Using lasers as tweezers to understand cloud electrification might sound like science fiction but at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) it is a reality. By trapping and charging micron-sized particles with lasers, researchers can now observe their charging and discharging dynamics over time. This method, published in Physical Review Letters, could provide key insights into what sparks lightning. Aerosols are liquid or solid particles that float in the air. They are all around us. Some are large and visible, such ...

Young people who play video games with “gambling-like” elements – such as buying loot boxes or in-game items – are more likely to go on to gamble with real money. That’s the suggestion of a new longitudinal study of gambling behaviour and attitudes in young people. A team of experts from Belgian institutions KU Leuven and the University of Ghent quizzed more than 2,000 young gamers twice, with a year gap in-between. In follow-up surveys, it was shown those who engage in games with gambling-like elements were more likely to then gamble with real money than those who did not. The research team, who publish their findings ...

A landmark multi-country clinical trial has shown that a structured, sustainable approach to infection prevention and treatment can save women’s lives, cutting severe maternal infections and deaths by about one-third (32%) compared to usual care. The maternal programme of prevention and treatment (APT-Sepsis) was developed by researchers at the University of Liverpool, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN’s Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP). Maternal infection and sepsis remain ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — A new study shows large increases in the use of computed tomography (CT) scans of the head in emergency departments across the United States from 2007 to 2022. The study, which was published on November 19, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, also found disparities in use of head CTs by race, type of insurance and hospital location.  “Head CT scans are a critical tool for diagnosing neurological emergencies, but their growing use raises concerns about cost, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Open semi-natural settings in urban areas – like parks and golf courses teeming with plants and small mammals – are possible hotspots for interaction between coyotes and humans, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed times and locations in Chicago when coyotes were on the move at the same time people were working, socializing or otherwise occupied outside the home. The analysis showed that overlap of human and coyote activity would be far more probable in areas with a high proportion of open space and less likely to ...

NEW YORK, NY--Columbia University researchers are the first to show that focused ultrasound — a non-invasive technique that uses sound waves to enhance the delivery of drugs into the brain — can be safely used in children being treated for brain cancer.  The focused ultrasound technique, developed by Columbia engineers, was tested in combination with chemotherapy in three children with diffuse midline glioma, a rare and ...

AUSTIN, Texas — Swapping beef for a plant-based meat substitute changed breast milk composition in just six days — even when the rest of the diet was made up of whole, unprocessed foods — according to a first-of-its-kind study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.  The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reveal that even small shifts in a breastfeeding family’s diet can quickly alter the types of fats their infant receives through breast milk. These changes could have implications for brain development and immune function. The study tested the effect of food processing by using meals that were nutritionally ...

In the race against time to meet 2050 climate targets, building decarbonization looms large—but high upfront costs and a lack of public awareness are two of the biggest barriers for many countries, slowing the adoption of energy efficiency and electrification technologies. The top risks center on performance and reliability. These findings come from two new studies by Schneider Electric and Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS), published in Nature Communications and Energy and Buildings, that identify 95 sociotechnical barriers ...

Women are underrepresented among authors of retracted publications, particularly in cases involving multiple retractions, according to a new study published November 19, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Paul Sebo of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Gender disparities in scientific authorship are well documented, yet little is known about gender representation among authors of retracted publications. However, understanding the demographics of authors of retracted publications could shed light on the social and professional dynamics that lead to retractions. In the new study, Sebo analyzed 878 retracted publications from 131 high-impact medical journals across ...

Is it light or humidity? Scientists identify the culprits of emerald green degradation in masterpieces An international team of researchers have found what triggers degradation in one of the most popular pigments used by renowned 19th and 20th century painters. Using a multi-method approach, including advanced synchrotron radiation techniques, they’ve unveiled how light and humidity affect the masterpieces over time, and have proposed a strategy for its mitigation and monitoring. The results are out now in Science Advances. During the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution sparked major advances in chemistry, giving rise ...

Northwestern University engineers have developed the first haptic device that achieves “human resolution,” meaning it accurately matches the sensing abilities of the human fingertip. Called VoxeLite, the ultra-thin, lightweight, flexible, wearable device recreates touch sensations with the same clarity, detail and speed that skin naturally detects. Similar to a bandage, the device gently wraps around a fingertip to give digital touch the same realism people now expect from today’s screens ...

Earthquake faults deep in the Earth can glue themselves back together following a seismic event, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The work, published Nov. 19 in Science Advances and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, adds a new factor to our understanding of the behavior of faults that can give rise to major earthquakes.  “We discovered that deep faults can heal themselves within hours,” said Amanda Thomas, ...

A study by the University of Portsmouth has revealed for the first time the extent of the devastating impact of plastic pollution on livestock, humans and the wider environment on the Kenyan island of Lamu.   The study was carried out by members of the Revolution Plastics Institute at The University of Portsmouth, in collaboration with The Donkey Sanctuary, The Flop Flopi Project and the Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute.   Until now the impact of plastic waste on terrestrial working animals has been largely ...

Researchers at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, University of Sydney, and the Royal Hospital for Women have uncovered important new insights into the biology of recurrent miscarriage - a devastating condition that affects up to one in fifty couples trying to conceive. The Australian study, led by Dr Hartmut Cuny and Professor Sally Dunwoodie, explored whether differences in how the body processes vitamin B3 (niacin) and NAD, a vital molecule for cell health, might help explain why some pregnancies end in miscarriage. Analysing blood, plasma, and urine samples from 88 women with and without a history of recurrent miscarriage (two or more consecutive losses), the team found ...

The selection of suitable donors is crucial for the long-term recovery of patients after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Primarily, the transplantation from a matched sibling donor (MSD) is considered the “first choice” [2]. It is associated with a low risk of non-relapse mortality (NRM) and rejection reactions such as acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) [3]. Thanks to improved matching strategies, optimized pre-treatments, and newer options for GvHD prophylaxis, matched unrelated donors (MUDs) or mismatched unrelated donors (MMUDs), with minor HLA differences, can also ...

A blood pressure as low as 120/80 mm Hg in adolescence can be linked to a higher risk of atherosclerosis in middle age, according to a study led from Linköping University, Sweden. The findings, published in the journal JAMA Cardiology, indicate that high blood pressure early in life plays an important role in the development of coronary artery disease. “High blood pressure is the largest modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which in turn is the largest single cause of death globally,” says Pontus Henriksson, senior associate ...

November 19, 2025 Watch Video (3-Min Short Version) Here   Watch Video (10-Min Long Version) Here Ithaca, NY—Every spring, the familiar songs of Wood Thrushes and warblers return to the parks and backyards of eastern North America. But their journey begins far to the south—in the lush, remote forests of Central America that sustain them throughout most of the year. A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Cornell Lab), published in Biological Conservation, reveals that the Five Great Forests of Central America—which ...

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly transforming scientific research, with researchers across multiple areas of physics leading the development and application of these tools. To meet the needs of this fast-growing research community, the American Physical Society is launching PRX Intelligence, a highly selective open access journal that will welcome manuscripts on AI and machine learning methods and their application to advance scientific understanding. The journal will accept submissions starting February 2026. “The speed and scale of innovation happening in the scientific machine learning and AI space has been explosive. We’re excited to support ...

An international team of researchers, including scholars from HSE University, has analysed how the number of non-academic staff affects a university’s performance. The study found that the outcome depends on the institution’s profile: in research universities, the share of administrative and support staff has no effect on efficiency, whereas in teaching-oriented universities, there is a positive correlation. The findings have been published in Applied Economics. In today’s universities, academic staff make up less than 50% ...

When physicians don’t have to type detailed clinical notes while simultaneously talking to their patients, the visit feels different. Eye contact lasts longer, follow-up questions become sharper, and — crucially — clinicians go home less drained. That’s the promise of ambient clinical documentation, an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology that records healthcare conversations and transforms them into clear, accurate clinical note drafts that are reviewed and approved before being added to a patient’s electronic health record (EHR). To assess whether this promise can become reality, researchers at the University of Chicago ...

Researchers from HSE University and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences analysed seven years of data from the ERG (Arase) satellite and, for the first time, provided a detailed description of a new type of radio emission from near-Earth space—the hectometric continuum, first discovered in 2017. The researchers found that this radiation appears a few hours after sunset and disappears one to three hours after sunrise. It was most frequently observed during the summer months and less often in spring and autumn. However, by mid-2022, when the Sun entered a phase of increased activity, the radiation had completely ...

In a new study publishing November 19 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Biotechnology, researchers used a gene-editing technology called CRISPR to increase a fungus’s production efficiency and cut its production-related environmental impact by as much as 61%—all without adding any foreign DNA. The genetically tweaked fungus tastes like meat and is easier to digest than its naturally occurring counterpart.  “There is a popular demand for better and more sustainable protein for food,” says corresponding author Xiao Liu of Jiangnan University in Wuxi, China. “We successfully made a fungus not only more nutritious but also more environmentally ...

A new technique uses ‘molecular antennas’ to funnel electrical energy into insulating nanoparticles, creating a new class of ultra-pure near-infrared LEDs for medical diagnostics, optical communications, and sensing. Researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge have developed a new method to electrically power insulating nanoparticles, a feat previously thought impossible under normal conditions. By attaching organic molecules that act as tiny antennas, they have created the first-ever ...

MPFI Scientists have discovered how two brain areas work together like an hourglass to flexibly control movement timing. Key Findings The Brain’s Hourglass: The motor cortex and striatum work together like an hourglass to measure time for precise and coordinated movement. Pause and Rewind: Temporarily silencing the neural activity in the motor cortex paused the brain’s timer, whereas silencing the striatum rewound the timer. Broader Impacts: These findings reveal how the brain keeps time to coordinate movement, which one day ...

About The Study: Only approximately 1 in 5 eligible individuals in the U.S. underwent lung cancer screening (LCS) in 2024. Increasing current uptake to 100% could increase deaths prevented and life-years gained 3-fold. Efforts to increase uptake include improving awareness of LCS recommendations and access to LCS facilities, and targeting subgroups in whom LCS maximizes life-years gained. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Priti Bandi, PhD, email Priti.bandi@cancer.org. To access the embargoed ...