EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2025 MINNEAPOLIS — For children with signs of neurological conditions such as autism, epilepsy and global developmental delay, genetic testing can help make the diagnosis, identify possible treatments and determine whether family members could be affected, among other benefits. But a new study shows that white children were almost twice as likely as Black children to have completed genetic testing. The study is published on February 12, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that insurance coverage for genetic ...

Individuals below the age of 18 are faced with significant barriers when receiving abortion care due to additional parental consent requirements. To address this, the 2020 ROE Act in Massachusetts removed these requirements for minors aged 16-17 years. A new study reveals that this policy change led to a ~60-day decrease in gestational duration at abortion among this age group, highlighting the importance and impact of decreasing barriers to abortion access for minors. Adolescents aged 15 to 17 years and those younger than 15 years of age account for 3% and 0.2% of all abortions in the United States, respectively. However, logistical ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — According to some popular culture writers and online posts by discouraged singles lamenting their inability to find romantic partners, dating is “broken,” fractured by the social isolation created by technology, pandemic lockdowns and potential partners’ unrealistic expectations. Yet two studies of college students conducted a decade apart found that their ideas about romantic relationships have remained much the same, although the trajectories of their relationships have changed somewhat, according ...

From a study that analyzed brain images of more than 2,500 people with Parkinson’s disease in 20 different countries, scientists were able to identify patterns of neurodegeneration and create metrics for each of the five clinical stages of the disease. The work, published in NPJ Parkinson’s Disease, represents a leap forward in the understanding of the disease. The analysis and volume of data obtained in the study could lead to important developments, not only in terms of diagnostic advances ...

Press Release Information embargoed until February 12, 2025 at 20:00h (time in Spain)   Bacterial cellulose promotes plant tissue regeneration   Researchers have successfully uncovered the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial cellulose patches stimulate the regeneration of plant wounds. The regeneration process requires the activation of both hormonal and defense response pathways simultaneously. These cellulose patches offer potential applications in grafting, pruning, and ornamental flower cutting for enhanced plant healing.   Bellaterra (Barcelona), ...

A biohybrid hand which can move objects and do a scissor gesture has been built by a team at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University in Japan. The researchers used thin strings of lab-grown muscle tissue bundled into sushilike rolls to give the fingers enough strength to contract. These multiple muscle tissue actuators (MuMuTAs), created by the researchers, are a major development towards building larger biohybrid limbs. While currently limited to the lab environment, MuMuTAs have the potential to advance future biohybrid prosthetics, aid drug testing on muscle tissue and broaden the potential of biohybrid robotics to mimic real-life forms. “Rock, paper, ...

Antibiotics are powerful, fast-acting medications designed to eradicate bacterial infections. However, in recent years, their dependability has waned as antibiotic resistant bacteria continues to evolve and spread. Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of antibiotic resistance associated infections and deaths. It is also the most prevalent bacterial infection among those with diabetes mellitus, a chronic condition that affects blood sugar control and reduces the body’s ability to fight infections. Microbiologists Brian Conlon, PhD, and Lance Thurlow, PhD, at the UNC School of Medicine have just shown that people with diabetes are more likely to develop antibiotic-resistant ...

When it comes to comparing responses written by psychotherapists to those written by ChatGPT,the latter are generally rated higher, according to a study published February 12, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by H. Dorian Hatch, from The Ohio State University and co-founder of Hatch Data and Mental Health, and colleagues Whether machines could be therapists is a question that has received increased attention given some of the benefits of working with generative artificial intelligence (AI). Although  previous research has found that humans ...

Vaccinations alone may not be enough to protect people with compromised immune systems from infection, even if the vaccine has generated the production of antibodies, new research from the University of Cambridge has shown. The findings, published today in Science Advances, suggest that such individuals will need regular vaccine boosters to protect them and reduce the risk of infections that could be severe and also lead to new ‘variants of concern’ emerging. Almost 16 million people worldwide are estimated ...

California's most economically and culturally important species among those most vulnerable to projected climate change, per Climate Vulnerability Assessment of 34 marine species.  ### Article URL: https://plos.io/4gslT5s Article Title: A collaborative climate vulnerability assessment of California marine fishery species Author Countries: U.S. Funding: This work was funded by a grant from the Resource Legacy Fund (#15067). Though the funders helped determine the project's initial scope of work, they had no role in data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript. END ...

Los Angeles, CA – February 12, 2025—Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in wearable health technology by developing a novel self-healing electronic skin (E-Skin) that repairs itself in seconds after damage. This could potentially transform the landscape of personal health monitoring. In a study published in Science Advances, scientists demonstrate an unprecedented advancement in E-Skin technology that recovers over 80% of its functionality within 10 seconds of being damaged – a dramatic improvement over existing technologies that can take minutes or hours to heal. The technology seamlessly combines ultra-rapid self-healing capabilities, reliable ...

Extreme fire seasons in recent years highlight the urgent need to better understand wildfires within the broader context of climate change. Under climate change, many drivers of wildfires are expected to change, such as the amount of carbon stored in vegetation, rainfall, and lightning strikes. Quantifying the relative importance of these processes in recent and future wildfire trends has remained challenging, because previous climate computer model simulations did not capture the full coupling between climate change, lightning, wildfires, smoke and corresponding shifts in solar ...

The research team led by KIM Jae Kyoung, Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at KAIST and Chief Investigator of the Biomedical Mathematics Group at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), has unveiled new insights into how weather influences the spread of dengue fever. Their study identifies temperature and rainfall as critical factors driving the global surge in dengue cases and offers actionable strategies for mitigating the disease's impact. Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease, poses an increasingly alarming public health challenge. According to the World Health Organization, reported dengue cases surged from 4.1 ...

INSEAD, The Business School for the World, celebrated five years of impact of its San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation during its second Americas Conference 2025 on 7-8 February. Over 250 business leaders, government officials, INSEAD alumni, faculty, and staff convened for insightful and lively conversations centered around the theme: ‘The Future is Now: Bridging Business, Technology, and Humanity’.  The central question driving all the debates was: How can we harness the incredible potential of AI while prioritizing the well-being of humanity. Key themes that emerged included the ability for leaders to see beyond AI hype, a need to embrace disruption, ...

A study published in Science Advances reveals a novel strategy that allows tumors to evade the body’s immune response critical for their elimination. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions discovered in a mouse model of non-small cell lung cancer that tumors that express protein MAGE-4 and have lost the Pten gene, a tumor suppressor, accelerate their development and progression into metastasis. In the mouse model and human tumor samples, MAGE-4 drives the accumulation of plasma immune cells that suppress antitumor immunity. The study points at novel potential therapeutic ...

Dungeness crab, Pacific herring, and red abalone are among the marine species most vulnerable to the changing climate's effect on California's coastal waters, a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers finds. In a paper published on February 12 in the journal PLOS Climate, the team seeks to help the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in its efforts to develop and implement climate-ready fisheries management strategies that adapt to challenges such as rising ocean temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation. The study, "A Collaborative Climate Vulnerability Assessment of California Marine Fishery Species," was led by Timothy Frawley, an assistant ...

Charles Martinez, assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, recently received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA). The award is presented to high-performing, early-career professionals with demonstrated research and resulting publication activity. Martinez was chosen among peers nationwide for this distinguished honor. He received the award February 3 during the annual SAEA meeting in Irving, Texas. “In a short time, Dr. Martinez has established himself as ...

A new study from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides the first empirical evidence that loggerhead sea turtles can learn and remember the unique magnetic signatures of different geographic regions. This discovery offers new insights into how turtles and other migratory animals navigate vast distances to reach specific foraging and breeding grounds. The findings, published in the journal Nature, also suggest that sea turtles possess two distinct magnetic senses that function differently to detect the Earth’s magnetic field.  Loggerhead turtles are famous for their extraordinary ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Heart surgery is a serious and invasive medical procedure, and that can be intimidating for a patient. A new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests that virtual reality (VR) can be an effective tool to reduce preoperative anxiety in older patients undergoing their first open-heart surgery. While much of the research to date using VR involved younger patient populations, these research findings suggest that immersive VR was effective and well tolerated in older ...

The financial and emotional toll borne by mothers whose adult children have experienced incarceration is often overlooked but can exacerbate financial burdens, especially for Black mothers, according to new research from Rice University sociologist Brielle Bryan. The study, “Maternal Wealth Implications of Child Incarceration: Examining the Upstream Consequences of Children’s Incarceration for Women’s Assets, Homeownership and Home Equity,” appears in a recent edition of Demography and explores the wealth disparities and racial inequities that intensify these burdens. The research focuses ...

Under embargo until 12/02/25 12:00PM EST/17:00PM GMT  It’s been a long-held belief that absolute pitch - the ability to identify musical notes without reference  - is a rare gift reserved for a select few with special genetic gifts or those who began musical training in early childhood. However, new research from the University of Surrey challenges this, demonstrating that adults can acquire this skill through rigorous training.  The study involved a diverse group of 12 adult musicians, with varying levels of musical experiences, who participated in an eight-week online training program. ...

Loneliness and social isolation have been linked to an elevated risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to a groundbreaking study conducted by researchers from Central South University and the Army Medical University in China, in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Published in Health Data Science, the study analyzed data from over 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank, shedding light on the far-reaching impacts of social factors on liver health. The research team, led by Professor Jiaqi Huang and Professor Jin Chai, sought to explore whether loneliness and social isolation—two ...

In everyday life, we typically encounter water in one of three familiar states – solid, liquid or gas. But there are in fact many more phases, some of which – predicted to exist at high temperature and pressure – are so strange they’re referred to as exotic. State-of-the-art neutron spectrometers and sample environment infrastructures at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) have enabled the first experimental observation of one of these exotic phases – plastic ice VII. Plastic ice VII was originally predicted more than 15 years ago by molecular dynamics ...

Scientists have discovered an interaction between genes that increases the risk of developing a type of alopecia. In a new JAMA Dermatology study, scientists at King’s College London found that changes in two parts of the genome work together to influence alopecia risk. Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a highly distressing dermatological disorder which is associated with inflammation, scarring and irreversible hair loss. The disease affects an increasing number of patients worldwide and is caused by genetic and environmental factors. The study authors conducted a meta-analysis of four cohorts ...

Chinese scientists have identified two key genes responsible for sorghum's resistance to Striga, a parasitic plant that causes significant crop losses. The breakthrough, which also highlights the potential of AI to predict key amino acid sites in strigolactone (SL) transporters, could have wide-ranging applications in enhancing parasitic plant resistance across various crops. This study, published in Cell, was conducted by Prof. XIE Qi's team at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental ...