Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners–like therapy horses who respond to human emotion–say University of Bristol researchers. Equine-assisted interventions (EAIs) offer a powerful alternative to traditional talking therapies for patients with PTSD, trauma and autism, who struggle to express and regulate emotions through words alone. The study, presented at the CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems held in Yokohama, recommends that therapeutic robots should also exhibit a level of autonomy, rather than one-dimensional displays of friendship ...

May 28, 2025 MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. Why this matters: Too much of a specific type of Bt corn — genetically modified to produce insecticides against corn rootworm — is being planted in places that don’t have a high risk of corn rootworms destroying corn crops. This overuse is causing corn rootworms to become resistant, or immune, to Bt insecticides. So Bt corn isn’t working as well now in Corn Belt states where corn rootworm is a serious risk, as rootworms are becoming increasingly pesticide resistant. Corn rootworm is one of the worst ...

A new concept of kinetic modules in biochemical networks could revolutionize the understanding of how these networks function. Scientists from the University of Potsdam and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm succeeded in linking the structure and dynamics of biochemical networks via kinetic modules, thus clarifying a systems biology question that has been open for longtime. Their groundbreaking findings were published today in the journal “Science Advances”. Biochemical networks are the central processing units of a cell that enable it to process signals and convert molecules into building blocks ...

HOUSTON – (May 28, 2025) – Some of the most promising materials for future technologies come in layers just one atom thick ⎯ graphene, e.g., a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, prized for its exceptional strength and conductivity. While hundreds of such materials exist, truly merging them into something new has remained a challenge. Most efforts simply stack these atom-thin sheets like a deck of cards, but the layers typically lack significant interaction between them. An international team of researchers led by Rice University ...

TORONTO, May 28, 2025 – Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on May 31, York University researchers with Global Strategy Lab (GSL) have published a paper that finds a lack of gender analysis in tobacco control research. The researchers say this means that we could be missing out on important strategies accounting for gendered behaviors that could help smokers quit. The paper, published today in BMJ Tobacco Control, is the first in a series of papers coming out of York University and GSL on gender and smoking.  “In the tobacco ...

Parkinson’s disease is best known for its effects on the central nervous system. In addition, recent scientific advances generally emphasize the role of the immune system in the presence and development of the disease. In a study published today in Brain, researchers led by Université de Montréal associate professor of neuroscience Martine Tétreault show that some cell types in the immune system are activated more in patients who have Parkinson’s. “Thanks to a new technology called single-cell RNA-seq, we can differentiate ...

Inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, has long been considered a modern condition of the industrialized West, with cases steadily increasing in North America and Europe throughout the 20th century. New research conducted by an international consortium shows that IBD and related conditions are now spreading through developing regions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as well. The study, published in Nature, used data from more than 500 population-based studies covering more than 80 geographic regions to describe a pattern of four distinct stages IBD ...

MINNEAPOLIS — After a mild stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), people who spend more time in bed sleeping or trying to sleep may be more likely to have lower scores on tests of thinking and memory skills and changes in their brains that can lead to dementia or second strokes, according to a study published on May 28, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Spending longer in bed—when some of that time can be not sleeping due to difficulty falling asleep, fragmented sleep, poor quality sleep or other problems—can be a sign of a sleep disorder. The study found that both people ...

As coral reefs struggle to adapt to warming waters, high levels of pollution and sea-level rise, ballooning sea-urchin populations are threatening to push some reefs in Hawaii past the point of recovery. The phenomenon is described in a new study that uses on-site field work and airborne imagery to track the health of the reef in Hōnaunau Bay, Hawaii. Overfishing is the main culprit behind the explosion in sea-urchin numbers, said Kelly van Woesik, Ph.D. student in the North Carolina State University Center for Geospatial Analytics and first author of the study. “Fishing in these areas has greatly reduced the number of fishes that feed on these ...

Adolescents in India whose mothers experience domestic violence face significantly increased risk of anxiety and depression Article URL: https://plos.io/4ja7HiJ Article title: Examining the impact of maternal experiences of domestic violence on the mental health of their adolescent children in India Author countries: U.S., Germany, India, U.K., France, China Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

We might become less sociable as we age as brain scans of adults across the lifespan show disruption of brain connectivity, suggesting impairments in our ability to form and maintain relationships  Article URL: https://plos.io/3S1CiE6 Article title: Intrinsic functional connectivity brain networks mediate effect of age on sociability Author countries: Singapore Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Llamas may have been domesticated in the semi-arid North of Chile prior to the Incas, according to multi-proxy analysis of early camelid remains Article URL: https://plos.io/4mzZabZ  Article title: Multi-proxy analysis of El Olivar camelids (1,090-1,440 cal AD): Evaluating the presence of llamas (Lama glama, Linnaeus 1758) in the Semiarid North of Chile before the arrival of the Inca Author countries: Chile, Denmark, Argentina Funding: Work funded by the El Olivar Archaeological Project. ...

In order to truly decolonize the field of global health, it may be necessary for institutions from the Global North to practice “ruinous solidarity,” according to a study published May 21, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Daniel Krugman from Brown University, United States, and Alice Bayingana from the University of Sydney, Australia.    Even as scholarship related to decolonizing global health advances, global health institutions from the Global North still largely dominate the field via a “soft money” structure (funded by repeatedly winning ...

Refugees in Sweden who lived in institutional housing during the asylum process are prescribed more anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication and visit hospital more than those who lived in self-organized housing, with the associations persisting for years.  ### Article URL: https://plos.io/3Ztgx3U   Article Title: Housing during the asylum process and its association with healthcare utilization for common mental disorders among refugees in Sweden: A nationwide cohort study Author Countries: Sweden Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding ...

Cats spend longer sniffing the odor of a stranger than that of their owner, suggesting that they can identify familiar humans based on smell alone, according to a study publishing May 28, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Yutaro Miyairi and colleagues at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan. Cats use their sense of smell to identify other cats and communicate with each other, but whether they can also use smell to distinguish between different humans has not previously been studied. The researchers investigated whether ...

In a new study of college undergraduates in Japan, the students’ self-perception of their own athletic ability was linked with several internal and external factors, such as personality traits, family characteristics, leisure activities, and others’ perceptions. Sho Ito of Nanzan University, Japan, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on May 28, 2025. Self-perception of one’s own athletic ability could influence one’s motivation to engage in physical activity. For young people, the sense of one’s own athleticism may affect their participation in sports and other physical activities, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research brings together 7,000 years of history in South Arabia to show how ancient pastoralists changed placement and construction of monuments over time in the face of environmental and cultural forces.   In a study published today (May 28, 2025) in PLOS One, an international team of archaeologists documents how monuments changed as the climate transitioned from a humid environment to, eventually, an arid desert.   Early monuments were built by larger groups at one time. But as people dispersed with the increasingly drier climate, smaller groups began constructing monuments and eventually built many of them in several visits.   “The ...

In 2022, after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained power, Afghans reported an average life satisfaction of 1.28 on a scale from 0 to 10—or from the worst possible life to the best possible life—a global, all-time low, according to a new study published today in Science Advances.  That is lower than life satisfaction scores recorded in more than 170 countries since 1946, when global ratings were first tallied. In 2022, the global mean life satisfaction rating recorded in the Gallup World Poll was 5.48.  Afghans also showed little hope for the future. When asked to imagine what their lives would be like in five years on the same ...

How do we think, feel, remember, or move? These processes involve synaptic transmission, in which chemical signals are transmitted between nerve cells using molecular containers called vesicles. Now, researchers have successfully modeled the vesicle cycle in unprecedented detail, revealing new information about the way our brain functions. A joint study, published in Science Advances, between researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan, and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has applied a unique computational modeling system, which considers the complicated interplay of vesicles, their cellular environments, activities and interactions, ...

The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater — including sewage, industrial waste and runoff — into the Pacific Ocean every day, making it the dominant source of coastal pollution in the region. Wastewater pollution has been an ongoing problem for decades and is so severe that the nonprofit environmental group American Rivers recently named the Tijuana River America’s second most endangered river.  A new study from the University of California San Diego examines how pollutants ...

Runaway cell death and inflammation triggered by severe trauma may be interrupted by a drug used to prevent alcohol abuse – and it may be particularly effective in females, according to new research led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine surgeon-scientists and published today in Science Translational Medicine. The findings, based on observations in human patients and tested in mice, may lead to therapies that, if given in the first few hours after severe trauma – such as a falls or vehicle accidents – could ...

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today recognized five individuals with awards for their exemplary service to the computing field. Representing diverse areas, the 2024 award recipients were selected by their peers for building a vibrant community that benefits both their colleagues and the broader society. This year’s awardees drove advancements in computer science curriculum, cyberinfrastructures, computer science education, and assistive robotics. They will be formally recognized at ACM’s annual awards banquet on June 14, 2025, in San Francisco. Dan Garcia, Teaching Professor, UC Berkeley, and Brian Harvey, Teaching ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A study by scientists at the University of California, Riverside shows ultrasonic cigarettes, or u-cigarettes, marketed as a less harmful alternative to traditional e-cigarettes, may pose significant health risks due to the presence of harmful metals in their liquids and aerosols.  U-cigarettes have a “sonicator” that vibrates a liquid solution, usually containing nicotine, flavorings, and propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, to produce microscopic droplets (aerosol). The technology uses high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations instead of heating coils ...

Radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) are critical to advancing communications capabilities—think moving from 5G networks to 6G—and many other technological applications. But these chips are also really hard to design. A multi-university team with heavy involvement from industry leaders is working to change that. The team, led by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, plans to infuse artificial intelligence into the design process for RFICs to reduce the difficulty of making these important chips. "Design productivity is a huge problem for RFICs; in most ...

As fast as modern electronics have become, they could be much faster if their operations were based on light, rather than electricity. Fiber optic cables already transport information at the speed of light; to do computations on that information without translating it back to electric signals will require a host of new optical components.  Engineering researchers at the University of Utah have now developed such a device—one that can be adjusted on the fly to give light different degrees of circular polarization. Because information can be stored in a property of light known as chirality, the researchers’ device could serve as a multifunctional, ...