UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Fool me once, shame on you. Fool myself, and I may end up feeling smarter, according to a new study led by Sara Dommer, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State. Dommer wondered why people cheat on tasks like completing crossword puzzles or Wordle and counting calories when the rewards are purely intrinsic, like feeling smarter or healthier. She found that when cheating offers the opportunity to improve self-perception, individuals engage in diagnostic self-deception — that is, they cheat yet deceive themselves by attributing their heightened performance to their innate ability instead ...

A new study led by researchers from Peking University, published in Health Data Science, reveals a sharp rise in the burden of early-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D) among adolescents and young adults in China from 1990 to 2021. Despite improvements in mortality rates, the incidence and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with the disease have grown alarmingly. Using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021, the study shows that the age-standardized incidence rate nearly doubled, increasing from 140.20 per 100,000 in 1990 to 315.97 per 100,000 in 2021, with an average annual percentage change ...

NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 5, 2025)--Columbia scientists have found specialized neurons in the brains of mice that order the animals to stop eating.  Though many feeding circuits in the brain are known to play a role in monitoring food intake, the neurons in those circuits do not make the final decision to cease eating a meal.   The neurons identified by the Columbia scientists, a new element of these circuits, are located in the brainstem, the oldest part of the vertebrate brain. Their discovery could lead ...

About The Study: The results of this cluster trial demonstrate that salt substitution was safe, along with reduced risks of stroke recurrence and death, which underscores large health gains from scaling up this low-cost intervention among patients with stroke.  Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Lijing L. Yan, MPH, PhD, (lijing.yan@duke.edu) and Maoyi Tian, PhD, (maoyi.tian@hrbmu.edu.cn) To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2024.5417) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

About The Study: This study found that most publicly targeted fatal mass shootings involved multiple types of firearms and handguns were the most common type of firearm present. Assault weapons being present during a publicly targeted mass shooting was associated with a slight increase in the number of injuries and deaths occurring during that incident.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Leslie M. Barnard, MPH, DrPH, email leslie.barnard@ucdenver.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.58085) Editor’s ...

About The Study: Drug overdose deaths have increased exponentially since 1979. This rate of increase accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since waned. When comparing recent drug-related mortality rates with their pre-2020 trajectory, the vast majority of states remained higher than expected. In the 4 years between 2020 and 2023, nearly all states had higher drug-related mortality rates than their 2019 rates. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Keith Humphreys, ...

University of Cincinnati experts will present research at the International Stroke Conference 2025 in Los Angeles. Study finds small number of patients eligible for new ICH treatment  Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), when there is bleeding into brain tissue from the rupture of a damaged blood vessel, is one of the most devastating types of stroke. Patients often suffer from severe neurologic disability or even death. There were no proven treatments for patients with ICH until recently.  “We now have one ...

Superconducting materials are similar to the carpool lane in a congested interstate. Like commuters who ride together, electrons that pair up can bypass the regular traffic, moving through the material with zero friction.  But just as with carpools, how easily electron pairs can flow depends on a number of conditions, including the density of pairs that are moving through the material. This “superfluid stiffness,” or the ease with which a current of electron pairs can flow, is a key measure of a material’s superconductivity.  Physicists at MIT and Harvard University have now directly measured superfluid stiffness for the first time ...

In India, many kids who work in retail markets have good math skills: They can quickly perform a range of calculations to complete transactions. But as a new study shows, these kids often perform much worse on the same kinds of problems as they are taught in the classroom. This happens even though many of these students still attend school or attended school through 7th or 8th grades. Conversely, the study also finds, Indian students who are still enrolled in school and don’t have jobs do better on school-type math problems, but they often fare poorly at the kinds of problems that occur in marketplaces. Overall, both the “market kids” and the “school kids” ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 16:00 GMT / 11:00 ET WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2025  Quantum algorithm distributed across multiple processors for the first time – paving the way to quantum supercomputers In a milestone that brings quantum computing tangibly closer to large-scale practical use, scientists at Oxford University Physics have demonstrated the first instance of distributed quantum computing. Using a photonic network interface, they successfully linked two separate quantum processors to form a single, fully connected ...

Antibiotics are indispensable for treating bacterial infections. But why are they sometimes ineffective, even when the bacteria are not resistant? In their latest study published in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Basel challenge the conventional view that a small subset of particularly resilient bacteria are responsible for the failure of antibiotic therapies. In certain infectious diseases caused by bacteria, antibiotics are less effective than expected. One example is infections caused by Salmonella bacteria, which can lead to illnesses such ...

Where lies the origin of the Indo-European language family? Ron Pinhasi and his team in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Vienna contribute a new piece to this puzzle in collaboration with David Reich's ancient DNA laboratory at Harvard University. They analyzed ancient DNA from 435 individuals from archaeological sites across Eurasia between 6.400–2.000 BCE. They found out that a newly recognized Caucasus-Lower Volga population can be connected to all Indo-European-speaking populations. The new ...

Boston – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers report that all nine patients in a clinical trial being treated for stage III or IV clear cell renal cell carcinoma (a form of kidney cancer), generated a successful anti-cancer immune response after initiation of a personalized cancer vaccine. The vaccines were administered after surgery to remove the tumor and are designed to train the body’s immune system to recognize and eliminate any remaining tumor cells. At the time of data cut-off (median of 34.7 months), ...

New research estimates that globally, only 6.9 per cent of people with mental health or substance-use disorders receive effective treatment for their disorders. Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard Medical School analyzed survey data from nearly 57,000 participants in 21 countries collected over a 19-year period, to provide the clearest picture yet of where people discontinue their path to effective treatment for nine common anxiety, mood and substance-use disorders. The biggest barrier to effective ...

New study demonstrates that certain incised stone artefacts from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic, specifically from Manot, Qafzeh, and Quneitra caves, were deliberately engraved with geometric patterns, indicating advanced cognitive and symbolic behaviour among early humans. In contrast, artefacts from Amud Cave, with shallow and unpatterned incisions, are consistent with functional use. This research highlights the intentionality behind the engravings, providing key insights into the development of abstract thinking and the cultural complexity of Middle Palaeolithic societies. Link ...

Many factors are needed to achieve our goals. Now researchers have looked at passion, drive and people’s ability to find flow. “This is the first study to look at these factors together,"says Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU’s) Department of Psychology. The researchers have found differences between the sexes. The results indicate that the sexes each have their own strengths when it comes to success. Men are more passionate than women when it comes to achieving their goals. They also often have an easier time finding flow. Women, ...

Young adults are a higher risk group for being in a crash while driving due likely to inexperience with driving, driving under the influence, and a greater propensity to take risks while driving. Although research has explored sociodemographic links of driver crashes based on age, sex and socioeconomic status, reports on the relationship between crashes and mental health are sparse. A new Florida Atlantic University study fills a notable gap by exploring the correlation between commuter college students’ mental health status and being in a crash while driving. Commuter students, often lower-income, older, or balancing family responsibilities, face greater ...

Sour beers have become a fixture on microbrewery menus and store shelves. They’re enjoyed for their tart, complex flavors, but some can require long and complicated brewing processes. Researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry brewed new sours in less time using a seemingly strange ingredient: field peas. The experimental beers had fruity — not “beany” — flavors and other attributes comparable to a commercial Belgian-style sour, but with shorter, simpler brewing steps. “Sour beer is the beer enthusiast’s alternative to Champagne. By using sugars derived from peas that yeast ...

Reusable sponge platform has successfully removed oil, phosphate and metal from contaminated water New development allows capture of valuable minerals and reuse of the sponge Water pollution concentrations move from 0.8 parts per million to undetectable levels EVANSTON, Ill. --- As more waterways contend with algae blooms and pollution caused by minerals from agricultural runoff and industrial manufacturing processes, new methods to remove pollutants like phosphate, copper and zinc are emerging across fields. While solutions exist, they tend to be costly ...

PULLMAN, Wash. — Typical breakfast pancakes are soft, fluffy and delicious but, sadly, not terribly healthy.   Food scientists at Washington State University are working to change that by boosting the popular morning favorite’s nutritional value while enhancing its taste and texture.   “Generally, pancakes are made with refined flours, contributing to empty calories,” said Girish Ganjyal, a professor and food processing specialist in WSU’s School of Food Science. “We wanted to see if it’s ...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common digestive disorder that affects the intestine, causing symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, gas, and changes in bowel habits, including diarrhea, constipation, or both. Although this condition affects about a tenth of the global population, the underlying causes and mechanisms of IBS remain unclear. Consequently, treatments for IBS primarily focus on managing symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the disorder. At Tokyo University of Science ...

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are fascinating and mysterious states of matter that have intrigued scientists for decades. First proposed by Nobel laureate Philip Anderson in the 1970s, these materials break the conventional rules of magnetism by never settling into a stable magnetic state, even at temperatures close to absolute zero. Instead, the spins of the atoms within them remain constantly fluctuating and entangled, creating a kind of magnetic “liquid.” This unusual behavior is driven by a phenomenon called magnetic frustration, where competing forces prevent the system from reaching a single, ordered configuration. QSLs are notoriously ...

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 5, 2025 – A new drug-free, minimally invasive intervention targets the root cause of progressive loss of neural function in spinal muscle atrophy (SMA), an inherited neuromuscular disease. An intervention, which involves electrical stimulation of the sensory spinal nerves, can gradually reawaken functionally silent motor neurons in the spinal cord and improve leg muscle strength and walking in adults with SMA. The findings were reported by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in Nature Medicine today. Early results from a pilot clinical trial in three human volunteers with SMA show that one month of regular ...

Osaka, Japan—A gate that can be open or shut to allow or block the passing of species on one or both sides applies not only on the macroscale, for example a farm gate used to control stock movement, but also at the nanoscale, where a gate can control the translocation of single molecules. A collaboration headed by researchers at Osaka University has developed a nanogate that can be open or shut by applying electricity. The nanogate shows various behaviors depending on the materials in the solutions on both sides of the gate and the applied voltage, making it attractive for different applications including sensing and controlled chemical reactions. The ...

Key findings: a roadmap to transform energy use by 2050 Electrification (e.g., switching to electric vehicles, heat pumps) alone could cut direct emissions by 45-77% in buildings and 22-86% in transport by 2050. Combining electrification, efficiency improvements, and behavioral changes could reduce emissions even further: 51-85% for buildings and 37-91% for transport by 2050. A multi-strategy approach would lower overall electricity demand by 8-33% per year, making the transition more cost-effective ...