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New research led by William R. Thomas, PhD, with Professor Liliana M. Dávalos, PhD, in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University, shows how the Eurasian common shrew (Sorex araneus) changes its brain and bodily size throughout the year. The study, published online in eLife, reveals how changes in gene expression enable these small mammals to shrink their brain in winter and regrow it in spring, defying the typical mammalian pattern where organ size does not change. Their findings offer genetic clues to neurological and metabolic health in mammals.

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A Stony Brook University research team has uncovered a novel regime, or set of conditions within a system, for cooperative radiative phenomena, casting new light on a 70-year-old problem in quantum optics.

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A new study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine conducted by a team of Stony Brook University researchers used the PROMOTE Prenatal Screener – a unique screening tool for use during pregnancy – to pinpoint vulnerabilities for substance use.

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A Stony Brook University-led research team has created a computerized method in which photos of penguins in Antarctica taken by tourists can be analyzed by the technique to decipher the location of the photo, thereby indicating the location of penguins over time and providing a clue as to what is causing changes in their abundance and distribution.

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A study that used a specialized type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), named neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, showed that this type of MRI signal was increased in regions of the midbrain in young adults ages 20 to 24 who had an extensive alcohol and drug use history. The findings are published early online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

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New research by Stony Brook Medicine nephrology specialists that centers on targeting key cellular signaling between two types of kidney cells, and inducing a certain gene within those processes, may help prevent or reduce the progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD), the leading cause of chronic kidney disease worldwide.

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A new study of ancient DNA by a team of international researchers and co-led by Krishna R. Veeramah, PhD, of Stony Brook University, provides insight into the development and social structures of European rural communities following the fall of the Roman Empire. The findings, published in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggest that early medieval elites, or those of higher social status, were initially made up of multiple families with distinct genetic ancestries. However, over time these families intermarried and also the local communities integrated genetically diverse newcomers from a variety of different social and cultural backgrounds.

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While Lyme disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the United States, other infections transmitted through tick bites are just as dangerous. One of these is the Powassan virus (POWV). Erich Mackow, PhD, a virologist at Stony Brook University, is conducting research in an attempt to uncover one the most dangerous effects of POWV – neurologic damage.

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Stony Brook University is leading a new project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) in the United States. The project is one the first five under the NSF’s National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) program.

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Stony Brook University announces that noted Kenyan entomologist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Dino J. Martins will begin serving as the director of the world-renowned Turkana Basin Institute beginning on September 1, 2024.

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Climate change is causing a series of maladies by warming land and sea. A study published online in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, demonstrates that one consequence of climate change that has already occurred is the spread and intensification of toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.

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Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis announced today that William Wertheim, MD, MBA, has been promoted to executive vice president, Stony Brook Medicine. Dr. Wertheim, who has been serving as the interim executive vice president role will continue to report to the university’s president and is a member of the senior leadership team.

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Evidence that Word Trade Center (WTC) responders during 9/11 and its aftermath have since suffered poorer brain health than others not exposed to WTC toxins has mounted in recent years. A new study led by Stony Brook University researchers that evaluates more than 5,000 WTC responders indicates that those who had more exposures to WTC-related toxins have dementia at a higher rate than other responders with fewer WTC-related toxic exposures.

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Stony Brook University has named David Wrobel, PhD as the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). Wrobel joins Stony Brook from the University of Oklahoma, where he currently serves as dean of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. His appointment at Stony Brook begins August 1, 2024.

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Long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs, known as sauropodomorphs, a group of mainly bipedal dinosaurs that lived some 210 million years ago in the Late Triassic, provide a common image of the age of dinosaurs in the minds of people.

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Stony Brook University announced today that Michael Kinch, PhD, has been appointed as the inaugural chief innovation officer (CINO) for the university.

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Increased whale strandings on the east coast of the United States remain a concern for biologists and citizens alike. Why this increase has occurred over a number of years is still being debated.

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Stony Brook University — the number-one public university in New York and a state flagship university — today announced that President Maurie McInnis is stepping down after a four-year tenure to become the next president of Yale University. McInnis, a Yale graduate (’90, M.A., ’93 M.Phil., ’96, Ph.D.) and member of its Board of Trustees, will assume her new position effective July 1. The State University of New York (SUNY) will oversee the leadership transition.

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In a review of 574 peer-reviewed published studies on how digital screen time may affect sleep in children and adults, an international panel of sleep experts selected by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) has drawn up a consensus statement about digital screen use and sleep.

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Exoplanets are planets beyond our solar system. To date, more than 5,000 of them have been identified. They are expected to form and orbit around stars, in a similar fashion to planets in our solar system. However, some appear “free-floating” in space, not bound to any host star. The puzzle to their formation was further deepened in fall 2023, when astrophysicists using the James Webb Space Telescope identified massive floating binary objects about the size of Jupiter – and dubbed them JuMBOs (Jupiter-mass binary objects).