By Shawn Ballard Ever seen an image of an animal and wondered, “What is that?” TaxaBind, a new tool developed by computer scientists in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, can sate that curiosity and more. TaxaBind addresses the need for more robust and unified approaches to ecological problems by combining multiple models to perform species classification (what kind of bear is this?), distribution mapping (where are the cardinals?), and other tasks related to ecology. The tool can also be used as a starting point for larger studies related to ecological modeling, which scientists might use to predict shifts in plant and animal populations, ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (3/04/2025) — Making decisions in uncertain situations is part of daily life. New research from the University of Minnesota Medical School has uncovered that anxiety and apathy — two common but distinct emotional states — lead to fundamentally different patterns in how people learn and make decisions.  The findings were recently published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The study investigated how anxiety and apathy — or a lack of interest and ...

Fred Hutch Cancer Center announced 10 recipients of the annual Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes the exceptional achievements of graduate studies in the biological sciences.  This year’s recipients represent both national and international research institutions, with a variety of thesis topics including the structural organization of neural networks, a hereditary basis for metastatic breast cancer, gene editing tools for neurodegenerative diseases and the brain’s ability to control the tongue.   “We congratulate the impressive group of domestic and international applicants this year ...

Summary The worldwide network of telecommunications cables lying on the bottom of the world's oceans offers unique potential for scientific use if the fibre-optic cables themselves are used as or equipped with sensors. Based on this, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel are now setting up the research infrastructure SAFAtor (SMART Cables And Fiber-optic Sensing Amphibious Demonstrator), that can be used to monitor the world's oceans. It will be included in the portfolio of the major Helmholtz infrastructures and funded by ...

A current study involving the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) has investigated which treatment strategy offers the best chances of survival in high-risk acute pulmonary embolism. The results, now published in the renowned journal "Intensive Care Medicine", provide crucial information for the future treatment of this life-threatening disease. High-risk acute pulmonary embolism affects around five percent of all pulmonary embolisms and can take a dramatic course even in young people. Acute obstruction of the pulmonary circulation by a blood clot can lead to circulatory failure with a high mortality rate. The study, which was carried out in collaboration with 34 European centers ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the human papillomavirus (HPV) is most associated with cervical cancer risk and women, a new survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) shows that the majority of people are unaware that the virus is actually more common among men than women and is associated with rising rates of other cancers that directly impact men. The consumer survey sought to understand the public’s knowledge of the lesser known but common virus – specifically how it is spread and its impact on cancer risk.  Survey ...

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that Professor Jungwon Park’s research team from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has developed a groundbreaking technology to observe atomic structural changes of nanoparticles in three dimensions.   This study, recognized as a revolutionary achievement that resolves a long-standing challenge even past Nobel laureates could not solve, was published online in Nature Communications, one of the most prestigious international journals, on January 29.   Recently, nanoparticles have garnered significant attention as they are widely used in developing functional materials for cutting-edge industries ...

College of Engineering at Seoul National University announced that a research team led by Professor Gwan-Hyoung Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with the research teams of Professors Hyejin Jang and Jeong Woo Han from the same department, has successfully developed the new synthesis technology of 2D semiconductors. This groundbreaking technique enables the direct growth of wafer-scale single-crystal 2D semiconductors on various substrates.   The research were published in "Nature," the world's most ...

Researchers in Sweden report a green alternative to reduce reliance on mining graphite, the raw source behind the next wonder material, graphene.  In the latest volume of the scientific journal Small, researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology say they have developed a reproducible and scalable method for producing graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets from commercial carbon fibers, marking a breakthrough in sustainable nanomaterial synthesis. The process involves exfoliating carbon fibers with nitric acid, which provides high yields of one-atom-thick sheets of graphene oxide with characteristics comparable ...

Worldwide obesity rates have more than doubled since 1990, with nearly a billion people now falling into the category. Though a complex interplay of genes, diet, and environment contribute, 90% of cases share one thing in common: leptin resistance. In lean individuals, fat cells produce the hormone leptin, which suppresses appetite. But in most individuals with obesity, this signal fails to register. Why this happens has been a mystery for more than three decades, ever since Jeffrey M. Friedman’s laboratory at the Rockefeller University cloned the leptin gene in 1994. But now Bowen Tan, Kristina Hedbacker, ...

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2025 – Seismology has revealed much of the basics about earthquakes: Tectonic plates move, causing strain energy to build up, and that energy eventually releases in the form of an earthquake. As for forecasting them, however, there’s still much to learn in order to evacuate cities before catastrophes like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake that, in addition to causing a tsunami that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, resulted in more than 18,000 deaths. In recent years, research has focused on a possible correlation between ...

About The Study: This cohort study found no significant association between the preoperative use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and short-term postoperative aspiration pneumonia despite growing concerns about the adverse effects of these medications after surgery. This finding suggests that it may be beneficial to reassess the preoperative withholding guidelines for GLP-1 RAs. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Eric L. Smith, M.D., email esmith@nebh.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0081) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that higher perceived discrimination in health care settings is positively associated with delaying health care due to nervousness about seeing a health care professional. The largest mediation proportion observed was among younger adults and racial and ethnic minority groups. By prioritizing better patient-clinician communication, health care delays associated with patient apprehension related to perceived discrimination may be reduced. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Maryam Jafari Bidgoli, ...

About The Study: In this retrospective multi-institutional study, patients who underwent surgery immediately preceding the weekend had a significantly increased risk of complications, readmissions, and mortality compared with those treated after the weekend. Further study is needed to understand differences in care that may underpin these observations and ensure that patients receive high-quality care regardless of the day of the week. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Raj Satkunasivam, M.D., ...

Nearly 40% of adult Americans say they’ve experienced some type of sport-related mistreatment in their lives, a new study shows.   Mistreatment ranged from psychological and emotional to physical and sexual. But most people who reported mistreatment experienced more than one kind, the research found.   And one-third of those who never even played organized sports reported sports-related mistreatment.   “Many people talk about how they hated middle school or high school because of recess or gym class and the abuse or shame they felt playing sports in that environment,” said Chris Knoester, co-author of the study and professor of sociology ...

Children who frequently miss school because of abdominal complaints are far more likely to be suffering from disorders of the gut-brain axis such as irritable bowel syndrome than diseases that can be detected with medical tests, new UVA Health Children’s research has found. The discovery could improve care for children with these common GI disorders and might spare them from a barrage of unproductive tests. UVA’s Stephen M. Borowitz, MD, and fourth-year medical student Seth M. Tersteeg looked at school absenteeism as reported by parents who brought their children to UVA Health Children’s Pediatric Gastroenterology Clinic. Children who had missed more ...

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York have discovered a novel approach to protecting insulin-producing beta cells from the damaging effects of glucolipotoxicity—a harmful condition linked to the progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D). These findings, published on March 2, 2025 in Nature Communications, could lead to promising treatments targeting beta cell dysfunction. For patients, this research could lead to new treatments that protect the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, potentially ...

Everyday smartwatches are extremely accurate in detecting viral infection long before symptoms appear — now, research shows how they could help stop a pandemic before it even begins. Early detection of sickness is critical for preventing its spread — whether it’s COVID-19, influenza or the common cold. Yet, many illnesses are at their most contagious before people  even know they’re sick. Research shows that 44 percent of COVID-19 infections were spread several days before the sufferer came down with symptoms. Now, researchers at Aalto University, Stanford University and Texas A&M, have released a study that models how smartwatches ...

Both the UN and several Nobel laureates have said that political and economic inequality is a driver of high carbon emissions. The argument is that more democratic societies – where wealth, power and opportunities are more evenly distributed – are better at reducing their emissions. But that is not true – quite the opposite. “Some people hold that a rich power elite stands in the way of climate action, and that democracies can more easily implement measures such as banning emissions or raising taxes,” said Professor Indra de Soysa from the Norwegian  ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 9:00 am Eastern Time  An advanced copy of the full recommendation is available upon request. Media Contacts  American College of Gastroenterology   Becky Abel mediaonly@gi.org (301) 263-9000   American Gastroenterological Association  Annie Mehl communications@gastro.org (301) 272-0013   American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy  Andrea Lee alee@asge.org (630) 570-5601   North Bethesda, MD; Bethesda, MD; and Downers Grove, IL (March 4, 2025) ...

E. (Sarah) Du, Ph.D., an associate professor in College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University, has been selected as a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for her significant contributions to innovation and invention.  The NAI is a member organization comprising United States and international universities, government agencies, and nonprofit research institutes. The NAI was founded to recognize and encourage inventors with U.S. patents, enhance the visibility of academic ...

A new study has unveiled a precise picture of how an ion channel found in most mammalian cells regulates its own function with a “ball-and-chain” channel-plugging mechanism, according to investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings boost the understanding of ion channel biology and could lead to new drugs that target these channels to treat disorders such as epilepsy and hypertension. Ion channels are protein structures embedded in cell membranes that allow charged molecules to flow into or out of the cell. They support essential biological functions, including signaling or communication between brain cells. The study, published ...

March 4, 2025 Contact: Morgan Sherburne, 734-647-1844, morganls@umich.edu     Images of pollinators and plants    ANN ARBOR—An herbicide may "drift" from the agricultural fields where it's sprayed and harm weeds that grow at the edge of the fields, impacting pollinators. A University of Michigan study examined the effects of the herbicide, called dicamba, and found that plants exposed to dicamba drift had a lowered abundance of pollinators, and that pollinator visits to flowers were reduced for some weeds, but not others. The study, led by U-M professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Regina Baucom, ...

Racial segregation remains common in US schools, 70 years after federal legislation formally outlawing segregation by race. But previous research has demonstrated that integration can benefit students of all races and ethnicities. Students at integrated schools learn how to make connections with children from different backgrounds, developing empathy and mutual respect. Madison Landry and Nabeel Gillani explored whether merging schools could help integrate schools. One school could offer kindergarten through second grade for the current catchment areas of two elementary schools, while the remaining school could serve third through fifth graders for the ...

Your smartwatch can probably tell that you are sick before you can—and if everyone followed their watch’s advice to self-isolate, incipient epidemics could be stopped in their tracks, according to a study.  During the early days of COVID-19, research showed that 44% of infections were spread before people even felt sick, making early detection critical for stopping outbreaks. Recent studies have demonstrated that smartwatches can detect infections before symptoms appear by picking up subtle physiological changes, ...