Times of crises often call for strong and rapid action, but in polarized societies, strong top-down policies can backfire.  In a paper published on June 17, 2024, in Environmental Research Letters, SFI Applied Complexity Fellow Saverio Perri, SFI Science Board Fellow Simon Levin (Princeton University), and colleagues present a conceptual model of how these dynamics could play out in efforts to decarbonize our energy supply. The model illustrates the complex interplay between strong policies, people’s perception of risk, and the amount of polarization in a society. They show that in situations where the perception of risk is low — where the ...

Researchers at the University of Bonn have developed software that can simulate the growth of field crops. To do this, they fed thousands of photos from field experiments into a learning algorithm. This enabled the algorithm to learn how to visualize the future development of cultivated plants based on a single initial image. Using the images created during this process, parameters such as leaf area or yield can be estimated accurately. The results have been published in the journal Plant Methods. Which plants should I combine ...

African research is receiving a major visibility boost with the indexing of 10 national funders in Dimensions, the world’s largest linked research database. This project is a collaboration with Digital Science, the Africa PID Alliance (APA), the Association of African Universities (AAU), the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), and the Research Organization Registry (ROR). “This project connects the research outputs from leading African funding bodies to the global research ecosystem,” said Joy Owango, Executive Director of TCC Africa ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE In studies with genetically engineered mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have identified a potentially new biological target involving Aplp1, a cell surface protein that drives the spread of Parkinson’s disease-causing alpha-synuclein. The findings, published May 31 in Nature Communications, reveal how Aplp1 connects with Lag3, another cell surface receptor, in a key part of a process that helps spread harmful alpha-synuclein proteins to brain cells. Those protein buildups are hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease. Notably, the researchers say, Lag3 is already the target of a combination ...

A first-of-its-kind study found high rates of food insecurity, housing insecurity, financial strain, and/or a lack of transportation among patients at federally qualified health centers, particularly patients who were low-income or from racial/ethnic minority populations. Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) offer primary care services to 1 in 11 Americans, the majority of whom are low-income and/or underinsured and may not otherwise receive this care. While prior research has shown that 70 percent of FQHCs screen for social ...

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) can rapidly and accurately screen patients for clinical trial eligibility, according to a new study from Mass General Brigham researchers. Such technology could make it faster and cheaper to evaluate new treatments and, ultimately, help bring successful ones to patients. Investigators assessed the accuracy and cost of a Gen AI process they named RAG-Enabled Clinical Trial Infrastructure for Inclusion Exclusion Review (RECTIFIER), that identifies patients who meet criteria for enrollment in ...

The first generation of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles has been a remarkable success story. Yet, the question arises: What changes to battery materials will spur further advances to extend driving range and lower costs? A better positive electrode, or cathode, for lithium-ion batteries has been the focus of intense past research. The cathode is one of the main components in batteries. Several candidates for cathode materials offer the prospect of batteries with much higher energy storage, leading to longer driving range. However, the capacity, or amount of current flowing out within a given time, tends to decline rapidly with charge-discharge cycling for reasons ...

PHILADELPHIA (June 17, 2024) - In a recently published opinion piece in BMJ Open, “Rhetoric of Research: A Call for Renaming the Clinical Research Partnership,” authors from Penn Nursing and Georgetown University School of Nursing, present a compelling argument for rethinking the language used to describe participants in clinical research. The opinion calls for a shift from the traditional term “patient participant” to “participant partner,” emphasizing the crucial role of participants in ...

SAN ANTONIO — June 17, 2024 —Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) today celebrated the groundbreaking of the Center for Accelerating Materials and Processes (CAMP), a new facility that will support research and development for tomorrow’s high-speed aerospace engines. “This project will help ensure the U.S. is a leader in high-speed propulsion research and development,” said Dr. Barron Bichon, director of SwRI’s Materials Engineering Department. “SwRI is committed to advancing this vital technology on behalf of Texas and the nation.” Market forces including growth in global defense, air travel, ...

Since the very first instant after the Big Bang the Universe has been expanding. This means that the early Universe was considerably smaller and early-formed galaxies were more likely to interact and merge. Galaxy mergers fuel the formation of quasars — extremely luminous galactic cores where gas and dust falling into a central supermassive black hole emit enormous amounts of light. So when looking back at the early Universe astronomers would expect to find numerous pairs of quasars in close proximity to each other as their host galaxies undergo mergers. However, they have been surprised ...

Roughly 50 families scattered across the world share ultra-rare variants in a particular gene. Silent for years, the inherited mutations make themselves known when patients reach the fourth decade of life. Changes in vision start a cascade of symptoms. Five to 20 years later, the illness is fatal. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have dedicated many years to understanding the rare condition known as retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy and systemic manifestations, or RVCL-S, with the aim of developing a treatment ...

A new smartphone face-screening tool could help paramedics to identify stroke in seconds – much sooner and more accurately than is possible with current technologies. Strokes, which affect millions of people globally, occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, which prevent brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients. A few minutes of delay can result in permanent damage to the brain cells. A team of biomedical engineers at RMIT University developed the AI capabilities behind the software technology and has published their results ...

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2024 — L-DOPA is the best drug we have for Parkinson’s disease, but its molecular mirror image, D-DOPA, causes dangerous side effects. Making L-DOPA without also making D-DOPA is surprisingly hard and requires a specific kind of molecule to pull off. But that specific molecule must be made from a different and equally specific molecule. In this video, our host, George Zaidan, explains how one of the winners of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry pulled it off, and why "chiral synthesis," as it's called, is really just turtles all the way down. https://youtu.be/_cb09XB07LQ?si=BuMEI5fOuHmuQlkZ Reactions is a video series ...

Recent advancements show nanobodies from camelid antibodies excel in food allergen detection with superior stability, specificity, and cost-effectiveness. This innovative approach aims to improve accuracy and efficiency, crucial for preventing severe allergic reactions. The study highlights nanobodies' potential in reliable immunoassays, addressing rising food allergies and enhancing safety measures. Food allergies pose significant health risks, affecting millions worldwide, with the prevalence rising over the past decades. Traditional detection methods, such as monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, are often costly, labor-intensive, and prone to cross-reactions. The need for ...

Researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that among a cohort of 137,000 Medicare beneficiaries who experienced a nonfatal overdose in 2020, almost 24,000 (17.4%) experienced a subsequent nonfatal overdose, and about 1,300 (1%) died from overdose in the following year. Results were published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, identifying both effective interventions and significant gaps in care. “People who have experienced ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS Mass General Brigham researchers analyzed 4,400 cognitively unimpaired adults with amyloid imaging, finding increased amyloid in those who reported that their mothers had symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Increased amyloid, a biomarker of AD, was also found in those with a history of the disease on both sides of their family and in those whose fathers had an early onset of symptoms. The study suggests that a person’s maternal versus paternal family history could ...

About The Study: More than 1 in 5 adults did not recover within 3 months of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this cohort study. Recovery within 3 months was less likely in women and those with preexisting cardiovascular disease and more likely in those with COVID-19 vaccination or infection during the Omicron variant wave.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Elizabeth C. Oelsner, M.D., M.P.H., email eco7@cumc.columbia.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.17440) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

About The Study: This randomized clinical trial found that varenicline and nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes were both effective in helping individuals in quitting smoking conventional cigarettes for up to 6 months.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Anna Tuisku, Ph.D., email anna.tuisku@lapha.fi. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.1822) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

NEW YORK, NY (June 14, 2024)--Early in the pandemic, many people who had SARS-Cov-2 infection or COVID-19 began to report that they couldn’t shake off their symptoms even after a month or more—unusually long for a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract—or developed new, persistent symptoms soon after the infection cleared.  Although it’s still not clear what causes post-COVID-19 conditions or “long COVID” (symptoms and conditions that develop, linger, or reoccur weeks or months after SARS-CoV-2 infection), a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College ...

An international team of scientists has identified the oldest fossil of a sea-going reptile from the Southern Hemisphere – a nothosaur vertebra found on New Zealand’s South Island. 246 million years ago, at the beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs, New Zealand was located on the southern polar coast of a vast super-ocean called Panthalassa. Reptiles first invaded the seas after a catastrophic mass extinction that devastated marine ecosystems and paved the way for the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs almost 252 million years ago. Evidence for this evolutionary milestone has only been discovered in a few places around the world: on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, northwestern North ...

A decade-long collaborative study has discovered huge genetic potential that is untapped in modern wheat varieties. The international study which appears in Nature reveals that at least 60% of the genetic diversity found in a historic collection of wheat is unused providing an unprecedented opportunity to improve modern wheat and sustainably feed a growing global population. To make this discovery, a cross-institutional collaboration led by Dr Simon Griffiths, at the John Innes Centre and Professor Shifeng Cheng at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), studied the A.E. Watkins Landrace Collection, a ...

A collaborative research team led by QIAN Wenfeng from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University has developed a plant gene drive system called CRISPR-Assisted Inheritance utilizing NPG1 (CAIN), which, according to the researchers, uses a toxin-antidote mechanism in the male germline to override Mendelian inheritance in plants. Their findings were published in Nature Plants. In nature, gene inheritance typically follows Mendel's laws, which provide an equal chance for alleles to pass on to ...

(NEW YORK, NY and BRUSSELS, BELGIUM) - June 17, 2024 - The 2024 Global NF Conference, organized by the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) and the European NF Group, and hosted by Children's Tumor Foundation Europe, is the foremost assembly defining the scientific and medical future of the genetic conditions neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis (known collectively as NF). This global gathering, taking place from June 20-25 at THE EGG in Brussels, Belgium, will connect over 1,000 attendees for up-to-date knowledge and insights in the growing fields of NF research ...

Francis Crick Institute press  Peer reviewed Experimental study Cells, people and animals *Case studies available for interview* Researchers discover potential mole reversal therapy in rare condition “Knowing there has been a huge step forward in the CMN research and there could be a chance of Ada’s CMN being reversed and possibly reducing Ada’s risk of developing melanoma, has blown our expectations out the water.” Ada’s Mum and Dad, Rachelle and Greg Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health and Great Ormond Street ...

Dr. Yoonseok Choi from the Hydrogen Convergence Materials Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), in collaboration with Professor WooChul Jung from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST and Professor Beom-Kyung Park from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pusan National University, has successfully developed a catalyst coating technology that significantly improves the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) in just 4 minutes. Fuel cells are gaining attention as highly efficient and clean energy devices driving the hydrogen economy. Among them, solid ...