An international team of researchers has successfully used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b. Precise brightness measurements over a broad spectrum of mid-infrared light, combined with 3D climate models and previous observations from other telescopes, suggest the presence of thick, high clouds covering the nightside, clear skies on the dayside, and equatorial winds upwards of 5,000 miles per hour mixing atmospheric gases around the planet. The investigation is just the latest demonstration of the exoplanet science now possible with Webb’s ...

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of a zoomed-in portion of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. These observations show the top of the “horse’s mane” or edge of this iconic nebula in a whole new light, capturing the region’s complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution. Webb’s new images show part of the sky in the constellation Orion (The Hunter), in the western side of a dense region known as the Orion B molecular cloud. Rising from turbulent waves of dust and gas is the Horsehead Nebula, otherwise known as ...

Proteins are the workhorses of life. Organisms use them as building blocks, receptors, processors, couriers and catalysts. A protein’s structure is critical to its function. Malformed proteins not only fail to carry out their tasks, they can accumulate and eventually gum up the inner workings of cells. As a result, misfolded proteins cause a variety of degenerative diseases, from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to the blinding disease retinitis pigmentosa. These disorders are currently incurable. A paper out of UC Santa Barbara reveals a new connection between ...

Researchers from the University of California San Diego have revealed new trends in drug consumption that shed light on how people are adapting to the evolving risks associated with unregulated drug use in the United States. The findings could help policymakers and public health officials better tailor interventions to meet the needs of vulnerable populations and reduce the public health burden of substance-related harm. Since the early 2010s, deaths from accidental overdoses have been on the rise ...

Speech is critical to detecting suicidal ideation and a key to understanding the mental and emotional state of people experiencing it. Suicide hotline counsellors are trained to quickly analyze speech variation to better help callers through a crisis. But just as no system is perfect, there is room for error in interpreting a caller’s speech. In order to assist hotline counsellors to properly assess a caller’s condition, Concordia PhD student Alaa Nfissi has developed a model for speech emotion recognition (SER) using artificial intelligence tools. The model analyzes and codes waveform modulations in ...

April 30, 2024, ALEXANDRIA, Virginia —The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) published the Clinical Practice Guideline: Age-Related Hearing Loss today in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. This clinical practice guideline (CPG) sheds lights on a global public health problem affecting approximately 466 million people worldwide and identifies quality improvement opportunities and provide clinicians trustworthy, evidence-based recommendations regarding the identification and management of age-related hearing loss (ARHL) in patients 50 years and older. “Age-related ...

The grazing of both domestic and wild animals is shaping landscapes across Europe. It can also contribute to multiple ecosystem services, such as providing habitat for biodiversity. Grazing systems with lower densities of animals and with minimal and only targeted applications of deworming and other medicinal treatments offer benefits for local biodiversity protection and various ecosystem services. However, this type of land management also poses a range of challenges, leading to a constant decline in the number of land users engaged in low-intensity grazing. A team of researchers led by iDiv, UL, and UFZ set out to investigate these ...

Philadelphia, April 30, 2024 – A genetic propensity to higher circulating levels of lipids containing arachidonic acid, an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid found in eggs, poultry, and seafood, has been found to be linked with a lower risk for bipolar disorder, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier. This new evidence paves the way for potential lifestyle or dietary interventions. Bipolar disorder is a debilitating mood disorder characterized by recurring episodes of mania and depression. Although its etiology is still unclear, previous studies have shown that ...

In an effort to improve early detection of breast cancer and address disparities in outcomes, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued updated breast cancer screening recommendations to now advise all women to undergo routine screening every other year starting at age 40 —representing a significant shift from previous guidelines, which recommended screening starting at age 50 and engaging in individualized decision-making for women aged 40 to 49. The revised guidelines aim to enhance early detection of breast cancer and tackle disparities in breast cancer mortality, particularly among Black women, who are more likely to have aggressive ...

New York (April 30, 2024) – The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annually honors researchers, clinicians, educators, and emerging health professionals who have made outstanding contributions to high-quality, person-centered care for older adults. This year’s award recipients include 19 leaders representing the breadth of medical disciplines championing care for us all as we age.  Choosing Wisely Champion Award Paras Goel, PT, DPT, Med, MBA, GCS Clinical Student Research Award Elizabeth Margaret Ann Kelly Clinician of the Year Award Joyce Fogel, MD David ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Tai Forest Monkey Project has operated a research field station in west Africa’s Ivory Coast for 30 years, but on the one day since its opening that the site was unstaffed because of conflict in nearby Liberia, poachers took advantage – and killed 18 endangered monkeys. The anecdote is a telling example, scientists say, of how thousands of field stations studying primates in forests around the world not only generate knowledge about these threatened species, but also contribute to ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Environmentalists rejoiced when China announced its commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, but the decarbonization of China – which emits 27% of global carbon dioxide and a third of the world’s greenhouse gases – may come with hidden costs and hard environmental choices, according to new research.  In a paper published in Communications Earth & Environment, Stefano Galelli, associate professor at Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and colleagues attempt to quantify how decarbonizing the China Southern Power Grid, which provides electricity ...

The link between massive flood basalt volcanism and the end-Triassic (201 million years ago) mass-extinction is commonly accepted. However, exactly how volcanism led to the collapse of ecosystems and the extinction of entire families of organisms is difficult to establish. Extreme climate change from the release of carbon dioxide, degradation of the ozone layer due to the injection of damaging chemicals, and the emissions of toxic pollutants, are all seen as contributing factors. One toxic element stands out: ...

KANSAS CITY, MO—April 30, 2024—The Stowers Institute for Medical Research announces the appointment of Kamena Kostova, Ph.D., as its newest Principal Investigator. Kostova, an accomplished cellular and molecular biologist, will join the Institute in Fall 2024 as an Assistant Investigator. She brings with her an established research program focused on understanding cellular responses to ribosome breakdown and the relationship these responses have with complex diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration.  Kostova is currently ...

The German Science and Humanities Council (Science Council) assessed the German Fed-eral Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin on 7 and 8 November 2023 and published its assessment today, 22 April 2024. As the highest German scientific commission, it certi-fies that the BfR “fulfills tasks of great social relevance” (protection of human health, in-forming the public about health risks posed by chemicals and biological substances) “on the basis of very good research”. It is characterised by an “extremely rapid response capability, a pronounced application orientation and a high degree of being up-to-date with its topics”. “We are delighted ...

In a new study published in Cell Stem Cell, USC scientists report significant progress in cultivating nephron progenitor cells (NPCs), the cells destined to form the kidney’s filtration system, the nephrons. NPCs hold immense promise for understanding kidney development, modeling diseases, and discovering new treatments. “By enhancing our capability to grow NPCs from human stem cells, we create a new avenue for understanding and combating congenital kidney diseases and cancer,” said corresponding and lead author Zhongwei Li, an assistant professor of medicine, and stem cell biology and regenerative medicine ...

Bottom Line: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends biennial screening mammography for women ages 40 to 74. The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years or older. The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of supplemental screening for breast cancer using breast ultrasonography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women identified to have dense breasts on an otherwise negative screening mammogram. Among ...

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2024 – Interactions with voice technology, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant, can make life easier by increasing efficiency and productivity. However, errors in generating and understanding speech during interactions are common. When using these devices, speakers often style-shift their speech from their normal patterns into a louder and slower register, called technology-directed speech. Research on technology-directed speech typically focuses on mainstream varieties of U.S. English without considering speaker groups that are more consistently ...

A new type of bioplastic could help reduce the plastic industry’s environmental footprint. Researchers led by the University of California San Diego have developed a biodegradable form of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a soft yet durable commercial plastic used in footwear, floor mats, cushions and memory foam. It is filled with bacterial spores that, when exposed to nutrients present in compost, germinate and break down the material at the end of its life cycle. The work is detailed in a paper published on April 30 in Nature Communications. The biodegradable TPU was made with ...

Adults are lonelier in early and older adulthood, less lonely in middle adulthood Consistent loneliness pattern found across nine longitudinal studies, all collected prior to COVID-19 pandemic CHICAGO --- Loneliness in adulthood follows a U-shaped pattern: it’s higher in younger and older adulthood, and lowest during middle adulthood, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study that examined nine longitudinal studies from around the world.  The study also identified several risk factors for heightened loneliness across the whole lifespan, including ...

It’s a ‘twofer’: Helping men manage side effects, receive cancer treatment at same time Men with cancer rarely participate in oncology supportive care: ‘You build it, and they don’t come’ First study to deliver mindfulness during radiation therapy while patients were ‘a captive audience’ CHICAGO --- Men with prostate cancer who are treated with radiation therapy experience significant side effects such as fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety and depressive symptoms. But listening to mindfulness audio recordings significantly eased those symptoms, a new Northwestern ...

Studies by INSEAD Professors Atalay Atasu and Luk Van Wassenhove have been recognised by members of the Product Operations Management Society for their impact. Their papers are named among the top 10 most influential papers published in the first 30 years of the Production and Operations Management (POM) journal. They were voted for by POM society members based on an original list of 150 of the most cited papers since the publications launch in 1992. Emeritus Professor Van Wassenhove is a co-author of two papers that made the top 10. His 2005 paper, “Sustainable Operations Management” looked at ...

The researchers in Bergen and Exeter used data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and a similar study in the UK, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), to investigate the relationship between smoking and placental weight. The aim was to determine to what extent expectant mothers who quit smoking could impact the weight of the placenta at the time of birth. The study was recently published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. Previous research has demonstrated ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Use of publicly available large language models (LLMs) resulted in changes in breast imaging reports classification that could have a negative effect on patient management, according to a new international study published today in the journal Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). The study findings underscore the need to regulate these LLMs in scenarios that require high-level medical reasoning, researchers said. LLMs are a type of artificial intelligence (AI) widely used today for a variety of purposes. In radiology, LLMs have already been tested in ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Smokers who have small abnormalities on their CT scans that grow over time have a greater likelihood of experiencing acute respiratory disease events, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).   Quantitative interstitial abnormalities (QIA) are subtle abnormalities on chest CTs that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for advanced pulmonary diseases but are nonetheless associated with decreased ...