Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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The ability to imagine is pivotal for human development, driving creativity and problem-solving. It may also influence our relationship with others, according to new research.

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For nearly two decades, how kidney cancer becomes resistant to rapalog drugs has baffled the scientific community. Now a study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Kidney Cancer Program sheds light. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study “Unconventional Mechanism of Action and Resistance to Rapalogs in Renal Cancer” provides evidence for an unanticipated role for nontumor cells in mediating the therapeutic effects of rapalogs in kidney cancer.

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Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute found significant uptake and scalability in phone-based “PATH” intervention to improve psychological well-being in blood cancer patients, according to new study in JNCCN.

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Sepsis – the leading cause of mortality in children around the world – can present with a wide range of signs and symptoms, making a one-size-fits-all treatment strategy ineffective. Pursuing a precision medicine approach for pediatric sepsis, researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze a large set of clinical data and find a distinct group of patients who might respond better to targeted treatments. These children share clinical characteristics described as PHES, or persistent hypoxemia (abnormally low oxygen levels in the blood), encephalopathy (brain function disturbance) and shock, which is a highly lethal pattern within sepsis presentations. A recent study validated this pattern and discovered that PHES overlaps with biomarkers that indicate excessive levels of inflammation and endothelial activity (which works in tandem with an overactive immune response). Findings were published in the journal Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

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Michigan State University researchers led by Shuo Zhang, have presented new findings that will help scientists better understand the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*.

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Clouds of gas in a distant galaxy are being pushed faster and faster — at more than 10,000 miles per second — out among neighboring stars by blasts of radiation from the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. It’s a discovery that helps illuminate the way active black holes can continuously shape their galaxies by spurring on or snuffing out the development of new stars. A team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin–Madison astronomy professor Catherine Grier and recent graduate Robert Wheatley revealed the accelerating gas using years of data collected from a quasar, a particularly bright and turbulent kind of black hole, billions of light years away in the constellation Boötes. They presented their findings today at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Maine have designed and 3D-printed a single-piece, recyclable natural-material floor panel tested to be strong enough to replace construction materials like steel. The project is part of the Sustainable Materials & Manufacturing Alliance for Renewable Technologies, or SM2ART, program. The SM2ART team previously constructed BioHome3D, the nation’s first additively manufactured home made entirely from biologically based materials.

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New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that people are less likely to recommend someone who stutters for a job if they believe the job requires strong communication skills.

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Virtual reality technology can do more than teach weaponry skills in law enforcement and military personnel, a new study suggests: It can accurately record shooting performance and reliably track individuals’ progress over time.

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The discovery of how intricate networks of blood vessels in the eye and brain are formed could inspire new treatments for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and stroke.