How can a teacher discuss Jim Crow laws without breaking state law? Should a librarian stop ordering books with LGBTQ+ characters? A new white paper by UC San Diego and NYU researchers reveals the experiences of K-12 educators and parents in Florida grappling with state policies and policy effects restricting access to instruction, books, courses, clubs, professional development, and basic student supports. Since 2021, Florida has enacted a series of state laws and policies restricting instruction related to race, ...

The UK Government’s policy to scrap Winter Fuel Payments could disproportionately affect low-income pensioners in England, new analysis suggests. But the same study argues that the energy inefficiency of homes and challenges involved in downsizing will have an even more harmful effect this winter.   The study, published in Energy Research and Social Science, was completed shortly before the Winter Fuel Payment vote was taken, by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). The researchers raise particular concerns about the impact of the policy on pensioners with annual incomes of between ...

A new preclinical model using CRISPR, an advanced technology that allows scientists to cut and edit genes, has given Weill Cornell Medicine researchers and their colleagues a deeper insight into how prostate cancer spreads or metastasizes. In the study, published Sept. 23 in Cancer Discovery, scientists charted the complicated routes prostate cancer metastatic cells take as they travel through the body. “Using virtual maps, we can reveal the hidden highways of metastases, one day guiding us towards novel therapies that could act as roadblocks for cancer,” ...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is awarding $5.4 million in first-year funding to establish a new program that supports the integration of genomics into learning health systems. Present in many hospitals across the United States, learning health systems are a type of clinical practice that bridges research and patient care. These systems use a variety of methods to continually analyze patient data. Clinicians then use the results of those analyses to refine practices and improve future care. The new Genomics-enabled Learning Health System (gLHS) Network aims ...

When given the choice, people prefer to collaborate on work projects with higher-paid colleagues, but they want to hire subordinates with a lower pay history than theirs, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.  The research, published in the journal American Psychologist, aimed to explore how a trend toward increasing pay transparency in the business world may affect workers’ behavior. “I've long been interested in the ways in which slight -- and not-so-slight -- differences in salaries can generate strong ...

Since the 1970s, coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) have experienced catastrophic declines in coral cover, with as much as a 50% reduction between 1998 and 2011 alone. Although coral reefs within the FKNMS have been heavily studied, research in the mesophotic zone, which extends from about 100 to 500 feet deep, has historically been more limited in this region.  Mesophotic coral ecosystems have the potential to be buffered from anthropogenic stressors due to their depth and/or relative isolation from ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Americans who say they expect to “never retire” are more likely than others to score low on a measure of financial knowledge, a new study shows.   In a national survey, 20% of those who missed all three financial knowledge questions said they expected they would never retire, compared to 12% who answered all questions correctly, who said they’d likely work well past retirement age.   The study also found that those who were overconfident in their financial knowledge (and those whose low levels of confidence ...

A new peer-reviewed study published in PeerJ Life and Environment has uncovered alarming levels of seafood mislabeling and the use of ambiguous market names in Calgary's seafood market, often concealing species of conservation concern. This research marks the first Canadian study to investigate both invertebrate and finfish mislabeling and the implications of unclear market names. The study, titled "Mislabeled and Ambiguous Market Names in Invertebrate and Finfish Seafood Conceal Species of Conservation ...

The newly updated COVID-19 vaccine just arrived in pharmacies and clinics nationwide, and a new poll suggests nearly half of people age 50 and older plan to get it. But some older adults with high risk of severe illness appear unlikely to seek the vaccine, and interest varies widely by age group, education level, race and ethnicity, and other factors, the poll shows. In all, 45% of people age 50 and older say they’re likely to get the updated vaccine, according to the new findings from the University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging. The data come from polling done in August 2024, just before the new vaccine was released but ...

Nearly three-quarters of Dutch elite athletes and forty percent of their coaches report sport-related distress. This is one of the findings from a study conducted by Amsterdam UMC together with NOC*NSF, the organisation which represents the Dutch Olympic Committee and the Dutch Sport Federation, published today in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.   The most common mental health problem among athletes and coaches is report sport-related distress (73% and 41%, respectively). Unfavorable alcohol consumption that can negatively affect sports performance is also common (52% and 53%). In athletes, ...

New York City (Sep 24, 2024) – Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have published a pivotal study in Nature Genetics (DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01917-1) that sheds light on a novel genetic variant associated with intellectual capacities and educational outcomes. This discovery offers new insights into intellectual disability diagnostics and potential therapeutic avenues. The study reveals the significant impact of tandem repeats—sequences of DNA where a pattern of nucleotides is repeated multiple times in a head-to-tail manner on a chromosome—on intellectual functioning.  "The ...

Older people are more likely to be influenced by the impulsive financial preferences of others than their younger counterparts, according to a new study. Research lead by psychologists at the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford published today in Communications Psychology, reveals that people aged 60 and over are more prone to being influenced by other people when it comes to making impulsive financial decisions compared to young adults aged between 18 -36. The study set out to explore delayed gratification and how our willingness to wait and social influence develop and differ across our lifespan. To test how age ...

Top ocean experts have published a report that redefines the concept of “sustainable fishing” and proposes 11 “golden rules” that radically challenge the flawed approach that currently prevails in fisheries management. Published a week before Brussels’ Ocean Week, and a few months before the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, the rules have been devised to put an end to the ongoing destruction of the oceans caused by fishing, and ensure the renewal of abundant fish populations to feed future generations. They come at a time when scientists have drastically downgraded their assessment of the ocean’s health status. The rules ...

Experts have used a cutting-edge computational approach to discover the genetic factors that make the bacteria behind cholera so dangerous - which could be key to preventing this deadly disease. The breakthrough study, published in Nature Communications, is led by Professor Tania Dottorini from the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, and North South University. The innovative research combines machine learning, genomics, genome-scale metabolic modelling (GSMM), and 3D ...

New research out of Southern Cross University has found previously undocumented variation in coral heat tolerance on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, giving hope that corals’ own genetic resources may hold the key for us to help in its recovery and adaptation. In a study to be published (at 10am BST, Mon Sept 23, 2024) in Communications Earth and Environment, researchers measured the bleaching thresholds of more than 500 colonies of the table coral, Acropora hyacinthus, using a portable experimental system that was used at sea at 17 reefs spanning the Great Barrier Reef. The study was led by Southern Cross University PhD candidate Melissa ...

Scientists have conducted the largest and most diverse study to date on how recessive genetic changes contribute to developmental disorders1. They found that most undiagnosed cases that are due to recessive causes are linked to genes we already know about, and suggest a shift in research focus could improve diagnosis rates. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators at GeneDx analysed genetic data from nearly 30,000 families affected by developmental disorders – six times more families with greater diversity in ancestral ...

CRISPR-Cas systems, which consist of protein and RNA components, originally developed as a natural defense mechanism of bacteria to fend off intruding viruses. Over the last decade, re-engineering these so-called “gene scissors” has revolutionized genetic engineering in science and medicine. The tools can be programmed to find a specific location in our DNA and edit the genetic information in a precise manner. For example, a disease-causing mutation in the DNA can be reverted to its ...

A new analysis of semiconductor patents released today by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services helps to explain why the recently embattled Nvidia is a world leader in AI microchips, despite only appearing 9th on the list of top companies for the number of AI chip patents. Key points: The analysis by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a Digital Science company and the patent industry’s most trusted data provider – shows that the Top 5 companies in the US for the number of AI chip patents are: IBM, Samsung, Intel, Google and Microsoft, with IBM way out in front. However, while Nvidia is currently 9th among the Top 10 in the US for the number of AI chip patents, Nvidia ...

A study based on clinical trial data found higher risks of stroke, heart attack, and hospital admission for heart failure in older cancer survivors. In the analysis published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, chemotherapy was also linked to elevated rates of these conditions. Although advances in treatment have led to decreased cancer mortality over the past decade, the growing numbers of cancer survivors may experience long-term effects of cancer and anticancer therapies. For example, the heart may be especially vulnerable to inflammation triggered by cancer and toxic effects from chemotherapy and radiation. To investigate cardiovascular ...

About 2.2 billion people, more than a quarter of the world's population, lack access to safe, managed drinking water, and about half of the world's population experiences severe water scarcity at some point during the year. To overcome these shortages, huge socioeconomic costs are being spent on sewer irrigation and alternative water sources such as rainwater reuse and seawater desalination. Furthermore, these centralized water distribution systems have the disadvantage of not being able to respond immediately to changes in water demand. Therefore, there is a growing interest in decentralized water production technologies, which are electrochemical-based ...

People who initiate a premature or “before medically advised” (BMA) hospital discharge have a 10-fold increase in the risk of drug overdose in the following month, according to new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.240364. Patients leave hospital prematurely for a range of reasons, including improperly treated pain, cravings, stress that accentuates psychiatric issues, conflicts with hospital staff, and restrictions on movement or visitors. Hospital patients who initiate a BMA discharge are up to 3 times ...

What: Entomology 2024, the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America Where: Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona When: November 10–13, 2024 Who: 3,500+ insect scientists and entomology experts For four days in November, Phoenix, Arizona, will be the entomology capital of the world at Entomology 2024. As the planet’s largest yearly gathering of insect scientists, the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America will convene more than 3,500 experts, students, and practitioners to share and ...

MILAN — A new study reveals hormonal and biochemical factors that affect alcohol dependence (also known as Alcohol Use Disorder), suggesting that men and women with alcohol problems may benefit from different treatments. Scientists have known that men and women have different risks related to alcohol misuse and related problems and that alcohol treatments may need to be tailored differently to men and women. However, the biological mechanisms underlying those differences are not well understood. "This is the first large study to confirm that some of the variability in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and related ...

Researchers have found that SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) antidepressants have the potential to improve certain cognitive functions, such as verbal memory. They measured brain function in patients before and after taking the SSRI escitalopram and correlated this to a drop in the level of one of the serotonin receptors in the brain and to cognitive improvements during treatment. This work is presented for the first time at the ECNP Conference in Milan, after recent publication in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Serotonin is often described as a ‘feel good’ chemical, and higher levels of serotonin circulating in the brain contribute to a sense of well-being, ...

Cambridge University has today released a groundbreaking report outlining a five-year roadmap to help the aviation sector achieve net-zero climate impact by 2050. Despite ambitious pledges from governments and industry, the aviation sector remains significantly off course in its efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The report, titled “Five Years to Chart a New Future for Aviation,” outlines four 2030 Sustainable Aviation Goals—specific, actionable steps that must be initiated immediately and completed within five years if the aviation sector is to be on track to achieve net-zero by 2050. The 2030 Goals outlined in the report are: Accelerating the deployment ...