Scientists have observed the creation of rare chemical elements in the second-brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen – casting new light on how heavy elements are made. Researchers examined the exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst GRB 230307A, which was caused by a neutron star merger. The explosion was observed using an array of ground and space-based telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Publishing their findings today in Nature (25 Oct), ...

The first data from the InSight mission made it possible to determine the internal structure of Mars in a series of papers from the scientific team published in the summer of 2021. However, since then, the analysis of new data generated by a powerful meteorite impact that occurred on September 18 2021, questioned the first estimates of the internal structure of the Red Planet. By studying the propagation times of waves generated by this impact, an international team led by Henri Samuel, CNRS researcher at the Institut ...

NASA’s InSight mission to Mars helped scientists map out Mars’ internal structure, including the size and composition of its core, and provided general hints about its tumultuous formation. But findings from a new paper published in the journal Nature could lead to reanalysis of that data. An international team of researchers discovered the presence of a molten silicate layer overlying Mars’ metallic core—providing new insights into how Mars formed, evolved and became the barren planet it is today. Published on October 25, 2023, the team’s paper details the use of seismic data to locate and identify a thin layer of molten ...

Scientists have long debated the Anthropocene Epoch, a proposed unit of geologic time corresponding to the most recent period in history. It’s characterized by substantial human impact on the planet. Are we living in the Anthropocene? And if we are, then when did it start?  In a research article published this month in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The University of Toledo’s Dr. Trisha Spanbauer and Stanford University’s Dr. M. Allison Stegner lend credence to the argument for its existence. The pair analyzed open-source data to track vegetation ...

Key takeaways 47.5% of respondents ages 13–24 feel most TV shows and movie plots don’t need sexual content; 51.5% want to see more focus on friendships and platonic relationships. 56% of those aged 10–24 prefer original content over franchises and remakes. Twice as many adolescents prefer binge releases over weekly drops. Adolescents want to see lives like their own depicted on screen. This year’s Teens & Screens report from UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers, or CSS, found that teens — plus the 18- to 24-year-old demographic that advertisers typically ...

Existing air pollution regulations will reduce thousands of premature adult deaths in the UK, but even the most effective technically feasible actions, which will save thousands more lives, will do little to protect the country’s sensitive ecosystems, find UCL researchers. The new research, published in GeoHealth, found that existing air pollution regulations could avoid 6,751 early deaths amongst adults in the UK by 2030 compared to if no regulations existed. That estimate nearly doubles to 13,269 avoided adult premature deaths if all possible technically feasible measures are employed to reduce air pollution immediately.  However, existing regulations don’t ...

It’s the day after the Baltimore Orioles clinched the American League East Championship with their 100th win of the season, and lifelong fan Tim Evans is showing his pride on his sleeve. “It’s so great,” Evans, 62, says with a huge smile, wearing his orange O’s jersey. The last time the Orioles won the AL East was in 2014, the same year Evans was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive nervous system disease that causes muscle weakness and loss of motor and speech functions. Evans currently has severe speech and swallowing problems. He can talk slowly, but it’s hard for most people to understand him.   However, ...

(LOS ANGELES) – October 25, 2023 - The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) has developed a novel organ-on-a-chip device for measuring electrical resistance across endothelial barriers. This chip had carbon-based, screen-printed electrodes incorporated into a multi-layered, microfluidic chip fabricated by a simple and cost-effective method. Endothelial cells line blood and lymph vessels of the body and form a barrier layer which controls the flow of fluid and substances to and from the vessels and surrounding tissues. Study of the crucial roles ...

(SAN ANTONIO, OCTOBER 25, 2023)—The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a five-year, $3.6 million grant to two professors at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) to develop a better way to communicate engineering acumen to diverse engineering classes. Joel Alejandro Mejia and M. Sidury Christiansen are collaborating on an ethnographic project, “Rhetorical Engineering Education to Support Proactive Equity Teaching and Outcomes (RESPETO).” The project will include a handbook of recommended pedagogical approaches to address exclusionary language and linguistic practices in engineering classes. The project was motivated by several factors. Among them, ...

Researchers from TU Dortmund University and RWTH Aachen University published a new Journal of Marketing article that examines how specific types of marketing knowledge contributions have developed over the past few decades and suggests ways to move the field toward “big picture” theories that will have greater impact. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Conceptual Contributions in Marketing Scholarship: Patterns, Mechanisms, and Rebalancing Options” and is authored by Bastian Kindermann, ...

Opening a clamshell of berries and seeing them coated in fuzzy mold is a downer. And it’s no small problem. Gray mold and other fungi, which cause fruit to rot, lead to significant economic losses and food waste. Now, researchers report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that compounds from sunflower crop waste prevented rotting in blueberries. They suggest the food industry could use these natural compounds to protect against postharvest diseases. Sunflowers are cultivated around the world for their seeds and oil, but the flower stems — known as receptacles — are generally considered to be a waste product. Noting that this crop is particularly ...

The Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR) in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, on behalf of the REMAP-CAP Investigator Network, announce clinical trial results examining the use of vitamin C and simvastatin to treat severely ill patients with COVID-19. Published today in JAMA and NEJM, and presented at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine in Milan, the studies are part of the ongoing Randomized Embedded Multifactorial Adaptive Platform for Community Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) trial. Simvastatin, a widely available and inexpensive drug that is included on the WHO list of essential medicines, ...

About The Study: In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, vitamin C had low probability of improving the primary composite outcome of organ support–free days and hospital survival in two harmonized randomized clinical trials.  Authors: Neill K. J. Adhikari, M.D.C.M., M.Sc., of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, and Francois Lamontagne, M.D., M.Sc., of the Universite de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Canada, are the corresponding authors. To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: In a randomized clinical trial including 524 trauma patients receiving mechanical ventilation with risk factors for developing acute respiratory distress syndrome, the addition of sigh breaths did not significantly increase ventilator-free days. Prespecified secondary outcome data suggest that sighs are well-tolerated and may improve clinical outcomes.  Authors: Richard K. Albert, M.D., of the University of Colorado, Denver, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2023.21739) Editor’s Note: Please see the ...

About The Study: The results of this randomized clinical trial involving 126 patients do not support the use of the very short-acting beta-blocker landiolol for managing patients with tachycardia treated with norepinephrine for established septic shock.  Authors: Tony Whitehouse, M.D., of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, United Kingdom, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2023.20134) Editor’s Note: Please ...

This is the conclusion of a multicentre study conducted by the University Hospital of Liège (CHU of Liège) in collaboration with 17 hospital intensive care departments in Belgium during the Covid-19 phases between October 2020 and March 2022. This is the first study to look specifically at the effect of administering convalescent plasma to these patients whose vital prognosis is severely compromised. It confirms the value of this method for inducing passive immunisation in these patients. The results are published in the leading medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine. In a study published in The New ...

Learning how to shoot a handgun at a Las Vegas gun convention had never been on Jennifer Hubbert’s bucket list. But last fall, the professor of anthropology and Asian studies found herself doing just that. “Given my research, it felt like something I needed to do,” she says. Hubbert is currently exploring a novel question regarding gun culture in the United States: “What does it mean to be a liberal gun owner?” The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has recently awarded Hubbert with a grant to support her research and book project: Gun Culture 4.0: Understanding the New Demographics of ...

CLEVELAND, OH—The Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence at Case Western Reserve University will award Dr. Anthony Fauci, a physician, immunologist, and infectious disease expert, with the 2024 Inamori Ethics Prize. “Dr. Fauci has cared not only for the nation’s health, but also the health of the world,” said Case Western Reserve President Eric W. Kaler. “As a scientist, research leader and public health advisor, his contributions to scientific discovery have truly improved lives. His leadership through one of the most challenging times in history—the COVID-19 pandemic—serves ...

Pork production is a societal concern on several fronts: antibiotics use, infectious disease, poor animal welfare and climate and environmental pressures. Even though the beef, coffee and chocolate industries are each major climate culprits, the world's total consumption of pork emits hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 every year. But are you willing to fork over extra cash for a more climate-friendly pork roast? Or, are there other considerations that would increase your willingness to pay more? And if so, how much of a premium would you be willing to pay? Researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food and Resource Economics investigated ...

Studying the brain remains one of the most challenging endeavors in neuroscience. Researchers have explored various methods for live imaging and stimulation of deep brain activity. One such method is multiphoton excitation using pulsed infrared (IR) light. This type of light is weakly absorbed by tissues and can penetrate through the bone and deep into organs like the brain. However, it has its limitations to produce focused images and to control cellular activity with precision. To overcome this, scientists have been exploring three-photon excitation with ultrafast pulsed IR light, to achieve ...

New research from King’s College London has found that in the UK people with severe mental illness were at increased risk of death from all causes following COVID-19 infection compared to those without severe mental illness. Published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the study investigated the extent to which having severe mental illness, which includes schizophrenia and psychosis, increased the risk of death during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health analysed data from over 660,000 ...

This significant lack of expertise means firms are not fully embracing the automation revolution, costing businesses valuable time and money. Intelligent Automation: Bridging the Gap between Business and Academia delves into how companies and universities can use intelligent automation to address the challenges preventing the workforce from prospering amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution.   (NEW YORK – October 16, 2023) The economic benefits of intelligent automation are vast, potentially totaling trillions of dollars in economic growth, according to research in a new book. Businesses and organizations ...

Research has shown that music might be a drug-free way to lower humans’ pain perception. This decreased sensitivity to pain – also known as hypoalgesia – can occur when pain stimuli are disrupted between their point of input and where they are recognized as pain by the conscious mind. In a new study, researchers in Canada have examined what type of music helps to dampen pain perception. “In our study, we show that favorite music chosen by study participants has a much larger effect on acute thermal pain reduction than unfamiliar relaxing music” said Darius Valevicius, a doctoral student at the Université ...

Osaka, Japan – Everybody knows the importance of warming up your muscles before a workout. But what is actually going on when we warm our muscles up, and are all muscles the same? You might be surprised to find out that the science behind this routine activity hasn’t always been clear. Now, in a study recently published in the Journal of General Physiology, a multi-institutional research team, led by Osaka University, The Jikei University School of Medicine and National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, has revealed how heating affects the contraction of different muscles, and how this might benefit populations in need of improved ...

Drs. SuDong Park, Byungki Ryu, and Jaywan Chung of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) developed a new thermoelectric efficiency formalism and a high-efficiency multistage thermoelectric power generator module. This innovation can boost nuclear battery performance, crucial for space probes, and has attracted attention from the German Aerospace Research Institute. A Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), known as a thermoelectric-based nuclear battery, is a dependable power ...