From laptops to electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries power everyday life. However, as demand for longer-lasting devices threatens to outstrip the energy that lithium-ion supplies, researchers are on the hunt for more powerful batteries. A team led by Kelsey Hatzell, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has uncovered insights that could help power a new type of battery, called an anode-free solid-state battery, past lithium-ion’s limitations. By understanding how ...

Widespread use of genetically engineered Bt maize, designed to combat rootworm pests, has led to overplanting and pest resistance, jeopardizing the crop’s long-term effectiveness, according to a new study. The findings – informed by data from ten U.S. “Corn Belt” states – estimate that this overuse has cost U.S. farmers $1.6 billion in economic losses, emphasizing the need for improved seed diversity, transparency, and farmer decision-making to sustain transgenic crop benefits. “If current and future related innovations are managed as Bt maize hybrids have been,” say the authors, “we risk entering ...

The ebb and flow of Pleistocene glacial cycles is not random; it follows a predictable pattern dictated by the distinct and deterministic influence of Earth’s orbital geometry, according to a new study. The findings highlight the roles of precession, obliquity, and eccentricity – factors influencing the tilt and movement of Earth's axis, and the shape of Earth's orbit around the Sun – in glacial transitions. They also establish a predictive model for past and future glacial cycles based ...

From octopuses to snails, the complicated molluscan family tree has now been mapped in unprecedented detail, researchers report. This includes sequences for 13 new complete genomes from across the phylum. The genome-based phylogeny helps to resolve long-standing evolutionary debates and provides new insights into how the extraordinary diversity of species emerged from a single common ancestor. The phylum Mollusca is highly diverse with myriad morphological, ecological, and behavioral adaptions spanning both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The most well-known groups – bivalves, ...

A study of locusts navigating in a novel virtual reality (VR) environment challenges traditional models of collective swarming behavior, researchers report. The findings show that the insects don’t just follow their neighbors like self-propelled particles but instead rely on internal cognitive decision-making processes to navigate as a collective. Collective motion, a phenomenon found widely in nature, has traditionally been described using "self-propelled particle" theoretical models from physics. These “classical” models of collective behavior, like ...

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association today released an updated clinical practice guideline for managing individuals experiencing acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The guideline incorporates new evidence and updated recommendations to improve quality of care and outcomes. The 2025 ACC/AHA/ACEP/NAEMSP/SCAI Guideline for the Management of Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes is published simultaneously today in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology, and in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation. ACS includes a ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Beginning around 2.5 million years ago, Earth entered an era marked by successive ice ages and interglacial periods, emerging from the last glaciation around 11,700 years ago. A new analysis suggests the onset of the next ice age could be expected in 10,000 years’ time. An international team, including researchers form UC Santa Barbara, made their prediction based on a new interpretation of the small changes in Earth’s orbit of the sun, which lead to massive shifts in the planet’s climate over periods of thousands of years. The study tracks the natural cycles of the planet’s climate over a period ...

The quantum rules shaping molecular collisions are now coming into focus, offering fresh insights for chemistry and materials science. When molecules collide with surfaces, a complex exchange of energy takes place between the molecule and the atoms composing the surface. But beneath this dizzying complexity, quantum mechanics, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, governs the process. Quantum interference, in particular, plays a key role. It occurs when different pathways that a molecule can take overlap, resulting ...

The discovery of a powerful “weapon” used by many disease-causing fungi to infect and destroy major food crop staples, such as rice and corn, could offer new strategies to bolster global food security, according to researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with scientists in Germany and the United States.  Like humans, many fungi rely on plants as a food source. This impacts the yield of food crops. It’s estimated farmers lose between 10 to 23 per cent of their crops to fungal disease every year.  The global research team discovered that an enzyme known as a ‘NUDIX hydrolase’ is ...

NORMAN, OKLA. – In an increasingly data-saturated world, computing infrastructure innovations are needed to make sense of new types of information. Richard Veras, a professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma, has received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award to develop such an innovation by creating more efficient infrastructure for the computation of sparse and irregular data. Big data – datasets that are challenging to manage using traditional processing tools due to size and complexity, such as social ...

Located 2.5 million light-years away, the majestic Andromeda galaxy appears to the naked eye as a faint, spindle-shaped object roughly the angular size of the full Moon. What backyard observers don't see is a swarm of nearly three dozen small satellite galaxies circling the Andromeda galaxy, like bees around a hive. These satellite galaxies represent a rambunctious galactic "ecosystem" that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is studying in unprecedented detail. This ambitious Hubble Treasury Program used observations from more than a whopping 1,000 Hubble orbits. Hubble's optical stability, clarity, and efficiency ...

Scientists based at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing on Caltech's campus have made a leap forward in figuring out how to suppress errors in quantum computers, a pesky problem that continues to be the greatest hurdle to building the machines of the future.   Quantum computers, which are based on the seemingly magical properties of the quantum realm, hold promise for use in many different fields, including medicine, materials science, cryptography, and fundamental physics. But while today's quantum computers can be useful for ...

The Association for Computing Machinery’s Technology Policy Council (TPC) has announced the publication of “TechBrief: Technology Policy Can Curb Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, and Crimes Against Children,” a new issue brief which explains how intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and child exploitation are facilitated by computing technologies. The term “tech abuse” pertains to a wide variety of abuse in this context. The ACM policy experts contend that tech abuse is being addressed inconsistently, ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA – One large metropolis might have several different train systems, from local intercity lines to commuter trains to longer regional lines. When designing a system of train tracks, stations, and schedules in this network, should rail operators assume each entity operates independently, seeking only to maximize its own revenue? Or that they fully cooperate all the time with a joint plan, putting their own interest aside? In the real world, neither assumption is very realistic. Researchers from MIT and ETH Zurich have developed a new planning ...

Key take-aways: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage of decline in cognitive function greater than normal for a person’s age and education, not severe enough to impair daily function – but it can progress. Around one third of people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) also have MCI, yet MCI is undiagnosed in 50-80% of these cases. The central aim of the EU’s DORIAN GRAY project is to untangle this MCI-CVD connection, reduce the burden of disease at older ages and prolong survival. Brescia, Italy – 27 February 2025 – A major new project, DORIAN GRAY, ...

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) plays a crucial role in protecting childhood and adult health by developing vaccination recommendations based on scientific evidence. SHEA encourages timely rescheduling of the ACIP’s meeting that was scheduled for February 2025 to ensure patients and healthcare providers  are getting the most up to date recommendations based on the latest scientific evidence review regarding vaccination.  The ACIP’s recommendations are foundational to public health, guiding pediatric and adult vaccine schedules that have significantly reduced the prevalence of highly communicable infectious ...

Filippo Radicchi, professor of Informatics at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, co-authored a ground-breaking study that could lead to the development of new AI algorithms and new ways to study brain function. The study, titled “Topology shapes dynamics of higher-order networks,” and published in Nature Physics, proposed a theoretical framework specifically designed for understanding complex higher-order networks. It could lead to breakthroughs ...

A unique dark-coloured organic glass, found inside the skull of an individual who died in Herculaneum during the 79 CE Mount Vesuvius eruption, likely formed when they were killed by a very hot but short-lived ash cloud. The conclusion, from research published in Scientific Reports, is based on an analysis of the physical properties of the glass, thought to comprise the fossilised brain of the individual. Glass rarely occurs naturally due to the specific conditions required for formation. For a substance to become glass, its liquid form must cool fast ...

More than 99% of birds can fly. But that still leaves many species that evolved to be flightless, including penguins, ostriches, and kiwi birds. In a new study in the journal Evolution, researchers compared the feathers and bodies of different species of flightless birds and their closest relatives who can still fly. They were able to determine which features change first when birds evolve to be flightless, versus which traits take more time for evolution to alter. These findings help shed light on the evolution of complex traits that lose their original ...

A new study has identified a genetic circuit in plants that controls individual leaf growth and allows the plants to adapt to their environment. The findings could help the development of more drought-resistant crops. Scientists from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences investigated the growth of maize leaves in plants cultivated in three different soils containing differential amounts of nutrients and water.  They found that microbes colonising plant leaves across these soils influence the growth of the leaves independently of the concentration of nutrients and soil properties. The findings have been published ...

Mothers who were given access to virtual breastfeeding support (or telelactation) through a free app tended to report more breastfeeding than peers who did not receive such help, with a more-pronounced effect observed among Black mothers, according to a new RAND study.     Reporting results from the first large trial of telelactation services, researchers found that mothers who were given access to video telelactation services reported slightly higher rates of breastfeeding six months after giving birth, as compared to mothers who did not receive the service.      The ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of U.S. homicide rates, substantial variation was found across and within county, race and ethnicity, sex, and age groups; American Indian and Alaska Native and Black males ages 15 to 44 had the highest rates of homicide. The findings highlight several populations and places where homicide rates were high, but awareness and violence prevention remains limited. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Paula D. Strassle, PhD, MSPH, email pdstrass@umd.edu. To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: This study found that the prevalence of adults with diabetes did not significantly change between 2013 and 2023, but glycemic control among those with diagnosed disease worsened in 2021-2023 after nearly a decade of stability. This trend was most pronounced among young adults. The increase of 1% in mean HbA1c levels and 20% decrease in glycemic control would increase the lifetime risk of cardiovascular events. Potential explanations for these findings include increased sedentary behavior, reduced social support, heightened mental health ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of 46,000 U.S. residents, nearly two-thirds of participants had suboptimal 5-year sleep duration trajectories. Suboptimal sleep duration trajectories were associated with as much as a 29% increase in risk of all-cause mortality. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining healthy sleep duration over time to reduce mortality risk. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kelsie M. Full, PhD, MPH, email k.full@vumc.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.62117) Editor’s ...

Key Takeaways  Surgical adhesions — internal bands of scar tissue that form between organs or tissues after surgery— can lead to severe complications such as bowel obstructions, chronic pain, and infertility while increasing the difficulty of future operations.  Surgical adhesions negatively impact patient outcomes and drive up health care costs.  There is currently no standard measure of the severity of surgical adhesions or their impact on a patient’s quality of life.  CHICAGO – Scarring is expected after most operations, but surgical adhesions present a unique ...