Scientists show that serotonin activates brain areas influencing behavior and motivation

Using light stimulation and MRI, scientists compared the effects of stimulating the brain’s serotonin center in awake and anesthetized mice, showing a clear difference in activation levels between the two states. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48489-6 Our brains are made of tens of billions of nerve cells called neurons. These cells communicate with each other through biomolecules called neurotransmitters. Serotonin, a type of neurotransmitter, is produced by serotonin neurons in our brains and influences many of our behavioral and cognitive functions such as memory, sleep, and mood. Using mice, Read More

Patient care takes center stage

The 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is being held May 31 to June 4, 2024, in Chicago and online. The theme of this year’s meeting is “The Art and Science of Cancer Care: From Comfort to Cure.” Attendees will share and discuss the latest clinical cancer research impacting patient care. “Treatment advances involving targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and new uses of technology, as well as research on improving patient quality of life and outcomes are among the topics that will be highlighted in the meeting’s official Press Read More

Parental legal system involvement linked to adverse child mental health

Parental legal system involvement may negatively impact child mental health, according to a study published online May 23 in Pediatrics. Lilian G. Bravo, Ph.D., R.N., from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues used two-year follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study when children were 11 to 12 years of age to examine whether adverse parental legal system involvement (incarceration, arrest) was associated with suicide risk. Of the 10,532 children included in the study, 6.5 percent reported parent incarceration Read More

Rates of severe multiple drug intolerance syndrome up in fibromyalgia, IBS

Patients with fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have increased rates of severe multiple drug intolerance syndrome (MDIS), according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. Alicia A. Alvarez, M.D., from Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida, and colleagues conducted a retrospective chart review to examine the prevalence of MDIS in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia or IBS. Patients who had been seen at a large academic center were identified and matched to controls seen within the same timeframe by exact Read More

HPV vaccination positively affecting more than just cervical cancer risk

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is associated with reduced odds of several types of HPV-related cancers, not just cervical cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from May 31 to June 4 in Chicago. Jefferson DeKloe, from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving patients aged 9 to 39 years attending medical encounters where any vaccine was administered between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2023. Participants were categorized into those vaccinated for HPV Read More

Researchers develop new light-controlled ‘off switch’ for brain cells

Membrane-trafficking signals improve KCR localization to axons. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47203-w Researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School have found that a new class of light-sensitive proteins are capable of turning off brain cells with light, offering scientists an unprecedentedly effective tool to investigate brain function. The study, published in Nature Communications, opens exciting new opportunities to apply optogenetics to investigate the brain activity underlying neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and depression. Optogenetics is a technique where specific cells are bioengineered to include light-sensitive proteins that act Read More

New global targets proposed to reduce AMR-linked deaths and improve access to essential antibiotics

Staphylococcus aureus – Antibiotics Test plate. Credit: CDC Access to effective antibiotics is essential to all health systems in the world. Antibiotics prolong lives, reduce disabilities, limit health care costs and enable other life-saving medical interventions such as surgery. However, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens this backbone of modern medicine and is already leading to deaths and disease which would have once been prevented. Speaking at the World Health Assembly on May 28, 2024, leading scientists who authored the new Lancet series—including researchers at St George’s, University of London—are calling for Read More

Scientists leverage machine learning to decode gene regulation in the developing human brain

Massively parallel characterization and prediction of gene regulatory activity in the developing brain. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0559 In a scientific feat that broadens our knowledge of genetic changes that shape brain development or lead to psychiatric disorders, a team of researchers combined high-throughput experiments and machine learning to analyze more than 100,000 sequences in human brain cells—and identify over 150 variants that likely cause disease. The study, from scientists at Gladstone Institutes and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), establishes a comprehensive catalog of genetic sequences involved in brain Read More

Autonomous medical intervention extends ‘golden hour’ for traumatic injuries with emergency air transport

The autonomous Resuscitation based on Functional Hemodynamic Monitoring (ReFit) system is shown in the foreground, while emergency clinicians and researchers check the animal. The ReFit system supplies fluids, medication and blood based on its assessment of the animal’s needs, keeping it alive without human intervention. Credit: Nathan Langer, UPMC For the first time, a closed loop, autonomous intervention nearly quadrupled the “golden hour” during which surgeons could save the life of a large animal with internal traumatic bleeding while in emergency ground and air transport. This breakthrough in trauma care, Read More

Study connects genetic risk for autism to changes observed in the brain

Single-cell genomics reveals cell type–specific and laminar changes in ASD. Credit: Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh2602 A study led by UCLA Health has unveiled the most detailed view of the complex biological mechanisms underlying autism, showing the first link between genetic risk of the disorder to observed cellular and genetic activity across different layers of the brain. The study, titled “Molecular cascades and cell type–specific signatures in ASD revealed by single-cell genomics,” is part of the second package of studies from the National Institutes of Health consortium, PsychENCODE. Launched in 2015, Read More

How neurons build a 3D vascular structure to keep the retina healthy

Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.04.010 Scientists have known for years that a lattice of blood vessels nourishes cells in the retina that allow us to see—but it’s been a mystery how the intricate structure is created. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have found a new type of neuron that guides its formation. The discovery, described in Cell, could one day lead to new therapies for diseases that are related to impaired blood flow in the eyes and brain. “This is the first time anyone has seen retinal Read More

Study reveals right atrium changes in cardiovascular diseases

Credit: Cell Reports Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101556 Cardiovascular disease has profound effects on the structure and function of the heart. While past research has mainly focused on the left ventricle and the coronary arteries, the effects of the disease on the right atrium remain largely unexplored. The right atrium functions as the entryway to the heart, pushing blood towards the right ventricle and the lungs. It also houses the pacemaker of the heart, the sinoatrial node, that initiates and maintains the heartbeat. For this reason, pathological remodeling of the site Read More

New biomarker predicts success of immunotherapy in kidney cancer

Schematic overview of key conclusions from the study. Credit: Nature Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-02978-9 Immunotherapy increases survival rates in kidney cancer, but does not work for everyone. A Leuven research team has developed a new method to predict which patients will benefit from it. The team of Francesca Finotello (Computational Biomedicine Group) from the University of Innsbruck also contributed. Their study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also opens new avenues to even more effective treatments. Every year, roughly 1,300 people in Austria are diagnosed with kidney cancer. Thanks to Read More

Combining human olfactory receptors with artificial organic synapses and a neural network to sniff out cancer

Pattern-recognition artificial olfactory system. Hyun Woo Song and colleagues have developed an artificial olfactory system that discriminates odorants at the molecular chain length level. The olfactory system has been developed through the integration of human olfactory receptors and organic synaptic devices. The system generates distinct conductance patterns for odorants and mixtures. This approach enables precise odorant recognition via training and inference simulations. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl2882 A team of chemical and biological engineers at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea has developed a proof-of-concept device that Read More

Improving models to study the human heart

Credit: Cell Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114160 Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new method to measure and optimize the maturation process of cultured heart muscle cells, an approach that has the potential to set the future standard for a common cell model in scientific research, according to details published in Cell Reports. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are cultured heart muscle cell models widely used to study a variety of human heart disease and responses to experimental drugs. However, newly cultured cardiomyocytes don’t accurately reflect mature heart muscle Read More

Five key points in proposed pandemic agreement

Countries are trying to finalize a global agreement on how to prepare for and avert pandemics by Friday evening, after two years of negotiations triggered by the horrors of COVID-19. Here are five key sections of the draft agreement being discussed by national negotiators at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva, according to a draft seen by AFP: Pathogen access, benefit sharing The core of the agreement is the proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS)—a new platform allowing the swift sharing of pathogen data with pharmaceutical companies, enabling Read More

Pandemic agreement talks come to the crunch

Countries trying to thrash out a global agreement on handling future pandemics are hoping to seal the deal Friday after weeks of creeping progress in exhausting talks. Having plowed past several previous deadlines, the hard stop of next week’s annual gathering of the World Health Organization’s 194 member states is now in clear sight. Scarred by the devastation caused by COVID-19—which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems—WHO member countries have spent two years trying to hammer out binding commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Read More

Extreme weather. A lack of lifesaving vaccines. Africa’s cholera crisis is worse than ever

A family uses a boat after fleeing floodwaters that wreaked havoc in the Githurai area of Nairobi, Kenya, April 24, 2024. Extreme weather events have hit parts of Africa relentlessly in the last three years, with tropical storms, floods and drought causing crises of hunger and displacement. They leave another deadly threat behind them: some of the continent’s worst outbreaks of cholera. In southern and East Africa, more than 6,000 people have died and nearly 350,000 cases have been reported since a series of cholera outbreaks began in late 2021. Read More

HPV vaccines prevent cancer in men as well as women, new research suggests

by Carla K. Johnson A doctor holds a vial of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2006. Research published Thursday, May 23, 2024, by the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing throat cancer in men, as well as cervical cancer in women, but fewer boys than girls are getting the shots in the United States. Credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File New research suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing cancer in men, as well as in women, but fewer boys Read More

Scientists propose therapeutic approach for inflammatory bowel disease

Graphical abstract. Credit: Li et al. In a study published in Cell Host & Microbe, a research team has demonstrated the causal link between microbial factors and dysfunction of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) in colitis. On the basis of this mechanism, they proposed a possible approach to restore ISC function in colitis. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease characterized by microbial dysbiosis and dysfunction of ISCs in the gut. However, how these two factors are directly communicated remains poorly understood. In this study, researchers first revealed that ?2A-adrenergic Read More

Study suggests psychedelic drug-induced hyperconnectivity in the brain helps clarify altered subjective experiences

After psilocybin administration, there was an overall cerebral tendency to show more re-occurrence of a functional hyper-connectivity pattern. Credit: Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.04.001 A recent study shows that the use of psilocybin, a compound found in the widely known “magic mushrooms,” initiates a pattern of hyperconnectivity in the brain linked to the ego-modifying effects and feelings of oceanic boundlessness. The findings, appearing in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, help explain the so-called mystical experiences people report during the use of psychedelics and are pertinent Read More

In experiments, mice get ill from raw milk carrying bird flu virus

Confirming the dangers of drinking raw cow’s milk when the H5N1 avian flu virus is circulating in U.S. dairy herds, researchers found that mice fed the milk quickly got ill. “Our data indicate that HPAI A[H5N1] virus in untreated milk can infect susceptible animals that consume it,” concluded a team led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His team published the findings Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In late March, researchers first detected traces of H5N1 bird flu in nasal swabs and milk obtained Read More

How nonserious product reviews affect online sales

A new study from Temple University faculty members Sunil Wattal, a professor of management information systems and the Schaefer Senior Research Fellow, and Susan Mudambi, professor emeritus of marketing, finds that humorous, exaggerated product reviews can both increase and decrease sales. Credit: Temple University If you have ever done any online shopping, whether it be through Amazon or another retailer, you have likely come across a review that reads something along the lines of, “Can’t say enough how much I LOVE this T-shirt. When I opened the package and put Read More

Cramming for an exam isn’t the best way to learn—but if you have to do it, here’s how

Credit: Pixabay from Pexels Around the country, school and university students are hitting the books in preparation for exams. If you are in this position, you may find yourself trying to memorize information that you first learned a long time ago and have completely forgotten—or that you didn’t actually learn effectively in the first place. Unfortunately, cramming is a very inefficient way to properly learn. But sometimes it’s necessary to pass an exam. And you can incorporate what we know about how learning works into your revision to make it Read More

How tea may have saved lives in 18th century England

Drinking tea can have several health benefits. There is seemingly a brew for everything from sleep to inflammation to digestion. In 18th century England, however, drinking tea may have saved a person’s life, and it likely had very little to do with leaves and herbs. For CU Boulder economics professor Francisca Antman, it’s all about the water. Specifically, boiling the water and eliminating bacteria that could cause illnesses like dysentery, more commonly known during the Industrial Revolution as “bloody flux.” It’s not a new idea—the connection between boiling water for Read More

Young people find comfort in AI-generated responses

Youth frequently use the internet to seek support from their friends but don’t always get helpful responses. Recent advances in AI technology may be able to help. Young people find support from AI-generated responses on topics ranging from relationships to physical health. When it comes to sensitive topics, such as suicidal thoughts, they prefer human responses, according to a study from the University of Michigan and Drexel University presented recently at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Hawaii. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of Read More

Language change harms our ability to communicate and understand, researcher argues

Poster for the 1944 film, Gaslight, based on the play by Patrick Hamilton. Credit: Heritage Auctions / HA.com Changes to the definitions of conceptual words like “woke” and gaslighting are harming our ability to communicate and understand our experiences, a Leeds academic argues. In a new paper published in The Philosophical Quarterly journal, an ethicist at the University of Leeds has coined a term for the harm caused when language change leaves us lost for words. Words such as “woke,” “depression,” “gaslighting” and “emotional labor” have all deviated from their Read More

Why America won’t pull the trigger on gun control

Whether you consider the Second Amendment a dangerous relic or inspiration for a tattoo, the U.S. public as a whole doesn’t consider guns an important issue, except in the immediate wake of a mass shooting. “It’s a little depressing that only 8% of America thinks guns are an important issue,” said Chris Vargo, an associate professor of advertising and information analytics at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information. “It makes it obvious to me that, with this much disinterest, gun control isn’t going to happen Read More

China’s toilet revolution exposes social inequalities

Credit: Deljana Iossifova Urbanization in China tends to be depicted in terms of towering skyscrapers and multilane highways—the city reaching upwards and outwards. Not much thought is given to the vast, but less eye-catching, urban infrastructure that shapes and is shaped by the everyday lives of its citizens—such as toilets and sewers. Until as late as the 2010s, chamber pots were still a common feature of urban life in China. Families shared wooden matong buckets or enamel tanyu, and emptied them at communal disposal sites. The waste thus collected was Read More

‘Facebook probably knows I sell drugs’—how young people’s digital footprints can threaten their future prospects

by Robin van der Sanden, Chris Wilkins, Marta Rychert and Monica Barratt, The Conversation Social media and messaging apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Messenger are increasingly used to buy and sell drugs in many countries. New Zealand is no exception. This trend is particularly popular among young people, who are often involved in trading recreational drugs such as cannabis and MDMA. These deals are generally small scale, which means people believe the risks of getting caught and facing legal action are low. But our new research shows how Read More

Study finds individuals less likely to evaluate peers negatively if facing evaluation themselves

Overview of Hypotheses. Credit: Organization Science (2023). DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.15302 New research from ESMT Berlin finds that individuals strategically select the colleagues they evaluate, and the evaluation they give, based on how they want to be perceived. The research was published in the journal Organization Science. Linus Dahlander, professor of strategy and Lufthansa Group Chair of Innovation at ESMT Berlin, alongside colleagues from Purdue University and INSEAD, investigated the impact of peer evaluations on the behaviors of Wikipedia members, for which peer evaluations are transparent. Peers can see the complete evaluation Read More

It often happens when others help, not self-achieved

If you focus on overcoming life’s barriers rather than the blessings that make life easier, you’re not alone. A new University of Michigan study indicated that people aren’t always good at noticing the advantages they enjoy compared to the disadvantages they overcame. However, they are significantly better at noticing others—such as friends, family and mentors—who helped them reach their goals. “There is a social norm that encourages people to acknowledge the help they receive from others,” said Julia Smith, a recent doctoral graduate in psychology from U-M and the study’s Read More

Study suggests YouTubers cheer people up more than casual friends

One-sided relationships with YouTubers are more emotionally fulfilling than talking to casual friends, a new study suggests. The University of Essex research discovered people feel watching online stars like Zoella, KSI and PewDiePie can cheer them up more than weak-tie acquaintances—like neighbors or co-workers. Dr. Veronica Lamarche, from the Department of Psychology, also found people feel liked, respected and understood by fictional characters. The study suggests watching online celebrities offers positive reinforcement—despite them not being able to respond. Dr. Lamarche hopes the research—published in Scientific Reports—will shine a light on Read More

Rubik says his cube ‘reminds us why we have hands’

Success cubed: Hungarian inventor Erno Rubik, the man who created Rubik’s Cube. The naysayers said the maddening multicolored cube that Erno Rubik invented 50 years ago would not survive the 1980s. Yet millennials and Generation Z are as nuts about Rubik’s Cube as their parents were, much to the amusement of its 79-year-old creator, who talked to AFP in a rare interview. In a digital world “we are slowly forgetting that we have hands”, Rubik said. But playing with the cube helps us tap back into something deeply primal about Read More

How music in youth detention can create new futures

The ACMF music program at Cobham Youth Justice Centre NSW. Credit: ACMF Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions to drugs or alcohol, mental health challenges, poor physical health and well-being, and conduct disorders. How we can effectively respond to offending by these vulnerable young people remains a contentious topic. “Tough on youth crime” approaches are notoriously ineffective: 85% of young people in Australia reoffend within Read More

Study suggests to buy experiences, not things, to combat loneliness

Last year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy released an advisory that described loneliness and isolation as a national epidemic, with health consequences that rival those associated with cigarette smoking and obesity. To help address this pervasive isolation, Murthy’s office challenged Americans to find and act on ways to strengthen their social connections. New research by Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at Texas McCombs, suggests one effective method: spending money on experiences rather than material goods. The research is published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Read More

Stress bragging may make you seem less competent, less likable at work

Credit: Yan Krukau from Pexels While work is occasionally stressful for everyone, some people wear stress as a badge of honor. They’re taking one for the team and want to tell you all about it. New research from the University of Georgia Terry College of Business found people who brag about their stress levels are seen as less competent and less likable by their co-workers. The study is published in the journal Personnel Psychology. “This is a behavior we’ve all seen, and we all might be guilty of at some Read More

Preteens use dating apps, and 1 in 4 are sexual minorities: Study

Though most online dating apps have a minimum age requirement of 18 years, a new study finds that a small number of 11–12 year-olds use them. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) preteens are 13 times more likely to report engaging in online dating compared to their heterosexual peers. The research is published in the journal BMC Research Notes. “Lesbian, gay, or bisexual adolescents, including preteens, may have limited romantic partner options in their schools, where they may also face discrimination, bullying, and stigma because of their sexual orientation,” says lead Read More

Blue- and white- collar job labels aren’t cutting it anymore, says researcher

The old way of classifying jobs as blue- or white-collar is no longer relevant in Canada’s modern labor market. Our 21st century economy and workforce are too complex to boil jobs and work categories down to a simple blue- or white-collar contrast. The first use of white collar to describe those in non-manual labor jobs dates back to the 1910s. Blue collar, as a contrasting label for manual workers, was coined a bit later, in the 1920s. But nowadays, our shirt colors do not signal the nature of our jobs, Read More

Rigid approach to teaching phonics is ‘joyless’ and is failing children in England, experts warn

Experts have released robust research to show that phonics should be taught hand-in-hand with reading and writing to encourage true literacy and a love of reading, not through narrow synthetic phonics. There is widespread disagreement globally across academic and educational spheres about the best way to teach children to learn to read and write. Despite a growing international trend towards a narrow approach to synthetic phonics, experts suggest there is a ‘better way’ to teach reading and writing. In England, the system is among the most prescriptive in the world Read More

Self-determination and social identity: Modeling team motivation

What are the underlying dynamics of group motivation in a team or organization? How does it take shape? And how does it influence a team’s functioning and effectiveness? A recent article in Applied Psychology attempts to answer these questions. Authors Simon Grenier, a professor of psychology at Université de Montréal, Curtin University professor Marylène Gagné, and University of Calgary prof Thomas O’Neill propose a model that combines self-determination theory with social identity, with practical implications for team management. Filling in the gaps After reviewing the literature, Grenier realized that team Read More

Efforts to boost social mobility must move away from escapist ‘helicopter’ policies, experts warn

Efforts to boost social mobility must move away from “helicopter” policies designed to encourage some chosen few children to “escape” their communities, a study warns. Government and charity schemes based around giving young people a new life in a different location don’t address the issues which put young people in need, it says. Instead, efforts should be made to enhance good local academic and vocational education options and linked employment opportunities and lifelong learning. The study, by Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars and Professor Neil Harrison from the University of Exeter and Read More

US schools are not racially integrated, despite decades of effort, says educational sociologist

Nearly seven decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the court’s declared goal of integrated education is still not yet achieved. American society continues to grow more racially and ethnically diverse. But many of the nation’s public K-12 schools are not well integrated and are instead predominantly attended by students of one race or another. As an educational sociologist, I fear that the nation has effectively decided that it’s simply not worth continuing to pursue the goals of Brown. I also Read More

Evolving market dynamics foster consumer inattention that can lead to risky purchases, says researchers

Risk-aversion over time among high-risk borrowers. Credit: Journal of Consumer Research (2024). DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucae018 Researchers have developed a new theory of how changing market conditions can lead large numbers of otherwise cautious consumers to buy risky products such as subprime mortgages, cryptocurrency or even cosmetic surgery procedures. These changes can occur in categories of products that are generally low risk when they enter the market. As demand increases, more companies may enter the market and try to attract consumers with lower priced versions of the product that carry more risk. Read More

Illegitimate interruptions reduce productivity in the workplace, finds study

A team of researchers from The University of Queensland has found employees experience more stress at work when interrupted with requests for unnecessary or unreasonable tasks. Associate Professor Stacey Parker from UQ’s School of Psychology led the study that investigated how interruptions during work can have an impact on employees’ stress and performance. “We found that the type of interruption plays an important role in how people react,” Dr. Parker said. “If a person is interrupted with a request to complete a task they perceive as illegitimate, which is pointless Read More

Gender gaps remain for many women scientists, study finds

As more women have entered the biomedical field, they’re getting a bigger share of research grants, and the gender gap in research funding appears to be narrowing, but the gains have been uneven. That’s because, at U.S. universities, most of those research dollars are going to senior women scientists, and their younger counterparts are missing out on the large grants that can advance science and careers, according to a new study by a University of Oregon researcher and collaborators. Their findings were published May 17 in Nature Biotechnology. “As the Read More

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students need more support from their universities: South Africa study

Credit: SHVETS production from Pexels Adjusting to university life tends to be tough no matter who you are. But what happens when deafness makes the usual demands even more difficult? Deaf students or those who are hard of hearing need extra accessibility measures to ensure they’re able to participate in even basic academic activities like lectures and tutorials. Tonny Matjila, who studied the experiences of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students at one large South African university, tells The Conversation Africa what he learned. How many Deaf and hard-of-hearing students are enrolled Read More

Calls for greater support for children bereaved by domestic homicide

Many children of domestic homicide victims experience profound trauma with lifelong impact. Now new research shows there are limited support services available to help them process and navigate their grief. When a parent is murdered by their spouse or intimate partner, the victim’s children are often overlooked. Many suffer long-term consequences with the crime taking a significant toll on their mental and physical health, as well as their ability to learn and form social connections. The research, by the University of Melbourne and University of Edinburgh, found there is a Read More

The case for ‘math-ish’ thinking

For everyone whose relationship with mathematics is distant or broken, Jo Boaler, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), has ideas for repairing it. She particularly wants young people to feel comfortable with numbers from the start—to approach the subject with playfulness and curiosity, not anxiety or dread. “Most people have only ever experienced what I call narrow mathematics—a set of procedures they need to follow, at speed,” Boaler says. “Mathematics should be flexible, conceptual, a place where we play with ideas and make connections. If we open Read More

Young people voice concern for improving disaster readiness policies

Nearly half of the young people surveyed on disaster preparedness indicated they felt unprepared for any type of disaster event during a period when catastrophic climate disasters are becoming increasingly frequent, says a University of Michigan researcher. The study, recently published in the journal Traumatology, showcases insights from the University of Michigan’s MyVoice project on how teenagers and young adults approach disaster preparedness. Addressing this vital concern, the study reveals engagement levels and perceptions of readiness among youth facing an era of increasing climate-related disasters. Of those surveyed, 47% disclosed Read More

Americans leave large sums at airport security checkpoints—what it means for the debate over getting rid of pennies

Credit: The Conversation Should the U.S. get rid of pennies, nickels and dimes? The debate has gone on for years. Many people argue for keeping coins on economic-fairness grounds. Others call for eliminating them because the government loses money minting low-value coins. One way to resolve the debate is to check whether people are still using small-value coins. And there’s an unlikely source of information showing how much people are using pocket change: the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA. Yes, the same people who screen passengers at airport checkpoints can Read More

Study uncovers the hidden motive behind US voters’ stance on noncitizen voting

The right to vote is a cornerstone of electoral democracy, but a new study suggests that support for this principle often hinges on the perception of who will benefit. The findings shed light on a hotly debated topic of noncitizen voting rights in the United States. On one hand, critics argue that allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections threatens the integrity of national-level elections. On the other, supporters advocate for these rights to uphold democratic representation. The study, published in the American Political Science Review, uncovers a more pragmatic Read More

New AI guidelines for Arizona K-12 educators advocate a balanced approach

Generative artificial intelligence has made its way into K-12 classrooms in Arizona and beyond, whether educators like it or not. Luckily, there’s a new guide available for teachers and administrators who want help navigating teaching in the age of AI. Released May 13 by the Arizona Institute for Education and the Economy (AIEE) at Northern Arizona University, “GenAI Guidance for AZ K-12 Schools: A Balanced Perspective” is a free, downloadable document that provides guidance on teaching and learning with GenAI, shares examples of administrator and school system use of GenAI Read More

California is about to tax guns more like alcohol and tobacco—and that could put a dent in gun violence

Credit: The Conversation Starting in July 2024, California will be the first state to charge an excise tax on guns and ammunition. The new tax—an 11% levy on each sale—will come on top of federal excise taxes of 10% or 11% for firearms and California’s 6% sales tax. The National Rifle Association has characterized California’s Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act as an affront to the Constitution. But the reaction from the gun lobby and firearms manufactures may hint at something else: the impact that the measure, which is Read More

How marketing asset accountability can unlock the full value of marketing by measuring and reporting its assets

Researchers from University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, and University of Mannheim have published a new Journal of Marketing article that investigates the consequences of the financial valuation and external reporting of marketing assets. The study is titled “Consequences of Marketing Asset Accountability—A Natural Experiment” and is authored by Peter Guenther, Miriam Guenther, Bryan A. Lukas, and Christian Homburg. Do you know the financial value of Gatorade’s or of Netflix’s customer base? If your answer is no, you are not alone. Firms provide little external information about the financial value Read More

Math discovery provides new method to study cell activity, aging

New mathematical tools revealing how quickly cell proteins break down are poised to uncover deeper insights into how we age, according to a recently published paper co-authored by a Mississippi State researcher and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School and the University of Cambridge. Galen Collins, assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, co-authored the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in April. “We already understand how quickly proteins are made, which can happen in a matter of minutes,” Read More

How Billie Holiday’s performance of the anti-lynching song politicized Black consciousness

Billie Holiday’s recording of the anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit” has stirred and haunted generations of listeners. A new article in the Journal of African American History, titled “Professional Mourning: Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ and the Remaking of Black Consciousness,” presents a detailed history of the song and argues that Holiday’s rendition, released in the 1930s, brought the Black community together at a moment of unique social and political struggle. “Between 1877 and 1950,” writes the article’s author, Samuel Galen Ng, “over four thousand Black people in the United States lost Read More

Race-based police violence impacts wealth of Black families, study finds

Financial decision-making for Black individuals can be dealt a major blow by race-based police violence, new research suggests, offering insight into the far-reaching effects of police brutality. The study, titled “Race, Police Violence, and Financial Decision-Making,” examined detailed American data on home ownership and contributions to a pension plan—using statistics broken down by ZIP code—as well as information on fatal police encounters. The analysis suggests police violence negatively influence financial decision-making for Black individuals, even when they are not directly involved in the incidents. “We find that when a member Read More

TikTok law threatening a ban if the app isn’t sold raises First Amendment concerns

TikTok, the short-video company with Chinese roots, did the most American thing possible on May 7, 2024: It sued the U.S. government, in the person of Attorney General Merrick Garland, in federal court. The suit claims the federal law that took effect on April 24, 2024, banning TikTok unless it sells itself violates the U.S. Constitution. The law names TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., specifically. It also applies to other applications and websites reaching more than a million monthly users that allow people to share information and that Read More

A diaspora-based model of human migration

Vienna model results. A) Heat map of Vienna of the observed arrivals in Austria for the four top diasporas in Austria. B) Heat map of the diaspora model estimates in Vienna. C) Heat map of the gravity model estimates in Vienna. D) Spider plots of the top four diasporas in Austria, where each section is one of Vienna’s 23 districts. The ratio between the modeled and the observed arrivals—the estimate ratio—is displayed for each district for both the gravity model in gray (GER) and the diaspora model in red (DER). Read More

Female judges tend to hand down harsher sentences in cases involving sex offenses, finds study

The Cannes Film Festival began a few days ago with nine women accusing the French producer Alain Sarde of raping or sexually assaulting them when they were minors or young actresses. If it reaches the courts, the sentence in this case will depend on the French penal code, but also on factors outside the law, such as the sex of the judges. A study led by researchers from the Empirical and Applied Victimology (VICRIM) group in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) Read More

Grocery shopping habits prove credit worthiness, aiding those without credit history

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, coupled with the evolution of large-scale data storage, access and processing technologies, have fueled interest among financial institutions in new data sources for credit scoring. Examples of these new sources include bill payment histories for phone, utility and streaming services; transaction records from checking, savings and money market accounts; and rent payment histories. The motive is twofold—pursuit of profit, including generating new accounts, and improving social welfare by extending credit access to those who lack traditional credit scores. New research from the Read More

Thinking about polyamory? You’re not the only one

Polyamory—being open to having more than one romantic partner at the same time, with everyone’s knowledge and consent—is on the rise, particularly among people below the age of 45. Yet at the same time, we’re told that younger people are increasingly turning away from romance and dating. On the face of it, these trends appear contradictory. Does Gen Z want multiple partners or none at all? What is going on? Seen through the right lens, however, they are really two symptoms of the same underlying cause. A fundamental change is Read More

Doctors engage the public by bringing a human side to social media

A few years ago, doctors flooded social media with photos of themselves in swimsuits, along with the hashtag #medbikini. The reason? A recently published study suggested it was “unprofessional” for women physicians to post photos of themselves in bikinis. Although the study caused a major outcry and was eventually retracted, its key message was nothing new. For decades, doctors have been trained to keep their personal lives separate from their work lives. To maintain their identities as trusted experts wherever they go—even on the beach. Studies have shown that this Read More

Study suggests less conformity leads to more innovation

Sociodiversity—the diversity of human opinions, ideas, and behaviors—is a driving force behind many positive developments. “When different people come together, given they have no bad intentions, new ideas emerge, which can foster innovation and contribute to economic prosperity,” explains Dirk Helbing, who is an external faculty member at the Complexity Science Hub and a professor at ETH Zurich. Therefore, maintaining or even promoting sociodiversity plays a significant role. But how can this be achieved? In a study recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Open Science, Helbing and Read More

Dental enamel study suggests differences in Neanderthal and Paleolithic human childhood stress

High-resolution replica of a Neanderthal tooth (Le Moustier lower right canine) with developmental enamel defects (hypoplasia) indicated by red arrows. Credit: Kate Mcgrath. Neanderthal children (who lived between 400,000 and 40,000 years ago) and modern human children living during the Upper Paleolithic era (between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago) may have faced similar levels of childhood stress but at different developmental stages, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that these findings could reflect differences in childcare and other behavioral strategies between the two species. Laura Read More

ShotSpotter improves detection and response to gunfire, but doesn’t reduce crime, research finds

Eric Piza, professor of criminology and criminal justice and director of crime analysis initiatives at Northeastern University, found no public safety benefit from ShotSpotter gunfire detection technology. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University ShotSpotter gunfire detection technology has delivered as promised in terms of enabling police to quickly detect and respond to gunshots in two American cities, research from Northeastern University finds. But the controversial technology has not translated into public safety gains, according to the research titled, “The Impact of Gunshot Detection Technology on Gun Violence in Kansas City and Chicago: Read More

New study challenges conventional wisdom that Americans are ‘pocketbook voters’

A new study that examined voting in the 2022 United States congressional elections shows that views on abortion were central to shifting votes in the midterm elections. Despite severe inflation and grave concerns about deteriorating economic conditions, economic perceptions did not change votes. The study was conducted by Diana Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, and Edward Mansfield, Hum Rosen Professor of Political Science in the School of Arts & Sciences. It is published in the Proceedings of the National Read More

Life’s big moments can impact an entrepreneur’s success—but not always in the way you’d expect

Credit: William Fortunato from Pexels Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of any innovative economy. New business creation has been shown to have a significant and positive impact on economic growth, innovation and job creation. But it isn’t easy, and most new businesses fail. When someone starts a business, they usually aren’t doing it alone—their whole family forms part of the journey. All of them can experience the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship. This obviously flows in the other direction as well—founders’ personal lives have their own big ups and downs. Big positive Read More

Underwater signals generated by open sea airplane crashes could be key to detecting final resting place of MH370

Location of the CTBTO’s hydroacoustic stations H11N and H11S (white triangles); the impact location of three aircrafts (indicated in yellow): F-35a, Transair Flight 810, and Asiana Flight 991; and the distances and bearings relative to the hydroacoustic stations (presented in magenta). The cyan star shows the location of earthquake M 4.8–9 km S of Y?kaichiba, Japan, 2014-03-07 18:34:20 (UTC) 35.611o N 140.552o E 23.9 km depth. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60529-1 Signals captured on underwater microphones could be key to locating airplanes such as MH370 when they crash into Read More

New robotic palm uses sophisticated tactile sensors to mimic human touch

MIT CSAIL student Sandra Q. Liu displays her innovative GelPalm robotic design in her lab workspace. Credit: Michael Grimmett / MIT CSAIL “I’ll have you eating out of the palm of my hand” is an unlikely utterance you’ll hear from a robot. Why? Most of them don’t have palms. If you have kept up with the protean field, gripping and grasping more like humans has been an ongoing Herculean effort. Now, a new robotic hand design developed in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has rethought the oft-overlooked Read More

AI trained to draw inspiration from images, not copy them

Credit: Giannis Dara, https://github.com/giannisdaras/ambient-tweedie Powerful new artificial intelligence models sometimes, quite famously, get things wrong—whether hallucinating false information or memorizing others’ work and offering it up as their own. To address the latter, researchers led by a team at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a framework to train AI models on images corrupted beyond recognition. DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are among the text-to-image diffusion generative AI models that can turn arbitrary user text into highly realistic images. All three are now facing lawsuits from artists who Read More

Microsoft’s AI chatbot will ‘recall’ everything you do on a PC

Brett Ostrum, Microsoft corporate vice president of Surface, holds up the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with built-in AI hardware during a showcase event of the company’s AI assistant, Copilot, at Microsoft headquarters, Monday, May 20, 2024, in Redmond, Wash. Credit: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next. The software giant on Monday revealed a new class of AI-imbued personal Read More

Microsoft’s AI chatbot will ‘recall’ everything you do on a PC

Brett Ostrum, Microsoft corporate vice president of Surface, holds up the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro with built-in AI hardware during a showcase event of the company’s AI assistant, Copilot, at Microsoft headquarters, Monday, May 20, 2024, in Redmond, Wash. Credit: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next. The software giant on Monday revealed a new class of AI-imbued personal Read More

Electric school buses may yield significant health and climate benefits, cost savings

Replacing diesel school buses with electric school buses may yield up to $247,600 in climate and health benefits per individual bus, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The researchers found that these benefits—including fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reduced rates of adult mortality and childhood asthma—and their associated savings are strongest in large cities and among fleets of old (2005 and before) buses. The study, “Adopting electric school buses in the United States: health and climate benefits,” was published in the Read More

World leaders still need to wake up to AI risks, say leading experts ahead of AI Safety Summit

Leading AI scientists are calling for stronger action on AI risks from world leaders, warning that progress has been insufficient since the first AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park six months ago. Then, the world’s leaders pledged to govern AI responsibly. However, as the second AI Safety Summit in Seoul (21–22 May) approaches, 25 of the world’s leading AI scientists say not enough is actually being done to protect us from the technology’s risks. In an expert consensus paper published in Science, they outline urgent policy priorities that global leaders Read More

Scarlett Johansson says a ChatGPT voice is ‘eerily similar’ to hers and OpenAI is halting its use

Scarlett Johansson poses for photographers at the photo call for the film “Asteroid City” at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 24, 2023. OpenAI plans to halt the use of one of its ChatGPT voices after some drew similarities to Johansson, who famously portrayed a fictional AI assistant in the (perhaps no longer so futuristic) film “Her.” Credit: Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File OpenAI on Monday said it plans to halt the use of one of its ChatGPT voices that “Her” actor Scarlett Johansson says sounds Read More

What Google AI means for you—and your search results

Google recently unveiled plans to integrate its search engine with artificial intelligence (AI). The company is debuting a new search engine feature called A.I. Overviews, which generates an overview of the topic a user searches and displays links to learn more. Traditional search results still appear underneath, but A.I. Overviews, Google says, will parse various pieces of information to give you a quicker answer. The new feature has raised concerns from some web publishers, who worry it will deal a heavy blow to their site traffic. Currently, A.I. Overviews don’t Read More

AI chips could get a sense of time with memristor that can be tuned

Tunable composition and structural disorder in single-crystalline ESO thin films on epitaxial YBCO electrodes. Credit: Nature Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01169-1 Artificial neural networks may soon be able to process time-dependent information, such as audio and video data, more efficiently. The first memristor with a “relaxation time” that can be tuned is reported today in Nature Electronics, in a study led by the University of Michigan. Memristors, electrical components that store information in their electrical resistance, could reduce AI’s energy needs by about a factor of 90 compared to today’s graphical Read More

Robot-phobia could exasperate hotel, restaurant labor shortage

Using more robots to close labor gaps in the hospitality industry may backfire and cause more human workers to quit, according to a Washington State University study. The study, involving more than 620 lodging and food service employees, found that “robot-phobia”—specifically the fear that robots and technology will take human jobs—increased workers’ job insecurity and stress, leading to greater intentions to leave their jobs. The impact was more pronounced with employees who had real experience working with robotic technology. It also affected managers in addition to frontline workers. The findings Read More