Hookah smoking is the least regulated tobacco form. It is rapidly gaining in popularity to the extent that we are now facing a contemporary epidemic of tobacco abuse. Of particular concern is the level of usage among youth and young adults. Professor Mary Rezk-Hanna from the University of California, Los Angeles works with a group of scientists who aim to drive policy regulation of tobacco and alternative tobacco products, including hookah smoking, by investigating their health effects on the ca...
Nov 03, 2021•12 min
Domestic herbivores – such as cattle, sheep, and goats – are remarkably important to ecosystems. Their feeding behaviours aid the management of natural habitats by preventing any individual plant species dominating the landscape. Thus, understanding livestock dietary preferences is vital for informing land management decisions. Dr John Walker from the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center has devoted his career to exploring livestock dietary preferences, and how they can be manipu...
Nov 03, 2021•13 min
Immune system cells express a number of receptors that bind to sugar ligands. This binding initiates the activation of T-cell lymphocytes and natural killer cells. Dr J. Kenneth Hoober , Dr Laura L. Eggink and the team at Susavion have designed peptides that bind to different receptors on immune cells. The peptides effectively extend the lives of mice with glioblastoma and ovarian cancer, and prevent the replication of viruses in the presence of non-neutralising antibodies. The mechanism of acti...
Nov 03, 2021•11 min
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an increasingly common disease that causes significant visual impairment. The implications include socioeconomic burdens for individuals and the population as a whole. Working to elucidate the issues surrounding AMD is Professor Gemmy Cheung , who holds senior roles at the Singapore National Eye Centre and the Singapore Eye Research Institute. She has brought together a group of expert scientists to form the Translational Asian Age-Related Macular Degene...
Nov 03, 2021•15 min
Investigating the role of an immune system protein, GANP, and its coding gene, ganp, Dr Yasuhiro Sakai and Dr Kazuhiko Kuwahara (Fujita Health University School of Medicine) have unveiled a potential role for this important protein in tumourigenesis. The scientists apply a multidisciplinary approach to identify potential therapeutic solutions to aid cancer prognosis, a collaboration that occurs in the emerging field of immunopathology. The researchers focus on the differential levels of GANP whi...
Oct 25, 2021•14 min
The bacteria that causes fire blight in apple and pear trees is notoriously difficult to control without antibiotics. With new regulations in the US preventing antibiotic use in organic orchards after 2014, organic farmers faced an impossible choice – lose their organic certification or risk the death of their trees. Working against the clock, plant pathologist Dr Kenneth Johnson from Oregon State University accelerated his efforts to provide organic farmers with another option. With his team of...
Oct 25, 2021•13 min
Beginning 80 kilometres above Earth’s surface, and extending to the edge of the atmosphere, the thermosphere occupies a large proportion of Earth’s upper atmosphere. So far, studies of this expansive region have largely focused on how the air it contains flows over global scales. Now, Dr Ying Zou at the University of Alabama in Huntsville has explored how the thermosphere is also significantly influenced by ‘mesoscale’ interactions with Earth’s magnetosphere, creating flows spanning just hundred...
Oct 25, 2021•10 min
The neural mechanisms behind speech and voice production are intricate but not yet fully characterised. For speech and vocal disordered populations, understanding the central mechanisms behind speech and sound production is essential to improve treatment options and rehabilitation techniques. Taking a scientist-practitioner approach, Dr Jessica Galgano , of New York University Grossman School of Medicine and founder of Open Lines Speech and Communication, is researching the underpinnings of spee...
Oct 25, 2021•11 min
When the concentration of antioxidants and free radicals in your cells is out of balance, they experience oxidative stress. This may, in turn, result in damage to important cellular components that alter their original function, potentially having a role in the progression/development of disease. Professor Marino Resendiz from the University of Colorado Denver is researching how the modifications generated by oxidative stress alter the function and structure of RNA, an important component of all...
Oct 25, 2021•11 min
Enzymes make life as we know it possible. These active proteins are vital in nutrient cycling, metabolism, and cell functioning. With their diverse range of functions and ubiquity, enzymes could offer techniques to support healthy agricultural ecosystems, and as such, improve sustainability and future food security. Understanding their activities is vital to the organic agriculture revolution. Dr Zachary Senwo and his team at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) University have contribu...
Oct 21, 2021•10 min
Food insecurity directly impacts a third of the world’s population and perpetuates a cycle of hunger and malnutrition that is inherited through generations. Previous relief efforts have largely been donor-focused, providing only temporary solutions. To break the cycle of food insecurity, poverty, and hunger, relief efforts must empower communities and facilitate real transformative changes. Professor James Simon of Rutgers University and colleagues have developed a transferable horticulture mode...
Oct 21, 2021•31 min
How to support the expanding human population is one of the greatest societal challenges in the 21st century. To meet the demand for food, fuel and fibre, agricultural productivity will need to dramatically increase. However, to ensure long-term sustainability and resilience, increased productivity must not sacrifice the health of the surrounding ecosystems. Led by Dr Dennis Busch and Dr Andrew Cartmill , the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Agro-Ecosystem Research Program draws on the expe...
Oct 21, 2021•11 min
The human heart is a muscle, and like all types of muscles, it can be injured. In humans, heart muscle is not able to regenerate after injury, and this can lead to heart disease which develops over time, eventually leading to an untimely death. A team of researchers, Doctor Claudine Bruck (Prolifagen), Professor Edward Morrisey (Department of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology) and Professor Jason Burdick (Department of Bioengineering) at the University of Pennsylvania, have collaborate...
Oct 21, 2021•11 min
Virtual and augmented reality technologies are now rapidly gaining traction in our society. Yet even as they improve, these devices continue to face major challenges relating to the wide variability of human vision. In their research, Dr Gordon Wetzstein and his colleagues at Stanford University explore innovative new ways to overcome these challenges, through the latest advances in both optics and vision science. In demonstrating ground-breaking innovations to near-eye displays and sensors, the...
Oct 21, 2021•11 min
Reproductive biotechnologies have contributed to many major advances in livestock production, and the proper application of these technologies can lead to livestock with superior genetic traits. This is vitally important given the high rates of malnourishment and poverty in developing countries, where communities could greatly benefit from an increase in meat and dairy products. Collaborating with scientists across the world, Dr Curtis R. Youngs of Iowa State University aims to increase the prod...
Oct 07, 2021•11 min
The International Labour Organisation refers to agriculture as ‘one of the most hazardous of all economic sectors’. Improving labour conditions has been challenging, especially for small farmers. Activists and global buyers have promoted sustainability standards to counteract this problem, for example, Fairtrade certification. Professor Maja Tampe, from the Department of Society, Politics, and Sustainability at Esade business school in Barcelona, investigates the experience of two Ecuadorian coc...
Sep 23, 2021•11 min
In 2013, the Chinese Government launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive global infrastructure-building initiative, to increase trade by connecting cities within and across continents. The initiative is redefining globalisation, urbanisation, regionalism, and development. Professor Xiangming Chen has released a policy expo-book (sponsored by the Regional Studies Association) that traces out the changing economic, social, and spatial fortunes of the regions connected to the initiati...
Sep 21, 2021•17 min
Because of its extreme hardness, diamond is used as a cutting material in a multitude of fields, from aerospace engineering to geothermal energy. Using ultra-high pressures and temperatures, scientists have created a new form of diamond, which is now the hardest material known to humankind. Dr Guodong (David) Zhan and Timothy Eric Moellendick at Saudi Aramco, alongside Dr Duanwei He at Sichuan University, are the scientists behind this record-breaking substance, which will serve as an ‘indestruc...
Sep 09, 2021•12 min
Despite overwhelming evidence calling for urgent action, climate change continues unabated. Understanding why society’s leaders are failing to adequately respond to the climate emergency is vital if we are to achieve positive changes going forward. However, getting inside the minds of decision-makers is notoriously difficult. Dr Patrick Waeber and Dr Claude Garcia from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, together with colleagues from Canada, the US, Brazil, and Madagascar, have developed ...
Sep 07, 2021•9 min
The prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders represents a serious concern given the deleterious impacts observed on individuals, their families, and society more widely. A better understanding of the factors associated with the development and recovery of Alcohol Use Disorders is essential to the development of more effective treatments. This is the focus of research by Dr Sara Blaine from Auburn University, USA.
Aug 05, 2021•9 min
Severe iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) caused by lack of iodine during pregnancy and early life can result in irreversible brain damage but are avoidable. Professor Creswell Eastman at the University of Sydney in Australia and his colleagues Professors Mu Li and Gary Ma have contributed significantly to the prevention of IDDs arising from severe iodine deficiency in the developing world and is now concentrating on the effects of mild to moderate iodine deficiency globally.
Aug 05, 2021•11 min
Medical conditions that affect the brain can have severe impacts on people’s lives. Many of these conditions can be difficult to treat, including epilepsy which affects the brain to cause seizures and the common form of dementia known as Alzheimer’s disease. Dr Arun Swaminathan at the University of Nebraska Medical Center specialises in the treatment of epilepsy. He also collaborates with fellow researchers to explore treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease.
Jul 26, 2021•13 min
The region of space in which Earth’s magnetic field interacts with flowing charged particles is home to a rich array of physical processes – but studying them is no easy task. Through a career spanning over 50 years, Dr Gerhard Haerendel at the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics has carried out world-leading research into these processes. His discoveries have now led to ground-breaking insights in the field of plasma physics – including explanations of striking arcs in the aurora,...
Jul 26, 2021•14 min
Many inherited neurological diseases are rare but can have severe outcomes, frequently resulting in disability and even death for children. New treatment options are essential to prevent suffering and decrease mortality, but to find such treatments, these diseases need to be more closely studied. Dr Charles Vite and his team at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, are committed to achieving these goals. By utilising animal models and unique markers for inherited neurolo...
Jul 26, 2021•13 min
Cancer, in all its forms, is one of the major causes of death across the world and we are in urgent need of more effective interventions for this global killer. Drugs used to treat diseases like cancer can be either synthetic in origin, semi-synthetic derivatives of natural products, or unmodified natural products. Dr Patrick Still and his team at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), conduct research to identify and biologically screen anti-cancer compounds derived specifically ...
Jul 26, 2021•9 min
The manufacturing industry has long been central to the livelihoods of people in rural Wisconsin. Increasingly, however, the speed of change and innovation that many of these businesses need to incorporate to stay competitive are profound. This change, known as ‘Industry 4.0’, is being applied to businesses both large and small. In Western Wisconsin, the Trempealeau Valley Cooperative 2.0, Western Technical College and Ashley Furniture Industries are collaborating to develop a new educational mo...
Jul 26, 2021•18 min
It is a widely-accepted scientific fact that the motions of molecules increase as their temperature rises. However, Dr Masahito Oh-e at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has recently made a counterintuitive discovery in an organic semiconductor called ‘CADN’. Within a thin film of this material, his team has found that the motion of one part of the CADN molecule increases, while another part becomes more ordered as the temperature increases and approaches the material’s phase transitio...
Jul 26, 2021•10 min
It’s a long-held belief that a series of dams in the Snake River in Northwest USA constructed nearly 50 years ago has led to serious declines in Chinook salmon populations. However, new research by Dr David Welch and his team from Kintama Research Services Ltd shows that survival of Chinook salmon measured by a wide range of government agencies has fallen by 65% along the whole North American West Coast over this period. These results have significant implications for informing conservation stra...
Jul 19, 2021•11 min
The discovery that the brain can change and reorganise itself revolutionised our understanding of neuroscience. Termed neuroplasticity, the field has seen an explosion of interest. An exciting form of plasticity has now been identified, in which neurons change their chemical communicator in response to environmental stimuli. Dr Nicholas Spitzer of the University of California, San Diego and his colleagues are looking to understand what causes this, what the effects are, and whether we can harnes...
Jul 19, 2021•11 min
Climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly threatening our ability to feed a burgeoning human population. Switching to agricultural practices that support beneficial soil microbes, and thus healthy soils, may help farmers achieve the yields required for continued food security. Dr Zachary Senwo from the College of Agriculture, Life and Natural Sciences at Alabama A&M University has spent over two decades exploring how agricultural management practices impact soil health. I...
Jul 19, 2021•12 min
