Arizona State University researchers will lead a panel discussion on household water insecurity at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, which takes place in Phoenix next week. The panel, “Beyond the Tap: Water Insecurity in the United States,” is organized by Patrick Thomson, a research scientist with ASU’s Arizona Water for All project and will be moderated by Regents and President’s Professor Alexandra Brewis from ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. The session focuses on growing ...

Arizona State University Regents Anne Stone will present research on the evolutionary history of infectious disease at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, which takes place in Phoenix next week. Stone’s presentation, “(Re)Emerging Pathogens: Ancient Spillovers Teach Us About Modern Plagues,” examines tuberculosis (TB), a disease that has affected humans and animals for thousands of years. Drawing on genetic analyses of ancient DNA, her research traces how TB moved between species and human populations over time and what those patterns reveal ...

Viruses exist at the boundary between living and non-living matter, while skin is a living interface between physics and biology, making them perfect—but until now overlooked—arenas for testing the interplay between quantum physics, biology and life. That’s according to arguments made by Connor Thompson, a PhD student in microbiology and immunology at the University of British Columbia, in Canada, and Samuel Morriss, a medical doctor based in Melbourne, Australia, whose two essays share the US$30,000 first prize in FQxI’s latest essay competition, presented in partnership with the Paradox Science Institute. The eight winners of the $53,000 competition—which ...

As the U.S. population ages, a growing number of older adults are living alone — a circumstance linked to increased risks of loneliness, social isolation and cognitive decline. Researchers from Arizona State University are addressing these challenges through innovative, technology-enabled interventions designed to improve health, independence and quality of life.   At the 2026 AAAS Annual Meeting, hosted in Phoenix, Arizona State University faculty from the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation will lead a panel discussion titled “Tech Solutions for Older Adults Living Alone with Cognitive Decline” ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have studied how fruit flies tune their development in response to environmental changes (diapause). Studying fruit fly strains from different latitudes across Japan, they showed that the sensitivity to starting reproductive diapause varies smoothly with local conditions. Through genetic sequencing, they found that the timeless (tim) gene plays a key role, adding to growing evidence that diapause is strongly affected by genes regulating circadian rhythm.     Animals have a range of survival ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A study of more than 100 kindergarten-age children suggests kids tend to think of snakes differently than they do other animals and that hearing negative or objectifying language about the slithery reptiles might contribute to that way of thinking. The study also suggests it takes minimal intervention to “inoculate” a child against snake negativity. The findings, published in Anthrozoös, are important for multiple reasons, explains co-author Jeff Loucks of Oregon State University. Snakes are reviled in many human cultures but little is known about how children develop feelings of fear and vilification toward an animal ...

FEBRUARY 2026 TIP SHEET Chemotherapy Resistance Can Chemo-Resistant Cancer Cells Be Resensitized? A new study from Sylvester researchers may have found a workaround for the long-standing problem of chemotherapy resistance and, in turn, identified an encouraging way to restore the power of widely used chemotherapy drugs. The study, published this month in Genes & Development, explains how blocking a key protein forces damaged cancer cells into a state of uncontrolled transcriptional activity. This action creates ...

Even as misinformation proliferates across the Internet, sites containing low-credibility health information remain relatively scarce and unseen. That’s according to new research from University of Utah communication scholars who tracked web-surfing activities of more than 1,000 U.S. adults for four weeks. But the findings, published in Nature Aging, illuminate a dark side. Traffic to such sites is concentrated heavily among older adults, especially among those who lean right politically. This indicates the most vulnerable ...

Adult survivors of childhood cancers are at higher risk for another cancer – such as breast, colorectal, sarcomas and thyroid cancer – that is not a relapse of their original illness. Previous cancer therapies are largely responsible, however up to 13 percent of survivors also have hereditary predisposition that elevates their risk of subsequent cancer. A recent clinical trial found that genetic services via remote centralized telehealth and in collaboration with primary care increased the uptake of genetic ...

Recent global crises have exposed the limits of a universal mortality threshold for declaring famine—an approach that can obscure how famine actually unfolds across different populations. In a paper published in the Lancet, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues call for a fundamental re-examination of how famine thresholds are defined. “The mortality thresholds used by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) were developed for rural African settings, not middle-income urban populations,” said L.H. Lumey, MD, PhD,  Columbia Mailman School professor of Epidemiology. “There are stark disparities ...

A newly identified soil bacterium may help unlock cleaner ways to recycle carbon dioxide and produce valuable chemicals using electricity. In a recent study, researchers report that the sulfate reducing bacterium Fundidesulfovibrio terrae possesses an unusual ability to both export and absorb electrical energy while converting carbon dioxide into acetate, an industrially important organic compound. The findings reveal a previously unknown microbial strategy that could support future carbon neutral technologies and sustainable chemical production. The research team isolated the microorganism from paddy soil and discovered that ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Antibiotic treatments are losing effectiveness against a range of common bacterial pathogens, including E. coli, K. pneumoniae, Salmonella and Acinetobacter, according to a warning issued by the World Health Organization last October. For the microbe that gives rise to tuberculosis, a team of researchers from Penn State and The University of Minnesota Medical School found that a potential solution may be chemically changing the structure of a naturally occurring ...

A new study has uncovered that the Erhai Lake Basin in southwest China is releasing far more atmospheric nitrogen pollution than it absorbs, raising concerns about regional air quality, ecosystem health, and long-distance pollution transport. Atmospheric reactive nitrogen is a group of nitrogen compounds that influence air pollution, climate, and ecosystem stability. These compounds play important roles in forming fine particulate matter, worsening smog, and driving water eutrophication that threatens biodiversity and drinking water safety. Understanding where these pollutants originate and how they move through the environment is essential for designing effective pollution control strategies. In ...

Scientists are highlighting biochar, a carbon-rich material produced from biomass, as a promising solution to help soils store carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, offering new hope in global climate mitigation efforts. In a new comprehensive review, researchers synthesized current knowledge on how biochar improves soil carbon storage, reduces greenhouse gases, and provides practical frameworks to measure its climate benefits. The findings demonstrate that biochar could play a crucial role in transforming soils into ...

Ikoma, Japan— Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are tiny membrane-bound particles released by cells to transport proteins and other molecules to neighboring cells. Because of this natural delivery ability, EVs have attracted growing interest as potential vehicles for therapeutic protein and genome-editing enzyme delivery. However, EVs can originate either from intracellular endosomal compartments or directly from specialized protrusions on the cell surface, and until now, it has remained unclear which EV type is more effective at delivering functional protein cargo. To address this question, researchers in ...

The American Meteorological Society has released the following Rapid Response Statement in response to the repeal of the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding. A Response to the Decision to Rescind EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is deeply concerned by the repeal of EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which correctly concluded that greenhouse gas emissions harm health and well-being for current and future generations.  AMS reaffirms key scientific conclusions of climate change that relate to the Endangerment Finding: 1. The impacts of climate change are harmful to people ...

“Like father, like son? Can parenting styles break the intergenerational pattern of alcohol and drug use?” A group of Brazilian researchers analyzed data on the behavior of 4,280 adolescents and their guardians based on this question, arriving at two important conclusions. Yes, parental attitudes are one of the most relevant factors in preventing alcohol and drug use among young people. However, the way guardians educate their children can significantly mitigate the risk, even in families where caregivers use these substances, including cigarettes, vapes (which are banned in Brazil), and marijuana. The reduction in risk is more significant when the relationship ...

The research team led by Hanmin Huang and Bangkui Yu at the University of Science and Technology of China developed a palladium-catalyzed diastereoselective and enantioselective cascade cyclization strategy, achieving the modular synthesis of chiral nitrogen-bridged ring skeletons. Using readily available salicylaldehyde and aminodiene as starting materials, and based on the team's previously developed strategy of "in-situ generation of three-membered ring palladium active intermediates from aldehydes and amines," the bridged oxazole bicyclic compounds were constructed with high diastereoselectivity ...

A new pilot study examining how immigrant residents engage with city services and government processes in Long Beach suggests that heightened federal immigration enforcement is undermining democratic participation, even among U.S. citizens who fear for undocumented family members. The pilot research, conducted by UC Irvine scholars in partnership with three Long Beach community organizations (Filipino Migrant Center, Latinos in Action California, and United Cambodian Community of Long Beach), interviewed 24 Cambodian, Filipino, ...

The American Meteorological Society continuously publishes research on climate, weather, and water in its 12 journals. Many of these articles are available for early online access–they are peer-reviewed, but not yet in their final published form. Below are some recent examples of online and early-online research. JOURNAL ARTICLES What follows are summaries which have not been peer-reviewed or vetted by the article authors; read the full article for peer-reviewed conclusions. Please note that no single study is ever definitive, and each must be taken in the context of the broader scientific literature. ...

Deforestation in the Amazon is causing significant regional changes in climate compared to areas with forest cover above 80%. The loss of vegetation leads to an increase in surface temperature, a decrease in evapotranspiration, and a reduction in precipitation during the dry season and in the number of rainy days. The results are part of a study based on satellite data published in late November in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. The study points out that highly deforested regions (with forest cover below 60%) share climatic similarities with areas of transition between rainforest ...

Brazilian researchers have developed a methodology that uses remote sensing to map the impact of frost on corn crops. This reduces exposure to climate risks and uncertainty regarding agricultural losses. The model allows users to customize a set of variables, making it useful for other crops in different agricultural contexts. Thus, it has the potential to provide more accurate estimates during harvests and contribute to the development of public policies that support production chains and insurance systems. Global grain production, ...

Humans develop sharp vision during early fetal development thanks to an interplay between a vitamin A derivative and thyroid hormones in the retina, Johns Hopkins University scientists have found.   The findings could upend decades of conventional understanding of how the eye grows light-sensing cells and could inform new research into treatments for macular degeneration, glaucoma, and other age-related vision disorders.  Details of the study, which used lab-grown retinal tissue, ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Biting into a tart green apple is a different taste and sensory experience than sucking juice from a lemon — and both significantly vary from accidentally consuming spoiled milk. Each of these foods contains a different organic acid that gives rise to the flavor commonly referred to as “sour,” even when the taste and related mouthfeel sensations such as puckering and drying vary drastically from food to food and person to person. Now, Penn State researchers have found that while some of that difference comes from individual perceptions, the acids themselves vary in sourness, even at the same concentrations. The researchers, ...

Krystal Tsosie, an expert in Indigenous genomics, bioethics, and data governance, will deliver a talk titled The Future of Science Is Indigenous at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting. One of the world’s largest cross-disciplinary science gatherings, the AAAS meeting is a key venue for debate about how emerging technologies should be governed. Tsosie’s presentation examines how Indigenous science offers frameworks for equity, accountability, and stewardship as genomics, artificial intelligence, and precision health ...