New evidence has emerged about the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles County, as shown by a recent study in the journal PLOS ONE. Scientists at USC and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) found that existing disparities in mental health between white and non-white residents worsened. The study used two surveys conducted in 2018 and in spring 2021 to measure the risk for major depression among adults, alongside data about death rates. The researchers considered monthly averages between March 2020 (when the ...

“Sometimes the crazy ideas lead to watershed improvements.” That was a key takeaway from new research conducted by Utah State University, published in the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Using Google Sheets during video calls, 26 Colorado River Basin managers and experts took on water user roles to discuss consuming, banking and trading Colorado River water. As Western states face aridity and reservoir levels depleting, more ...

The first Cuban-American to be inducted into the Academy of Sciences in Cuba is a retired Cal Poly biology professor and renowned microbiologist. In May 2024, Professor Emeritus Raul J. Cano was awarded membership in the Academy’s headquarters in the National Capitol building in Havana. Cano, who previously received national attention for his work with amber dating back millions of years, has been heavily involved in research and clinical projects in Cuba over the past five years. Cano partnered with Clinical Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras in Havana for clinical research in probiotics. ...

WASHINGTON (July 30, 2024) — A study led by Georgetown University neuroscientists reveals that the part of the brain that receives and processes visual information in sighted people develops a unique connectivity pattern in people born blind. They say this pattern in the primary visual cortex is unique to each person — akin to a fingerprint. The findings, described July 30, 2024, in PNAS, have profound implications for understanding brain development and could help launch personalized rehabilitation and sight restoration strategies. For decades, scientists have known that the visual ...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ryan Dickson, an assistant professor of horticulture for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been developing research since 2018 on growing blackberries indoors and recently secured a nearly $750,000 grant to further that work over the next four years. The experiment station is the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and is home to the largest public-sector breeding program for fresh-market blackberries in the United States. ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Computers benefit greatly from being connected to the internet, so we might ask: What good is a quantum computer without a quantum internet?  The secret to our modern internet is the ability for data to remain intact while traveling over long distances, and the best way to achieve that is by using photons. Photons are single units (“quanta”) of light. Unlike other quantum particles, photons interact very weakly with their environment. That stability also makes them extremely appealing for carrying quantum information over long distances, a process that requires maintaining a delicate state of entanglement for an extended ...

HERSHEY, Pa. — Healthy blood vessels matter for more than just heart health. Vascular well-being is critical for brain health and potentially in addressing age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, according to new study led by Penn State researchers. The findings point to an understudied but possible key role the brain’s vascular network — or energy infrastructure — plays in the onset of neurodegenerative disease. They published their work today (July 30) in Nature Communications. Using advanced imaging techniques, the team developed maps of a mouse brain that illustrate ...

HERSHEY, Pa. — Every disease is shaped by a genetic component as well as environmental factors like air pollution, climate and socioeconomic status. However, the extent to which genetics or environment plays a role in disease risk — and how much can be attributed to each — isn’t well understood. As such, the actions individuals can take to reduce their risk for disease aren’t often clear. A team led by Penn State College of Medicine researchers found a way to tease apart genetic and ...

Most Americans are aware of fake news and misinformation. In a new study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania sought to uncover whether the threat of misinformation drives Americans to seek out news sources that reflect their own political beliefs. The study, published in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, found that Democrats, older individuals, and those with higher education levels are more concerned about misinformation in general and that, compared to Republicans, ...

TAMPA, Fla. (July 30, 2024) – University of South Florida students are leading infection control training for fire and emergency medical services personnel as part of a groundbreaking initiative supported by a multi-million-dollar cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This fall, student research and project assistants will begin swabbing first responder vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and equipment to identify pathogen exposure risks and enhance training. “By working on this aspect ...

Today, The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign joined other partners from around the state in officially announcing its leadership role in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. The project – a quantum-focused research and development campus in Chicago – will be managed by a University of Illinois-led organization on behalf of the State of Illinois and Governor J.B. Pritzker. Advances in quantum information science and engineering, together with next generation microelectronics, promise to transform computing, which underpins much of how our modern society operates. Grainger Engineering Associate Dean for Research ...

There are “systemic weaknesses” in the way juries make decisions – and these are likely to be contributing to the conviction of innocent people, failures to convict the guilty, and inequalities, new research warns. The current legal rules involving procedure and evidence are not consistently designed based on robust evidence about how the juries make decisions, but the system could function better, according to a new book. Dr Rebecca Helm, from the University of Exeter, outlines how juries are likely to struggle to make effective legal decisions in predictable case types, including cases involving sexual offences in which testimony ...

NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) have unveiled their inaugural roster of collaborative research projects, the first such initiatives under the broad partnership that NYU and IIT Kanpur established last year. The seven projects, jointly led by researchers from each institution, aim to advance innovations across vital scientific fields including cybersecurity, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and wireless communications.  NYU and IIT Kanpur announced their initial partnership agreement in September 2023, ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Though exceedingly rare, some people diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) partially or fully recover from the lethal neurodegenerative disease.   A better understanding of this baffling phenomenon, reported in medical literature for at least 60 years, could point to potential new treatment approaches. To that end, researchers at Duke Health and St. Jude’s Research Hospital launched a study of ALS recovery patients and found certain genetic factors that appear to protect ...

Yuichi Hirose has a dream — a dream that someday everyone will have access to a machine capable of knitting furniture.  This machine wouldn't just knit the furniture's exterior fabric, but would use knitting to fashion solid three-dimensional chairs, tables and other objects. Tired of that love seat? Just unravel it and reuse the yarn to knit yourself an ottoman. This new fabrication technique — first envisioned by Hirose, a robotics Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science — is called solid knitting. The idea captured his imagination more than a decade ago. And now, working with a research team headed by James ...

Researchers from Tilburg University, Northwestern University, and Lehigh University published a new Journal of Marketing study that examines how a seller’s enjoyment in making a product influences buyers’ willingness to pay and the price the seller charges.  The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Production Enjoyment Asymmetrically Impacts Buyers’ Willingness to Pay and Sellers’ Willingness to Charge” and is authored ...

(LOS ANGELES, July 30, 2024) – An extensive analytical study performed at the Terasaki Institute and published in Frontiers in Immunology highlights the crucial role of tissue-resident memory T cells and how they influence the immune environment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and their overall prognosis. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for ~85% of lung tumors and is a leading cause of death in adults. Tissue-resident memory T cells, a specialized subset of immune cells residing in peripheral tissues, have been ...

Neurologists diagnose cognitive impairment with a clinical exam of memory and thinking skills. To determine whether Alzheimer’s disease is the cause of the cognitive impairment, evidence of the specific brain changes that characterize Alzheimer’s must be obtained, typically via a brain scan or spinal tap. Identifying people whose cognitive symptoms are due to Alzheimer’s disease is critical now that new Alzheimer’s therapies are available that could change the course of the illness. To make diagnosis more convenient for patients, many companies have begun selling Alzheimer’s ...

Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, is stepping down as director of the National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center at Sanford Burnham Prebys, effective August 1. Cosimo Commisso, PhD, deputy director of the cancer center, will serve as interim head while a national search is conducted for a new cancer center director.   Ronai is moving to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he will focus on translational research.   “During my 20 years at Sanford Burnham Prebys, I’ve had the honor of developing new research directions, institutionally, as well as in my lab,” said Ronai.   “As the director of the cancer ...

In traditional Japanese basket-weaving, the ancient “Kagome” design seen in many handcrafted creations is characterized by a symmetrical pattern of interlaced triangles with shared corners. In quantum physics, the Kagome name has been borrowed by scientists to describe a class of materials with an atomic structure closely resembling this distinctive lattice pattern. Since the latest family of Kagome metals was discovered in 2019, physicists have been working to better understand their properties and potential applications. A new study led by Florida State University Assistant Professor of ...

NEW ORLEANS – The Ochsner-Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research, or OXIHER, has published its first strategic plan, outlining strategic priorities and achievements since the institute began in 2020.   The strategic plan is available here.  A partnership between Ochsner Health and Xavier University of Louisiana, OXIHER examines health disparities at the community level while educating healthcare providers on creating and nurturing a culture of equity, and training more students for advanced careers in healthcare. The new plan details OXIHER’s substantial progress in its first three years in addressing ...

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has been awarded funding from DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions for four new projects that will help with commercialization of innovative clean-energy technology for a sustainable future. Argonne scientists will work to turn their innovative ideas into next-generation technology necessary to build cleaner, more resilient energy systems. These projects build on Argonne’s decades-long role at the forefront of the quest to decarbonize ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a protocol for harnessing the power of quantum sensors. The protocol could give sensor designers the ability to fine-tune quantum systems to sense signals of interest, creating sensors that are vastly more sensitive than traditional sensors. “Quantum sensing shows promise for more powerful sensing capability that can approach the fundamental limit set by the law of quantum mechanics, but the challenge lies in being able to direct ...

Thanks to an accidental discovery, researchers at the University of British Columbia have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light, opening potential applications in fine jewelry, solar cells and precision optical devices.  Professor Philip Evans and PhD student Kenny Cheng were experimenting with high-energy plasma to make wood more water-repellent. However, when they applied the technique to the cut ends of wood cells, the surfaces turned extremely black.  Measurements by Texas A&M University’s ...

NASA will deliver a patch kit for NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, on the agency’s Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission. Astronauts will conduct a spacewalk to complete the repair. Located near the space station’s starboard solar array, NICER was damaged in May 2023. The mission team delivered the patch kit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in May 2024 so it could be prepped and packed for the upcoming resupply mission. “It’s ...