Why is human culture — the shared body of knowledge passed down across generations — so much more powerful than animal cultures?  “What’s special about our species?” is a question scientists have wrestled with for centuries, and now a scientist at Arizona State University has a new hypothesis that could change the way we perceive ourselves, and the world around us.  “Ten years ago it was basically accepted that it was the ability of human culture to accumulate and evolve that made us special, but new discoveries about animal behavior are challenging these ideas and forcing us to rethink what makes our cultures, ...

Lumbar disc herniation is one of the most common structural changes in the lower back and the most common cause of radiating pain, or sciatica, in the leg. Hereditary risk factors for disc herniations were investigated in a recently published international study led by a University of Oulu research group, utilising data from FinnGen, the Estonian Biobank, and the UK Biobank. The study analyzed the genetic and health data of 829,699 participants.  The study found 41 novel regions of the genome that modify the disease risk for disc herniations, in addition ...

New research into a chemical produced by a caterpillar fungus that has shown promise as a possible cancer treatment has revealed how it interacts with genes to interrupt cell growth signals. The discovery is an important step towards developing new drugs for the treatment of the disease. The research into a chemical produced by a caterpillar fungus has revealed how it may work as a cancer treatment. It interrupts the cell growth signals that are overactive in cancer, an approach that could be less damaging to healthy ...

Philadelphia, November 7, 2024 – Melanoma accounts for only 1% of skin cancers in the United States but results in the largest number of skin cancer deaths. Investigators evaluated the potential link between the availability and use of tanning beds and the rising rates of melanoma in New England. They found compelling evidence linking tanning bed usage to increased melanoma risk. Their spatial epidemiologic study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, published by Elsevier, provides critical insights to inform public health strategies and reduce melanoma incidence. The incidence of melanoma in the US has been increasing ...

Toronto, Canada, 7 November 2024 – From a curious young scientist investigating her grandfather's family wine to a leading expert in mitochondrial health and mental illness, Dr. Ana Cristina Andreazza's journey exemplifies the power of personal motivation in driving scientific innovation. As founder and Scientific Director of the Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative (Mito2i), Dr. Andreazza is revolutionizing our understanding of the connection between cellular energy production and mental health. In an illuminating Genomic Press Interview, published in Brain Medicine on November 7, 2024, ...

Bethesda, Maryland, USA, 7 November 2024 – Dr. Nora Volkow's mission to revolutionize addiction treatment began with a deeply personal observation: watching how excessive substance use could profoundly alter a person’s behavior while simultaneously triggering social rejection by others. As the first woman and Hispanic Director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Volkow has dedicated her career to investigating how drugs affect the human brain and how these disruptions contribute to the behavioral/emotional ...

Edinburgh, Scotland, 7 November 2024 – A groundbreaking 25-year research program has unveiled key insights into how our brains age and what factors influence cognitive performance throughout life. The findings, published on 7 November 2024 in Genomic Psychiatry, draw from the Lothian Birth Cohorts (LBC) studies, which uniquely tracked participants' cognitive abilities from childhood through their eighth decade of life. Professor Ian Deary and Dr. Simon Cox from the University of Edinburgh present remarkable discoveries that challenge conventional wisdom about brain aging. Their research ...

San Diego, California, 7 November 2024 – In a groundbreaking exploration of psychedelic medicine's potential for treating one of psychiatry's most challenging conditions, researchers at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) provided an analysis and further details of a trial published in Nature Medicine (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10427429/) that had shown how psilocybin therapy affects individuals with anorexia nervosa. In the new peer-reviewed Emerging Topic article in Psychedelics ...

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances, the demand for higher-performing semiconductors is rapidly growing. The development of new materials and innovative structures to achieve high-performance semiconductors has become crucial. For the first time globally, a 4-inch heterostructure fabrication technology using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has been developed. This breakthrough enables the production of low-power, high-performance semiconductors, surpassing the capabilities of traditional silicon-based technology.   The research team led by Senior Researcher Hyeong-U Kim of the Semiconductor Manufacturing Research Center of the ...

Robot-assisted heart surgery usually requires an assistant at the operating table to help the surgeon insert the robot arm through a small incision. The assistant has to constantly make sure the surgeon has enough room to operate via the robot arm. For greater independence on the surgeon’s side, an Osaka Metropolitan University-led group has developed a device that can secure the surgical field. Graduate School of Medicine Professor Toshihiko Shibata and Associate Professor Yosuke Takahashi worked with colleagues and small and ...

As bird populations dwindle across the globe, a new study from University of Vermont researchers suggests some species may be more flexible to habitat changes than previously understood, creating new opportunities for supporting populations through city planting efforts. The team’s findings were published in the Journal of Animal Ecology today. While studies have found bird populations are on the decline—Canada and the United States have lost nearly three billion birds over the last half century—measuring ...

Event Date: 15 November 2024 to 17 November 2024 Time: 9:00am - 6:30pm Venue: Main Hall, Shaw Auditorium, HKUST   INTRODUCTION The Molecular Frontiers Symposium, organized by the globally renowned Molecular Frontiers Foundation - founded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - is recognized as one of the most influential scientific organizations worldwide. For the first time in the organization’s history, the Foundation's annual flagship symposium will be held in Greater China, hosted at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. With the theme "Frontiers of New Knowledge in Science", the Symposium ...

“How is plant growth controlled?” and “What is the basis of variation in stress tolerance in plants?” were among the 125 most challenging scientific questions, according to the journal Science in 2016. Strigolactone (SL) is an important plant hormone that plays essential roles in regulating branch number, a key growth and development trait for plants. Recently, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have uncovered the mechanism behind SL perception and its key role in the tillering response to nitrogen. The “gas and brake” mechanism of SL perception allows “smart and flexible” regulation of the duration ...

Niigata, Japan - A new nationwide study from Japan spanning a 14 year study period has revealed an increasing trend of overweight and obesity in patients with the incident end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Although, underweight individuals remain prevalent in this patient population, the study highlights that excessive weight and obesity in patients with the incident ESKD is a shared global challenge. Consequently, the study suggests the need for public health strategies to address the global obesity epidemic as well as underweight individuals in incident ESKD populations. “The global ...

Adding small amounts of exercise into daily routine, such as climbing stairs or cycling to the shops, could help to reduce blood pressure, with just five additional minutes a day estimated to yield improvements, finds a new study from researchers at UCL and the University of Sydney. The study, supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in Circulation, analysed health data from 14,761 volunteers who wore activity trackers to explore the relationship between daily movement and blood pressure. The researchers split daily activity into six behaviours1: Sleep Sedentary behaviour (such as sitting) Slow walking (cadence ...

New research suggests that adding a small amount of physical activity – such as uphill walking or stair-climbing – into your day may help to lower blood pressure.   The study, published in Circulation, was carried out by experts from the ProPASS (Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep) Consortium, an international academic collaboration led by the University of Sydney and University College London (UCL).   Just five minutes of activity a day was estimated to potentially reduce blood pressure, while replacing ...

Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are fuelling unrealistic, unhealthy obsessions with a lean and muscular physique among many young men, according to a new Australian study. Men who place higher importance on receiving likes and positive comments on their posts are significantly more likely to experience symptoms of what is termed “muscle dysmorphia” (MD) – a belief that their bodies are small and weak, even though many of them have a good physique. In an online survey of almost 100 men, aged between 18-34, all admitted to viewing celebrity, fashion, and fitness content on social media sites, but the link with MD was only significant when it came to ...

The U.S. Army has awarded a team of researchers led by Judith Su, University of Arizona associate professor of biomedical engineering and optical sciences, $2.1 million to build a handheld version of her record-breaking FLOWER sensing device for active military personnel. The device picks up target compounds at zeptomolar (10 to the power of negative 21) concentrations, an astonishingly minuscule amount of 600 particles per liter. FLOWER is useful for drug testing and a wide variety of other applications, such as health diagnostics.  The military ...

Key takeaways Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change turned an ordinary drought into an exceptional one that parched the American West from 2020–2022.  A study by UCLA and NOAA scientists has found that evaporation accounted for 61% of the drought’s severity, while reduced precipitation accounted for 39%.  The research found that since 2000, evaporative demand has played a bigger role than reduced precipitation in droughts, which may become more severe ...

New research into the vulnerability of power grids served by weather-dependent renewable energy sources (WD-RESs) such as solar and wind paints a hopeful picture as various countries around the globe attempt to meet their climate emissions targets – with the research showing grids with high penetration of WD-RESs tend to have reduced blackout intensities in the US. This research – just published in leading international journal Nature Energy – was conducted with US blackout data from 2001 to 2020, but the results are of great interest from the perspective of any country transitioning to power grids primarily ...

UPTON, N.Y. — Nuclear physics theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated that complex calculations run on supercomputers can accurately predict the distribution of electric charges in mesons, particles made of a quark and an antiquark. Scientists are keen to learn more about mesons — and the whole class of particles made of quarks, collectively known as hadrons — in high-energy experiments at the future Electron-Ion ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Uterine fibroids are a common condition that affects up to 80% of women in their lifetime. Nearly half of those women will experience symptoms that affect their quality of life and fertility, including severe pain and anemia. Uterine fibroids are the major reason for the removal of the uterus by hysterectomy. However, Mayo Clinic researchers recommend minimally invasive treatment alternatives to hysterectomy, in an invited clinical practice paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Less invasive ...

Using a fan and wetting the skin reduces risk of deadly cardiac strain in hot and humid weather  But older people should avoid using fans in very hot and dry conditions    New collaborative research from the University of Sydney and the Montreal Heart Institute has shown that using a fan in hot and humid weather reduces cardiac strain in older people, contradicting recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the US.   The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) ...

Clinics and hospitals currently defer medication abortion until ultrasound confirms a pregnancy inside the uterus. However, a large international study led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet now indicates that treatment can be equally effective and safe even before the sixth week of pregnancy. The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine. 35,550 abortions took place in Sweden in 2023, over 60 per cent of them before the end of the seventh week of pregnancy. Often, the procedure is held off until intrauterine pregnancy is confirmed by vaginal ultrasound to rule out the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy, in which the embryo attaches ...

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – Older people who are sleepy during the day or lack enthusiasm for activities due to sleep issues may be more likely to develop a syndrome that can lead to dementia, according to a study published in the November 6, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. People with the syndrome have a slow walking speed and say they have some memory issues, although they do not have a mobility disability or dementia. Called motoric cognitive risk ...