EMBARGO: 05 January 2024 at 05:00 (US Eastern Time) Freezing is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects more than 9 million people worldwide. When individuals with Parkinson’s disease freeze, they suddenly lose the ability to move their feet, often mid-stride, resulting in a series of staccato stutter steps that get shorter until the person stops altogether. These episodes are one of the biggest contributors to falls among people living with Parkinson’s disease.  Today, freezing is treated with a range of pharmacological, surgical or behavioral ...

Liquid-crystal (LC) phase modulators are widely used in optical systems because of their advantages of low power consumption, light weight, flexible bandwidth adjustment, and non-mechanical movements. However, most LC phase modulators are polarization-sensitive, meaning that they affect the phase of light differently depending on its polarization. This can limit their performance and functionality in some applications. There are two main approaches to realizing polarization-independent LC phase modulators. The first approach is to use polarization-independent ...

Integrated optical signal distributing, processing, and sensing networks require the miniaturization of basic optical elements, such as waveguides, splitters, gratings, and optical switches. To achieve this, fabrication approaches that allow for high-resolution manufacturing are required. Curved elements like bends and ring resonators are especially challenging to fabricate, as they need even higher resolution and lower sidewall roughness. Additionally, fabrication techniques with precise control of absolute structure dimensions are imperative. Several ...

WASHINGTON — Titan’s “magic islands” are likely floating chunks of porous, frozen organic solids, a new study finds, pivoting from previous work suggesting they were gas bubbles. The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters, AGU’s journal for high-impact, short-format reports with immediate implications spanning all Earth and space sciences. A hazy orange atmosphere 50% thicker than Earth’s and rich in methane and other carbon-based, or organic, molecules blankets Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Its surface is covered with dark dunes of organic material and seas of liquid methane and ethane. ...

Today, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Coincidentally, within the field of cultural heritage conservation, increasing international interest and attention over the past two decades has been focused on urban areas. This is timely because the pressure for economic development and for the prioritizing of engagement with the global economy have accompanied rapid urbanization. In many societies, economic development has privileged modernization efforts leading to the loss of traditional communities. ...

Irvine, Calif., Jan 4, 2024 — With a split-second muscle contraction, the greater blue-ringed octopus can change the size and color of the namesake patterns on its skin for purposes of deception, camouflage and signaling. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have drawn inspiration from this natural wonder to develop a technological platform with similar capabilities for use in a variety of fields, including the military, medicine, robotics and sustainable energy.   According to its inventors, new devices made possible by this ...

Detecting malaria in people who aren’t experiencing symptoms is vital to public health efforts to better control this tropical disease in places where the mosquito-borne parasite is common. Asymptomatic people harboring the parasite can still transmit the disease or become ill later, after initially testing negative. The dynamic lifecycle of this pathogen means that parasite densities can suddenly drop below the level of detection — especially when older, less sensitive tests are used. Such fluctuations can make it difficult, when testing only at a single point in time, to determine if an apparently healthy person is in fact infected. Malaria ...

Under embargo until 00:01 GMT on Friday 5 January 2024 /19:01 ET Thursday 4 January 2024 Royal Astronomical Society and University of Oxford press release Neptune is fondly known for being a rich blue and Uranus green – but a new study has revealed that the two ice giants are actually far closer in colour than typically thought. The correct shades of the planets have been confirmed with the help of research led by Professor Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford, which has been published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He and his team found that both worlds ...

Each summer, community college students from Colorado and surrounding states converge on the CU Boulder campus to participate in an immersive nine-week research program. A recent CIRES-led study reveals that when the students head home, they don’t just take new scientific and professional skills with them—they also leave with more confidence in their ability to do science and a greater sense of belonging in the science community. The work, published last month in PLOS ONE, suggests that authentic research experiences inspire community college students’ interest in STEM careers. “Paid, ...

Having bipolar disorder – a serious mental illness that can cause both manic and depressed moods – can make life more challenging.  It also comes with a higher risk of dying early. Now, a study puts into perspective just how large that risk is, and how it compares with other factors that can shorten life.  In two different groups, people with bipolar disorder were four to six times more likely as people without the condition to die prematurely, the study finds.  By contrast, people who had ever smoked were about twice as likely to die prematurely than those ...

As if starting life with a potentially disabling genetic blood disease wasn’t enough, a study shows that almost two-thirds of babies born with sickle cell disease are born to mothers who live in disadvantaged areas.  But the study shows wide variation between states in the rate of births of babies with sickle cell to residents of areas with crowded housing, limited transportation options and other characteristics.  The researchers say their data could help public health authorities focus efforts to support the complex needs of children with sickle cell disease and their families.  The ...

  A new study published in the journal Diabetes demonstrates that a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, a member of a class of medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, can lead to a rapid improvement in insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity is how responsive cells are to insulin, an essential hormone that controls blood glucose levels. An increase in insulin sensitivity means insulin can more effectively lower the blood glucose. Reduced insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance is a feature of Type 2 diabetes. Thus, improved ...

A pair of proteins, YAP and TAZ, has been identified as conductors of bone development in the womb and could provide insight into genetic diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta, known commonly as “brittle bone disease.” This small animal-based research, published today in Developmental Cell and led by members of the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, adds understanding to the field of mechanobiology, which studies how mechanical forces influence biology. “Despite more than a century of study on the mechanobiology of bone development, the cellular and molecular ...

Urbana, Ill. – When youth thrive despite difficult circumstances, they are usually lauded for their accomplishments. However, overcoming adversity may have a hidden physiological cost, especially for minority youth. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at physiological changes among high-striving minority youth in early adolescence. “In the past decade, researchers have observed a phenomenon termed ‘skin-deep resilience.’ Historically, youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who ‘beat the odds’ were assumed to have universally positive outcomes. They are achieving academically, avoiding problematic behaviors, and scoring well on ...

Waltham — January 4, 2024 — Performed early – at the time of amputation – a procedure called targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) can reduce pain scores and prevent complications related to abnormal nerve regrowth, suggests a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.  "Our experience suggests that that acute TMR reduces neuroma formation, and lowers the incidence of both phantom ...

In a study designed to better understand sudden, unexpected deaths in young children, which usually occur during sleep, researchers have identified brief seizures, accompanied by muscle convulsions, as a potential cause. Experts estimate in excess of 3,000 families each year in the United States lose a baby or young child unexpectedly and without explanation. Most are infants in what is referred to as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, but 400 or more cases involve children aged 1 and older, and in what is called sudden unexplained death in children (SUDC). Over half of these children are toddlers. The study findings come from a registry of more than 300 SUDC cases, set up ...

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE FOR RELEASE: Jan. 4, 2024 Kaitlyn Serrao 607-882-1140 kms465@cornell.edu Where’s the snow? Northeastern cities see record temps, low snowfall in 2023 ITHACA, N.Y. - In the Northeastern United States, warming average temperatures for most all climate data sites in December 2023 ranged from 3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal – making 2023 the warmest year on record for 13 of the region’s 35 major locations, including New York City. A total of 28 cities in the region saw one of their top-five warmest years, according to a report Jan. 2 ...

More than 13,000 physicists from around the world will convene to present groundbreaking research at the American Physical Society’s (APS) March Meeting. The conference will be held in person in Minneapolis and online everywhere March 3-8. Scientific Program The scientific program includes nearly 900 sessions and 11,000 individual presentations on new research in climate science, medicine, biological physics, quantum information, superconductivity, condensed matter, and more. For more information, search the scientific program. All times are in Central time.  Hybrid Format The March Meeting will have both in-person and online experiences. ...

In and out of the workplace, people often keep adverse information about themselves secret because they worry that others will judge them harshly. But those fears are overblown, according to new research from the McCombs School of Business. In fact, when study participants pushed through fear to reveal a secret, those in whom they confided were significantly more charitable than they expected. “When we’re thinking about conveying negative information about ourselves, we’re focused on the content of the message,” said study co-author Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing at Texas McCombs. “But the ...

An international collaborative study led by postdoctoral scientist, Dr. Maimuna Paul, and child neurologist, Dr. Hsiao-Tuan Chao, an assistant professor at Baylor College, a faculty member with the Cain Pediatric Neurology Research Foundation Laboratories at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital, and an investigator at the McNair Medical Institute with The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, recently discovered that variants in the PPFIA3 gene ...

As part of continued efforts to bolster the integrity of the scholarly record, the Science journals have partnered with Proofig AI image integrity software. Adoption of Proofig AI positions authors to resolve image-related issues before a paper is published. It also ensures the highest standards of accuracy in work published in the six Science family journals.  “Rigorous data are a cornerstone of our publications,” said Valda Vinson, Executive Editor of Science. “Image manipulation and duplication ...

Life consists of infinite possibilities — appearing in the real world as multiple choices, that then require decision-making in order to determine the best course of action. However, with every choice there also exists a certain amount of uncertainty or ‘risk’. Therefore, behind every decision, lies an intricate evaluation process that balances the ‘risks’ and ‘rewards’ associated with taking such actions. This can, in extreme cases, manifest itself as a pathological behavioral state of high risk-high return (HH) and low risk-low return (LL) decision processing that has been associated with gambling disorders. Although ...

The egg did come first. Egg-laying arose deep in evolutionary time, long before animals even made their way onto land. Throughout evolution, there have been many independent transitions to live-bearing across the animal kingdom, including insects, fish, reptiles, and mammals. Yet, these examples have taught us very little about the number of genetic changes it takes to go from eggs to live offspring. Now, an international team of researchers led by ISTA postdoc Sean Stankowski has used a humble marine snail to reveal the genetic changes that underpin the transition to live-bearing. The main advantage of investigating this phenomenon in ...

Global biodiversity data used to make major policy and conservation investment decisions reflect legacies of social and political inequities. In a Policy Forum, Melissa Chapman and colleagues highlight this issue and its implications for global conservation policy and planning. The rapid rise of global biodiversity data repositories like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – a data repository that synthesizes billions of species observations across the globe – has led to unprecedented insight into large-scale biodiversity patterns worldwide. Not only are ...

In a pair of studies, researchers use different approaches to investigate how complex and innovative phenotypic traits evolve in plants and animals. “The amazing breadth of plant and animal diversity across the globe has evolved by circuitous paths, and resolving the complex history of genomes and traits unlocks new depths for understanding evolution,” writes Kathryn Elmer in a related Perspective. Although biological traits are constantly changing in populations, the emergence of a trait ...