LA JOLLA, CA—Elucidating human contact networks could help predict and prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and future pandemic threats. A new study from Scripps Research scientists and collaborators points to which public health protocols worked to mitigate the spread of COVID-19—and which ones didn’t. In the study, published online in Cell on December 14, 2023, the Scripps Research-led team of scientists investigated the efficacy of different mandates—including stay-at-home measures, social distancing and travel restrictions—at preventing local and regional transmission during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found ...

On the beach, ocean waves provide soothing white noise. But in scientific laboratories, they play a key role in weather forecasting and climate research. Along with the atmosphere, the ocean is typically one of the largest and most computationally demanding components of Earth system models like the Department of Energy’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM. Most modern ocean models focus on two categories of waves: a barotropic system, which has a fast wave propagation speed, and a baroclinic system, which ...

Gastrulation is one of the most important phases in early embryonic development. Before gastrulation, vertebrate embryos are simple two-dimensional sheets of cells. By the end of gastrulation, an embryo will have begun to differentiate distinct cell types, set up the basic axes of the body and internalize some of the precursors for organs in a three-dimensional structure. Amniotes, like chickens and humans, will have developed a primitive streak, the precursor to the brain and skin, while fish and amphibians will have developed a spherical-shaped ...

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is extremely common, affecting nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, according to the World Health Organization.   Once inside the body, HSV establishes a latent infection that periodically awakens, causing painful blisters on the skin, typically around the nose and mouth. While a mere  nuisance for most people, HSV can also lead to dangerous eye infections and brain inflammation in some people and cause life-threatening infections in newborns. Researchers have long known ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Drones flying along miles of rivers in the steep, mountainous terrain of central Taiwan and mapping the rock properties have revealed new clues about how water helps shape mountains over geological time, according to a team led by Penn State scientists. The researchers found a link between the size of boulders in the rivers and the steepness of the rivers. The link shows how rock properties can influence the relationship between tectonic processes happening deep underground and how mountainous landscapes ...

WHAT: An effective HIV vaccine may need to prompt strong responses from immune cells called CD8+ T cells to protect people from acquiring HIV, according to a new study from researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues. The study findings, appearing in Science, draw comparisons between the immune system activity of past HIV vaccine study participants and people with HIV who naturally keep the virus from replicating even in the absence of antiretroviral ...

Half of all marriages in the United States are likely to fail by the time the spouses reach their 50s. Understandably, many couples are looking for ways to avoid becoming part of that statistic, well aware of a divorce’s possible wide-reaching detrimental effects on families, children, personal finances, individual well-being—and direct and indirect costs to society.  Ronald Rogge, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, has been researching the complex dynamics ...

Catarina Frazão Santos, researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) (Ciências ULisboa), has been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) with a Starting Grant of approximately 1.5 million euros to study the benefits and challenges of developing sustainable, equitable and climate-smart marine spatial planning processes in Antarctica and beyond. “We need to raise awareness and foster a ‘paradigm shift’ on how to plan for sustainability and equity in a changing ocean,” says Catarina ...

Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History led a new analysis that sheds light on the ancestry and genetics of woolly dogs, a now extinct breed of dog that was a fixture of Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for millennia. Anthropologist Logan Kistler and evolutionary molecular biologist Audrey Lin analyzed genetic clues preserved in the pelt of “Mutton,” the only known woolly dog fleece in the world, to pinpoint the genes responsible for their ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 19:00 GMT / 14:00 ET THURSDAY 14 DECEMBER 2023 Diverse gut bacteria communities protect against harmful pathogens by nutrient blocking New study demonstrates that diverse communities of resident bacteria can protect the human gut from disease-causing microorganisms. However, this protective effect is lost when only single species of gut bacteria are present. The researchers found that protective communities block the growth of harmful pathogens by consuming nutrients that the pathogen needs. The findings, published today in the journal Science, could help to develop new strategies to optimise gut health. The ...

Astronomers at the University of Toronto have discovered a population of massive stars that have been stripped of their hydrogen envelopes by their companions in binary systems. The findings, published today in Science, shed light on the hot helium stars that are believed to be the origins of hydrogen-poor core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers. For over a decade, scientists have theorized that approximately one in three massive stars are stripped of their hydrogen envelope in binary systems. Yet, until now, only one possible candidate had been identified. “This was such a big, glaring hole,” says co-lead author ...

DNA analysis of a 19th-century dog, paired with traditional knowledge acquired through interviews, have together provided new insights into the decline of Coast Salish “woolly dogs” – an extinct Indigenous dog once bred for its unique woolly coat. Dogs were introduced to the Americas at least 15,000 years ago and have been ubiquitous in Indigenous societies across the continents for thousands of years. Coast Salish peoples – a group of Indigenous societies that lived in the Salish Sea region of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) – kept several different types of dogs, including a special lineage of “woolly ...

Science has named the development of glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists and this year’s discovery that these drugs can blunt obesity-associated health problems as its 2023 Breakthrough of The Year. Although obesity’s causes span genetic, physiological, environmental, and social factors, as a medical problem, obesity’s risks can be life-threatening – including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, liver disease, and certain cancers. Drug treatments for obesity have had “a sorry past, one often intertwined with social pressure to lose weight and the widespread belief that excess weight reflects weak will­power,” writes ...

Genomic analyses reveal illegal pangolin trafficking routes from origins in Africa to markets in Asia, researchers report. The approach offers new opportunities to monitor pangolin poaching in near real-time, allowing for targeted and more effective anti-trafficking measures. The illegal wildlife trade is a significant driver of global biodiversity loss. Of all the species poached and traded, the white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) is the world’s most trafficked mammal and is at risk of extinction. Pangolins are in high demand in Asia because their scales are believed, without scientific support, ...

Combining a flexible solar cell with an electrocaloric device, researchers have created solar-powered clothing that allows the body to adapt dynamically to changes in ambient temperature, according to a new study. The new device could help guarantee the safety and comfort of the human body amid fluctuating environmental temperatures and even extend survivability in extreme environments, like those in outer space or other planets. Clothing is the most common way humans regulate their body temperature relative to the environment. However, it is normally focused on keeping an individual either warm or cool. The ability of clothing to ...

Supernovae–stellar explosions as bright as an entire galaxy–have fascinated us since time immemorial. Yet, there are more hydrogen-poor supernovae than astrophysicists can explain. Now, a new Assistant Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has played a pivotal role in identifying the missing precursor star population. The results, now published in Science, go back to a conversation the involved professors had many years ago as junior scientists. Some stars do not simply die down, but explode in a stellar blast that could outshine ...

The ‘Nature Restoration Law’ (NRL) requires member states of the EU to implement restoration measures on at least 20 per cent of land and marine areas by 2030, and in all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. This includes specific targets to rewet peatlands and to increase pollinator populations. The NRL has already overcome various hurdles: most recently, it was approved by the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee, after delegations of the Parliament and the Council negotiated the final text. But will the regulation really achieve its aims? The authors, including scientists leading large European projects on ...

Philadelphia, December 14, 2023 – The updated Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS)/Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology (CAIC) antiplatelet therapy guidelines for primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) provide recommendations based on the latest randomized evidence available in the literature. Updated by a panel of national experts, these new evidence-based guidelines appear in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier. ASCVD, also known as ischemic heart disease (coronary artery ...

A new Rice University study of the remains of prehistoric and modern African antelopes found that AI technology accurately identified animals more than 90% of the time compared to humans, who had much lower accuracy rates depending on the expert. Composite images of teeth from five different antelope tribes analyzed and identified by artificial intelligence. Photo courtesy of Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo. Identifying these animals and their habits helps paint a broader picture of ancient ecosystems, and with the assistance of this new technology, it can be done with more speed and accuracy than previously done by paleontologists, ...

As church membership declines across the United States, a new study from Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance finds that working women do not feel supported by their clergy and churches, regardless of whether they’re involved with a more conservative or liberal congregation. “The Limits of Congregational Support for Working Women” is part of a larger study of faith at work funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. It ...

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation’s largest nutrition program, helping 41 million participants afford “nutritious food essential to health and well-being.” But a new study from the University of Notre Dame found that SNAP participants in low-income households may not be able to meet the nutrition levels set by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). The case study set out to examine whether SNAP participants would be able to afford a healthy diet based on DGA’s recommended nutritional values. The DGA was created by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human ...

BOSTON – The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign saved an estimated 20 million lives. However, while current COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against developing severe disease, they do little to prevent infection and transmission. Findings published in the journal Nature by physician-scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and colleagues suggest that it may be possible to improve protection against COVID-19 by delivering the vaccine directly to the respiratory tract— the primary site of entry in SARS-CoV-2 infection. “The ...

In the fatal world of opioid use disorder (OUD), pharmacotherapy, or using a prescribed medication to treat drug dependence, has emerged as the gold standard of treatment. Among the trio of FDA-approved medications to treat OUD, buprenorphine is the newest highly effective drug that can suppress and reduce cravings for opioids. It is also the first medication that physicians can prescribe without requiring a special waiver from the DEA, enabling outpatient use and substantially increasing treatment accessibility.  Despite its widespread usage, with 1 million buprenorphine prescriptions filled in 2018, it is not without side effects. When taken sublingually (under ...

Thursday Dec. 14, 2023, Toronto – Does thinking about faith make religious people more likely to take leaps? A new study lead by York University’s Faculty of Health says yes, finding that participants were more likely to take risks when thinking about God as a benevolent protector.   “While the theoretical link between a belief in God and risk taking has been around for a while, the methods previous studies employed to test this weren’t the strongest, based on current best ...

Dr. Aditya Bardia, a renowned breast medical oncologist and physician scientist who specializes in developing novel targeted and personalized therapies, has joined the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center where he will assume several leadership roles across the institution. These will include the directorship of the Breast Cancer Clinical and Research Programs and the position of assistant chief of Translational Research in the division of hematology/oncology, department of medicine. He will also be named director of Translational Research Integration and co-director ...