SAN ANTONIO — April 24, 2024 — Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Marc Janssens was named a “DiNenno Prize Laureate” for his role in the widespread adoption of the cone calorimeter, a fire-testing tool that accurately measures heat release and material flammability. The National Fire Protection Association® recognized the cone calorimeter with the 2024 Philip J. DiNenno Prize for its lasting impact on fire safety. Dr. Vytenis Babrauskas, a co-recipient of the prize, developed the cone ...

As wildfires in Siberia become more common, global climate modeling estimates significant impacts on climate, air quality, health, and economies in East Asia and across the northern hemisphere. The global effects of increasing wildfires in Siberia have been modeled by researchers at Hokkaido University and colleagues at the University of Tokyo and Kyushu University. The results, published in the journal Earth’s Future, suggest significant and widespread effects on air quality, climate, health, and economics under the most extreme wildfire scenarios. The authors performed global numerical simulation experiments to evaluate how the increased intensity of wildfires ...

A new study, led by the University of Oxford and MIT, has recovered a 3.7-billion-year-old record of Earth’s magnetic field, and found that it appears remarkably similar to the field surrounding Earth today. The findings have been published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Without its magnetic field, life on Earth would not be possible since this shields us from harmful cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted by the Sun (the ‘solar wind’). But up to now, there has been no reliable date for when the modern magnetic field was first established.    In the new study, the researchers examined ...

Eric and Wendy Schmidt Announce 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows    32 exceptional early career researchers will tackle ambitious interdisciplinary science projects   The seventh cohort of the interdisciplinary program, an initiative of Schmidt Sciences, will advance research in areas ranging from healthcare and the environment to advanced materials and robotics   The 2024 Fellows, representing 17 nationalities from 26 nominating institutions across North America, Europe, and Asia, will also benefit from bespoke ...

Background and Aims Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is commonly observed in individuals with chronic HBV infection undergoing antineoplastic drug therapy. Paclitaxel (PTX) treatment has been identified as a potential trigger for HBV reactivation. This study aimed to uncover the mechanisms of PTX-induced HBV reactivation in vitro and in vivo, which may inform new strategies for HBV antiviral treatment.   Methods The impact of PTX on HBV replication was assessed through various methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, dual-luciferase reporter assay, quantitative ...

Dr. Han Joong Tark and student researcher Lee Do Geun at the Nano Hybrid Technology Research Center of Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute(KERI) have developed a new manufacturing technique for "silicon/nitrogen-doped carbon composite anode materials." These materials aim to enhance the capacity and stability of lithium-ion battery anodes. Silicon, despite offering significantly higher energy density compared to graphite (a common anode material), suffers from a major drawback: it expands 3-4 times during charging and discharging, leading to performance degradation. To address this issue, researchers are blending ...

As urban areas continue to grow, the demand for innovative solutions to alleviate traffic congestion and improve transportation efficiency has never been more urgent. A recent breakthrough study presented by researchers from the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory as well as international research team introduces a cutting-edge approach to managing traffic at urban intersections using the spatiotemporal-restricted A* algorithm. This advanced method promises to transform how traffic is handled by optimizing the flow of both connected automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HVs) ...

NEW YORK, NY, APRIL 24, 2024— Surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed the first-ever combined mechanical heart pump and gene-edited pig kidney transplant surgery in a 54-year-old woman with heart and kidney failure—a confluence of advances that showcase the possibility and hope of modern medicine. Doctors performed this feat in two stages: first surgically implanting the heart pump days before embarking on the landmark transplant, which included a gene-edited pig kidney and the pig’s thymus gland to aid against rejection. Before the procedure, patient Lisa Pisano, a New Jersey ...

Florida Atlantic University Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing’s Canines Providing Assistance to Wounded Warriors (C-P.A.W.W.) has received a new grant from the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) for research that investigates the contribution of pet dog ownership to resilience and well-being in adolescent children of military families. The grant was awarded to a team of researchers led by Laurie Martinez, Ph.D., an assistant professor, FAU College of Nursing; and co-led by Cheryl A. Krause-Parello, Ph.D., associate vice president for research, FAU Division of Research and a research professor in the College of Nursing.     This important study will provide ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The unique circumstances arising from the COVID-19 pandemic altered a long-held convention that doctors provide care regardless of personal risk. In a study assessing doctors’ tolerance for refusing care to COVID-19 patients, Duke Health researchers identified a growing acceptance to withhold care because of safety concerns.  “All the papers throughout history have shown that physicians broadly believed they should treat infectious disease patients,” said the study’s lead author, Braylee Grisel, a fourth-year student at Duke University ...

Estuaries — where freshwater rivers meet the salty sea — are great locations for birdwatching and kayaking. In these areas, waters containing different salt concentrations mix and may be sources of sustainable, “blue” osmotic energy. Researchers in ACS Energy Letters report creating a semipermeable membrane that harvests osmotic energy from salt gradients and converts it to electricity. The new design had an output power density more than two times higher than commercial membranes in lab demonstrations. Osmotic energy can be generated anywhere salt gradients are ...

In February, OpenAI released videos created by its generative artificial intelligence program Sora. The strikingly realistic content, produced via simple text prompts, is the latest breakthrough for companies demonstrating the capabilities of AI technology. It also raised concerns about generative AI’s potential to enable the creation of misleading and deceiving content on a massive scale. According to new research from Drexel University, current methods for detecting manipulated digital media will not be effective against AI-generated video; but a machine-learning approach could be the key to unmasking these synthetic creations. In a paper accepted ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Political conservatives who watched a documentary on Syrian refugees with a virtual reality headset had far more sympathy for the people depicted in the film than those who viewed the same film on a two-dimensional computer screen.  Higher sympathy levels among the conservatives who watched the VR version of the documentary, “Clouds over Sidra,” resulted in a greater willingness to donate to the crisis, according to a study on the research published in New Media & Society.   Liberal participants in the study reported high levels of sympathy and ...

Setting the stage for a new era of immersive displays, researchers are one step closer to mixing the real and virtual worlds in an ordinary pair of eyeglasses using high-definition 3D holographic images, according to a study led by Princeton University researchers. Holographic images have real depth because they are three dimensional, whereas monitors merely simulate depth on a 2D screen. Because we see in three dimensions, holographic images could be integrated seamlessly into our normal view of the everyday world. The result is a virtual and augmented reality display that has the potential to be truly immersive, the kind where you can move your head ...

The need for sustainable and environment-friendly solutions has accelerated the global demand for green and renewable technologies. In this regard, semiconductor photocatalysts have emerged as an attractive solution, owing to their potential in mitigating pollutants and harnessing solar energy efficiently. Photocatalysts are materials that initiate chemical reactions when exposed to light. Despite their progress, commonly used photocatalysts suffer from reduced photocatalytic activity and a narrow operation range within the visible ...

Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona and the University of Cologne in Germany have developed a new experimental strategy to tackle scarring and fibrosis. Experiments with patient-derived human cells and animal models showed the strategy was effective, non-toxic and its effects reversible. The findings are published today in the journal Nature Communications. Scarring occurs from the secretion and accumulation of various components – primarily proteins known as collagens – into the space between individual cells, usually occurring as a response to injury or damage. Excessive collagen secretion can also cause the buildup of fibrotic ...

A new collaboration brings together a world-leading interdisciplinary team with skills across quantum computing, genomics, and advanced algorithms. They aim to tackle one of the most challenging computational problems in genomic science: building, augmenting and analysing pangenomic datasets for large population samples. Their project sits at frontiers of research in both biomedical science and quantum computing.   The project, which involves researchers based at the University of Cambridge, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL’s European ...

When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. But how do our defence cells stay ready when no attacker is in sight? Scientists from Vienna have found a surprising explanation: They are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue. This keeps them active and ready to respond to pathogens. Based on this insight, future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system’s attention. The study has been published in the journal Nature Immunology (DOI: 10.1038/s41590-024-01804-1). Communication is crucial in immune defence. When ...

“Our new study shows that renewable-scarce countries like parts of the EU, Japan and South Korea could save between 18 to 38 percent in production costs”, explains Philipp Verpoort, scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and lead author of the study published in Nature Energy. “They could do so by relocating their production of industrial basic materials like green steel and chemicals based on green hydrogen to countries where renewable energy is cheap.” The use of renewable electricity and green hydrogen is ...

HOUSTON – (April 24, 2024) – Researchers at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and Houston Methodist published results of a phase I clinical trial of a novel immunotherapy for high-risk sarcomas in the journal Nature Cancer.  The therapy uses chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells engineered to target the HER2 protein, which is overexpressed on the surface of sarcoma cells. The HEROS 2.0 trial showed that this therapeutic approach is safe and is associated with clinical benefit. “CAR T cell therapy has been a highly successful strategy for recurrent ...

The emergence in the Neolithic of patrilineal1 social systems, in which children are affiliated with their father's lineage, may explain a spectacular decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome2 observed worldwide between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. In a study to be published on 24 April in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from the CNRS, MNHN and Université Paris Cité3 suggest that these patrilineal organisations had a greater impact on the Y chromosome than mortality during conflict. This ...

The research team asked one group of participants to follow healthy eating accounts and another to follow interior design accounts After just two weeks, participants following healthy eating accounts ate more fruit and vegetables and less junk food Even minor tweaks to social media accounts could result in substantial diet improvements in young adults. Researchers from Aston University have found that people following healthy eating accounts on social media for as little as two weeks ate more fruit and vegetables and less junk food. Previous ...

Driven by the overuse of antimicrobials, pathogens are quickly building up resistances to once-successful treatments. It’s estimated that antimicrobial-resistant infections killed more than 1 million people worldwide in 2019, according to the World Health Organization.    “There are worries that at the rate things are going, in perhaps 20 or 30 years, few of our drugs will be effective at all,” said Xuefei Huang, a Michigan State University Research Foundation Professor in the departments ...

European Hormone Day 2024: Endocrine community unites to raise public awareness and push for policy action on hormone health European Hormone Day returns for the third year today, 24 April 2024, putting a spotlight on the vital role of hormones in chronic diseases such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, cancer and obesity, as well as many rare diseases. The European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), the European Hormone and Metabolism Foundation (ESE Foundation), and partners from key groups and organisations across Europe and beyond will join forces to highlight simple steps we can all take towards better hormone health. This builds on the success of the previous ...

Research Highlights: Middle-aged Black women with better heart health were less likely to show a decline in mental function compared with middle-aged Black women with worse heart health. In this study, heart health was unrelated to cognitive decline among middle-aged white women. A clinical trial is required to confirm if improving heart health among middle-aged Black women may slow cognitive decline and decrease the risk of dementia. Embargoed until 2 a.m. CT/3 a.m. ET Wednesday, April 24, 2024 DALLAS, April 24, 2024 ...