Highlights: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat. Bacteria exchange AMR genes in the gut via circular genetic material called plasmids. In lab experiments, bacteria transferred plasmids with AMR genes in the presence of zinc at reduced or nonexistent rates. Stopping the transfer without killing microbes may help reduce AMR without disrupting the gut microbiome. Washington, D.C.—Genes responsible for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can spread from microbe to microbe through circular genetic material called plasmids, and ...

On October 3, 2024, NASA announced that two space probes proposed by University of Maryland astronomers have advanced to the next round of consideration for a $1 billion mission slated to launch into orbit in 2032. The selected probes include the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) mission with UMD Astronomy Professor Christopher Reynolds as its principal investigator and the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) with UMD Astronomy Professor Alb­erto Bolatto as a co-investigator and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researcher and UMD Astronomy ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. Images and Podcast EAST LANSING, Mich. – In recent years, some states have prioritized purging their voter rolls of those who have passed away or moved out of state. During election season, there is often increased discussion about the necessity and impact of these actions. Voter purging can be an important step for creating election integrity, but others have raised concerns about how the process is conducted and who it targets. So, are there negative effects of voter purging? Researchers from Michigan State University wanted to find out — especially ...

In this study, the Cancer Research UK-funded scientists will establish the targets for the vaccine. They will find out which proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells are most strongly recognised by the immune system and how effectively the vaccine kills mini-models of ovarian cancer called organoids. If this research is successful, work will then begin on clinical trials of the vaccine. The hope is that in the future, women could be offered this vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer in the first place. There are around 7,500 new ovarian ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have developed a way to make one type of plastic material more durable and less likely to shed dangerous microplastics. The study identified a secure way to attach chemical additives to polyvinyl chloride (PVC).  Found in everything from toys, construction supplies and medical packaging, PVC plastics currently rank third among the most used plastics worldwide. Despite its widespread use, pure PVC is brittle and sensitive to heat, and manufacturers can only utilize it after stabilizing its properties with other chemicals.  However, these additives, or plasticizers, ...

Houston Methodist researchers will be part of a national consortium funded by an up to $49 million award from the U.S. Government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a vaccine against two of the most common and destructive strains of herpesviruses that latently infect a majority of Americans and can lead to acute infections, multiple forms of cancer, autoimmune disease and birth defects.   The award is part of ARPA-H’s Antigens Predicted for Broad Viral Efficacy through Computational Experimentation (APECx) program and will fund the America’s SHIELD project ...

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 3, 2024 – The School of Dentistry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) earned the first National Institutes of Health grant under its new Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research, addressing pain in patients with head and neck carcinoma. The nearly $600,000 grant by the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research will address this critical pain issue that significantly impairs quality of life. Many head and neck carcinoma patients require opiate pain management, but tolerance develops quickly, requiring new pain ...

Public health degree programs provide key competencies demanded by employers, but graduate employability could be improved by using more real-time data from employer job postings, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. This could help public health schools and programs ensure that graduates obtain specific technical skills listed in job postings, meet current employer needs, and prepare graduates for the demands of today’s labor market. The findings are published in the American Journal of Public Health. The competencies required for the ...

Since the 2020 murder by Minneapolis police of George Floyd brought nationwide calls for change amid concerns that prevailing practices were not grounded in evidence and created harm, policing has been in turmoil. Implementation science (IS) involves integrating effective and evidence-based innovations into routine practice in fields like health care. Yet despite its potential, IS—and specifically, evidence-based policing (EBP)—remain vastly understudied and unused in police settings. In a new article, researchers provide an orientation to these issues ...

Frothy or smooth, bitter or sweet, light or dark: There’s a beer for most palates. As people around the world pour over the best brews at Oktoberfest celebrations or ferment about their favorite fall-themed beers, three papers published in ACS journals crack open new insights into these beverages. And if you’re hop-ing to conduct studies to find which beer is good for what ales you, please drink responsibly. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org. Coriander’s origin changes beer flavor. Just like simmering a stew, brewing a beer with herbs and spices can enhance its flavor. A study in ACS Food Science ...

Washington, D.C. — The American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals, announces an external research project to help the organization reimagine AAAS.org as part of a website overhaul project, which recently kicked off. AAAS is seeking input from its key audiences, including reporters and public information officers, to better align the experience and content of the website. As AAAS embarks on the next ...

Looking deep into the early universe with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found something unprecedented: a galaxy with an odd light signature, which they attribute to its gas outshining its stars. Found approximately one billion years after the big bang, galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (9422) may be a missing-link phase of galactic evolution between the universe’s first stars and familiar, well-established galaxies. “My first thought in looking at the galaxy’s spectrum was, ‘that’s weird,’ which is ...

Moscow, Idaho, October 3, 2024:   New research showing the association between greater bean and pulse consumption and improved shortfall nutrient intakes and a higher diet quality in American adults will be presented during the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the Academy) Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) 2024 in Minneapolis, MN. The poster session is scheduled for Tuesday, October 8, 2024, from 10:45 – 11:45 AM CT at the Minneapolis Convention Center.   Researchers assessed the effect of increased bean and pulse consumption, in the typical US dietary pattern, on shortfall ...

Auditory hallucinations are likely the result of abnormalities in two brain processes: a “broken” corollary discharge that fails to suppress self-generated sounds, and a “noisy” efference copy that makes the brain hear these sounds more intensely than it should. That is the conclusion of a new study published October 3rd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Xing Tian, of New York University Shanghai, China, and colleagues. Patients with certain mental disorders, including schizophrenia, often hear voices in the absence of sound. Patients may fail to distinguish between their ...

When humans began farming crops thousands of years ago, agriculture had already been around for millions of years. In fact, several animal lineages have been growing their own food since long before humans evolved as a species. According to a new study, colonies of ants began farming fungi when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. This impact caused a global mass extinction but also created ideal conditions for fungi to thrive. Innovative ants began cultivating the fungi, creating an evolutionary partnership that became even more tightly intertwined 27 million years ago and continues to this day. In a paper published today, Oct. 3, in the journal Science, scientists at the Smithsonian’s ...

EMBARGOED: Not for Release Until 2:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time Thursday, 3 October 2024. A new era of solar observation International team produces global maps of coronal magnetic field Contacts:  Audrey Merket, NSF NCAR and UCAR Science Writer and Public Information Officer amerket@ucar.edu 303-497-8293  David Hosansky, NSF NCAR and UCAR Manager of Media Relations hosansky@ucar.edu 720-470-2073 For the first time, scientists have taken near-daily measurements of the Sun’s global coronal magnetic field, a region of the Sun that has only been observed irregularly in the past. The resulting observations ...

The extinction of hundreds of bird species caused by humans over the last 130,000 years has has led to substantial reductions in avian functional diversity – a measure of the range of different roles and functions that birds undertake within the environment –  and resulted in the loss of approximately 3 billion years of unique evolutionary history, according to a new study published today in Science.  Whilst humans have been driving a global erosion of species richness for millennia, the consequences of past extinctions for other dimensions of biodiversity are poorly known. ...

Researchers from DZNE and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg have identified individuals with increased risk for dementia using mobility data, recorded during a smartphone-based wayfinding task on the university campus. The findings, reported in the journal PLOS Digital Health, show the potential of smartphone data, collected in conditions close to everyday life, for the early detection and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease. The study included 72 adults; about a third of them with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a condition that is a known risk factor for dementia. Alzheimer’s disease usually develops unnoticed over years and eventually ...

Government subsidies for business practices and processes should be approached with caution, even when they seem to be environmentally friendly, writes a group of scientists and economists in this week’s Policy Forum in the journal Science. They argue that subsidies can alter market pressures, leading to unintended consequences that not only perpetuate harmful subsidies over time but also diminish the overall effectiveness of those intended to promote environmental sustainability. Therefore, when they must be used, subsidies should have clear end-dates, advise the authors. “We’ve got this odd juxtaposition of ...

Neuroscientists had a problem. For decades, researchers had a theory about how an animal’s brain keeps track of where it is relative to its surroundings without outside cues – like how we know where we are, even with our eyes closed. According to the theory, which was based on brain recordings from rodents, networks of neurons called ring attractor networks maintain an internal compass that keeps track of where you are in the world. An accurate internal compass was thought to require a large network with many neurons, while a small network with few neurons would cause the compass’s needle to drift, creating errors. Then researchers discovered an internal compass ...

University of Texas at Arlington UTeach Master Teacher Karen Jo Matsler will be awarded the 2025 Melba Newell Phillips Medal in January from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) in recognition of her extensive contributions to physics education and her tireless efforts to support educators nationwide. Founded in 1930, AAPT is a national organization dedicated to advancing the teaching and understanding of physics. For more than 20 years, Dr. Matsler has been a tireless advocate of physics education, working with state legislators and educational agencies ...

About The Study: The modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN) vaccination generated mpox antibodies that waned by 6 to 12 months. In participants who received 2 doses of MVA-BN vaccine, mpox antibody responses at 12 months were comparable to or lower than peak antibody responses in people receiving 1 dose, which provided limited protection. Quote from corresponding author Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD: “In this observational study, we show that mpox antibody responses decline 6-12 months following Jynneos (MVA-BN) vaccination. Our data suggest that protective immunity may ...

A new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimates that thousands of lives could have been saved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic if convalescent plasma had been used more broadly, particularly in outpatients at high risk for severe disease and in hospitalized patients during their first few days of admission. Convalescent plasma from patients who had recovered from COVID was used starting in the early months of the pandemic at the urging of a group of physicians who cited the blood ...

Quantum communication and quantum computing operate based on quantum bits (qubits) as the smallest unit of information — related to bits in a classical computer. Of the many different approaches currently being investigated around the world, one promising option is to use Andreev pair qubits. These qubits are formed at interfaces between a metal and a superconductor in a process known as Andreev reflection. Here, an electron from the metal enters the superconductor, where it becomes part of an electron pair (a Cooper pair) — while a hole, ...

Jacksonville, Fla. – A University of North Florida biology professor has been awarded a prestigious four-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant totaling over $720K to study the functional role of an enzyme called dual-specificity phosphatase 4 (Dusp4) in skeletal muscle atrophy.    Dr. David Waddell’s NIH-funded research project will help contribute to knowledge about skeletal muscle atrophy associated with neuromuscular disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and aging. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a decrease in muscle mass that occurs when protein degradation exceeds protein ...