In a new communications landscape that feasts on polarization, the science community needs to rethink how it engages society in scientific discovery, controversy and policy. The authors of a report in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) argue that the standard communication model of disseminating the facts and assuming “the truth will prevail” is increasingly falling on deaf ears.  Instead, the science community needs to create a “collaboration model” that invites more public conversations, incorporates personal morals and values, creates a level playing field for input, and embraces uncertainty. Report ...

For economic and sustainable biomanufacturing, the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides has emerged as a promising platform for producing biofuels and other valuable chemicals. However, its genetic manipulation has been limited by its high GC content and the lack of a replicating plasmid, necessitating gene integration. To address these challenges, researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center, developed the RT-EZ toolkit ...

The ISSCR has selected five distinguished early career scientists to serve as new Early Career Editors for Stem Cell Reports, the peer-reviewed, open access, online journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). During their term, Early Career Editors provide strategic advice, participate in the editorial review process, and receive mentorship from current editors. They join other Early Career Editors currently working with the journal. The new Early Career Editors are: Harsha Devalla, Ph.D., Amsterdam University Medical ...

College students who want help overcoming high-risk drinking could benefit from a two-pronged approach that combines an individual-focused psychological theory with social network analysis. That’s according to a new study from Texas A&M University School of Public Health Assistant Professor Benjamin Montemayor and former doctoral student Sara Flores, both in the Department of Health Behavior. High-risk drinking is defined as drinking resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, the legal threshold for intoxication in the United ...

Forensic pathologists play a unique role in monitoring and responding to public health threats and advancing our understanding of human disease and injury, according to a new review article published July 3 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Recognizing that there is little understanding about this key medical subspecialty among the public and even among physicians, the journal asked several forensic pathology leaders to write an overarching review of the field. “Many people may picture forensic ...

Researchers at McMaster University, Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how a protein long associated with Alzheimer’s disease helps lung cancer spread to the brain – a discovery that offers hope that existing Alzheimer’s drugs could be repurposed in preventing cancer’s spread. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine on July 2, 2025, details how the protein (BACE1) is instrumental in the development of brain metastases – tumours that ...

Women who see themselves as having lower social status are more likely than other people to show early signs of heart stress linked to future disease risk, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill and Concordia universities. “One in three women in North America die from heart disease. Yet, women are less likely to receive important cardiac interventions or therapies than men. This highlights the need to rethink how we assess cardiovascular risk in women,” said co-lead author Dr. Judy Luu, Assistant Professor in McGill’s Department of Medicine ...

As brain tumors grow, they must do one of two things: push against the brain or use finger-like extensions to invade and destroy surrounding tissue. Previous research found tumors that push — or put mechanical force on the brain — cause more neurological dysfunction than tumors that destroy tissue. But what else can these different tactics of tumor growth tell us? Now, the same team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston University has developed a technique for measuring a brain tumor’s mechanical force and a new model to estimate how much brain tissue a patient has ...

Ask anyone what comes to mind when they think of Northern Arizona University and they’ll probably say something about the trees. NAU's Flagstaff mountain campus is home to an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 trees—most of them ponderosa pines. This precious resource is worth protecting. That’s why, this summer, students, faculty and staff at NAU are working together to take stock of the campus tree collection. Slowly but surely, a team of forestry and environmental scientists will collect information about the health, ...

The use of emojis in text messaging improves perceived responsiveness and thereby enhances closeness and relationship satisfaction, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Eun Huh from The University of Texas at Austin, U.S. Text-based messaging is a primary use of smartphones, with near-universal adoption across age groups. The use and variety of emojis in such messages have also surged, particularly among young adults. Defined as digital representations of emotions and ideas, emojis enrich text-based communication by conveying emotional nuance and increasing expressiveness. ...

Do we climb the social ladder alone or with help from our communities? Early childhood education (ECE) policies are betting on the former, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Katarzyna Bobrowicz from the University of Luxembourg and University of Liège in Belgium, and colleagues. A 53-country survey of global ECE policies indicates favoritism of competition over cooperation, individualism over solidarity and talent over luck. Recent decades have seen a rising belief in meritocracy: a 1950s-era Western ideal that one’s individual merit (i.e., their skill and talent), begets success rather ...

Your mouth is a magician. Bite the inside of your cheek, and the wound may vanish without a trace in a couple of days. A preclinical study co-led by Cedars-Sinai, Stanford Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has discovered one secret of this disappearing act. The findings, if confirmed in humans, could one day lead to treatments that enable rapid, scarless recovery from skin wounds on other parts of the body. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine. “Our research began with two ...

Key takeaways SEAS researchers grew green algae inside shelters that recreated pressure conditions on Mars. The shelters were made from bioplastics derived from algae. The experiments demonstrate the possibility of closed-loop, sustainable habitats in space. If humans are ever going to live beyond Earth, they’ll need to construct habitats. But transporting enough industrial material to create livable spaces would be incredibly challenging and expensive. Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) think there’s a better way, through biology.  An international team of researchers led by Robin Wordsworth, ...

A new analysis suggests that reductions in U.S. military spending could result in significant decreases in energy consumption by the Department of Defense, leading to reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Ryan Thombs of Penn State University, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS Climate on July 2. Of all the world’s institutions, the U.S. military produces the most greenhouse gas emissions. This occurs through such activities as maintaining bases, continual preparations and training, research and development, and transporting people, supplies, and weapons worldwide. According to military ...

Prenatal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and climatic factors, such as temperature and rainfall, are associated with adverse birth outcomes in India, according to a study published July 2nd, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Mary Abed Al Ahad from the University of St Andrews, U.K. Ambient air pollution poses a global threat to human health, with a disproportionate burden of its detrimental effects falling on those residing in low and middle-income countries. Referred to as the silent killer, ...

In August 2024, the World Health Organization declared a second “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” for mpox. The current outbreak in Africa is driven mainly by the clade I variant, with multiple countries reporting their first-ever mpox cases of this more severe strain. Nagoya University researchers and their collaborators have found that measuring the amount of virus in the blood when skin lesions first appear can help predict whether patients will experience mild or severe progression of the disease. The study analyzes viral loads during early infection to predict how sick patients will get, potentially improving treatment strategies ...

A team of researchers from the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-TIGET, Milan), led by Nadia Coltella and Luigi Naldini, has unveiled a powerful strategy to rejuvenate the effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy against glioblastoma, one of the most lethal and treatment-resistant brain tumors. The findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, highlight how gene therapy targeting immune stimulating cytokines to the tumor microenvironment (TME) and enabling their private cross-talk with CAR-T cells not only restores CAR-T killer activity but also boost a broader immune response that inhibits tumor growth and extends host ...

What archaeological discoveries are considered newsworthy by U.S. media outlets and audiences? A new analysis of “pop-science” reporting reveals topical and regional disparities, including an apparent underrepresentation of Chinese archaeology and preference for findings relevant to white Christian histories. The skewed coverage raises concerns as archaeology influences notions of identity and cultural achievement, and has been misappropriated by racist, nationalist ideologies.  Mass ...

Understanding how far Great Barrier Reef corals are from their parents could be key to identifying and protecting at risk populations, University of Queensland research has found. PhD candidate Zoe Meziere said well-connected coral populations had a better chance of adapting to climate change and other environmental pressures. “Quantifying genetic connectivity can predict the fate of populations as more isolated reefs with lower levels of genetic variation are likely more vulnerable,” Ms Meziere said. “Species that don’t disperse or breed as far are more likely to form isolated populations, reducing their capacity to recover from bleaching events ...

A new groundbreaking study by researchers from University of Birmingham, UCL, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Birmingham Children’s Hospital has revealed important clues into what is driving disease in children with arthritis. Cutting-edge techniques have allowed scientists for the first time to uncover the unique architecture of cells and signals inside the joint as inflammation takes hold. The new study published in Science Translational Medicine looks at arthritis in children, caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking joints. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis affects more than 10,000 children in the UK. It causes swelling, ...

A team of researchers from the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Questrom School of Business at Boston University, and QLS Advisors have introduced a new approach to funding clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) therapies. The study “Financing Drug Development via Adaptive Platform Trials,” published today in PLOS One, outlines a financing model that merges the efficiencies of adaptive platform trials — lower costs and shorter durations — with an innovative royalty-based investment structure designed to accelerate therapeutic development ...

About The Study: In this study, Black patients were less likely to receive outpatient referrals for opioid use disorder. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to address racial disparities in emergency department care for opioid use disorder, particularly in enhancing referral processes.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Siri Shastry, MD, MS, email Siri.Shastry@mountsinai.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.18569) Editor’s Note: Please ...

One of the great unsolved problems in modern planetary science is written on the surface of Mars. Mars has canyons that were carved by rivers, so it was once warm enough for liquid water. How—and why—did it become it a barren desert today? A study led by University of Chicago planetary scientist Edwin Kite puts forth a new explanation for why Mars never seems to stay balmy for long. Published July 2 in Nature, their model suggests that the periods of liquid water we see in the past were initiated by the sun brightening, and that conditions on Mars mean it ...

Study Highlights Major Hurdles for Multinational Clinical Trials in Europe A new study by investigators from Europe, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK), has shed light on significant ethical, administrative, regulatory, and logistical (EARL) hurdles in delivering multinational randomized clinical trials. The research was the first to comprehensively quantify these barriers for an international platform trial and emphasizes the need for urgent improvements, particularly in preparing for future public health crises. Randomized controlled trials provide the highest level of evidence to inform medical practice. Yet, delivering such trials ...

Chemists have discovered for the first time a unique way to control and modify a type of compound widely used in medicines, including a drug used to treat breast cancer. The research, led by the University of Bristol and published today in the journal Nature, also found a new mechanism associated with the chemical reaction which enables the shape of the compound to be flipped from being right-handed to left-handed by simply adding a common agent in the chemical reaction. Study lead author Varinder Aggarwal, Professor of Synthetic Chemistry at the University of Bristol, said: “The findings change our understanding of the fundamental chemistry of this group of organic ...