URBANA, Ill. — In a few years, popcorn could become a standard element in science classrooms across Illinois and the nation. With funding from a new USDA grant, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign crop scientist and collaborating educators are developing a popcorn-based curriculum to reinforce concepts around agricultural science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, computer science, genomics, research methods, and more for 4-H and high school students.  The funding may be new, but Tony Studer has proselytized ...

Hepatitis C and B viruses are one of the causes of this type of cancer –a most frequent on in blood–, and the pathologies that precede it, known as gammopathies. Early identification of an infection with these viruses can help doctors to prescribe appropriate treatment and prevent it from leading to malignant pathologies. The research has been discussed in an editorial article in the journal Haematologica  A few years ago, a patient was cured of multiple myeloma after being treated for hepatitis C, astounding researchers from the group led by Joaquín ...

Family businesses account for more than 70 percent of global GDP, and survey data shows that they are much friendlier to female leadership: up to 55 percent have at least one woman on their board and 70 percent are considering a woman for their next CEO. Experts have attributed this outlier gender parity to an emphasis on long-term strategies or family values. But a new study, published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, suggests that women’s success as leaders in family businesses is deeply rooted in how employees interpret their leadership style. “Family firms tend to focus on being inclusive ...

The atmosphere contains many tiny solid particles. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) and the University of Göttingen in collaboration with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in France and the university of Gothenburg, Sweden, now studied how such non-spherical particles settle in air. For this, they used a new precision apparatus equipped with high-speed cameras and a novel particle injection mechanism. Using a 3D-printer, they created particles of different shapes resembling discs of thickness as low as 50 micrometer and rods of length as high as 880 micrometers. Thanks to this setup, they could observe that particles ...

New research published in Global Strategy Journal identifies globally mobile workers with highly specialized skills as a strategic hiring strategy, due to the workers’ legitimacy and mobility after being laid off by a failure of their former employer. The study shows that laid-off workers experience comparatively high legitimacy loss if they worked in the unit or geographical location where other workers were suspected of being responsible for the corporation’s failure. As a result, their bargaining position with a prospective employer is weaker, even if their special skills ...

We’ve known for a decade that political affiliation increasingly affects Americans’ everyday lives, including where they live, whom they befriend, and whom they welcome as in-laws. A recent Cato Institute survey revealed that nearly a third of Americans worry that voicing their political views could even harm their employment. This intensifying political tribalism, especially during an election year, threatens to limit the social networks vital to entrepreneurs. However a new study, published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, offers an example of how to connect across political entrenchment from a surprising ...

Scientists have created the world’s first working nanoscale electromotor, according to research published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The science team designed a turbine engineered from DNA that is powered by hydrodynamic flow inside a nanopore, a nanometer-sized hole in a membrane of solid-state silicon nitride. The tiny motor could help spark research into future applications such as building molecular factories for useful chemicals or medical probes of molecules inside the bloodstream to detect diseases such as cancer. “Common macroscopic machines become inefficient at the nanoscale,” said ...

General skills training programs for those hired under flexible arrangements can strengthen the relationship between firm and worker, thus benefiting both groups. But for that to happen, the programs need to have strong buy-in from both managers and workers. A new study published in Strategic Management Journal found the use of relational terms to frame training programs is key: Such phrasing makes managers more likely to promote the programs and increases uptake among the gig or contract workers. The research team included Thomaz Teodorovicz of Copenhagen Business School, Sérgio Lazzarini of Western ...

Scholars and policymakers have highlighted the positive impact of human capital on entrepreneurial activity. Vast attention has also been directed to the beneficial role of pro-market institutions for entrepreneurship. A new article published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal shows that the positive relation between pro-market institutions and growth aspirations is weaker for entrepreneurs with general human capital (higher education), but stronger for those with specific human capital (start-up or investment experience). ...

The most important support person for women to succeed in their ambition to breastfeed is the new mother’s partner. The partner also needs to be included through more support from healthcare professionals. Together with Region Sörmland, Uppsala University has implemented a breastfeeding support programme. It provides new parents with structured breastfeeding support throughout the healthcare chain. The study is presented in an article published in the International Breastfeeding Journal. Interviews were conducted to investigate how the partner perceived the support in both the breastfeeding support group and in a control group that had ...

Rochester Institute of Technology Professor Moumita Das, from the School of Physics and Astronomy, has been elected an American Physical Society Fellow for her exceptional contributions to physics. The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members who have made advances in physics through original research and publication, innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology, or teaching or service in the activities of the organization. No more than one half of 1 percent of the APS membership, excluding students, is recognized with fellowship. Only four people from Das’s field worldwide were ...

A new research centre focused on harnessing the positive powers of fungi is being established at Cranfield University with a £7.2 million injection of funding from Research England. Fungi are one of the most diverse kingdoms in all living organisms and have an estimated global monetary value of 54.57 trillion US dollars. Long used for food and medicine, only a small proportion of classified fungi species has been studied in detail and developed for industrial use – leaving an estimated three million species yet to be discovered and evaluated. To date, research of fungi has largely focused on mitigating negative effects like disease, toxins and food loss. The ...

To tackle the challenges of a shrinking wireless spectrum, the University of Houston has joined the Spectrum Management with Adaptive and Reconfigurable Technology (SMART) Hub – a Department of Defense Spectrum Innovation Center to conduct multifaceted spectrum research to meet national defense needs. The center, led by Baylor University, is a collection of researchers, engineers and economic and policy experts looking to enact a paradigm shift in the use and management of the wireless spectrum.  SMART Hub will develop next-generation technologies for unprecedented spectrum agility, to revolutionize ...

About The Study: In this study involving 481,000 individuals over a mean follow-up period of nearly 13 years, individuals who predominantly engaged in sitting at work exhibited a higher risk of mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease compared with those who predominantly did not sit. Individuals who predominantly sit at work would need to engage in an additional 15 to 30 minutes of physical activity per day to mitigate this increased risk and reach the same level of risk as individuals who predominantly do not sit at work. Authors: Chi-Pang Wen, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Health Research ...

About The Study: In this prospective cohort study of 220 pregnant individuals with preterm and full-term deliveries, receipt of three or more compared with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine before delivery resulted in 10-fold higher cord anti-Spike antibody levels. Maternal antibody concentration appeared more important than delivery gestational age in determining cord anti-Spike antibody levels. The number of doses and timing considerations for COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy should include individuals at risk for preterm delivery. Authors: Alisa Kachikis, M.D., M.S., of the University ...

Study analyzed a West Virginia policy that tailored duration limits to a patient’s clinical setting  Researchers found a 27-57% reduction in prescription length with the tailored policy Additional research is needed on potential consequences of limits, such as use of illicit opioids for pain relief  CHICAGO --- Many states have passed new laws that place restrictions on the duration of first-time opioid prescriptions to help address the opioid epidemic. While most laws are one-size-fits-all, policies more tailored to the patient, such as their age or clinical setting (outpatient clinic, emergency room, etc.), were more effective ...

One in three children who suffer from bacterial meningitis live with permanent neurological disabilities due to the infection. This is according to a new epidemiological study led by Karolinska Institutet and published in leading medical journal JAMA Network Open.  For the first time, researchers have identified the long-term health burden of bacterial meningitis. The bacterial infection can currently be cured with antibiotics, but it often leads to permanent neurological impairment. And since children are often affected, ...

Researchers with McMaster University have created the instruction manual that will help scientists across the globe find hard to detect B cells. Led by PhD student Alyssa Phelps and Department of Medicine Assistant Professor Josh Koenig, researchers wanted to chart a path to finding these cells as part of their work in understanding food allergies. Their work was published in the journal Nature Protocols on Jan. 19, 2024. B cells are a type of immune cell that makes antibodies. These cells help fight conditions like cancer and infections but can also cause autoimmune diseases and allergies. "One of the big problems with trying to study these B ...

HOUSTON – (Jan. 19, 2024) – Amanda Marciel describes her current research, supported by a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, as an effort to understand and make “really soft, stretchable stuff.” Expressed more formally, she works at the molecular level to design branch elastomers that return to their original shape after being stretched. “What I’m doing is creating synthetic networks that have a gel-like softness and are highly elastic for such applications as stretchable ...

Clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven biotechnology company InSilico Medicine (“InSilico”), today announced that the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, an ACS Publications journal focusing on critical studies about molecular structure and biological activity, has published the company’s discovery of a novel PHD inhibitor for the treatment of anemia. The academic breakthrough is powered by Chemistry42, its proprietary generative chemistry platform consisting of more than 40 selected generative models.   As suggested in previous studies, the inhibition ...

Insilico Medicine(“Insilico”), a clinical stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, recently published an early research that it has identified MYT1 as a promising new therapeutic target for breast and gynecological cancer, and discovered a series of novel, potent, and highly selective inhibitors specifically targeting MYT1. These findings were supported by Insilico’s AI-driven generative biology and chemistry engine and published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry in Dec 2023.   Across ...

Professor Yoon-Kyoung Cho from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNIST has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK), the most prestigious organization in the field of engineering in Korea. On January 4, the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) announced the election of 50 new members, comprising 25 academic and 25 industrial figures, in recognition of their distinguished and ongoing achievements in original research. Membership in NAEK is considered one of the highest professional distinctions for engineers. Professor Cho’s name appeared ...

A groundbreaking study conducted by Professor Jiyoung Park and her research team in the Department of Biological Sciences at UNIST has identified FAM3C, a metabolism-regulating signaling molecule produced by cancer-associated adipocytes (CAAs), as a key regulator of breast cancer progression within the tumor microenvironment (TME). The findings, published in the prestigious academic journal Cancer Research, shed light on the potential for targeted therapies in the treatment of breast cancer. The study demonstrates that overexpression of FAM3C in cultured adipocytes significantly reduces cell death in both adipocytes and co-cultured breast cancer ...

There are approximately 425 million people worldwide with diabetes. Approximately 75 million of these inject themselves with insulin daily. Now they may soon have a new alternative to syringes or insulin pumps. Scientists have found a new way to supply the body with smart insulin. The new insulin can be eaten by taking a capsule or even better, within a piece chocolate. Inside these we find tiny nano-carriers to which the insulin is encapsulated. The particles are 1/10,000th the width of a human hair and so small that you cannot even see them under a normal microscope. “This ...

MIAMI, FL – January 19, 2024 – Researchers from Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, today published a study in Trends in Cancer that analyzes the use of tissue-agnostic therapeutics in patients with primary brain tumors (PBTs). The publication describes the current and potential impact of tissue-agnostic therapies on the management of PBTs. As part of the publication, the researchers discuss data from clinical trials of tissue-agnostic targets for PBTs in the context of challenges in managing these tumors. They also describe additional tissue-agnostic ...