. A new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science documents this discovery, which represents the first time bees have ever been known to use bones as places to lay their eggs. The Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which contains Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is full of limestone caves. “In some areas, you’ll find a different sinkhole every 100 meters,” says ...

Are you a social savant who easily reads people’s emotions? Or are you someone who leaves an interaction with an unclear understanding of another person’s emotional state? New UC Berkeley research suggests those differences stem from a fundamental way our brains compute facial and contextual details, potentially explaining why some people are better at reading the room than others — sometimes, much better. Human brains use information from faces and background context, such as the location or expressions ...