Raising groundwater levels and adding biochar to agricultural peat soils could dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining healthy crop production, according to a new study from Bangor University. The study, published in Biochar (2025), tested how water table management and biochar, a charcoal-like soil additive made from plant biomass, affect carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions in peat-based farming systems. Although drained peats are among the world’s most productive ...

A research team from Hefei University of Technology, Zhejiang University, and South China University of Technology has discovered that adding specially treated biochar to cement can significantly improve its ability to capture and store carbon dioxide while strengthening the material itself. Cement production is one of the world’s largest sources of CO₂ emissions. Finding cost-effective ways to store carbon directly in building materials could help reduce the industry’s environmental footprint. In the new study, scientists explored how modifying biochar, ...

Immediate skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their mothers offers a better start in life, improving a number of key health metrics, according to a newly-updated Cochrane review. The review found that babies who have skin-to-skin contact with their mother within the first hour of birth are more likely to see a variety of benefits, including exclusive breastfeeding, optimal body temperatures and blood sugar levels. While possible benefits for the mother were also studied, such as effects on blood loss and timing of placental delivery, the evidence was less certain. Skin-to-skin involves placing the naked newborn on the mother’s uncovered chest immediately ...

Why do some people regularly attend the opera, visit art galleries, or go to classical music concerts—while others rarely, if ever, do? The easy answer might be, “They can’t afford it.” But according to recent research from the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management, the real explanation goes far beyond money. The new paper —  published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research and coauthored by Joe Gladstone, an assistant professor of behavioral ...

  Mass General Brigham researchers found that older women who took 4,000 steps on just one or two days a week had a 27% reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease and 26% reduction in risk of death compared to those who got less steps The study found that the number of steps taken rather than any daily pattern of stepping was tied to these risk reductions Tracking daily steps has become a staple exercise metric as smart devices keep count with ease. This physical activity stimulates bodily repair and maintenance, which is especially important as we age. But how many steps do you need to reap health benefits? A new study by investigators ...

Clocking up at least 4000 daily steps on just 1 or 2 days per week is linked to a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease among older women, finds research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.   This large prospective study examined not only how many steps older women take but how often they reach their step targets across the week, addressing a key gap in current physical activity guidelines.   Researchers found that achieving at least 4000 steps per day on 1-2 days per week was associated with a significantly lower risk of death and lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), compared with not reaching this ...

Less than half of schoolchildren in England who are at risk of a serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) to food were prescribed the antidote—an adrenaline [epinephrine] autoinjector, or AAI for short—finds an analysis of national prescribing data, published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.   This is despite recommendations by the UK and European medicines regulators that those at risk should have access to 2 AAIs at all times, since some reactions need more than one dose or to allow for incorrect use.    And with 1 in 10 episodes of anaphylaxis occurring ...

Antidepressants can differ widely in how they physically affect the body, including around a 4 kg difference in weight change between certain drugs (approximately 2.5 kg weight loss from agomelatine and 2kg weight gain from maprotiline), confirms a systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet. The authors emphasise that these findings should not deter people from taking antidepressants, which remain vital and effective treatments for mental health conditions. Instead, they say the results ...

New research demonstrates a simple, eco-friendly method to break down Teflon® – one of the world’s most durable plastics – into useful chemical building blocks. Scientists from Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham have developed a clean and energy-efficient way to recycle Teflon® (PTFE), a material best known for its use in non-stick coatings and other applications that demand high chemical and thermal stability. The researchers discovered that waste Teflon® can be broken down and repurposed using only sodium metal and mechanical energy – movement by shaking - at room temperature and without toxic ...

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have captured the most detailed look yet at how galaxies formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang – and found they were far more chaotic and messy than those we see today. The team, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, analysed more than 250 young galaxies that existed when the universe was between 800 million and 1.5 billion years old. By studying the movement of gas within these galaxies, the researchers ...

In a time of tariffs and political trade disputes, new UBC Okanagan research shows that it’s not what you know but who you know. And how well you treat them. The research demonstrates that strong and strategic international alliances—not just diversification—are key to protecting supply chains from political trade disruptions. Dr. Amin Ahmadi Digehsara, Assistant Professor in UBCO’s Faculty of Management, says creating strong global supply chain networks requires countries to make strategic decisions about facility locations, how to allocate capacity and how to manage operations across ...

For decades, researchers seeking to understand global climate change have analyzed ice cores drilled deep within the Antarctic ice sheet. This ice traps chemicals and bubbles of ancient air that tell the story of how Earth’s climate has changed over time. To develop a precise climate record, researchers seek to find continuous ice that’s uninterrupted, frozen in chronological order with newest ice at the top and the oldest ice at the bottom. Until recently, the oldest continuous ice core samples went back as far as 800,000 years, just when Earth’s ...

About The Study: In this case-control study, risk factors for suicide attempt and suicide incompletely overlapped and may present distinct opportunities for prevention, risk prediction, and suicide-risk screening.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Fenfen Ge, MD, PhD, email ffge.ncrr@au.dk. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.3444) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding ...

Reptiles could overtake amphibians as the highest priority for conservation among vertebrates as threats like climate change and invasive species worsen in the future, according to a new conservation index tool developed by Gabriel Henrique de Oliveira Caetano at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and Université Paris-Saclay, France, and colleagues, publishing October 21st in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. Climate change, habitat loss, and the overexploitation of nature are driving wildlife population declines and extinctions ...

A study led by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) confirms the rise in ideological polarization and biased or false news posted on Facebook. This groundbreaking research analyzed over 6 million news-related URLs – from 1,231 different domains in the United States – shared on Facebook between 2017 and 2020. The news stories from these four years covered such significant events as the COVID pandemic, the 2020 US presidential elections (which culminated in the attack on Congress following Trump’s loss) and the 2018 midterm elections, in which all seats ...

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are tiny but sophisticated gatekeepers that control the flow of materials between a cell’s nucleus and its cytoplasm by quickly selecting which molecules to transport across the nuclear membrane. Because NPCs are involved in most key cellular processes, when the transport system goes awry, numerous diseases can result, especially those of a neurodegenerative nature. How each NPC makes a split-second decision about which molecules to allow to pass through its molecular gate is one of biology’s oldest mysteries. Now researchers from The Rockefeller University, working with ...

M dwarfs, or red dwarfs, are the most common type of star in our galaxy, accounting for more than half of all stars in the Milky Way. These small, cool stars are key targets for understanding the processes of stellar and planetary formation and evolution. However, because M dwarfs are intrinsically faint, detailed observations have historically been limited, and early surveys suggested that more than 70% of them were single stars. Recent advances in observational techniques, however, have revealed that this picture was incomplete: the frequency of low-mass ...

From October 19 to 21, 2025, the "Science Journal High-Quality Development Seminar and the 12th Anniversary of KeAi" was successfully held at the Portman Seven Stars Bay Hotel in Xiamen. Organized by Beijing KeAi Senlan Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., the conference gathered experts and scholars from the field of journal publishing both domestically and internationally to discuss strategies for high-quality development in scientific publishing. The "Current Pharmaceutical Analysis" (CPA) journal was honored with the "Great Progress Award" for its significant advancements in journal development and ...

Taking greater investment risks with technologies and new lines of business can help lower emissions from the aviation industry, one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of climate pollution, shows new research from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. The full article, “Mobilizing Capital and Technology for a Clean Aviation Industry,” was first published in Science, one of the world’s top academic journals.   Cutting planet-warming pollution to near-zero will take more than inventing new clean technologies; ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2025 — Measuring how well blood flows to the brain is crucial for understanding a wide range of neurological issues, from strokes to migraines to traumatic brain injuries. Obtaining such measurements noninvasively, however, remains a challenge. The scalp and skull not only obstruct viewing the brain directly but also have their own blood supply, further complicating cerebral blood flow measurements. In APL Bioengineering, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, Rancho Research Institute, the University of Toledo, and the National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore ...

Measuring blood flow in the brain is critical for responding to a range of neurological problems, including stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and vascular dementia. But existing techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography, are expensive and therefore not widely available. Researchers from the USC Neurorestoration Center and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have built a simple, noninvasive alternative. The device takes a technique currently used in animal studies known as speckle contrast optical ...

About The Study: Among privately insured individuals, the use of colonoscopy and fecal immunochemical tests decreased after the COVID-19 pandemic while stool DNA test use increased, with differences by sex, area-level socioeconomic status, and metropolitan area residence.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sunny Siddique, MD, PhD, email sunny.siddique@yale.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.38578) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2025 — Seaweed is found around the world. In fact, the name “seaweed” comprises a diverse range of species, from microscopic phytoplankton to the giant forests found in various bodies of water. Seaweed species aren’t just crucial parts of marine ecosystems, though; they also provide numerous health benefits for humans and have been dubbed a superfood by marketing companies, a term used to encompass healthy, nutrient-rich foods.  In Biointerphases, an AVS journal published by AIP Publishing, researchers from Oregon State University found yet another ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As more people turn to ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) for mental health advice, a new study details how these chatbots — even when prompted to use evidence-based psychotherapy techniques — systematically violate ethical standards of practice established by organizations like the American Psychological Association.  The research, led by Brown University computer scientists working side-by-side with mental health practitioners, showed that chatbots are prone to a variety of ethical violations. Those include inappropriately navigating crisis situations, ...

People who use both cannabis and tobacco show distinct brain changes compared to those who use cannabis alone, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers at the Douglas Research Centre. The finding may help explain why people who use both cannabis and tobacco often report increased depression and anxiety, and why quitting cannabis is harder for them than for people only using cannabis “This is the first evidence in humans of a molecular mechanism that may underlie why people who use both cannabis and tobacco experience worse outcomes,” said lead author Rachel Rabin, Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry ...