SYDNEY, Dec. 6, 2023 – Table tennis has been played for decades as a more accessible version of tennis. The sport is particularly beginner-friendly while maintaining a rich level of competitive play. However, like many sports, it remains inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Phoebe Peng, an Engineering Honours student at the University of Sydney, is researching ways to allow people with low vision and blindness to play pingpong using sound. The process uses neuromorphic cameras and an array of loudspeakers, designed to allow players ...

Twice daily non-invasive electrical stimulation of the brain may boost mental processes (cognitive function) in people with Alzheimer’s disease, suggest the results of a small clinical trial published online in the open access journal General Psychiatry. The technology, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS for short, may help to fire up the brain’s plasticity, enabling ‘rewiring’ through the formation of new neural networks, the findings suggest.  tDCS comes in the form of a device with two electrodes, placed over specific areas of a person’s ...

Starting menstrual cycles at a young age—before the age of 13—is linked to a heightened risk of developing type 2 diabetes in mid-life, finds US research published online in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health. And it also seems to be associated with an increased risk of having a stroke before the age of 65 in those with the disease, particularly those who started having periods before the age of 10 or younger, the findings indicate. Diabetes and its complications are on the rise among young and middle aged US adults, while the age at which women start having periods is falling ...

State access to abortion is a key factor in choosing where to apply for residency (training) programmes for around three out of four future US doctors, indicate the results of a survey published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. These medical students care about the quality of care they will be able to provide patients when qualified as well as the options for their own health, the responses indicate. In 2022 the US Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to privacy and autonomy ...

The annual tobacco-related healthcare spend of US Minorities who smoke is double that of White adults who smoke, finds an analysis of national health and medical spend survey data, published online in the journal Tobacco Control.  And the excess risks of 3 or more long term health conditions associated with smoking are more than 40% higher among Minority adults, despite their lower smoking rates and more numerous quit attempts than their White peers, the analysis indicates. The findings prompt the researchers to conclude that Minority adults ...

SYDNEY, Dec. 6, 2023 – A bundengan wears many hats – and is one too. This portable shelter woven from bamboo has protected Indonesian duck herders from the sun and rain for centuries. Able to comfortably balance on the wearer’s head, a bundengan is equipped with a visor that curves around the side to meet at a long back. A more surprising, but no less practical, feature is the collection of strings and bamboo bars added in to produce music. Duck herders fill the hours spent tending to ducks sitting underneath their outfitted shelter, playing their shield as an instrument. Over the years, bundengan musicians ...

In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this spot. Today, the impact crater is one of the most useful analogues for asteroid craters on early Mars. Studying the deposits of the former lake that formed in the crater is particularly informative. These deposits have been of great interest ever since NASA began exploring Martian craters for signs of water and life on Mars. However, the chemical development of the former crater lake and its habitable areas is only partially understood. An international research team led by the ...

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is pleased to announce its partnership with the Korean Society for Biomaterials (KSBM) to publish Biomaterials Research as a Science Partner Journal. Biomaterials Research’s mission is to contribute to the development of the global biomaterials field and the benefit of the community and people through the expansion of international collaboration. The journal welcomes submissions from interdisciplinary fields of biomaterials research, including novel biomaterials, cutting-edge technologies of biomaterials synthesis and fabrication, ...

SYDNEY, Dec. 6, 2023 – Australia’s most iconic sound is almost certainly the didjeridu. The long wooden tube-shaped instrument is famous for its unique droning music and has played a significant role in Australian Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. Despite the instrument’s simple design, the playing technique can be highly complex. Joe Wolfe and John Smith from the University of New South Wales conducted acoustic experiments to study the didjeridu’s unusual and complicated performance techniques. Smith will be presenting their work on Dec. 6 at 8:20 a.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time, as part of Acoustics 2023 Sydney, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sniffles, snorts and blows of runny noses are the hallmarks of cold and flu season — and that increase in mucus is exactly what bacteria use to mount a coordinated attack on the immune system, according to a new study from researchers at Penn State. The team found that the thicker the mucus, the better the bacteria are able to swarm. The findings could have implications for treatments that reduce the ability of bacteria to spread. The study, recently published in the journal PNAS Nexus, demonstrates how bacteria ...

Eating or being eaten, competing for resources – these are certainly the best-known interactions among organisms coexisting in an ecosystem, but they are by no means the only ones. In fact, different species live together and interact in complex ways. But how do different species evolve or coevolve in a community as temperatures rise due to climate change? Current research focuses primarily on how individual species react to climate change. However, as species interact with each other in the ecosystem, the evolutionary responses to climate change are difficult to predict from studying each species in isolation. For example, a plant may grow faster due ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — People with celiac disease, or intolerance to dietary gluten, may soon have more food options, thanks to an unlikely source: sourdough bread. Sourdough contains less gluten than other breads, making it more tolerable for people with gluten sensitivities. Now, Penn State and Colorado State University researchers are studying whether bacteria in the yeast starter needed to make sourdough bread might help reduce gluten in other bread products. Gluten is a protein naturally found in cereal grains such as wheat, barley and rye that can trigger an ...

The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received two grants totaling over $580,000 from the Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice, the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. A longtime grantee across numerous forensics research topics, the center – which includes the Anthropological Research Facility, also known as the Body Farm – is known worldwide for its research and training. The first of the two new research projects will help law enforcement locate clandestine graves, and the second will help inform how relic DNA in the soil affects forensic ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For some people, extreme stressors like psychiatric disorders or childhood neglect and abuse can lead to a range of health problems later in life, including depression, anxiety and cardiovascular disease. A new study led by researchers in the Penn State Center for Healthy Aging identified genetic indicators that can predict another health problem, the decline of cognitive abilities, among people who have been affected by these extreme stressors.  The team recently published their findings ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ­— Bacteria that benefit plants are thought to be a critical contributor to crops and other ecosystems, but climate change may reduce their numbers, according to a new study by an international team of researchers. They published their findings in Nature Food. The collaboration, including Francisco Dini-Andreote, professor of plant science at Penn State, characterized the abundances and distributions of plant beneficial bacteria (PBB) from soils collected across the globe. The researchers ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The rapidly evolving nature of digital media presents a challenge for those who study digital addiction – social networks like TikTok and video games like Fortnite might be popular now, but they could be irrelevant in a matter of years. A new tool developed by researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York will make it easier for clinicians and researchers to measure digital media addiction as new technologies emerge.  “We wanted to create a tool that was immediately useful in the clinic and lab, that reflects current understandings about how digital addiction works, that wouldn't go obsolete once the next big tech ...

Boston, MA - A new international consensus report on precision medicine in diabetes prevention and care highlights the significant advancements in precision medicine in diabetes prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis while also shedding light on numerous knowledge gaps. The report, Second international consensus report on gaps and opportunities for the clinical translation of precision diabetes medicine, was published in Nature Medicine on October 5, 2023. Supported by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the consensus report was made possible through a huge collaborative ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2023 MINNEAPOLIS – In some diseases, the underlying processes can start years before a diagnosis is made. A new study finds that people who later develop multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have conditions like depression, constipation and urinary tract infections five years before their MS diagnosis than people who do not develop MS. The study, which is published in the December 5, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, also found that sexual problems and bladder infections, or cystitis, ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Chains of fused carbon-containing rings have unique optoelectronic properties that make them useful as semiconductors. These chains, known as acenes, can also be tuned to emit different colors of light, which makes them good candidates for use in organic light-emitting diodes. The color of light emitted by an acene is determined by its length, but as the molecules become longer, they also become less stable, which has hindered their widespread use in light-emitting applications. MIT chemists have now come up with a way to make these molecules more stable, allowing them to synthesize acenes of varying lengths. Using their new approach, ...

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [December 5, 2023] — Today, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)—an alliance of leading cancer centers—hosted a Patient Advocacy Summit to explore the role of navigation throughout the cancer process. A diverse group of subject matter experts addressed the impact patient navigation has on care and how to utilize navigators to reduce economic burdens and disparities in care. The speakers included patients and advocates, policymakers, health care providers, and health data analysts. The summit featured a series of best practice presentations highlighting some of the tools available to assist in various ...

EL PASO, Texas (Dec. 5, 2023) – A new study from The University of Texas at El Paso reveals a gender disparity in prison infractions that disproportionately affects women. The study, led by Melinda Tasca, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies at UTEP, and published in Justice Quarterly, analyzed the disciplinary infraction records of more than 20,000 males and females in a large western state prison, who were released between 2010 and 2013. The researchers set out to answer three questions: ...

Plastics are ubiquitous in all aspects of modern life, including food packaging, health care and household products.  There has been a massive increase in plastics production over the past several decades and there has been serious attention paid to managing plastic wastes, particularly focused on recycling/reuse.  However, as of the present time it has not been feasible, either technically or economically, to achieve a fully circular system.  Those plastic materials that are not processed for reuse, known as end-of-life pastics, end up in landfillsor in other waste processing systems (e.g., incineration) or advanced recycling (eg., pyrolysis) or directly disposed in the ...

The protein TDP-43 is present in all cells of our body and important for their biochemical processes. However, this protein can aggregate into large clumps in the brain, which can cause degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and other dementias. How exactly this happens and how these protein clumps are linked to disease is a subject of intense research. Professor Dorothee Dormann of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) suspects that these proteins may also assemble in healthy cells – and that this assembly on a much smaller scale is important for the normal function of the TDP-43 protein. Her research group investigates the reason for these assemblies in ...

The energy consumption of data centers and information and communication technology (ICT) devices is growing at an alarming rate, projected to constitute up to 20 percent of global energy consumption by 2030. To support the digital transformation effectively, we need to enhance software efficiency. A promising avenue in this endeavor is incremental computing, where computations react to input changes rather than recomputing results from scratch. However, existing approaches to incrementality have limited applicability: They either demand expert knowledge, support only specialized domains (e.g., ...

AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently published a pair of papers that, together, provide the most detailed maps to date of how 144 common invasive plants species will react to 2° Celsius of climate change in the eastern U.S., as well as the role that garden centers currently play in seeding future invasions. Together, the papers, published in Diversity and Distributions and BioScience, and the publicly available maps, which track species at the county level, promise to give invasive species managers in the U.S. the tools they need ...