About 20% of children as young as age 3 have an identified mental health problem Can mark the beginning of a negatively spiraling mental health course as children grow Poor mental health in toddlers can be reversed if addressed early CHICAGO --- Northwestern University has launched a new Mental Health, Earlier Center at the Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci), thanks to an $11.7 million award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health. Co-led by researchers at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah, the center will address ...

There’s history, glitz, and glamor surrounding the awarding of Michelin stars to restaurants, but new research shows there can be a downside to achieving even the highest industry rankings. In a study published in Strategic Management Journal, Daniel B. Sands of University College London found that restaurants that received a Michelin star were more likely to close in subsequent years. The study helps to explain how third-party evaluators' reviews, ratings, and rankings can help or hurt the creation and capture of value, and underscores the importance of solidifying key ...

As strains of pathogens resistant to frontline antibiotics become more common worldwide, clinicians are more often turning to combination treatments that degrade this resistance as a first treatment option. One might expect, then, that antibiotic-resistant pathogens might evolve to adapt to this approach. Previous studies, however, have resulted in contradictory conclusions about how likely that is. In a new study published on September 27 in Nature Communications, researchers from Duke University have discovered the mechanism behind these discrepancies — the ...

Self-harm remains neglected worldwide, with at least 14 million episodes yearly. A new Lancet Commission, led by University of Bristol researchers, urges policy action on societal drivers and health services’ response to this pressing issue. The report, involving an international team of experts, is published today [9 October]. Self-harm is not a psychiatric diagnosis; it is a behaviour shaped by society, culture, and individual factors. The social determinants of health, particularly poverty, heavily influence the distribution of self-harm within communities. This new report highlights that at ...

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) launched its AMS Weather Band as a closed community for weather enthusiasts in 2020. To further its mission of public outreach and nurturing scientific engagement, the Society this month announced that it is re-launching Weather Band as a free resource, available to all. Since the Weather Band began in 2020, it has been a source of engaging, informative content related to weather, water, and climate science, aimed at the general public and weather enthusiasts. This move makes a vast collection of resources and learning material available at no cost, aligning with AMS’s goal to further science education by connecting its ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Oct. 10, 2024) Immunotherapy, using a patient’s own immune system to treat disease, has shown promise in some patients with cancer but has not worked in most. New research from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and colleagues found that disrupting Asxl1, a gene in T cells, improved sensitivity to a type of immunotherapy called immune checkpoint blockade and improved long-term tumor control in modes systems. The findings were published today in Science.   Cells of the immune system use “checkpoints” or signals that tell them how to react to diseased cells or pathogens. ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Skin pigmentation may act as a “sponge” for some medications, potentially influencing the speed with which active drugs reach their intended targets, a pair of scientists report in a perspective article published in the journal Human Genomics. The researchers argue that a sizable proportion of drugs and other compounds can bind to melanin pigments in the skin, leading to differences in how bioavailable and efficacious these drugs and other compounds are in people with varying skin tones. “Our review paper concludes that melanin, the pigment responsible for skin color, shows a surprising affinity for certain drug compounds,” ...

The NEC Society, Cincinnati Children's, and UNC Children’s are proud to announce the NEC Symposium in Chicago, September 7 - 10, 2025. As the world’s largest conference focused on necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), the NEC Symposium will bring together key stakeholders to unite the global community for a world without NEC. The NEC Society has organized the NEC Symposium biennially since 2017, with the most recent 2023 NEC Symposium engaging over 200 participants from nine countries and 35 U.S. states. The 2025 NEC Symposium in Chicago will bring together 300 clinicians, scientists, patient-family advocates, ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, October 10, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## By nature of their living situation, people experiencing homelessness (PEH) are considered one of the most vulnerable populations to the health impacts of extreme weather. PEH are particularly vulnerable to heat, and the impact of heat on mortality in this group is substantially greater than for the general population, according to a new study by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH).    Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study examined mortality rates in two hot-climate US counties—Clark ...

Fillia Makedon, a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded two new National Science Foundation (NSF) grants involving human-computer interaction. In one, she will study extended reality to assess attention levels in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD); in the other, she will look at how human-robot interaction could help visually impaired persons perform job duties remotely from home using telerobotic technologies. The NSF awarded ...

Embargoed: Not for Release Until 2:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time Thursday, 10 October 2024   October 10, 2024   AMHERST, Mass. – They say that hindsight is 20/20, and though the theory of ecological speciation — which holds that new species emerge in response to ecological changes — seems to hold in retrospect, it has been difficult to demonstrate experimentally, until now. In research recently published in Science, biologists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified a key connection between ecology and speciation in Darwin’s finches, famous residents of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Prior work on these birds ...

An organic catalyst offers chemists precise control over a vital step in activating hydrocarbons. Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan have made a significant breakthrough in organic chemistry by developing a novel method to activate alkanes, which are compounds that play a crucial role in the chemical industry. The new technique, published in Science, makes it easier to convert these building blocks into valuable compounds, offering advances in the production of medicines and cutting-edge materials. Alkanes are a primary component of fossil fuels and are also vital building blocks in the production ...

Galápagos finches use their beaks to crush seeds and sing songs, so what happens to their musical trills when their beaks change to respond to new menus available under drought? Jeffrey Podos and Katie Schroeder found that the song might not remain the same after six cumulative future drought events that would likely reshape the finch beak. The projected changes in male mating songs could be so significant that they provide a pathway for ecological speciation, the researchers suggest. The researchers tested this idea by digitally modifying ...

Newly discovered microscopic mucus tails – trailing from particles of marine snow particles – slow these particles’ descent into the deep ocean, research finds. This doubles the particles’ residence time in the ocean's upper layers and significantly alters estimates of how much carbon is sequestered in the deep sea. The oceans serve as a vast reservoir and critical sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. A key process driving carbon sequestration in the ocean is the biological pump, where photosynthetic activity ...

Europe is facing a seed dispersal “crisis,” due to extinction threats and population changes among the animals that do the seed dispersing, according to a new synthesis by Sara Beatriz Mendes and colleagues. Their literature review of animal and plant dispersal pairs helped them reconstruct the first European-wide seed dispersal network. Seed dispersal by animals is a critical part of maintaining healthy ecosystems, especially in fragmented environments like those found throughout Europe. Lack of seed dispersal to connect populations could prevent declining plant populations from ...

Researchers have documented a shift in plant species ranges toward the poles or higher latitudes in the face of climate warming, but Pieter Sanczuk and colleagues now reveal another unexpected pattern of range shift. For decades, understory plants in European temperate forests have been on the move westward, spurred by differences in nitrogen deposition rates. Westward species distribution shifts were 2.6 times more likely than northward ones, according to the researchers, who also noted that forest canopy changes played a role in this shift as well. The findings suggest that factors beyond climate change, such as atmospheric pollution, are also an important part of redistributing biodiversity. ...

Pasadena, CA—The world’s freshwater lakes are freezing over for shorter periods of time due to climate change. This shift has major implications for human safety, as well as water quality, biodiversity, and global nutrient cycles, according to a new review from an international team of researchers led by Carnegie Science’s Stephanie Hampton. Undertaken by scientists based in the United States, Canada, and Sweden, this analysis represents a major call-to-action for wintertime freshwater ecology research. It is published in Science. The world has millions of freshwater lakes, most of which freeze during the winter. The team’s rigorous review indicates ...

Pipetting liquids into tiny test tubes, analyzing huge datasets, poring over research publications—all these tasks are part of being a scientist. But breaking this routine is essential. Time away from the usual work environment can spark creative ideas. Lab retreats, for instance, offer a great setting where researchers can engage with other peers, often leading to new collaborations. The latter was true for Bernat Corominas-Murtra and Edouard Hannezo from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). Fascinated by a dataset showcased during a poster session at a collaborative ...

There is variability in when and how cells divide during the development of embryos. While researchers traditionally believed this variability was an obstacle that needed to be regulated, the Hiiragi group now found that it actually promotes healthy development. The results, published in Science on 11 October 2024, encourage other scientists to see the potential of variability and could have significant impact on assisted reproductive technology.  An embryo consists of cells. These cells divide to make new cells, allowing the embryo to grow. The cells experience variability in how and when they divide and in how they interact with each other. Scientists ...

New Stanford-led research unveils a hidden factor that could change our understanding of how oceans mitigate climate change. The study, published Oct. 11 in Science, reveals never-before seen mucus “parachutes” produced by microscopic marine organisms that significantly slow their sinking, putting the brakes on a process crucial for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The surprising discovery implies that previous estimates of the ocean’s carbon sequestration potential may have been overestimated, but also paves the way toward improving climate models and informing ...

New research reveals nitrogen pollution, and to a lesser extent climate change, unexpectedly as the key driver behind surprising westward shifts in the distribution of plants. A recent study has uncovered that many European forest plant species are moving towards the west due to high nitrogen deposition levels, defying the common belief that climate change is the primary cause of species moving northward. This finding reshapes our understanding of how environmental factors, and in particular nitrogen pollution, influence biodiversity. While it is widely assumed that rising temperatures are pushing many species toward cooler, northern areas, this research shows that westward ...

About The Study: This cross-sectional study of pregnant and nonpregnant women of reproductive age found that vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron intake decreased over the past 2 decades, which may have substantial maternal and fetal health implications. By identifying these nutrient gaps and trends in inadequate intake in this at-risk population, scientific, health care, and regulatory communities may be better poised to adopt recommendations to improve nutrient intake.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Derek Miketinas, PhD, RD, email dmiketinas@twu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

About The Study: More than half of the 1,962 U.S. physicians included in this study who peer reviewed for the most influential medical journals received industry payments in 2020-2022, with most payments for research. Research payments, especially those provided to an institution, may have different implications than general payments for conflicts of interest. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Christopher J. D. Wallis, MD, PhD, email wallis.cjd@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2024.17681) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

In a new, large comprehensive analysis led by the American Cancer Society (ACS), researchers, using a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI), found that more than one-third of fundraising stories on the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform in the United States explicitly shared experiences of medical financial hardships and health-related social needs (HRSNs). The fundraising stories included hardships such as housing and food insecurities, transportation barriers, income loss, lack of sick leave, and disruptions to both work and school. The findings are published today ...

The portion of our nervous systems responsible for the “fight or flight” response can shape the severity of potentially deadly C. difficile infections, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals. The findings suggest that doctors may be able to save patients from the infections – a plague for hospitals and nursing homes – by using drugs to quiet the hyperactive nervous system response, the researchers say. “Compared to how much we know about immune system influences in C. difficile infections, the field is just scratching ...