The 10th International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication will take place Sept. 3–5 in Chicago.     Co-hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the British Medical Journal (The BMJ), and the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), this once-every-four-years event serves as “peer review on peer review.” It turns the focus on the scientific publishing process itself, with the goal of improving the conduct, reporting, and dissemination of scientific research.     Since 1989, the Congress has tackled the issues of the day, from record digitization to internet-based review. This year, ...

Some 390 million years ago in the ancient ocean, marine animals began colonizing depths previously uninhabited. New research indicates this underwater migration occurred in response to a permanent increase in deep-ocean oxygen, driven by the aboveground spread of woody plants — precursors to Earth’s first forests.  That rise in oxygen coincided with a period of remarkable diversification among fish with jaws — the ancestors of most vertebrates alive today. The finding suggests that oxygenation might have shaped evolutionary patterns among prehistoric species. “It’s known that oxygen is a necessary condition for animal evolution, but the extent to which ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 25, 2025 Contact: Leann Fox, Director of Advocacy and Public Affairs lfox@biophysics.org | (240) 290-5606 Melanie Cocco Named as Next Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Reports BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Melanie Cocco of the University of California, Irvine has been named as the new Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Reports, the Society’s high-quality, forward-looking gold open access journal. The journal published its first articles in 2021, ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, August 25, 2025 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu  Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu ##  Most research suggests that opioid overdoses involving multiple substances in the United States typically occur among people ages 25-54. However, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and Mass General Brigham for Children indicates that polysubstance-involved opioid overdoses are also prevalent among youth. Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study examined trends in overdose mortality and found that, among youth, opioid overdoses more commonly involved ...

  Over seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the heartbreaking day-to-day battle with the effects of cognitive decline. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the brain changes that cause the disease actually begin 20 years or more before symptoms start, highlighting the critical need for early and accurate diagnosis. However, current diagnostic tools involve painful spinal taps, expensive scans and cognitive tests that can be limited in their accuracy. New research led ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:   Diego Ortiz Quintero Mount Sinai Press Office 201-572-5703 Diego.ortizquintero@mountsinai.org   Mount Sinai Scientists Create AI-Powered Tool to Improve Cancer Tissue Analysis   MARQO delivers faster, fully integrated whole-slide image processing across multiple staining technologies NEW YORK, (August 25, 2025) – Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a powerful new computational tool that could transform how cancer tissues are analyzed and help pave the way for more personalized treatments. The study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, introduces ...

Key takeaways UCLA research shows that mitochondria detect invading pathogen Toxoplasma gondii and ramp up competition for vitamin B9, also known as folate, depriving it of the nourishment it needs to grow. This new discovery came about when a researcher noticed that the amount of mitochondrial DNA in a mitochondrion increased during an infection. The new discovery raises the possibility that a vitamin regimen could rewire mitochondrial metabolism to make it even more effective at preventing infections, such as toxoplasmosis, in people. You’ve heard that mitochondria are the “powerhouse of the cell.” Now get ready for “mitochondria are the infantry of the ...

Inflammatory bowel disease, in which the immune system attacks the gut, is a painful chronic condition that affects three million Americans. Rates of IBD are rising, and there’s currently no cure. IBD can also be deadly: up to 8% of people with the disease develop blood clots, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. New research has uncovered why blood clotting malfunctions in IBD—and identified drugs that normalize blood clotting in human cells and animal models of IBD. “We think we can leverage these findings to reduce inflammation and the risk of blood clots,” says Aaron Petrey, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at University ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Research into Blue Zones — regions of the world where people tend to live longer — shows that having a sense of purpose in life may help people live longer. Now, new research from UC Davis shows that having a sense of purpose in life may have another benefit as people age: reducing the risk of dementia. The new study, published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, followed over 13,000 adults aged 45 and older for up to 15 years. Researchers found that people who reported a higher sense of purpose in life were about 28% less likely to develop cognitive impairment — including mild ...

While previous research shows outrage and division drive engagement on social media, a new study of digital behaviour during the 2024 US election finds that this effect flips during a major crisis – when “ingroup solidarity” becomes the engine of online virality. Psychologists say the findings show positive emotions such as unity can cut through the hostility on social media, but it takes a shock to the system that threatens a community.    In a little over a week during the summer of 2024, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally (July 13) and Joe Biden’s suspension of his re-election campaign (21 July) completely reshaped the ...

The dawn of agriculture in the Neolithic was a major development in the evolution of modern human culture. Although scientists agree that farming developed independently several times around the world, including in Africa, the Americas, and eastern Asia, the origins of many key crops, such as wheat, barley, and legumes have been traced to the Fertile Crescent and the harvesting of wild grains by a people known as the Natufians, roughly 10,000 years ago. Now, a new study by an interdisciplinary research team shows that, by at least 9,200 years ago, people as far north and east as southern Uzbekistan were harvesting wild barley ...

Flamingos reveal their secret to ageing Is ageing inevitable? While most living beings age, some do so more slowly than others. A new scientific study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) addresses a fascinating question: what if migration influences the way we age? To explore this mystery, scientists turned their attention to the pink flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), a graceful migratory bird that is emblematic of the Camargue region of France. Birds that do not all age in the same way Thanks to a flamingo tagging and tracking ...

As people age, they display a bias in recognizing emotions as positive—to the point of improperly labeling neutral or negative emotions as positive. Some researchers theorize this bias is an adaptive mechanism to support mental and emotional wellness, but new evidence suggests it may be a sign of cognitive decline. In a new JNeurosci paper, Noham Wolpe, from Tel Aviv University, and colleagues, from the University of Cambridge, advance understanding on what this positive emotion bias that elders exhibit signifies about their brains’ health.  A large pool of participants (665) viewed faces in an emotion recognition task. Age-related ...

People tend to be self-preoccupied. Self-interest is good when it ensures that one’s needs are met, but it can also be maladaptive; research shows that the tendency to self-focus promotes the occurrence of depression and anxiety and can even prolong these conditions. Is there a neural representation of self-preoccupation? Danika Geisler and Meghan Meyer, from Colombia University, explored this question in their new JNeurosci paper.  The researchers first identified a pattern of neural activity that frequently ...

MAUI, HI - AUGUST 25, 2025 — The highest-resolution images of a solar flare captured at the H-alpha wavelength (656.28 nm) ever captured may reshape how we understand the Sun’s magnetic architecture—and improve space weather forecasting. Using the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, built and operated by the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO), astronomers captured dark coronal loop strands with unprecedented clarity during the decay phase of an X1.3-class flare on August 8, 2024, at 20:12 ...

A cardiac device trial published in eClinicalMedicine shows that improving enrollment of females in such trials can better guide care for all patients. The BIO-LIBRA study investigated how well implantable cardiac defibrillators work for patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, a weakening of heart muscle that is more common in females. Because nearly 48 percent of study participants were assigned female at birth—a number that is unheard-of in cardiac device trials—the one-year interim study results revealed that participants assigned male at birth were twice as likely to die or experience ...

RICHMOND HILL, Canada - 25 August 2025 — Wildfires are putting more lives at risk than ever before. A new research led by the United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) scientists finds that the number of humans directly exposed to wildland wildfires increased by 40% within the first two decades of the 21st century. The study published in Science reports at least 2,500 deaths and 10,500 injuries directly from wildfires in this period, and more than 1.5 million smoke-related deaths each year. Despite limited coverage in global media, Africa accounted for 85% of those exposed. The authors note that ...

Antiseizure medications help the majority of people with focal epilepsy, a common form of the neurological disorder. Yet most will still have episodes for at least a year after their treatment begins, until their doctors can find the right drug and dosage for them, a new study shows. Accounting for about 60% of people with epilepsy, focal epilepsy occurs when nerve cells in a certain brain region send out a sudden, excessive burst of electrical signals. This uncontrolled activity, which is called a focal ...

CLEVELAND—A team of scientists led by the Institute for Glial Sciences (IGS) at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine has discovered a built-in “brake” that controls when key brain cells mature. In multiple sclerosis (MS), this brake appears to stay on too long, leaving the cells unable to repair the damage the disease causes. The study, published today in the journal Cell, identifies a new framework for how cells control when they mature. The discovery also presents a potential regenerative medicine approach to repair the damage caused by MS and similar diseases affecting the nervous system. “Myelin ...

Key Takeaways Harvard SEAS researchers have created an electro-optic digital-to-analog converter that bridges electronic and photonic signals for efficient photonic computing and signal processing. The device is based on a novel interferometer design and offers an alternative to conventional signal conversion and modulation methods in high-speed optical systems.  The Harvard team’s device was made using a mature lithium niobate photonic foundry process similar to what exists for ...

KEY TAKEAWAYS Mass General Brigham researchers compared data from more than 75,000 adults with TBI to a control group of the same size. They studied the patients over 24 years and observed how many developed brain tumors, leaving out any patients with existing risk factors, such as radiation exposure or a history of tumors.  The study found an increased risk of developing a malignant brain tumor in adults with moderate to severe TBI.    New research led by investigators at Mass General Brigham suggests a link between a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and risk of developing a malignant brain tumor. By evaluating data from 2000-2024 of more ...

About The Study: Large portions of obesity-related conditions in U.S. adolescents and young adults may be attributable to obesity and, to a lesser extent, overweight. Obesity-related conditions during youth increase the risk of more severe disease in the future, and treating and preventing obesity may reduce obesity-related conditions and associated costs.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ashwin K. Chetty, BS, email ashwin.chetty@yale.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.2716) Editor’s Note: Please see the article ...

About The Study: Contrary to prevailing assumptions, the findings of this study suggest that children’s depression over time may have contributed to worsening maternal depression, rather than the other way around. While these results should be replicated in non-pandemic contexts to confirm their generalizability, they highlight the need for family-centered approaches to mental health care.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sheri Madigan, PhD, email sheri.madigan@ucalgary.ca. To access the embargoed ...

EMBARGOED UNTIL 11 am EST on Monday, August 25, 2025 Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu  Michael Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu Kate Shirley, kshirley@luskin.ucla.edu ##  Older men are 13 times more likely to die by firearm suicide than women, but a new study by Boston University School of Public Health and the University of California, Los Angeles Luskin School of Public Affairs has found that suicides by gun are increasing rapidly among older women. Firearms were involved in nearly 40 percent of suicides among older women from 2014-2023, up from 34.9 percent in 2014, according to the study in JAMA Network Open. Women represent nearly half of all new gun owners in the United ...

Researchers found that acoustic emission dose—an acoustic signal from microbubbles—could predict how to adjust ultrasound power and open the blood brain barrier for delivering drugs in patients with glioblastoma The blood-brain barrier—a feature of blood vessels that protects the brain from harmful substances—is so good at its job that it poses a serious obstacle to treating brain cancer. To deliver therapeutic treatments across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), researchers at Mass General Brigham ...