We often look to the smallest lifeforms for help solving the biggest problems: Microbes help make foods and beverages, cure diseases, treat waste and even clean up pollution. Yeast and bacteria can also convert plant sugars into biofuels and chemicals traditionally derived from fossil fuels — a key component of most plans to slow climate change. Now University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers have engineered bacteria that can produce two chemical products at the same time from underutilized plant fiber. And unlike humans, these ...

In the not-so-distant future, people might be able to tune in to their favorite news source for an update on their community health status, just as they check on the local weather forecast. The community health status is similar to the color-coded Doppler weather data that provides meteorologists with information about rain, snow or hail, its motion and intensity, which they can use to determine specific areas where dangerous weather conditions exist. Having this information has proven to be a valuable tool to protect life and property. “The new community ...

Scientists at NTNU’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway have discovered a pattern of activity in the brain that can serve as a template for building sequential experiences. “I believe we have found one of the brain’s prototypes for building sequences” says Professor Edvard Moser.He describes the activity pattern as “a fundamental algorithm that is intrinsic to the brain and independent of experience.” The breakthrough discovery was published in Nature 20. December 2023. The ability to organise elements into sequences ...

A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 23, entitled, “Benidipine calcium channel blocker promotes the death of cigarette smoke-induced senescent cells and improves lung emphysema.” Smoking is the main risk factor for many lung diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cigarette smoke (CS) contains carcinogenic and reactive oxygen species that favor DNA mutations and perturb the homeostasis and environment of cells. CS induces lung cell senescence resulting in a stable proliferation arrest and a senescence-associated ...

Despite their promise, immunotherapies fail to treat many cancers, including over 80% of some of the most advanced breast cancers. And many of those patients who do respond still experience metastases eventually. New research from Stanford University and the Arc Institute has revealed a better way to predict and improve patient responses. A team led by Lingyin Li, associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford and Arc Core Investigator, found that a protein called ENPP1 acts as an on/off switch that controls breast cancer’s ability to both resist immunotherapy and metastasize. The study, published on ...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have identified the most energy-efficient 2024 model year vehicles available in the United States, including electric and hybrids, in the latest edition of the Department of Energy’s Fuel Economy Guide. The annual online resource compares fuel costs for two-seaters up to large sedans, small and midsize station wagons, minivans, small and standard sport utility vehicles and small and standard pickup trucks. A quick reference top 10 list is searchable for make, model and class, too. “With the national average of gasoline over $3 per gallon, drivers need to know how much they can save by ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2023 MINNEAPOLIS – Signs of injury to the brain’s white matter called white matter hyperintensities, as seen on brain scans, may be tied more strongly to vascular risk factors, brain shrinkage, and other markers of dementia in former tackle football players than in those who did not play football, according to a study published in the December 20, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Studies have shown that athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts can have increased white matter hyperintensity burden in their brains,” ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- A Binghamton University team is one of just 18 nationally that will share in $100 million in U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) funding from the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate to accelerate the pace and scale of translational research.  The Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program will provide $6 million to Binghamton as a cooperative agreement over four years to source and grow pivotal innovations that, with help from the technology transfer office, can go to market and have a positive impact on society. “Binghamton is quickly ...

When did archery arise in the Americas? And what were the effects of this technology on society? These questions have long been debated among anthropologists and archaeologists. But a study led by a University of California, Davis, anthropologist, is shining light on this mystery. Focusing on the Lake Titicaca Basin in the Andes mountains, anthropologists found through analysis of 1,179 projectile points that the rise of archery technology dates to around 5,000 years ago. Previous research held that archery in the Andes emerged around 3,000 years ago. The new research indicates that the adoption of bow-and-arrow technology coincided with both the expansion of ...

Ochsner Health Network, LLC (OHN), the Gulf South’s largest physician-led clinically integrated network, is pleased to report its 2022 – 2023 impact resulting from care delivered to nearly a half-million patients living throughout the Gulf South. The network’s all-new digital report boasts more than $56 million in total cost-of-care savings to our community’s most vulnerable populations, with $38 million in rewards to be shared among the network’s providers. “Our country’s healthcare system must evolve; our communities’ health must improve; and the rising costs of care must be reversed. Proudly, Ochsner Health Network remains ...

A new review paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on December 12, 2023, entitled, “Current perspectives on the management of refractory or relapsed classic hodgkin lymphoma in Brazil: Balancing efficacy, safety, and tolerability.” Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL), which accounts for 90–95% of all cases of Hodgkin lymphoma, is the most frequent cancer in adolescents and the most frequent lymphoma in adolescents and young adults. Despite progressive improvements over past decades and the general sensitivity of ...

Young adults who are more familiar with e-cigarette marketing practices are more likely to have attitudes against vaping than those unaware of the industry’s marketing, according to a study led by Drexel University public health researchers published this month in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control. Expanding on ways cigarettes were marketed in the 1970s, such as using models and hosting smoking events, e-cigarette marketing includes more modern tactics, like paying social media influencers to promote vaping. The findings, from researchers at Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health and The National Institute ...

A surprising MIT study published in Nature at the end of 2016 helped to spur interest in the possibility that light flickering at the frequency of a particular gamma-band brain rhythm could produce meaningful therapeutic effects for people with Alzheimer’s disease. In a new review paper in the Journal of Internal Medicine, the lab that led those studies takes stock of what a growing number of scientists worldwide have been finding out since then in dozens of clinical and lab benchtop studies. Brain rhythms (also called brain “waves” or ...

In a new study, viewers of Facebook users’ posts came away with perceptions of the users that differed from the users’ own self-perceptions. Qi Wang and colleagues at Cornell University, New York, US, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 20, 2023. Many people post on social media platforms in order to express themselves and connect with others. Prior research has shown that viewers of personal websites, such as blogs or online profiles, form largely accurate perceptions ...

In a survey study comparing Ukrainian refugees living in Kraków, Poland with those farther away from Ukraine in Vienna, Austria, those in Vienna tended to have higher education levels, more prior work experience, and greater willingness to remain in their new area of residence. Judith Kohlenberger of the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 20, 2023. Since Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, nearly 8 million Ukrainians have fled the country. These refugees often tend to be female, in their mid- to late 30s, and more highly educated than the average ...

Having high cholesterol and high blood pressure before the age of 55 has a lasting impact on your risk of heart disease in later life - even if you subsequently lower your levels ### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295004 Article Title: Association between systolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol with coronary heart disease according to age Author Countries: Australia, UK Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Women's risk of infertility increases by 3% for every extra 1cm of waist measurement, though physical activity may be protective, finds US epidemiological study ### Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295360 Article Title: Association between waist circumference and female infertility in the United States Author Countries: China Funding: JK received the funding from the Science and Technology Project of Huizhou (http://sti.huizhou.gov.cn/). Grant number: 2022CZ010016. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. END ...

An international team of scientists has found the first direct evidence linking seemingly random weather systems in the ocean with climate on a global scale. Led by Hussein Aluie, an associate professor in the University of Rochester’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and staff scientist at the University’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the team reported their findings in Science Advances. The ocean has weather patterns like what we experience on land, but on different time and length scales, says lead author Benjamin Storer, a research associate in Aluie’s Turbulence and Complex Flow Group. A weather pattern on land might last ...

In general, frogs’ teeth aren’t anything to write home about—they look like pointy little pinpricks lining the upper jaw. But one group of stream-dwelling frogs in Southeast Asia has a strange adaptation: two bony “fangs” jutting out of their lower jawbone. They use these fangs to battle with each other over territory and mates, and sometimes even to hunt tough-shelled prey like giant centipedes and crabs. In a new study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers have described a new species of fanged frog: the smallest one ever discovered. “This new species is tiny compared to other fanged frogs on the island where ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) patients lose body weight and muscle mass, despite being on a high-calorie diet while in the intensive care unit. Their muscle wasting is substantial and extends beyond what can explained by inactivity or denervation (loss of nerve supply) alone. Research led by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine published in the journal Science Translational Medicine sheds new light and decodes early muscle loss after SCI to provide an unprecedent first understanding that muscle wasting is: rapid ...

The world’s top fossil fuel firms subtly reset online conversations about climate change by ignoring discussions of extreme weather in favour of sharing praise for their own sustainability work, according to a new research paper in Nature’s npj | Climate Action series. Over half a million social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) were studied using artificial intelligence-assisted language/rhetoric analysis to reveal how fossil fuel companies, intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) interact online in conversations about climate change, including responses to climate change-related ...

Philadelphia, December 20, 2023 – India—with a dairy sector mainly composed of small dairy farms—is one of the largest milk producers in the world and home to more dairy cows than any other country. Its small farms feed millions and are critical sources of employment, income, and nutrition. As the dairy sector works toward reducing its emissions and contributing to global sustainability goals, a new study in the Journal of Dairy Science is illuminating the steps these valuable small dairy farms can take to lower their carbon footprints while providing enormous economic and nutritional benefits. The study’s lead investigator, Anjumoni Mech, PhD, of the Indian ...

December 20, 2023-- Several key public health occupations are lacking a Standard Occupational Classification code (SOC), including disease intervention specialist, public health nurse, policy analyst, and program manager, and without valid SOC matches and detailed data on local and state government health departments, the U.S. Department of Labor’s data cannot be used to count the number of public health workers serving as our nation’s frontline biodefense. Without that basic information, our nation will ...

The MIT Press is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking partnership with the European Sociological Association (ESA), marking a significant step forward in the world of academic open access publishing. We are proud to welcome European Societies and European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology to MIT Press as premier diamond open access publications, with new issues commencing in 2025.   Lígia Ferro, President of the European Sociological Association, notes that the decision to leave Taylor & Francis to publish open access with the ...

The number of people affected by tropical cyclones has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2019, reaching nearly 800 million people in 2019, according to a new study.   While more people are affected by tropical cyclones in Asia than any other region, every affected world region saw an increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, which are expected to become more intense and possibly more frequent as the climate warms.   “Although our study period is not sufficiently long to understand long-term trends, we observe a steady increase in both population and person-days exposure for ...