UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The more interactive a mobile app or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is, the more playful they are perceived to be, with users letting their guard down and risking their privacy, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State. The researchers studied the effect of mobile app interactivity on users’ vigilance toward privacy risks during the sign-up process, and how this shapes their attitudes toward the app and their willingness to keep using it. The team found that interactivity motivates users to engage with the app by fostering a heightened sense of playfulness and lowering their privacy ...

A groundbreaking new study published in Management Science challenges conventional wisdom about Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies in college football, demonstrating they actively enhance competitive balance and broaden opportunities for athletes. Researchers Tim Derdenger from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and Ivan Li at the Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, find that NIL has led to a wider distribution of talent across college programs, directly benefiting athletes who seek to maximize their brands and earning potential. This research overturns the “rich get richer” narrative, asserting ...

TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2025) — A new study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics demonstrates that machine learning models incorporating patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensor data can predict which patients with non–small cell lung cancer are most at risk of needing urgent care during treatment. The study was led by researchers and clinicians at Moffitt Cancer Center. Patients undergoing systemic therapy for non-small cell lung cancer often experience treatment-related toxicities that can result in unplanned urgent care visits. In this study, Moffitt researchers tested whether integrating multiple ...

On a hot summer day in Colorado, European honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) buzz around a cluster of hives near Boulder Creek. Worker bees taking off in search of water, nectar and pollen mingle with bees that have just returned from the field. Inside the hives, walls of hexagons are beginning to take shape as the bees build their nests. “Building a hive is a beautiful example of honeybees solving a problem collectively,” said Orit Peleg, associate professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Computer Science. “Each bee has a little bit of wax, and each bee knows where to deposit it, ...

A new multiyear study has revealed that between 2018 and 2021, wheat diseases caused the loss of approximately 560 million bushels—valued at US$2.9 billion, or $18.10 per acre, in farmer revenue—across 29 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. Published in Plant Health Progress™, the study was led by Andrew Friskop (Department of Plant Pathology, North Dakota State University) in collaboration with dozens of university-based specialists and the Crop Protection Network. It represents the most comprehensive survey of wheat-related losses to date. The findings underscore the widespread economic impact of ...

Toronto, ON (September 15, 2025) – A Canadian-led international research team, spearheaded by Dr. Fang Liu at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has received nearly $800,000 US ($1,137,868 CAD) in new funding to advance a promising therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS). Supported by Brain Canada, the National MS Society’s Fast Forward program, and Health Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund, the project is developing a novel approach to treatment that may halt disease progression and repair nerve damage and restore function. Around ...

Think twice about eliminating those pesky ants at your next family picnic. Their behavior may hold the key to reinventing how engineering materials, traffic control and multi-agent robots are made and utilized, thanks to research conducted by recent graduate Matthew Loges ’25 and Assistant Professor Tomer Weiss from NJIT's Ying Wu College of Computing. The two earned a best presentation award for their research paper titled “Simulating Ant Swarm Aggregations Dynamics” at the ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium for Computer Animation (SCA), and a qualifying poster nomination for the undergraduate research competition at the 2025 ACM SIGGRAPH conference. SIGGRAPH, ...

Around 4,000 plant species from different parts of the world secrete nectar outside their flowers, such as on their stems or leaves, through secretory glands known as extrafloral nectaries. Unlike floral nectar, extrafloral nectar does not attract pollinators; rather, it attracts insects that defend plants, such as ants. These insects feed on the sweet liquid and, in return, protect the plant from herbivores. However, this protection comes at a cost. A study published in the Journal of ...

To train artificial intelligence (AI) models, researchers need good data and lots of it. However, most real-world data has already been used, leading scientists to generate synthetic data. While the generated data helps solve the issue of quantity, it may not always have good quality, and assessing its quality has been overlooked. Wei Gao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, has collaborated with researchers ...

Early scientific theories—such as those explaining basic phenomena like gravity, burning, and the movement of molecules in water—centered on presumed inherent properties rather than external factors, thereby misleading famous philosophers and scientists, from Aristotle to Scottish botanist Robert Brown, in their theorizing.  A new study by a team of psychology researchers has now found that this tendency is in fact common in the history of science. Moreover, through a series of experiments and surveys, the paper’s authors conclude these misfires were likely driven by cognitive constraints, among scientists and non-scientists alike, that have acted ...

LOGAN, UTAH, USA – It’s not easy eating green. Most plants are heavily defended with chemicals to deter plant eaters. For these herbivores, getting enough to eat, while minimizing exposure to toxins, is a persistent challenge that shapes their foraging choices. Understanding how these animals navigate these choices is fundamental to understanding what these creatures need to survive and how species respond to changing conditions, says Utah State University ecologist Sara Weinstein. Woodrats (genus Neotoma) provide an unexpected model for studying animal diets, she says. Native to North America, these herbivorous rodents ...

Every spring, Americans dutifully adjust their clocks forward to daylight saving time, and every fall, back to standard time — but no one seems very happy about it. The biannual time shift is not only inconvenient, it’s also known to be acutely bad for our health. The collective loss of an hour of sleep on the second Sunday in March has been linked to more heart attacks and fatal traffic accidents in the ensuing days. Now, a study by Stanford Medicine researchers finds there are longer-term hazards as well — and better alternatives. The researchers compared how three ...

One fundamental feature of neurodegenerative diseases is a breakdown in communication. Even before brain cells die, the delicate machinery that keeps neurons in touch—by clearing away protein waste at the synapses—starts to fail. When the cleanup falters, the connections between brain cells is impaired and the flow of signals responsible for reasoning, language, memory, and even basic bodily functions is progressively disrupted.  Now, a new study identifies a novel strategy for preventing unwanted proteins from clogging synapses and ultimately congealing into protein plaques. The ...

As a promising technology, multi-energy X-ray imaging technology is expected to be applied for many key fields such as distinguishing the subtle differences in material composition and density, like showing biological skeleton and muscle defects. However, the current multi-energy X-ray imaging technology usually has a high threshold in material selection and device design. To ensure that the imaging resolution reaches the expected level, it is necessary to efficiently couple the multi-layer scintillators with specific energy X-ray response characteristics. ...

The powerful light field manipulation capability of metasurfaces offers a novel development perspective for the quantum precision measurement. By applying the phase-gradient metasurface (PGM) to atomic magnetometers (AMs), we have proposed and experimentally demonstrated a new type of compact single-beam elliptically polarized atomic magnetometers (EPAMs). Employing the fabricated chiral beam splitter PGM with high cross-polarization transmittance, a new atomic spin chirality detection method was devised, enabling the ultra-high sensitivity for extremely weak magnetic ...

These chemical compounds are highly stable and linger in the environment. Thanks to their water-, oil- and stain-repellent properties, they are widely found in everyday items, such as non-stick pans, waterproof clothing, food containers and fire-fighting foams. Their widespread use has harmful effects; they can enter the human body during pregnancy via the placenta and continue to build up through breastfeeding, food, drinking water, polluted air, or contact with products containing them. Due to their impact on health, these chemical ...

Detecting lies involves processing social information. How do people process social information and evaluate honesty? And do people process this information differently when it comes from a friend versus a stranger? Yingjie Liu, from North China University of Science and Technology, led a study to explore how people assess different kinds of information from friends or strangers.  As reported in their JNeurosci paper, the researchers used a neuroimaging technique on 66 healthy volunteers as they communicated on computer screens while sitting across from each other. When the information being communicated led to benefits for pairs, this was considered a “gain” and likewise ...

SAN ANTONIO — September 15, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) installed a private 5G research, development, test and evaluation network to boost security, eliminate dependency on outside mobile network providers and expand network access for advanced 5G projects. The secure, high-velocity 5G network allows rapid deployment of communication resources and wireless connectivity on the SwRI campus or off-site in the field, providing wide coverage for research and development. The SwRI network supports a range of 5G advancements — including cybersecurity research, drone technology, edge computing initiatives, and antenna development and testing — but a private ...

Background: Osteoporosis is a common skeletal disorder characterized by excessive bone loss, leading to increased fragility and an increased risk of fractures. Osteoclasts, the bone-resorbing cells, are widely recognized as central players in this process. Osteoclast-mediated bone resorption relies critically on two organelles: lysosomes, which degrade the bone matrix, and mitochondria, which provide the necessary energy. Iron, acting as a key connector between lysosomes and mitochondria, has emerged as an essential regulator of osteoclast activity. ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Cycles of deployment and reintegration can be stressful, disruptive times for military spouses and their families. Although the Department of Defense and its military communities offer a number of formal resources to help military spouses cope during these challenging periods, very few of those who participated in a recent study said they actually used them. Only 16.5% of those in the study had participated in a formal reintegration program after their partners returned from deployment. The findings are concerning and contribute to a growing body of research indicating that thousands of military spouses may not be receiving the support they need ...

A new experiment called QROCODILE, led by the University of Zurich and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has achieved record sensitivity in the hunt for light dark matter. Using superconducting detectors cooled to near absolute zero, the team set world-leading limits on how dark matter interacts with ordinary matter — opening the door to future breakthroughs in one of physics’ greatest mysteries. [Hebrew University of Jerusalem]– Dark matter, the elusive substance that makes up about 85% of the universe’s mass, remains one of the greatest mysteries ...

Electrochemical devices that convert CO2 into useful chemicals are a promising route toward sustainable industrial production, yet their long-term stability remains a major challenge. A new study by researchers from Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) introduces a powerful in-operando two-dimensional X-ray diffraction imaging techniques that allows researchers to watch, in real time, what happens inside a membrane–electrode assembly (MEA)-based CO2 electrolyzer.   The ...

Materials scientists have long pursued advanced microwave absorption materials to address growing electromagnetic pollution challenges in both military stealth and civilian shielding applications. Transition metal dichalcogenides, particularly MoS2, have emerged as promising candidates due to their unique 2D layered structures and tunable electronic properties. However, conventional single-element doping strategies have shown limited effectiveness in achieving broadband absorption, while multi-element high-entropy doping in MoS2 systems remains ...

We are thrilled to announce that our esteemed academic journal, Circular Economy, has been officially included in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) by Web of Science, a leading global provider of scientific and scholarly research information. All articles published by Circular Economy since its establishment in 2022 will be included in ESCI. And it will receive the first impact factor in 2026.   About Circular Economy Circular Economy is a quarterly journal launched in September 2022. It serves as a sharing and communication platform ...

Perovskites, a class of materials known for their stellar performance in solar cells, are now making waves in the world of advanced optics. These versatile semiconductors can capture and emit light in ways that traditional materials like silicon cannot, offering a cheaper and simpler way to create cutting-edge technologies. This review explores a fascinating phenomenon called exciton-polaritons, hybrid particles formed when light and matter merge so strongly that they act as one. This merging, or “strong coupling,” happens when light bounces inside tiny cavities, interacting intensely ...