Scientists have discovered how plants adapt their root systems in drought conditions to grow steeper into the soil to access deeper water reserves. Plant scientists from the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, have identified how abscisic acid (ABA), a plant hormone known for its role in drought response, influences root growth angles in cereal crops such as rice and maize. The results have been published in Current Biology. The study highlights how ABA and auxin, another key hormone, work together to shape root growth ...

A new study examining the use of high-cost drugs among patients with colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer found those insured through Medicare Advantage received less expensive cancer drugs compared to others on Traditional Medicare. The findings were published today in JAMA Health Forum. "Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and colorectal cancer ranks third. Gaining a better understanding of treatment options and their costs under different insurance plans is important for assessing the overall healthcare landscape and how insurances manage patient costs,” said the study’s first author Cathy Bradley, PhD, Dean ...

A whitish, grey patch that sometimes appears in the night sky alongside the northern lights has been explained for the first time by researchers at the University of Calgary. The article, which was published on Dec. 30 in the journal Nature Communications, explores a “structured continuum emission” that’s associated with aurora borealis. “You’d see this dynamic green aurora, you’d see some of the red aurora in the background and, all of a sudden, you’d see this structured – almost like a patch – grey-toned or white toned-emission connected to the aurora,” says Dr. Emma Spanswick, ...

How many children use Tik Tok against the rules? Most, study finds  As the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether Congress can ban Tik Tok, new research highlights the health risks that top social media platforms pose to children.  Most 11- and 12-year-olds use Tik Tok and other social media despite the platforms’ age restrictions, and many show signs of addiction to social media, a new UC San Francisco study found. Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old to have an account. But the study found that a majority of 11- and 12-years olds across the country have accounts on the platforms, ...

An international team of researchers, including scientists from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain, has identified the causes of impairments in expressing grammatical tense in people with aphasia. They discovered that individuals with speech disorders struggle with both forming the concept of time and selecting the correct verb tense. However, which of these processes proves more challenging depends on the speaker's language. The findings have been published in the journal Aphasiology. Aphasia is a severe speech disorder, often resulting ...

Consumers of content about serial killers watch and read it to experience intense emotions that are often lacking in everyday life and to understand the reasons that drive people to commit crimes. However, such content does not contribute to increased aggression. These conclusions were drawn by sociologists from HSE University. The results of their study have been published in Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal. Research on the modern media market shows that content about serial killers is popular worldwide, spanning films, true crime series, short videos, and written materials detailing crimes, investigations, ...

A cutting-edge article is paving the way for a transformation in cervical cancer screening, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance detection accuracy and efficiency. This pioneering research explores the application of AI in medical image interpretation, marking a significant leap in cervical cancer management and prevention. With the aid of deep learning algorithms, the study seeks to address the critical need for more effective screening tests, especially in low- and middle-income countries where traditional methods often fall short. This innovative approach promises to alleviate the global burden of cervical cancer by improving ...

Cordierite, a remarkable mineral familiar to many as the material behind heat-resistant pizza stones, exhibits an unusual ability to resist changes in size despite significant temperature fluctuations. While widely used in diverse applications from automotive catalytic converters to high-temperature industrial processes, the fundamental reasons behind this anomalous thermal behaviour have remained largely unexplained. A new study, led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and published in Matter, now provides the first comprehensive explanation, with profound implications for the design and development of advanced materials.  "Modern society demands materials that ...

About The Study: Nearly one-third of survey participants indicated sociopolitical issues influenced their vasectomy decision, despite the fact these policies have targeted female reproductive policy. These patient-reported motivations are consistent with recent research using administrative data that found a rise in vasectomy procedure volume after the Dobbs decision.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kathleen Hwang, MD, email kathleen.hwang@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.54430) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This cohort study suggests that higher radon exposure is associated with greater odds of gestational diabetes in nulliparous pregnant individuals. Further studies are needed to confirm the results and elucidate the underlying mechanisms, especially with individual-level residential radon exposure assessment.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ka Kahe, MD, ScD, email kk3399@columbia.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

Dr John Coxon, esteemed member of Northumbria University’s world-leading Solar and Space Physics research group, has been recognised by the Royal Astronomical Society for his work. Dr Coxon is a Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Ernest Rutherford Fellow at Northumbria University who has garnered international recognition for his research into understanding the Sun's influence on Earth's space environment. It has today been announced that he has been awarded the with the prestigious ...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—organizations that negotiate access to medicines for most patients in the United States—steer patients to use their own pharmacies. However, these pharmacies appear less used in Medicare than in other market segments. These PBMs are part of integrated health care conglomerates that own insurance companies and pharmacies, which may create conflicts of interest. The study, published Jan. 10 in JAMA Health Forum, found that in 2021 a third of all Medicare Part D pharmacy spending and almost 40% of specialty drug spending within Medicare Part D was through pharmacies owned by the four largest PBMs: ...

Humans and mice exposed to long-wavelength red light had lower rates of blood clots that can cause heart attacks, lung damage and strokes, according to research led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC surgeon-scientists and published today in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. The findings, which need to be verified through clinical trials, have the potential to reduce blood clots in veins and arteries, which are leading causes of preventable death worldwide.  “The light we’re exposed to can change our biological processes and change ...

This is the second asset Menarini Group has inlicensed from Insilico Medicine which was discovered through their generative AI platform, similar to the preclinical stage KAT6 inhibitor (MEN2312) licensed a year ago and which advanced rapidly into the clinical phase. Under the agreement, Menarini Group will be granted global rights to develop and commercialize the asset. The deal includes a $20m upfront payment, and the combined value, including all development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, is over $550 million, followed by tiered royalties.   FLORENCE, Italy and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., January 10, 2025 : The Menarini Group ("Menarini"), ...

Agriculture accounts for 8 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Germany. “However, emissions within this sector, could be reduced by 22.5 percent or over 15 million tonnes of GHG annually, if the social cost of carbon were reflected in food prices,” says Julian Schaper, guest scientist at PIK and lead author of the study published in the journal Food Policy. In the Federal Climate Change Act passed in 2019, the government set itself the goal of reducing annual emissions from the current 62 million tonnes to 56 Mt GHG by 2030. The social cost of carbon is an estimate of the economic damages that would result from emitting one additional tonne of carbon into the ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a device that combines a catalyst and microwave flow reaction to efficiently convert complex polysaccharides into simple monosaccharides. The device utilizes a continuous-flow hydrolysis process, where cellobiose—a disaccharide made from two glucose molecules—is passed through a sulfonated carbon catalyst that is heated using microwaves. The subsequent chemical reaction breaks down cellobiose into glucose. Their results were published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Converting biomass into ...

A recent study has uncovered the essential roles of two proteoglycans, biglycan and decorin, in maintaining bone mass, water retention, and bulk/in situ mechanical competence. Through the use of genetically modified mouse models, the research demonstrates that while biglycan plays a predominant role in preserving bone structure and toughness, decorin significantly contributes to the bone’s mechanical properties. These findings reveal how these proteins interact with water and other matrix components to regulate the mechanical ...

Researchers Ibuki Taniuchi, Ryota Akiyama, Rei Hobara, and Shuji Hasegawa of the University of Tokyo have demonstrated that the direction of the spin-polarized current can be restricted to only one direction in a single-atom layer of a thallium-lead alloys when irradiated at room temperature. The discovery defies conventions: single-atom layers have been thought to be almost completely transparent, in other words, negligibly absorbing or interacting with light. The one-directional flow of the current observed in this study makes possible functionality beyond ...

A team led by researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a dataset of the whole atmosphere, enabling new research to be conducted on previously difficult-to-study regions. Using a new data-assimilation system called JAGUAR-DAS, which combines numerical modeling with observational data, the team created a nearly 20-yearlong set of data spanning multiple levels of the atmosphere from ground level up to the lower edges of space. Being able to study the interactions of these layers vertically and around the globe could improve climate modeling and seasonal weather forecasting. There is also potential for interdisciplinary research between atmospheric scientists ...

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 10, 2025 – A self-destructing vaccine administered intravenously provides additional safety and protection against tuberculosis (TB) in macaque monkeys, suggests new University of Pittsburgh research published today in Nature Microbiology. The in-built safety mechanisms circumvent the possibility of an accidental self-infection with weakened mycobacteria, offering a safe and effective way to combat the disease that was named as the deadliest of 2024 by the World Health Organization. “Although the idea of intravenous vaccination with a live vaccine may sound scary, it was very ...

The group of bacteria called Enterobacteriaceae, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella, E.coli and others, is present at low levels as part of a healthy human gut microbiome. But at high levels - caused for example by increased inflammation in the body, or by eating contaminated food - these bugs can cause illness and disease. In extreme cases, too much Enterobacteriaceae in the gut can be life-threatening. Researchers have used computational approaches including AI to analyse the gut microbiome composition of over 12,000 people across 45 countries from their stool samples. They found that a person’s microbiome ‘signature’ can predict ...

Whether it’s the meeting room of an office building, the exhibition room of a museum or the waiting area of a government office, many people gather in such places, and quickly the air becomes thick. This is partly due to the increased humidity. Ventilation systems are commonly used in office and administrative buildings to dehumidify rooms and ensure a comfortable atmosphere. Mechanical dehumidification works reliably, but it costs energy and – depending on the electricity used – has a negative climate impact. Against this backdrop, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich investigated a new approach to passive dehumidification of indoor spaces. Passive, in this context, means ...

More than half of 23-year-olds in a European study show restrictive, emotional or uncontrolled eating behaviours, according to new research led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London. Structural brain differences appear to play a role in the development of these eating habits. The study, published in Nature Mental Health, investigates the links between genetics, brain structure and disordered eating behaviours in young people. Researchers found that the process of ‘brain maturation’, ...

A research team led by Prof. QIN Guozheng from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has unveiled a previously unrecognized mechanism by which the RNA N6–methyladenosine (m6A) demethylase SlALKBH2 undergoes reduction-oxidation (redox) modification. This alteration affects its stability and its physiological role in regulating the normal ripening of tomato fruits. In this study, published in Nature Plants, the researchers deepened their understanding of the role of hydrogen peroxide ...

T cells can independently prevent acute viral infections to an extent previously thought only possible with neutralising antibodies. Findings challenge the longstanding reliance on neutralising antibodies for assessing viral immunity, and suggest that development of future vaccines must consider both antibody and T-cell responses for comprehensive protection. Singapore, 10 January 2025—Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School and the Singapore General Hospital have discovered that T cells—white blood cells that can destroy harmful pathogens—can completely prevent viral infection, to an extent ...