Drought is a widespread concern in the Western U.S., and water managers across the region are developing groundwater management plans to conserve the essential resource. Groundwater is often pumped to the surface to irrigate crops, and meters that measure the flow of pumped water have historically offered the best information on groundwater use. These meters are rare, however, so DRI scientists set out to determine whether OpenET, a platform that measures evapotranspiration using satellite data, could help fill this information gap. The new study, published August 8th in a special issue of Agricultural Water Management, compared groundwater meter ...

SAN FRANCISCO—As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly serious threat to our health, the scientific and medical communities are searching for new medicines to fight infections. Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have just moved closer to that goal with a novel technique for harnessing the power of bacteriophages. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that naturally take over and kill bacteria. Thousands of phages exist, but using them as treatments to fight specific bacteria has so far proven to be challenging. To optimize phage therapy and make it scalable to human disease, scientists need ways to engineer phages into efficient bacteria-killing machines. This would ...

A new study published in Conservation Science and Practice uncovers how breeding populations of queen conch (Aliger gigas) within a protected marine reserve, where fishing is prohibited, sustain populations beyond the borders of the reserve. This research, based on surveys conducted in The Bahamas by Shedd Aquarium and Bahamian partners, identifies where additional protections could help to ensure the survival of future queen conch generations.  In The Bahamas, queen conch is an economic and cultural ...

Worcester, MA – September 5, 2024—Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has launched a groundbreaking Master of Science in Explosion Protection Engineering, the first program of its kind in the United States. Designed amid growing concerns about fire and explosion risk posed by manufacturing facilities and advancing technologies like electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells, the new program builds on WPI’s esteemed legacy in Fire Protection Engineering, which has been at the forefront of fire safety education and research since its inception in 1978. “The demand ...

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 5, 2024 — With newly awarded funding from the National Science Foundation, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the Keck School of Medicine of USC will seek to revolutionize the treatment of neurological diseases through intelligent biocomputing. The four-year, $2 million grant is part of NSF’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program, which funds cutting-edge science pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.   The premise of the UC Irvine-USC project is to combine engineering principles with stem cell research to treat damaged brain regions. The team’s long-term goal is to restore motor functions to patients ...

A new study reveals that young patients treated with psychiatric medications receive potentially dangerous combinations with concerning frequency. Researchers from Rutgers Health and other institutions analyzed New York State Medicaid records for more than 141,000 patients receiving any psychiatric medication.  Nearly 400 of them received at least one potentially dangerous combination t for one month or longer. Doctors refer to these as severe drug-drug interactions, and their use is typically considered "contraindicated" or recommended ...

Images, animations, and video available in our NSF portal: https://nsf.widencollective.com/portals/ematkiby/TheInvisibleMouseEmbargoed Access Code: Le9ANH7tYTdr   Researchers have developed a new way to see organs within a body by rendering overlying tissues transparent to visible light.   The counterintuitive process—a topical application of food-safe dye—was reversible in tests with animal subjects, and may ultimately apply to a wide range of medical diagnostics, from locating injuries to monitoring digestive disorders to identifying cancers.   Stanford University researchers published the research ″Achieving optical ...

The simple act of observing others cope with a traumatic experience can increase our capacity for resilience and prevent the pathological states that can result from it, notably depression. Neuroscientists at UNIL have demonstrated the presence of this “emotional contagion” in mice, and successfully deciphered its mechanism. The neurotransmitter serotonin, released in a brain structure called the habenula, has been shown to be the key to resilience. This discovery, published in Science, revisits the role of serotonin ...

In a pioneering new study, researchers made the skin on the skulls and abdomens of live mice transparent by applying to the areas a mixture of water and a common yellow food coloring called tartrazine. Dr. Zihao Ou, assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is lead author of the study, published in the Sept. 6 print issue of the journal Science. Living skin is a scattering medium. Like fog, it scatters light, which is why it cannot be seen through. “We combined the yellow dye, which is a molecule that absorbs most light, ...

Bats are considered a natural pesticide, widely relied on by farmers as an alternative to chemical pesticides to protect their crops from insects. But since 2006, many bat populations have collapsed in counties in North America due to an invasive fungus found in the caves bats use during the day and throughout winter that causes what is known as White-Nose Syndrome. A new study in Science uses their sudden collapse to explore whether farmers turned to chemical pesticides, and whether doing so impacts human health. It finds that farmers did increase their pesticide use, leading to more than 1,000 infant deaths. “Bats ...

“Bystander” mice that briefly watched other mice be harmed show fewer signs of behavioral despair when faced with their own harmful event, compared to mice who do not observe their fellow mice being harmed. The negative emotional contagion experienced by the bystander mice appears to build resilience against a depressive-like state, according to new research by Sarah Mondoloni and colleagues. Mondoloni et al. demonstrate that resilience in these mice requires an increase in serotonin release in a part of the brain called the lateral habenula. “These findings support the notion that, as is the case in humans, graded trauma can be resilience-promoting, enabling ...

There were volcanic eruptions on the Moon as recently as 120 million years ago, according to a new analysis of a lunar sample collected by the Chang’e‑5 mission. Samples collected by the Apollo, Luna and Chang’e‑5 missions have previously shown there was widespread basaltic volcanism on the Moon extending from about 4.4 to 2.0 billion years ago. The new findings demonstrate that volcanism persisted much longer than was previously suspected, at least on smaller, more localized scale. Bi-Wen Wang, Qian W.L. Zhang and colleagues sorted through more than 3000 tiny glass beads they recovered from a lunar sample collected by Chang’e‑5, examining the bead’s ...

The thick and tough skin on our palms and soles, called volar skin, stands up well under high-pressure conditions. This type of skin would be welcome on the limb stumps of amputees, since these points of contact with prostheses are covered in thin, non-volar skin that can be damaged over time. Now, Sam Lee and colleagues demonstrate that an injection of volar fibroblasts into non-volar skin in a group of human volunteers can promote volar features in the thin skin that last up to five months. Based on their analysis, Lee et al. are now enrolling amputees in a phase 2 clinical trial to further explore volar fibroblasts as a future ...

New York, NY [September 5, 2024]—A novel study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai addresses a critical yet under-explored question in cancer research: Why is aging the biggest risk factor for cancer? The study reveals how an aging immune system spurs tumor growth, offering new insights into cancer prevention and treatment, especially for older adults. Details on the findings were reported in the September 5 Online First Release of Science [DOI:10.1126/science.adn0327]. In preclinical models, the research team found that anakinra, a drug typically used for inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, can be repurposed to block harmful signals between ...

Extensive geologic evidence of ancient volcanic activity can be found on the Moon, but how long this volcanism persisted has been unclear. However, Prof. LI Qiuli’s Lab at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) has recently identified three volcanic glass beads from lunar soil samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission. Their research shows that the beads were formed 123±15 million years ago (Ma), thus representing the youngest lunar ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – New data summaries from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird platform will help state wildlife planners assess the status of bird populations that live in or pass through their state – a crucial tool in protecting species. A team of data scientists at eBird, the participatory science platform, has packaged summaries covering every bird species, in every state, and made them available online for free. These data summaries will help states prepare their federally required ...

A study published in Eurosurveillance to investigate an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 in the UK identified contaminated lettuce as the most likely source of the infection, and determined that heavy rainfall and flooding may have carried STEC from animal faeces to the lettuce crops. More heavy rainfall events are expected due to climate change in the future, leading to increased impacts on health and food security. Ahead of Field Epidemiology Day 2024, this study demonstrates the value of field investigations in quickly responding to outbreaks, improving preparedness, and protecting public health, and possible ...

In a global first, University of Waterloo researchers have used 3D imaging technology to understand the fine details of microplastics, paving the way for more effective methods of plastic waste recycling. Micro and nanoplastics, tiny particles of plastic that come from the breakdown of larger plastic items, have become an exponentially worsening environmental crisis. Due to their difficulties in safely decomposing, plastic pollution poses significant threats to ecosystems, wildlife and human health. Scientists have struggled to understand the exact process of ...

“In this research perspective, we discuss recent work from our lab describing an active role of HSPCs in AML and the potential implications.” BUFFALO, NY- September 5, 2024 – A new research perspective was published in Oncotarget's Volume 15 on September 4, 2024, entitled, “Trained and ready - the case for an inflammatory memory for hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the AML niche.” As noted in the abstract of this paper, lifelong hematopoiesis is sustained by the crosstalk between hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and specialized bone marrow ...

Group sleeping can impact when animals sleep, how long they sleep for, and how deeply they sleep. For example, groups of meerkats time their sleep according to “sleep traditions”; olive baboons sleep less when their group size increases; bumblebees suppress sleep in the presence of offspring; and co-sleeping mice can experience synchronized REM sleep. To fully understand both sleep and animal social structures, we need to pay more attention to the “social side” of sleep, animal behaviorists argue in an opinion paper publishing September 5 in the Cell Press journal ...

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital have uncovered a new cell type in the human brain. The study published in Cancer Cell reveals that a third of the cells in glioma, a type of brain tumor, fire electrical impulses. Interestingly, the impulses, also called action potentials, originate from tumor cells that are part neuron and part glia, supporting the groundbreaking idea that neurons are not the only cells that can generate electric signals in the brain. The scientists also discovered ...

Staging of patients with early pancreatic cancer is inaccurate as much as 80% of the time, according to a new Cedars-Sinai Cancer study published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA. The finding underscores the urgent need for advancements in diagnostic technology and staging, which could significantly alter early pancreatic cancer treatment and research. In this study, investigators looked at data from more than 48,000 patients in the National Cancer Database. Based on preoperative imaging, all of the patients in the study had either stage 1 or stage 2 pancreatic cancer. Following surgery to remove their tumors, more than 78% of stage ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — When overdose rates spiked in Oregon in 2021 after the state decriminalized low-level drug possession, blame quickly turned to the new state law. But a new study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health implicates another factor: the introduction of fentanyl into Oregon’s unregulated drug market. “What's compelling about this analysis is that it follows the path of fentanyl across the country and offers testament to the ...

About The Study: The population attributable fraction of dementia from vision impairments ranged from 4.9%-19.0%. While not proving a cause-and-effect relationship, these findings support inclusion of multiple objective measures of vision impairments, including contrast sensitivity and visual acuity, to capture the total potential impact of addressing vision impairment on dementia.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jason R. Smith, ScM, email jsmit491@jhu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.3131) Editor’s ...

About The Study: In patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis, balloon angioplasty plus aggressive medical management, compared with aggressive medical management alone, statistically significantly lowered the risk of a composite outcome of any stroke or death within 30 days or an ischemic stroke or revascularization of the qualifying artery after 30 days through 12 months. The findings suggest that balloon angioplasty plus aggressive medical management may be an effective treatment for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis, although the risk of stroke or ...