By Chris Woolston If you’re anxious about work, finances, the state of the world, or anything else, you might try a moment of mindfulness. Paying close attention to the present moment without judgment — the basic idea behind all mindfulness techniques — can help calm anxiety and improve focus, said Resh Gupta, a postdoctoral research associate with the Mindfulness Science and Practice research cluster.  “A lot of research has shown that mindfulness can reduce anxiety symptoms,” she said. The calming power of mindfulness is well-known to people ...

People with cancer, heart disease and other conditions have come to expect treatments that their medical teams “personalize” just for them, based on tests. But care for mental health conditions hasn’t gotten to that point yet. Now, a new study suggests that it might be possible to personalize care for people with bipolar disorder, using the results of detailed personality tests. The research finds that such tests might help identify people who have certain combinations of personality traits ...

TAMPA, Fla. (May 16, 2025) — In the largest clinical genomic profiling study of non-Hispanic Black men with metastatic prostate cancer to date, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Los Angeles and the Veterans Affairs (VA) National Precision Oncology Program found key differences in tumor biology between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white veterans, but similar survival outcomes when both groups had equal access to care. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from more than 5,000 U.S. ...

Necati Catbas doesn’t hold a medical degree, but the UCF engineering professor is more than qualified to diagnose the health of bridges using a combination of emerging technologies. Catbas collaborated with his former civil engineering student Marwan Debees ’23PhD, who now works as a NASA Bridge Program manager, on newly published research that details how infrared thermography, high-definition imaging and neural network analysis can combine to make concrete bridge inspections more efficient. Catbas and Debees are hopeful that their findings, recently published in the Transportation Research Record, can be leveraged by engineers ...

PHILADELPHIA (May 16, 2025) – A new study published in Science Advances reveals that a single gene plays a big role in how the liver stores energy, a process that's critical for overall health and for managing diseases like type 2 diabetes. Led by Penn Nursing’s Kate Townsend Creasy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, the research focuses on the PPP1R3B gene. This gene tells the liver how to handle energy: store it as glycogen (a form of sugar) or triglycerides (a type of fat). The research team ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Millions of years of evolution have enabled some marine animals to grow complex protective shells composed of multiple layers that work together to dissipate physical stress. In a new study, engineers have found a way to mimic the behavior of this type of layered material, such as seashell nacre, by programming individual layers of synthetic material to work collaboratively under stress. The new material design is poised to enhance energy-absorbing systems such as wearable bandages and car bumpers with multistage ...

Climate change is melting glaciers and permafrost in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado, exposing rocks and freeing up minerals containing sulfate, a form of sulfur, to flow downstream into local watersheds.  CIRES researchers studied the impacts of sulfate in mountain wetlands and confirmed that elevated levels can increase methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin that accumulates up the food chain and can lead to a wide range of health concerns.  “Very little research has looked at methylmercury production in high-elevation wetlands,” said ...

New research suggests that the negative effects of the ozone hole on the carbon uptake of the Southern Ocean are reversible, but only if greenhouse gas emissions rapidly decrease. The study, led by the University of East Anglia (UEA), finds that as the ozone hole heals, its influence on the ocean carbon sink of the Southern Ocean will diminish, while the influence of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will rise.  Relative to its area, the Southern Ocean takes up a disproportionate amount of carbon, which reduces the radiative effects of carbon in the atmosphere and strongly mitigates human-caused climate change. Therefore, knowing how much carbon it will absorb, and what controls this ...

Hydrogels have long been recognized for their potential in various applications, including tissue engineering, drug delivery, and wearable electronics. However, traditional hydrogels often lack the mechanical strength and durability needed for demanding applications. Now, researchers from Southwest Forestry University in China have developed an innovative solution using bamboo cellulose-based carbon nanomaterials (C-BCN) to create an ultra-robust hydrogel with remarkable properties. The study, published in the Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, details ...

A new study from Indiana University scientists may aid the pharmaceutical industry in better understanding a popular over-the-counter pain reliever: Tylenol. Michaela Dvorakova, a postdoctoral researcher at IU’s Gill Institute for Neuroscience and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Gill Institute research scientist Alex Straiker published the study in Cell Reports Medicine. Their discovery, which details a previously unknown way the drug targets pain, could change how pharmacologists think about treating pain, and aid in designing safer and more effective pain medications. The researchers found ...

On its 125th anniversary, Science magazine posed 125 unsolved scientific questions, among which “What genetic changes made us uniquely human?” was listed as one of the 25 core problems. Yet the divergence rate between the alignable genomes of humans and chimpanzees is as little as 1.23%. Scientists hypothesized that gene regulation might account for their dramatic phenotypic differences. Recently, Quantitative Biology published a research article entitled “The human intelligence evolved from proximal cis-regulatory saltations” in which the focus shifted from protein sequences to their regulatory regions. ...

Under the dual challenges of the rapid increase in the global population and the intensification of climate change, the traditional agricultural model is facing severe tests. The production mode that overly relies on chemical fertilizers and pesticides not only exacerbates environmental pollution but also leads to the imbalance of soil microbial communities, further reducing the nutrient utilization efficiency. As an emerging green technology, bio-based material amendments offer new ideas for enhancing soil health and crop productivity. So, how do bio-based material amendments improve nutrient ...

Predicting E-Bus Battery Performance in Cold Climates: A Breakthrough in Sustainable Transit   The global push toward sustainable transportation has made electric buses (E-buses) a key solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, their widespread adoption faces challenges, particularly in cold climates where battery efficiency drops significantly. Canada, with its harsh winters, presents a unique case study for optimizing E-bus operations, yet existing energy consumption models perform poorly in such conditions. A new study addresses this gap by developing advanced machine ...

The automotive industry is undergoing a transformative shift toward sustainable propulsion systems to meet stringent environmental regulations, such as the European Union’s push for near-zero-emission vehicles. Among the promising alternatives, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) stand out due to their high efficiency and rapid response times. However, optimizing PEMFC performance requires advanced turbocharging systems to supply compressed air to the fuel cell stack. Centrifugal compressors, a key component in ...

In agricultural ecosystems, there exists a remarkable heterogeneity in the spatial and temporal distribution of soil nutrients. This heterogeneity can cause the nutrient concentrations that different roots of the same plant are exposed to vary by several orders of magnitude, which undoubtedly poses a great challenge to plant growth. In the face of such a complex soil environment, plants have gradually developed a series of coping strategies during the long evolutionary process. Their roots can keenly sense the nutrient-rich hotspots and make corresponding responses. However, traditional fertilization methods are difficult to precisely meet the needs of plants. They not ...

Molecules like DNA are capable of storing large amounts of data without requiring an energy source, but accessing this molecular data is expensive and time consuming. Publishing May 16 in the Cell Press journal Chem, researchers have developed an alternative method to encode information in synthetic molecules, which they used to encode and then decode an 11-character password to unlock a computer.   “Molecules can store information for very long periods without needing power. Nature has given us the proof of principle that this works,” says corresponding author and ...

Intakes of dietary fiber, high-quality and total carbohydrates in midlife were favorably linked to healthy aging and other positive health outcomes in older women, according to a new study by researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published May 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open. “We’ve all heard that different carbohydrates can affect health differently, whether for weight, energy, or blood sugar ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of women, intakes of high-quality carbohydrates and dietary fiber were associated with positive health status in older adulthood, suggesting that dietary carbohydrate quality may be an important determinant of healthy aging. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Andres V. Ardisson Korat, ScD, email andres.ardisson_korat@tufts.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.11056) Editor’s ...

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that home health use is high and has increased among people with dementia. Decreasing rates of home health use since 2020 in this high-need population suggest a need for ongoing monitoring of service use and outcomes for people with dementia. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rachel M. Werner, MD, PhD, email rwerner@upenn.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.10933 Editor’s ...

For the first time, researchers from King’s College London, Imperial College London and The Alan Turing Institute, have created over 3,800 anatomically accurate digital hearts to investigate how age, sex and lifestyle factors influence heart disease and electrical function. Creating cardiac ‘digital twins’ at this scale has helped scientists discover that age and obesity cause changes in the heart’s electrical properties, which could explain why these factors are linked to a higher risk of heart disease. The results, published today in Nature Cardiovascular Research, show the opportunities that cardiac digital twins at scale ...

While Alzheimer’s disease is mostly considered a disorder of the brain, emerging evidence suggests that the condition also affects other organs of the body. Working with the laboratory fruit fly, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital (Duncan NRI) and collaborating institutions provide a new understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease affects different tissues across the entire body. The findings, published in Neuron, reveal ...

Advances in medical technology over the last 30 years have made it easier to detect and treat diabetes, leading to significant health improvements in people with the disease. Despite this, workforce participation among people with diabetes has not improved over time, finds new USC Schaeffer Center research in JAMA Health Forum. Historically, workforce participation rates have been much lower among people with diabetes due to factors like health complications, time needed to manage the disease and workplace barriers. ...

A team led by Prof. Zheng-Tian Lu and Prof. Wei Jiang from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), have developed a novel technique known as All-Optical Atom Trap Trace Analysis. In collaboration with American glaciologists, they have successfully performed krypton-81 dating on 1-kilogram samples of ancient Antarctic ice using this method. This advance provides a powerful new tool for studying paleoclimate changes on million-year timescales. The findings were published in the Nature ...

In satellite system design, optimizing component layout is crucial for enhancing satellite performance. Recently, a research team led by Professor Wen Yao from the Defense Innovation Institute at the Chinese Academy of Military Science has made new progress in the field of 3D satellite component layout optimization. This innovative approach can rapidly provide engineers with high-quality component layout candidates, promising to improve spacecraft layout design efficiency and efficacy. The research, published in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, introduces a new Satellite ...

Mitochondria are semi-autonomous organelles containing their own DNA (mtDNA), which exhibits a higher mutation rate compared to nuclear DNA. Accumulation of mtDNA mutations is associated with aging and has been observed in various cancers. However, the causal role of these mutations in oncogenesis remains unclear. A recent study led by Dr. Zhenglong Gu, Director of the Center for Mitochondrial Genetics and Health at Fudan University and Courtesy Professor at Cornell University, reports new insights ...