CLEVELAND–Case Western Reserve University chemical engineer Rohan Akolkar is leading a research team working to develop a new zero-carbon, electrochemical process to produce iron metal from ore.   If successful, the project could be a first step toward eliminating harmful greenhouse gas emissions by eventually replacing century-old, blast-furnace ironmaking with a new electrolytic-iron production process.   Reducing iron ore to metal is carbon- and energy-intensive, leading to significant carbon-dioxide emissions that drive global warming.   “We don’t use carbon at all in our process, so ...

EMBARGOED: Not for Release Until 18:00 BST 11 July 2023. Crawford Lake chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch Anthropocene proposes human activity has become a dominant influence on the planet, especially since the mid-twentieth century Nuclear bomb tests have left a ‘stark plutonium fingerprint’ of this change in human activity Evidence from Crawford Lake in Canada and 12 secondary locations will be assessed by International Commission on Stratigraphy to decide if we have entered a new geological era Today [11 July 2023] an international team of researchers has chosen the location ...

CLEVELAND—U.S. military veterans who lived in what were once known as “redlined” areas had a higher risk for heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues, according to a new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and the Cleveland VA Medical Center. In the 1930s, the federal government-sponsored Homeowners’ Loan Corp. (HOLC) established maps of U.S. neighborhoods that identified levels of mortgage risk. This practice led to disinvestments and segregation in “redlined” neighborhoods. Judicial rulings--and, later, federal legislation--prohibited such government practices, but research has shown their ...

One of the most powerful psychedelics known, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) has been described as causing imaginative visuals akin to the dream state. It is typically consumed on its own or in ayahuasca, a ceremonial brew that has been used for spiritual and visionary purposes by indigenous cultures for centuries. Some have expressed that DMT helped address psychological ailments such as depression and addiction, promoting emotional well-being. However, the way that DMT impacts the brain, body and health is largely unknown. A ...

Not all carbon emissions are made for the same reason—they range from more essential purposes like heating a home to nonessential “luxury” activities like leisure travel. However, proposals for the implementations of carbon taxes tend to apply to all emissions at an equal rate. This can give rise to and exacerbate inequalities. A new analysis published on July 11 in the journal One Earth suggests taxing luxury carbon emissions at a higher rate instead; if all 88 countries analyzed in this study adopted the luxury-focused policy, this would achieve 75% of the emissions reduction needed to reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting climate change ...

When an electric vehicle is parked outside, its temperature can swing wildly from day to night and season to season, which can lead to deterioration of the battery. To dampen these fluctuations and extend the battery’s lifespan, researchers have designed an all-season thermal cloak that can cool an electric vehicle by 8°C on a hot day and warm it by 6.8°C at night. The cloak, made predominantly of silica and aluminum, can do so passively without outside energy input and operates without any modification between hot or cold weather. This prototype is described July 11 in the newly launched Device, an application-oriented sister journal ...

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2023 – Compared to artificial tears, or eye drops, human tears are significantly more complex liquids, with a wide range of components including lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, water, and salt. It is this complex mixture that gives tears the perfect thickness and ability to moisturize the eye, a design that is hard to replicate with fewer ingredients. In Physics of Fluids, from AIP Publishing, Vega et al. researched human tears at the micron level to reveal new ways of customizing artificial tears to address individual symptoms of dry eye disease. The detailed insights they gained about the composition and behavior ...

Unborn babies use ‘greedy’ gene from dads to ‘remote-control’ mums into feeding them extra food Fetuses use a copy of a gene inherited from their dad to force their mum to release as much nutrients as possible during pregnancy, Cambridge scientists have discovered. The unborn baby ‘remote controls’ its mother’s metabolism so the two are in a nutritional tug of war. The mother’s body wants the baby to survive but needs to keep enough glucose and fats circulating in her system for her own health, to be able to deliver ...

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2023 – Inspired by the need to safeguard marine animals and promote sustainable solutions within marine environments, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and Sofia University in Bulgaria are delving into the hydrodynamics of buoyant objects at the air-water interface. By studying these dynamics, their goal is to expand the understanding of fluid hydrodynamics and complex surface interactions – and advance fields such as the design and performance of marine engineering systems, buoy systems, and ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that personally mediated racial discrimination may be a risk factor for developing obesity in children and adolescents, above and beyond socioeconomic status. The results highlight the need for a multifaceted approach to address racial discrimination and its impact on the health of children and adolescents. Authors: Adolfo G. Cuevas, Ph.D., of the New York University School of Global Public Health in New York, 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/jamanetworkopen.2023.22839) Editor’s Note: Please ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of U.S. veterans, the findings suggest that those with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who reside in historically redlined neighborhoods continue to have a higher prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and higher cardiovascular risk. Even close to a century after this practice was discontinued, redlining appears to still be adversely associated with adverse cardiovascular events.  Authors: Sadeer Al-Kindi, M.D., of University Hospitals in Cleveland, and Salil V. Deo, ...

July 11, 2023 (BOSTON) – A new national study, led by researchers at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, has found whole genome sequencing (WGS) to be nearly twice as effective as a targeted gene sequencing test at identifying abnormalities responsible for genetic disorders in newborns and infants. The study, “A Comparative Analysis of Rapid Whole Genomic Sequencing and a Targeted Neonatal Gene Panel in Infants with a Suspected Genetic Disorder: The Genomic Medicine for Ill Neonates and Infants ...

Children who experience racial discrimination are more likely to later have a higher body mass index (BMI) and larger waistline, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. The findings illustrate that racial discrimination may be a risk factor for young people developing obesity—above and beyond other socioeconomic factors such as family income.   “Exposure to racial discrimination must be acknowledged as both a social determinant of obesity and a significant contributor to obesity disparities among children and adolescents,” said Adolfo Cuevas, assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the study’s ...

BOSTON – The first large-scale U.S. clinical trial of cytisinicline, led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigator, found the smoking cessation medication to be effective and well tolerated in adults who wished to break their nicotine dependence. In the Phase 3 study published in JAMA, researchers reported that cytisinicline could offer adults who smoke a potential new treatment option. “Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, yet no new smoking cessation medication has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for nearly two decades,” says Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of MGH’s ...

That experiences leave their trace in the connectivity of the brain has been known for a while, but a pioneering study by researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and TUD Dresden University of Technology now shows how massive these effects really are. The findings in mice provide unprecedented insights into the complexity of large-scale neural networks and brain plasticity. Moreover, they could pave the way for new brain-inspired artificial intelligence methods. The results, based on an innovative “brain-on-chip” technology, are published in the scientific journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics. The Dresden researchers explored ...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- A strange mystic swings a pocket watch back and forth, repeating the phrase “You’re getting sleepy, very sleepy,” giving them absolute command over their subject. That’s not how hypnotism really works, but it’s the way it’s often depicted in pop culture. Even some clinicians and hypnosis educators propagate harmful myths about hypnosis. Steven Jay Lynn, a professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York, is an expert on hypnosis who has made major contributions to the judicial system ...

(WASHINGTON, July 11, 2023) – As the United States faces a growing obesity epidemic, scientists are taking a closer look at how body weight can affect health outcomes. New research published in Blood Advances highlights the potential association of elevated body mass index (BMI) with inferior outcomes to treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs). This study sheds light on the impact of weight on treatment toxicities and outcomes and calls for further study of the impact of weight on response to different ALL chemotherapy regimens. Obesity is a growing public health threat in the United States, affecting approximately ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – New CT technology allows for a comprehensive, simultaneous evaluation of lung structure and function, something not possible with standard CT, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Chest CT is the imaging method of choice for analyzing lung disease and tracking changes over time. However, CT studies of lung function and perfusion, or blood flow, require dedicated protocols that cannot be combined. Researchers in Germany and the Netherlands developed a chest imaging protocol that yields ...

PHILADELPHIA – A $40.5 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will fund the Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD) study at Penn Medicine and 15 other academic research centers across the United States and Canada. Led by Li-San Wang, PhD, the Peter C. Nowell, M.D. Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the project represents the first major Alzheimer’s disease genetics cohort for Asian Americans and Asian Canadians, populations currently underrepresented in Alzheimer’s disease research. The other principal investigators ...

Moral values such as purity and loyalty are often linked with hateful language, according to a study. Scholars in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) have in recent years focused on improving the automated detection of hate speech so such language can be removed from online spaces. But some scholars have argued that mere detection is not a real solution—that NLP can and should be used to investigate the roots of hateful language. Morteza Dehghani and colleagues conducted three studies of hateful language, looking at speeches and texts written by leaders of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1945, hateful slurs ...

An experimental study explores the visible impact flash created by high velocity impacts. Impacts by debris and meteoroids pose a significant threat to satellites, space probes, and hypersonic craft. Such high-velocity impacts create a brief, intense burst of light, known as an impact flash, which contains information about both the target and the impactor. Gary Simpson, K.T. Ramesh, and colleagues explored the impact flash by shooting stainless steel spheres into an aluminum alloy plate, at a speed of three kilometers per second — about 6,700 miles per hour, or more than nine times the speed of sound. The resulting impact flashes were photographed ...

SAN ANTONIO — July 11, 2023 —Southwest Research Institute has delivered a plasma spectrometer for integration into a lunar lander as part of NASA’s Lunar Vertex investigation, scheduled to commence next year. The target site is the Reiner Gamma region on the Moon’s nearside, a mysterious area known to have a local magnetic field. The SwRI-developed Magnetic Anomaly Plasma Spectrometer (MAPS) will study the interaction of the solar wind with surface materials on the Moon, aiming to understand the origin of the sinuous patterns of ...

Scintillators are optical materials that emit low-energy ultraviolet and visible photons in response to ionizing radiation such as X-rays and gamma rays. This property makes scintillating materials useful for applications like non-destructive testing, X-ray astronomy, security inspection, and medical imaging. In a recently published paper in Light Science & Applications, Professor Xiaowang Liu and Academician Wei Huang, along with their team from the Institute of Flexible Electronics at Northwestern Polytechnical University, ...

DALLAS, July 11, 2023 — Two dedicated volunteers have reached a prestigious milestone with the American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization devoted to a world of healthier lives for all, for their personal passion and commitment to advance women’s heart health. For the third year, changemakers across the country were nominated to join the American Heart Association’s Woman of Impact and Teen of Impact® campaigns. Aligning with the Go Red for Women® movement, the Association’s signature ...

The Xerces Blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces) was native to the coastal dunes of San Francisco, in the United States. As the city grew, much of the butterfly’s habitat was destroyed and its population was relegated to Golden Gate National Park. Its wings were a deep iridescent blue, with characteristic white spots on the ventral side. The last surviving specimens of the species were found in 1941, by entomologist W. Harry Lange. It is considered the first insect species to have become extinct in historical times. Its disappearance has made it a global icon of anthropogenic extinction, to ...