MINNEAPOLIS — After a mild stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), people who spend more time in bed sleeping or trying to sleep may be more likely to have lower scores on tests of thinking and memory skills and changes in their brains that can lead to dementia or second strokes, according to a study published on May 28, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Spending longer in bed—when some of that time can be not sleeping due to difficulty falling asleep, fragmented sleep, poor quality sleep or other problems—can be a sign of a sleep disorder. The study found that both people ...

As coral reefs struggle to adapt to warming waters, high levels of pollution and sea-level rise, ballooning sea-urchin populations are threatening to push some reefs in Hawaii past the point of recovery. The phenomenon is described in a new study that uses on-site field work and airborne imagery to track the health of the reef in Hōnaunau Bay, Hawaii. Overfishing is the main culprit behind the explosion in sea-urchin numbers, said Kelly van Woesik, Ph.D. student in the North Carolina State University Center for Geospatial Analytics and first author of the study. “Fishing in these areas has greatly reduced the number of fishes that feed on these ...

Adolescents in India whose mothers experience domestic violence face significantly increased risk of anxiety and depression Article URL: https://plos.io/4ja7HiJ Article title: Examining the impact of maternal experiences of domestic violence on the mental health of their adolescent children in India Author countries: U.S., Germany, India, U.K., France, China Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

We might become less sociable as we age as brain scans of adults across the lifespan show disruption of brain connectivity, suggesting impairments in our ability to form and maintain relationships  Article URL: https://plos.io/3S1CiE6 Article title: Intrinsic functional connectivity brain networks mediate effect of age on sociability Author countries: Singapore Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. END ...

Llamas may have been domesticated in the semi-arid North of Chile prior to the Incas, according to multi-proxy analysis of early camelid remains Article URL: https://plos.io/4mzZabZ  Article title: Multi-proxy analysis of El Olivar camelids (1,090-1,440 cal AD): Evaluating the presence of llamas (Lama glama, Linnaeus 1758) in the Semiarid North of Chile before the arrival of the Inca Author countries: Chile, Denmark, Argentina Funding: Work funded by the El Olivar Archaeological Project. ...

In order to truly decolonize the field of global health, it may be necessary for institutions from the Global North to practice “ruinous solidarity,” according to a study published May 21, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Daniel Krugman from Brown University, United States, and Alice Bayingana from the University of Sydney, Australia.    Even as scholarship related to decolonizing global health advances, global health institutions from the Global North still largely dominate the field via a “soft money” structure (funded by repeatedly winning ...

Refugees in Sweden who lived in institutional housing during the asylum process are prescribed more anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medication and visit hospital more than those who lived in self-organized housing, with the associations persisting for years.  ### Article URL: https://plos.io/3Ztgx3U   Article Title: Housing during the asylum process and its association with healthcare utilization for common mental disorders among refugees in Sweden: A nationwide cohort study Author Countries: Sweden Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding ...

Cats spend longer sniffing the odor of a stranger than that of their owner, suggesting that they can identify familiar humans based on smell alone, according to a study publishing May 28, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Yutaro Miyairi and colleagues at Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan. Cats use their sense of smell to identify other cats and communicate with each other, but whether they can also use smell to distinguish between different humans has not previously been studied. The researchers investigated whether ...

In a new study of college undergraduates in Japan, the students’ self-perception of their own athletic ability was linked with several internal and external factors, such as personality traits, family characteristics, leisure activities, and others’ perceptions. Sho Ito of Nanzan University, Japan, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on May 28, 2025. Self-perception of one’s own athletic ability could influence one’s motivation to engage in physical activity. For young people, the sense of one’s own athleticism may affect their participation in sports and other physical activities, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research brings together 7,000 years of history in South Arabia to show how ancient pastoralists changed placement and construction of monuments over time in the face of environmental and cultural forces.   In a study published today (May 28, 2025) in PLOS One, an international team of archaeologists documents how monuments changed as the climate transitioned from a humid environment to, eventually, an arid desert.   Early monuments were built by larger groups at one time. But as people dispersed with the increasingly drier climate, smaller groups began constructing monuments and eventually built many of them in several visits.   “The ...

In 2022, after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained power, Afghans reported an average life satisfaction of 1.28 on a scale from 0 to 10—or from the worst possible life to the best possible life—a global, all-time low, according to a new study published today in Science Advances.  That is lower than life satisfaction scores recorded in more than 170 countries since 1946, when global ratings were first tallied. In 2022, the global mean life satisfaction rating recorded in the Gallup World Poll was 5.48.  Afghans also showed little hope for the future. When asked to imagine what their lives would be like in five years on the same ...

How do we think, feel, remember, or move? These processes involve synaptic transmission, in which chemical signals are transmitted between nerve cells using molecular containers called vesicles. Now, researchers have successfully modeled the vesicle cycle in unprecedented detail, revealing new information about the way our brain functions. A joint study, published in Science Advances, between researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan, and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has applied a unique computational modeling system, which considers the complicated interplay of vesicles, their cellular environments, activities and interactions, ...

The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater — including sewage, industrial waste and runoff — into the Pacific Ocean every day, making it the dominant source of coastal pollution in the region. Wastewater pollution has been an ongoing problem for decades and is so severe that the nonprofit environmental group American Rivers recently named the Tijuana River America’s second most endangered river.  A new study from the University of California San Diego examines how pollutants ...

Runaway cell death and inflammation triggered by severe trauma may be interrupted by a drug used to prevent alcohol abuse – and it may be particularly effective in females, according to new research led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine surgeon-scientists and published today in Science Translational Medicine. The findings, based on observations in human patients and tested in mice, may lead to therapies that, if given in the first few hours after severe trauma – such as a falls or vehicle accidents – could ...

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today recognized five individuals with awards for their exemplary service to the computing field. Representing diverse areas, the 2024 award recipients were selected by their peers for building a vibrant community that benefits both their colleagues and the broader society. This year’s awardees drove advancements in computer science curriculum, cyberinfrastructures, computer science education, and assistive robotics. They will be formally recognized at ACM’s annual awards banquet on June 14, 2025, in San Francisco. Dan Garcia, Teaching Professor, UC Berkeley, and Brian Harvey, Teaching ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A study by scientists at the University of California, Riverside shows ultrasonic cigarettes, or u-cigarettes, marketed as a less harmful alternative to traditional e-cigarettes, may pose significant health risks due to the presence of harmful metals in their liquids and aerosols.  U-cigarettes have a “sonicator” that vibrates a liquid solution, usually containing nicotine, flavorings, and propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, to produce microscopic droplets (aerosol). The technology uses high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations instead of heating coils ...

Radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) are critical to advancing communications capabilities—think moving from 5G networks to 6G—and many other technological applications. But these chips are also really hard to design. A multi-university team with heavy involvement from industry leaders is working to change that. The team, led by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, plans to infuse artificial intelligence into the design process for RFICs to reduce the difficulty of making these important chips. "Design productivity is a huge problem for RFICs; in most ...

As fast as modern electronics have become, they could be much faster if their operations were based on light, rather than electricity. Fiber optic cables already transport information at the speed of light; to do computations on that information without translating it back to electric signals will require a host of new optical components.  Engineering researchers at the University of Utah have now developed such a device—one that can be adjusted on the fly to give light different degrees of circular polarization. Because information can be stored in a property of light known as chirality, the researchers’ device could serve as a multifunctional, ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. and ST. LOUIS, MO.– May 28, 2025) Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis report mechanistic insights into the role of biomolecular condensation in the development of neurodegenerative disease. The collaborative research, published in Molecular Cell, focused on the interactions that drive the formation of condensates versus the formation of amyloid fibrils and how these relate to stress granules. Stress granules are biomolecular condensates that form under conditions of cellular stress and have been previously implicated as drivers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ...

A new study led by UC San Francisco researchers finds that chronic cannabis use — whether it’s smoked or consumed in edible form — is associated with significant cardiovascular risks.  The report, published May 28 in JAMA Cardiology, found that people who regularly used marijuana in either form had reduced blood vessel function that was comparable to tobacco smokers. Vascular function in those who used cannabis by either means was reduced roughly by half compared to those who did not use it.  Decreased vascular function is associated with ...

Results from a clinical trial led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, published today in JAMA, show that giving people with high blood pressure an injection every six months can lead to a meaningful, sustained reduction in their blood pressure.  The global trial, KARDIA-2, involved 663 people with high blood pressure whose condition wasn’t being well managed with their standard treatment.   In the trial, patients were given an injection of a new medication zilebesiran, alongside their standard blood pressure treatments. Researchers found ...

Irvine, Calif., May 28, 2025 — Many home healthcare agencies adopted telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the absence of federal reimbursements for these services has led to an increasing number of providers discontinuing these options, a national survey conducted by the University of California, Irvine, and other institutions reveals. Results are published in Health Services Research.   The National Institute on Aging-funded study offers valuable insights into the role of telehealth ...

Involving communities in nature-based solutions to tackle urban climate and environmental challenges leads to innovation and multiple benefits, a study shows. Participation of citizens in NBS projects leads to innovation in design and quality, as well as people gaining greater benefits from green and blue spaces (for access, recreation and health and wellbeing), researchers found. The study showed that involving communities. Projects are also more likely to be successful in supporting nature renewal ...

Bethesda, MD (May 28, 2025) — Lawrence Kim, MD, AGAF, today begins his term as the 120th president of the AGA Institute. A leader in community-based practice, Dr. Kim is a partner at South Denver Gastroenterology, an independent gastroenterology practice in Colorado.  In his 27 years in private practice, Dr. Kim has helped diversify and innovate his group. He developed a part-time partnership model, making South Denver Gastroenterology a leader in recruiting women gastroenterologists, who now comprise one-third of the practice. He incorporated ...

New Haven, Conn. — As rising global temperatures alter ecosystems worldwide, animal species usually have two choices: adapt to changing local conditions or flee to a cooler clime. Ecologists have long assumed that the world’s bird species were best equipped to respond to the pressures of climate change simply because they have the option of flying to higher altitudes or towards global poles. But a new Yale study finds that few bird species are able to escape the realities of a warming world. The findings were published May 28 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. “They can’t move fast enough or far enough to ...