Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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Following decades of decline, even fewer birds will darken North American skies by the end of the century, according to a new University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign analysis. The study is the first to examine the long-term effects of climate change on the abundance and diversity of bird groups across the continent as a whole while accounting for additional factors that put birds at risk.

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Research led by scientists at the National Eye Institute and Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China points to a potential strategy for extending the cold storage shelf life of donor cells and tissues, such as those of the pancreas, an organ crucial for making insulin. If the strategy proves clinically successful, it could help increase access to transplantable cells and tissues for the treatment of diabetes and other conditions.

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Researchers figured out how to spray and freeze a cell sample in its natural state in milliseconds, helping them capture basic biological processes in unprecedented detail.

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Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have created a new nickel-rich cathode for lithium-ion batteries that both stores more energy and is more durable than conventional cathodes.

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Using tools of modern genetics, plant biochemists have produced a new high-yielding oilseed crop variety — a yellow-seeded variety of Camelina sativa, a close relative of canola, that accumulates 21.4% more oil than ordinary camelina.

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Leptomeningeal disease is a rare but lethal complication faced by late-stage melanoma patients. It occurs when cancer cells spread to the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, or the leptomeninges. This condition, which affects 5% to 8% of melanoma patients, often leads to rapid deterioration and is notoriously resistant to therapies. However, a new Moffitt Cancer Center study, published today in Cell Reports Medicine, uncovers the mechanisms that drive this drug resistance, offering new avenues for potential treatments.

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Researchers have demonstrated a new method that could enable the large-scale manufacturing of optical qubits. The work is a major advancement that could bring us closer to a scalable quantum computer.

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As a new space race revs up, propelling humans back to the Moon and toward a Mars landing for the first time, mysteries remain about the unique pressures of spaceflight on humans – especially for those blasting off through new commercial space travel operations. For the first time, researchers have data on the physical and psychological impact of spaceflight on an all-civilian crew.

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In Applied Physics Reviews, researchers from Tsinghua University work to break through the difficulties of robotic recognition of various common, yet complex, items. Their layered sensor is equipped with material detection at the surface and pressure sensitivity at the bottom, with a porous middle layer sensitive to thermal changes.