Coalition of Autism Scientists Critiques U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative Boston, MA, April 25, 2025 – The newly formed Coalition of Autism Scientists today issued a statement in response to remarks and actions taken by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the study of autism. Led by Helen Tager-Flusberg, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Director of the Center for Autism Research, Boston University, this growing group of experienced research scientists from ...

Historically, the vast majority of pharmaceutical drugs have been meticulously designed down to the atomic level. The specific location of each atom within the drug molecule is a critical factor in determining how well it works and how safe it is. In ibuprofen, for example, one molecule is effective as a pain reliever, but the mirror image of that same molecule is completely inactive. Now, Northwestern University and Mass General Brigham scientists argue that this precise structural control, which is applied to traditional medicines, should be harnessed to usher in a new class of potent nanomedicines that can ...

The 25th April is International DNA Day, and this year it marks the completion of a decade-long project to sequence the DNA of Hong Kong’s floral emblem, the Hong Kong Orchid Tree Bauhinia x blakeana Dunn. The study, published today in the Open Science journal GigaScience and led by scientists from Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), presents a complete, gapless sequence of the Bauhinia genome, spanning from one end of a chromosome to the other (from telomere-to-telomere or T2T). Featured on the Hong Kong flag and currency, this beautiful ornamental Bauhinia species - admired for its striking purplish orchid-like flowers - can be traced back to a chance discovery ...

New data published in The Journal of Immunology uncovered the role of Plasmodium falciparum infection (malaria) in the development of Burkitt lymphoma (BL), the most common childhood cancer in equatorial Africa and New Guinea. BL has been associated with P. falciparum malaria since 1958, but the underlying mechanism of how this led to cancer remained a mystery.    “Knowing that malaria has a direct role in increasing childhood cancer risk means that measures to reduce the burden of P. falciparum malaria in Africa could also reduce the ...

In 2023, EPFL researchers succeeded in sending and storing data using charge-free magnetic waves called spin waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The team from the Lab of Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Magnonics, led by Dirk Grundler, in the School of Engineering used radiofrequency signals to excite spin waves enough to reverse the magnetization state of tiny nanomagnets. When switched from 0 to 1, for example, this allows the nanomagnets to store digital information; a process used in computer memory, and more broadly ...

The ability to learn socially from one another is a defining feature of the human species. Social learning enables humans to gradually accumulate information across generations. And although we are able to build cities full of skyscrapers, send people into space, and collectively develop cures for diseases, most studies investigating social learning mechanisms focus on relatively simple, abstract tasks that bear little resemblance to real-world social learning environments. As a result, little is known about how humans dynamically integrate asocial and social information in realistic, real-world contexts. To investigate this, an international team of scientists from the Cluster ...

Imagine if reducing your caloric intake could make you younger? This is almost the case with stem cells. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have successfully created stem cells that are better at developing into other cell types, like a younger, fitter version of themselves – by changing their diet. These stem cells are better than normal stem cells at creating specialized cells like liver, skin or nerve cells, which is a core trait of stem cells. “We show that by changing their diet, the stem cells can rejuvenate and turn into ‘super stem cells’. It forces them to metabolize their energy in a different way than they normally would, and ...

Psychologists from Durham University, UK, observed the behaviour of 90 sanctuary-living apes to establish whether bonobos were more likely than chimpanzees to comfort others in distress.  The study, led by Dr Jake Brooker, found that both species consoled their peers at similar rates, with the greatest variation actually occurring within each species.  This challenges long-held assumptions that bonobos are the more empathic ape and instead highlights the variation within each species.  It is the first time that the two species’ consolation tendencies have been directly compared.  The ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new targeted drug treatment for small cell lung cancer, understanding how obesity drives endometrial cancer, and predicting early-stage melanoma spread are among the research topics being presented by scientists with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) at the American Association for Cancer Research® (AACR) Annual Meeting April 25-30 in Chicago. A focal point for the cancer research community, the ...

BETHESDA, MD. (April 25, 2025) — A 20-year initiative that offered flexible options for colorectal cancer screening at a major integrated health system doubled colorectal cancer screening rates, cut cancer incidence by a third, halved deaths, and brought racial differences in outcomes to nearly zero, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. “By offering an effective screening approach equally to everyone, we were able to eliminate much of the disparity,” said lead researcher Douglas Corley, MD, PhD, from the Kaiser Permanente ...

BETHESDA, MD. (April 25, 2025) — The umbilical cord may become a crystal ball of sorts, helping doctors predict the future of children at risk for long-term health problems, including diabetes, stroke, and liver disease. DNA changes found in cord blood could offer early clues about which infants are at higher risk — opening the door to earlier and potentially life-saving interventions, according to research to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. “We’re seeing kids develop metabolic problems earlier and earlier, which puts them at higher risk for serious complications as adults,” said ...

BETHESDA, MD. (April 25, 2025) — Researchers using next-generation DNA sequencing have identified four specific genes whose mutations are linked to the development and progression of lethal stomach cancers. This could potentially enable doctors to offer targeted treatments that would spare many patients from unnecessarily aggressive procedures, according to a study scheduled for presentation at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. "Not all stomach cancers are equal,” said Ulysses Ribeiro, MD, PhD, the study’s lead author and a professor at the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil. “Today, most gastric cancers are treated the ...

BETHESDA, MD (April 25, 2025) — Scientists have identified five specific blood proteins that can accurately predict a person’s risk for developing a serious form of liver disease as early as 16 years before they experience symptoms, enabling early intervention and possible prevention and treatment, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2025. The findings address metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which has become the most common form of liver disease worldwide and is continuing to increase. People with MASLD face up to twice the mortality rate of those ...

Cutting-edge DNA mapping technology identified new genetic information that can help researchers decipher more genetic diseases, a new study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  The technology identified more genomic imprinting in DNA—10 times as much—than previously published data. Genomic imprinting occurs when only one parent’s gene is expressed in a child’s genetic makeup, which contributes to rare pediatric diseases, ...

Taking antibiotics within the first two years of life is linked to a higher body mass index (BMI) in childhood, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  Researchers found that children exposed to antibiotics in the first two years of life had a 0.067 higher BMI adjusted for age and sex, a 9% greater risk to be overweight, and a 20% greater risk to be obese than children who were unexposed. Researchers found no correlation between BMI and antibiotic use before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or at birth. Antibiotics ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help better identify prevalence of physical abuse of children seen in the emergency room, a new study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  Researchers used a machine-learning model to estimate instances of child abuse seen in emergency departments based on diagnostic codes for high-risk injury and physical abuse. The researchers’ approach better predicted abuse rates than those that rely solely on diagnostic codes entered by a provider or administrative staff. Relying on abuse codes alone ...

Pregnant women living with opioid use disorder (OUD) and their infants had significantly better health outcomes when treated with buprenorphine, according to a new study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  Pregnant women who received buprenorphine, a medication used to treat OUD, were less likely to have a preterm birth, face serious health complications, or have their infants hospitalized in the NICU compared to those ...

More information about gun safety has increasingly led parents to ask about firearms in the homes their kids visit, according to a new national study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.   Every new source of information increased parents’ likelihood of asking by 40%. Researchers found that 16% of caregivers who had never received firearm safety information asked about firearms where their child was visiting, compared to 79% of those who had ...

Erythropoietin, a treatment for newborns with critically low levels of oxygen or blood supply to the brain at birth, does not prevent death or disability, according to a new multinational study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  Researchers found that a high-dose treatment with erythropoietin, paired with standard cooling treatments, does not reduce death, rate of cerebral palsy, or physical or cognitive impairment ...

Young children with chronic conditions are more likely to be hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) than healthy children, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.   Toddlers with chronic conditions are hospitalized for RSV at twice the rate as healthy toddlers over their first two seasons. The risk was highest for children born very prematurely under 28 weeks of gestation, or with conditions affecting multiple organs, the lungs, heart, or digestive system. Researchers recommend that children with those specific conditions ...

Children treated with primary care telehealth visits were less likely to receive antibiotics for acute respiratory tract infections than those examined in person, according to a new study. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting, held April 24-28 in Honolulu.  While providers prescribed 12% fewer antibiotics during initial primary care telehealth visits compared to in-person appointments, both settings had similarly high rates of following established guidelines, according to researchers. In the two weeks after the initial ...

Energy scarcity is a central driver of animal behavior and evolution. The amazing diversity of life on this planet is a testament to the plethora of novel biological solutions to the problem of securing and maintaining energy. However, despite being so central to biology, it remains difficult to quantify, and thereby empirically analyze, energy consumption. While organisms use energy for a very wide variety of processes – from growth to cognition – one activity is a major drain for many animals: movement. For highly mobile animals, movement is as such a powerful lens through which to estimate ...

Mapping soybean cultivation with high precision is crucial for maximizing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. However, conventional methods often struggle with regional inconsistencies and require extensive datasets. A breakthrough study has introduced the Spectral Gaussian Mixture Model (SGMM), a novel approach that leverages key physiological traits—such as chlorophyll content and canopy greenness—to dramatically enhance classification accuracy. Validated across four major soybean-producing regions, SGMM sets a new standard for global crop monitoring, offering a scalable, efficient, and ...

About The Study: The results of this randomized clinical trial support use of metformin for treatment of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in people with overweight or obesity. Because of the modest sample size, confirmation in a larger clinical trial is warranted. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Flavia M. Cicuttini, PhD, email flavia.cicuttini@monash.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.3471) Editor’s ...

A common diabetes drug can reduce the pain of people with knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity, possibly delaying the need for knee replacements, Monash University-led research has found. Metformin, which is commonly prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes, reduced knee arthritis pain over six months in a clinical trial published in JAMA. The randomised clinical trial looked at whether metformin, compared to a placebo, reduced knee pain in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) and overweight or obesity. The research was performed entirely as a community-based study using telehealth. Some of ...