Curated News: Staff Picks

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New research shows that visitors to urban parks use happier words and express less negativity on Twitter than before their visit—and that their elevated mood lasts for up to four hours. The effect is so strong that it’s equivalent to the mood spike on Christmas, the happiest day each year on Twitter. With increasing urbanization and mood disorders, this research may have powerful implications for public health and urban planning.

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Using a cellphone to take a break during mentally challenging tasks does not allow the brain to recharge effectively and may result in poorer performance, Rutgers researchers found.

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Scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully created personalized digital replicas of the upper chambers of the heart and used them to guide the precise treatment of patients suffering from persistent irregular heartbeats. These simulations accurately identified where clinicians need to destroy tissue to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

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Researchers at McMaster University who rush in after storms to study the behaviour of spiders have found that extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones may have an evolutionary impact on populations living in storm-prone regions, where aggressive spiders have the best odds of survival.

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Climate change is threatening the world’s food supply and the risk of supply disruptions is expected to grow as temperatures rise, according to a new United Nations report co-authored by Rutgers human ecology professor Pamela McElwee. So, how would we feed everyone if the Earth’s population hits 9.7 billion in 2050 as projected? Duckweed, the world’s fastest-growing plant, which has more protein than soybeans and is a traditional food source for people living in parts of Southeast Asia, could be one of the key solutions, according to Eric Lam, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

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New research published this week in JAMA Oncology has found a lack of racial and ethnic diversity in clinical trials for cancer drugs. It raises concerns about the effectiveness of cancer drugs in some patients, especially since genetic differences may affect how a patient responds to a drug.

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When Earth's species were rapidly diversifying nearly 500 million years ago, that evolution was driven by complex factors including global cooling, more oxygen in the atmosphere, and more nutrients in the oceans.

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Scientists have revealed how E. coli seeks out the most oxygen-free crevices of your colon to cause the worst infection possible. The discovery could one day help doctors prevent the infection from taking hold by allowing E. coli bacteria to pass harmlessly through your body. The new discovery shows just how the foodborne pathogen knows where and when to begin colonizing the colon on its way to making you sick.

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Researchers found a significant relationship between how negative a coach was at half-time and how well the team played in the second half: The more negativity, the more the team outscored the opposition.

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World War II was, by any measure, a massive undertaking that involved huge loss and suffering.  The countries involved — Allied and Axis — committed substantial resources and sacrificed an astounding number of human lives. No matter how much a particular country contributed however, the sum total of all losses cannot equal more than 100%.

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Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers identified financial abuse of older adults by family members as the more common than scams by strangers

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Mothers who drink moderate to high levels of alcohol during pregnancy may be changing their babies’ DNA, according to a Rutgers-led study.

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Rich countries politicize issue, while poor countries present climate change as international concern

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Although some studies have linked high levels of testosterone to immoral behavior, a new study published in Nature Human Behaviour finds testosterone supplements actually made people more sensitive to moral norms, suggesting that testosterone’s influence on behavior is more complicated than previously thought.

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Researchers from the University of New Hampshire’s Marine School are part of the crew, led by National Geographic Explorer-at-Large Robert Ballard, that is trying to answer questions about the disappearance of pilot Amelia Earhart. UNH has developed an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), or robot, that can explore the seafloor in waters that may be too deep for divers.

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Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are a major cause of serious infections that often persist despite antibiotic treatment, but scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have now discovered a way to make these bacteria much more susceptible to some common antibiotics.

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The #MeToo movement has encouraged women to share their personal stories of sexual harassment.

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As methane concentrations increase in the Earth’s atmosphere, chemical fingerprints point to a probable source: shale oil and gas, according to new Cornell University research published in Biogeosciences, a journal of the European Geosciences Union.

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Facing the threat of domestic violence, being a survivor of sexual assault, struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide are four topics that are difficult to broach with anyone. Including those who can help you. A new study reveals up to 47.5 percent of patients who feel they face one or more of these four threats do not disclose this critical information to care providers out of embarrassment, fear of judgement or the possible long-term implications of sharing such information.

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Europe has the capacity to produce more than 100 times the amount of energy it currently produces through onshore windfarms, new analysis from the University of Sussex and Aarhus University has revealed.

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What would you get if you combined Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa with Boston Dynamic’s quadraped robots? You’d get “Astro,” the four-legged seeing and hearing intelligent robodog. Using deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI), scientists are bringing to life one of about a handful of these quadraped robots in the world. Astro is unique because he is the only one of these robots with a head, 3D printed to resemble a Doberman pinscher, that contains a (computerized) brain.

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For a special sneak preview before the official start of observations in early 2020, join scientists, engineers, and others who are working on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) for an exclusive day of access. DESI, under installation at Kitt Peak National Observatory, will capture the light from tens of millions of distant galaxies to better understand the accelerating expansion of the universe.

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Exercise improves mood for people with depression and the endocannabinoid system may explain why. New research shows a significant boost in endocannabinoids and improvements in mood following prescribed moderate-intensity exercise.

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Recent primate research has had a heavy focus on a few charismatic species and nationally protected parks and forests, leaving some lesser known primates and their habitats at risk, according researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Santa Clara University.

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Astronomers have uncovered a new way of searching for life in the cosmos. Harsh ultraviolet radiation flares from red suns, once thought to destroy surface life on planets, might help uncover hidden biospheres. Their radiation could trigger a protective glow from life on exoplanets called biofluorescence, according to new Cornell University research.

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Long-term exposure to air pollution was linked to increases in emphysema between 2000 and 2018, according to a new study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), both part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollutants, especially the pollutant ozone, accelerates the development of emphysema and age-related decline in lung function, even among people who have never smoked, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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The largest study ever conducted of its kind has identified where and how to save coral reef communities in the Indo-Pacific, according to an international group of scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and other conservation NGOs, government agencies, and universities. The study outlines three viable strategies that can be quickly enacted to help save coral reefs that are threatened by climate change and human impacts.

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An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) known as the REMUS SharkCam has been used in the UK for the first time to observe the behavior of basking sharks in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.

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Mount Sinai researchers working as part of an international team have discovered previously unknown breastfeeding patterns of an extinct early human species by studying their 2-million-year-old teeth, providing insights into the evolution of human breastfeeding practices, according to a study published in Nature in July.

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Mackerel sharks (Lamniformes) are a group consisting of some of the most iconic sharks we know, including the mako shark (the fastest shark in the world), the infamous great white shark and Megalodon, the biggest predatory shark that has ever roamed  the world’s oceans.

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A new radioactivity model of Earth’s ancient rocks calls into question current models for the formation of Earth’s continental crust, suggesting continents may have risen out of the sea much earlier than previously thought but were destroyed, leaving little trace.

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A new study by researchers at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has found that information acts on the brain's dopamine-producing reward system in the same way as money or food.

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A new analysis co-led by The Johns Hopkins University identified 25 United States counties that are most likely to experience measles outbreaks in 2019. The analysis combined international air travel volume, non-medical exemptions from childhood vaccinations, population data and reported measles outbreak information.

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Tyrannosauroid dinosaurs have a long evolutionary history and include iconic giants like Tyrannosaurus rex. Now an international research team including Alan H. Turner, PhD, from Stony Brook University, have uncovered the skeleton of a small tyrannosaur from Late Cretaceous rocks in New Mexico.

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In experiments in mice, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a technique that facilitates the precise placement of cancer drugs at their intended targets in the brain. This approach pairs a technique that guides a catheter through the brain’s arteries with positron emission technology (PET) scans to precisely place cancer drugs at their intended targets in the brain. If future studies show this image-guided drug delivery method is safe and effective in humans, the researchers say it could improve outcomes for historically difficult-to-treat and often lethal brain cancers, such as glioblastoma.

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In 2013, Timothy Koeth received an extraordinary gift: a heavy metal cube and a crumpled message that read, “Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.” Koeth accepted the cube and its note as an invitation to the adventure of a lifetime. In Physics Today, Koeth and Miriam Hiebert describe what they’ve discovered while exploring the German quest and failure to build a working nuclear reactor during WWII.

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In 2016, a surprising decline in life expectancy was ascribed to "deaths of despair" among working-class middle-aged white men displaced by a changing economy. However, new research shows indicators of despair are rising among Americans approaching middle age regardless of race, education and gender.

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Imagine a future technology that would provide instant access to the world's knowledge and artificial intelligence, simply by thinking about a specific topic or question. Communications, education, work, and the world as we know it would be transformed.

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Johns Hopkins neuroscientists have found that the psychedelic drug MDMA reopens a kind of window, called a “critical period,” when the brain is sensitive to learning the reward value of social behaviors. The findings, reported April 3 in Nature, may explain why MDMA may be helpful in treating people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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We all have a remedy – a glass of wine or a piece of chocolate – for lifting our spirits when we’re in a bad mood. Rather than focusing on ways to make ourselves feel better, a team of Iowa State University researchers suggests wishing others well.

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Infants as young as five months can differentiate laughter between friends and that between strangers, finds a new study. The results suggest that the ability to detect the nature of social relationships is instilled early in human infancy, possibly the result of a detection system that uses vocal cues.

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A new study shows climate change may have contributed to the decline of Cahokia, a famed prehistoric city near present-day St. Louis. And it involves ancient human poop.

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Researchers discovered that Earth's oceans started becoming oxygenated millions of years earlier than previously recognized.

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Excavations at two quarries in Wales, known to be the source of the Stonehenge ‘bluestones’, provide new evidence of megalith quarrying 5,000 years ago, according to a new UCL-led study.

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The quality of your marriage could be affected by your genes, according to new research conducted at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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A scavenger study that used fish carcasses as bait provides additional evidence that wildlife is abundant in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

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An international team of researchers has developed a perception system for soft robots inspired by the way humans process information about their own bodies in space and in relation to other objects and people. They describe the system, which includes a motion capture system, soft sensors, a neural network, and a soft robotic finger, in the Jan. 30 issue of Science Robotics.

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Neanderthals have been imagined as the inferior cousins of modern humans, but a new study by archaeologists at UCL reveals for the first time that they produced weaponry advanced enough to kill at a distance.