new research on study

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Research News

• Subscribe to NPR's Up First Email

A post-reproductive toothed whale mother and her son. David Ellifrit/Center for Whale Research hide caption

Most animals don't go through menopause. So why do these whales?

March 22, 2024 • Across the animal kingdom, menopause is something of an evolutionary blip. We humans are one of the few animals to experience it. But Sam Ellis , a researcher in animal behavior, argues that this isn't so surprising. "The best way to propagate your genes is to get as many offspring as possible into the next generation," says Ellis. "The best way to do that is almost always to reproduce your whole life."

A cicada perches on a picnic table in front of Nolde Mansion in Cumru Township, PA in May 2021. New research shows that these insects urinate in a surprising way. Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images hide caption

Scientists studied how cicadas pee. Their insights could shed light on fluid dynamics

March 20, 2024 • Cicadas, and the way they urinate, offer a 'perfect' lab for understanding fluid dynamics at very small scales, researchers say

Workers at the U.S. Embassy in Havana leave the building in September 2017. New research out of the National Institutes of Health finds no unusual pattern of damage in the brains of Havana syndrome patients. Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption

Shots - Health News

In havana syndrome patients, nih scientists find no physical trace of harm.

March 18, 2024 • The mysterious ailments that became known as Havana syndrome left no physical evidence of injury or disease, according to two government studies.

This close-up of the Verona astrolabe shows Arabic and Hebrew markings. Federica Gigante hide caption

This medieval astrolabe has both Arabic and Hebrew markings. Here's what it means

March 16, 2024 • This discovery sheds new light on the rich history of scholarship and intellectual exchange between Muslims, Jews and Christians during a time of Muslim rule in medieval Spain.

Flares burn off methane and other hydrocarbons at an oil and gas facility in Lenorah, Texas in 2021. New research shows drillers emit about three times as much climate-warming methane as official estimates. David Goldman/AP hide caption

Oil and gas companies emit more climate-warming methane than EPA reports

March 13, 2024 • Oil and gas drillers are releasing more climate-warming methane than the government estimates, a new study shows.

This type of staghorn coral ( Acropora pulchra ) appeared to benefit from the presence of sea cucumbers ( Holothuria atra ), a new study finds. Terry Moore/Stocktrek Images / Science Source hide caption

This often-overlooked sea creature may be quietly protecting the planet's coral reefs

March 13, 2024 • The pickle-shaped bottom feeders may reduce the amount of microbes on the seafloor that could potentially sicken coral, scientists suggest

Millions of people are affected by long COVID, a disease that encompasses a range of symptoms — everything from brain fog to chronic fatigue — and that manifests differently across patients. The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption

What we know about long COVID — from brain fog to physical fatigue

March 13, 2024 • "Long COVID has affected every part of my life," said Virginia resident Rachel Beale said at a recent Senate hearing. "I wake up every day feeling tired, nauseous and dizzy. I immediately start planning when I can lay down again." Beale is far from alone. Many of her experiences have been echoed by others dealing with long COVID. It's a constellation of debilitating symptoms that range from brain fog and intense physical fatigue to depression and anxiety. But there's new, promising research that sheds light onto some symptoms. NPR health correspondent Will Stone talks with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about the state of long COVID research — what we know, what we don't and when we can expect treatments or even cures for it. Have more COVID questions you want us to cover? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you.

Maria E. Garay-Serratos holds a framed photograph of her mother, who died after suffering decades of domestic violence. Scientists are trying to understand how domestic violence damages the brain. Julio Serratos/Maria E. Garay-Serratos hide caption

Domestic violence may leave telltale damage in the brain. Scientists want to find it

March 8, 2024 • Traumatic brain injuries from intimate partner violence are common, and potentially more severe than those seen in sports.

Elephantnose Fish, Gnathonemus petersii, Congo ullstein bild hide caption

The "shocking" tactic electric fish use to collectively sense the world

March 8, 2024 • Neuroscientist Nathan Sawtell has spent a lot of time studying the electric elephantnose fish. These fish send and decipher weak electric signals, which Sawtell hopes will eventually help neuroscientists better understand how the brain filters sensory information about the outside world. As Sawtell has studied these electric critters, he's had a lingering question: why do they always seem to organize themselves in a particular orientation. At first, he couldn't figure out why, but a new study released this week in Nature may have an answer: the fish are creating an electrical network larger than any field a single fish can muster alone, and providing collective knowledge about potential dangers in the surrounding water.

The "shocking" tactic electric fish use to collectively sense the world

A digital illustration of a circle of hands extending from the edge of the image, each holding a sheet of paper. The papers overlap in the center and, like a puzzle, come together to reveal a drawing of a handgun. Oona Tempest/KFF Health News hide caption

Meet the public health researchers trying to rein in America's gun violence crisis

Kff health news.

March 6, 2024 • After the 1996 Dickey Amendment halted federal spending on gun violence research, a small group of academics pressed on, with little money or support. Now a new generation is taking up the charge.

This artist's concept shows the Voyager 1 spacecraft entering the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by plasma, ionized gas (illustrated here as brownish haze). NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has a big glitch. Now, NASA must figure out how to fix it

March 6, 2024 • The Voyager 1 space probe is the farthest human-made object in space. It launched in 1977 with a golden record on board that carried assorted sounds of our home planet: greetings in many different languages, dogs barking, and the sound of two people kissing, to name but a few examples. The idea with this record was that someday, Voyager 1 might be our emissary to alien life – an audible time capsule of Earth's beings. Since its launch, it also managed to complete missions to Jupiter and Saturn. In 2012, it crossed into interstellar space.

A case of bronchitis in 2014 left Sanna Stella, a therapist who lives in the Chicago area, with debilitating fatigue. Stacey Wescott/Tribune News Service via Getty Images hide caption

Clues to a better understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome emerge from a major study

February 23, 2024 • After seven years of research, the findings shed light on the long-neglected illness. Scientists say the results could lead to future trials for potential treatments.

A 3D model of a short section of the stone wall. The scale at the bottom of the image measures 50 cm. Photos by Philipp Hoy, University of Rostock; model created using Agisoft Metashape by J. Auer, LAKD M-V hide caption

Scientists scanning the seafloor discover a long-lost Stone Age 'megastructure'

February 22, 2024 • The more than half mile long wall, called the Blinkerwall, was likely used by Stone Age hunter-gatherers to herd reindeer toward a shooting blind.

The sun emits a mid-level solar flare releasing a burst of solar material. NASA hide caption

In light of the solar maximum, a look at the biggest solar storm in recorded history

February 21, 2024 • We are at the height of the Sun's activity in its eleven year cycle, known to astronomers as the solar maximum. This means that over the next several months there's going to be a lot of solar activity. It's got us thinking back to 1859. That's when astronomer Richard Carrington was studying the Sun when he witnessed the most intense geomagnetic storm recorded in history. The storm, triggered by a giant solar flare, sent brilliant auroral displays across the globe causing electrical sparking and fires in telegraph stations. This encore episode, Regina talks to solar physicist Dr. Samaiyah Farid about what's now known as the Carrington event and about what may happen the next time a massive solar storm hits Earth.

One woolly mammoth's journey at the end of the Ice Age

February 19, 2024 • Lately, paleoecologist Audrey Rowe has been a bit preoccupied with a girl named Elma. That's because Elma is ... a woolly mammoth. And 14,000 years ago, when Elma was alive, her habitat in interior Alaska was rapidly changing. The Ice Age was coming to a close and human hunters were starting early settlements. Which leads to an intriguing question: Who, or what , killed her? In the search for answers, Audrey traces Elma's life and journey through — get this — a single tusk. Today, she shares her insights on what the mammoth extinction from thousands of years ago can teach us about megafauna extinctions today with guest host Nate Rott .

Tai chi has many health benefits. It improves flexibility, reduces stress and can help lower blood pressure. Ruth Jenkinson/Getty Images/Science Photo Library hide caption

Tai chi reduces blood pressure better than aerobic exercise, study finds

February 14, 2024 • The slow-moving Chinese martial art tai chi is known to increase flexibility and balance. Now, research suggests it's more effective at reducing blood pressure than more vigorous forms of exercise.

Manny and Cayenne wrestle and kiss. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

Manny loves Cayenne. Plus, 5 facts about queer animals for Valentine's Day

February 14, 2024 • In a Valentine's Day exclusive report, NPR has learned there is currently a gay anteater couple at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.But this couple is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to queerness in the animal world – it's been documented in hundreds of species. We spoke with wildlife ecologist Christine Wilkinson of the "Queer is Natural" TikTok series to uncover the wildest, queerest animals of the bunch.

Ninety-seven percent of migratory fish species are facing extinction. Whale sharks, the world's largest living fish, are among the endangered. Ullstein Bild/Ullstein Bild hide caption

Across the world, migrating animal populations are dwindling. Here's why

February 12, 2024 • In a landmark U.N. study, researchers found nearly half of the world's threatened migratory species have declining populations. More than a fifth of the assessed animals face extinction.

Clownfish might be counting their potential enemies' stripes

February 9, 2024 • At least, that's what a group of researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University thinks. The team recently published a study in the journal Experimental Biology suggesting that Amphiphrion ocellaris , or clown anemonefish, may be counting. Specifically, the authors think the fish may be looking at the number of vertical white stripes on each other as well as other anemonefish as a way to identify their own species. Not only that — the researchers think that the fish are noticing the minutiae of other anemonefish's looks because of some fishy marine geopolitics.

A sea otter in the estuarine water of Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay, Calif. Emma Levy hide caption

California sea otters nearly went extinct. Now they're rescuing their coastal habitat

February 8, 2024 • California sea otter populations have rebounded in recent decades. New research finds that by feasting on shore crabs, these otters are helping to protect their coastal marsh habitat against erosion.

Why wolves are thriving in this radioactive zone

February 5, 2024 • In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, releasing radioactive material into northern Ukraine and Belarus. It was the most serious nuclear accident in history. Over one hundred thousand people were evacuated from the surrounding area. But local gray wolves never left — and their population has grown over the years. It's seven times denser than populations in protected lands elsewhere in Belarus. This fact has led scientists to wonder whether the wolves are genetically either resistant or resilient to cancer — or if the wolves are simply thriving because humans aren't interfering with them.

Spiderwebs can act as air filters that catch environmental DNA from terrestrial vertebrates, scientists say. Rob Stothard/Getty Images hide caption

Need to track animals around the world? Tap into the 'spider-verse,' scientists say

February 1, 2024 • Spiderwebs can capture environmental DNA, or eDNA, from vertebrate animals in their area, potentially making them a useful tool in animal monitoring, tracking and conservation.

• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

• Virtual Tour
• Staff Directory
• En Español

You are here

News releases.

News Release

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Large study provides scientists with deeper insight into long COVID symptoms

NIH-funded research effort identifies most common symptoms, potential subgroups, and initial symptom-based scoring system – with aim of improving future diagnostics and treatment.

Initial findings from a study of nearly 10,000 Americans, many of whom had COVID-19, have uncovered new details about long COVID, the post-infection set of conditions that can affect nearly every tissue and organ in the body. Clinical symptoms can vary and include fatigue, brain fog, and dizziness, and last for months or years after a person has COVID-19. The research team, funded by the National Institutes of Health, also found that long COVID was more common and severe in study participants infected before the 2021 Omicron variant.

The study, published in JAMA , is coordinated through the NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative, a nationwide effort dedicated to understanding why some people develop long-term symptoms following COVID-19, and most importantly, how to detect, treat, and prevent long COVID. The researchers hope this study is the next step toward potential treatments for long COVID, which affects the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans.

“Americans living with long COVID want to understand what is happening with their bodies,” said ADM Rachel L. Levine, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health. “RECOVER, as part of a broader government response, in collaboration with academia, industry, public health institutions, advocacy organizations and patients, is making great strides toward improving our understanding of long COVID and its associated conditions.”

Researchers examined data from 9,764 adults, including 8,646 who had COVID-19 and 1,118 who did not have COVID-19. They assessed more than 30 symptoms across multiple body areas and organs and applied statistical analyses that identified 12 symptoms that most set apart those with and without long COVID: post-exertional malaise, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, gastrointestinal symptoms, heart palpitations, issues with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic cough, chest pain, and abnormal movements.

They then established a scoring system based on patient-reported symptoms. By assigning points to each of the 12 symptoms, the team gave each patient a score based on symptom combinations. With these scores in hand, researchers identified a meaningful threshold for identifying participants with long COVID. They also found that certain symptoms occurred together and defined four subgroups or “clusters” with a range of impacts on health.

Based on a subset of 2,231 patients in this analysis who had a first COVID-19 infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, when the Omicron variant was circulating, about 10% experienced long-term symptoms or long COVID after six months. The results are based on a survey of a highly diverse set of patients and are not final. Survey results will next be compared for accuracy against an array of lab tests and imaging.

To date, more than 100 million Americans have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. As of April, the federal government’s Household Pulse survey estimates that about 10% of adults infected with the virus continue to experience and suffer from the many symptoms termed together as long COVID. Patients and researchers have identified more than 200 symptoms associated with long COVID.

“This study is an important step toward defining long COVID beyond any one individual symptom,” said study author Leora Horwitz, M.D., director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, and co-principal investigator for the RECOVER Clinical Science Core, at NYU Langone Health. “This approach — which may evolve over time — will serve as a foundation for scientific discovery and treatment design.” The researchers explain studying the underlying biological mechanisms of long COVID is central to advancing informed interventions and identifying effective treatment strategies.

In addition to establishing the scoring system, the researchers found that participants who were unvaccinated or who had COVID-19 before the Omicron strain emerged in 2021 were more likely to have long COVID and more severe cases of long COVID. Further, reinfections were also linked to higher long COVID frequency and severity, compared to people who only had COVID-19 once.

“While the score developed in this study is an important research tool and early step toward diagnosing and monitoring patients with long COVID, we recognize its limitations,” said David C. Goff, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of NIH. Goff serves as an epidemiology lead for NIH RECOVER. “All patients suffering from long COVID deserve the attention and respect of the medical field, as well as care and treatment driven by their experiences. As treatments are developed, it will be important to consider the complete symptom profile.”

The ongoing RECOVER research serves as the foundation for planned clinical trials, whose interventions are rooted in many of the symptoms outlined in this study. RECOVER clinical trials are expected to begin enrolling patient participants in 2023.

This research was funded by NIH agreements OT2HL161841 , OT2HL161847 , and OT2HL156812 . Additional support came from grant R01 HL162373 . For more information on RECOVER, visit https://recovercovid.org .                                                                 

About RECOVER : The National Institutes of Health Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (NIH RECOVER) Initiative is a $1.15 billion effort, including support through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, that seeks to identify how people recuperate from COVID-19, and who are at risk for developing post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). Researchers are also working with patients, clinicians, and communities across the United States to identify strategies to prevent and treat the long-term effects of COVID – including long COVID. For more information, please visit recovercovid.org .

HHS Long COVID Coordination : This work is a part of the National Research Action Plan (opens pdf), a broader government-wide effort in response to the Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services to mount a full and effective response to long COVID. Led by Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, the Plan and its companion Services and Supports for Longer-term Impacts of COVID-19 (opens pdf) report lay the groundwork to advance progress in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and provision of services for individuals experiencing long COVID.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health ®

Thaweethai T, Jolley SE, Karlson EW, et al. Development of a Definition of Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.  JAMA.  Published online May 25, 2023. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.8823

Change Note

On May 31, 2023, a statistic in the seventh paragraph on the percentage of adults continuing to experience symptoms of COVID-19 was updated from 6% to 10%.

Connect with Us

• More Social Media from NIH

Psychology Research News

Top headlines, latest headlines.

• Biomarkers Predict Cognitive Health in Old Age
• Heart Disease: Treating Anxiety, Depression
• How Neurochemicals Affect fMRI Readings
• Cognitive Health in Older People
• Brain Structure: Developmental Language Problems
• How Gut Bacteria Shape Newborn Immune System
• Fatty Food Before Surgery May Impair Memory
• How Fear Unfolds Inside Our Brains
• Brain Connections Associated With ADHD
• Blast-Related Concussions: Alzheimer's Risk

Earlier Headlines

Wednesday, march 20, 2024.

• Metformin During Pregnancy Affects the Brain Development in Offspring Mice, Study Finds

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

• Researchers Expand Our Understanding of How the Body and Brain Communicate

Monday, March 11, 2024

• Researchers Identify Gene Involved in Neuronal Vulnerability in Alzheimer's Disease

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

• Patience Pays Off
• A Noninvasive Treatment for 'chemo Brain'

Thursday, March 7, 2024

• Does Iron Accumulate in Brain After Concussions?

Monday, March 4, 2024

• A Better Way to Deliver Fetal Therapy for Serious Genetic Disorders

Friday, March 1, 2024

• Link Between Adversity, Psychiatric and Cognitive Decline

Thursday, February 29, 2024

• Tiny Magnetic Particles in Air Pollution Linked to Development of Alzheimer's
• Molecular Clusters on Glial Cells Show They Are More Than Our Brain's 'glue'

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

• Continued Cocaine Use Disrupts Communication Between Major Brain Networks
• Neurons Help Flush Waste out of Brain During Sleep
• In Fight Against Brain Pathogens, the Eyes Have It
• Could We Assess Autism in Children With a Simple Eye Reflex Test?
• More Than Just Neurons: A New Model for Studying Human Brain Inflammation

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

• Addressing Societal Concerns of Genetic Determinism of Human Behavior by Linking Environmental Influences and Genetic Research
• New Study Links Placental Oxygen Levels to Fetal Brain Development
• Visual Prosthesis Simulator Offers a Glimpse Into the Future
• Learning and Memory Problems in Down Syndrome Linked to Alterations in Genome's 'dark Matter'

Monday, February 26, 2024

• Gut-Brain Communication Turned on Its Axis
• Intervention Reduces Likelihood of Developing Postpartum Anxiety and Depression by More Than 70%
• Yoga Provides Unique Cognitive Benefits to Older Women at Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

Sunday, February 25, 2024

• Revolutionary Brain Stimulation Technique Shows Promise for Treating Brain Disorders

Friday, February 23, 2024

• Hearing Relaxing Words in Your Sleep Slows Your Heart Down

Thursday, February 22, 2024

• Cracking the Code of Neurodegeneration: New Model Identifies Potential Therapeutic Target
• New Insight Into Gene Uncovers Its Link to Incurable Birth Defect
• Uncovering Anxiety: Scientists Identify Causative Pathway and Potential Cures
• Researchers Use Deep Brain Stimulation to Map Therapeutic Targets for Four Brain Disorders
• Living in Violent Neighborhoods Affects Children's Brain Development
• Newly Discovered Brain Cells Play a Key Role in Right and Left Turns

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

• Air Pollution Linked to More Signs of Alzheimer's in Brain
• How Does the Brain Make Decisions?
• Possible Trigger for Autoimmune Diseases Discovered : B Cells Teach T Cells Which Targets Must Not Be Attacked

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

• Fixing Rogue Brain Cells May Hold Key to Preventing Neurodegeneration
• Modifying Brain Molecule Relaxin-3 Can Potentially Reduce Side Effects in Treating Anxiety, Depression and More
• Blocking Key Protein May Halt Progression of Alzheimer's Disease
• Stress During Pregnancy Can Lead to Early Maturation of First-Born Daughters
• Mapping Potential Pathways to MND Treatment

Thursday, February 15, 2024

• Neuronal Insights: Flash and Freeze-Fracture

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

• Exposure to Agent Orange Damages Brain Tissue in Ways Similar to Alzheimer's Disease

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

• Neural Prosthetic Device Can Help Humans Restore Memory
• Are You Depressed? Scents Might Help

Friday, February 9, 2024

• Immune Genes Are Altered in Alzheimer's Patients' Blood

Thursday, February 8, 2024

• How Emotions Affect Word Retrieval in People With Aphasia
• Patterns of Brain Connectivity Differ Between Pre-Term and Term Babies
• Pharmacological Inhibitor Protects Nerve Cells in ALS Disease
• Researchers Identify Potential Way to Treat Genetic Epilepsy by Replacing 'lost' Enzyme

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

• Researchers Make Progress Toward Developing Blood Tests for Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders
• New Direct Links Discovered Between the Brain and Its Surrounding Environment
• Stress Influences Brain and Psyche Via Immune System
• Things We Can Do to Help Cope With Traumatic Loss

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

• Study Finds Strongest Evidence to Date of Brain's Ability to Compensate for Age-Related Cognitive Decline
• Bullied Teens' Brains Show Chemical Change Associated With Psychosis

Monday, February 5, 2024

• Scientist Shows Focused Ultrasound Can Reach Deep Into the Brain to Relieve Pain
• World's Largest Childhood Trauma Study Uncovers Brain Rewiring

Thursday, February 1, 2024

• Researchers 3D-Print Functional Human Brain Tissue
• Scientists Discover a Potential Way to Repair Synapses Damaged in Alzheimer's Disease

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Tied to Memory, Thinking Problems
• Researchers Find Enzyme Plays Much Larger Role in Preventing Neurodegenerative Diseases
• Brain Protein's Virus-Like Structure May Help Explain Cancer-Induced Memory Loss
• Firing Nerve Fibers in the Brain Are Supplied With Energy on Demand
• Brain Changes Behind Pain Sensitivity May Affect Older Women More

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

• How a Mouse's Brain Bends Time

Monday, January 29, 2024

• Playing an Instrument Linked to Better Brain Health in Older Adults

Friday, January 26, 2024

• Using fMRI, New Vision Study Finds Promising Model for Restoring Cone Function
• Brain Drain: Nasopharyngeal Lymphatics Found to Be Crucial for Cerebrospinal Fluid Outflow
• Decoding How the Brain Manages the Appetite for Salt and Water

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Alters Brain Activity in Children With Anxiety

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

• Bioengineers on the Brink of Breaching Blood-Brain Barrier
• New Technology Lets Researchers Track Brain Cells' 'off Switches'

Monday, January 22, 2024

• Mechanism Linking Anxiety to Testosterone
• Thinning of Brain Region May Signal Dementia Risk 5-10 Years Before Symptoms
• How Aging Alters Brain Cells' Ability to Maintain Memory

Friday, January 19, 2024

• Bacterial Meningitis Injures One in Three Children for Life
• Generative AI Helps to Explain Human Memory and Imagination

Thursday, January 18, 2024

• Using Magnetized Neurons to Treat Parkinson's Disease Symptoms
• Don't Look Back: The Aftermath of a Distressing Event Is More Memorable Than the Lead-Up
• New Gut-Brain Circuits Found for Sugar and Fat Cravings
• Relationships With Caring Adults Provide a Buffer Against Depression, Anxiety, Regardless of Adverse Childhood Experiences

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

• 'Feel Good' Hormone Could Explain Why Exercise Helps Boost Your Brain

Sunday, January 14, 2024

• Study Reveals Function of Little-Understood Synapse in the Brain

Friday, January 12, 2024

• Psychotherapy Effective in Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Multiple Traumatic Events, Meta-Study Finds
• Stress, Via Inflammation, Is Linked to Metabolic Syndrome

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

• Neuropsychological Effects of Rapid-Acting Antidepressants May Explain Their Clinical Benefits
• ALS: Blocking Inflammation to Reduce Symptoms
• Traumatic Stress Associated With Smaller Brain Region

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

• RSV Shown to Infect Nerve Cells, Cause Inflammation and Damage
• A Common Marker of Neurological Diseases May Play Role in Healthy Brains
• Understanding the Neuroendocrine Basis for Social Anxiety-Like Behavior in Male Mice

Monday, January 8, 2024

• Life Span Increases in Mice When Specific Brain Cells Are Activated
• Possible Neuromarker for 'juvenile-Onset' Batten Disease

Thursday, January 4, 2024

• Scientists Use High-Tech Brain Stimulation to Make People More Hypnotizable
• Scientists Uncover Key Brain Pathway Mediating Panic Disorder Symptoms
• Scientists Develop a Game-Changing Organoid Model to Study Human Cerebellar Development and Disease

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

• Using the Body's Own Cells to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury
• Human Beliefs About Drugs Could Have Dose-Dependent Effects on the Brain

Thursday, December 28, 2023

• Study Identifies 'visual System' Protein for Circadian Rhythm Stability

Sunday, December 24, 2023

• Predicting Alzheimer's Dementia in Oldest of the Old

Friday, December 22, 2023

• Brain Cell Discovery Sparks Hope for Fertility Treatments

Thursday, December 21, 2023

• Sniffing Women's Tears Reduces Aggressive Behavior in Men, Researchers Report
• LATEST NEWS
• Health & Medicine
• Diseases & Conditions
• Alzheimer's Research
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Back and Neck Pain
• Birth Defects
• Bladder Disorders
• Blood Clots
• COVID and SARS
• Cervical Cancer
• Bladder Cancer
• Multiple Myeloma
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Brain Tumor
• Colon Cancer
• Breast Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Mesothelioma
• Skin Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Cerebral Palsy
• Chikungunya
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Cold and Flu
• Crohn's Disease
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Dengue Fever
• Down Syndrome
• Eating Disorder Research
• Encephalitis
• Epilepsy Research
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Fibromyalgia
• Gastrointestinal Problems
• HIV and AIDS
• Headache Research
• Hearing Loss
• Heart Health
• Cholesterol
• Stroke Prevention
• Heart Disease
• Hormone Disorders
• Hypertension
• Infectious Diseases
• Insomnia Research
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Kidney Disease
• Liver Disease
• Lung Disease
• Lyme Disease
• Mental Health Research
• Multiple Sclerosis Research
• Mumps, Measles, Rubella
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Osteoporosis
• Parkinson's Research
• Prostate Health
• Restless Leg Syndrome
• Sickle Cell Anemia
• Sleep Disorder Research
• Thyroid Disease
• Triglycerides
• Tuberculosis
• Medical Topics
• Accident and Trauma
• Alternative Medicine
• Birth Control
• Bone and Spine
• Chronic Illness
• Controlled Substances
• Dietary Supplements and Minerals
• Epigenetics
• Food Additives
• Foodborne Illness
• Foot Health
• Gene Therapy
• Health Policy
• Human Biology
• Immune System
• Joint Health
• Medical Imaging
• Nervous System
• Pain Control
• Personalized Medicine
• Pharmacology
• Psychology Research
• Wounds and Healing
• PHYSICAL/TECH
• ENVIRONMENT
• SOCIETY & EDUCATION
• Next-Gen Solar Cells: Perovskite Semiconductors
• When Faces Appear Distorted: Rare Condition
• End of Planet Formation
• Enormous Ice Loss from Greenland Glacier
• Signs of Life Detectable in Single Ice Grain
• Tudor Era Horse Cemetery
• When Do Babies Become Conscious?
• Secrets of the Van Allen Belt Revealed
• Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons
• Bronze Age Families: Clothing, Recipes, Pets

Trending Topics

Strange & offbeat.

• See us on facebook
• See us on twitter
• See us on youtube
• See us on linkedin
• See us on instagram

Weight loss caused by common diabetes drug tied to “anti-hunger” molecule in study

A Stanford Medicine study found that metformin, a commonly prescribed diabetes drug associated with moderate weight loss, stimulates production of lac-phe, a molecule abundant after exercise.

March 18, 2024 - By Krista Conger

Jonathan Long co-discovered lac-phe, known as the "anti-hunger" molecule. Courtesy Jonathan Long

An “anti-hunger” molecule produced after vigorous exercise is responsible for the moderate weight loss caused by the diabetes medication metformin, according to a new study in mice and humans. The molecule, lac-phe, was discovered by Stanford Medicine researchers in 2022.

The finding, made jointly by researchers at Stanford Medicine and at Harvard Medical School, further cements the critical role the molecule, called lac-phe, plays in metabolism, exercise and appetite. It may pave the way to a new class of weight loss drugs.

“Until now, the way metformin, which is prescribed to control blood sugar levels, also brings about weight loss has been unclear,” said Jonathan Long , PhD, an assistant professor of pathology. “Now we know that it is acting through the same pathway as vigorous exercise to reduce hunger. Understanding how these pathways are controlled may lead to viable strategies to lower body mass and improve health in millions of people.”

Long, who is supported by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, and Mark Benson, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, are co-senior authors of the study , which was published on March 18 in Nature Metabolism . Postdoctoral scholar Shuke Xiao , PhD, is the lead author of the study.

Many people with diabetes who are prescribed metformin lose around 2% to 3% of their body weight within the first year of starting the drug. Although this amount of weight loss is modest when compared with the 15% or more often seen by people taking semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, the discoveries that led to those drugs also grew from observations of relatively minor, but reproducible, weight loss in people taking first-generation versions of the medications.

Post-workout appetite loss

When Long and colleagues at Baylor University discovered lac-phe in 2022, they were on the hunt for small molecules responsible for curtailing hunger after vigorous exercise. What they found was a Frankenbaby of lactate — a byproduct of muscle fatigue — and an amino acid called phenylalanine. They dubbed the hybrid molecule lac-phe and went on to show that it’s not only more abundant after exercise but it also causes people (as well as mice and even racehorses) to feel less hungry immediately after a hard workout.

“There is an intimate connection between lac-phe production and lactate generation,” Long said. “Once we understood this relationship, we started to think about other aspects of lactate metabolism.”

Metformin was an obvious candidate because as it stimulates the breakdown of glucose (thus reducing blood sugar levels) it can trigger the generation of lactate.

The researchers found that obese laboratory mice given metformin had increased levels of lac-phe in their blood. They ate less than their peers and lost about 2 grams of body weight during the nine-day experiment.

The fact that metformin and sprint exercise affect your body weight through the same pathway is both weird and interesting.

Long and his colleagues also analyzed stored blood plasma samples from people with Type 2 diabetes before and 12 weeks after they had begun taking metformin to control their blood sugar. They saw significant increases in the levels of lac-phe in people after metformin compared with their levels before treatment. Finally, 79 participants in a large, multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis who were also taking metformin had significantly higher levels of lac-phe circulating in their blood than those who were not taking the drug.

“It was nice to confirm our hunch experimentally,” Long said. “The magnitude of effect of metformin on lac-phe production in mice was as great as or greater than what we previously observed with exercise. If you give a mouse metformin at levels comparable to what we prescribe for humans, their lac-phe levels go through the roof and stay high for many hours.”

Further research revealed that lac-phe is made by intestinal epithelial cells in the animals; blocking the ability of mice to make lac-phe erased the appetite suppression and weight loss previously observed.

Finally, a statistical analysis of the people in the atherosclerosis study who lost weight during the several-year study and follow-up period found a meaningful association between metformin use, lac-phe production and weight loss.

“The fact that metformin and sprint exercise affect your body weight through the same pathway is both weird and interesting,” Long said. “And the involvement of the intestinal epithelial cells suggests a layer of gut-to-brain communication that deserves further exploration. Are there other signals involved?”

Long noted that, while semaglutide drugs are injected into the bloodstream, metformin is an oral drug that is already prescribed to millions of people. “These findings suggest there may be a way to optimize oral medications to affect these hunger and energy balance pathways to control body weight, cholesterol and blood pressure. I think what we’re seeing now is just the beginning of new types of weight loss drugs.”

Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Colorado, the University of Virginia and the Broad Institute contributed to the work.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants GM113854, K08HL145095, DK124265, DK136526, HHSN2682015000031, HSN26800004, UM1DK078616 and 1R01HL151855), a Stanford School of Medicine’s Dean’s Fellowship, the American Heart Association, Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience and Stanford Diabetes Research Center. 

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu .

Artificial intelligence

Exploring ways AI is applied to health care

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

Download RSS feed: News Articles / In the Media / Audio

Study: Movement disorder ALS and cognitive disorder FTLD show strong molecular overlaps

Single-cell gene expression patterns in the brain, and evidence from follow-up experiments, reveal many shared cellular and molecular similarities that could be targeted for potential treatment.

March 22, 2024

Read full story →

Think globally, rebuild locally

In order to recycle construction materials, keep them close to home, a new study of Amsterdam suggests.

A new way to quantify climate change impacts: “Outdoor days”

This measure, developed by MIT researchers, reflects direct effects on people’s quality of life — and reveals significant global disparities.

Understanding the impacts of mining on local environments and communities

Extractive industries threaten water, glaciers, and livelihoods, but new research offers hope.

March 21, 2024

Lessons from Fukushima: Prepare for the unlikely

An analysis of the 2011 nuclear accident reveals a need for more preparation, training, and protocols for responding to low-probability accidents.

Future nuclear power reactors could rely on molten salts — but what about corrosion?

MIT researchers show that using the right metals could alleviate the corrosion problem in these promising new reactor designs.

AI generates high-quality images 30 times faster in a single step

Novel method makes tools like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E-3 faster by simplifying the image-generating process to a single step while maintaining or enhancing image quality.

Study: Life’s building blocks are surprisingly stable in Venus-like conditions

Results suggest the clouds of Venus could be hospitable for some forms of life.

March 20, 2024

A protein found in human sweat may protect against Lyme disease

Researchers also found that a variant of the protein is not as protective against the bacteria and increases susceptibility to the disease.

March 19, 2024

New algorithm unlocks high-resolution insights for computer vision

FeatUp, developed by MIT CSAIL researchers, boosts the resolution of any deep network or visual foundation for computer vision systems.

March 18, 2024

Five MIT faculty members take on Cancer Grand Challenges

Joining three teams backed by a total of $75 million, MIT researchers will tackle some of cancer’s toughest challenges.

Study finds lands used for grazing can worsen or help climate change

Too much livestock on a given amount of land can lead to carbon losses, but appropriate numbers can actually help sequester the carbon.

March 15, 2024

Researchers help robots navigate efficiently in uncertain environments

A new algorithm reduces travel time by identifying shortcuts a robot could take on the way to its destination.

March 14, 2024

Study finds workers misjudge wage markets

Employees underestimate salary levels in their own industry, leading them to spend less time exploring the job market.

A sprayable gel could make minimally invasive surgeries simpler and safer

Applied during endoscopic procedures, GastroShield could help prevent complications such as bleeding and leakage from weakened gastrointestinal tissues.

March 12, 2024

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals

Latest research and news by subject

Learn about the latest research, reviews and news from across all of the Nature journals by subject

Biological sciences

• Biochemistry
• Biological techniques
• Biotechnology
• Cell biology
• Chemical biology
• Computational biology and bioinformatics
• Developmental biology
• Drug discovery
• Microbiology
• Molecular biology
• Neuroscience
• Plant sciences
• Structural biology
• Systems biology

Business and commerce

• Business and management
• Information systems and information technology
• Operational research

Earth and environmental sciences

• Biogeochemistry
• Climate sciences
• Environmental sciences
• Environmental social sciences
• Natural hazards
• Ocean sciences
• Planetary science
• Solid Earth sciences
• Space physics

Health sciences

• Endocrinology
• Gastroenterology
• Health care
• Health occupations
• Medical research
• Molecular medicine
• Pathogenesis
• Rheumatology
• Risk factors
• Signs and symptoms
• Complex networks
• Cultural and media studies
• Health humanities
• Language and linguistics
• Medical humanities
• Theatre and performance studies

Physical sciences

• Astronomy and planetary science
• Energy science and technology
• Engineering
• Materials science
• Mathematics and computing
• Nanoscience and technology
• Optics and photonics

Scientific community and society

• Agriculture
• Business and industry
• Developing world
• Energy and society
• Scientific community
• Social sciences
• Water resources

Social science

• Anthropology
• Criminology
• Development studies
• Environmental studies
• Politics and international relations
• Science, technology and society
• Social policy

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Our Mission

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2021

From reframing our notion of “good” schools to mining the magic of expert teachers, here’s a curated list of must-read research from 2021.

It was a year of unprecedented hardship for teachers and school leaders. We pored through hundreds of studies to see if we could follow the trail of exactly what happened: The research revealed a complex portrait of a grueling year during which persistent issues of burnout and mental and physical health impacted millions of educators. Meanwhile, many of the old debates continued: Does paper beat digital? Is project-based learning as effective as direct instruction? How do you define what a “good” school is?

Other studies grabbed our attention, and in a few cases, made headlines. Researchers from the University of Chicago and Columbia University turned artificial intelligence loose on some 1,130 award-winning children’s books in search of invisible patterns of bias. (Spoiler alert: They found some.) Another study revealed why many parents are reluctant to support social and emotional learning in schools—and provided hints about how educators can flip the script.

1. What Parents Fear About SEL (and How to Change Their Minds)

When researchers at the Fordham Institute asked parents to rank phrases associated with social and emotional learning , nothing seemed to add up. The term “social-emotional learning” was very unpopular; parents wanted to steer their kids clear of it. But when the researchers added a simple clause, forming a new phrase—”social-emotional & academic learning”—the program shot all the way up to No. 2 in the rankings.

What gives?

Parents were picking up subtle cues in the list of SEL-related terms that irked or worried them, the researchers suggest. Phrases like “soft skills” and “growth mindset” felt “nebulous” and devoid of academic content. For some, the language felt suspiciously like “code for liberal indoctrination.”

But the study suggests that parents might need the simplest of reassurances to break through the political noise. Removing the jargon, focusing on productive phrases like “life skills,” and relentlessly connecting SEL to academic progress puts parents at ease—and seems to save social and emotional learning in the process.

2. The Secret Management Techniques of Expert Teachers

In the hands of experienced teachers, classroom management can seem almost invisible: Subtle techniques are quietly at work behind the scenes, with students falling into orderly routines and engaging in rigorous academic tasks almost as if by magic. 

That’s no accident, according to new research . While outbursts are inevitable in school settings, expert teachers seed their classrooms with proactive, relationship-building strategies that often prevent misbehavior before it erupts. They also approach discipline more holistically than their less-experienced counterparts, consistently reframing misbehavior in the broader context of how lessons can be more engaging, or how clearly they communicate expectations.

Focusing on the underlying dynamics of classroom behavior—and not on surface-level disruptions—means that expert teachers often look the other way at all the right times, too. Rather than rise to the bait of a minor breach in etiquette, a common mistake of new teachers, they tend to play the long game, asking questions about the origins of misbehavior, deftly navigating the terrain between discipline and student autonomy, and opting to confront misconduct privately when possible.

3. The Surprising Power of Pretesting

Asking students to take a practice test before they’ve even encountered the material may seem like a waste of time—after all, they’d just be guessing.

But new research concludes that the approach, called pretesting, is actually more effective than other typical study strategies. Surprisingly, pretesting even beat out taking practice tests after learning the material, a proven strategy endorsed by cognitive scientists and educators alike. In the study, students who took a practice test before learning the material outperformed their peers who studied more traditionally by 49 percent on a follow-up test, while outperforming students who took practice tests after studying the material by 27 percent.

The researchers hypothesize that the “generation of errors” was a key to the strategy’s success, spurring student curiosity and priming them to “search for the correct answers” when they finally explored the new material—and adding grist to a 2018 study that found that making educated guesses helped students connect background knowledge to new material.

Learning is more durable when students do the hard work of correcting misconceptions, the research suggests, reminding us yet again that being wrong is an important milestone on the road to being right.

4. Confronting an Old Myth About Immigrant Students

Immigrant students are sometimes portrayed as a costly expense to the education system, but new research is systematically dismantling that myth.

In a 2021 study , researchers analyzed over 1.3 million academic and birth records for students in Florida communities, and concluded that the presence of immigrant students actually has “a positive effect on the academic achievement of U.S.-born students,” raising test scores as the size of the immigrant school population increases. The benefits were especially powerful for low-income students.

While immigrants initially “face challenges in assimilation that may require additional school resources,” the researchers concluded, hard work and resilience may allow them to excel and thus “positively affect exposed U.S.-born students’ attitudes and behavior.” But according to teacher Larry Ferlazzo, the improvements might stem from the fact that having English language learners in classes improves pedagogy , pushing teachers to consider “issues like prior knowledge, scaffolding, and maximizing accessibility.”

5. A Fuller Picture of What a ‘Good’ School Is

It’s time to rethink our definition of what a “good school” is, researchers assert in a study published in late 2020.⁣ That’s because typical measures of school quality like test scores often provide an incomplete and misleading picture, the researchers found.

The study looked at over 150,000 ninth-grade students who attended Chicago public schools and concluded that emphasizing the social and emotional dimensions of learning—relationship-building, a sense of belonging, and resilience, for example—improves high school graduation and college matriculation rates for both high- and low-income students, beating out schools that focus primarily on improving test scores.⁣

“Schools that promote socio-emotional development actually have a really big positive impact on kids,” said lead researcher C. Kirabo Jackson in an interview with Edutopia . “And these impacts are particularly large for vulnerable student populations who don’t tend to do very well in the education system.”

The findings reinforce the importance of a holistic approach to measuring student progress, and are a reminder that schools—and teachers—can influence students in ways that are difficult to measure, and may only materialize well into the future.⁣

6. Teaching Is Learning

One of the best ways to learn a concept is to teach it to someone else. But do you actually have to step into the shoes of a teacher, or does the mere expectation of teaching do the trick?

In a 2021 study , researchers split students into two groups and gave them each a science passage about the Doppler effect—a phenomenon associated with sound and light waves that explains the gradual change in tone and pitch as a car races off into the distance, for example. One group studied the text as preparation for a test; the other was told that they’d be teaching the material to another student.

The researchers never carried out the second half of the activity—students read the passages but never taught the lesson. All of the participants were then tested on their factual recall of the Doppler effect, and their ability to draw deeper conclusions from the reading.

The upshot? Students who prepared to teach outperformed their counterparts in both duration and depth of learning, scoring 9 percent higher on factual recall a week after the lessons concluded, and 24 percent higher on their ability to make inferences. The research suggests that asking students to prepare to teach something—or encouraging them to think “could I teach this to someone else?”—can significantly alter their learning trajectories.

7. A Disturbing Strain of Bias in Kids’ Books

Some of the most popular and well-regarded children’s books—Caldecott and Newbery honorees among them—persistently depict Black, Asian, and Hispanic characters with lighter skin, according to new research .

Using artificial intelligence, researchers combed through 1,130 children’s books written in the last century, comparing two sets of diverse children’s books—one a collection of popular books that garnered major literary awards, the other favored by identity-based awards. The software analyzed data on skin tone, race, age, and gender.

Among the findings: While more characters with darker skin color begin to appear over time, the most popular books—those most frequently checked out of libraries and lining classroom bookshelves—continue to depict people of color in lighter skin tones. More insidiously, when adult characters are “moral or upstanding,” their skin color tends to appear lighter, the study’s lead author, Anjali Aduki,  told The 74 , with some books converting “Martin Luther King Jr.’s chocolate complexion to a light brown or beige.” Female characters, meanwhile, are often seen but not heard.

Cultural representations are a reflection of our values, the researchers conclude: “Inequality in representation, therefore, constitutes an explicit statement of inequality of value.”

8. The Never-Ending ‘Paper Versus Digital’ War

The argument goes like this: Digital screens turn reading into a cold and impersonal task; they’re good for information foraging, and not much more. “Real” books, meanwhile, have a heft and “tactility”  that make them intimate, enchanting—and irreplaceable.

But researchers have often found weak or equivocal evidence for the superiority of reading on paper. While a recent study concluded that paper books yielded better comprehension than e-books when many of the digital tools had been removed, the effect sizes were small. A 2021 meta-analysis further muddies the water: When digital and paper books are “mostly similar,” kids comprehend the print version more readily—but when enhancements like motion and sound “target the story content,” e-books generally have the edge.

Nostalgia is a force that every new technology must eventually confront. There’s plenty of evidence that writing with pen and paper encodes learning more deeply than typing. But new digital book formats come preloaded with powerful tools that allow readers to annotate, look up words, answer embedded questions, and share their thinking with other readers.

We may not be ready to admit it, but these are precisely the kinds of activities that drive deeper engagement, enhance comprehension, and leave us with a lasting memory of what we’ve read. The future of e-reading, despite the naysayers, remains promising.

9. New Research Makes a Powerful Case for PBL

Many classrooms today still look like they did 100 years ago, when students were preparing for factory jobs. But the world’s moved on: Modern careers demand a more sophisticated set of skills—collaboration, advanced problem-solving, and creativity, for example—and those can be difficult to teach in classrooms that rarely give students the time and space to develop those competencies.

Project-based learning (PBL) would seem like an ideal solution. But critics say PBL places too much responsibility on novice learners, ignoring the evidence about the effectiveness of direct instruction and ultimately undermining subject fluency. Advocates counter that student-centered learning and direct instruction can and should coexist in classrooms.

Now two new large-scale studies —encompassing over 6,000 students in 114 diverse schools across the nation—provide evidence that a well-structured, project-based approach boosts learning for a wide range of students.

In the studies, which were funded by Lucas Education Research, a sister division of Edutopia , elementary and high school students engaged in challenging projects that had them designing water systems for local farms, or creating toys using simple household objects to learn about gravity, friction, and force. Subsequent testing revealed notable learning gains—well above those experienced by students in traditional classrooms—and those gains seemed to raise all boats, persisting across socioeconomic class, race, and reading levels.

10. Tracking a Tumultuous Year for Teachers

The Covid-19 pandemic cast a long shadow over the lives of educators in 2021, according to a year’s worth of research.

The average teacher’s workload suddenly “spiked last spring,” wrote the Center for Reinventing Public Education in its January 2021 report, and then—in defiance of the laws of motion—simply never let up. By the fall, a RAND study recorded an astonishing shift in work habits: 24 percent of teachers reported that they were working 56 hours or more per week, compared to 5 percent pre-pandemic.

The vaccine was the promised land, but when it arrived nothing seemed to change. In an April 2021 survey  conducted four months after the first vaccine was administered in New York City, 92 percent of teachers said their jobs were more stressful than prior to the pandemic, up from 81 percent in an earlier survey.

It wasn’t just the length of the work days; a close look at the research reveals that the school system’s failure to adjust expectations was ruinous. It seemed to start with the obligations of hybrid teaching, which surfaced in Edutopia ’s coverage of overseas school reopenings. In June 2020, well before many U.S. schools reopened, we reported that hybrid teaching was an emerging problem internationally, and warned that if the “model is to work well for any period of time,” schools must “recognize and seek to reduce the workload for teachers.” Almost eight months later, a 2021 RAND study identified hybrid teaching as a primary source of teacher stress in the U.S., easily outpacing factors like the health of a high-risk loved one.

New and ever-increasing demands for tech solutions put teachers on a knife’s edge. In several important 2021 studies, researchers concluded that teachers were being pushed to adopt new technology without the “resources and equipment necessary for its correct didactic use.” Consequently, they were spending more than 20 hours a week adapting lessons for online use, and experiencing an unprecedented erosion of the boundaries between their work and home lives, leading to an unsustainable “always on” mentality. When it seemed like nothing more could be piled on—when all of the lights were blinking red—the federal government restarted standardized testing .

Change will be hard; many of the pathologies that exist in the system now predate the pandemic. But creating strict school policies that separate work from rest, eliminating the adoption of new tech tools without proper supports, distributing surveys regularly to gauge teacher well-being, and above all listening to educators to identify and confront emerging problems might be a good place to start, if the research can be believed.

Editor's Choice: How AI Is Helping to Restore Speech to Patients

• Preliminary Communication Aspirin for Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Without Cirrhosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial Tracey G. Simon, MD, MPH; Robert M. Wilechansky, MD; Stefania Stoyanova, BA; et al

Just Published

• Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography Scores and Liver-Related Events in Steatotic Liver Disease Huapeng Lin, PhD; et al. Original Investigation online first Huapeng Lin, PhD; et al. Editorial
• Skin Biopsy Detection of Phosphorylated α-Synuclein in Patients With Synucleinopathies Christopher H. Gibbons, MD, MMSc; et al. Original Investigation online first has active quiz Christopher H. Gibbons, MD, MMSc; et al.
• Partner Plan Choices and Medicare Advantage Enrollment Decisions Among Older Adults Lianlian Lei, PhD; et al. Research Letter online first Lianlian Lei, PhD; et al.
• Aspirin for Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Without Cirrhosis Tracey G. Simon, MD, MPH; et al. Preliminary Communication Tracey G. Simon, MD, MPH; et al.
• Stroke Risk After COVID-19 Bivalent Vaccination in US Older Adults Yun Lu, PhD; et al. Original Investigation Yun Lu, PhD; et al. Editorial
• Quieting the Quiver Kelley Ward, MD A Piece of My Mind online first free access Kelley Ward, MD
• Predicting Liver-Related Outcomes in Steatotic Liver Disease Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH Editorial online first Zobair M. Younossi, MD, MPH
• The Rise and Risks of Medicare Advantage “Affinity Plans” Adam L. Beckman, MD, MBA; et al. Viewpoint online first free access Adam L. Beckman, MD, MBA; et al.
• US Supreme Court Limits on the Power of US Health Agencies Daniel G. Aaron, MD, JD; et al. Viewpoint online first free access Daniel G. Aaron, MD, JD; et al.
• Implications for Public Health Regulation if Chevron Deference Is Overturned Sahil Agrawal, MD, PhD; et al. Viewpoint online first free access Sahil Agrawal, MD, PhD; et al.
• Effect Scores to Characterize Heterogeneity of Treatment Effects Guanbo Wang, PhD; et al. JAMA Guide to Statistics and Methods online first free access Guanbo Wang, PhD; et al.
• Arteriovenous Access for Hemodialysis Charmaine E. Lok, MD, MSc; et al. Review online first has active quiz has multimedia Charmaine E. Lok, MD, MSc; et al.
• Management of Individuals With Diabetes at High Risk of Hypoglycemia Celeste C. Thomas, MD, MS; et al. JAMA Clinical Guidelines Synopsis online first has active quiz Celeste C. Thomas, MD, MS; et al.
• Allergic Rhinitis Jonathan A. Bernstein, MD; et al. Review has active quiz has multimedia Jonathan A. Bernstein, MD; et al.
• Disease-Modifying Drugs for Adult-Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis Maya N. Faison, MD; et al. JAMA Clinical Guidelines Synopsis online first has active quiz Maya N. Faison, MD; et al.

Latest from the USPSTF

• USPSTF Recommendation: Primary Care Interventions to Prevent Child Maltreatment
• USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Speech and Language Delay and Disorders
• USPSTF Recommendation: Screening and Preventive Interventions for Oral Health in Adults
• 47,457 Views Adverse Events After XBB.1.5-Containing COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines
• 42,376 Views GLP-1 Agonists for Obesity—A New Recipe for Success?
• 35,352 Views International Consensus Criteria for Pediatric Sepsis and Septic Shock
• 32,215 Views Brain Waves Appear to Wash Out Waste During Sleep
• 30,565 Views Effect of Tirzepatide on Maintenance of Weight Reduction
• 25,078 Views Rural Maternity Care Is in Crisis—Here’s What Could Help
• 20,901 Views Pharmacotherapy and Mortality in Individuals With ADHD
• 20,847 Views Misinformation and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
• 20,185 Views Long-Term Outcomes of Medical Management vs Bariatric Surgery in Type 2 Diabetes
• 19,258 Views GLP-1 Agonists and Gastrointestinal Adverse Events
• 711 Citations Antibody Response to 2-Dose SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine Series in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
• 582 Citations Pancreatic Cancer
• 575 Citations Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Using Mendelian Randomization
• 570 Citations Updated Guidance on the Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals
• 566 Citations USPSTF Recommendation: Screening for Colorectal Cancer
• 501 Citations Effect of 2 Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines on Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection in Adults
• 440 Citations The Leading Causes of Death in the US for 2020
• 437 Citations Association Between IL-6 Antagonists and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19
• 433 Citations Effect of Intermediate- vs Standard-Dose Anticoagulation on Outcomes of Patients With COVID-19
• 401 Citations Association Between 3 Doses of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine and Symptomatic Infection Caused by Omicron and Delta Variants
• Register for email alerts with links to free full-text articles
• Access PDFs of free articles
• Manage your interests
• Save searches and receive search alerts

Biden to Sign Order Expanding Health Research in Women

HealthDay March 18, 2024

Politics Hasn't Shaken Most Americans' Faith in Science: Study

HealthDay March 12, 2024

Jill Biden Announces $100 Million for Research on Women's Health

HealthDay Feb. 22, 2024

Study Links Living Alone to Depression

New research bound to influence conversations about America’s ‘loneliness epidemic’ suggests living alone could have implications for physical and mental health.

Steven Ross Johnson Feb. 15, 2024

Scientists Discover New Way to Fight Estrogen-Fueled Breast Cancer

HealthDay Feb. 14, 2024

Food Insecurity Tied to Early Death

An inability to get adequate food is shaving years off people’s lives in the U.S., a new study suggests.

Steven Ross Johnson Jan. 29, 2024

Dana Farber Cancer Center to Retract or Fix Dozens of Studies

HealthDay Jan. 23, 2024

Did Boston University Conduct Dangerous COVID Experiments? NIH Investigating

Youth cancer death rate down in u.s..

Cancer mortality among youth continues to fall in the country, though data points to differences by age, race and gender.

Steven Ross Johnson Nov. 16, 2023

Human 'Brain Cell Atlas' Brings New Insight Into Brain Health, Illness

HealthDay Oct. 12, 2023

America 2024

Mobile Menu Overlay

The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

FACT SHEET: President   Biden Issues Executive Order and Announces New Actions to Advance Women’s Health Research and   Innovation

In his State of the Union address, President Biden laid out his vision for transforming women’s health research and improving women’s lives all across America. The President called on Congress to make a bold, transformative investment of $12 billion in new funding for women’s health research. This investment would be used to create a Fund for Women’s Health Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research agenda and to establish a new nationwide network of research centers of excellence and innovation in women’s health—which would serve as a national gold standard for women’s health research across the lifespan.

It is long past time to ensure women get the answers they need when it comes to their health—from cardiovascular disease to autoimmune diseases to menopause-related conditions. To pioneer the next generation of discoveries, the President and the First Lady launched the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research , which aims to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women’s health research in the United States.

Today, President Biden is signing a new Executive Order that will direct the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve research on women’s health. These directives will ensure women’s health is integrated and prioritized across the federal research portfolio and budget, and will galvanize new research on a wide range of topics, including women’s midlife health.

The President and First Lady are also announcing more than twenty new actions and commitments by federal agencies, including through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). This includes the launch of a new NIH-wide effort that will direct key investments of $200 million in Fiscal Year 2025 to fund new, interdisciplinary women’s health research—a first step towards the transformative central Fund on Women’s Health that the President has called on Congress to invest in. These actions also build on the First Lady’s announcement last month of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Sprint for Women’s Health , which committed $100 million towards transformative research and development in women’s health.

Today, the President is issuing an Executive Order that will:

• Integrate Women’s Health Across the Federal Research Portfolio . The Executive Order directs the Initiative’s constituent agencies to develop and strengthen research and data standards on women’s health across all relevant research and funding opportunities, with the goal of helping ensure that the Administration is better leveraging every dollar of federal funding for health research to improve women’s health. These actions will build on the NIH’s current policy to ensure that research it funds considers women’s health in the development of study design and in data collection and analysis. Agencies will take action to ensure women’s health is being considered at every step in the research process—from the applications that prospective grantees submit to the way that they report on grant implementation.
• Prioritize Investments in Women’s Health Research . The Executive Order directs the Initiative’s constituent agencies to prioritize funding for women’s health research and encourage innovation in women’s health, including through ARPA-H and multi-agency initiatives such as the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program. These entities are dedicated to high-impact research and innovation, including through the support of early-stage small businesses and entrepreneurs engaged in research and innovation. The Executive Order further directs HHS and NSF to study ways to leverage artificial intelligence to advance women’s health research. These additional investments—across a wide range of agencies—will support innovation and open new doors to breakthroughs in women’s health.
• Galvanize New Research on Women’s Midlife Health .  To narrow research gaps on diseases and conditions associated with women’s midlife health or that are more likely to occur after menopause, such as rheumatoid arthritis, heart attack, and osteoporosis, the President is directing HHS to: expand data collection efforts related to women’s midlife health; launch a comprehensive research agenda that will guide future investments in menopause-related research; identify ways to improve management of menopause-related issues and the clinical care that women receive; and develop new resources to help women better understand their options for menopause-related symptoms prevention and treatment. The Executive Order also directs the DoD and VA to study and take steps to improve the treatment of, and research related to, menopause for Service women and women veterans.
• Assess Unmet Needs to Support Women’s Health Research . The Executive Order directs the Office of Management and Budget and the Gender Policy Council to lead a robust effort to assess gaps in federal funding for women’s health research and identify changes—whether statutory, regulatory, or budgetary—that are needed to maximally support the broad scope of women’s health research across the federal government. Agencies will also be required to report annually on their investments in women’s health research, as well as progress towards their efforts to improve women’s health.

Today, agencies are also announcing new actions they are taking to promote women’s health research , as part of their ongoing efforts through the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. Agencies are announcing actions to:

Prioritize and Increase Investments in Women’s Health Research

• Launch an NIH-Cross Cutting Effort to Transform Women’s Health Throughout the Lifespan. NIH is launching an NIH-wide effort to close gaps in women’s health research across the lifespan. This effort—which will initially be supported by $200 million from NIH beginning in FY 2025—will allow NIH to catalyze interdisciplinary research, particularly on issues that cut across the traditional mandates of the institutes and centers at NIH. It will also allow NIH to launch ambitious, multi-faceted research projects such as research on the impact of perimenopause and menopause on heart health, brain health and bone health. In addition, the President’s FY25 Budget Request would double current funding for the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health to support new and existing initiatives that emphasize women’s health research.

This coordinated, NIH-wide effort will be co-chaired by the NIH Office of the Director, the Office of Research on Women’s Health, and the institute directors from the National Institute on Aging; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the National Institute on Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

• Invest in Research on a Wide Range of Women’s Health Issues. The bipartisan Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), led out of DoD, funds research on women’s health encompassing a range of diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently from men. While the programs and topic areas directed by Congress differ each year, CDMRP has consistently funded research to advance women’s health since its creation in 1993. In Fiscal Year 2022, DoD implemented nearly $490 million in CDMRP investments towards women’s health research projects ranging from breast and ovarian cancer to lupus to orthotics and prosthetics in women.  In Fiscal Year 2023, DoD anticipates implementing approximately $500 million in CDMRP funding for women’s health research, including in endometriosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic fatigue.
• Call for New Proposals on Emerging Women’s Health Issues . Today, NSF is calling for new research and education proposals to advance discoveries and innovations related to women’s health. To promote multidisciplinary solutions to women’s health disparities, NSF invites applications that would improve women’s health through a wide range of disciplines—from computational research to engineering biomechanics. This is the first time that NSF has broadly called for novel and transformative research that is focused entirely on women’s health topics, and proposals will be considered on an ongoing basis.
• Increase Research on How Environmental Factors Affect Women’s Health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is updating its grant solicitations and contracts to ensure that applicants prioritize, as appropriate, the consideration of women’s exposures and health outcomes. These changes will help ensure that women’s health is better accounted for across EPA’s research portfolio and increase our knowledge of women’s environmental health—from endocrine disruption to toxic exposure.
• Create a Dedicated, One-Stop Shop for NIH Funding Opportunities on Women’s Health. Researchers are often unaware of existing opportunities to apply for federal funding. To help close this gap, NIH is issuing a new Notice of Special Interest that identifies current, open funding opportunities related to women’s health research across a wide range of health conditions and all Institutes, Centers, and Offices. The NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health will build on this new Notice by creating a dedicated one-stop shop on open funding opportunities related to women’s health research. This will make it easier for researchers and institutions to find and apply for funding—instead of having to search across each of NIH’s 27 institutes for funding opportunities.

Foster Innovation and Discovery in Women’s Health

• Accelerate Transformative Research and Development in Women’s Health. ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health launched in February 2024 commits $100 million to transformative research and development in women’s health. ARPA-H is soliciting ideas for novel groundbreaking research and development to address women’s health, as well as opportunities to accelerate and scale tools, products, and platforms with the potential for commercialization to improve women’s health outcomes.
• Support Private Sector Innovation Through Additional Federal Investments in Women’s Health Research. The NIH’s competitive Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program is committing to further increasing—by 50 percent—its investments in supporting innovators and early-stage small businesses engaged in research and development on women’s health. These programs will solicit new proposals on promising women’s health innovation and make evidence-based investments that bridge the gap between performance of basic science and commercialization of resulting innovations. This commitment for additional funds builds on the investments the Administration has already made to increase innovation in women’s health through small businesses, including by increasing investments by sevenfold between Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2023.
• Advance Initiatives to Protect and Promote the Health of Women. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeks to advance efforts to help address gaps in research and availability of products for diseases and conditions that primarily impact women, or for which scientific considerations may be different for women, and is committed to research and regulatory initiatives that facilitate the development of safe and effective medical products for women. FDA also plans to issue guidance for industry that relates to the inclusion of women in clinical trials and conduct outreach to stakeholders to discuss opportunities to advance women’s health across the lifespan. And FDA’s Office of Women’s Health will update FDA’s framework for women’s health research and seek to fund research with an emphasis on bridging gaps in knowledge on important women’s health topics, including sex differences and conditions that uniquely or disproportionately impact women.
• Use Biomarkers to Improve the Health of Women Through Early Detection and Treatment of Conditions, such as Endometriosis. NIH will launch a new initiative dedicated to research on biomarker discovery and validation to help improve our ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions that affect women uniquely, including endometriosis. This NIH initiative will accelerate our ability to identify new pathways for diagnosis and treatment by encouraging multi-sector collaboration and synergistic research that will speed the transfer of knowledge from bench to bedside.
• Leverage Engineering Research to Improve Women’s Health . The NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) is convening national experts to identify high-impact research opportunities in engineering that can improve women’s health. ERVA’s Transforming Women’s Health Outcomes Through Engineering visioning event will be held in June 2024, and will bring together experts from across engineering—including those in microfluidics, computational modeling, artificial intelligence/imaging, and diagnostic technologies and devices—to evaluate the landscape for new applications in women’s health. Following this event, ERVA will issue a report and roadmap on critical areas where engineering research can impact women’s health across the lifespan.
• Drive Engineering Innovations in Women’s Health Discovery . NSF awardees at Texas A&M University will hold a conference in summer 2024 to collectively identify challenges and opportunities in improving women’s health through engineering. Biomedical engineers and scientists will explore and identify how various types of engineering tools, including biomechanics and immuno-engineering, can be applied to women’s health and spark promising new research directions.

Expand and Leverage Data Collection and Analysis Related to Women’s Health

• Help Standardize Data to Support Research on Women’s Health. NIH is launching an effort to identify and develop new common data elements related to women’s health that will help researchers share and combine datasets, promote interoperability, and improve the accuracy of datasets when it comes to women’s health. NIH will initiate this process by convening data and scientific experts across the federal government to solicit feedback on the need to develop new NIH-endorsed common data elements—which are widely used in both research and clinical settings. By advancing new tools to capture more data about women’s health, NIH will give researchers and clinicians the tools they need to enable more meaningful data collection, analysis, and reporting and comprehensively improve our knowledge of women’s health.
• Reflect Women’s Health Needs in National Coverage Determinations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will strengthen its review process, including through Coverage with Evidence Development guidance, to ensure that new medical services and technologies work well in women, as applicable, before being covered nationally through the Medicare program. This will help ensure that Medicare funds are used for treatments with a sufficient evidence base to show that they actually work in women, who make up more than half of the Medicare population.
• Leverage Data and Quality Measures to Advance Women’s Health Research. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) are building on existing datasets to improve the collection, analysis, and reporting of information on women’s health. The CDC is expanding the collection of key quality measures across a woman’s lifespan, including to understand the link between pregnancy and post-partum hypertension and heart disease, and plans to release the Million Hearts Hypertension in Pregnancy Change Package. This resource will feature a menu of evidence-informed strategies by which clinicians can change care processes. Each strategy includes tested tools and resources to support related clinical quality improvement. HRSA is modernizing its Uniform Data System in ways that will improve the ability to assess how women are being served through HRSA-funded health centers. By improving the ability to analyze data on key clinical quality measures, CDC and HRSA can help close gaps in women’s health care access and identify new opportunities for high-impact research.  

Strengthen Coordination, Infrastructure, and Training to Support Women’s Health Research

• Launch New Joint Collaborative to Improve Women’s Health Research for Service Members and Veterans. DoD and VA are launching a new Women’s Health Research collaborative to explore opportunities that further promote joint efforts to advance women’s health research and improve evidence-based care for Service members and veterans. The collaborative will increase coordination with the goal of helping improve care across the lifespan for women in the military and women veterans. The Departments will further advance research on key women’s health issues and develop a roadmap to close pressing research gaps, including those specifically affecting Service women and women veterans.
• Coordinate Research to Advance the Health of Women in the Military. DoD will invest $10 million, contingent on available funds, in the Military Women’s Health Research Partnership. This Partnership is led by the Uniformed Services University and advances and coordinates women’s health research across the Department. The Partnership is supporting research in a wide range of health issues affecting women in the military, including cancers, mental and behavioral health, and the unique health care needs of Active Duty Service Women. In addition, the Uniformed Services University established a dedicated Director of Military Women’s Health Research Program, a role that is responsible for identifying research gaps, fostering collaboration, and coordinating and aligning a unified approach to address the evolving needs of Active Duty Service Women.
• Support EPA-Wide Research and Dissemination of Data on Women’s Health. EPA is establishing a Women’s Health Community of Practice to coordinate research and data dissemination. EPA also plans to direct the Board of Scientific Counselors to identify ways to advance EPA’s research with specific consideration of the intersection of environmental factors and women’s health, including maternal health.
• Expand Fellowship Training in Women’s Health Research. CDC, in collaboration with the CDC Foundation and American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is expanding training in women’s health research and public health surveillance to OBGYNs, nurses and advanced practice nurses. Through fellowships and public health experiences with CDC, these clinicians will gain public health research skills to improve the health of women and children exposed to or affected by infectious diseases, mental health and substance use disorders. CDC will invite early career clinicians to train in public health and policy to become future leaders in women’s health research.

Improve Women’s Health Across the Lifespan

• Create a Comprehensive Research Agenda on Menopause. To help women get the answers they need about menopause, NIH will launch its first-ever Pathways to Prevention series on menopause and the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Pathways to Prevention is an independent, evidence-based process to synthesize the current state of the evidence, identify gaps in existing research, and develop a roadmap that can be used to help guide the field forward. The report, once completed, will help guide innovation and investments in menopause-related research and care across the federal government and research community.
• Improve Primary Care and Preventive Services for Women . The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will issue a Notice of Intent to publish a funding opportunity announcement for research to advance the science of primary care, which will include a focus on women’s health. Through this funding opportunity, AHRQ will build evidence about key elements of primary care that influence patient outcomes and advance health equity—focusing on women of color—such as care coordination, continuity of care, comprehensiveness of care, person-centered care, and trust. The results from the funding opportunity will shed light on vital targets for improvements in the delivery of primary healthcare across a woman’s lifespan, including women’s health preventive services, prevention and management of multiple chronic diseases, perinatal care, transition from pediatric to adult care, sexual and reproductive health, and care of older adults.
• Promote the Health of American Indian and Alaska Native Women. The Indian Health Service is launching a series of engagements, including focus groups, to better understand tribal beliefs related to menopause in American Indian and Alaska Native Women. This series will inform new opportunities to expand culturally informed patient care and research as well as the development of new resources and educational materials.
• Connect Research to Real-World Outcomes to Improve Women’s Mental and Behavioral Health. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is supporting a range of health care providers to address the unique needs of women with or at risk for mental health and substance use disorders. Building on its current efforts to provide technical assistance through various initiatives , SAMHSA intends, contingent on available funds, to launch a new comprehensive Women’s Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center. This center will identify and improve the implementation of best practices in women’s behavioral health across the life span; identify and fill critical gaps in knowledge of and resources for women’s behavioral health; and provide learning opportunities, training, and technical assistance for healthcare providers.
• Support Research on Maternal Health Outcomes. USDA will fund research to help recognize early warning signs of maternal morbidity and mortality in recipients of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and anticipates awarding up to $5 million in Fiscal Year 2023 to support maternal health research through WIC. In addition, research being conducted through the Agricultural Research Service’s Human Nutrition Research Centers is focusing on women’s health across the lifespan, including the nutritional needs of pregnant and breastfeeding women and older adults.

Stay Connected

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Scientists Collaborate to Study the Cause and Development of Liver Abscesses in Cattle

Contact: Maribel Alonso Email: [email protected]

March 20, 2024

To effectively prevent liver abscesses in cattle, it is crucial to gain a complete understanding of the development of this condition and the bacteria responsible for causing the infection.

A collaborative effort between scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Texas Tech University, Kansas State University, and West Texas A&M University work on reliable and repeatable liver abscess models to learn the triggers for this costly condition in cattle that not only negatively impacts animal well-being but also causes liver condemnations and may lead to increased carcass trimming and an overall decrease in profitability.

The first successful model study , recently published in the Journal of Animal Science ,  is part of a series of studies conducted at the USDA-ARS Livestock Issues Research Unit in Lubbock, Texas, that aim to find solutions to a problem of concern for animal well-being that is costing the industry millions of dollars.

Cattle with liver abscesses can experience health problems and reduced growth and feed efficiency. However, cattle with liver abscesses don’t show clinical signs and are generally identified too late –at harvest. The economic losses associated with this condition in cattle can be as high as 400 million dollars annually. The knowledge gained from these models will help develop preventive interventions.

"After decades of studies, researchers haven't found an accurate way to predict nor diagnose liver abscesses, because of the complexity of the disease," said Rand Broadway , a research scientist with the Livestock Issues Research Unit. "Our study is a huge collaborative effort between USDA and academic partners to develop a liver abscess model in cattle that can help us better understand how liver abscess formation begins. We are constantly learning about the causes and development of these abscesses."

This model consistently showed a 50 percent prevalence, which is important for researchers to study liver abscess development and prevention strategies, particularly in calves entering the beef supply chain from dairy origin. In addition, the model continues to be improved in an effort to mimic “real-world” disease etiology while examining the physiological changes in the animal to better understand root causes of the disease.  

Currently, the primary treatment to prevent liver abscesses in cattle has been in-feed antibiotics. However, antibiotics have come under more scrutiny by the general public, and alternatives to antibiotics are being sought.

"We are trying to ensure this model is effective and applicable to test non-antibiotic interventions in the future," added Broadway. "We seek to use the knowledge gained from these models to develop different alternative interventions, such as nutrition management strategies."

In the study, scientists work with dairy and ‘beef-dairy’ cross steers, the population of cattle that most commonly suffer from this infection. They tested two diets (a high grain-based and forage-based) and three bacteria commonly found in liver abscesses [ Fusobacterium necrophorum subsp. necrophorum, Trueperella pyogenes , and Salmonella enterica serovar Lubbock]. The results from the high-grain diet model were found to be more reliable, leading scientists to focus more on this model.

Most people associate liver abscesses in cattle with a high-energy diet. The theory is that when cattle are fed elevated grain levels, highly fermentable starch in the rumen is rapidly fermented by bacteria, causing a drop in rumen pH. This acidity causes damage to the rumen lining, allowing bacteria to travel into the blood, reaching the liver and other organs where they can cause infection. However, it is still unknown with accuracy the exact route that these bacteria take to cause infection or injury to the liver.

Scientists discovered that the bacteria associated with liver abscesses in cattle may not always originate from the rumen. An alternative route may be bacterial travel from the lower gastrointestinal tract. The research showed that in some cases, when these bacteria were not detected in the acidic rumen environment caused by a high-grain diet, no liver abscesses were detected. However, when scientists introduced bacteria directly to the rumen, they observed the formation of liver abscesses and were able to isolate the bacteria from the infected sites.

The study confirms that an acidotic diet, combined with bacterial inoculation in the rumen, can be used as a model to induce liver abscesses. However, further research is being conducted at USDA to determine the consistency of the model before it can be used to evaluate new interventions to prevent this complex infection.

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

More Studies by Columbia Cancer Researchers Are Retracted

The studies, pulled because of copied data, illustrate the sluggishness of scientific publishers to address serious errors, experts said.

By Benjamin Mueller

Scientists in a prominent cancer lab at Columbia University have now had four studies retracted and a stern note added to a fifth accusing it of “severe abuse of the scientific publishing system,” the latest fallout from research misconduct allegations recently leveled against several leading cancer scientists.

A scientific sleuth in Britain last year uncovered discrepancies in data published by the Columbia lab, including the reuse of photos and other images across different papers. The New York Times reported last month that a medical journal in 2022 had quietly taken down a stomach cancer study by the researchers after an internal inquiry by the journal found ethics violations.

Despite that study’s removal, the researchers — Dr. Sam Yoon, chief of a cancer surgery division at Columbia University’s medical center, and Changhwan Yoon, a more junior biologist there — continued publishing studies with suspicious data. Since 2008, the two scientists have collaborated with other researchers on 26 articles that the sleuth, Sholto David, publicly flagged for misrepresenting experiments’ results.

One of those articles was retracted last month after The Times asked publishers about the allegations. In recent weeks, medical journals have retracted three additional studies, which described new strategies for treating cancers of the stomach, head and neck. Other labs had cited the articles in roughly 90 papers.

A major scientific publisher also appended a blunt note to the article that it had originally taken down without explanation in 2022. “This reuse (and in part, misrepresentation) of data without appropriate attribution represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system,” it said .

Still, those measures addressed only a small fraction of the lab’s suspect papers. Experts said the episode illustrated not only the extent of unreliable research by top labs, but also the tendency of scientific publishers to respond slowly, if at all, to significant problems once they are detected. As a result, other labs keep relying on questionable work as they pour federal research money into studies, allowing errors to accumulate in the scientific record.

“For every one paper that is retracted, there are probably 10 that should be,” said Dr. Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, which keeps a database of 47,000-plus retracted studies. “Journals are not particularly interested in correcting the record.”

Columbia’s medical center declined to comment on allegations facing Dr. Yoon’s lab. It said the two scientists remained at Columbia and the hospital “is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of ethics and to rigorously maintaining the integrity of our research.”

The lab’s web page was recently taken offline. Columbia declined to say why. Neither Dr. Yoon nor Changhwan Yoon could be reached for comment. (They are not related.)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where the scientists worked when much of the research was done, is investigating their work.

The Columbia scientists’ retractions come amid growing attention to the suspicious data that undergirds some medical research. Since late February, medical journals have retracted seven papers by scientists at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute . That followed investigations into data problems publicized by Dr. David , an independent molecular biologist who looks for irregularities in published images of cells, tumors and mice, sometimes with help from A.I. software.

The spate of misconduct allegations has drawn attention to the pressures on academic scientists — even those, like Dr. Yoon, who also work as doctors — to produce heaps of research.

Strong images of experiments’ results are often needed for those studies. Publishing them helps scientists win prestigious academic appointments and attract federal research grants that can pay dividends for themselves and their universities.

Dr. Yoon, a robotic surgery specialist noted for his treatment of stomach cancers, has helped bring in nearly $5 million in federal research money over his career.

The latest retractions from his lab included articles from 2020 and 2021 that Dr. David said contained glaring irregularities . Their results appeared to include identical images of tumor-stricken mice, despite those mice supposedly having been subjected to different experiments involving separate treatments and types of cancer cells.

The medical journal Cell Death & Disease retracted two of the latest studies, and Oncogene retracted the third. The journals found that the studies had also reused other images, like identical pictures of constellations of cancer cells.

The studies Dr. David flagged as containing image problems were largely overseen by the more senior Dr. Yoon. Changhwan Yoon, an associate research scientist who has worked alongside Dr. Yoon for a decade, was often a first author, which generally designates the scientist who ran the bulk of the experiments.

Kun Huang, a scientist in China who oversaw one of the recently retracted studies, a 2020 paper that did not include the more senior Dr. Yoon, attributed that study’s problematic sections to Changhwan Yoon. Dr. Huang, who made those comments this month on PubPeer, a website where scientists post about studies, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

But the more senior Dr. Yoon has long been made aware of problems in research he published alongside Changhwan Yoon: The two scientists were notified of the removal in January 2022 of their stomach cancer study that was found to have violated ethics guidelines.

Research misconduct is often pinned on the more junior researchers who conduct experiments. Other scientists, though, assign greater responsibility to the senior researchers who run labs and oversee studies, even as they juggle jobs as doctors or administrators.

“The research world’s coming to realize that with great power comes great responsibility and, in fact, you are responsible not just for what one of your direct reports in the lab has done, but for the environment you create,” Dr. Oransky said.

In their latest public retraction notices, medical journals said that they had lost faith in the results and conclusions. Imaging experts said some irregularities identified by Dr. David bore signs of deliberate manipulation, like flipped or rotated images, while others could have been sloppy copy-and-paste errors.

The little-noticed removal by a journal of the stomach cancer study in January 2022 highlighted some scientific publishers’ policy of not disclosing the reasons for withdrawing papers as long as they have not yet formally appeared in print. That study had appeared only online.

Roland Herzog, the editor of the journal Molecular Therapy, said that editors had drafted an explanation that they intended to publish at the time of the article’s removal. But Elsevier, the journal’s parent publisher, advised them that such a note was unnecessary, he said.

Only after the Times article last month did Elsevier agree to explain the article’s removal publicly with the stern note. In an editorial this week , the Molecular Therapy editors said that in the future, they would explain the removal of any articles that had been published only online.

But Elsevier said in a statement that it did not consider online articles “to be the final published articles of record.” As a result, company policy continues to advise that such articles be removed without an explanation when they are found to contain problems. The company said it allowed editors to provide additional information where needed.

Elsevier, which publishes nearly 3,000 journals and generates billions of dollars in annual revenue , has long been criticized for its opaque removals of online articles.

Articles by the Columbia scientists with data discrepancies that remain unaddressed were largely distributed by three major publishers: Elsevier, Springer Nature and the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. David alerted many journals to the data discrepancies in October.

Each publisher said it was investigating the concerns. Springer Nature said investigations take time because they can involve consulting experts, waiting for author responses and analyzing raw data.

Dr. David has also raised concerns about studies published independently by scientists who collaborated with the Columbia researchers on some of their recently retracted papers. For example, Sandra Ryeom, an associate professor of surgical sciences at Columbia, published an article in 2003 while at Harvard that Dr. David said contained a duplicated image . As of 2021, she was married to the more senior Dr. Yoon, according to a mortgage document from that year.

A medical journal appended a formal notice to the article last week saying “appropriate editorial action will be taken” once data concerns had been resolved. Dr. Ryeom said in a statement that she was working with the paper’s senior author on “correcting the error.”

Columbia has sought to reinforce the importance of sound research practices. Hours after the Times article appeared last month, Dr. Michael Shelanski, the medical school’s senior vice dean for research, sent an email to faculty members titled “Research Fraud Accusations — How to Protect Yourself.” It warned that such allegations, whatever their merits, could take a toll on the university.

“In the months that it can take to investigate an allegation,” Dr. Shelanski wrote, “funding can be suspended, and donors can feel that their trust has been betrayed.”

Benjamin Mueller reports on health and medicine. He was previously a U.K. correspondent in London and a police reporter in New York. More about Benjamin Mueller

Read our research on: TikTok | Podcasts | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

How hispanic americans get their news, u.s.-born latinos overwhelmingly prefer to get their news in english; about half of immigrant latinos prefer it in spanish.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand Hispanic Americans’ habits around news and information, including the languages in which they consume news and their engagement with Hispanic media outlets.

Most of the questions in this report are from Pew Research Center’s 2023 National Survey of Latinos, a survey of 5,078 U.S. Hispanic adults conducted Nov. 6-19, 2023. This includes 1,524 Hispanic adults on the Center’s  American Trends Panel  (ATP) and 3,554 Hispanic adults on Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel . Respondents on both panels are recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Recruiting panelists by phone or mail ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. This gives us confidence that any sample can represent the whole population, or in this case the whole U.S. Hispanic population. (For more information, watch our  Methods 101 explainer  on random sampling.)

To further ensure the survey reflects a balanced cross-section of the nation’s Hispanic adults, the data is weighted to match the U.S. Hispanic adult population by age, gender, education, nativity, Hispanic origin group and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology . Refer to the topline for the questions used for our National Survey of Latinos , along with responses, and to methodology for more details.

The questions about how often people get news from various platforms, which platforms they prefer for getting news, and which social media sites people get news from are from an ATP survey of 8,842 U.S. adults, including 1,193 Hispanic adults, conducted Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2023. Refer to the topline for t he questions used for this survey , along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This is the latest report in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The terms  Hispanic  and  Latino  are used interchangeably in this report.

Hispanic/Latino Americans, Hispanic/Latino adults , and Hispanics/Latinos are used interchangeably in this report to refer to survey respondents who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino in the United States. They include those who say their race is White, Black, Asian or some other race and those who identify as multiracial. Hispanic/Latino Americans live in the U.S. but are not necessarily U.S. citizens.

U.S. born  refers to people born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia.

Immigrant  refers to people born outside the 50 states or D.C. For the purposes of this report, immigrants include those born in Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory. Although individuals born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens by birth, they are grouped with immigrant respondents because they were born into a Spanish-dominant culture and because on many points their attitudes, views and beliefs more closely resemble those of Hispanics born outside the U.S. than Hispanics born in the 50 states or D.C., and even U.S.-born Hispanics who identify as being of Puerto Rican origin.

Second generation  refers to people born in the 50 states or D.C. who have at least one parent born in a different country, Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory.

Third generation   or higher refers to people born in the 50 states or D.C. who have two parents born in the 50 states or D.C.

Language dominance  is a composite measure based on self-described assessments of speaking and reading abilities.  Spanish-dominant  people are more proficient in Spanish than in English (i.e., they speak and read Spanish “very well” or “pretty well” but rate their English ability lower).  Bilingual  refers to people who are proficient in both English and Spanish.  English-dominant  people are more proficient in English than in Spanish.

“Middle income” is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for panelists on the American Trends Panel. “Lower income” falls below that range; “upper income” falls above it. Refer to the methodology for more details.

Hispanic news outlets are those outlets that focus on providing news and information specifically to Hispanic audiences. These can include newspapers, radio or TV stations, podcasts, or social media accounts created for and by Hispanic people. Their content could be in Spanish, English, both languages or another language.

Country of origin refers to the country that survey respondents, their parents or their Hispanic ancestors came from.

Just over half of U.S. Hispanic adults (54%) get their news mostly in English – far higher than the share who get their news mostly in Spanish (21%). About a quarter of Hispanic Americans (23%) say they consume news in both languages about equally.

There is an almost identical pattern on the question of preferred language for news: 51% prefer to get their news in English, 24% prefer Spanish and 23% say they do not have a preference.

But a new Pew Research Center survey of adults who identify as Hispanic or Latino finds major differences in news consumption habits between U.S.-born Hispanics and those who immigrated from other countries .

While U.S.-born Latinos overwhelmingly get their news in English, and prefer it in English, those born outside the United States have much more varied habits: 41% get their news mostly in Spanish, 26% get it primarily in English and 31% do both about equally. Similarly, 47% of Latino immigrants prefer to get their news in Spanish, while 22% prefer English and 31% do not express a preference.

Among Latino immigrants, those who have spent more years in the U.S. are less inclined than more recent arrivals to get news in Spanish, and more inclined to get it in English. There is little difference in the shares who get news in both languages about equally.

Jump to more information on the languages in which U.S. Latinos consume news.

We asked these questions to better understand how a group that makes up nearly one-in-five Americans stays informed, especially as its demographics and use of Spanish continue to change. Immigrants are declining as a share of all U.S. Hispanics , and the share of Hispanics who speak Spanish at home has also dropped – even though the number of Hispanics who speak Spanish at home has increased due to overall growth in the Hispanic population.

Other key findings about Hispanics’ news consumption include:

Most Latino adults prefer digital devices for news

Latinos get their news from a variety of sources, but most say they prefer to use digital devices over other platforms. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) say they get news from digital devices at least sometimes, and 65% say they prefer this form of news over TV, radio or print. Digital devices have become an increasingly common source for news among Latinos – and among Americans overall – in recent decades, a shift driven by the rise of the internet .

Latinos are more likely than White Americans (55%) and Black Americans (50%) to prefer getting news from digital devices. Latinos also are more likely than White and Black adults to get news from social media, at least in part because Latino adults tend to be younger than other groups, and young adults are more inclined to use social media for news.

Nearly three-quarters of Latino adults under 50 (73%) prefer to get their news on digital devices, including 27% who prefer social media specifically.

Jump to more information on the platforms where U.S. Latinos get news.

Attention to news is declining among U.S. Latinos

About one-in-five Latino adults (22%) say they follow the news all or most of the time, while an additional 36% follow the news some of the time. The share of Latinos who follow the news all or most of the time has fluctuated in recent years but has dropped by 9 percentage points between 2020 (31%) and 2023 (22%), similar to a pattern seen across the general U.S. public .

In recent years, Hispanic Americans have followed the news less closely than Black and White Americans. Again, the high share of young adults within the Hispanic population plays a role, because young people are less likely to follow the news closely. Among Hispanic adults ages 18 to 29, just 10% say they follow the news all or most of the time – far below the share of Hispanics ages 65 and older who do so (44%).

Jump to more information on U.S. Hispanics’ news consumption habits.

Half of Hispanic adults get news from Hispanic news outlets

Half of U.S. Hispanic adults say they at least sometimes get news from Hispanic news outlets – those that specifically cater to Hispanic audiences. This includes 21% who say they do this extremely or very often. Just over half of Hispanics (54%) get news about their or their family’s country of origin at least sometimes, including 24% who do this often. 

Hispanic immigrants are much more likely than U.S.-born Hispanics to get news from Hispanic outlets and about their origin country. In both cases, about seven-in-ten immigrants say they at least sometimes get these types of news: 69% get news from Hispanic outlets and 72% get news about their country of origin. Among Hispanic adults who were born in the U.S., 33% at least sometimes get news from Hispanic outlets, and 38% get news about their family’s country of origin.

There are further differences among U.S.-born Hispanics: Those whose parents were also born in the U.S. are even less likely than those with one or more immigrant parent to get these types of news.

Jump to more information on Hispanic news outlets and news about Hispanic Americans’ origin countries.

Sign up for The Briefing

Weekly updates on the world of news & information

Report Materials

Table of contents, latinos’ views on the migrant situation at the u.s.-mexico border, 8 facts about black americans and the news, news platform fact sheet, latinos’ views of and experiences with the spanish language, hispanic and black news media fact sheet, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .