AMHERST, Mass. — One of the biggest obstacles on the road to the low-carbon energy future is caused by the rare-earth element lithium, a critical component for the batteries that can store the abundant and sustainable energy from renewable sources. The element occurs naturally as a salt in briny oases, called salares, in some of the world’s harshest environments, including the “Lithium Triangle” high in South America’s arid Altiplano. Mining lithium has the potential to destabilize already sensitive environments that are host to rare flora and fauna, ...

New research has shown how harmful gambling is clearly linked to a marked and long-lasting increase in suicide attempts among young people in the UK. The study, by researchers at the University of Bristol, found that compared to someone who experiences no gambling harms, problem gamblers face triple the suicide risk one year later, and quadruple the risk four years on. Researchers analysed data from 2,801 people in the renowned Children of the 90s study, which has followed the health and development of 14,000 pregnant women and their families since the early nineties, and which continues ...

Catalysts play an indispensable role in modern manufacturing. More than 80% of all manufactured products, from pharmaceuticals to plastics, rely on catalytic processes at some stage of production. Transition metals, in particular, stand out as highly effective catalysts because their partially filled d-orbitals allow them to easily exchange electrons with other molecules. This very property, however, makes them challenging to model accurately, requiring precise descriptions of their electronic structure. Designing efficient transition-metal catalysts ...

When Rutgers theoretical astrophysicist Charles Keeton first saw an unusual picture shared by his colleague, he was intrigued. “Have you ever seen an Einstein Cross with an image in the middle?” his colleague Andrew Baker asked, referring to a rarely seen cosmic configuration. Keeton hadn’t. The implications were enormous. “I said, well, that’s not supposed to happen,” said Keeton, the Vice Provost for Experiential Learning at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “You can’t get a fifth image in the center unless something unusual is going on with the mass that’s bending the light.” An ...

When Jill Knaus shuffled into the Adult Hydrocephalus Program at the University of Calgary she was hoping to find answers to her health concerns. She suddenly required the use of a cane or a walker. Her gait and balance were off, way off. Life wasn’t the same. “I wasn’t walking anymore, not properly. I wore through five pair of shoes because my feet were dragging when I tried to step,” says Knaus. “I couldn’t go for daily walks with my dog, Lucy.” Knaus chose to ...

Researchers at the University of Calgary studying a lethal lung disease called pulmonary fibrosis have found neurons, which were known to help detect pain, are also critical for reducing harmful lung inflammation that leads to the disease. Pulmonary fibrosis, also called lung scarring, is uncommon but it’s hard to treat and most people die within five years of diagnosis. Research to date has focused on how the lung lining gets damaged and the body’s attempts to repair the issue. The role of neurons — a complex network of cells within the nervous system that send messages between the brain, spinal cord and through the body ...

September 16, 2025 — Abbreviated, 15- to 30-minute medication visits have become common in psychiatry now that many insurers model their reimbursement patterns on internal medicine and surgery. To support practicing psychiatrists, a series of four columns in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice®, part of the Lippincott portfolio from Wolters Kluwer, describe how to feasibly combine brief psychotherapy with longitudinal pharmacotherapy. The final installment appears in the September issue. The authors are psychiatrists Samuel Dotson, MD, of Northeast Georgia Health System in Gainesville, GA and Emory University in Atlanta; John C. Markowitz, ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. Why this matters:   Wiggling atoms in new quantum materials could lead to more efficient electronics that are smaller and faster. These new materials have surprising properties and could be key elements for next-generation quantum computers. EAST LANSING, Mich. – Researchers at Michigan State University have figured out how to use a fast laser to wiggle atoms in a way that temporarily changes the behavior of their host material. Their novel ...

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology will host a public webinar on Monday, September 29, at 12 pm CT showcasing the key findings of Alliance research presented at the 2025 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. The clinical trial results discussed at the virtual meeting will include some of the latest information for people living with colorectal, squamous cell, and renal cell cancers.   “We are pleased to showcase the ground-breaking research that Alliance researchers presented at ASCO,” said Evanthia Galanis, MD, Group ...

The global climate crisis could significantly impact the natural replenishment of Brazilian aquifers, reducing the groundwater supply across the country. This is the conclusion of a study by scientists from the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Geosciences (IGc-USP) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The scientists analyzed the impact of various climate scenarios on water availability by the end of the century. The study was published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Groundwater ...

A University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher received a $1.7 million grant from the Department of Defense to continue the Convergent Science Virtual Cancer Center, which broadens the scope of education for cancer research trainees through an emergent, cross-disciplinary approach known as convergent science.   The Convergent Science Virtual Cancer Center – a partnership between the U of A Cancer Center and the Convergent Science Institute in Cancer at the University of Southern California – strengthens scholars’ expertise in ...

Our brains are masters of efficiency. “Biology is very energy optimized,” says Yevgeny Berdichevsky, an associate professor of bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering at Lehigh University. “The amount of energy the brain uses at any given time is roughly equal to a light bulb in terms of wattage. Replicating those computations in hardware would demand orders of magnitude more power.”  Berdichevsky and his collaborators in Lehigh’s P.C. Rossin College of ...

Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an artificial intelligence tool to help scientists better plan gene-editing experiments. The technology, CRISPR-GPT, acts as a gene-editing “copilot” supported by AI to help researchers — even those unfamiliar with gene editing — generate designs, analyze data and troubleshoot design flaws. The model builds on a tool called CRISPR, a powerful gene-editing technology used to edit genomes and develop therapies for genetic diseases. But training on the tool to design an experiment is complicated and time-consuming — even for seasoned scientists. CRISPR-GPT speeds that process along, automating ...

Several genetic variants associated with social behavior in honey bees are located within genes that have previously been linked to social behavior in humans, Ian Traniello at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, and colleagues report on September 16th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. The results hint at ancient roots to social behavior that have been conserved across species. In social species, there is individual variation in sociability — some individuals are highly social and well-connected within their ...

Previous studies have suggested that children exposed to opioid pain medications while in the womb have higher rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but a new study finds that any increased risk could be explained by other factors. Emma N. Cleary of Indiana University Bloomington, USA, and colleagues published these findings on September 16th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Opioids are commonly prescribed to help manage pain during pregnancy, but it is unclear whether opioid exposure in utero increases a child’s risk of neurodevelopmental disorders ...

A diet focused on healthy plant-based foods may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by Solomon Sowah and colleagues from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, published September 16th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Growing research shows that unhealthy foods not only impact your health but are also detrimental to the environment. Diets such as the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) recommend high amounts of healthy plant-based foods and limited animal-derived foods and sugary drinks ...

An Indiana University study brings a comprehensive new perspective to a growing body of evidence suggesting that mild to moderate use of prescribed opioid pain medications during pregnancy does not cause an increased risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. The study explores documented associations between prescribed opioid pain medications during pregnancy and the increased risk for the two neurodevelopmental disorders. It concludes that other factors, rather than fetal exposure to opioid ...

ITHACA, N.Y. — As academics increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence (AI) for research and analysis, its inability to capture the emotional and ethical depth of witness testimony risks reshaping how history is recorded and understood, a Cornell historian warns. When Jan Burzlaff, a postdoctoral associate in the Jewish Studies Program and an expert on Nazi Germany, asked ChatGPT to summarize the testimony of Luisa D., a seven-year-old Holocaust survivor, the large language model omitted a harrowing detail: her mother had cut her own finger to feed her dying child drops of blood — ...

Würzburg. In almost all solid tumours – i.e. cancers with a solid tissue structure – the detection of tumour cells in the lymph nodes is considered a decisive marker for the progression of the disease. Lymph node involvement has a significant influence on the choice of treatment and the chances of survival for patients. In particular, solid tumours in the breast, on the skin or in the gastrointestinal tract use the lymphatic system as the main route for distant metastasis, for example to the lungs, liver and bones. However, lymph nodes also play an important role in the immune system. They serve as a meeting place for various immune ...

Implanting a brain shunt in older people diagnosed with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is effective in improving their symptoms, a randomized, double-blinded, multi-center patient trial shows. This condition is associated with an enlargement of the brain’s ventricles, the spaces where fluid to cushion the brain and spine is produced and stored. The disorder is manifested by slow gait and balance issues that increase the risk for falls, as well as difficulty thinking, memory loss, and urinary incontinence. “If ...

As modern communication and sensing systems demand ever higher speeds and efficiencies, integrated photonics has emerged as a critical enabling technology. Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), known for its exceptional electro-optic and second-order nonlinear properties, is poised to become the material of choice for high-performance modulators and frequency converters. However, manufacturing TFLN-based devices typically relies on dry etching processes, which suffer from low selectivity, limited reproducibility across different tools, and long recipe development cycles. These challenges become more severe ...

Embargo 16 September 2025 at 17:00 UK time / 12:00 US ET Peer-reviewed / Human cell lines / Experimental KIDNEY TRANSPLANT REJECTION ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES IN LYMPHATIC VESSELS, NEW RESEARCH SHOWS Scientists have uncovered how lymphatic vessels – the kidney’s ‘plumbing system’ – undergo dramatic changes during chronic transplant rejection, becoming structurally disorganised and spreading to unusual parts of the kidney. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge used single-cell sequencing combined with powerful 3D imaging to look at small lymphatic vessels in kidney tissue, comparing healthy ...

EWRR is recognised as a friendly and interactive forum for basic and translational researchers working in rheumatology. The initial meeting took place in 1981, and four decades later it is still providing up-to-date information – helping to unpick the basic mechanisms of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), and supporting the development of advanced treatment options. Considered Europe’s premier event for basic and translational research in the field of rheumatology, its core aim is to attract young scientists and to give them ...

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Heidelberg University Hospital have decoded a previously unknown mechanism by which HIV-1 selects its integration targets in the human genome. A research team led by DZIF scientist Dr. Marina Lusic identified RNA:DNA hybrids (R-loops) as molecular signposts for the virus. These findings reveal a key vulnerability in the life cycle of HIV-1. The results, published in the renowned journal Nature Microbiology, provide new therapeutic approaches for specifically controlling HIV reservoirs in the body. This has been one of the biggest obstacles to long-term or curative HIV therapies. Thanks ...

Fukuoka, Japan—For most people, swallowing is second nature, but how does it occur, and why do some people have difficulty with it? Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan have started to tackle these questions by developing a mathematical model that recreates the muscle movements of the esophagus that occur during swallowing. The model, reported in Royal Society Open Science, also replicates muscle dynamics seen in various esophageal motility disorders, revealing insights into their underlying causes and opening up new avenues for treatment. A ...