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Medicine

Study finds link between brain injury and criminal behavior

A new study led by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School has found that damage to a specific region of the brain may contribute to criminal or violent behavior. The study, titled “White matter disconnection in acquired criminality”, was published recently in Molecular Psychiatry. The investigation analyzed brain scans from individuals who began committing crimes after sustaining brain injuries from strokes, tumors or traumatic brain injury. The study compared these 17 cases to brain scans from 706 individuals with other neurological ...

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Technology

New research aims to better predict and understand cascading land surface hazards

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When an extreme weather event occurs, the probability or risk of other events can often increase, leading to what researchers call “cascading” hazards. For example, the danger of landslides or debris flows following wildfires in California, recent flash floods in West Virginia or when historic flooding occurred in North Carolina as Hurricane Helene made its way inland. Such occurrences leave lasting imprints on the landscape that can prime the Earth’s surface for subsequent events. As part of a collaboration by dozens of researchers across the country, a new paper published in Science, "Cascading land surface ...

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Science

Deeper sleep is more likely to lead to eureka moments

“Sleeping on it,” especially dropping deeper than a doze, might help people gain insight into certain kinds of tasks, according to a study published June 26th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Anika Löwe, Marit Petzka, Maria Tzegka and Nicolas Schuck from the Universität Hamburg, Germany, and colleagues. Humans sometimes find that they have a sudden “eureka” moment on a problem they’ve been working on, producing sudden insight or breakthroughs. Scientists have yet to have their ...

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Environment

Hadean-age rocks preserved in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, Canada

The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (NGB) – a complex geological sequence in northeastern Canada – harbors surviving fragments of Earth’s oldest crust, dating back to ~4.16 billion years old, according to a new study. The preservation of Hadean rocks on Earth’s surface could provide valuable insights into the planet’s earliest times. Much about Earth’s earliest geologic history remains poorly understood due to the rarity of Hadean-age (>4.03 billion-year-old) rocks and minerals. These ancient materials are typically ...

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Technology

Novel “digital fossil-mining” approach uncovers hidden fossils, revealing squids’ ancient origins

Using an innovative “digital fossil-mining” approach, researchers have uncovered hundreds of previously hidden fossil squid beaks, revealing a record that squids originated and became ecologically dominant roughly 100 million years ago – well before the end-Cretaceous extinction. Squids are the most diverse and globally distributed group of marine cephalopods in the modern ocean, where they play a vital role in ocean ecosystems as both predators and prey. Their evolutionary success is widely considered to be related ...

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Science

Review: New framework needed to assess complex “cascading” natural hazards

In a Review, Brian Yanites and colleagues argue the need for a unified, interdisciplinary approach to studying cascading land surface hazards. Earth’s surface is continually shaped by a range of natural processes, from slow erosion to sudden disasters like earthquakes and floods. Notably, one hazardous event can trigger a series of subsequent, interrelated disasters, or ”cascading hazards,” that unfold over timescales ranging from seconds to centuries. However, despite their growing impact on human populations, a comprehensive mechanistic ...

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Science

Flipping an evolutionarily disabled switch unlocks ear tissue regeneration in mice

By flipping an evolutionarily disabled genetic switch involved in Vitamin A metabolism, researchers have enabled ear tissue regeneration in mice. Unlike some animals such as fish and salamanders, mammals have limited capacity to regenerate damaged tissues or organs fully. A variety of strategies have been explored to trigger regeneration in mammals, such as stem cell therapies, gene editing, and electrical stimulation. While these approaches have shown promise, none have fully restored organ function. This is likely ...

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Environment

Ancient squids dominated the ocean 100 million years ago

Squids first appeared about 100 million years ago and quickly rose to become dominant predators in the ancient oceans, according to a new study published in the journal Science. A team of researchers from Hokkaido University developed an advanced fossil discovery technique that completely digitizes rocks with all embedded fossils in complete 3D form. It allowed them to identify one thousand fossilized cephalopod beaks hidden inside Late Cretaceous rocks from Japan. Among these small and fragile beaks were 263 squid specimens including about 40 different species that had never been seen before. Squids are rarely preserved as fossils because they don’t have hard shells. ...

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Environment

Public attitudes around solar geoengineering become less politically partisan with more familiarity

Public attitudes around solar geoengineering become less politically partisan with more familiarity, suggesting that increasing public awareness of the technology could foster bipartisan engagement. ### Article URL: https://plos.io/4elOWIw Article Title: Political ideology and views toward solar geoengineering in the United States Author Countries: United Kingdom, United States Funding: RMA and BM's work is supported by Caltech’s Resnick Sustainability Institute. DE's work on this ...

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Medicine

COVID-19 pandemic significantly eroded American public’s trust in US public health institutions like the CDC, shows longitudinal assessment from 2020-2024

Four discrete cross-sectional surveys of US adults from 2020-2024 reveal US adults reporting high confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dropped from 82 percent in February 2020 to a low of 56 percent in June 2022, according to a study published June 26, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Amyn A. Malik and colleagues from UT Southwestern Medical Center, United States. Surveys have shown the US public’s trust in public health entities has decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in 2020. This study is ...

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Environment

Extreme droughts in LMICs are associated with increased sexual violence against girls and young women

Extreme droughts in LMICs are associated with increased sexual violence against girls and young women, emphasizing how climate change can indirectly exacerbate social vulnerabilities. ### Article URL: https://plos.io/4liX0Me Article Title: Extreme drought and sexual violence against adolescent girls and young women: A multi-country population-based study Author Countries: Australia, France, Indonesia, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, United States Funding: Funding from the Healthy Environments and ...

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Earth Science

Scientists capture slow-motion earthquake in action

Scientists for the first time have detected a slow slip earthquake in motion during the act of releasing tectonic pressure on a major fault zone at the bottom of the ocean. The slow earthquake was recorded spreading along the tsunami-generating portion of the fault off the coast of Japan, behaving like a tectonic shock absorber. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin described the event as the slow unzipping of the fault line between two of the Earth’s tectonic plates. Their results were published in Science. “It's like a ripple moving across the plate interface,” said Josh Edgington, who conducted the work as a doctoral student ...

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Science

When ideas travel further than people

The transition to agriculture and a sedentary lifestyle is one of the great turning points in human history. Yet how this Neolithic way of life spread from the Fertile Crescent across Anatolia and into the Aegean has been hotly debated. A Turkish-Swiss team offers important new insights, by combining archaeology and genetics in an innovative way. How open are people to experimenting with new ways of life? Did farming spread from its origins in Anatolia to neighboring regions by farmers migrating? Or ...

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Science

British ash woodland is evolving resistance to ash dieback

Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Queen Mary University of London have discovered that a new generation of ash trees, growing naturally in woodland, exhibits greater resistance to the disease compared to older trees. They find that natural selection is acting upon thousands of locations within the ash tree DNA, driving the evolution of resistance. The study, published in Science, offers renewed hope for the future of ash trees in the British landscape and provides compelling evidence for a long-standing prediction of Darwinian theory. Ash dieback, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, arrived in Britain in 2012, prompting an emergency COBRA meeting. The ...

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Medicine

Aileen Anderson named vice chancellor for research at UC Irvine

Irvine, Calif., June 26, 2025 — After a nationwide search, the University of California, Irvine has tapped one of its own to lead its research enterprise, naming internationally recognized neuroscientist Aileen Anderson as vice chancellor for research. In her new role, she will helm the Office of Research, which provides central campus administrative support, oversight and compliance assurance for UC Irvine’s research programs. Anderson heads UC Irvine’s Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. Its membership includes 65 faculty from the schools of medicine, biological sciences, engineering, ...

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Science

MD Anderson Research Highlights for June 26, 2025

MD Anderson Research Highlights for June 26, 2025 Promising treatment results for blood cancers, colorectal cancer and brain metastases Novel insights into early pancreatic cancer cell progression A new therapeutic target for patients with high blood pressure HOUSTON, JUNE 26, 2025 ― The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s ...

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Technology

Optica Quantum June 2025 issue press tip sheet

WASHINGTON—The new issue of Optica Quantum is available. A Gold Open Access journal from Optica Publishing Group, Optica Quantum provides a home for high-impact research in quantum information science and technology enabled by optics and photonics. Summaries of the 10 research articles in the latest issue are provided below. Takuma Nakamura, Dahyeon Lee, Jason Horng, Florent Lecocq, John Teufel, and Franklyn Quinlan, “Cryogenic photonic link using an extended-InGaAs photodiode and short pulse illumination towards high-fidelity drive of superconducting qubits,” Optica Quantum 3, 221-227 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1364/OpticaQ.546795 Optical interconnects ...

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Medicine

New study identifies brain networks underlying psychopathy

A new study published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience has shed light on the brain structure differences associated with psychopathy — a condition known to be one of the strongest predictors of persistent violent behaviour. Using advanced neuroimaging and the Julich-Brain Atlas, researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH Aachen University ,Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Georg August University, (Germany) and University of Pennsylvania (USA) have identified specific brain networks that appear to be structurally altered in individuals exhibiting psychopathic traits. The Atlas can ...

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Medicine

A nutritional epigenetics study protocol indicates changes in prenatal ultra-processed food intake may reduce lead and mercury exposures to prevent autism and ADHD

In a recent publication released by PubMed, American scientist Dr. Renee Dufault at the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute, provides a peer-reviewed protocol for determining the role ultra-processed foods play in prenatal heavy metal exposures and changes in the expression of the zinc dependent MT-1 (metallothionein) gene that impact child neurodevelopment. Previous biomarker studies show dietary zinc deficits impact metallothionein protein levels and are associated with the bioaccumulation of lead and/or mercury in children with symptoms associated with autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity ...

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Science

Knowledge Unlatched finds a new home with Annual Reviews

Annual Reviews today announced that it has signed an agreement with Wiley that enables Knowledge Unlatched (KU) – most recently owned and operated by Wiley – to move to a new home within the Annual Reviews organization. The move supports one of the most recognized initiatives in open access publishing and marks KU’s return to nonprofit stewardship. Founded in 2012 by publishing innovator Frances Pinter, KU pioneered a crowdfunding model that enables libraries worldwide to support the open access ...

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Medicine

Feeling mental exhaustion? These two areas of the brain may control whether people give up or persevere

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Key Takeaways: Two areas of the brain may work in combination to tell the brain when it’s “feeling” tired. People with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often experience cognitive fatigue. Results of the study may provide a way for physicians to better evaluate and treat people who experience such fatigue. In experiments with healthy volunteers undergoing functional MRI imaging, scientists have found increased activity in two areas of the brain that work together to react to, and possibly regulate, the brain when it’s “feeling” ...

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Medicine

Genomes from people across modern-day India shed light on 50,000 years of evolutionary history

India’s population is genetically one of the most diverse in the world, yet it remains underrepresented in global datasets. In a study publishing in the Cell Press journal Cell, researchers analyzed genomic data from more than 2,700 people from across India, capturing genetic variation from most geographic regions, linguistic groups, and communities. They found that most modern-day Indian people’s ancestry can be traced back to Neolithic Iranian farmers, Eurasian Steppe pastoralists, and South Asian hunter-gatherers. “This ...

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Space

Muscle in space sheds light on ageing-related muscle loss

Sarcopenia, which is a progressive and extensive decline in muscle mass and strength, is common with aging and estimated to affect up to 50% of people aged 80 and older. It can lead to disability and injuries from falls and is associated with a lower quality of life and an increased mortality. Apart from lifestyle changes, there is no current clinical treatment for sarcopenia. Space flight with the associated absence of gravity and limited strain on muscles causes muscle weakness, a prominent feature of sarcopenia, within a short period of time, providing a time lapse view on age-related atrophy-associated ...

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Medicine

Availability of medications for opioid use disorder in opioid treatment programs

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of opioid treatment programs (OTPs), although the availability of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) beyond methadone increased over time, most OTPs still did not offer all 3 forms of MOUD as of 2023. Specific organizational characteristics, such as being government operated and accepting Medicare, were associated with more comprehensive MOUD offerings. Future research should evaluate why OTPs vary in their MOUD offerings. Corresponding Author: To ...

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Science

Receipt of buprenorphine and naltrexone for opioid use disorder by race and ethnicity and insurance type

About The Study: In this cohort study of opioid-related index health care events, race and ethnicity–based and insurance-based disparities in access to medications for opioid use disorder persisted despite efforts to expand treatment availability. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions, including culturally tailored care, expanded access points, and policy reforms to address structural barriers and reduce inequities contributing to the overdose crisis. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Utsha G. Khatri, MD, MSHP, email utsha.khatri@mountsinai.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website ...

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