USC faculty members Paul K. Newton and Nicolás Lell Benavides have been awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships for 2024. Newton, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and mathematics at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and Benavides, a lecturer at the USC Thornton School of Music, were chosen by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation from nearly 3,000 applicants. They are among 188 inductees chosen this year for their excellence in scholarship and the arts. “Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” said Edward Hirsch, ...

The council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has elected USC faculty members Pinchas Cohen, Andrea Hodge, Jay Lieberman and Gaurav Sukhatme to the ranks of AAAS fellows. The honor, which recognizes researchers whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished,” is among the most prized in academia. The recognition honors excellence in research, technology, industry and government, teaching, and communicating and interpreting science to the public. The new cohort joins more than 40 of their USC peers already inducted into AAAS. The newly elected AAAS ...

Alzheimer’s disease causes significant problems with memory, thinking and behavior and is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 50 million people around the world each year. This number is expected to triple by the year 2050. Using their own state-of-the art imaging technologies, scientists at the University of California San Diego have now revealed how the metabolism of lipids, a class of molecule that includes fats, oils and many hormones, is changed in Alzheimer’s disease. They also revealed a new strategy to target this metabolic system with new and existing drugs. The findings are published in Cell Metabolism. “Lipids ...

Turbulence is ubiquitous in nature. It exists everywhere, from our daily lives to the distant universe, while being labelled as “the last great unsolved problem of classical physics” by Richard Feynman. Prof. Dr. Huirong Yan and her group from the Institute of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam and DESY have now discovered a long-predicted phenomenon: the weak-to-strong transition in small amplitude space plasma turbulence. The discovery was made by analyzing data from ESA’s Cluster mission – a constellation of four spacecraft flying in formation around Earth and investigating how the Sun and the Earth interact. The ...

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Computing and Engineering, and independent researchers have developed a groundbreaking model, dubbed GREENSKY, that significantly enhances the energy efficiency and operational time of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in cellular networks. In the ever-evolving landscape of wireless communication, UAVs play a pivotal role, especially in rural, remote, and disaster-struck areas where traditional network infrastructure is absent. ...

A study analyzing a large sample of Medicare admissions at nearly 2,000 acute care hospitals nationwide during 2019 found that most hospitals—nearly four out of five—admitted a significantly different proportion of Black fee-for-service Medicare patients age 65 and older compared to the proportion of the same group of patients admitted to any hospital in that hospital’s market area.  The researchers say that understanding hospital choices within neighborhoods and markets could ...

In a study of patients who smoked when they were diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, those who quit smoking before starting chemotherapy or radiation responded better to treatment, were less likely to need their voice boxes surgically removed, and lived significantly longer than those who continued to smoke. The research, from the University of Oklahoma, is published in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The study’s lead author, Lurdes Queimado, M.D., Ph.D., said the findings underscore the importance of integrating tobacco cessation programs into treatment plans for cancer of the larynx, an area of the throat involved in breathing, swallowing ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and the Kansas City National Security Campus completed a crucial weapons component development milestone, prior to full rate production. The Mark 21 Replacement Fuze interfaces with the W87-0 warhead for deployment onto the Minuteman III and, eventually, the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The first production unit of the replacement fuze was approved through the National Nuclear Security Administration’s rigorous Quality Assurance Inspection Procedure ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today announced the approval of funding awards totaling more than $150 million to support new patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies, research to strengthen the rigor and quality of patient-centered CER and a project to implement the findings of PCORI-funded research into practice. Among the nine awards for patient-centered CER, two include support for large, two-phased trials comparing approaches to treatments for heart failure and asthma. Two other large studies will compare health system strategies to improve hypertension control, and another will evaluate ...

Human beings are likely to adopt the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors of those around them.  Simple decisions like what local store is best to shop at to more complex ones like vaccinating a child are influenced by these behavior patterns and social discourse.  “We choose to be in networks, both offline and online, that are compatible with our own thinking,” explained Amin Rahimian, assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. “The social contagion of behavior through networks can help ...

In a new study published in Nature Chemistry, UNC-Chapel Hill researcher Ronit Freeman and her colleagues describe the steps they took to manipulate DNA and proteins — essential building blocks of life — to create cells that look and act like cells from the body. This accomplishment, a first in the field, has implications for efforts in regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems, and diagnostic tools. “With this discovery, we can think of engineering fabrics or tissues that can be sensitive to changes in their environment and behave in dynamic ways,” says Freeman, whose lab is in the Applied Physical Sciences Department of the UNC College ...

To properly protect forests and evaluate the state of natural resources, conservation practices and environmental policies, it is important to have accurate information on an area’s forest extent. One of the challenges facing researchers when it comes to evaluating the accuracy of forest extent, however, is that models use different remote sensing products that may have different definitions for what determines forest extent. In addition, on the ground surveys may sometimes come into conflict with what remote, satellite-based products are describing as forests.   To help quantify this problem, a group of researchers from ...

The brain processes information on many scales. Individual cells electrochemically transmit signals in circuits but at the large scale required to produce cognition, millions of cells act in concert, driven by rhythmic signals at varying frequencies. Studying one frequency range in particular, beta rhythms between about 14-30 Hz, holds the key to understanding how the brain controls cognitive processes—or loses control in some disorders—a team of neuroscientists argues in a new review article. Drawing on experimental ...

We use computers to help us make (hopefully) unbiased decisions. The problem is that machine-learning algorithms do not always make fair classifications, if human bias is embedded in the data used to train them — which is often the case in practice. To ease this "garbage in, garbage out" situation, a research team presented a flexible framework for mitigating bias in machine classification. Their research was published Apr. 8 in Intelligent Computing, a Science Partner Journal. Existing attempts to mitigate classification bias, according to the team, are often held back by their reliance on specific metrics of fairness and predetermined ...

In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated the ability to make a thermal fusion plasma with electron temperatures hotter than 10 million degrees Celsius, roughly the temperature of the core of the sun. Zap Energy’s unique approach, known as a sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch, has now joined those rarefied ranks, far exceeding this plasma temperature milestone in a device that is a fraction of the scale of other fusion systems. A new research paper, published this month in Physical ...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2024 — Neural stimulation is a medical technique used to treat many illnesses affecting the nervous system. It involves applying energy to neurons to encourage them to grow and make connections with their neighbors. Treatments for epilepsy can often include neural stimulation, and similar treatments exist for Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, and some psychiatric illnesses. In the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of Minnesota deployed an array of microscopic coils — microcoils — to create ...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2024 – Oil spills are deadly disasters for ocean ecosystems. They can have lasting impacts on fish and marine mammals for decades and wreak havoc on coastal forests, coral reefs, and the surrounding land. Chemical dispersants are often used to break down oil, but they often increase toxicity in the process. In Applied Physics Letters, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Central South University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev used laser treatments to transform ordinary ...

About The Study: The findings of this study including 3.9 million children suggest that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was associated with significant reductions in COVID-19 incidence and hospitalizations among children in California.  Authors: Justin V. Remais, Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley, is the corresponding author.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.7822) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and ...

About The Study: Taste dysfunction as measured objectively was absent one year after exposure to COVID-19 while some smell loss remained in nearly one-third of individuals with this exposure, likely explaining taste complaints of many individuals with post–COVID-19 condition in this study of 340 individuals with and 434 individuals without prior COVID-19. Infection with earlier untyped and Alpha variants was associated with the greatest degree of smell loss.  Authors: Shima T. Moein, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania ...

Dry Eye Disease (DED) is one of the more common eye diseases, affecting up to 30% of the world’s population. This disease can affect many different types of people and can wind up being a great hindrance to their overall quality of life. Early screening and prognosis is vital to the patient’s progression with the disease. However, this can be difficult. In this study, researchers aim to use artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in early screening and prognosis of DED. Not only can the use of AI make screening more accessible for ...

Neuroscience has entered a new, digital phase. The combination of brain research with supercomputing in large-scale, multi-disciplinary research collaborations has enabled an innovative approach to deciphering the brain, using powerful scientific technologies and data ressources. These developments open up new possibilities for brain research, medicine and technology. A position paper by over 100 authors, now published in the journal Imaging Neuroscience, summarises the current status and identifies ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – A diverse writing group—lead by authors at the University of Toronto—have developed an approach for radiology departments and practices to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and become more resilient to the effects of climate change. They outlined their action plan in a Radiology in Focus article, published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). “Rising greenhouse gas emission levels lead to climate change, extreme weather events and worsening air pollution with downstream adverse health effects,” said lead author Kate Hanneman, M.D., M.P.H., vice chair of research ...

SAN ANTONIO — April 23, 2024 — During this week’s ITS America Conference & Expo, Southwest Research Institute will share its latest intelligent transportation systems (ITS) research designed to integrate connected vehicle data exchanges and artificial intelligence into public transportation infrastructure. “SwRI’s ITS solutions are designed to improve safety for the traveling public using software that helps transportation agencies operate more efficiently,” said Josh Johnson, ...

New York, NY —The American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) is pleased to announce the second cohort of the Hevolution/AFAR New Investigator Awards in Aging Biology and Geroscience Research, a grant program to enable early-career investigators with labs in the US and Canada to advance research projects in basic biology of aging, as well as geroscience projects that translate advances in basic research on aging biology from the laboratory to the clinic, paving the way for healthspan-expanding therapeutics and treatments. ...

Living beings can evolve to lose biological structures due to potential survival benefits from such losses. For example, certain groups of ray-finned fishes show such regressive evolution—medakas, minnows, puffera, and wrasses do not have a stomach in the gastrointestinal tract, making them agastric or stomachless fishes. However, the specific evolutionary mechanisms underlying the evolution of agastric fishes remains unclear. Studies about Slc26a9—a molecular transporter highly expressed in the stomach of many species—in fishes provided the initial clue. Researchers ...