Research Scientist

Mindfulness meditation promotes a unique state of relaxed alertness, characterized by specific changes in brain activity related to attention and awareness, according to a study published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology . By examining brain oscillations and physiological arousal, researchers found that mindfulness meditation induces neural patterns different from those seen during simple rest, challenging the view that its benefits are solely rooted in stress reduction. Mindfulness meditation is a practice that encourages individuals to focus their attention on the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. Originating from ancient contemplative traditions, mindfulness has become increasingly popular in modern contexts for its ability to promote mental clarity, emotional balance, and overall well-being. Despite its growing popularity, the precise mechanisms by which mindfulness benefits the brain and body remain unclear. Neuroscientific research has consistently shown tha...

By Lauren Perkins When you think of NASA, disasters such as hurricanes may not be the first thing to come to mind, but several NASA programs are building tools and advancing science to help communities make more informed decisions for disaster planning. Empowered by NASA’s commitment to open science , the NASA Disasters Program supports disaster risk reduction, response, and recovery. A core element of the Disasters Program is providing trusted, timely, and actionable data to aid organizations actively responding to disasters. Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana Aug. 21, 2021, as a category 4 hurricane, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in the continental United States on record. The effects of the storm were widespread, causing devastating damage and affecting the lives of millions of people. During Hurricane Ida, while first responders and other organizations addressed the storm’s impacts from the ground, the NASA Disasters program was able to provide a mu...

It may sound strange, but future Nobel Prizes, and other scientific achievement awards, one day might well be given out to intelligent machines. It could come down just to technicalities and legalities. Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel established the prestigious prizes in his will , written in 1895, a year before his death. He created a fund whose interests would be distributed annually “to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. Nobel explained how to divide those interests in equal parts, to be given, “one part to the person who made the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics… the most important chemical discovery… the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine”. He also created prizes for the person responsible for the most outstanding work of literature and to the person who did most to advance fellowship among nations, oppose war and promote peace (the peace prize). What should we draw ...

Ageneration ago, most people with multiple sclerosis could expect to rely on walkers and wheelchairs or be limited to their bed within 15 years of diagnosis. Today, UC San Francisco’s discoveries are keeping millions with MS healthier for longer – many disability-free. Now, the university is paving the way for an MS cure in our lifetimes. But the breakthrough almost didn’t happen. “Biologically implausible,” is what the National Institutes of Health’s rejection letter said. It was the late ’90s and UCSF Neurology Professor Stephen Hauser , MD, and team had applied for federal funding for the first clinical trial of the new medicine, rituximab, as a potential MS treatment. The study wouldn’t just test a new drug, but a revolutionary new theory about MS’ inner workings. So outlandish was the idea that the largest public funder of scientific research said it couldn’t be done. The rejection “hit like a ton of bricks,” Hauser remembered in his 2023 memoir, The Face Laughs While the Brain Cr...

Researchers have created an early map of some of the human body’s estimated 37.2 trillion cells Researchers have created an early map of some of the human body's estimated 37.2 trillion cells. Each type of cell has a unique role, and knowing what all the cells do can help scientists better understand health and diseases such as cancer. Scientists focused on certain organs — plotting the jobs of cells in the mouth, stomach and intestines, as well as cells that guide how bones and joints develop. They also explored which cells group into tissues, where they're located in the body and how they change over time. They hope the high-resolution, open-access atlas — considered a first draft — will help researchers fight diseases that damage or corrupt human cells. “When things go wrong, they go wrong with our cells first and foremost," said Aviv Regev, co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas consortium who was involved with the research. The findings were published Wednesday in Nature ...

OpenAI is funding academic research into algorithms that can predict humans’ moral judgements. In a filing with the IRS, OpenAI Inc., OpenAI’s nonprofit org, disclosed that it awarded a grant to Duke University researchers for a project titled “Research AI Morality.” Contacted for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson pointed to a press release indicating the award is part of a larger, three-year, $1 million grant to Duke professors studying “ making moral AI .” Little is public about this “morality” research OpenAI is funding, other than the fact that the grant ends in 2025. The study’s principal investigator, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, a practical ethics professor at Duke, told TechCrunch via email that he “will not be able to talk” about the work. Sinnott-Armstrong and the project’s co-investigator, Jana Borg, have produced several studies — and a book — about AI’s potential to serve as a “moral GPS” to help humans make better judgements. As part of larger teams, they’ve created a “mor...

A rock from the asteroid Ryugu that was brought back to Earth appears to be festooned with microbial life. But these microbes almost certainly came from Earth rather than outer space, say researchers. This contamination serves as a cautionary tale in the search for extraterrestrial life in future sample return missions, such as from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. In 2020, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft returned to Earth with 5.4 grams of rock from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Ryugu. After the sample capsule landed in Australia, it was transported to a custom-built facility in Sagamihara, Japan. There, the capsule was first opened inside a vacuum room, itself located within a clean room, before moving to a pressurised nitrogen-filled room for longer-term storage. From there, parts of the sample could be put inside nitrogen-filled containers and sent out for researchers to study. One of these samples was sent to the UK to be studied by Matthew Genge at Imperial College London...

AI can be a powerful ally or a risky gamble, depending on how you use it. If you’re relying on AI for research, taking shortcuts can backfire—and cost you your credibility. To avoid AI misinformation, follow these two essential steps: Ask for references. Verify those references yourself. Here’s why these steps are critical. Case study: trends in AI—fact or fiction? Recently, a colleague asked the generative AI tool Perplexity to identify this year’s trends in artificial intelligence. The app provided several impressive statistics, including: 73% of businesses believe generative AI will increase workforce productivity. 60% of companies see generative AI as an opportunity to gain a competitive edge. These claims sound promising—but are they true? Without verifying the sources, we can’t be sure. Unfortunately, AI tools are notorious for fabricating information. The productivity claim examined Perplexity’s statement that “73% of businesses believe generative AI will increase workforce pr...

The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought. Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say. Much of what we know about them was gathered by Nasa’s Voyager 2 spacecraft which visited nearly 40 years ago. But a new analysis shows that Voyager's visit coincided with a powerful solar storm, which led to a misleading idea of what the Uranian system is really like. Uranus is a beautiful, icy ringed world in the outer reaches of our solar system. It is among the coldest of all the planets. It is also tilted on its side compared to all the other worlds – as if it had been knocked over – making it arguably the weirdest. We got our first close-up look at it in 1986, when Voyager 2 flew past and sent back sensational pictures of the planet and its five major moons. But what amazed scientists even more was the data Voyager 2 sent back indicating that the Uranian system ...

Aspiring physician-scientists should bone up on areas such as gene editing, nanotechnology and regenerative medicine. Premedical students aspiring to become physician-scientists will be tasked with navigating emerging fields in research and translating exciting discoveries into the clinical realm. Understanding the latest trends and breakthroughs in biomedical science is paramount for those hoping to bridge the gap between such cutting-edge research and clinical practice – a career goal for many aspiring physician-scientists. What are these emerging fields, what should aspiring physician-scientists – including those applying to combined M.D.-Ph.D. programs – know about getting involved in these fields, and are there any pitfalls? This is an extraordinarily exciting time in scientific research, with recent breakthroughs in diverse fields such as gene editing, immunotherapies, nanotechnology, precision medicine, machine learning and regenerative medicine. Highlights run the gamut of the...

A declining share of U.S. adults are following the news closely, according to recent Pew Research Center surveys. And audiences are shrinking for several older types of news media – such as local TV stations, most newspapers and public radio – even as they grow for newer platforms like podcasts, as well as for a few specific media brands. Pew Research Center has long tracked trends in the news industry. In addition to asking survey questions about Americans’ news consumption habits , our State of the News Media project uses several other data sources to look at various aspects of the industry, including audience size, revenue and other metrics.For the most part, daily newspaper circulation nationwide – counting digital subscriptions and print circulation – continues to decline, falling to just under 21 million in 2022, according to projections using data from the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM). Weekday circulation is down 8% from the previous year and 32% from five years prior, w...

Halassy self-administered an experimental treatment usually reserved for patients with advanced or resistant cancers. Beata Halassy (53) , an expert infectious disease researcher, has divided the internet after she treated her cancer using an experimental vaccine she developed in her laboratory. Halassy discovered she had Stage 3 breast cancer at the site of a previous mastectomy in 2020. Not willing to face another bout of chemotherapy, Halassy, a virologist at the University of Zagreb, took matters into her hands and started trying out an unproven treatment by combining a measles virus and a flu-like pathogen to create a potent shot that attacked the tumour directly and restored the immune system. Fast forward to 2024, Halassy is now cancer-free for four years. Halassy self-administered an experimental treatment called oncolytic virotherapy ( OVT ) which is usually reserved for patients with advanced or resistant cancers. "The short-term and middle-term outcome of this unconven...

Close your eyes and imagine a sound, someone’s voice, coming from your left. It slowly shifts to come from behind you, then moves to your right. Around and around, it circles. Suddenly, the voice jumps. It was clearly in front of you but now it’s coming from somewhere else. How did it get there? Did it leap…magically? That’s the premise of the winning magic trick, announced November 13, in a contest to craft a magical experience based solely on sound. The challenge, proposed by researchers in England a few months ago, is part of an effort to answer a simple question: Can magic tricks, which typically rely on a surprising visual element, ever be witnessed through the ears alone? “Imagine a world where you’ve never heard music,” says magician-turned-psychologist Gustav Kuhn of the University of Plymouth. Magic tricks, he says, can be like this for the blind. Kuhn studies magic to understand the human mind (SN: 10/20/09). “A lot of the questions that psychologists are interested in are...

Scientists gathered much of the knowledge about Uranus after NASA's robotic spacecraft conducted a five-day flyby in 1986. New Delhi: The Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first and only mission to fly by Uranus in 1986, passed through it when its magnetosphere was unusually squashed by the solar wind, according to a study. It means that scientists' present understanding of the planet was shaped by an unusual stellar coincidence. Scientists gathered much of the knowledge about Uranus, the third largest planet in our solar system, when NASA's robotic spacecraft conducted a five-day flyby. However, scientists have now discovered that the spacecraft might have visited under unusual conditions that led to misleading observations about the planet, especially its magnetic field, Reuters reported. Taking a fresh look at the data from Voyager 2's 1986 visit, researchers found that the spacecraft encountered the planet only a few days after the solar wind squashed its magnetosphere -...

Editorial on the Research Topic Advances in molecular plant pathology, plant abiotic and biotic stress Frontiers in Plant Science is delighted to present a diverse and comprehensive collection of research articles in the esteemed Research Topic titled “Advances in Molecular Plant Pathology, Plant Abiotic and Biotic Stress”. Among the 18 articles featured within this Research Topic, several investigations offer significant contributions to our understanding of molecular plant pathology and plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. This compilation serves as a testament to the relentless efforts of researchers worldwide in unraveling the complexities of plant responses to various stressors, thereby advancing our understanding of plant biology, and bolstering agricultural sustainability. Abiotic stress responses Contributions focusing on plant responses to abiotic stresses offer valuable insights into stress perception, signal transduction, and tolerance mechanisms. Tu et al. pres...