Research has shown that polarization undermines democracy by driving citizens to prioritize partisan preferences over democratic principles, encourages democratic gridlock and threatens democratic attitudes and norms, such as tolerance for opposition. Today, Americans are grappling with deep political divides, often seeing those on the other side as untrustworthy, unpatriotic and misinformed — a rift that threatens democracy. Could marriage counseling hold the key to a more unified country? A recent study, published in Political Behavior and co-authored by Laura Gamboa, an assistant professor of democracy and global affairs at the Keough ...

BOZEMAN – With the help of two major grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a team in Montana State University’s College of Agriculture is furthering investigations of honeybee antiviral defense mechanisms with the goal of developing strategies to reduce honeybee colony deaths. According to Michelle Flenniken, a professor in MSU’s Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology and co-director of the university’s Pollinator Health Center, annual honeybee colony losses have averaged roughly 38% in the ...

They’re one of the UK’s most loved staples, providing around half of our carbohydrate intake as a nation and supporting over 20,000 farm, transport and manufacturing jobs. Now, new research is focusing on ensuring reliable supplies of the potato all year round with a project that focuses on potato dormancy and extending storage life. To achieve year-round supplies in the UK, around 1.5 million tonnes of potatoes are kept in cold stores for up to eight months to prevent sprouting. However, following the withdrawal of a chemical that ...

Zaps of static electricity might be a wintertime annoyance, but to certain scientists, they represent an untapped source of energy. Using a device called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), mechanical energy can be converted into electrical energy using triboelectric effect static. Many TENGs contain expensive, specially fabricated materials, but one team has instead used inexpensive store-bought tape, plastic and aluminum metal. The researchers report an improved version of their tape-based TENG in ACS Omega.  The research team, led by Gang Wang and Moon-Hyung Jang, previously stacked layers of a store-bought double-sided tape, plastic film and aluminum metal ...

A research team led by Dr Prof. Hitoshi Yamamoto of Rissho University and Dr Prof. Takahisa Suzuki of Tsuda University explored the conditions under which people would accept the moral judgments of AI. They focused on the behaviour of "not helping people with bad reputations (justified non-cooperation)," which is difficult for people to judge as good or bad, to investigate under what conditions people are more likely to accept AI's judgments over human judgments. The study revealed that people tend to be more accepting of AI's judgments when AI makes positive judgments and humans make negative judgments. The research results were published in the ...

Hamilton, ON, Jan. 30, 2025 – Researchers have shown that plumes of wildfire smoke can carry contaminants hundreds of kilometres, leaving a toxic and lingering footprint which has the potential to be re-released into the environment.   The frequency and severity of wildfires is expected to continue increasing due to climate change. In recent weeks, catastrophic wildfires have devasted Los Angeles, scorching tens of thousands of acres.    Canada’s 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive ever recorded, with an estimated 18.5 million hectares burned. The 2024 season was the second worst on record, with more than 5 million ...

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Jan. 30, 2025, 8:45 a.m. MST                                                                                            Denver, Colo. ― Congenital heart defects ...

Researchers report January 30 in the Cell Press journal Joule that a more efficient and environmentally friendly form of refrigeration might be on the horizon. The new technology is based on thermogalvanic cells that produce a cooling effect by way of a reversible electrochemical reaction. Thermogalvanic refrigeration is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than other cooling methods because it requires a far lower energy input, and its scalability means that it could be used for various applications—from wearable cooling devices to industrial-grade scenarios. “Thermogalvanic technology is on its way to our lives, ...

Lead pollution in the Aegean Sea region may have begun around 5,200 years ago, according to a paper published in Communications Earth & Environment. The findings suggest that lead pollution due to human activities began approximately 1,200 years earlier than previously thought, and that the expansion of the Roman Empire across the Aegean region led to a significant increase in lead pollution in the region around 2,150 years ago. Andreas Koutsodendris and colleagues analysed the lead content of ...

Studies of sediment cores from the sea floor and the coastal regions surrounding the Aegean Sea show that humans contaminated the environment with lead early on in antiquity. A research team led by geoscientists from Heidelberg University conducted the analyses, which revealed that human activity in the region resulted in lead contamination of the environment approximately 5,200 years ago – much earlier than previously known. Combined with the results of pollen analyses from the sediment cores, this contamination also offers insights into socioeconomic change in the Aegean, even reflecting historical ...

About The Study: This cohort study documented a large decrease in antidepressant use without an accompanying increase in psychotherapy during pregnancy. These findings, coupled with evidence of mental health challenges during and after pregnancy, suggest the need for increased focus on and discussion about mental health treatments by pregnant women and their clinicians.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Claire Boone, PhD, email claire.boone@mcgill.ca. To access the embargoed study: Visit our ...

About The Study: The overall prevalence of social isolation in this study was 3%, which is lower than other determinants of health, such as smoking, poverty, and inadequate health insurance. The results indicate 3 broad and likely interrelated populations at risk for social isolation, including racial and ethnic minority groups, those with financial insecurity (i.e., unemployed, uninsured, lower income), and those with chronic health conditions, with depression being a large factor.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Hao Yu, PhD, email hao_yu@hphci.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, underrepresented in medicine internal medicine residents remained underrepresented compared with their program’s county populations. These findings should inform racial and ethnic diversity policies to address the continuing underrepresentation among graduate medical education physicians, which adversely impacts the care of historically underserved communities.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jung G. Kim, PhD, MPH, email jung.kim3@nyulangone.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.57310) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This cross-sectional study found that the foods advertised during National Football League games, the most watched sporting events in the U.S., were frequently high in sodium, calorie, and fat content. Although the effectiveness of sports advertising and paid sponsorships on food consumption has been studied mostly among children and young adults, adults with prevalent conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and kidney failure, may also be vulnerable to deviations ...

The world is experiencing more frequent and intense heat waves, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires due to rising greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is one of the largest contributors to climate change, yet it also plays a crucial role in the strategies needed to mitigate and adapt to its effects, contributing to the achievement of ambitious climate goals. In this global context, Lithuania is undergoing a significant energy transformation as it moves toward a more sustainable and independent future. By aligning its energy ...

An unusually high amount of poliovirus detections in several European countries in recent months has underscored the importance of keeping Europe polio-free, according to an editorial by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Director Pamela Rendi Wagner and World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge, which was published on Eurosurveillance. ‘A future without polio remains our goal, but it is by no means a certainty’, warn Rendi-Wagner and Kluge. ‘Every country must remain vigilant to detect the presence of polioviruses through sensitive surveillance systems, prepared to act quickly if any circulation is detected, ...

Tatsuya Yoshida, Mikito Takefuji, and Toyoaki Murohara in the Department of Cardiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, identified an enzyme, alpha-kinase 2 (ALPK2) that is specifically expressed in the heart. They found that the enzyme may prevent a stiff heart through activating the gene TPM1 in heart muscle fibers. ALPK2 is a promising new therapeutic target for the treatment of heart failure, especially heart failure with preserved ejection function (HFpEF). The number of heart failure patients is increasing worldwide. ...

WASHINGTON – Being optimistic about the future may help people save more money, and the effect appears strongest among those with lower incomes, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The study found that people who scored higher on measures of “dispositional optimism” -- the tendency to expect positive outcomes -- saved more money over time compared with their less optimistic peers. The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "We often think of optimism as rose-colored glasses ...

Women who go on to develop postpartum depression (PPD) may have characteristic levels of neuroactive steroids, molecules derived from the hormone progesterone, in their blood during the third trimester of pregnancy, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Virginia. These molecules influence the brain’s stress response and emotional regulation. The findings, published XX in Neuropsychopharmacology, suggest that this may provide a way to identify women at risk of PPD before ...

Muon spin rotation (µSR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique that helps to study the behavior of materials at the atomic level. It involves using muons—subatomic particles similar to protons but with a lighter mass. When introduced into a material, muons interact with local magnetic fields, providing unique insights into the material’s structure and dynamics, especially for highly reactive species such as radicals. In a new study, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor Shigekazu Ito, from the School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, ...

WASHINGTON—The Endocrine Society and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) are delighted to announce Professor Ashley Grossman, F.Med.Sci., as the winner of the 2025 Transatlantic Alliance Award. Grossman is emeritus professor of endocrinology at the University of Oxford and a senior research fellow at Green Templeton College in Oxford, U.K. He also is a consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Free London and a professor of neuroendocrinology at Queen Mary University of London in London, ...

New York, NY [January 30, 2025]—Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, MPH, CPH, an accomplished physician-scientist driving advances in artificial intelligence, has been appointed Chair of the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The department is the first of its kind at a U.S. medical school, underscoring Mount Sinai's leadership in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into health care. Dr. Nadkarni will also serve as Director of the Hasso Plattner ...

Kaboom! The first time most of us hear the sound of an explosion is in the movies. Encountering the sound in the real world—even at a distance—has a profoundly different effect. Why? It’s all about context. How we react to sounds and other sensory stimuli depends on how they’re presented. We often don’t know how we’ll respond to something until we experience it. And the sensation is sometimes quite different from what we expected. So, the brain has to adjust quickly. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Florin Albeanu explains: “In ...

Hidden within our bones, marrow sustains life by producing billions of blood cells daily, from oxygen-carrying red cells to immune-boosting white cells. This vital function is often disrupted in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, which can damage the marrow and lead to dangerously low white cell counts, leaving patients vulnerable to infection. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a platform that emulates human marrow’s ...

Research recently published in The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis reveals that politically connected companies were significantly more likely to receive valuable exemptions from the tariffs imposed on U.S. imports from China during the Trump administration. The authors, Veljko Fotak (SUNY Buffalo), Grace Lee (Fordham University), William Megginson (University of Oklahoma), and Jesus Salas, associate professor of finance (Lehigh University), found that companies that made substantial investments in political connections to Republicans prior to and during the beginning of the Trump administration were ...