Siddarth Kara’s bestseller, “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of Congo Powers Our Lives,” focuses on problems surrounding the sourcing of cobalt, a critical component of lithium-ion batteries that power many technologies central to modern life, from mobile phones and pacemakers to electric vehicles. “Perhaps many of us have read how lithium-ion batteries are vital for energy storage technologies,” says Eric Schelter, the Hirschmann-Makineni Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. “But how material that make up such batteries are sourced can be concerning and problematic, both ethically and environmentally.” Schelter ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Sustainable practices in business are more than just an ethical responsibility; they make sound financial sense. Researchers from Kyushu University, in a study published on December 10, 2024, in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, reveal that companies with better environmental performance and transparent disclosures can lower costs and boost profits. Investors are increasingly recognizing companies' contributions toward carbon neutrality, driving the growth of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. To support this trend, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has provided an industry-specific framework ...

Self-driving cars rely on artificial intelligence to predict where nearby cars will go. But when those predictions don’t match reality, that discrepancy can potentially lead to crashes and less safe roadways. That’s why a recent study from the University of Georgia developed a new AI model to make self-driving cars safer. This study introduces an AI model for self-driving cars, designed to predict the movement of nearby traffic and incorporate innovative features for planning safe vehicle movements. "The planned trajectory of the self-driving car may turn out to collide with the actual trajectory of another vehicle.” —Qianwen Li, College ...

Researchers at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have  realized a new design for a superconducting quantum processor, aiming at a potential architecture for the large-scale, durable devices the quantum revolution demands. Unlike the typical quantum chip design that lays the information-processing qubits onto a 2-D grid, the team from the Cleland Lab has designed a modular quantum processor comprising a reconfigurable router as a central hub. This enables any two qubits to connect and entangle, where in the ...

You’re standing at a bus stop, waiting for a ride that seems like it will never come. At first, you’re hopeful that it will be here any second. But as the minutes laggardly drag on, doubt creeps in. Should you keep waiting, or is it smarter to start walking or call for a ride?  “It’s a classic dilemma. “Do you persist with the belief that the bus is on its way, or do you cut your losses and move on to something else?” asks Joe Kable, a psychologist in the School of Arts ...

AUSTIN, TX, Dec 10, 2024 – Electric Vehicles (EVs) represent a promising mode of transportation that can help the United States reduce its carbon emissions. But barriers such as the high cost of installing and using EV Charging Stations (EVCS), their limitations in supplying emerging demand, and their uneven distribution throughout the country limit access for many Americans.   Researchers at the University of Maryland are using supercomputers and machine learning methods to analyze a full year of real-time data collected from individual EV charging ports at more than 50,000 publicly available stations throughout the country. The primary focus of the study is ...

Ultra-high energy cosmic rays, which emerge in extreme astrophysical environments—like the roiling environments near black holes and neutron stars—have far more energy than the energetic particles that emerge from our sun. In fact, the particles that make up these streams of energy have around 10 million times the energy of particles accelerated in the most extreme particle environment on earth, the human-made Large Hadron Collider. Where does all that energy come from? For many years, scientists believed it came from ...

Different types of cancer have unique molecular ‘fingerprints’ which are detectable in early stages of the disease and can be picked up with near-perfect accuracy by small, portable scanners in just a few hours, according to a study published today in the journal Molecular Cell.   The discovery by researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona sets the foundation for creating new, non-invasive diagnostic tests that detect different types of cancer faster and earlier than currently possible.   The study centres around the ribosome, the protein factories of a cell. For decades, ribosomes were thought ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2024 – Two years ago, a medical professional approached scientists at the University of Tabriz in Iran with an interesting problem: Patients were having headaches after pacemaker implants. Working together to investigate, they began to wonder if the underlying issue is the materials used in the pacemakers. “Managing external noise that affects patients is crucial,” author Baraa Chasib Mezher said. “For example, a person with a brain pacemaker may experience interference from external electrical fields from phones ...

About The Study: This study highlights the detrimental association of not attaining a high school degree, combined with high allostatic load as a marker of chronic stress, with cancer mortality. Efforts to promote educational attainment and address the underlying social determinants of health are imperative in reducing cancer disparities in this population.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Justin X. Moore, PhD, MPH, email jx.moore@uky.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

Cyber security experts studying memory modules in computers have uncovered a key security weakness that has led to worldwide security fixes in AMD computer processors.  The weakness occurs because of ‘BadRAM’ - rogue memory modules that deliberately provide false information to the computer’s processor during startup.  Processors are present in every computer and are necessary to perform every calculation. The computer’s memory (DRAM) is essential for storing code and data. When a computer ...

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of children’s sleep disparities, racially and ethnically minoritized children exhibited disparities in mean levels and variability of sleep compared with their white peers. These findings suggest that policies and practices should target multiple sleep dimensions among diverse racial and ethnic groups to promote equitable pediatric sleep health.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Yijie Wang, PhD, email yjwang@msu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.49861) Editor’s ...

Key takeaways  The American College of Surgeons Geriatric Surgery Verification program significantly decreases hospital stays among older cancer patients, according to researchers who implemented the program at their institution.  After implementing the program, patients undergoing major abdominal oncologic procedures also maintained higher levels of independence and were more likely to be discharged home.  Researchers found the program addresses the unique needs of older cancer patients by focusing on multiple aspects of care.  CHICAGO — ...

PHILADELPHIA—The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today the eight pairs of researchers who will make up its 2024 class of Innovation Fund investigators. These 16 acclaimed scientists—all alumni of Pew’s biomedical programs in the United States and Latin America—will collaborate on interdisciplinary research projects that explore foundational questions about human biology and disease. By combining their expertise in topic areas ranging from cell biology and immunology to neuroscience and genetics, these partnerships will help to advance scientific discovery and improve human ...

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a $1.4 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate a new therapeutic approach for the most common form of kidney cancer. The grant is one of 10 Idea Awards the department funded this year to support innovative, high-risk, high-reward science that could lead to a paradigm shift in cancer care. The funding will enable principal investigators Dr. Lorraine Gudas and Dr. David Nanus to explore a cellular reprogramming strategy that may improve how patients ...

LOS ANGELES — The human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection, accounts for 70% of all throat cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. While commonly associated with cervical cancer, throat cancer is now the most common type of HPV-related cancer.  However, the majority of American adults are unaware that HPV can cause throat cancer and are not taking advantage of the one proven method for prevention — the HPV vaccine.   These are the conclusions of two recent studies from the USC Head and Neck Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC and the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – ...

Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania researchers and scientists from Japan have developed a unique nanolaser. Although the dimensions of this laser are so small that its structure can only be seen through a powerful microscope, its potential is vast. With applications in early medical diagnostics, data communication, and security technologies, this invention could also become a key tool for the study of light and matter interactions. Depending on the application, lasers differ in the way light is amplified and produced, which determines the colour of the radiation and the quality of the laser ...

As the first line against microbial infections or endogenous cellular damage in our body, the innate immune system utilizes NLRs (NOD-like receptors) to sense the molecules triggering microbial infection and damage, thus ensuring the proper immune response function. In the NLRs family, NLRP3 is the most characterized member, and its overactivation can lead to excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, driving pathological processes in various inflammatory diseases. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec 10, 2024 --- Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery ...

SAN FRANCISCO — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLOS has been awarded a $3.3million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, underscoring its commitment to pioneer a shift away from traditional publishing models. The 3-year funding package from the Gates Foundation will support PLOS’ transition towards APC-free publishing by enabling authors, funded by the foundation, to publish with PLOS without facing APC barriers, and to contribute to open access publishing options for authors who do not have access to funding. This 3-year grant offers support while PLOS is actively working on new publishing models grounded in open science starting with ...

Background and Aims Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection contributes to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumorigenesis, drug resistance, and recurrence, although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Recent studies suggest that HBV infection may be associated with liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs), but the exact mechanisms are yet to be resolved. In this study, we aimed to analyze the role of HBV infection in regulating the stemness of HCCs, which is closely linked to drug resistance. Methods Sphere formation assay and real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction quantification were used to ...

Rockville, MD – December 10, 2024 –The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) applauds the release of the Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). The Society is pleased to note that 19 of the 20 Committee members are ASN members, including the Chair, ASN President Sarah Booth, and Vice Chair, Angela Odoms-Young, a member of the ASN Board of Directors. The DGAC is an independent panel of nutrition science experts tasked to review the state of the evidence on nutrition-related topics and scientific questions identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – The number of women with late-stage, invasive breast cancer at the time of diagnosis increased significantly among U.S. women across all ages and ethnicities between 2004 and 2021, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). In the study, researchers analyzed the latest available Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data on annual stage-specific breast cancer incidence rates between 2004 and 2021. SEER data is collected from 22 population-based ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found structural and functional alterations in specific brain regions of individuals with opioid use disorder. The study’s results were published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Opioids are a class of drugs that include synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, prescription pain relievers like oxycodone, and illegal narcotics, including heroin. Opioids have a high potential for misuse, and opioid use is a major contributor to drug overdoses in the ...

Media Contact: John Dudley (814) 490-3290 (cell) jjdudley@usf.edu EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL TUESDAY, DEC. 10, AT 10 A.M. ET TAMPA, Fla. (Embargoed until Dec. 10, 2024) – Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, may be fueled by the food on our plates. Researchers at the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute have uncovered a potential link between the Western diet – dominated by ultra-processed foods and unhealthy oils – and the chronic inflammation that drives ...

Polymer scientist Gary E. Wnek and stem-cell biologist Arnold Caplan have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors. The two Case Western Reserve University faculty members will be inducted June 26 at the NAI’s 14th annual conference in Atlanta. Caplan, who was nominated in 2023, died in January. The NAI said his family will be invited to accept the medal in his honor. The NAI Fellows Program was established “to highlight academic ...