Although being married or in a long-term relationship is often seen as the norm, more people are staying single for life. But singlehood can bring economic and medical disadvantages, especially as people get older and may become more reliant on others.   New research in Psychological Science reveals that lifelong singles have lower scores on life satisfaction measures and different personality traits compared to partnered people, findings that point to the need for both helpful networks and ways to create such networks that are better catered to single people.  “When there are ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 26, 2024 — President Biden earlier this week signed into law the bipartisan Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act, which will help ensure students and staff in schools nationwide are prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency. The bipartisan legislation unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September and the U.S. Senate earlier this month. The American Heart Association, which is celebrating 100 years of lifesaving service as the world’s leading voluntary organization focused on heart and brain health, strongly supports this legislation as part of its goal to double the survival ...

Why it matters: In the era of big data, global mass data flow has presented data storage systems with a looming challenge. As DNA has incredibly high storage density – a single gram of DNA can store 215,000 terabytes, the same size as 10 million hours of high-definition video (Imburgia & Nivala, 2024)– and long-term stability, it is an attractive medium for data storage. However, conventional DNA storage relies on de novo synthesis, where nucleotides are added one by one in a fixed order, ...

Peking University, November 7, 2024: Imagine the deep frustration of countless men who long to become fathers, only to face infertility due to a genetic condition they can't control. For those with Klinefelter syndrome, this painful reality is a constant struggle. How does an extra X chromosome lead to infertility in men? Professor Qiao Jie and her team at Peking University Third Hospital revealed why Klinefelter syndrome, a common genetic condition affecting one in every 600 men, often leads to infertility—and they’ve ...

Peking University, November 15, 2024: Addressing the challenge of controlling electronic states in materials, the scientific community has been exploring innovative methods. Recently, researchers from Peking University, led by Professor Nanlin Wang, in collaboration with Professor Qiaomei Liu and Associate Research Scientist Dong Wu, uncovered how ultrafast lasers can manipulate non-volatile, reversible control over the electronic polar states in the charge-density-wave material EuTe4 at room temperature. ...

Peking University, November 15, 2024: A research team led by Prof. Li Mingsong at Peking University has provided new insights into the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and its effects on ocean chemistry. This study, entitled “Coupled decline in ocean pH and carbonate saturation during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum” published in Nature Geoscience reconstructs ocean acidification during this ancient climate event, offering parallels with current trends linked to human-driven CO2 emissions. Why It Matters: The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 56 million years ago, was a major carbon release event that resulted in rapid global warming ...

Peking University, November 20, 2024: In a groundbreaking achievement, researchers from Peking University's School of Materials Science and Engineering, led by Professor Jin-Hu Dou, have synthesized a novel non-van-der-Waals two-dimensional (2D) coordination polymer with intrinsic superconducting properties. The findings, published in Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-53786-1) on October 29, 2024, introduce the first precise crystal structure of the Cu₃BHT coordination polymer, marking a significant leap in the ...

Peking University, December 3rd, 2024: Prof Zhang Zhiyong’s team developed a heterojunction-gated field-effect transistor (HGFET) that achieves high sensitivity in short-wave infrared detection, with a recorded specific detectivity above 1014 Jones at 1300 nm, making it capable of starlight detection. Their research was recently published in the journal Advanced Materials, titled “Opto-Electrical Decoupled Phototransistor for Starlight Detection”. Why it matters: Highly sensitive shortwave infrared (SWIR) detectors are essential for detecting weak radiation (typically below 10−8 W·Sr−1·cm−2·µm−1) with high-end ...

Peking University, December 11, 2024: A team of researchers led by Professor Piao Shilong at the Institute of Carbon Neutrality of Peking University (PKU) has made significant advances in understanding how China’s land-use changes—such as forest planting—can contribute to the country’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Their study, published in Nature Communications, offers fresh insights into China’s carbon removal capacity through land-use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), a key strategy for achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Why it matters: As part of its commitment under the Paris Agreement, China has pledged to become carbon ...

Peking University, December 19, 2024:  A collaborative study led by Piao Shilong’s team and Zhang Yao’s team from the Institute of Carbon Neutrality at Peking University reveals the distinct mechanisms by which plants and animals respond to climate change in their life-cycle phenology. This research provides comprehensive global-scale evidence on the asynchronous phenological changes between plants and animals.   Why it matters:  Climate change has altered the timing of recurring biological cycles in both plants and animals. ...

About The Study: In this meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials, engaging in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per week was associated with modest reductions in body weight, waist circumference, and body fat measures among adults with overweight or obesity. However, aerobic training exceeding 150 minutes per week at moderate intensity or greater may be needed to achieve clinically important reductions. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ahmad Jayedi, PhD, email a.jayedi@imperial.ac.uk. To access the embargoed ...

About The Study: In this study, short sleep duration that persisted from pregnancy to 2 to 7 years after delivery was associated with a greater risk for adverse cardiometabolic outcomes. Future studies should explore whether sleep-targeted interventions during and after pregnancy are associated with improved cardiometabolic health outcomes, particularly among populations at increased risk. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Minjee Kim, MD, email minjee.kim@northwestern.edu. To ...

About The Study: This cohort study found an association between COVID-19 and accelerated decline in kidney function, particularly after hospitalization, compared with pneumonia. People who were hospitalized for COVID-19 should receive closer monitoring of kidney function to ensure early diagnosis and optimized management of chronic kidney disease to effectively prevent complications and further decline. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Viyaasan Mahalingasivam, MPhil, email viyaasan.mahalingasivam@nhs.net. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

Medicare Advantage—the privatized form of Medicare that offers benefits beyond traditional Medicare, such as dental insurance—is gaining in popularity, but a new analysis reveals that the quality of dental coverage offered by Medicare Advantage is poor, with only 8.4 percent of plans offering a dental benefit that met the study’s quality standards. The research led by a team from Mass General Brigham is published in JAMA.   “Our study suggests that many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries may not have access to the dental care they need, even if they are enrolled in a plan that nominally ...

Trans-fatty acids (TFA) are a major cause of cardiovascular diseases. These harmful fats can accumulate along artery walls, restricting blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attacks. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TFAs are responsible for over 278,000 annual deaths worldwide, and it recommends that TFA consumption should be limited to less than 1% of daily energy intake. Common sources of TFAs include fried (junk) foods and processed foods such as margarine, ghee, biscuits, cakes, etc. In processed foods, TFAs are produced through the hydrogenation of vegetable oil, a chemical process that saturates the oil with hydrogen. While the formation process of TFAs in ...

Dr. Nobuyuki Kawai from Nagoya University in Japan has found that the rapid detection of snakes by monkeys is because of the presence of snake scales as a visual cue. His findings highlight an evolutionary adaptation of primates to identify snakes based on specific visual characteristics. Understanding these mechanisms provides insight into the evolution of visual processing related to threat detection. The findings were published in Scientific Reports. Rapid detection of dangers and threats is important for personal ...

The research team led by Dr. Hojeong Jeon and Dr. Hyung-Seop Han of the Biomaterials Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Oh Sang-Rok), along with Dr. Indong Jun from KIST Europe, has developed a novel stent surface treatment technology using laser patterning. This technology promotes endothelial cell growth while inhibiting smooth muscle cell dedifferentiation in blood vessels. By controlling cellular responses to nanostructured patterns, the technique holds promise for enhancing ...

Can we examine the teeth of living fish and other vertebrates in detail, repeatedly over time, without harming them?  Previously, small animals often had to be euthanized to obtain precise information, but now scientists have found a new way to humanely study detailed dental characteristics of vertebrates. This customizable method can be used for both living animals and museum specimens and has been published in the Journal of Morphology.  Customizable trays for precise impressions  Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and their collaborators applied human dental impression techniques to study fish teeth in a species called Polypterus ...

Theme "Emerging Transportation Solutions for Building Efficient, Sustainable, Reliable, and Inclusive Transport Systems" We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Transportation and the Environment (APTE 2025), hosted by the School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, co-organized by Communications in Transportation Research, Journal of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles, and ETS-Data. The conference will be held from 9 to 11 August 2025, in Hangzhou, China.   Objective The APTE 2025 conference provides a platform for scholars, professionals, and practitioners to share cutting-edge research, foster international ...

Powered descent guidance (PDG) is a key technology for reusable rockets to accomplish high-precision landing on Earth. Different from the well-established PDG for lunar landing and planetary landing, endoatmospheric powered descent guidance is required to accommodate nonlinear dynamics and more disturbing flight conditions, including engine thrust fluctuation, aerodynamic uncertainty, and winds. For example, the winds can produce a persistent aerodynamic force disturbance on the rocket, resulting in ...

A new method of scanning lungs is able to show the effects of treatment on lung function in real time and enable experts to see the functioning of transplanted lungs. This could enable medics to identify sooner any decline in lung function. The scan method has enabled the team, led by researchers at Newcastle University, UK, to see how air moves in and out of the lungs as people take a breath in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and patients who have received a lung transplant. Publishing two complementary papers in Radiology and JHLT Open, the team explain how they ...

Iceland has a long and rich literary tradition. With its 380,000 inhabitants, Iceland has produced many great writers, and it is said that one in two Icelanders writes books. The literary tradition stretches all the way back to the Middle Ages. “Previously, the theory was that Iceland was so dark and barren that the Icelanders had to fill their lives with storytelling and poetry to compensate for this. But Icelanders were certainly part of Europe and had a lot of contact with Britain, Germany, Denmark and ...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, USA, 17 December 2024 - In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview, researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Hirosaki University have uncovered critical new insights into the developmental trajectory of social behaviors in fragile X syndrome, the leading genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder. The study, published in Genomic Psychiatry, demonstrates that treating pregnant mice with bumetanide - a drug that regulates chloride levels ...

REGENSBURG, Bavaria, Germany, 24 December 2024 – In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview, Professor Inga Neumann, Chair of the Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Regensburg, reveals groundbreaking insights into how oxytocin shapes social behavior and emotional responses in the brain. The interview, published in Brain Medicine (DOI: 10.61373/bm024k.0139), showcases Professor Neumann's pioneering research on neuropeptides, particularly oxytocin, which has evolved far beyond its popular characterization ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – Improving your brain health in the new year can start with a simple step, talking with your neurologist or primary care physician about 12 factors to protect your brain. The factors are outlined in an Emerging Issues in Neurology article developed by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the December 16, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Neurologists are the experts in brain health, with the training and insight needed to help you ...