Indigenous burning practices in Australia once halved shrub cover, reducing available fuels and limiting wildfire intensity for thousands of years, but the removal of these practices following European colonization has led to an increase in the tinder that has fueled today’s catastrophic megafires, researchers report. The findings suggest that reintroducing cultural burning practices could provide a strategy to curb future fires. “Through detailed histories of Indigenous burning regimes across the world and Indigenous-led collaborations in contemporary wildfire management ...

Echolocating bats have been found to possess an acoustic cognitive map of their home range, enabling them to navigate over kilometer-scale distances using echolocation alone. This finding, recently published in Science, was demonstrated by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, the Cluster of Excellence Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz Germany, Tel Aviv University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Would you be able to instantly recognize ...

Most people who visit a doctor when they feel unwell seek a diagnosis and a treatment plan. But for some 30 million Americans with rare diseases, their symptoms don’t match well-known disease patterns, sending families on diagnostic odysseys that can last years or even lifetimes. But a cross-disciplinary team of researchers and physicians from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues from around the world has solved the mystery of a child with a rare genetic illness that did not fit any known disease. The team found a link between the child’s neurological symptoms and a genetic change that affects how proteins ...

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. "We've seen that patients have these fibril structures in their brains for a long time now," said Ursula Jakob, senior author of the new study. "But the questions are what do these fibrils do? What is their role in disease? And, most importantly, can we do something to get rid of them if they are responsible for these devastating diseases?" Although the new finding does not explicitly answer those questions, it may provide a missing ...

Notes to editors For further information please contact:   Karen Nower Media Office, Royal Society of Medicine M: +44 (0)7587 084402 E: media@rsm.ac.uk The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (JRSM) has been ranked as one of the world’s top ten general medicine journals for the first time. Being placed tenth out of 329 ‘general and internal medicine’ titles in Clarivate’s 2023 Journal Citation Reports (JCR), this is JRSM’s highest ever ranking to date, having risen yearly ...

An international research collaboration has completed the most detailed genome assembly to date of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). This new chromosome-scale reference genome published in Scientific Data offers new potential to accelerate modern breeding of this underutilised legume for climate-smart agriculture. Nearly twice the size of the human genome, the sequence was assembled from scratch and improves on an earlier draft assembly of the vigorous grass pea line LS007. “We ...

CAMBRDIGE, MA – Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers interact with parts of our bodies to measure and learn from internal processes, such as our heart rate or sleep stages. Now, MIT researchers have developed wearable devices that may be able to perform similar functions for individual cells inside the body. These battery-free, subcellular-sized devices, made of a soft polymer, are designed to gently wrap around different parts of neurons, such as axons and dendrites, without damaging the cells, upon wireless actuation with light. By snugly wrapping neuronal processes, they could be used to measure ...

    Images   Stents to treat various blockages in the human body can themselves become blocked, but a new sensor developed at the University of Michigan for stents that are used in the bile duct may one day help doctors detect and treat stent blockages early, helping keep patients healthier.   Bile duct blockages can cause jaundice, liver damage and potentially life-threatening infections. Conditions that cause the bile ducts to narrow and close, including pancreatic and liver ...

Author Q&A: Debra Whitman, Global Aging Expert and Author of “The Second Fifty” Date: Thursday, November 14 Time: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. PT Location: Seattle Convention Center Arch Building Room 305 Registration: GSA 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting media registration is required to attend this event. During this meet-the-author media roundtable, Debra Whitman, executive vice president and chief public policy officer at AARP, will discuss her new book, “The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big ...

Groundbreaking research exploring the experiences of autistic psychiatrists has revealed that psychiatrists who are unaware that they themselves are autistic may fail to recognise the condition in their patients. The study, conducted by researchers from University College Dublin, London South Bank University, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, is the first of its kind to delve into the lives of neurodivergent psychiatrists. It was published today in BJPsych Open. "Knowing that you are autistic can be positively life-changing," said the study author Dr Mary Doherty, Clinical Associate ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists investigating animal viruses with potential to infect humans have identified a critical protein that could enable spillover of a family of organisms called arteriviruses. In a new study, researchers identified a protein in mammals that welcomes arteriviruses into host cells to start an infection. The team also found that an existing monoclonal antibody that binds to this protein protects cells from viral infection. Arteriviruses circulate broadly in many types of mammals around the world that serve as natural hosts – such as ...

The visible universe — all the potatoes, gas giants, steamy romance novels, black holes, questionable tattoos, and overwritten sentences — accounts for only 5 percent of the cosmos. A Virginia Tech-led team is hunting for the rest of it, not with telescopes or particle colliders, but by scrutinizing billion-year-old rocks for traces of dark matter. In leading a transdisciplinary team from multiple universities on this unconventional search, physics’ Patrick Huber is also taking an unconventional step: from theoretical work into experimental work. With support from a $3.5 million Growing Convergence Research ...

A new study published October 31, 2024, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans has revealed significant acceleration in the upper-ocean circulation of the equatorial Pacific over the past 30 years. This acceleration is primarily driven by intensified atmospheric winds, leading to increased oceanic currents that are both stronger and shallower, with potential impacts on regional and global climate patterns, including the frequency and intensity of El Niño and La Niña events. The study provides a spatial view of these long-term trends from observations, adding at least ...

Traditional city planning methods require significant technical expertise and manual work. A Virginia Tech researcher is working to change that. New research shows the potential of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, for assessing the human-made environment using street-view images. By comparing LLM performance with traditional city planning deep learning methods, the study from the College of Natural Resources and Environment found that LLM-based performance is similar with established approaches. Unlike ...

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 31, 2024 — By creating a new way for light and matter to interact, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have enabled the manufacturing of ultrathin silicon solar cells that could help spread the energy-converting technology to a vast range of applications, including thermoelectric clothing and onboard vehicle and device charging. The development, subject of a paper recently published as the cover story in the journal ACS Nano, hinges on the UC Irvine researchers’ conversion of pure silicon from an indirect to a direct bandgap semiconductor through the way it interacts ...

WHAT:  A clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched to examine the safety and acceptability of a novel rectal HIV microbicide douche containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir. This “on-demand” HIV prevention approach involves using the microbicide prior to a potential exposure from receptive anal intercourse.  Several forms of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are in use in the United States and globally, namely daily oral pills, long-acting injections, and a monthly vaginal ring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with ...

1. A team of researchers from NIMS and the University of Connecticut has developed a printing technique capable of forming a periodic nano/microstructure on the surface of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) slab and easily transferring it onto the surface of a glass substrate. This technique enables us to create materials with useful functions—including water-repellency and the ability to generate structural colors—without expensive equipment and complex processes. In addition, the technique may be used to fabricate materials capable of realizing anti-fogging and/or generating structural colors on their surfaces—functions potentially useful in the development ...

Reports of drug-related supply-chain issues were 40% less likely to result in drug shortages in Canada versus the United States, according to a new study from University of Pittsburgh researchers and published today in JAMA. The analysis looked at drugs that had reports of supply-chain disruptions between 2017 and 2021 in both countries and found that within 12 months of an initial U.S. report, nearly half resulted in drug shortages in the U.S. versus about one-third in Canada. There was also a consistently lower ...

About The Study: Drug-related reports of supply chain issues were 40% less likely to result in meaningful drug shortages in Canada compared with the U.S. These findings highlight the need for international cooperation between countries to curb the effects of drug shortages and improve resiliency of the supply chain for drugs. Quote from corresponding author Katie J. Suda, PharmD, MS: “Our U.S. drug supply chain is linked globally – shortages in one country can happen in another country – presenting an opportunity to compare and ...

About The Study: The results of this prospective cohort study suggest that evidence-based smoking cessation treatment within 6 months following a cancer diagnosis maximizes survival benefit. This study supports smoking cessation as an important early clinical intervention for patients after being diagnosed with cancer.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD, email pcinciri@mdanderson.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...

HOUSTON ― Smokers who are diagnosed with cancer now have more incentive to quit, as researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found survival outcomes were optimized when patients quit smoking within six months of their diagnosis.   Study results, published today in JAMA Oncology, found a 22%-26% reduction in cancer-related mortality among those who had quit smoking within three months after tobacco treatment began. The best outcomes were observed in patients who started tobacco treatment within six months of a cancer diagnosis and were abstinent from smoking three months later. Survival for these patients increased from 2.1 years for ...

CONTACT: Heide Aungst HAungst@som.umaryland.edu (216) 970-5773 (cell)   UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 11 am on OCT. 31 Genomic Databases Need More Diversity University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Create Large Database of Latin American Populations to Tackle Health Disparities   BALTIMORE, Oct. 31, 2024: It is commonly known that most genomic databases are biased toward people with European ancestry. Scientists have warned that leaving out other populations could skew results in areas such as drug development, ...

Recent rules that require all new building and road projects in England to address and offset their impact on nature are excellent in principle but flawed in their implementation, leading environmental economists argue. Under Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), which became law this year, new building or infrastructure developments must achieve a 10% net gain in biodiversity or habitat. In a new study published in One Earth, experts criticise the implementation of the policy which forces the majority of off-setting to occur within or near development sites rather than where it might most ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Although much rarer than either breast or prostate cancers, testicular cancer is the most common solid tumor in males between the ages of 15 and 35, with approximately 10,000 young men diagnosed annually in the United States.  With the goals of informing surgical management, improving long-term outcomes and lowering death rates of patients with testicular cancer, a study led by urologist and health services researcher Clint Cary, M.D., MPH, MBA, of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief ...

Dr. Chani Traube, the Gerald M. Loughlin, MD Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a $3.4 million grant, with the possibility of extending to a total of $17 million over five years, from the National Institutes of Health, for a large-scale clinical trial called Optimizing Pain Treatment in Children on Mechanical ventilation (OPTICOM). OPTICOM, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is part of the NIH’s HEAL KIDS PAIN initiative. The OPTICOM study will enroll 644 children in 14 pediatric intensive care units across the United States that are part of the institute’s ...