Scientists have called for a coordinated international effort to fully assess the environmental impacts of tritium ahead of a significant expected rise in its global production. A radioactive isotope of hydrogen, tritium is a by-product of the nuclear industry and its presence is predicted to grow exponentially with nuclear increasingly seen as being key to the global low carbon economy. That will result in many nations having to develop long-term strategies to manage tritiated radioactive waste and develop tools to both assess and address its environmental impact. However, writing in the journal Science of the Total Environment, ...

A revolutionary investigation that shed vivid light on pioneering female migrants who made their way to Orkney during the Bronze Age has won Research Project of the Year at the prestigious Current Archaeology Awards for 2023. The project – a collaboration between EASE Archaeology and the University of Huddersfield – focused on human remains excavated at the Links of Noltland, a Bronze Age cemetery on the island of Westray. This work revealed the first concrete evidence of a major influx of non-local people into Orkney during the Bronze Age – and, significantly, it appears that this migration ...

Roboticists have been using a technique similar to the ancient art of paper folding to develop autonomous machines out of thin, flexible sheets. These lightweight robots are simpler and cheaper to make and more compact for easier storage and transport.  However, the rigid computer chips traditionally needed to enable advanced robot capabilities — sensing, analyzing and responding to the environment — add extra weight to the thin sheet materials and makes them harder to fold. The semiconductor-based components therefore have to be added ...

FRANKFURT. In millions of years and with a long sequence of small changes, evolution has shaped a particular group of dinosaurs, the theropods, into the birds we watch fly around the planet today. In fact, birds are the only descendants of dinosaurs which survived the catastrophic extinction 66 million years ago that ended the Cretaceous period. Troodon was such a theropod. The carnivorous dinosaur was about two meters long and populated the vast semi-arid landscapes of North America about 75 million years ago. Like some of its dinosaur relatives, Troodon presented some bird-like ...

ITHACA, N.Y. - At an academic conference some years ago, Michèle Belot remembers talking with a participant who was convinced she had authored a research paper that wasn’t hers. He’d confused her with another female scholar, an experience she said is familiar to many colleagues. Such incidents – plus awareness of her own imperfect memory – inspired Belot, a professor in the Department of Economics at Cornell University, to investigate systemic biases in the way we remember people, since this could influence social networks important to career advancement. In new research focused on academia, Belot ...

Among the health problems developed or aggravated by Covid-19, those that affect neurological and respiratory functions draw special attention from specialists. Considering several studies that show the adverse effects of Covid-19 on human autonomic functions, which are those regulated by the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), a recent Brazilian study has demonstrated that the use of non-invasive brain stimulation was capable of regulating the ANS and increasing the oxygen saturation in patients with Covid-19 admitted to a semi-intensive ...

A PhD student from the University of Huddersfield’s Department of Pharmacy competed against entries from around the world to win the prize for ‘Best Oral Presentation’ at a major international conference for the pharmaceutical sciences. Haja Muhamad is in the final year of her PhD and is being supervised by the University’s Dr Kofi Asare-Addo.  Her prize-winning talk, presented at the 13th Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences International Conference during the ‘New Scientist Focus Group (NSFG)’ session, was titled ‘An ...

Hospital quality has been measured and made publicly available for more than two decades in the US. In Germany, similar efforts were launched in 2004, when all acute care hospitals began being required to report structural, process, and outcome indicators as part of a national quality monitoring program. Hospitals are now mandated to submit quality reports annually. The German hospital market presents a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between public reporting and quality improvement in the absence of performance-linked payment incentives in a high-income country. In an analysis about the successes of quality measurement to date, Esra Eren Bayindir and Jonas Schreyögg, ...

Medicaid reimbursement for the same mental health treatment varies dramatically among U.S. states, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University. The study published today in the April edition of the journal Health Affairs. Medicaid is the largest single payer for mental health services in the country, yet previous research shows that many health care providers won’t accept patients covered by Medicaid — despite the fact that it serves a population disproportionately affected by mental illness. In this study, researchers documented commonly billed services to psychiatrists nationwide, and then compared ...

As the old English proverb goes, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” It’s long been known that apples offer multiple health benefits. Rich in fiber and antioxidants, they are linked to a lower risk of many chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. And while apples help protect human health, what is being done to protect the health of this delicious and nutritious fruit? Researchers at the Alson H. Smith Jr. Agricultural and Extension Research Center, a Virginia Tech facility in Winchester well-known for its contributions to the commercial ...

Huddersfield Business School has been awarded a coveted accreditation which less than six percent of institutions offering business degree programmes manage to achieve and is a result of ‘its dedication not only to the students, alumni network, and greater business community, but to the higher education industry as a whole’. AACSB accreditation from AACSB International ensures continuous improvement and provides focus for schools to deliver on their mission, innovate, and drive impact. The accreditation was led by Huddersfield Business School’s former Dean Professor Jill Johnes who retired at the end of January ...

Cosmologists have found new evidence for the standard model of cosmology – this time, using data on the structure of galaxy clusters. In a recent study, a team led by physicists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University made detailed measurements of the X-ray emission from galaxy clusters, which revealed the distribution of matter within them. In turn, the data helped the scientists test the prevailing theory of the structure and evolution of the universe, known as Lambda-CDM. Getting there wasn’t an easy task, however.  Here's ...

One in eight Texans experiences food insecurity, according to the non-profit agency Feeding America. That means 1.4 million Texas households are food insecure, with limited or inconsistent access to nutritious food for an active, healthy life. The USDA's most recent survey on the issue reported that Texas is among the top nine U.S. states with a higher prevalence of food insecurity than the national average. To address this issue, a University of Houston-led team is developing an artificial intelligence-based platform that can support the food charity ecosystem through data-driven technologies. "The commitment of our team is to help our fellow ...

Is the tendency to share with other people linked to political orientation? And in which way? In a new study, researchers from the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and University of Milan Bicocca show that around the world left-leaning people are more inclined to be altruistic, in general and towards the international community. On the other hand, conservative and right people tend to be more altruistic towards their country. What might sound like the confirmation of a prejudice, is in reality a tendency observed worldwide through a ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In the face of a warming climate that is having a profound effect on global biodiversity and will change the distribution and abundance of many animals, a Penn State-led research team has developed a statistical model that improves estimates of habitat suitability and extinction probability for cold-blooded animals as temperatures climb. Cold-blooded animals — a diverse group including fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects — comprise most species on Earth. The body temperature of cold-blooded animals is strongly influenced by the temperature of their environment. Because their growth, reproductive success ...

    Images  By directly measuring greenhouse gas emissions from an airplane flying over the Gulf of Mexico, a University of Michigan-led team found that the nation's largest offshore fossil fuel production basin has twice the climate warming impact as official estimates.   The work could have bearing on future energy production in the gulf, as decisions about expanding oil and gas harvesting depend on calculations of the climate impact.    While a gap between reported and measured methane emissions in the basin has been noted in the past, this study is believed ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While pollinator populations of many species have plummeted worldwide, one bee species is blowing up the map with its rapid population expansion. The key to this insect’s success? Its passion for pumpkins, zucchinis, and other squashes, and the massive increase in cultivation of these crops across North America over the last 1,000 years. A new study led by Penn State found that the squash bee (Eucera pruinosa) has evolved in response to intensifying agriculture — namely squashes in the genus ...

HOUSTON – (April 3, 2023) – 2D materials get their strength from their atom-thin, sheetlike structure. However, stacking multiple layers of a 2D material will sap it of the qualities that make it so useful. Rice University materials scientist Jun Lou and collaborators at the University of Maryland showed that fine-tuning interlayer interactions in a class of 2D polymers known as covalent organic frameworks (COFs) can determine the materials’ loss or retention of desirable ...

Using cryo-electron microscopy and mass spectrometry, researchers from PSI have deciphered the structure of an ion channel found in the eye while it interacts with the protein calmodulin – a structure that has eluded scientists for three decades. They believe that this interaction could explain how our eyes can achieve such remarkable sensitivity to dim light. Their results are published in the journal PNAS. As you look at the bright screen of your phone or computer, ion channels in your eyes close in response to the light. This is the final step of a biochemical ...

They’re considered some of the strongest materials on the planet, but tapping that strength has proved to be a challenge. 2D materials, thinner than the most delicate onionskin paper, have attracted intense interest because of their incredible mechanical properties. Those properties, however, dissipate when the materials are stacked in multiple layers, thus limiting their usefulness. “Think of a graphite pencil,” says Teng Li, Keystone Professor at the University of Maryland’s (UMD) Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Its core is made of graphite, and graphite ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 3, 2023 — The latest issues of three of the American Psychiatric Association’s journals, The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and The American Journal of Psychotherapy, are now available online. The April issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry features genetic, neuroimaging, and behavioral neuroscience studies that focus on the underpinnings of mood disorders, psychotic disorders, autism, and stress-related disorders. Highlights from the issue: Lower Availability of Mitochondrial Complex I in Anterior Cingulate Cortex in ...

A PhD researcher from the University of Huddersfield’s Global Disaster Resilience Centre (GDRC) was invited by His Majesty The King and The Queen Consort to attend a special reception at Buckingham Palace and more, in celebration of Commonwealth Day 2023. Malith Senevirathne is a PhD student at the GDRC, within the University’s School of Applied Sciences and a Research Assistant for the CORE project (sCience and human factOr for Resilient sociEty), funded by the European Commission. As ...

A North Carolina State University-led study found it is possible to retrieve forensically relevant information from human DNA in household dust. After sampling indoor dust from 13 households, the researchers were able to detect DNA from household residents over 90% of the time, and DNA from non-occupants 50% of the time. The work could be a way to help investigators find leads in difficult cases. Specifically, the researchers were able to obtain single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, from the dust samples. SNPs are sites within the genome that vary between individuals –  corresponding ...

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a five-year, $15.45 million grant to the San Diego Center for AIDS Research (SD CFAR) at UC San Diego, renewing support that extends back to an original establishing grant in 1994 at the height of the AIDS epidemic. "The grant renewal represents NIAID's continued and enduring investment in our mission to be a critical regional resource in HIV research and education, to advance the discovery and development of ...

Statin therapy does not exacerbate muscle injury, pain or fatigue in people engaging in moderate-intensity exercise, such as walking, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The findings are reassuring for people who experience muscle pain or fatigue from statins but need to engage in physical activity to keep their cholesterol levels low and their hearts healthy. Statins have long been the gold standard for lowering LDL or “bad” cholesterol ...