Climate, dead zones and fish: Solving a 'wicked problem' in Lake Erie and beyond
2024-10-28
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There's a famous piece of advice from hockey, attributed to Wayne Gretzky, about how it's better to skate to where the puck is headed rather than where it is.
Research is now showing that regulations designed to protect Lake Erie's water quality are heeding the Great One's words when it comes to safeguarding the Great Lake's fisheries.
Specifically, the currently recommended limits on the flow of nutrients into Lake Erie from agriculture may be too restrictive for some species of fish. They are, however, suited to maintain healthy fisheries until the ...
Dinosaurs thrived after ice, not fire, says a new study of ancient volcanism
2024-10-28
201.6 million years ago, one of the Earth's five great mass extinctions took place, when three-quarters of all living species suddenly disappeared. The wipeout coincided with massive volcanic eruptions that split apart Pangaea, a giant continent then comprising almost all the planet's land. Millions of cubic miles of lava erupted over some 600,000 years, separating what are now the Americas, Europe and North Africa. It marked the end of the Triassic period and the beginning of the Jurassic, the period when dinosaurs arose to take the place of Triassic creatures and dominate the planet.
The exact mechanisms of the End Triassic Extinction have long been debated, ...
Green growth: 30% of regions worldwide achieve economic growth while reducing carbon emissions
2024-10-28
“We found that 30 percent of the regions with available data have fully decoupled carbon emissions from economic growth. Regions with high incomes and a history of carbon-intensive industries, as well as those with significant shares of service and manufacturing sectors were particularly successful in reducing carbon emissions while still experiencing economic growth,“ says Anders Levermann, co-author and head of the research department “Complexity Science” at PIK. “A stabilization of the global mean temperature is only possible with net-zero carbon emissions. That ...
Cellular couriers: Body's ‘delivery trucks’ could lead to new cancer blood test
2024-10-28
A landmark study led by WEHI and La Trobe University has found a potential new diagnostic marker that could be used to better detect the level of tissue damage in our bodies.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small ‘delivery trucks’ released by our cells that deliver important materials to other cells to aid cellular communication. This study revealed, for the first time, a link between levels of EVs in the blood and tissue damage caused by diseases such as leukaemia.
Researchers hope to leverage the ...
Public and community engagement key to enhancing urban living conditions and environmental decision making in China, study says
2024-10-28
Public and community engagement in decision making is key to enhancing urban living conditions and the environment in China, a new study says.
There has been significant progress through legislation to promote the role of citizens in environment and nature-based solutions (NBS), but progress in involving the public in projects has been limited, the research shows.
However, there has been some work in gathering public opinion and involving them in the project design and decision-making of government-led and large NBS projects.
Researchers found smaller local NBS projects tend to see higher levels of public participation, ...
Bagheri to leverage recycled polyurethane foam for real-world applications
2024-10-28
Bagheri To Leverage Recycled Polyurethane Foam For Real-World Applications Shaghayegh Bagheri, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), received funding for the project: “Leveraging Recycled Polyurethane Foam for Real-world Applications.”
Bagheri ...
Seeing a black hole's jet in a new light
2024-10-28
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Research led by the University of Michigan has pored over more than two decades' worth of data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory to show there's new knotty science to discover around black holes.
In particular, the study looks at the high-energy jet of particles being blasted across space by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Centaurus A.
Jets are visible to different types of telescopes, including those that detect radio waves and others that collect X-rays. Since Chandra's 1999 launch, many astronomers have been particularly interested ...
Experienced research leader tapped as CEO of Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine led by Binghamton University
2024-10-28
An engineer with decades of experience in industry and higher education will serve as the CEO of the Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine led by Binghamton University.
Meera Sampath, who holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, previously was the associate dean of research in Binghamton’s Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Sampath spent the first 20 years of her career with Xerox Corp., including time as the vice president for innovation and business transformation at Xerox Services and as founding director of the Xerox Research Center India. From there, she ...
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University awarded nearly $1 million in PCORI funding to improve antibiotic prescribing for childhood respiratory infections
2024-10-28
(Philadelphia, PA) – A team at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, part of Temple Health, has been awarded nearly $1 million by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to help improve antibiotic prescribing for children with acute respiratory tract infections.
“Many children with symptoms of upper respiratory tract illness who are taken to see a pediatrician end up being prescribed antibiotics, even though they aren’t always needed,” explained Janet Lee, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Lewis Katz School of Medicine. Dr. Lee and Claire Raab, MD, President ...
A new chemistry for CRISPR
2024-10-28
CRISPR-Cas9 has long been likened to a kind of genetic scissors, thanks to its ability to snip out any desired section of DNA with elegant precision.
But it turns out that CRISPR systems have more than one strategy in their toolkit. A mechanism originally discovered in bacteria, where it has operated as an adaptive immune system for eons, CRISPR is naturally deployed by certain singled-cell organisms to protect themselves against viruses (called phages) and other foreign genetic fragments. Now, researchers at Rockefeller’s Laboratory ...
Giant clam declared critically endangered after the latest assessment
2024-10-28
The giant clam, known for its colorful cape-like mantle, wavy shell and astonishing size, is in danger of going extinct after its population plunged by more than 80% over the last century, according to a new assessment by a University of Colorado Boulder biologist and collaborators.
The assessment, led by Ruiqi Li, a postdoctoral researcher at the CU Museum of Natural History, prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) today to update the conservation status of this animal from “vulnerable” to ...
DOE awards $12 million to expand marine energy initiatives at Lehigh and partner universities
2024-10-28
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently granted the Atlantic Marine Energy Center (AMEC) $12 million to expand research and development in marine energy initiatives. AMEC comprises four universities including the University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University, the Coastal Studies Institute, and Lehigh University.
In total, DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office invested more than $41 million in this latest round of funding using the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to four university-led National Marine Energy Centers located across the country. The centers will use the funds to support research, infrastructure improvements, strategy, administration, outreach, ...
Pythons can swallow even bigger prey than scientists realized
2024-10-28
Burmese pythons can consume prey even larger than scientists realized, according to a new study.
That means more animals are on the menu across southern Florida, where the nonnative, invasive snakes have decimated populations of foxes, bobcats, raccoons and other animals.
Pythons swallow deer, alligators and other prey whole. What they eat is limited in part by how big an animal they can wrap their flexible, stretchy jaws around. Researchers call this the snake’s gape.
University of Cincinnati Professor Bruce Jayne said measurements of snakes captured in and around Everglades National Park show that the biggest pythons have an even bigger gape than mathematical ...
Evidence mounts for dark energy from black holes
2024-10-28
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Almost 14 billion years ago, at the very beginning of the Big Bang, a mysterious energy drove an exponential expansion of the infant universe and produced all known matter, according to the prevailing inflationary universe theory.
That ancient energy shared key features of the current universe's dark energy, which is the largest mystery of our time by at least one objective standard: It makes up the majority—roughly 70%—of the universe, but scientists ...
AI might scare us, but can we scare it?
2024-10-28
In recent years, advancements in artificial intelligence have enabled intelligent machines to generate visual art, compose music, and create videos. They converse with us, help with homework, and have even begun competing for our jobs. Amid these advances, machines evoke powerful reactions from humans—sparking concerns about control, fairness, and the potential for misuse. Many feel unsettled by the growing presence of intelligent machines when they inadvertently reinforce power imbalances and perpetuate injustices.
Amid all of this disruption and mistrust, we are comforted to know that machines can`t have emotions. Yet, recent advancements in language-based AI have demonstrated ...
Early intervention in patients with asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis and myocardial fibrosis
2024-10-28
About The Study: In asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis and myocardial fibrosis, early aortic valve intervention had no demonstrable effect on all-cause death or unplanned aortic stenosis–related hospitalization. The trial had a wide 95% CI around the primary end point, with further research needed to confirm these findings.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Marc R. Dweck, PhD, email marc.dweck@ed.ac.uk.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For ...
Rutgers receives $3.3 million federal grant to recruit counselors for high-need schools
2024-10-28
Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) has received a $3.3 million grant to increase the number and diversity of highly trained school counselors to help fill the gap in mental health services in New Jersey high-need school districts.
The Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grant from the U.S. Department of Education – part of a federal initiative to expand nationwide student access to school-based mental health services – will fund the GSE-led School Counseling Prevention to Intervention project.
“School counseling is often a misunderstood and under-resourced profession,” said Ian Levy, an assistant professor of school counseling ...
Bovine H5N1 influenza from infected worker transmissible and lethal in animal models
2024-10-28
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A highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus, isolated from the eye of a farm worker who became infected through contact with dairy cows, was lethal in mice and ferrets infected in a high-containment laboratory environment, according to a new study in Nature. The study investigators also found that the virus isolated from the worker, who experienced mild inflammation of the cornea (conjunctivitis), could be transmitted through the air between separated ferrets and might be capable of binding to and replicating in human respiratory tract cells.
The virus isolated from the worker is called huTX37-H5N1 and has a mutation (PB2-E627K) frequently seen in avian influenza viruses ...
Marzougui & Kan receive funding for crash testing
2024-10-28
Dhafer Marzougui, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, and Cing-Dao Kan, Professor/Director, Center for Collision Safety and Analysis, College of Science, received funding for: “NCHRP Project 03-110-01.”
Marzougui and Kan aim to identify and evaluate the crash performance of breakaway sign and luminaire supports and crashworthy work-zone traffic control devices that are non-proprietary and commonly used.
The researchers will examine in-service safety performance, potential failure modes (and, if possible, design modifications that might address ...
Global leaders in the fight against cancer gathered in Washington, DC on October 18, 2024, for the NFCR Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research & Entrepreneurship
2024-10-28
Washington, DC – The 2024 National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research & Entrepreneurship, co-hosted with the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund, convened the world’s top experts across cancer research, biotech entrepreneurship, pharmaceuticals, investment, and patient advocacy. This prestigious event, held at the National Press Club, served as a unique forum for advancing groundbreaking science, fostering innovative collaborations, identifying ...
New research highlights economic and employment challenges for parents of medically complex babies
2024-10-28
Parents with babies born preterm or with low birth weight face significant economic and employment challenges, according to new research published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The study, led by Erin Von Klein, MD, a neonatology fellow at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, reveals that 30% of parents with a very low birth weight baby (under 1,500 grams or 3.3 pounds) have had to make an employment decision based on their child’s health and the required ongoing care after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.
"The lower the child's birth weight, the more likely a parent was to make one of these decisions," said Von Klein. "Of parents with ...
Prenatal cannabis exposure and executive function and aggressive behavior at age 5
2024-10-28
About The Study: Results from this contemporary U.S. cohort where prenatal cannabis exposure was common and indicated that exposed children exhibited some differences in aspects of executive function and behavior relevant to long-term academic success and adaptive functioning. These results may be considered in refining clinical recommendations regarding cannabis use during pregnancy.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sarah A. Keim, PhD, email sarah.keim@nationwidechildrens.org.
To ...
BMI and postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and young adults
2024-10-28
About The Study: In this cohort study, elevated body mass index (BMI) was associated with a significantly increased post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in a dose-dependent manner, highlighting the need for targeted care to prevent chronic conditions in at-risk children and young adults.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Yong Chen, PhD, email ychen123@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...
Cannabis use during pregnancy can impact thinking and learning skills, increase aggression among children, study shows
2024-10-28
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – As cannabis is legalized and is more accessible in various forms across the country, there is increasing concern among health care providers about potential impact on children. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have new findings to add to the existing evidence that cannabis exposure before birth can negatively impact children.
In a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers found prenatal cannabis exposure was associated in early childhood with poorer thinking skills and behaviors such as impulse control, paying attention, planning ability, and more aggressive behavior, all of ...
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers discover underlying mechanisms that make CRISPR an effective gene editing tool
2024-10-28
Philadelphia, October 28, 2024 – CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene editing tool that has revolutionized biomedical research and led to the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based gene therapy. However, until now, the precise mechanism of exactly how this tool works and avoids creating detrimental off-target effects was not well understood. Now, using state-of-the-art technology, researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have identified several specific steps needed for CRISPR to become active and perform its gene editing function. These preclinical findings could lead to improved designs for CRISPR-based ...
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