LAWRENCE – As an avid fly fisherman, Keith Van de Riet spends a lot of time trying to think like a fish does. He does likewise in his day job as professor at the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design, having now conducted nearly a dozen experiments seeking to ascertain how fish react to waterfront edges using a variety of underwater seawall panels made to resemble plant roots. Van de Riet is a co-author of a new paper titled “Multi-Species Fish Habitat Preferences for Various Modified Concrete Armouring ...

At a glance:   First-ever clinical trial exclusively conducted among people with hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis known as pre-extensively drug-resistant TB shows many patients benefit from shorter, simpler regimens.   Not all patients benefited from the shorter, gentler course of treatment, prompting researchers to urge caution and carefully evaluate disease severity prior to selecting treatment.   In those with more severe tuberculosis, the new treatment did not always resolve the disease, a finding that highlights the importance of tailored treatment strategies.   Some ...

Critically Endangered female angelsharks (Squatina squatina) are changing normal mating routines in warming oceans as they prioritise staying cool over visiting breeding grounds when things get too hot. These changes are creating a potential mismatch in the mating behaviours between the sexes of angelshark that could have severe consequences for the future of the species, scientists say. A team of marine scientists, co-led by researchers at Lancaster University and the Angel Shark Project: Canary Islands ...

With the UK's £19 billion space economy surging, government and industry urgently need faster research, innovation and skilled talent – yet more than half of space organisations report critical shortages, a challenge now being tackled by the newly launched Surrey Space Institute at the University of Surrey. The Institute will convert the University's 45-year small satellite leadership into mission-ready solutions for climate, resilience and secure global connectivity.  The Institute will build on the legacy of the Surrey Space Centre, where Professor Sir Martin Sweeting pioneered ...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After several years of research, the results are in on the difference in turfgrass soil surfactants that are marketed as “penetrants” and “retainers.” Mike Richardson, professor of horticulture with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, says putting greens built to United States Golf Association standards with 12-inch-deep sand root zones require meticulous water management to promote both plant health and playability. Among the most important tools for managing water in putting greens are soil surfactants, ...

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have developed a groundbreaking new method for the recovery of hearts from deceased organ donors after circulatory death (DCD). The method (rapid recovery with extended ultra-oxygenated preservation [REUP]), which involves flushing the donor heart with a cold oxygenated preservation solution after death, avoids the disadvantages of two existing preservation methods, both of which reanimate the heart, one that has ethical questions and another that is expensive. The former method known as normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) involves reanimating the heart in the deceased donor’s body, which some have ethical concerns about and is ...

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is lending its expertise and institutional supercomputing knowledge to assist Georgia Tech in building and operating a new artificial intelligence-centered supercomputer. Nexus, a next-generation, national-scale computational resource, will integrate cutting-edge heterogeneous hardware, AI-accelerated computing and advanced software services to unify scientific and engineering research workflows for researchers throughout the country. “Hosting Nexus signals that Georgia Tech is ready ...

The Baltic ringed seal population has increased fivefold since the 1970s when long-term overhunting and environmental toxins endangered the future of the species. A new statistical model now revises the population estimate. Since its lowest point in the 1970s, the Baltic ringed seal population has grown from around 5,000 to 25,000 individuals. Behind this increase are hunting bans and the phasing out of environmentally hazardous substances such as PCB and DDT. The decline in environmental toxins has allowed the reproductive ...

The UK’s pioneering licensed IVF technique to reduce the risk of mitochondrial diseases carried out in Newcastle has seen eight babies born, published research shows. All eight babies show no signs of having mitochondrial DNA disease. The babies, four girls and four boys, including one set of identical twins, were born to seven women at high risk of transmitting serious disease caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA. The findings, reported today by the Newcastle team who pioneered mitochondrial donation using fertilised human eggs, indicate that the new treatment, known as pronuclear transfer, is effective in reducing the risk of otherwise incurable mitochondrial DNA ...

A new treatment that uses music therapy on dementia wards could improve care and support for some of the NHS’s most vulnerable patients.   Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust have piloted a music therapy approach called MELODIC, across two NHS dementia wards.   More alternatives to psychotropic medication are needed to support dementia patients who experience severe distress.   The pilot study involved a music therapist being embedded on hospital wards, the ...

CHICAGO—July 16, 2025—The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is pleased to announce the grantees of the 2025 Kessel Fellowships for Ornithological Research and Latin American/Caribbean Conservation Research Grants for early-career researchers.  The AOS Kessel Fellowship funding supports the full range of ornithological research by early-career scientists currently published in peer-reviewed journals, such as avian biology, ecology, behavior, conservation, genetics, and interdisciplinary work. One arctic research Kessel Fellowship of $30,000 was awarded to Dr. Teresa Pegan; and five individual $15,000 fellowships were awarded to Drs. Vitek ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In utero exposure to two liquid ingredients in e-cigarettes – minus the nicotine that drives addiction – can alter skull shape during fetal development, a new study in mice has found.   In a series of experiments, pregnant mice were exposed to a combination of two liquids used to create vaping’s throat hit and smoke plume. Compared to two other experimental conditions, the offspring of mothers exposed to a specific ratio of these compounds weighed less and were born with narrowed facial features and shortened skulls. The ...

Two world-famous Arizona attractions – the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater Natural Landmark – may share a hidden connection, according to new research from the University of Arizona and the University of New Mexico.  Published in the journal Geology, an international research team presents the results of an intriguing "detective story" that has played out over several decades and across scientific disciplines: the meteorite impact just west of Winslow, Arizona, that created Meteor Crater about 56,000 years ago ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Newborns exposed to HIV during pregnancy or birth should receive preventive antiretroviral medication immediately after delivery to reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child. But a study finds that more than half of infants diagnosed with HIV in their first year of life had not received this essential postnatal treatment — suggesting their mothers’ infections may not have been detected during pregnancy. The study also highlights racial disparities in HIV exposure, infection and treatment: The majority of infants who had not been treated for an HIV infection after birth were Black, according ...

Probiotics are emerging tools used by neonatal intensive care units to promote healthy outcomes and prevent intestinal diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis. Approximately one in ten of the youngest preterm infants in the U.S. are treated with probiotics, and studies show that this therapy can reduce all causes of mortality. Probiotic treatment often includes the administration of bacterial strains that belong to the Bifidobacterium genus. Bifidobacterium strains are especially abundant in the guts of children — particularly children who are breastfed — and are considered beneficial ...

In a step forward for soft robotics and biomedical devices, Rice University engineers have uncovered a powerful new way to boost the strength and durability of silicone-based soft devices without changing the materials themselves. Their study, published in a special issue of Science Advances, focuses on printed and musculoskeletal robotics and offers a predictive framework that connects silicone curing conditions with adhesion strength, enabling dramatic improvements in performance for both molded and 3D-printed elastomer components. “We found that the extent to which a silicone elastomer is cured ...

Six entrepreneurs comprise the next cohort of Innovation Crossroads, a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program node based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The program provides energy-related startup founders from across the nation with access to ORNL’s unique scientific resources and capabilities, as well as connect them with experts, mentors and networks to accelerate their efforts to take their world-changing ideas to the marketplace. "Through Innovation Crossroads, ORNL plays a critical role in catalyzing innovation and collaboration and nurturing early-stage startups,” said Susan Hubbard, ORNL deputy for science and ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – E. coli outbreaks in romaine lettuce have long been a public health concern. and now a new Cornell University paper suggests that a combination of efforts in the field, and even postharvest techniques, can minimize risk to human health. Co-authored by Renata Ivanek, a professor in the department of population medicine and diagnostic sciences, and Martin Wiedmann, professor in food safety, the paper outlines interventions likely to make a concrete difference in the safety of the nation’s romaine. “This study supports that interventions should focus on reducing produce contamination via contaminated irrigation water, on assuring ...

Some jumping spiders look so much like wasps that scientists named them for the predatory insects. But University of Cincinnati biologists wondered: Do these mimics really look like insect faces or is it just our own perceptual bias? After all, we see faces everywhere: tree trunks, rock outcrops, clouds. So when travel restrictions from COVID-19 shut down field research, UC biologists decided to turn to an objective third party, a computer. They presented digital portraits of jumping spiders, praying mantises and wasps to see if a computer algorithm could identify them correctly from shapes and patterns each contained. And surprisingly even the computer was fooled about 20% of the time. The ...

MINNEAPOLIS — A new study that examined older and newer medications to treat seizures has found that using some medications during pregnancy is linked to an increased risk of malformations at birth, or birth defects. The study is published July 16, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Seizures can lead to falls and other complications during pregnancy, so seizure control for those with epilepsy is crucial to protect the health of both the mother and child,” said study author ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Hispanic people have an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy compared to white people that cannot be explained by many health, lifestyle and social risk factors, according to a study published July 16, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage that causes burning, tingling, pain and numbness in the feet and hands. It can be debilitating and may eventually lead to falls, infection and even amputation. One of the most common causes of neuropathy is diabetes due to high levels of blood sugar that can damage the nerves. Other causes include ...

Older adults who increased their regular walking pace by just 14 steps per minute were more likely to experience clinically significant improvements in a test of aerobic capacity and walking endurance Article URL: http://plos.io/45XmRFc Article title: Walking cadence as a measure of activity intensity and impact on functional capacity for prefrail and frail older adults High-resolution image link: http://plos.io/44A2RG6 Author countries: U.S. Funding: This research is supported by the National Institues of Health, National Institue on Aging with awards (www.nia.nih.gov) with award MD (R01AG060162) awarded to MD and (R03AG078957) ...

For adults with hearing loss, linear amplification (amplification across all sound levels, available with some hearing aids) might restore their ability to recognize emotion in voices Article URL: http://plos.io/4ldE7dQ Article title: Effects of mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss and signal amplification on vocal emotion recognition in middle-aged–older individuals Author countries: Sweden Funding:  Örjan Dahlström was partly funded through a grant from The Swedish Association of Hard of Hearing People. Ref 2016-531. https://hrf.se/ The ...

A new study describes factors associated with self-reported climate anxiety in the United States, publishing July 16, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Katherine Kricorian from For Good Measure, United States, and colleagues Karin Turner and Christopher Kricorian, who is also a current high school student.   Climate change has many adverse effects on the environment and human health, including higher rates of self-reported anxiety. In this study, Kricorian and co-authors ...

 Many people might be aware of an ongoing opioid epidemic, with thousands of people dying every year from overdoses. But many who are misusing opioids are also using—and dying from—stimulant drugs as well, according to a study published July 2 in the open access journal PLOS Mental Health by Yutong Li from the University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues.  In 2021, more than 88,000 people passed away from opiate-related deaths in the United States and Canada—the latest in three major waves ...