Tsunamis and earthquakes pose devastating threats to coastal communities worldwide. However, beyond the immediate destructive power of these events, the negative impact of the disaster waste they produce is sometimes overlooked. For example, when the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake struck, approximately 23 million tons of waste were generated, severely hindering post-disaster recovery processes. Similarly, the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake produced 2.7 million tons of waste—equivalent to seven years of normal waste disposal. Thus, rapid processing of disaster waste is essential for restoring community functionality, making it a critical ...

Researchers have successfully adapted a standardized system for analyzing facial expressions to include bonobos, our closest living relatives alongside chimpanzees. The study, led by an international team of scientists from multiple institutions including Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, extends the Chimpanzee Facial Action Coding System (ChimpFACS) to another species closely related to humans and chimpanzees, bonobos. The research confirms that bonobos possess a repertoire of 28 distinct facial movements, including ...

Journal: Nature Cardiovascular Research – June 13 Online Issue Author: Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, Director of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and the Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Title: Secondary analysis of the EMPACT-MI Trial Reveals Cardiovascular-Kidney Efficacy and Safety of Empagliflozin After Acute Myocardial Infarction Bottom line of study: SGLT2 inhibitors have become a major drug used to treat diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. However, there have been questions as to whether it is safe to use these drugs ...

LOS ANGELES — City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. with its National Medical Center named top 5 in the nation for cancer by U.S. News & World Report, co-led the first study to demonstrate that characterizing genetic material near chromosomes forecasts how mutated, cancer-causing genes reengineer DNA and alter the tumor microenvironment. The leading-edge brain cancer research provides foundational knowledge that one day will improve the practice of precision medicine and allow oncologists to deliver more personalized therapies to cancer patients. Tiny DNA molecules ...

Study suggests that appetite for bushmeat – rather than black market for scales to use in traditional Chinese medicine – may be driving West Africa’s illegal hunting of one of the world’s most threatened mammals.   Interviews with hundreds of hunters show pangolins overwhelmingly caught for food, with majority of scales thrown away. Survey work shows pangolin is considered the most palatable meat in the region. The vast majority of pangolin hunting in African ...

Even the best products won’t meet expectations if they are packed poorly — packaging matters. The same goes for drug delivery. Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have uncovered the critical role played by solvents in how effectively drugs can be loaded into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a promising class of drug carriers. Their findings shed light on a previously overlooked part of the loading process, with the potential to boost the efficiency of how medications are delivered inside the body. To treat diseases effectively, it’s not just the medicine that counts — but also how that medicine is delivered into our ...

Among the tens of thousands of ant species, incredible ‘intelligent’ behaviors like crop culture, animal husbandry, surgery, ‘piracy’, social distancing, and complex architecture have evolved. Yet at first sight, the brain of an ant seems hardly capable of such feats: it is about the size of a poppy seed, with only 0.25m to 1m neurons, compared to 86bn for humans. Now, researchers from Israel and Switzerland have shown how ‘swarm intelligence’ resembling advance planning can nevertheless emerge from the concerted operation of many of ...

Vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 who developed acute kidney injury had better outcomes than unvaccinated patients with the same condition, new research suggests. The study found vaccinated patients were less likely to stay on dialysis after discharge, and more likely to survive, than unvaccinated patients. Acute kidney injury, or AKI, is common among people infected with COVID-19, with rates running as high at 46%. It can lead to a mild decrease in kidney function or, if severe enough, to dialysis. The long-term renal and survival outcomes of these patients, however, has not been ...

New research from Adelaide Business School at the University of Adelaide provides a framework for understanding the growing consumer interest in no, low and mid (NLM) alcohol wines. Dr Hannah Ford’s comprehensive scoping review, published in Journal of Marketing Management , suggests that consumer adoption of NLM wines is influenced by a range of factors, while wine businesses themselves play a pivotal role. “The global wine industry is evolving rapidly in response to growing health-conscious and moderation-driven drinking trends,” Dr Ford explains. “The review proposes that appeal to NLM wines is influenced ...

A University of Queensland-led project has developed a tool to standardise genetic testing of koala populations, providing a significant boost to conservation and recovery efforts. Dr Lyndal Hulse from UQ’s School of the Environment said the standardised koala genetic marker panel provides a consistent method for researchers nationwide to capture and share koala genetic variation, enabling improved collaboration and data integration across studies. “Koalas in the wild are under increasing pressure ...

Aichi, Japan--Researchers from the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS)/SOKENDAI and Kyushu University have uncovered the molecular mechanism that drives the "ticking" of the circadian clock in cyanobacteria. Their study reveals how a clock protein called KaiC controls chemical reactions with remarkable precision, acting like the hand of a clock that waits, then moves at just the right moment. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus on April 28, 2025. To adapt to Earth's daily rotation, most living organisms, from simple, single-celled bacteria to complex, multicellular ...

A surgeon can excise breast cancer from the body, but even the most skilled scalpel may not be able to remove every cell — especially when the cells have spread from the original disease site elsewhere in the body. This proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells involves many still unknown molecular means, but researchers at Hiroshima University have elucidated at least one mechanism. With the discovery, they may have also uncovered how short chains of protein building blocks could serve as a novel anticancer drug.  The team published their findings on April 9 in the British Journal of Pharmacology. ...

A newly published analysis reveals that individuals with severe depression who received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were 34% less likely to die by suicide compared to those treated with standard alternatives such as anti-depressant medication. This comprehensive meta-analysis (an analysis pooling and synthesizing previous studies), building on prior research and incorporating the most up-to-date evidence — is the first of its kind to demonstrate such a significant reduction in suicide risk linked to ECT. The findings also show that patients receiving ECT had 30% fewer deaths from any cause, suggesting broader health benefits beyond mental health. Researchers ...

Football’s governing body FIFA should drop Coca-Cola as sponsors of the 2025 Club World Cup which begins this week, urge doctors in The BMJ today. Dr Chris van Tulleken at University College London and Professor Carlos Monteiro at the University of São Paulo, say Coca-Cola and other sugary drinks companies have exploited the world's most popular sport for commercial gain - profiting off players and fans while contributing to a global health crisis. FIFA now has an opportunity to lead by example and send a powerful message - that health supersedes corporate sponsorship, they write. As FIFA’s official sponsor since 1978, Coca-Cola has leveraged its massive platform ...

For decades, scientists have used near-infrared light to study the brain in a noninvasive way. This optical technique, known as "fNIRS" (short for "functional near-infrared spectroscopy"), measures how light is absorbed by blood in the brain, to infer activity. Valued for portability and low cost, fNIRS has a major drawback: it can’t see very deep into the brain. Light typically only reaches the outermost layers of the brain, about 4 centimeters deep—enough to study the surface of the brain, but not deeper ...

Research Highlights: Being exposed to synthetic compounds called “forever chemicals” before birth was linked to higher systolic (top number) blood pressure in children, especially during their adolescent years. Compared to other children, the risk of elevated blood pressure was higher among boys and children born to Black mothers with high levels of forever chemicals in their blood around the time of delivery. The study underscores the importance of reducing exposure to forever chemicals during pregnancy, ...

Nearly 40% of U.S. cities analyzed in a new study in NPJ Complexity diverge from the common narrative that Republican-dominated areas have high levels of implicit racial bias while Democratic strongholds are more tolerant. Led by Santa Fe Institute Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Andrew Stier, the study combines prior research on implicit racial bias — people’s unconscious attitudes and beliefs about race — with voting data from the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections across 146 U.S. cities. Instead ...

The Rising T1DE Alliance (Rising T1DE), a national collaborative spearheading innovation in type 1 diabetes care, is transforming how healthcare systems leverage data, technology, and collaboration to drive improved patient outcomes. Launched in 2020 through grant supports from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Rising T1DE’s work is helping shape a future where proactive, integrated, real-time diabetes management becomes the new standard of care. A recent $5.1 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago adds Lurie Children’s to Rising T1DE’s leadership ...

Earned sick leave—short-term, paid time off for employees who are sick or injured or must care for sick or injured family members—has been found to reduce the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace and increase employee access to preventive care. Since 2019, seven states have implemented laws requiring employers to offer earned sick leave, bringing the total to 18 (plus Washington, D.C.). Despite this growth, however, little has been known until now about the policy’s effects on worker well-being across various industries. “This ...

Each human culture consists of a unique set of values, beliefs and practices. However, a common thread across cultures is the apparent importance of preserving aspects of those cultures throughout generations. In a new paper published in the journal Psychological Review, Cory Cobb, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, and colleagues from the University of Texas at Austin, proposed a cultural continuity hypothesis stating that humans are universally motivated to retain and preserve key parts of their cultures across time ...

Showing students audiovisual narratives that simulate homophobic bullying scenarios in schools can capture their attention and generate reflection on social prejudices, promoting respect and inclusion. This strategy is presented in an article published in the Journal of School Violence. In the study, supported by FAPESP, researchers from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil investigated the extent to which this type of tool can serve as an instrument for research and educational intervention. According ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has joined a new partnership aimed at helping the United States regain its leadership in semiconductor manufacturing. While the U.S. was considered a powerhouse in chip production in the 1990s, fabricating more than 35% of the world’s semiconductors, that share has since dropped to 12%. Today, the U.S. manufactures none of the world’s most advanced chips which power technologies like smartphones, owned by 71% of the world’s population, as well as self-driving cars, quantum computers, and artificial intelligence-powered ...

Atmospheric rivers are responsible for most flooding on the West Coast of the U.S., but also bring much needed moisture to the region. The size of these storms doesn’t always translate to flood risk, however, as other factors on the ground play important roles. Now, a new study helps untangle the other drivers of flooding to help communities and water managers better prepare.   The research, published June 4 in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, analyzed more than 43,000 atmospheric river storms across 122 watersheds on the West Coast between 1980 and 2023. The researchers found that one ...

A team of researchers at Rice University have discovered a surprisingly simple method for vastly improving the stability of electrochemical devices that convert carbon dioxide into useful fuels and chemicals, and it involves nothing more than sending the CO 2 through an acid bubbler. Their study, published in Science, addresses a major bottleneck in the performance and stability of CO 2 reduction systems: the buildup of salt that clogs gas flow channels, reduces efficiency and causes the ...

Just when scientists thought they knew everything about crystals, a Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin-Madison collaboration has uncovered a hidden secret. Centrosymmetric crystals are a special type of material that is fully symmetrical in every direction from a central point. Previously, scientists thought only non-centrosymmetric materials could exhibit chiral behavior — a property in which an object acts differently from its mirror reflection. But, for the first time, researchers ...