Black and Hispanic faculty members seeking promotion at research universities face career-damaging biases, with their scholarly production judged more harshly than that of their peers, according to a groundbreaking initiative co-led by the University of California, Merced that aims to uncover the roots of these biases and develop strategies for change. Junior professors are generally evaluated and voted on for promotion and tenure by committees comprising senior colleagues. In one of the studies conducted by the research team, results suggest that faculty from underrepresented minorities received 7% more negative votes from ...

Climate change and economic inequality are deeply interconnected, with the potential to exacerbate each other if left unchecked. A new study published in Nature Climate Change sheds light on this critical relationship using data from eight large-scale Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to examine the distributional impacts of climate policies and climate risks. The study provides robust evidence that climate policies aligned with the Paris Agreement can mitigate long-term inequality while addressing climate change. Led by Johannes Emmerling, Senior Scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean ...

Researchers at the University of Bonn and University of Montreal have developed a new type of catalyst and used it in their study to produce methane out of carbon dioxide and water in a highly efficient way using electricity. Methane can be used, for example, to heat apartments or as a starting material in the chemical industry. It is also the main component of natural gas. If it is produced using green electricity, however, it is largely climate neutral. The insights gained from the model system studied by the researchers can be transferred to large-scale technical ...

Houston, Texas – In  a state-of-the-art Bench to Bedside review published in the journal  Brain Medicine (Genomic Press), researchers Dr. Xiaoyu Song and Professor Jan-Åke Gustafsson from the University of Houston and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) shed light on the therapeutic potential of liver X receptor beta (LXRβ) in treating depression and anxiety. This comprehensive analysis marks a significant step forward in understanding the molecular underpinnings of mental health disorders and potentially revolutionizing their treatment. LXRβ, a nuclear receptor initially known for its role in cholesterol metabolism and inflammation, is now emerging as a crucial ...

As plastic waste continues to build up faster than it can decompose, the need for biodegradable solutions is evident. Previously, Professor Yutaka Amao and his team at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis succeeded in synthesizing fumaric acid, a raw material for biodegradable plastics from biomass-derived pyruvic acid and carbon dioxide. However, the fumaric acid production process reported earlier has a problem with producing undesirable substances as byproducts in addition to L-malic acid, which is ...

The oceans are warming at an alarming rate. 2023 shattered records across the world’s oceans, and was the first time that ocean temperatures exceeded 1oC over pre-industrial levels. This led to the emergence of a series of marine heatwave events across both hemispheres, from the waters around Japan, around South America, and across the wider North Atlantic. Marine heatwaves are periods of extremely warm sea temperatures that can form in quite localized hot spots but also span large parts of ocean ...

One of the great challenges of modern cosmology is to reveal the nature of dark matter. We know it exists (it constitutes over 85% of the matter in the Universe), but we have never seen it directly and still do not know what it is. A new study published in JCAP has examined traces of antimatter in the cosmos that could reveal a new class of never-before-observed particles, called WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), which could make up dark matter. The study suggests that some recent observations ...

Nearly three out of four kids in Chicago had no swimming lessons in summer of 2022, with significant racial and ethnic differences, according to a parent survey from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago published in Pediatrics. Black and Hispanic/Latine kids were disproportionately affected (85 percent and 82 percent, respectively), compared to white kids (64 percent). The most common reasons for not getting swimming lessons also differed among racial and ethnic groups. Parents of White kids reported they ...

□ Professor Jongmin Choi’s team from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) conducted joint research with Materials Engineering and Convergence Technology Professor Tae Kyung Lee from Gyeongsang National University and Applied Chemistry Professor Younghoon Kim from Kookmin University. The researchers developed a new method to improve both the performance and the stability of solar cells using “perovskite quantum dots.” They developed longer-lasting solar cells by addressing the issue of distortions on the surface of quantum dots, which deteriorate the ...

Rehearsing alternative outcomes of discarding through imagery rescripting shows promise as a treatment strategy for people who hoard, a study by UNSW psychology researchers has shown. Hoarding disorder is a highly debilitating condition that worsens with age. People who hoard form intense emotional attachments to objects, accumulate excessive clutter, and have difficulty discarding possessions. Many avoid treatment. People who hoard also experience more frequent, intrusive and distressing mental images in their daily lives, says Mr Isaac Sabel from the Grisham Research Lab, an experimental clinical psychology research group at UNSW Sydney. “Negative ...

The dental health benefits of adding fluoride to drinking water may be smaller now than before fluoride toothpaste was widely available, an updated Cochrane review has found. The team of researchers from the Universities of Manchester, Dundee and Aberdeen reviewed the evidence from 157 studies which compared communities that had fluoride added to their water supplies with communities that had no additional fluoride in their water. They found that the benefit of fluoridation has declined since the 1970s, when fluoride toothpaste became more widely available. The contemporary studies were conducted in high-income countries. The impact of community water fluoridation ...

Toddlers in the UK obtain nearly half (47%) of their calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and this rises to 59% by the age of seven, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, looked at data from 2,591 children born in the UK in 2007 and 2008 whose parents recorded what their children ate and drank over three days. The most common UPFs consumed by the toddlers – who were 21 months when their parents recorded their diets – were flavoured ...

DETROIT — A new grant will help Wayne State University researchers explore the links between bacterial infections, the environmental factors that increase their susceptibility and the risk of preterm birth. The five-year, $2,858,821 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, “PFAS increases susceptibility to infection-mediated preterm birth,” will be led by Michael Petriello, Ph.D., assistant professor in Wayne State’s Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Pharmacology in the School of Medicine. Petriello hopes that the team’s studies will identify critical pathways responsible ...

Highlights: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat. Bacteria exchange AMR genes in the gut via circular genetic material called plasmids. In lab experiments, bacteria transferred plasmids with AMR genes in the presence of zinc at reduced or nonexistent rates. Stopping the transfer without killing microbes may help reduce AMR without disrupting the gut microbiome. Washington, D.C.—Genes responsible for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can spread from microbe to microbe through circular genetic material called plasmids, and ...

On October 3, 2024, NASA announced that two space probes proposed by University of Maryland astronomers have advanced to the next round of consideration for a $1 billion mission slated to launch into orbit in 2032. The selected probes include the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) mission with UMD Astronomy Professor Christopher Reynolds as its principal investigator and the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) with UMD Astronomy Professor Alb­erto Bolatto as a co-investigator and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researcher and UMD Astronomy ...

MSU has a satellite uplink/LTN TV studio and Comrex line for radio interviews upon request. Images and Podcast EAST LANSING, Mich. – In recent years, some states have prioritized purging their voter rolls of those who have passed away or moved out of state. During election season, there is often increased discussion about the necessity and impact of these actions. Voter purging can be an important step for creating election integrity, but others have raised concerns about how the process is conducted and who it targets. So, are there negative effects of voter purging? Researchers from Michigan State University wanted to find out — especially ...

In this study, the Cancer Research UK-funded scientists will establish the targets for the vaccine. They will find out which proteins on the surface of early-stage ovarian cancer cells are most strongly recognised by the immune system and how effectively the vaccine kills mini-models of ovarian cancer called organoids. If this research is successful, work will then begin on clinical trials of the vaccine. The hope is that in the future, women could be offered this vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer in the first place. There are around 7,500 new ovarian ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have developed a way to make one type of plastic material more durable and less likely to shed dangerous microplastics. The study identified a secure way to attach chemical additives to polyvinyl chloride (PVC).  Found in everything from toys, construction supplies and medical packaging, PVC plastics currently rank third among the most used plastics worldwide. Despite its widespread use, pure PVC is brittle and sensitive to heat, and manufacturers can only utilize it after stabilizing its properties with other chemicals.  However, these additives, or plasticizers, ...

Houston Methodist researchers will be part of a national consortium funded by an up to $49 million award from the U.S. Government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a vaccine against two of the most common and destructive strains of herpesviruses that latently infect a majority of Americans and can lead to acute infections, multiple forms of cancer, autoimmune disease and birth defects.   The award is part of ARPA-H’s Antigens Predicted for Broad Viral Efficacy through Computational Experimentation (APECx) program and will fund the America’s SHIELD project ...

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 3, 2024 – The School of Dentistry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) earned the first National Institutes of Health grant under its new Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research, addressing pain in patients with head and neck carcinoma. The nearly $600,000 grant by the NIH’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research will address this critical pain issue that significantly impairs quality of life. Many head and neck carcinoma patients require opiate pain management, but tolerance develops quickly, requiring new pain ...

Public health degree programs provide key competencies demanded by employers, but graduate employability could be improved by using more real-time data from employer job postings, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. This could help public health schools and programs ensure that graduates obtain specific technical skills listed in job postings, meet current employer needs, and prepare graduates for the demands of today’s labor market. The findings are published in the American Journal of Public Health. The competencies required for the ...

Since the 2020 murder by Minneapolis police of George Floyd brought nationwide calls for change amid concerns that prevailing practices were not grounded in evidence and created harm, policing has been in turmoil. Implementation science (IS) involves integrating effective and evidence-based innovations into routine practice in fields like health care. Yet despite its potential, IS—and specifically, evidence-based policing (EBP)—remain vastly understudied and unused in police settings. In a new article, researchers provide an orientation to these issues ...

Frothy or smooth, bitter or sweet, light or dark: There’s a beer for most palates. As people around the world pour over the best brews at Oktoberfest celebrations or ferment about their favorite fall-themed beers, three papers published in ACS journals crack open new insights into these beverages. And if you’re hop-ing to conduct studies to find which beer is good for what ales you, please drink responsibly. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org. Coriander’s origin changes beer flavor. Just like simmering a stew, brewing a beer with herbs and spices can enhance its flavor. A study in ACS Food Science ...

Washington, D.C. — The American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals, announces an external research project to help the organization reimagine AAAS.org as part of a website overhaul project, which recently kicked off. AAAS is seeking input from its key audiences, including reporters and public information officers, to better align the experience and content of the website. As AAAS embarks on the next ...

Looking deep into the early universe with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found something unprecedented: a galaxy with an odd light signature, which they attribute to its gas outshining its stars. Found approximately one billion years after the big bang, galaxy GS-NDG-9422 (9422) may be a missing-link phase of galactic evolution between the universe’s first stars and familiar, well-established galaxies. “My first thought in looking at the galaxy’s spectrum was, ‘that’s weird,’ which is ...