Genetically modified crops can offer a range of environmental and health benefits, such as reduced usage of chemical pesticides, improved farm efficiency and crop yields, and an enhanced nutritional profile. Despite this, fears surrounding genetic modification have led to a lack of acceptance of these foods by many consumers, regulators, and governmental organisations. Dr Richard Goodman from the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is helping to shif...
Jul 19, 2021•11 min
Comparative optimism is the belief that negative events are more likely to happen to others than oneself. Dr Sasha Scambler and Dr Koula Asimakopoulou from King’s College London and their colleagues have recently conducted research exploring how the perceived controllability of events relating to COVID-19 in a large sample of UK-based participants impacts upon their health expectations and potential behaviour during the pandemic.
Jul 09, 2021•10 min
Digital technology can open up interesting possibilities for research, by enabling new public engagement initiatives and allowing researchers to easily reach out to countless individuals worldwide. Dr Anna Khlusova at Kings College London recently carried out a study commissioned by the Arts and Humanities Research Institute, investigating the impact of digitalisation on public engagement in humanities research. As part of her study, she analysed data gathered during three online initiatives, wh...
Jun 29, 2021•8 min
The occupied Palestinian territory has faced specific challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic due to the existing political, economic and social instability. Dr Weeam Hammoudeh and Professor Rita Giacaman from Birzeit University, and Dr Hanna Kienzler and Ms Kristen Meagher from King’s College London, have recently examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this complex situation. They propose that the pandemic should now be taken as an opportunity to work towards securing justice and...
Jun 17, 2021•8 min
Professor David Magnuson , at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, describes himself as ‘a CPG guy’ and occasionally, more informally as ‘a rat guy!’ His work on the function of the central pattern generator (CPG) in the rat spinal cord following spinal cord injury, has produced both surprising and thought-provoking results. This research may ultimately challenge the established clinical beliefs and practices around the ways to best rehabilitate human patients with severe spinal cord injury....
Jun 10, 2021•12 min
Cells possess the ability to interact with one another through complex signalling pathways. Different signals regulate how cells differentiate, undergoing modifications that ultimately allow them to adopt different cell fates and perform specific functions. The laboratory of Professor Kim Dale from the University of Dundee, Scotland, has made seminal contributions to our understanding of how the Notch signalling pathway controls the formation of tissues and organs in the earliest stages of devel...
Jun 10, 2021•14 min
Sorghum is a staple crop in many regions of the world. As such, this versatile plant has been selectively bred into a number of cultivars, including sweet varieties predominantly used for forage, silage, sweet syrup and bioenergy production. Dr Elizabeth A. Cooper and her team at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte generated a full reference genome for the sweet sorghum cultivar ‘Rio’ with the aim of understanding the genetics underlying the differences between grain and sweet cultivar...
Jun 10, 2021•11 min
Prader-Willi Syndrome is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that gives rise to a vast array of symptoms which affect the individual from birth. There is currently no cure for Prader-Willi Syndrome. Professor Gordon Carmichael and his team from the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at the University of Connecticut Health Centre, USA, believe it is crucial to understand the affected chromosome 15 region to unravel the pathogenesis of Prader-Willi Syndrome and his team are making s...
Jun 09, 2021•12 min
Professor Gary Elkins at Baylor University, Texas, is a leading expert on complementary and integrative medicine and clinical hypnotherapy. Here, we review his extensive contribution to science in the field of innovative mind-body interventions for symptoms associated with breast cancer and menopause (including the symptoms of hot flushes, sleep, anxiety, quality of life), and women’s health care in general.
Jun 09, 2021•16 min
For life on Earth to grow, its genetic material must be copied and reproduced in a process known as DNA replication. Professor Michael O’Donnell , head of the Rockefeller University’s DNA replication laboratory, has devoted his over 30-year career to the study of the protein complex that is responsible for just that – the replisome. Recently, Professor O’Donnell and his team uncovered exciting insights into the function of this remarkable piece of molecular machinery.
Jun 09, 2021•12 min
It is currently unknown at what point during development a human foetus can recognise antigens as foreign and produce an acquired immune response. The foetus is not usually exposed to pathogens but remains relatively protected in the uterus by the placenta, and contact with allergens, viral antigens, and so on, is fairly rare. Malaria, however, causes significant placental infection and inflammation. In regions where malaria is endemic, the foetus can be exposed to malaria parasites and their an...
Jun 04, 2021•10 min
The lining of the gut acts naturally as a protective barrier to harmful or oversized materials. Many orally-administered drugs consisting of macromolecules or peptides are difficult to deliver because of their poor permeability across the intestine resulting in failure to reach the bloodstream. Patient preference would be to take these types of medicines orally rather than the currently available delivery route of injections. Professor David J. Brayden, at University College Dublin, is dedicated...
May 27, 2021•10 min
In recent years, scientific and technological advances have brought great innovation within the life sciences industry, introducing the need for entrepreneurship training for medical and engineering graduates. With this in mind, Michal Gilon-Yanai , Dr Robert Schneider and their collaborators developed an academic program designed to provide students and faculty members with the skills they need to become successful entrepreneurs. The team of collaborators includes Dr Gabrielle Gold-von Simson ,...
May 26, 2021•9 min
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in racing. Intense selection for speed and stamina has led the Thoroughbred to develop energy-efficient muscles, with a high aerobic capacity relative to skeletal muscle mass. Dr Mary F. Rooney and her colleagues from University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, investigated how different myostatin genotypes in equine muscle are correlated with muscle fibre composition and, ultimately, influence the race distance aptitude...
May 13, 2021•9 min
The UNAIDS estimates that 38 million people currently live with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Combination antiretroviral treatment has had great success in saving lives but is also associated with numerous medical and public health challenges. Vaccination remains the best and most cost-effective option for controlling HIV infection across the world. Professor Tomáš Hanke jointly from the University of Oxford, UK, and Kumamoto University, Japan, designs vaccines and coordinates cl...
Apr 28, 2021•14 min
Sweet basil is among the most popular and economically important culinary herbs, but by 2010, US production began to feel the impact of a newly emerging destructive disease: basil downy mildew. At that time, no sweet basil varieties were resistant to basil downy mildew and growers began relying heavily on fungicide application to avoid devastating crop losses. Dr James Simon at Rutgers University had been researching basil for 25 years and was eager to tackle this problem. Eight years later, Dr ...
Apr 28, 2021•16 min
More than 80% of agricultural land in the US is managed by farmers whose operations fall between small-scale farms with direct access to local markets, and larger industrialised farms. These farmers in the ‘middle’ increasingly struggle to find a place within the larger food production system. Through his work as part of the ‘Agriculture of the Middle’ Initiative, Dr Thomas Gray of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service at the US Department of Agriculture has been studying different types of coo...
Apr 28, 2021•16 min
Young people can often be discouraged from engaging with STEM subjects because they seem to have little obvious connection to their everyday lives. At Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, an innovative program led by Dr Tennille D. Presley , is seeking to engage students by combining physics and biology with an art that is central to many students’ social lives: music. Early results from the program suggest that it has been successful in making science exciting and showing students ...
Apr 23, 2021•14 min
Machine learning is rapidly advancing the decision-making capabilities of today’s computers, yet without an in-depth knowledge of the programming it involves, many engineers and researchers find current technology inaccessible. Dr Paul Robertson at Dynamic Object Language Labs (DOLL) in Massachusetts believes that a solution to the issue may have been hidden in plain sight: machine learning itself. His ideas have now culminated in ‘Pamela’: a universal, open-source language capable of modelling ...
Apr 23, 2021•12 min
Health advocacy is an often-overlooked part of the work of public health specialists, but in many ways, it can be argued to have the greatest long-term impact on the population’s health. Here we look at the impressive work of Professor Janet Gray (Vassar College) and Public Policy Strategist Ms Nancy Buermeyer , working with colleagues at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, the leading USA science-based policy and advocacy organisation to focus on preventing breast cancer by eliminating exposure ...
Apr 23, 2021•13 min
When the incomes of wealthy individuals and companies grow faster than the economy itself, income inequality rises in society. However, industrialised economies such as the UK and Germany have experienced sustained declines in growth, and policies to promote economic growth often clash with environmental sustainability. Therefore, economists are attempting to find solutions for decreasing income inequality without the need to stimulate economic growth. In a recent paper, Dr Tilman Hartley at the...
Apr 23, 2021•7 min
Buddhist-derived meditation is becoming increasingly recognised as being able to promote physical, emotional, and mental health in the Western world. Although an extensive literature supports the many benefits of meditation, the adverse effects remain underreported. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study was initiated by Dr Willoughby B. Britton at Brown University, Rhode Island, to investigate the potentially darker side of meditation.
Mar 12, 2021•10 min
Climate change is mostly the result of elevated carbon dioxide emissions. Over the past two decades, research groups have been searching for new technologies that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as an effective way of reversing climate change. Dr Radu Custelcean and his colleagues at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US specialise in this endeavour. The team is developing novel materials and methods that filter carbon dioxide out of the air in an energy-efficient manner....
Feb 22, 2021•12 min
With a sharp increase in the public use of online shopping in recent years, which has spiked further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of warehouse positioning to provide an optimal delivery service has become a significant area of focus for retailers. Similarly, bike sharing in major cities has also seen an astronomical rise in usage – prompting questions about how bike stations can be best positioned. Stations in optimised locations would require minimal interference to change the s...
Feb 22, 2021•12 min
Attached and implanted technologies are now part of everyday life for many millions of people. Yet as the capabilities of these devices have advanced rapidly in recent years, lawmakers have struggled to keep pace. Professor Muireann Quigley at the University of Birmingham believes that it is now more critical than ever that the law catches up with the technological and social change wrought by attached and implanted medical devices, especially ‘smart’ ones. Through the Everyday Cyborgs 2.0 and D...
Feb 12, 2021•14 min
Plants are more tolerant of changes in their chromosome number than animals. Even dramatic changes, such as doubling of the entire genome, sometimes leads to beneficial outcomes. Though a history of genome doubling is common in most plants, the chromosome number in many plants does not reflect this. Complex genome downsizing processes help these plants shed extra genetic information, but are poorly understood. Through comparisons with ferns – a group with high chromosome numbers – Dr Paul Wolf f...
Feb 12, 2021•12 min
Tropical forests are some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, but extensive deforestation has pushed many species to the brink of extinction. Conservation efforts have been limited by political and socioeconomic backgrounds of each region. By integrating ecological and social research techniques, Dr Peter Beck at St Edward’s University, Dr Michael Wasserman of Indiana University and their colleagues examine the effectiveness of tropical forest conservation strategies and the factors...
Feb 12, 2021•14 min
Sound waves are all around us. They govern vibrations from the sweetest of sound to the most destructive earthquakes. Now, a team of researchers across the US has embarked on an ambitious project, named ‘ New Frontiers of Sound ’, which will pave the way for advanced technologies that operate using sound waves. Combining the expertise of more than 30 leading scientists and engineers from across the field of acoustics, the project promises to discover new properties of sound, while offering excit...
Feb 08, 2021•14 min
In recent decades, advancements in agricultural practices have made the large-scale production of cheap and nutritious food possible. However, these practices are often damaging to the environment, making them unsustainable in the long term. Technology is now sufficiently developed that many of these environmental impacts can be reduced or mitigated, by using ‘big data’ to inform farming management decisions. Dr Bruno Basso from Michigan State University and his network of researchers have been ...
Jan 31, 2021•12 min
To help feed a global population of the magnitude expected by 2050, fish farming will need to increase dramatically. Two main factors limiting the expansion and future sustainability of the aquaculture industry are finding feed replacements that have equivalent or improved nutritional benefits, and preventing disease. Over the last 20 years, Dr Ken Overturf and his team at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in collaboration with the Aquaculture Research Institute at the University of Idaho...
Jan 31, 2021•15 min
