AMHERST, Mass. — Last year, trucks moved 73%—11.5 billion tons—of the freight in the U.S., making trucks—and truckers—crucial to the U.S. economy. With automation in trucking projected to grow 22% over the next 10 years, a team of University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers has received a grant to explore how automation will affect the role of American long-haul truckers.  An interdisciplinary group of researchers led by Shannon Roberts, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, has been awarded nearly $2 million over four years by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Future of Work Program.   “We know ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The discovery of a physical interaction between two proteins in brain cells that can be traced in mice to control of movement, anxiety and memory could one day open the door to development of new schizophrenia treatment strategies, researchers say. The research group is the first to determine that the two proteins, both among the dozens of proteins related to risk for the development of schizophrenia, bind to each other under normal conditions in multiple regions of the brain, ...

Thirty-seven research groups will receive €395 million in total to address some of the world’s most formidable research problems spanning a range of scientific disciplines. The funding helps groups of outstanding researchers to pool different skills, knowledge and resources to push the frontiers of our knowledge. The ERC Synergy Grant scheme is part of the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe.  Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “Some scientific questions are too complex to be addressed by researchers working on their own. Challenges such as climate change or ...

An international team of researchers, led by IMDEA Networks and Northeastern University in collaboration with NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, IMDEA Software, University of Calgary, and the International Computer Science Institute, has unveiled groundbreaking findings on the security and privacy challenges posed by the ever-growing prevalence of opaque and technically complex Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart homes. Smart Homes: Trusted and Secure Environments? Smart homes are becoming increasingly interconnected, ...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- A new tool to rapidly grow cancer-killing white blood cells could advance the availability of immunotherapy, a promising therapy which harnesses the power of the body’s immune response to target cancer cells. Washington State University researchers have developed a minifridge-sized bioreactor that is able to manufacture the cells, called T cells, at 95% of the maximum growth rate – about 30% faster than current technologies. The researchers report on their work in the journal Biotechnology Progress. They developed it using T cells from cattle, developed by co-author Bill Davis of WSU’s ...

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) receives its second generous ERC Synergy Grant. ISTA Professor Gašper Tkačik is one of three awarded researchers to join forces on unraveling the secrets of gene regulation during mammalian development. Three research groups from Austria and France team up to crack open the black box of early mammalian development. Now endowed with a prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), Gašper Tkačik (ISTA), Thomas Gregor (Institut Pasteur), ...

Osaka, Japan – A rapid, accurate way of testing for COVID-19 infection would be a big step in overcoming the virus’ hold over our society. Now, in an article published in Lab on a Chip, Japanese researchers have developed a promising solution: a novel platform that couples nanopore technology with artificial intelligence. What is a nanopore? A nanopore is a miniscule hole in a thin substrate, often a silicon wafer. A nanopore might range from several nanometers to several hundred nanometers in diameter — a scale small enough to work with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes ...

The tropical wood type ipê is popular for building exclusive wooden decks, and in North America and Europe, the demand for the material has increased sharply. Now, a study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that more than three-quarters of all ipê from the top producing region in Brazil could have been harvested illegally. "The study reveals where in the chain the greatest risks lie. It can be a tool to counteract illegal logging," says Caroline S.S. Franca, PhD student at Chalmers. Ipê is one of the world's hardest woods. It is therefore particularly suitable for building ...

In the future, farmed wolffish could start appearing on fish counters. However, a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg shows that this fish, with its delicate, firm flesh, needs somewhat different farming conditions compared to salmon. The salmon farms of today have created a steady supply of fish in our supermarkets. The nutritional content of salmon, its rapid growth and low cost, have made it a popular fish in many households. But only farming one species can create vulnerabilities in terms of food security. Today Sweden ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. THIS STORY IS UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL OCT. 26 AT 12:01 A.M. EDT/05:01 A.M. U.K. TIME. Images Highlights: Researchers at Michigan State University have developed a framework that can help scientists understand trends in biodiversity by using data from well-characterized species to provide insights on data-deficient species.   The framework is published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, which provides a how-to guide for researchers and practitioners to implement.   Roughly one in seven species are classified ...

Osaka, Japan – Bone is maintained via delicate balance between formation and resorption, and its imbalance leads to bone related diseases like osteoporosis rheumatism and periodontitis. In studies published in scientific journals J Biol Chem and Cell Struct Funct, researchers led by Osaka University revealed proteins named Rab32 and Rab38 play pivotal roles in bone resorption in osteoclast, cell specialized in the process. These proteins are also crucial for pigmentation of hair and skins. Bone ...

Multimodal* graphene-based electronic textiles (e-textiles) for the realization of customized e-textiles have been developed for the first time in the world.  * Multimodal means the process by which information is exchanged through various sensory interfaces such as visual sensation and auditory sensation. The joint research team led by Principal Researcher Soongeun Kwon of the Department of Nano Manufacturing Technology of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Sang-jin Park, hereinafter referred to as KIMM), an institute under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Professor Young-Jin Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering ...

A new study has found that it may be possible to use stimulants to treat stimulant use disorder.  People with amphetamine-type stimulant use disorder who are treated with prescription psychostimulants such as methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine (commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)) may lower both their craving and stimulant use, especially if such treatments are administered at high doses. This study was led by Dr. Jutras-Aswad, a researcher at the CHUM Research Centre and a professor of psychiatry and addictology at Université de ...

Philadelphia, October 26, 2023 – Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for women within most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. A new study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, published by Elsevier, characterizes the risk profile for black and nonblack women with obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) enrolled in the Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE) cohort study. It concludes that racial and ethnic disparities in long-term cardiovascular outcomes were not observed among women ...

A team led by Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has investigated screen time in autistic (ASD) and ADHD children. Screen time refers to the amount of time a person spends on a device with a screen, such as a smartphone, computer, television, or video game system. The researchers found that children with a genetic predisposition to ASD were more likely to use screens for longer periods. Meanwhile, children with ADHD gradually increased their screen time as they grew older, even if their initial screen use time was short. They published their results in the journal Psychiatry Research.    People ...

Supernovae, exploding stars, play a critical role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, key aspects of them are notoriously difficult to simulate accurately in reasonably short amounts of time. For the first time, a team of researchers, including those from The University of Tokyo, apply deep learning to the problem of supernova simulation. Their approach can speed up the simulation of supernovae, and therefore of galaxy formation and evolution as well. These simulations include the evolution of the chemistry which led to life. When you hear about deep learning, you might think of the latest app that sprung up ...

Kyoto, Japan -- An old campaign slogan for cough syrup, "It tastes awful. And it works," seemed to imply that any sweet content might have diminished the medicinal effect. Sweetness, in the case of cancer, appears as a chain of sugar molecules attached to proteins by beta1,4-galactosyltransferase-3, or B4GALT3 According to the Cancer Genome Atlas, a high expression of this enzyme is associated with noticeably shortened survival rates in several types of immunotherapy cancers, such as neuroblastoma, ...

A patient at Oregon Health & Science University is the first in the world to benefit from a single stimulator implanted in the brain to effectively control two life-altering conditions: seizures caused by epilepsy and compulsive behavior caused by obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. Amber Pearson, 34, of Albany, said her seizures are under better control, but the relief from her psychiatric condition is profound. “OCD is worse than having the seizures,” she said. “Epilepsy brings limitations to my life, but OCD controlled it.” In the case study, published in the journal Neuron, co-authors from institutions across the ...

After surveying the views expressed by 41 advocacy, medical, and transplant-focused organizations on the Uniform Determination of Death Act, a brain injury expert is calling for much-needed reforms to the legal definition of death in the United States. The recently announced pause by the Uniform Law Commission, which is spearheading revisions, is disappointing, the expert notes, but should not permanently stall practical fixes to longstanding problems with the Death Act. “This study shows that most medical ...

Older Black Americans are more likely to receive low value acute diagnostic tests than older White Americans, while older White Americans were more likely to receive low value screening tests and treatments, finds a study published by The BMJ today. Low value care refers to services that provide little to no benefit yet have potential for harm, which can include laboratory tests, scans, and medication. These differences were generally modest and were largely driven by differential treatment within health systems. But the researchers say the results “highlight ...

Patients with cancer whose oncologist receives payments from industry appear more likely to receive some non-recommended and low value treatments, finds a US study published by The BMJ today. This finding raises potential concerns about quality of care, and the researchers say it may be appropriate to re-examine the current status of personal payments from the drug industry to physicians. Research shows a consistent link between industry payments and prescribing behaviour, but whether payments to physicians have positive or negative consequences for patient care has not been evaluated empirically, say the ...

English hospital trusts have been accused of using foreign doctors as “cheap labour” as part of fellowship schemes in which they can be paid less than trust-employed doctors and sent home if they become pregnant, an investigation by The BMJ has found. Foreign doctors come to English hospital trusts as “fellows” as part of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges’ Medical Training Initiative (MTI) scheme, explains investigations editor, Madlen Davies. They work for two years in the NHS to gain experience that they will take back to their home countries afterwards. A proportion of fellows are sponsored, for example by their ...

Over 200 health journals across the world have come together to simultaneously publish an editorial calling on world leaders and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe.  The authors say it’s a “dangerous mistake” to respond to the climate crisis and the nature crisis as if they were separate challenges, and urge the World Health Organization to declare this indivisible crisis as a global health emergency.  The editorial is published in leading titles from around ...

ustralian researchers have developed cutting-edge technology known as “acoustic touch” that helps people ‘see’ using sound. The technology has the potential to transform the lives of those who are blind or have low vision. Around 39 million people worldwide are blind, according to the World Health Organisation, and an additional 246 million people live with low vision, impacting their ability to participate in everyday life activities. The next generation smart glasses, which translate visual information into distinct sound icons, were developed by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney, ...

SAN FRANCISCO – A new study presented today at TCT 2023 sought to evaluate the presence of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in access to mechanical circulatory support in the United States among patients with cardiogenic shock (CS). The findings, published in the Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (JSCAI), revealed stark disparities, particularly among Black patients, that further highlight systemic inequities in access to lifesaving therapies. CS is a life-threatening condition in which your heart suddenly cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. As a result, your ...