A recent study published in the Journal of Geographical Sciences in December 2023 reveals a novel method for reconstructing historical warm season temperatures in North China. Utilizing the blue intensity (BI) of tree rings of Picea meyeri, researchers have developed a 281-year chronology, offering unprecedented insights into the region’s climatic past. The escalating public concern over climate warming, due to its significant impacts on society, ecosystems, and the environment, underscores the importance of understanding long-term climatic conditions across different regions. As the limited observational records constrain our comprehensive grasp of climate change, tree-ring data prove ...

Funding will prepare three scientists to improve sustainable development in their country The University has won British Council International Science Partnerships funding of £180,000  The University already has close ties with the sustainability sector in the Philippines. Aston University is to help tackle sustainability problems in the Philippines by offering training to three of the country’s early career researchers. The University has won British Council International Science Partnerships funding of £180,000 to host three scientists ...

A new study reveals a significant increase in aboveground carbon (AGC) in Southwest China from 2013 to 2021, defying the adverse effects of extreme droughts. This achievement underscores the region's pivotal role as a carbon sink, attributed to extensive ecological projects and innovative remote sensing techniques. Over the past four decades, Southwest China has been a major carbon sink, significantly mitigating anthropogenic CO2 emissions. However, recent severe droughts, especially from 2009-2013 and in 2022, have drastically reduced its carbon ...

About The Study: This study quantified the potential savings from eliminating or reducing physical activity disparities, which can help policymakers, health care systems, schools, funders, sports organizations, and other businesses better prioritize investments toward addressing these disparities.  Authors: Bruce Y. Lee, M.D., M.B.A., of Public Health Informatics, Computational, and Operations Research (PHICOR), CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy in New York, is the corresponding author. To ...

About The Study: Greater exposure to early-life pain was associated with altered maturation of neonatal structural connectivity, particularly in female infants in this study of 150 very preterm infants. Alterations in structural connectivity were associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes, with potential regional specificities.  Authors: Steven P. Miller, M.D.C.M., M.A.S., of the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and University of British Columbia in Vancouver, is the corresponding author.  To ...

What would happen if the existing disparities in physical activity levels between youth of lower and higher socioeconomic statuses were eliminated? Previous studies have shown that those between 6-17 years of age in lower socioeconomic groups get on average 10-15% less physical activity than those of higher socioeconomic groups. A new study published in the journal JAMA Health Forum on Mar. 15 shows that eliminating such disparities could end up saving society over $15 billion in direct medical costs and productivity losses. This in turn could end up benefiting all taxpayers, anyone who pays insurance ...

UBC researchers believe a group of killer whales observed hunting marine mammals including sperm whales, as well as a sea turtle, in the open ocean off California and Oregon could be a new population. Based on available evidence, the researchers posit in a new study published in Aquatic Mammals  that the 49 orcas could belong to a subpopulation of transient killer whales or a unique oceanic population found in waters off the coast of California and Oregon. “The open ocean is the largest habitat on our planet and observations of killer whales in ...

CHICAGO: The March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS), which includes research presented at the Southern Surgical Association 135th Annual Meeting, features new research on topics ranging from colorectal cancer and social vulnerability to operating room supply costs, the rise in school shootings since 1970, and the impact of permitless open carry laws on suicide rates, among others.  Read highlights from the issue below. The full issue is available on the JACS website.  Social Vulnerability Index and Survivorship after Colorectal Cancer Resection  Researchers analyzed whether data from the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) can help predict complications ...

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) has researched parents' support behavior in relation to school grades. The study shows that low-income families support their children equally regardless of grades, while parents from higher income groups tend to give more support to children with lower grades. It also raises the question of whether these patterns contribute to low social mobility, as parents of high-achieving children from lower social classes do not have the same resources and strategies at their disposal as parents of low-achieving ...

Researchers at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, have published a review article on the terahertz (THz) radiation in quantum materials. The work, led by Surui Yang, Liang Cheng, and Jingbo Qi, offers a comprehensive exploration of the time-dependent photocurrents, shedding light on the up-to-date understanding of the physical processes involved. The investigation, conducted at the forefront of ultrafast science, delves into the potential of THz radiation in unraveling the fundamental physics of quantum materials, with implications for the development of novel technologies. The review focuses on recent advancements in revealing the unique properties of quantum materials ...

Global warming, the long-term warming of Earth’s overall temperature, has greatly accelerated in the last 100 years due to human factors such as the burning of fossil fuels. Along with this trend, certain atmospheric phenomena have also changed, such as typhoons and other types of disastrous weather becoming more intense than before and bringing about more serious impacts. The Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO), one of the most pronounced subseasonal variabilities in the tropics during boreal summer, provides an important basis for subseasonal forecasting. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the BSISO and its changes under global warming. Recently, ...

UVA Health researchers have discovered a potential way to predict which patients with severe COVID-19 are likely to recover well and which are likely to suffer “long-haul” lung problems. That finding could help doctors better personalize treatments for individual patients. UVA’s new research also alleviates concerns that severe COVID-19 could trigger relentless, ongoing lung scarring akin to the chronic lung disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the researchers report. That type of continuing lung damage would mean that patients’ ability to breathe would continue to worsen over time. “We are excited ...

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and Vanderbilt University found that an average of 1,769 people were injured annually in police shootings from 2015 to 2020, 55 percent of them or 979 people, fatally. The study covered a total of 10,308 incidents involving shootings by police. The Center is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The majority of victims in shootings by police—84 percent overall—were reported as armed with a firearm or other weapon, such as a knife or vehicle, during ...

The origin of COVID-19 is highly debated – most studies have focused on a zoonotic origin, but research from the journal Risk Analysis, examined the likelihood of an unnatural origin (i.e. from a laboratory.) The results indicate a greater likelihood of an unnatural than natural origin of the virus. The researchers used an established risk analysis tool for differentiating natural and unnatural epidemics, the modified Grunow-Finke assessment tool (mGFT) to study the origin of COVID-19. This risk assessment cannot prove the specific origin of COVID-19 but shows that the possibility of a laboratory origin ...

By design, synthetic molecules typically have specific jobs to prevent or accelerate reactions between other molecules. To help control more complicated reactions, researchers may harness spare space in one molecule to synthesize another chemical structure. The host-guest assembly can better induce the specific desired reaction than either component individually — if the scientists designing the assembly get it right.   A multi-institution team based in China has reported a novel cluster — the guest — that nucleated ...

A research team, led by Professor Seok Ju Kang in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, has unveiled a groundbreaking technique for mass-producing polymer solid electrolytes, crucial components in batteries. Departing from the traditional melt casting method, the team introduced a horizontal centrifugal casting method to overcome existing limitations. This innovative approach has redefined the production process for high-quality polymer solid electrolytes, revolutionizing the industry. Drawing inspiration from the horizontal centrifugal casting technique used in producing iron pipes, the research team successfully achieved a uniform polymer ...

HOUSTON – (March 15, 2024) – Materials scientists at Rice University are shedding light on the intricate growth processes of 2D crystals, paving the way for controlled synthesis of these materials with unprecedented precision. Two-dimensional materials such as graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) exhibit unique properties that hold immense promise for applications in electronics, sensors, energy storage, biomedicine and more. However, their complex growth mechanisms — inconsistent correlations ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (03/15/2024) — For the first time, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities showed that non-invasive brain stimulation can change a specific brain mechanism that is directly related to human behavior. This is a major step forward for discovering new therapies to treat  brain disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The study was recently published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed, open ...

WASHINGTON – A rigorous analysis of numerous studies concludes that a part of the brain traditionally associated with movement is abnormal in children with developmental language impairments, according to Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists. The discovery has the potential to improve both the diagnosis and treatment of the language difficulties. The researchers investigated brain abnormalities in developmental language disorder. This condition, which impacts the development of various aspects of language, is about as common as attention-deficit/hyperactivity ...

By Benjamin Boettner  (BOSTON) — Therapeutic cancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy in the making that could not only destroy cancer cells in patients, but keep a cancer from coming back and spreading. Multiple therapeutic cancer vaccines are being studied in clinical trials, but despite their promise, they are not routinely used yet by clinical oncologists to treat their patients.  The central ingredient of therapeutic cancer vaccines is antigens, which are preferentially produced or newly produced (neoantigens) by tumor cells and enable a patient’s immune system to search and destroy the cancerous ...

A printable organic polymer that assembles into chiral structures when printed has enabled researchers to reliably measure the amount of charge produced in spin-to-charge conversion within a spintronic material at room temperature. The polymer’s tunable qualities and versatility make it desirable not only for less expensive, environmentally friendly, printable electronic applications, but also for use in understanding chirality and spin interactions more generally.  Spintronic devices are electronic devices that harness the spin of an electron, ...

For Immediate Release OAKLAND, Calif., March 15, 2024 — Innovation in trauma-informed health care is the core focus of a special section in today’s issue of The Permanente Journal. The special section features 13 articles that touch on this increasingly prominent approach and reaches into several diverse subdomains such as mental health, physical health, body size diversity and systems-level implementation. Workplace wellness, clinician training and medical school curricula related to trauma are also covered in the issue. Trauma-informed health care has grown ...

The liver is not only the largest internal organ but also vital for human life as a metabolic center. It also possesses remarkable self-healing powers: even when large portions are removed, such as during surgery, they quickly regenerate in healthy individuals. However, in cases of repeated or chronic injury to the liver tissue, as caused by excessive alcohol consumption or viral hepatitis, this regenerative capacity fails. Scarring occurs, known as fibrosis, where liver cells are replaced by fibrous tissue. The liver hardens and becomes increasingly unable to perform its functions - in the worst case, this leads to liver failure. To ...

It is well known that car safety equipment was originally designed with male-representative bodies in mind. This means women sitting in the front row are more likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries in the case of a crash. They are also more likely to be trapped in crashed cars. Interested in the inequalities of car design and the resulting injuries, a team of researchers in the US has used trauma injury data from car crash victims to evaluate differences in injury patterns typical for males and females. “We found that vehicle crash injury patterns and injury severity differ between men and women. We also show that women are arriving ...

Researchers led by Prof. WANG Bin at National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently reported that strain generated at bubbles of 2D materials can benefit the catalytic activity of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The study was published in Chem Catalysis.  Green hydrogen produced by electrochemical water splitting offers the potential to achieve carbon-neutral production processes. Catalysts play a crucial role in facilitating HER at the anode, making it a key component in the transition to a sustainable energy future. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), particularly MoS2, have drawn attention ...