Kyoto, Japan -- Smartphones may often feel like a source of stress, feeding us an endless stream of bad news and social comparison. But what if they could also be the solution? A team of researchers from Kyoto University believes they can be. The team has developed a smartphone app that delivers core techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)—a proven treatment for depression and anxiety—straight into the hands of users, and tested it in the largest-ever individually randomized trial of its kind. Their ...

The Report: Contrary to common perceptions, the peak in global anti-Jewish hatred was immediately after the October 7 attack, and not as the war progressed. A particularly alarming rise was recorded in Australia. Increases were also observed in the United States, Italy, Spain, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil. According to the Report, only a negligible percentage of complaints regarding antisemitic hate crimes have led to arrests and indictments; “Education and legislation without enforcement are meaningless”. On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights ...

Current AI Risks More Alarming than Apocalyptic Future Scenarios Most people generally are more concerned about the immediate risks of artificial intelligence than they are about a theoretical future in which AI threatens humanity. A new study by the University of Zurich reveals that respondents draw clear distinctions between abstract scenarios and specific tangible problems and particularly take the latter very seriously. There is a broad consensus that artificial intelligence is associated with risks, but ...

Addressing the challenges of fragrance design, researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) have developed an AI model that can automate the creation of new fragrances based on user-defined scent descriptors. The model uses mass spectrometry profiles of essential oils and corresponding odor descriptors to generate essential oil blends for new scents. This breakthrough is a game-changer for the fragrance industry, moving beyond trial-and-error, enabling rapid and scalable fragrance production. Designing new fragrances is crucial ...

People with Alzheimer’s disease may retain their ability to empathise, despite declines in other social abilities, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers. The researchers found that people with Alzheimer’s disease scored slightly higher on a measure of empathy than peers of the same age with mild cognitive impairment, despite scoring worse on other measures of social cognition such as recognising facial emotions and understanding the thoughts of others. The authors of the study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia ...

Primal world beliefs (“primals”) capture understanding of general characteristics of the world, such as whether the world is “Good,” “Safe,” and “Enticing.” In a new study, researchers analyzed responses from children, mothers, fathers and then later, young adults in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States to learn about their world beliefs.  Through a larger project called Parenting Across Cultures, children ages 8-16 years old (50% female) and their mothers and fathers, reported responses about neighborhood danger, socioeconomic status, parental ...

Research published in the Journal of Management Studies provides new insights on how parental leave policies, involving their time and money components, might affect whether mothers start a new business. Contrary to the common belief that generous parental leave discourages entrepreneurship, the study finds that offering more time off through parental leave can promote mothers’ entrepreneurship. In two complementary studies, the researchers found that the duration of parental leave—yet not the amount of money paid—seems to shape mothers’ entrepreneurial activity. ...

A study published in Aging Cell has identified immune resilience as a key driver of salutogenesis—the active process of promoting health and well-being. By analyzing data from 17,500 individuals across various life stages, investigators uncovered the importance of immune resilience involving TCF7, a gene essential for maintaining immune cell regenerative potential, in fostering healthy aging and longevity. The research indicates that immune resilience counters three major factors of aging and mortality: chronic inflammation, immune ...

Hip replacement surgery, or total hip arthroplasty (THA), can lessen pain and improve function in individuals with hip osteoarthritis, but some patients continue to experience long-term physical deficits—including muscle weakness, decreased functional mobility, and increased fall risk—after the procedure. New research published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research reveals that a patient’s muscle quality before THA may predict their risk of such suboptimal recovery after surgery. In the study, 10 people undergoing THA underwent imaging tests before surgery. Patients whose imaging results indicated poor muscle quality were more likely to ...

Results from a study published in Brain and Behavior suggest that traumatic events may contribute to the development of eating disorders among Palestinians. Also, certain sociodemographic factors—such as educational level, gender, region, and age—were linked to a greater likelihood of experiencing eating disorders. In the study of 580 adults, including 320 males and 260 females, who were recruited online, individuals who reported living through traumatic events were more likely to experience restraint eating, eating concern, weight ...

New research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology found that mothers who are anemic in early pregnancy face a higher likelihood of giving birth to a child with a heart defect. The study assessed the health records of 2,776 women with a child diagnosed with congenital heart disease who were matched to 13,880 women whose children did not have this condition. Investigators found that 4.4% of children with congenital heart disease and 2.8% of children with normal heart function had anemia. After adjusting for potential influencing factors, the odds of giving birth to a child with congenital heart disease was 47% higher among anemic mothers. “We ...

The back-and-forth shift in climate policy between the Biden and Trump administrations has created uncertainty about future directions related to addressing climate change. A new study in International Studies of Economics examined the impact of climate policy uncertainty on world energy stock returns. The study found that a rise in climate policy uncertainty causes stocks to plummet in individual countries, regions, and the world energy stock markets, as investors perceive that climate policy uncertainty could ...

Multiple climate “tipping points” are likely to be triggered if global policies stay on their current course, new research shows. Scientists assessed the risk of “tipping” in 16 different parts of the Earth system – ranging from the collapse of major ice sheets to the dieback of tropical coral reefs and vast forests. Based on current policies and the resulting global warming, their most conservative estimate is a 62% risk of triggering these tipping points on average. However, more sustainable future pathways – with lower greenhouse gas emissions – significantly ...

Colm Nestor, senior associate professor in medical genetics, has been awarded the 2025 Onkel Adam Prize for outstanding research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Linköping University, Sweden. One of his research areas is gender differences in susceptibility to autoimmune diseases and infections. Having studied both plant biology and programming, Colm Nestor happened to have the right skills at the right time. He had just finished his undergraduate programme at the turn of the millennium when the human genome was mapped through ...

Ann Arbor, April 23, 2025 - An analysis using data from the US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) has found that in homicides with police shooters, victims have been shot far more times than in homicides with civilians as shooters. The new study, appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, showed that individuals aged 25 to 44, Black people, and those living outside the Northeast region of the US tend to be disproportionately killed by police as well as sustain a higher number of bullet wounds. Lead investigator Vageesh Jain, MBBS, MPH, FFPH, Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard T.H ...

While all people are innately driven to find meaning in their lives, this subconscious desire pulls some people to conspiracy theories and dangerous belief systems. After an extensive review of psychological research, renowned social psychologist Arie Kruglanski and journalist Dan Raviv show how people’s need for ‘significance’ propels our actions, governs our feelings, and dominates our thoughts in their new book The Quest for Significance. “Experts on human motivation contend that all people share the same set of basic needs, and everything people do, try to attain, or avoid is in the service of satisfying one or more of those basic needs,” ...

At a time when cancer research is experiencing uncertainty and setbacks, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance (Alliance) is strengthening its commitment to its Project Cure CRC initiative because tomorrow can’t wait. Project Cure CRC funds cutting-edge colorectal cancer (CRC) research and aims to improve patient outcomes through its dynamic patient navigation portal, BlueHQ.org. As the leading nonprofit dedicated to ending the disease, the Alliance awarded three new grants from Project Cure CRC and is presenting two poster sessions at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025, April 25-30, in Chicago, IL. To date, the total Project Cure ...

Body appreciation differs between Middle-Eastern and Western societies, a new international study can reveal, highlighting how cultural and family influences shape body image and eating behaviours in young women. Led by Flinders University and published in the journal Body Image, the study surveyed over 850 women aged 18–25 in Australia and Lebanon, examining the roles that mothers and sisters play in shaping body dissatisfaction, body appreciation, and eating patterns. Lead author, registered psychologist and PhD candidate Melanie ...

QUT researchers have identified a new material which could be used as a flexible semiconductor in wearable devices by using a technique that focuses on the manipulation of spaces between atoms in crystals. In a study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communication (http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58104-x), the researchers used “vacancy engineering” to enhance the ability of an AgCu(Te, Se, S) semiconductor, which is an alloy made up of silver, copper, tellurium, selenium and sulphur, to convert body ...

GPs may soon be able to identify patients with an increased risk of lung cancer up to 4 months earlier than is currently the case. The GP should be able to simply identify patients during a consultation with an algorithm created by researchers at Amsterdam UMC based on the data of more than half a million patients. The results of the study were published today in the British Journal of General Practice. [doi-link: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2023.0489]  The algorithm looks at all medical information from general ...

Toronto, ON, April 22, 2025 – Research from ICES and Unity Health Toronto shows that safer opioid supply programs and methadone both reduce opioid overdoses, healthcare utilization, and costs.  Safer opioid supply (SOS) programs provide pharmaceutical-grade opioids such as hydromorphone to people struggling with opioid use disorder. Prescribed opioid medications are a safer alternative to drugs found in the unregulated drug supply due to the potency and unpredictability of that supply.  “This is the first population-based study to compare SOS programs with opioid agonist treatment, and to explore ...

Research Highlights A small study found that fatty buildup in the blood vessels of the neck (carotid arteries) may contain 50 times or more micronanoplastics — minuscule bits of plastic — compared to arteries free of plaque buildup. Plaque, the fatty deposits that can narrow the carotid artery, may cause a stroke.    People unknowingly eat and drink micronanoplastics from plastic waste broken down and collected in the soil and water supply. Researchers say there is currently no effective way to prevent exposure to micronanoplastics. Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts presented at the American ...

ROCKVILLE, MD-Advances in evidence-based obesity medications and treatment options are critical for the millions of individuals living with the chronic disease. The Obesity Society is encouraged by the development of new options that are effective, safe, and convenient for consumers.  Last week, results released for the ACHIEVE-1 Phase 3 clinical trial suggest that a new medication, Orforglipron, an oral small molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, taken once daily led to an average weight loss of 7.9% in individuals with diabetes and ...

Researchers at Tulane University have identified a potential new way to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a deadly and currently incurable lung disease that affects more than 3 million people worldwide. IPF is rapidly progressive and causes scarring in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Approximately 50% of patients die within three years of diagnosis, and current treatments can only slow the disease — not stop or reverse it.  In a study published in the Journal ...

Researchers at UCLA Health are launching the first clinical trial to test whether a wearable device that delivers gentle nerve stimulation during sleep could ease ADHD symptoms in children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Children exposed to alcohol in the womb have a heightened risk of developing ADHD-like symptoms including hyperactivity, impulsivity and executive function deficits such as difficulty paying attention, remembering, and organizing their behavior. Prenatal alcohol exposure affects about 5% of children in the U.S. with the majority developing these symptoms. ...