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Science6 Jan 2025

Scientists identify low-cost adsorbents for removing impurities from landfill gas

Landfill gas, a mixture of gases produced when garbage breaks down within landfills, contains unwanted traces of siloxane compounds, which are chemical structures containing silicon and oxygen bonds and are found in various products like cosmetics and cleaning agents. These compounds can damage the equipment used to generate energy from landfill gas. In new research published in Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, investigators have identified low-cost adsorbents for siloxane removal from landfill gas. The research highlights the potential of ...

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Medicine6 Jan 2025

CDC grant funds initiatives for breast cancer patients

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve equitable access to care, quality of life and survival outcomes for young people with all stages of breast cancer. The grant will enable Weill Cornell Medicine to enhance care coordination for patients and caregivers to optimize support of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual needs, while offering culturally relevant resources and targeted interventions. The initiative ...

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Science6 Jan 2025

How can similar news stories influence financial markets? Here’s what investors need to know

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Have you ever noticed a swath of similar business news stories about a particular topic during a Google search, all of them appearing to be reported by different news outlets? Why might a story on a news site in New York be so similar to one from a site in, for example, Wisconsin? It’s likely because the same media company owns them — and it’s become more commonplace nationwide as news outlets grapple with dwindling resources. A new study co-authored by Flora Sun, assistant professor of accounting at Binghamton University’s School of Management, ...

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Medicine6 Jan 2025

Mixed signals: How the brain interprets social cues

Imagine you’re at a dinner party, but you can’t smell the food cooking or hear the dinner bell. Sounds like a dream, right? What if it wasn’t? “When we experience the world and interact with people, we use all our senses,” Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Stephen Shea says. “That’s true for animals and humans.” However, that’s not always the case in developmental disorders like autism. These conditions can affect how the brain processes incoming information, making it difficult to interpret the social cues that drive conversations, dates, and other ...

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Environment6 Jan 2025

Climate extremes in 2024 ‘wreaking havoc’ on the global water cycle

2024 was another year of record-breaking temperatures, driving the global water cycle to new climate extremes and contributing to ferocious floods and crippling droughts, a new report led by The Australian National University (ANU) shows. The 2024 Global Water Monitor Report, involving an international team of researchers and led by ANU Professor Albert van Dijk, found rising temperatures are changing the way water moves around the planet, “wreaking havoc” on the water cycle. “Rising ...

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Technology6 Jan 2025

Acoustic sensors find frequent gunfire on school walking routes

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study used acoustic sensors that detect the sound of gunfire to show how often children in one Chicago neighborhood are exposed to gunshots while walking to and from school. Results showed that nearly two-thirds of schools in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago had at least one gun incident within 400 meters (about one-quarter mile) of where children were walking home during the 2021-22 school year. These findings suggest a need to redefine federal definitions of school gun violence to include indirect forms of violence that take place near schools, not only on school grounds, in order to more appropriately ...

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Technology6 Jan 2025

New quantum sensing technology reveals sub-atomic signals

Since the 1950s, scientists have used radio waves to uncover the molecular “fingerprints” of unknown materials, aiding in tasks as varied as scanning the human body with MRI machines and detecting explosives at airports. These methods, however, rely on signals averaged from trillions of atoms, making it impossible to detect tiny variations between individual molecules. Such limitations hinder applications in fields like protein research, where small differences in shape control functionality and can determine the difference between health and disease. Sub-Atomic Insights Now, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania ...

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Medicine6 Jan 2025

Significant funding to ensure personalized treatments that work for rheumatoid arthritis

In recent years treatment with powerful biologic and targeted synthetic therapies has changed the landscape for arthritis, but currently finding the right treatment for each person is a matter of trial and error. Only a proportion of patients with inflammatory arthritis respond to each expensive therapy, which results in unnecessary treatment and a long and often frustrating journey for patients, not to mention significant cost to the NHS. University of Birmingham researchers have just been awarded £3.5 million funding from Johnson & Johnson to investigate ...

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Medicine6 Jan 2025

CryoSCAPE: Allen Institute scientists develop ‘suspended animation’ technique for blood draws that will aid research for underserved populations

By Rachel Tompa, Ph.D Your blood is a delicate mixture. Researchers and clinicians often use blood to learn what’s going on inside our bodies, in part because siphoning off a tube of blood is easier and less painful than taking biopsies of an internal organ. But in some cases, it turns out that blood can be very different outside our bodies. When it comes to certain emerging research techniques, the clock starts ticking as soon as your blood hits the tube. As little as six to eight hours later, some aspects of your blood’s ...

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Environment6 Jan 2025

Prime apple growing areas in US face increasing climate risks

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Some of the most productive apple regions in America are facing big challenges from a changing climate, according to a Washington State University study. Researchers analyzed over 40 years of climate conditions that impact the growth cycle of apple trees from bud break and flowering through fruit development, maturation and color development. While many growing areas are facing increased climate risks, the top three largest apple producing counties in the U.S. were among the most impacted: Yakima in Washington, Kent in Michigan and Wayne ...

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Medicine6 Jan 2025

Extended Paxlovid may help some people with long COVID

An up-close look at how patients respond to the drug at different times and doses adds nuance to a recent finding that Paxlovid does not work for long Covid. An extended course of Paxlovid appears to help some patients with long Covid, according to a case series by UC San Francisco researchers that suggests this treatment option holds promise for some of those struggling with debilitating symptoms. These results are at odds with recent research that has failed to show the antiviral can alleviate persistent symptoms of the disease. The authors said more study is needed to find out which patients may benefit from the drug and how long it should be given. The ...

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Engineering6 Jan 2025

Media coverage of civilian casualties in allied countries boosts support for U.S. involvement

From photographs of decimated buildings to military and civilian casualty counts to narratives of suffering, news media bring information about foreign conflicts to American audiences. But does this coverage actually affect public opinion about whether and how the United States should be involved in a conflict? Does it influence what Americans think about the U.S. providing military, diplomatic, and economic aid to foreign nations? A new paper from researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania examines these questions and finds that media coverage of civilian casualties increases public support for U.S. involvement in conflicts by evoking empathy ...

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Environment6 Jan 2025

Marked decrease in Arctic pressure ridges

In the Arctic, the old, multiyear ice is increasingly melting, dramatically reducing the frequency and size of pressure ridges. These ridges are created when ice floes press against each other and become stacked, and are a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, an obstacle for shipping, but also an essential component of the ecosystem. In a recently released study in the journal Nature Climate Change, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute report on this trend and analyse observational data from three decades of aerial surveys. Satellite data from the last three decades documents the dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice due to climate change: the area covered in ice in summer ...

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Science6 Jan 2025

Age matters: Kidney disorder indicator gains precision

Annual health checkups regularly include urine tests that serve several purposes, including checking for symptoms of kidney disease. The presence of albumin in the urine is one indicator as is glomerular filtration rate. In diabetic nephropathy, albuminuria first appears, leading to excessive filtration and eventually a decrease in GFR. In the elderly, however, excessive filtration cannot be detected due to age-related GFR decline. To accurately assess GFR, Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have come up with ...

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Medicine4 Jan 2025

New guidelines for managing blood cancers in pregnancy

A new set of guidelines has been developed to assist with the diagnosis and expert management of serious blood cancers in pregnancy. About 12.5 pregnancies per 100,000 are affected by blood cancers such as acute leukaemia and aggressive lymphomas, and their incidence has been rising. Between 1994 and 2013, they increased by 2.7 per cent a year, due to factors including women having children later, improved diagnostic techniques, and increased health system engagement. An Australian working group has now published a new position statement in the latest edition of The Lancet Haematology, based on current evidence and expert consensus. It ...

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Medicine3 Jan 2025

New study suggests RNA present on surfaces of leaves may shape microbial communities

Biologists at Indiana University Bloomington have shown that the surfaces of plant leaves are coated with a diverse array of RNA molecules. The finding suggests that the RNA present on the leaf surface may play a role in shaping the microbial communities that inhabit them, potentially influencing plant health and interactions within their environment, according to a new study. The study, Diverse plant RNAs coat Arabidopsis leaves and are distinct from apoplastic RNAs, was published Jan. 3, 2025 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The first authors are Lucía ...

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Social Science3 Jan 2025

U.S. suffers from low social mobility. Is sprawl partly to blame?

Urban sprawl is not just unsightly. It could also be impeding intergenerational mobility for low-income residents and reinforcing racial inequality, according to a series of recent studies led by a University of Utah geographer. One analysis of tract-level Census data co-authored with a former economics graduate student in the U’s College of Social & Behavioral Science found that people who grew up in high-sprawl neighborhoods have less earning potential than those who grew in denser neighborhoods. “For adults, jobs are harder to access in more sprawling neighborhoods,” said Kelsey Carlston, now an assistant professor of economics at Gonzaga University. “If we ...

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Medicine3 Jan 2025

Research spotlight: Improving predictions about brain cancer outcomes with the right imaging criteria

Raymond Y. Huang, MD, Ph.D., of the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the corresponding author of a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, “Comparative Analysis of Intracranial Response Assessment Criteria in Patients With Melanoma Brain Metastases Treated With Combination Nivolumab + Ipilimumab in CheckMate 204.” How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Our study examines how different imaging criteria can be used to assess brain tumor responses ...

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Space3 Jan 2025

New UVA professor’s research may boost next-generation space rockets

Go faster, farther, more efficiently. That’s the goal driving spacecraft propulsion engineers like Chen Cui, a new assistant professor at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Cui is exploring ways to improve electric propulsion thrusters — a key technology for future space missions. “In order to ensure the technology remains viable for long-term missions, we need to optimize EP integration with spacecraft systems,” Cui said. Working with his former adviser, University of Southern California professor Joseph Wang, ...

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Social Science3 Jan 2025

Multilingualism improves crucial cognitive functions in autistic children

A new study from UCLA Health adds to the growing body of evidence on the cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages, finding that multilingualism not only enhances general cognitive abilities but also may help reduce certain symptoms and bolster control of daily thoughts and actions in children with and without autism. The study, published in the journal Autism Research, found parents of autistic and non-autistic children in multilingual households reported their children had stronger overall executive ...

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Environment3 Jan 2025

The carbon in our bodies probably left the galaxy and came back on cosmic ‘conveyer belt’

Link to full release: https://www.washington.edu/news/2025/01/03/galaxy-carbon-conveyer-belt/ FROM: James Urton University of Washington 206-543-2580 jurton@uw.edu (Note: researcher contact information at the end) For immediate release Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 The carbon in our bodies probably left the galaxy and came back on cosmic ‘conveyer belt’ Life on Earth could not exist without carbon. But carbon itself could not exist without stars. Nearly all elements except hydrogen and ...

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Medicine3 Jan 2025

Scientists unveil surprising human vs mouse differences in a major cancer immunotherapy target

Since its discovery in the 1990s, “programmed cell death protein 1,” or PD-1, has been regarded as a leading target in cancer treatments. A “checkpoint” receptor that often resides on the surface of immune system cells, the PD-1 molecule works as a type of off switch that keeps immune cells from attacking other cells. After its discovery, which revolutionized oncology and earned a 2018 Nobel Prize, researchers developed new drugs to block PD-1 and unleash the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Yet treatments leveraging PD-1 are only effective in a small fraction of cancer patients, highlighting ...

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Space3 Jan 2025

NASA’s LEXI will provide X-ray vision of Earth’s magnetosphere

A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation. The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, instrument is one of 10 payloads aboard the next lunar delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, set to launch from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than mid-January, with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander. The instrument will support ...

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Science3 Jan 2025

A successful catalyst design for advanced zinc-iodine batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted extensive attention due to their high safety, abundant reserves, and environmental friendliness. Iodine with high abundance in seawater (55 μg L−1) is highly promising to fabricate zinc-iodine batteries due to high theoretical capacity (211 mAh g−1) and appropriate redox potential (0.54 V). However, the low electrical conductivity of iodine hinders the redox conversion for the efficient energy storage process with zinc. Additionally, the formed soluble polyiodides are prone to migirate to Zn anode, leading to capacity degration and ...

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Environment3 Jan 2025

AMS Science Preview: Tall hurricanes, snow and wildfire

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 is a selection of articles published early online recently. Some articles are open-access; to view others, members of the media can contact kpflaumer@ametsoc.org for press login credentials. JOURNAL ARTICLES The Impact of Snowoff Timing and Associated Atmospheric Drivers on the Alaska Wildfire Season Earth Interactions Earlier ...

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