Entrepreneurs benefit more from emotional intelligence than other competencies, such as IQ

Running a successful business has its challenges, but the COVID-19 pandemic has required many owners to pivot and look for new ways to operate profitably while keeping employees and consumers safe. Research from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business found that emotional intelligence – the ability to understand, use and manage emotions to relieve stress – may be more vital to a business’ survival than previously thought.

In Brazil, many smaller dams disrupt fish more than large hydropower projects

A new University of Washington paper published Jan. 11 in Nature Sustainability quantifies the tradeoffs between hydroelectric generation capacity and the impacts on river connectivity for thousands of current and projected future dams across Brazil. The findings confirm that small hydropower plants are far more responsible for river fragmentation than their larger counterparts due to their prevalence and distribution.

Iowa and Ohio Researchers Discover New, Protective Strategy for Embryonic Development during Prenatal Stress in Animal Model

New research from the University of Iowa and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center demonstrates that offspring can be protected from the effects of prenatal stress by administering a neuroprotective compound during pregnancy.

Can Large Fluid-Filled Spaces in the Brain Help Identify Those at Risk of Dementia?

People with enlarged fluid-filled spaces in the brain around small blood vessels may be more likely to develop cognitive problems and dementia over time than people without these enlarged spaces, according to a new study published in the January 27, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Heart disease #1 cause of death rank likely to be impacted by COVID-19 for years to come

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, according to the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics — 2021 Update, published today in the Association’s flagship journal Circulation, and experts warn that the broad influence of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely continue to extend that ranking for years to come.

On nights before a full moon, people go to bed later and sleep less, study shows

Sleep cycles in people oscillate during the 29.5-day lunar cycle: In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time. Scientists observed these oscillations in urban and rural settings — regardless of an individual’s access to electricity.

Precision measurements of intracluster light suggest possible link to dark matter

Faint light from rogue stars not bound to galaxies has been something of a mystery to scientists. The dimness of this intracluster light makes it difficult to measure, and no one knows how much there is. Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, led by Fermilab, have made the most radially extended measurement of this light ever, and they’ve found that its distribution might point to the distribution of dark matter.

Mount Sinai Researchers Build Models Using Machine Learning Technique to Enhance Predictions of COVID-19 Outcomes

Mount Sinai researchers have published one of the first studies using a machine learning technique called “federated learning” to examine electronic health records to better predict how COVID-19 patients will progress.

Fields of Breeders’ Dreams: A Team Effort Toward Targeted Crop Improvements

In Nature, a multi-institutional team including DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers has produced a high-quality reference sequence of the complex switchgrass genome. Building off this work, bioenergy researchers are exploring targeted genome editing techniques to customize the crop.

Purported phosphine on Venus more likely to be ordinary sulfur dioxide, new study shows

A University of Washington-led team has revisited and comprehensively reinterpreted radio telescope observations underlying a 2019 claim of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. They report that sulfur dioxide, a common gas in the atmosphere of Venus, is likely what was detected instead of phosphine.

Up-trending farming and landscape disruptions threaten Paris climate agreement goals

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 27, 2021 — One of President Joe Biden’s first post-inauguration acts was to realign the United States with the Paris climate accord, but a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine demonstrates that rising emissions from human land-use will jeopardize the agreement’s goals without substantial changes in agricultural practices.

Important Climate Change Mystery Solved by Scientists

Scientists have resolved a key climate change mystery, showing that the annual global temperature today is the warmest of the past 10,000 years – contrary to recent research, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Nature. The long-standing mystery is called the “Holocene temperature conundrum,” with some skeptics contending that climate model predictions of future warming must be wrong. The scientists say their findings will challenge long-held views on the temperature history in the Holocene era, which began about 12,000 years ago.

Experiments at the National Ignition Facility probe carbon at record pressures

Decades of studies have shown that carbon’s crystal structure has a significant impact on material properties. In addition to graphite and diamond, the most common carbon structures found at ambient pressures, scientists have predicted several new structures of carbon that could be found above 1,000 gigapascals (GPa). These pressures, approximately 2.5 times the pressure in Earth’s core, are relevant for modeling exoplanet interiors but have historically been impossible to achieve in the laboratory. That is, until now. Under the Discovery Science program, which allows academic scientists access to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) flagship National Ignition Facility (NIF), an international team of researchers led by LLNL and the University of Oxford has successfully measured carbon at pressures reaching 2,000 GPa (5 times the pressure in Earth’s core), nearly doubling the maximum pressure at which a crystal structure has ever been directly probed.

Schizophrenia Second Only To Age as Greatest Risk Factor for COVID-19 Death

People with schizophrenia, a mental disorder that affects mood and perception of reality, are almost three times more likely to die from the coronavirus than those without the psychiatric illness, a new study shows. Their higher risk, the investigators say, cannot be explained by other factors that often accompany serious mental health disorders, such as higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, and smoking.

Mira’s Last Journey: exploring the dark universe

Scientists used a supercomputer to perform one of the five largest cosmological simulations ever — the Last Journey. This simulation will provide crucial data for sky maps to aid leading cosmological experiments.

Getting to Net Zero – and Even Net Negative – is Surprisingly Feasible, and Affordable

Reaching zero net emissions of carbon dioxide from energy and industry by 2050 can be accomplished by rebuilding U.S. energy infrastructure to run primarily on renewable energy, at a net cost of about $1 per person per day, according to new research published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of San Francisco (USF), and the consulting firm Evolved Energy Research.

Partners in Crime: Genetic Collaborator May Influence Severity of the Rare Disease, NGLY1

In 2012, four-year-old Bertrand Might became the first-ever patient diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called N-glycanase (NGLY1) deficiency. Since then, more than 60 additional patients have been found. University of Utah Health geneticist Clement Chow is investigating the disease, which affects every system of the body.

Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement Risks Are Overestimated, Miller School Study Finds

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement surgery is a safer procedure than indicated by current surgical risk scores, according to a study published in Innovations, the journal of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery, led by Joseph Lamelas, M.D., chief and program director of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Miami Health System.