ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell University astrobiologists have devised a novel way to determine ocean temperatures of distant worlds based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space. Available data showing ice thickness variation already allows a prediction for the upper ocean of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, and a NASA mission’s planned orbital survey of Europa’s ice shell should do the same for the much larger Jovian moon, enhancing the mission’s findings about whether it could support ...

NEW YORK, NY (February 29, 2024)--Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) today announced the launch of a new center for pediatric cardiovascular innovation, made possible through a visionary gift by Lawrence Neubauer. The mission of the new center is to improve outcomes for patients through groundbreaking research and care and to define the next cures for and future practice in congenital heart disease (CHD)—here and across the world. In recognition of the transformative generosity of Lawrence Neubauer, the center will be named the Garrett Isaac Neubauer Center for Cardiovascular ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Effective population level vaccination campaigns are fundamental to public health. Countercampaigns, which are as old as the first vaccines, can disrupt uptake and threaten public health globally. Even before March 2020, vaccine hesitancy was directly linked to misinformation — false, inaccurate information promoted as factual — on social media. Once COVID-19 reached pandemic status, social media was acknowledged as the epicenter of information leading to vaccine hesitancy, which the World Health Organization, ...

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year worldwide, and two thirds are children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists have found a treatment that could prevent thousands of these deaths: trees. New research conducted at the University of Vermont (UVM) and published today in the journal GeoHealth suggests forests can provide natural protection against disease transmission, particularly for the most vulnerable children. Malaria spreads through the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes. While malaria is a disease long associated with lower socioeconomic status, the UVM study links deforestation with higher risk of the disease, particularly for ...

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the schedule for upcoming events and submissions associated with the competition for the management and operating contract for the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF). TJNAF is a DOE national laboratory and DOE-sponsored Federally Funded Research and Development Center that has a mission focused on delivering breakthrough science and technology in nuclear physics.  DOE will host an informational meeting and site tour on March 27, 2024 at TJNAF to provide information regarding the site to interested parties. ...

    U.S. flu vaccines are likely to move from quadrivalent to trivalent due to a change in circulating influenza viruses, says a University of Michigan researcher.   Currently, all influenza vaccines in the United States are quadrivalent, meaning that they protect against four different flu viruses.   In a new paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers detail the spread of influenza B/Yamagata virus, which has not been in circulation since early 2020; the regulatory discussions and recommendations on updating vaccines; and the manufacturing considerations ...

Glenview, IL– The American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST) has received accreditation with commendation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and reaccreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). This achievement grants CHEST reaccreditation through November 2029 and places the organization in the highest tier of all continuing medical education (CME) providers, including some of the nation’s most prestigious medical schools and professional medical societies. “Receiving reaccreditation with commendation from the ACCME is a real testament to the education team at CHEST including both internal ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced four multi-year Exploratory Cell Networks grants for researchers exploring the frontiers of genomics, cell biology, and synthetic biology by developing new measurement technologies. The projects will be bringing together regional labs in California, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Research Triangle. Klaus Hahn, PhD, the Ronald G. Thurman Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, will be co-leading a ...

WASHINGTON — Researchers have developed an all-light communication network that enables seamless connectivity across space, air and underwater environments. The new network design combines different types of light sources to ensure connectivity no matter the environment. “In today’s world, data transmission is critical for communication, navigation, emergency response, research and commercial activities,” said research team leader Yongjin Wang from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications and ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The likelihood that a girl will participate in high school sports in the United States is driven not so much by individual choice, new research suggests. Instead, decisions made by parents, the wealth of one’s family and community, and racial dynamics matter.   By combining interviews with elite college athletes and analysis of data on over 4,000 high school girls, researchers found that socioeconomic status – of families and the school districts in which they live ...

A new study from a team of McGill University and Vanderbilt University researchers is shedding light on our understanding of the molecular origins of some forms of autism and intellectual disability. For the first time, researchers were able to successfully capture atomic resolution images of the fast-moving ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) as it transports calcium. iGluRs and their ability to transport calcium are vitally important for many brain functions such as vision or other information coming from sensory organs. Calcium also brings about changes in the signalling capacity of iGluRs ...

Artificial Intelligence has helped scientists reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer which could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated in the future.  A Cancer Research UK-funded study published today, 29 February 2024, reveals that prostate cancer, which affects one in eight men in their lifetime, includes two different subtypes termed evotypes.  The discovery was made by an international team led by the University of Oxford, and the University of Manchester, who applied AI (artificial intelligence) on data from DNA to identify two different subtypes affecting the prostate.   The team hope their findings could save thousands ...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating joint disease which affects over 500 million people worldwide, with trends increasing as populations age. OA is caused by progressive, irreversible degeneration of joint cartilage, leading to pain, swelling and immobility in the affected joint. Current therapies focus on symptom relief but cannot restore degenerated cartilage. A potentially alternative treatment is the regeneration of cartilage from stem cells. Importantly, not all types of stem cells can make cartilage and earlier clinical trials with mesenchymal stem or stromal cells (MSCs) obtained did not convincingly show that MSCs make new cartilage when given to OA patients. In search for the ...

Writing a commentary in the 50th anniversary issue of Cell, FU Qiaomei and E. Andrew Bennett, both of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explored the contribution of paleogenomics to our understanding of the evolution of modern humans. Given her numerous contributions to the field of human evolution through the analysis of both archaic and early modern human genomes, Prof. FU was invited by the journal Cell to write a commentary reviewing what we have learned about the evolution ...

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of severe weather events, which may particularly endanger vulnerable populations such as the elderly. Researchers from Mass General Brigham and colleagues examined how weather disasters between 2011 and 2016 influenced healthcare delivery and mortality among Medicare beneficiaries in affected counties, finding that one week after major weather events, emergency department (ED) use and mortality remained elevated by 1.22% and 1.4%, respectively, from pre-disaster ...

For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials. Research published today in Current Biology has shown the species, Apis cerana, has overcome what is known as a genetic bottleneck to grow from a single swarm into a population of more than 10,000 colonies over a 10,000 square kilometre area – which is about the size of Greater Sydney. Co-lead author Dr Rosalyn Gloag from the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences said: “Our study of this bee population shows that some species can ...

Several areas of the globe — including the Bay of Bengal, the Philippines, and the Caribbean Sea — are likely to experience record-breaking average surface air temperatures in the year period up to June 2024 as a result of the ongoing El Niño phenomenon. The modelling results, published in Scientific Reports, also suggest that there is an estimated 90 percent chance of record-breaking global mean surface temperatures occurring over the same period under a moderate or strong El Niño scenario. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, centred ...

About The Study: This study of 536 participants identified changes in patient portal use over time and highlighted populations that had lower access to health information. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in portal use. Sociodemographic disparities by sex and age were reduced, although disparities by health literacy widened. A brief validated health literacy measure may serve as a useful digital literacy screening tool to identify patients who need further support.  Authors: Esther Yoon, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., of Northwestern University in Chicago, is the corresponding ...

About The Study: The findings of this study of 34,500 patients suggest that racial and ethnic disparities in locally advanced rectal cancer treatment outcomes may be multifactorial, with an independent association with non-Hispanic Black race, suggesting unidentified biological variables or social determinants of health that warrant exploration.  Authors: Sanjeevani Arora, Ph.D., and Shannon M. Lynch, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, are the corresponding authors.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.0044) Editor’s ...

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced four multi-year grants that will bring together regional labs in California, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina to explore the frontiers of genomics, cell biology, and synthetic biology by developing new measurement technologies. These projects will focus on developing technologies to engineer cell and tissue models, exploring cellular responses to genetic and environmental stressors, understanding RNA's role in metabolism, and more.  “To unravel the mysteries of the cell, we need new technologies, and the Exploratory Cell Networks grants support early-stage ...

Diabetes accelerates the development of atherosclerosis, increasing the incidence of cardiovascular events. In atherosclerosis, immune cells called macrophages release molecules such as chemokines and cytokines, causing inflammation and leading to arterial plaque formation. However, significant gaps persist in understanding the exact molecular mechanisms controlling this increased inflammatory response in individuals with diabetes. In a new, preclinical study, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, identified a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) sequence that could help them unravel the ...

LA JOLLA, CA—Roughly 4 billion years ago, Earth was developing conditions suitable for life. Origin-of-life scientists often wonder if the type of chemistry found on the early Earth was similar to what life requires today. They know that spherical collections of fats, called protocells, were the precursor to cells during this emergence of life. But how did simple protocells first arise and diversify to eventually lead to life on Earth? Now, Scripps Research scientists have discovered one plausible pathway for how protocells may have first formed and chemically ...

– By Will Ferguson A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change.  Deciphering the mechanics of this mutually beneficial relationship is challenging, however, as conditions in nature are extremely difficult for scientists to replicate in the laboratory. To address this challenge, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) created fabricated ecosystems or EcoFABs.  In a new paper in Science Advances, they ...

Digital Science has awarded two new Catalyst Grants of £25,000 each to innovative AI-based technology ideas aimed at advancing global research. The winners will use the funding to develop their ideas, which include using AI to alleviate the burden on researchers of applying for research funding, and to predict research impact. The winning applications from Digital Science’s 2023 Catalyst Grant round announced today are: Atom – Tomer du Sautoy (co-founder and CEO) and Hamilton Evans (co-founder and ...

Fonio (Digitaria exilis), a type of millet, is the oldest indigenous crop in West Africa and one of the fastest maturing cereals. Despite its low yield, the combination of quick maturation and drought tolerance and its ability to thrive in poor soils make it a useful model for understanding how cereals can adapt to future climate change conditions. Nutritionally, fonio is comparable to other millets, says KAUST researcher Naheed Tabassum, but yields are much lower than the major cereal crops rice, maize and wheat. Tabassum believes fonio could complement staple crops amid climate change and desertification ...