The visible universe — all the potatoes, gas giants, steamy romance novels, black holes, questionable tattoos, and overwritten sentences — accounts for only 5 percent of the cosmos. A Virginia Tech-led team is hunting for the rest of it, not with telescopes or particle colliders, but by scrutinizing billion-year-old rocks for traces of dark matter. In leading a transdisciplinary team from multiple universities on this unconventional search, physics’ Patrick Huber is also taking an unconventional step: from theoretical work into experimental work. With support from a $3.5 million Growing Convergence Research ...

A new study published October 31, 2024, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans has revealed significant acceleration in the upper-ocean circulation of the equatorial Pacific over the past 30 years. This acceleration is primarily driven by intensified atmospheric winds, leading to increased oceanic currents that are both stronger and shallower, with potential impacts on regional and global climate patterns, including the frequency and intensity of El Niño and La Niña events. The study provides a spatial view of these long-term trends from observations, adding at least ...

Traditional city planning methods require significant technical expertise and manual work. A Virginia Tech researcher is working to change that. New research shows the potential of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, for assessing the human-made environment using street-view images. By comparing LLM performance with traditional city planning deep learning methods, the study from the College of Natural Resources and Environment found that LLM-based performance is similar with established approaches. Unlike ...

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 31, 2024 — By creating a new way for light and matter to interact, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have enabled the manufacturing of ultrathin silicon solar cells that could help spread the energy-converting technology to a vast range of applications, including thermoelectric clothing and onboard vehicle and device charging. The development, subject of a paper recently published as the cover story in the journal ACS Nano, hinges on the UC Irvine researchers’ conversion of pure silicon from an indirect to a direct bandgap semiconductor through the way it interacts ...

WHAT:  A clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched to examine the safety and acceptability of a novel rectal HIV microbicide douche containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir. This “on-demand” HIV prevention approach involves using the microbicide prior to a potential exposure from receptive anal intercourse.  Several forms of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are in use in the United States and globally, namely daily oral pills, long-acting injections, and a monthly vaginal ring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with ...

1. A team of researchers from NIMS and the University of Connecticut has developed a printing technique capable of forming a periodic nano/microstructure on the surface of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) slab and easily transferring it onto the surface of a glass substrate. This technique enables us to create materials with useful functions—including water-repellency and the ability to generate structural colors—without expensive equipment and complex processes. In addition, the technique may be used to fabricate materials capable of realizing anti-fogging and/or generating structural colors on their surfaces—functions potentially useful in the development ...

Reports of drug-related supply-chain issues were 40% less likely to result in drug shortages in Canada versus the United States, according to a new study from University of Pittsburgh researchers and published today in JAMA. The analysis looked at drugs that had reports of supply-chain disruptions between 2017 and 2021 in both countries and found that within 12 months of an initial U.S. report, nearly half resulted in drug shortages in the U.S. versus about one-third in Canada. There was also a consistently lower ...

About The Study: Drug-related reports of supply chain issues were 40% less likely to result in meaningful drug shortages in Canada compared with the U.S. These findings highlight the need for international cooperation between countries to curb the effects of drug shortages and improve resiliency of the supply chain for drugs. Quote from corresponding author Katie J. Suda, PharmD, MS: “Our U.S. drug supply chain is linked globally – shortages in one country can happen in another country – presenting an opportunity to compare and ...

About The Study: The results of this prospective cohort study suggest that evidence-based smoking cessation treatment within 6 months following a cancer diagnosis maximizes survival benefit. This study supports smoking cessation as an important early clinical intervention for patients after being diagnosed with cancer.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD, email pcinciri@mdanderson.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

HOUSTON ― Smokers who are diagnosed with cancer now have more incentive to quit, as researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found survival outcomes were optimized when patients quit smoking within six months of their diagnosis.   Study results, published today in JAMA Oncology, found a 22%-26% reduction in cancer-related mortality among those who had quit smoking within three months after tobacco treatment began. The best outcomes were observed in patients who started tobacco treatment within six months of a cancer diagnosis and were abstinent from smoking three months later. Survival for these patients increased from 2.1 years for ...

CONTACT: Heide Aungst HAungst@som.umaryland.edu (216) 970-5773 (cell)   UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 11 am on OCT. 31 Genomic Databases Need More Diversity University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Create Large Database of Latin American Populations to Tackle Health Disparities   BALTIMORE, Oct. 31, 2024: It is commonly known that most genomic databases are biased toward people with European ancestry. Scientists have warned that leaving out other populations could skew results in areas such as drug development, ...

Recent rules that require all new building and road projects in England to address and offset their impact on nature are excellent in principle but flawed in their implementation, leading environmental economists argue. Under Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), which became law this year, new building or infrastructure developments must achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity or habitat. In a new study published in One Earth, experts criticise the implementation of the policy which forces the majority of off-setting to occur within or near development sites rather than where it might most ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Although much rarer than either breast or prostate cancers, testicular cancer is the most common solid tumor in males between the ages of 15 and 35, with approximately 10,000 young men diagnosed annually in the United States.  With the goals of informing surgical management, improving long-term outcomes and lowering death rates of patients with testicular cancer, a study led by urologist and health services researcher Clint Cary, M.D., MPH, MBA, of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief ...

Dr. Chani Traube, the Gerald M. Loughlin, MD Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a $3.4 million grant, with the possibility of extending to a total of $17 million over five years, from the National Institutes of Health, for a large-scale clinical trial called Optimizing Pain Treatment in Children on Mechanical ventilation (OPTICOM). OPTICOM, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is part of the NIH’s HEAL KIDS PAIN initiative. The OPTICOM study will enroll 644 children in 14 pediatric intensive care units across the United States that are part of the institute’s ...

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco (CZ Biohub SF) and The 15 White Coats, Inc., have launched two initiatives that will provide travel grants as well as coursework in metagenomic sequencing and genomic epidemiology to aspiring physicians from underrepresented groups. CZ Biohub SF is one of a group of research institutes created and supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). The new initiatives are driven by CZ Biohub SF’s Rapid Response Team, which offers training, tools, and technologies to help build sustainable scientific relationships—with a special emphasis on the use of genomic sequencing platforms for pathogen discovery and detection—in laboratories ...

The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the lab to the wardrobe is figuring out how to power the garment gizmos without unfashionably toting around a solid battery. Researchers from Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Accenture Labs in California have taken a new approach to the challenge by building a full textile energy grid that can be wirelessly charged. In their recent study, the team reported that it can power textile devices, including a warming element and environmental sensors that transmit ...

WASHINGTON — While the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led many families to eat more meals at home, they had an additional benefit: an increase in the quality of family time during those dinners, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.  The study, published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, found that families who ate together more often during the pandemic also had more positive interactions, shared news and information, and even embraced technology such as videoconferencing ...

For Halloween, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) reveals this spooktacular image of a dark nebula that creates the illusion of a wolf-like silhouette against a colourful cosmic backdrop. Fittingly nicknamed the Dark Wolf Nebula, it was captured in a 283-million-pixel image by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. Found in the constellation Scorpius, near the centre of the Milky Way on the sky, the Dark Wolf Nebula is located around 5300 light-years from Earth. This image takes up an area in the sky equivalent to four full Moons, but is actually part of an even ...

A  study published in PeerJ Life and Environment has reshaped our understanding of the evolutionary history of sea stars, particularly the family Asteriidae. The study, titled Phylogenetic and taxonomic revisions of Jurassic sea stars support a delayed evolutionary origin of the Asteriidae, introduces new findings that challenge longstanding assumptions about the evolutionary timeline of these marine invertebrates. Sea stars of the superorder Forcipulatacea, comprising approximately 400 species, are integral ...

Takeout containers get your favorite noodles from the restaurant to your dining table (or couch) without incident, but they are nearly impossible to recycle if they are made from foil-lined plastics. Research published in ACS Omega suggests that replacing the plastic layer with paper could create a more sustainable packaging material. The researchers used mechanical demonstrations and computer simulations to identify paper-aluminum laminate designs that won’t compromise on performance. Protective packaging, like containers made ...

Relief carvings or relief sculptures are cultural heritage objects with figures that protrude from a background such as a wall or slab, creating a sense of depth. Commonly found at historical sites worldwide, these artworks are considered to be of immense historical and cultural value. Unfortunately, many such relief carvings at heritage sites across the world suffer from varying degrees of damage and deterioration over time. While modern 3D scanning and photogrammetry techniques can digitally preserve their current form, they cannot restore the original appearance of these carvings before damage. Additionally, traditional methods for restoring ...

A common yet underdiagnosed sleep disorder contributes to the development of dementia among adults — particularly women, a Michigan Medicine study suggests.  Investigators uncovered this by examining survey and cognitive screening data from more than 18,500 adults to determine the potential effect of known or suspected obstructive sleep apnea on the risk for dementia.  Obstructive sleep apnea is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by episodes disrupted or restricted breathing during sleep.  For all adults age 50 and older, having known obstructive sleep apnea or its symptoms — as people often do not know they have the problem ...

Imagine a sweater that powers electronics to monitor your health or charge your mobile phone while running. This development faces challenges because of the lack of materials that both conduct electricity stably and are well suited for textiles. Now a research group, led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, presents an ordinary silk thread, coated with a conductive plastic material, that shows promising properties for turning textiles into electricity generators. Thermoelectric textiles convert temperature differences, for example between our bodies and the surrounding ...

A drug commonly used to treat glaucoma has been shown in zebrafish and mice to protect against the build-up in the brain of the protein tau, which causes various forms of dementia and is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers in the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge screened more than 1,400 clinically-approved drug compounds using zebrafish genetically engineered to make them mimic so-called tauopathies. They discovered that drugs known as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors – of which the glaucoma drug methazolamide is one – clear tau build-up and reduce signs of the disease in zebrafish and mice carrying the mutant forms of tau ...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A long-standing goal of neuroscience is to understand how molecules and cellular structures on a microscale give rise to communication between brain regions at the macroscale. A study published in Nature Neuroscience now identifies, for the first time, hundreds of brain proteins that explain inter-individual differences in functional connectivity and structural covariation in the human brain. “A central goal of neuroscience is to develop an understanding of the brain that ultimately describes the mechanistic basis of human cognition and behavior,” said Jeremy Herskowitz, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham ...