Milan, July 15, 2024 – By the age of three, children are capable of understanding others, "mirroring" those they are with to imitate and anticipate their intentions. They are able to do it thanks to the sophisticated neurofunctional architecture that is necessary to understand others' intentions, the mirror neurons,  that result already active at this age. It’s the result of a study published in the prestigious journal PNAS, led by the collaboration between Giacomo Rizzolatti of the University of ...

EMBARGO: THIS CONTENT IS UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 9 A.M. U.S. EASTERN STANDARD TIME ON JULY 16. INTERESTED MEDIA MAY RECIVE A PREVIEW COPY OF THE JOURNAL ARTICLE IN ADVANCE OF THAT DATE OR CONDUCT INTERVIEWS, BUT THE INFORMATION MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, OR POSTED ONLINE UNTIL AFTER THE RELEASE WINDOW.   New research shows that ozone concentrations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park frequently exceed Environmental Protection Agency health standards, likely due to oil and natural gas development in the Permian Basin and surrounding region. The work was led through the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and is part of ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Researchers studying antimicrobial-resistant E. coli – the leading cause of human death due to antimicrobial resistance worldwide – have identified a mechanism in dogs that may render multiple antibiotic classes ineffective. The paper, which will publish July 16 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology at 9:00am EST, opens up new avenues for therapies to treat both animals and humans – and establishes clinical infections in dogs as a surveillance approach for public health. The research team analyzed more than 1,000 genomes of the resistant ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary malignancy of the liver and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Early detection and accurate diagnosis are crucial for effective management and improved survival rates. Ultrasound (US) technology has significantly advanced and plays a pivotal role in the surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of HCC. This paper delves into various ultrasound techniques and their clinical applications in HCC management. Two-dimensional gray-scale ultrasound is a fundamental imaging technique for HCC surveillance. ...

Democrats and Republicans overestimate the percentage of people in the opposing party who approve of widely agreed-upon moral wrongs, such as theft or animal abuse, according to a study. Today, Americans hate their opposing political party more than they love their own party, and political animosity and dehumanization of opposing party members have been on the rise for decades. Curtis Puryear and colleagues looked for a “basic morality bias” in social media posts from 5,806 political partisans by searching for words that referencd ...

Mohammad Atari and colleagues explore the promise and peril of using large language models (LLMs) in psychological research, beginning by urging researchers to also ask themselves whether and why they should use LLMs—not just how they should use them. The authors caution against using LLMs as a replacement for human participants, noting that LLMs cannot capture the substantial cross-cultural variation in cognition and moral judgement known to exist. Most LLMs have been trained on data primarily from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) sources, disproportionately in English. Additionally, although ...

Large language models (LMs) can complete abstract reasoning tasks, but they are susceptible to many of the same types of mistakes made by humans. Andrew Lampinen, Ishita Dasgupta, and colleagues tested state-of-the-art LMs and humans on three kinds of reasoning tasks: natural language inference, judging the logical validity of syllogisms, and the Wason selection task. The authors found the LMs to be prone to similar content effects as humans. Both humans and LMs are more likely to mistakenly label an invalid argument as valid when the semantic content is sensical and believable. LMs are also just as bad as humans at the Wason selection task, in which the participant ...

A study combining history, economics, and fluvial geomorphology examines the causes of the adoption of coal power during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. At the beginning of the mechanization of the textile industry in Britain, most machines were powered with waterpower. Eventually waterpower was replaced by using coal to make steam power and the causes of this shift have long been debated. One influential hypothesis has been that waterpower became scarce in the industrial heartland of northwest England during the early 19th century, as all available suitable sites were already fitted with ...

Industrial emissions are one of the main sources of climate change-inducing carbon dioxide (CO2). While adopting renewable and clean energy alternatives is one option for mitigating these carbon emissions, carbon capture technology is another solution to control CO2 emissions. In big CO2-emitting industries, such as cement, oil refineries, and thermal power plants, carbon capture technology can be easily applied to remove CO2 emissions directly at the source at a feasible cost and with low energy consumption. Different materials have been explored for CO2 capture in factories, including zeolites, metal−organic frameworks, natural minerals, alkalis, ...

The ELTE Eötvös Loránd University is home to the skulls of more than 150 dog breeds and other animals. To make this unique collection accessible to all, researchers digitised the skulls of 431 dogs, cats and wild relatives. The database can be used for educational and research purposes. Tibor Csörgő, a researcher at ELTE, has been collecting animal skulls for decades to teach anatomy to biologists. The shape of the skull varies considerably between species and breeds, especially in dogs, where, for example, greyhounds have long skulls and the now popular French bulldogs have rounded skulls. A skull biobank ...

Overcoming Historical Barriers Silicon, the cornerstone of modern electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics, has traditionally been limited to surface-level nanofabrication due to the challenges posed by existing lithographic techniques. Available methods either fail to penetrate the wafer surface without causing alterations or are limited by the micron-scale resolution of laser lithography within Si. In the spirit of Richard Feynman's famous dictum, 'There's plenty of room at the bottom', ...

Preeclampsia (PE) is a significant contributor to the increase in maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide, with particularly alarming numbers in the United States, where it affects about 2–8% of pregnancies, resulting in premature birth with associated morbidities for their infants as well. A new study by researchers at UCLA Health finds that early detection of specific microRNAs (miRNAs) packaged in vesicles may offer the opportunity to predict preeclampsia in pregnant people before clinical symptoms manifest. The study, led by Dr. Sherin U. Devaskar, MD, executive chair of the Department of Pediatrics ...

Researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed low-cost micro-sized silicon anodes from recycled photovoltaic waste using a novel electrolyte design. Their pioneering work, published in Nature Sustainability on July 16, offers a path to more sustainable, low-cost, and high-energy-density batteries that could transform energy storage systems for electric vehicles and renewable energy applications. Silicon anodes are favored for their ability to substantially increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries compared to traditional graphite anodes but are hindered by significant volume ...

Billions of dollars in foreign aid could be spent more effectively if international poverty statistics were more accurate, according to new research led by King's College London. Dr Michail Moatsos, a research fellow in the Department of International Development, says current methods for calculating the international poverty line lead to a skewed picture of how poverty is distributed across the world – and this is hampering attempts to eradicate it. “Currently, international donors cannot prioritise their funds based on the best possible information and therefore funnel those funds to those most in need around the world. A $2.15 per day poverty line affords very different ...

Scientists from RMIT University have led a world-first study on common food aromas that may help explain why astronauts report that meals taste bland in space and struggle to eat their normal nutritional intake. This research, which is published in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology, has broader implications for improving the diets of isolated people, including nursing home residents, by personalising aromas to enhance the flavour of their food. Previous research has shown that aroma plays a big role in the flavour of food. The team in this study tested how people perceived vanilla and almond extracts and lemon essential oil changed from normal environments on ...

Britain, prepare for deep depression: storms ruin tea.  A new study reveals that Storm Ciaran cut an invisible path of mayhem across southern Britain last autumn, destroying any possibility that 20 million people could have a proper cup of tea at breakfast.  The storm's record-breaking low pressure meant the boiling point of water was below the crucial 100 degrees Celsius required for a decent cuppa, meteorologists at the University of Reading have discovered.  In a study published today [Tuesday, 16 July] in the journal Weather, the scientists reported that water in Reading was boiling at just 98°C.  During the storm on the morning of November 2, ...

With the rapid development of AI technology, voice-controlled smart speakers are becoming increasingly popular due to their convenience and ability to control compatible home devices. Despite the rise in use, smart speakers often do not have screens and little-to-none of the visual information feedback common to manually operated devices. This aspect complicates their usability, thus providing room for research and subsequent improvement. As such, a research team led by Dr. Toshihisa Doi, a lecturer at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, recruited 39 young adults (22 males and ...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases, primarily caused by metabolic disorders and systemic inflammatory responses. Although the incidence of MASH is gradually increasing, there is a lack of effective drugs and methods for its treatment, thus limiting therapeutic options for MASH. Professor Liu Lei's team has long focused on the treatment and molecular mechanisms of liver-related diseases. Due to cerium's significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as its hepatophilicity and good biosafety, it shows great potential ...

Krishna Reddy, MD, MS, a physician-investigator at the Medical Practice Evaluation Center and the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, is the senior author of a recently published paper in Journal of the International AIDS Society: Tobacco Smoking, Smoking Cessation and Life Expectancy Among People with HIV on Antiretroviral Therapy in South Africa: A Simulation Modelling Study. What Question Were You Investigating in this Study? Now that more people with HIV in South Africa are on antiretroviral therapy (medicines to treat ...

If a man and a woman each suffer a heart attack, you may assume the symptoms and diagnoses should be the same. That’s not always the case. While men are more likely to show the more “typical” signs of a heart attack — chest pains, shortness of breath — women are more likely to experience pain in their necks or symptoms that feel like heartburn or nausea. An angiogram that shows a blockage in male blood vessels may not show occlusion in a woman’s smaller vessels, and these differences can lead ...

Investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered new details about the role of a protein called interferon regulatory factor (IRF1) in cancer progression and treatment response, offering new insight that can potentially help improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.  The study, published in Cell Reports, reveals how IRF1 can both hinder and help the body's immune response to tumors, depending upon which cells the protein is found in.  “We know IRF1 plays ...

Friends of young people who self-harm or have suicidal thoughts may need additional support to prevent negative outcomes on their own mental wellbeing, in addition to the support needed by young people who self-harm. While much research rightly focuses on young people at risk and their families, friendships are rarely considered in research into self-harm, according to a new study from experts at the University of Birmingham. In an extensive literature review, the team set out to draw together all the research in this area to reach a better understanding of common themes around friendship and self-harm ...

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have found that children living in areas with high levels of deprivation are three times more likely to have severe tooth decay that requires a dental extraction in hospital, compared with children living in more affluent areas. The findings highlight an urgent need for equitable access to preventive dentistry. In the study, published today (16 July 2024) in BMJ Public Health, researchers analysed de-identified GP and hospital records for 600,000 children ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, July 15, 2024 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ## Lowering Systolic Blood Pressure below 120 mmHg May Reduce Dementia Risk Among Black, Latino Populations A new study suggests that reducing systolic blood pressure below the clinically safe threshold of 120 mmHg over time may produce slight health-protective benefits against late-life dementia and help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in both hypertension and hypertension control.  Hypertension is one of the most modifiable risk factors for dementia, but most research on dementia risk reduction through blood ...

AUSTIN, Texas — On Prime Day, Amazon shoppers will be able to browse over 600 million products. They may not be aware that most of those listings are from non-Amazon sellers, who account for 60% of sales on the platform. Most are small- and medium-sized businesses: bookstores selling used hardbacks, toymakers selling original goods, and distributors unloading clothes. What shoppers also don’t see is the choice that the platform and the seller make about how to interact. Is it better ...