Society increasingly uses algorithms to make weighty decisions in contexts including criminal justice, healthcare, and finance, a trend that has been criticized for institutionalizing bias and sacrificing fairness. In a pre-registered study, Kirk Bansak and Elisabeth Paulson asked 9,000 US-based study participants to choose between decision-makers for two high stakes situations: pretrial release and bank loan applications. Participants chose either between two human decision-makers, between two algorithmic decision-makers, or between ...

The introduction of high-speed rail reduced spatial environmental inequality in China by helping elements such as green technologies spread across the country. Shengjun Zhu and colleagues hypothesized that the introduction of high-speed rail between 1998 and 2010 helped facilitate the spread of elements including capital, labor, green technology, and information, particularly from leading to lagging areas. These trends could contribute to the reduction of industrial pollution, and the authors hypothesized that ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – While sustaining friendships from afar can be challenging, they may offer unexpected benefits for environmental conservation. A Washington State University-led study, recently published in Conservation Letters, found that these social ties can positively influence community-based conservation.  While the study focused on 28 fishing villages in northern Tanzania, it has potential broader implications for global conservation efforts. “Our findings challenge the notion that external connections undermine conservation,” said Kristopher Smith, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral ...

It is said that every rose has its thorn, but technically speaking, roses have prickles. Prickles are derived from the epidermis of the plant, whereas true thorns are modified stems. Rose prickles defend the plant from herbivores and help the plant support itself on surrounding objects. Liat Levavi and Benny Bar-On investigated the biomechanical properties of the prickles of the dog rose (Rosa canina Linnaeus) with a view towards features that might be used in the design of miniature anchoring platforms. ...

AI can predict human intelligence by looking at the connections of a working human brain. Neuroscientists can predict intelligence from brain structure and function—to a point. Previous studies have suggested that intelligence is widely distributed across the brain. Kirsten Hilger and colleagues used machine learning models to predict multiple kinds of intelligence from brain connections of 806 healthy adults while resting and while completing tasks. Fluid intelligence includes inductive and deductive reasoning abilities that do not rely on context, while crystallized intelligence reflects the ability to apply knowledge from ...

Advances in medicine have led to an increase in human longevity. Estimates suggest that by 2030, one in every six individuals globally will be aged over 60 years. This rapid increase in the aging population implies a larger number of aged individuals requiring care. Family members and professional caregivers may not be able to meet this increasing demand. Furthermore, reports suggest a significant shortage of workforce, including nurses, in several developed countries, underscoring the need for additional strategies that ...

A research group led by Atsushi Noro at Nagoya University in Japan has announced a novel design concept for fuel cell electrolytes, utilizing a phosphonic acid polymer with hydrocarbon spacers. This innovative concept allows fuel cells to operate effectively under high-temperature (above 100°C) and low-humidity conditions, addressing crucial barriers to their broader use. The research has been published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials.    By electrochemically reacting hydrogen and oxygen, fuel cells produce electricity while emitting only water, highlighting their clean energy capabilities. However, perfluorosulfonic ...

Imagine being able to inscribe a new pattern of activity into a person’s brain that would allow for faster learning, or better treatment of psychiatric and developmental disorders such as depression or autism. Now imagine being able to do that in a way that doesn’t require brain surgery or any physical manipulation. Sounds like science fiction? It still is. But that’s exactly what Coraline Iordan, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences and of neuroscience at the University of Rochester has been working toward, showing for the ...

University of Cambridge media release   Wrong trees in the wrong place can make cities hotter at night, study reveals   UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 10:00 AM UK TIME / 05:00 AM (US ET) ON TUESDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2024   While trees can cool some cities significantly during the day, new research shows that tree canopies can also trap heat and raise temperatures at night. The study aims to help urban planners choose the best combinations of trees and planting locations to combat ...

A new gene therapy can reverse the effects of heart failure and restore heart function in a large animal model. The therapy increases the amount of blood the heart can pump and dramatically improves survival, in what a paper describing the results calls “an unprecedented recovery of cardiac function.” Currently, heart failure is irreversible. In the absence of a heart transplant, most medical treatments aim to reduce the stress on the heart and slow the progression of the often-deadly disease. But if the gene therapy shows similar ...

A White House report earlier this year outlined how discrimination, and specifically racial discrimination, persists in the United States today, raising questions about when attitudes underlying these behaviors are formed.   Past scholarship has found discriminatory views increase as children grow older. However, new work by a team of New York University psychology researchers shows that young children in the US are less likely than adults to see discrimination as harmful, indicating these beliefs begin at an early age. Moreover, children ...

A Dartmouth-led study proposes a new method for recruiting trillions of microscopic sea creatures called zooplankton in the fight against climate change by converting carbon into food the animals would eat, digest, and send deep into the ocean as carbon-filled feces. The technique harnesses the animals' ravenous appetites to essentially accelerate the ocean's natural cycle for removing carbon from the atmosphere, which is known as the biological pump, according to the paper in Nature Scientific Reports. It begins ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — One of the most momentous events in the history of life involved endosymbiosis — a process by which one organism engulfed another and, instead of ingesting it, incorporated its DNA and functions into itself. Scientific consensus is that this happened twice over the course of evolution, resulting in the energy-generating organelles known as mitochondria and, much later, their photosynthetic counterparts, the plastids. A new study published in the journal Nature Communications explores the origin of chloroplasts, the plastids that allow plants ...

Nanostructured two-dimensional gold monolayers offer possibilities in catalysis, electronics, and nanotechnology. Researchers have created nearly freestanding nanostructured two-dimensional (2D) gold monolayers, an impressive feat of nanomaterial engineering that could open up new avenues in catalysis, electronics, and energy conversion. Gold is an inert metal which typically forms a solid three-dimensional (3D) structure. However, in its 2D form, it can unlock extraordinary properties, such as unique electronic behaviors, enhanced surface reactivity, and immense potential for revolutionary applications in catalysis ...

Fast-growing and small-seeded tree species are dominating Brazilian forests in regions with high levels of deforestation and degradation, a new study shows. This has potential implications for the ecosystem services these forests provide, including the ability of these ‘disturbed’ forests to absorb and store carbon. This is because these “winning” species grow fast but die young, as their stems and branches are far less dense than the slow growing tree species they replace. Wildlife species adapted to consuming and dispersing the large seeds of tree species that ...

You may not be familiar with hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas that smells like rotten eggs, and is produced naturally from decaying matter. However, this gas is lethal to breathe in, and hydrogen sulfide present in high concentrations can cause death very rapidly. Its relative density is also greater than air, causing it to accumulate at lower altitudes and posing an enormous threat to workers at sites, such as manholes, sewage systems and mining operations. Why is hydrogen sulfide so dangerous? It binds strongly to the heme-containing cytochrome c oxidase ...

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON PRESS RELEASE Under STRICT EMBARGO until: 10 December 2024 10:00 UK TIME / 05:00 ET Peer-reviewed / Observational study / People Trial shows no significant difference in performance between visually impaired participants using new device and sighted participants using only natural vision. Participants performed significantly better using new device than with currently available vibration technology. The new device is believed to be the most advanced navigation tech of ...

Three leading climate scientists have combined insights from 10 global climate models and, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), conclude that regional warming thresholds are likely to be reached faster than previously estimated. The study, published in Environmental Research Letters by IOP Publishing, projects that most land regions as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will likely surpass the critical 1.5°C threshold by 2040 or earlier. Similarly, several regions are on track to exceed the 3.0°C threshold ...

The FRONTIERS Science Journalism in Residency Programme has selected ten science journalists to participate in its second round of residencies. The chosen candidates—Marta Abbà, Rina Caballar, Danielle Fleming, Will Grimond, Giorgia Guglielmi, Suvi Jaakkola, Tim Kalvelage, Thomas Reintjes, Senne Starckx, and Meera Subramanian—will spend three to five months in residency at European research institutions, working on their journalistic projects. The residencies, hosted by institutions in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, offer a unique opportunity ...

AUSTIN, TX, December 10, 2024 – Wildfires in California are intensifying due to warmer temperatures and dry vegetation – putting more residents at risk of experiencing costly damages or losing their homes. Marginalized populations (lower income, elderly, and the disabled) often suffer the most and, according to a new study, may receive less economic and emergency assistance compared to wealthy residents.  A detailed analysis of more than 500 California wildfire incidents from 2015 to 2022 by University at Buffalo scientists shows that disaster recovery resources in California favor people living in wealthy communities over disadvantaged ...

New insights into the behaviour of aerosols from cooking emissions and sea spray reveal that particles may take up more water than previously thought, potentially changing how long the particles remain in the atmosphere.  Research led by the University of Birmingham found pollutants that form nanostructures could absorb substantially more water than simple models have previously suggested. Taking on water means the droplets become heavier and will eventually be removed from the atmosphere when they fall as rain.  The team, also involving researchers ...

A newly developed approach can precisely produce four-stranded β-sheets through metal–peptide coordination, report researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. Their innovative methodology overcomes long-standing challenges in controlled β-sheet formation, including fibril aggregation and uncontrolled isomeric variation in the final product. This breakthrough could advance the study and application of β-sheets in biotechnology and nanotechnology. In addition to the natural sequence of amino acids that makes up a protein, their three-dimensional arrangement in space is also critical to their function. For ...

A new paper in the Journal of Public Health, published by Oxford University Press, finds that household income in early childhood is a stronger and more consistent predictor for several major health-related problems for 17-year-olds than growing up in a poor neighborhood. The neighborhood was a slightly stronger predictor for obesity only. The Index of Multiple Deprivation, which assesses neighborhoods in the United Kingdom according to factors including unemployment, low levels of education, crime, and barriers ...

LEIDEN, Netherlands, 10 December 2024 – In a wide-ranging Genomic Press Interview, eminent neuroscientist Dr. Edo Ronald (Ron) de Kloet reveals crucial insights into how stress hormones can shift from protecting to potentially damaging the brain, a discovery that has transformed our understanding of stress-related mental disorders and opened new therapeutic pathways. Dr. de Kloet, Professor Emeritus at Leiden University Medical Centre and an Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy ...

Quitline coaching over the phone helped almost half of young people who vape ditch the habit, potentially improving their health and decreasing the chances they’ll transition to cigarettes, according to a new study. The finding is promising and provides critical evidence about vaping cessation, an area with limited research to date, said Liz Klein, a researcher at The Ohio State University College of Public Health and co-author of the study, which appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine today (Dec. 10, 2024). “This study provides hope that young adult ...