Curated News: Staff Picks

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Associate Professor SUETSUGU Kenji and independent photographer GOMI Koichi have observed a Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis) routinely feeding on well-known species of poisonous toadstool mushroom, including fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) and panther cap (Amanita pantherina), in Nagano prefecture, Japan.

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Secrets are a social phenomenon among humans. Some would say it’s part of our social fabric, to talk about others, to gossip, to divulge another person’s deepest secret. But when, and maybe more importantly, why, would someone divulge another person’s secret to others? According to a new study by researchers at Arizona State University and Columbia University, the divulging of a secret has a direct correlation to a person’s morals.

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How old is your dog in human years? And what factors contribute to a long and healthy life for a dog?

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Data from a UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science study point to as much as a 27% increase in heart disease risk in postmenopausal women who experience both high levels of social isolation and loneliness.

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While climate change is making much of the world warmer, temperatures in a subpolar region of the North Atlantic are getting cooler. A team of researchers report that changes in the wind pattern, among other factors, may be contributing to this “cold blob.”

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High-resolution modeling suggests significant loss of locations that protect against thermal stress.

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Climate change could result in the financial toll of flooding rising by more than a quarter in the United States by 2050 – and disadvantaged communities will bear the biggest brunt, according to new research.

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For a quarter of a century the annual Great Backyard Bird Count has been a bright spot for nature lovers. The 25th edition of the event is coming up February 18 through 21.

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Aleina and Kelly Milligan are more than sisters - they are truly best friends. For Kelly, her older sister has been a lifeline during the past two years. As Kelly settled in with her sister in Columbia, Kentucky, Aleina became concerned when she noticed a change in Kelly’s seizure patterns. The sisters then made the trip to Lexington for an appointment with UK HealthCare’s Sally Mathias, M.D., assistant professor of Neurology, who specializes in epilepsy.

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Hyaluronic acid, or HA, is a known presence in pancreatic tumors, but a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center shows that hyaluronic acid also acts as food to the cancer cells. These findings, recently published in eLife, provide insight into how pancreatic cancer cells grow and indicate new possibilities to treat them.

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Already weary from two years of navigating parenthood during a pandemic, parents are facing a new stress: What to think about surging numbers of kids diagnosed and hospitalized with COVID-19.

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A new longitudinal study takes a deep dive into adolescent self-esteem and the role that parents – specifically mothers – and friends play in shaping how youth feel about themselves.

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A new study in mice from University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers showed that an unhealthy vaginal microbiome in pregnant mothers in combination with an unhealthy diet contributed to increased pup deaths and altered development in the surviving babies.

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Irvine, Calif., Jan. 26, 2022 — Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have discovered that the absence of Adiponectin receptor 1 protein (AdipoR1), one of the principal enzymes regulating ceramide homeostasis in the retina, leads to an accumulation of ceramides in the retina, resulting in progressive photoreceptor cell death and ultimately vision loss.

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Taking the emotional temperature of your co-workers is easier when you spend your days in an office. Bursts of laughter, uncomfortable body language and flashes of anger are easy to see when you sit across the table from your co-worker.

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Scientists have triggered long-term growth of legs in adult frogs, which are naturally unable to regenerate limbs. The frogs regrew a lost leg over months, triggered by just 24 hour exposure to a five-drug cocktail held under a bioreactor. The new legs were functional enough to enable sensation and locomotion.

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People with type 1 diabetes should be screened regularly for obesity and chronic kidney disease, according to a study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a chocolate chip cookie labeled “consumer complaint” won’t taste as good as the exact same product described as “new and improved,” a new study suggests.

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The importance of meat eating in human evolution is being challenged by a new study from a team of five paleoanthropologists that includes the University at Albany’s John Rowan.

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A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calls into question the primacy of meat eating in early human evolution.

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Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have found that four COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, J&J/Janssen, and Novavax) prompt the body to make effective, long-lasting T cells against SARS-CoV-2. These T cells can recognize SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, including Delta and Omicron.

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Results of a study published in the scientific journal Risk Analysis indicate that the recent increase in mail-based voting due to COVID-19 has not jeopardized the safety of the U.S. elections process. Instead, mail-based voting increases voter access and may reduce the likelihood of adversarial interference, the authors argue.

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A team of University of Delaware researchers looking for ways to upcycle biomass into new products has demonstrated that it is possible to efficiently turn industrially processed lignin into high-performance plastics, such as bio-based 3D-printing resins, and valuable chemicals. An economic and life-cycle analysis reveals the approach can be competitive with similar petroleum-based products, too.

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What’s the best way to improve a sad mood? It may be whatever skill you think you’re best at, a new study suggests.

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A research group at the Politecnico di Milano analysed the orientation of ancient Japanese tombs – the so-called Kofun.

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To understand galaxies, you have to understand how stars form. Over 100 researchers from around the world have collaborated to bring together observations of nearby spiral galaxies taken with the world’s most powerful radio, visible, and ultraviolet telescopes – and will soon add a full suite of high-resolution infrared images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. With this groundbreaking data set, astronomers will be able to study stars as they start to form within dark, dusty gas clouds, untangle when those infant stars blow away that gas and dust, and identify more mature stars that are puffing off layers of gas and dust – all for the first time in a diverse set of spiral galaxies.

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Legalization of marijuana in California has helped some financial institutions in the state increase their assets at the same time many banks, feeling stifled by federal regulations, deny services to licensed growers, manufacturers and retailers, a new study shows.

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University of Oregon education professor suggest the medical profession should focus less on the “obesity epidemic,” and more on the epidemics of inactivity, loneliness, and poor dietary options, all better predictors of chronic disease.

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High school students who have trouble paying attention in class are more likely to admit to cheating, a new study shows.

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A new study shows a major reduction in the most commonly-reported long-term symptoms of COVID-19 among individuals vaccinated with two doses and infected with the virus compared to non-vaccinated previously-infected individuals. Those vaccinated and infected individuals reported no more of these symptoms than individuals who were never infected with the virus.

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Levels of 14 proteins in the blood of critically ill COVID-19 patients are associated with survival

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Just in time for Penguin Awareness Day (Thursday, January 20th), the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Argentina Program has released amazing underwater selfie video recently taken by a male Gentoo penguin fitted with a special camera.

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Addressing one of the most profoundly unanswered questions in biology, a Rutgers-led team has discovered the structures of proteins that may be responsible for the origins of life in the primordial soup of ancient Earth.

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Some recipients of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, like those made by Pfizer and Moderna, have experienced a wide variety of side effects, indicating their immune system is revving into gear. However, for those who have not had such reactions, this does not mean the vaccine failed to work as intended, according to a new collaborative study, “Adverse Effects and Antibody Titers in Response to the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in a Prospective Study of Healthcare Workers,” published Jan. 14 in Open Forum Infectious Diseases by researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU).

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Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea, a research team has found the world's largest fish breeding area known to date.

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The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has cataloged more galaxies than all other previous three-dimensional redshift surveys combined, measuring 7.5 million galaxies in only seven months since beginning science operations. The US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads DESI, which is installed at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF's NOIRLab, on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope.

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Being overweight may cause more hospital admissions and higher incidences of disease and mortality than previous studies report, according to new University of Bristol research. The study, published in Economics and Human Biology, used a genetic technique to identify the sole impact of body composition on hospital admissions from over 300,000 people.

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A new international study offers a clearer picture of the impact of COVID-19 infection and the risk of severe outcomes on young people around the world.

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Michael Lin, MD, MPH, an infectious disease specialist, explains how risky some activities are now as the highly transmissible omicron variant surges through Chicago and the rest of the country.

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A growing body of research suggests that early-life infection, inflammation, and metabolic changes could contribute to psychiatric disorders – perhaps via effects during critical periods of brain development. New evidence on how "immunometabolic" risk factors in childhood may affect the development of depression and psychotic disorders in adulthood is presented in the January/February special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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Microplastics are tiny plastic pieces that can be found in the ocean and atmosphere. Scientists’ current understanding of microplastics is that they are widespread globally, but the impact they have on ecosystems and humans is largely unknown. Current technologies for identifying microplastics are also limited, but a project led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Chemical Sensors Lab is moving researchers closer to an in-field microplastics sensor that measures the amount of plastic particles in water.

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Researchers at Tufts University have found that manipulating voltage patterns of tumor cells -- using ion channel blockers already FDA-approved as treatments for other diseases -- can in fact significantly reduce metastasis in animal models of breast cancer.

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Wild animals often return to the same places to eat, travel and raise their young. A team found that, while this “consistent” behavior may be beneficial when environmental conditions don’t change very fast, those benefits may not hold up in an ever-changing world dominated by humans.

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In a first-of-its-kind surgery, a 57-year-old patient with terminal heart disease received a successful transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart and is still doing well three days later. It was the only currently available option for the patient.

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Florida State University researchers have new insight into the complicated puzzle of environmental conditions that characterized the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME), which killed about 85% of the species in the ocean.