Public Release: 9-Oct-2018   New York University   IMAGE: Early fly embryo stained for three Bcd target genes, Otd (light blue), Hb (dark blue), and Kr (red). Credit: Image courtesy of Rhea Datta. Scientists at New York University and the University of Chicago have created fruit flies carrying reconstructed ancient genes to reveal how ancient…

Public Release: 3-Oct-2018   Hug receipt on day of interpersonal conflict correlated with smaller decrease in positive affect PLOS Receiving hugs may buffer against deleterious changes in mood associated with interpersonal conflict, according to a study published October 3rd in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Michael Murphy of Carnegie Mellon University, , along with…

Public Release: 3-Oct-2018 Discovery of first genetic variants associated with meaning in life Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam For the first time, locations on the human genome have been identified that can explain differences in meaning in life between individuals. This is the result of research conducted in over 220,000 individuals by Professor Meike Bartels and PhD…

Public Release: 1-Oct-2018   Michigan State University IMAGE: Republicans (red) and Democrats (blue) almost never collaborated in the 2015-2016 U.S. House of Representatives. Credit: Zachary Neal Party polarization is even worse than most people think, according to a new Michigan State University study. And neither party can shoulder the blame, as it doesn’t matter which…

Public Release: 24-Sep-2018   Nation’s 2016 ranking plummets from 6th in 1990; China sees increase in ranking from 69th to 44th; Study of ‘human capital’ yields other unexpected results over 26-year period Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation SEATTLE – The United States ranks 27th in the world for its investments in education and health…

Public Release: 12-Sep-2018   A new study shows that people can separate corrupt politicians from clean ones by simply looking at portraits of the politicians California Institute of Technology An old joke says if you want to know if a politician is lying, see if their lips are moving. New research shows that people can…

Public Release: 7-Sep-2018   University of Birmingham Hillary Clinton may have lost out to Donald Trump in the battle for the US Presidency because the Democrats were too willing to welcome others with differing views to theirs into their political party, a new study reveals. Research suggests that, with their tightly-knit sense of belonging and…

Public Release: 30-Aug-2018 The public holds insurers and hospitals most accountable when they receive an unexpected charge NORC at the University of Chicago Fifty-seven percent of American adults have been surprised by a medical bill that they thought would have been covered by insurance, according to a new AmeriSpeak® survey from NORC at the University…

Public Release: 23-Aug-2018 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Boston, MA – Technological innovation, expansion of the use of frontline personnel such as community health workers, and rapid increases in health care financing are likely to be instrumental to achieving universal health care (UHC) in countries around the world, according to a new analysis…

Public Release: 22-Aug-2018 Imperial College London Electrically charged volcanic ash short-circuited Earth’s atmosphere in 1815, causing global poor weather and Napoleon’s defeat, says new research. Historians know that rainy and muddy conditions helped the Allied army defeat the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. The June 1815 event changed the course of…

Public Release: 15-Aug-2018 Urgent need to examine systemic causes of declining health in the US BMJ The ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States is a key contributor to the most recent declines in life expectancy, suggests a study published by The BMJ today. A second study shows an increase in US death rates in…

Public Release: 15-Aug-2018 The Hastings Center As the cost of genome sequencing decreases, researchers and clinicians are debating whether all newborns should be sequenced at birth, facilitating a lifetime of personalized medical care. But while sequencing the genomes of some infants may be appropriate in specific contexts, genome-wide sequencing of all newborns should not be…

Public Release: 8-Aug-2018 Analysis of comments on popular news aggregation site shows that some single men may not have developed the necessary social skills demanded to find a partner in the modern Western world Springer In the past, forced or arranged marriages meant that socially inept, unattractive men did not have to acquire social skills…

Public Release: 9-Aug-2018 University of Guelph Credit: University of Guelph If the global population adopted recommended North American dietary guidelines, there wouldn’t be enough land to provide the food required, according to a new study co-authored by University of Guelph researchers. The researchers found that global adherence to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines…