NSF Funded Research News
Are Republicans and Democrats driven by hatred of one another? Less than you think
University of PennsylvaniaPeer-Reviewed Publication
Rather than being fueled by animosity for the other side — negative partisanship — a new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania finds that Americans are at least as motivated by the passion they have for their own party.
- Journal
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Funder
- National Science Foundation
Virtual immune system roadmap unveiled
University of Nebraska-LincolnPeer-Reviewed Publication
A team of international experts has published a roadmap for creating a digital twin of the immune system. Patterned after digital twins used in industry to test innovations on a model, the digital twin would create a virtual immune system tailored to individuals. Physicians could use this model to develop precision treatments based on a person's genetics and personal history. It could answer questions why some people react differently to COVID-19 infection, for example, or design precise immunosuppressant therapy for transplant patients, or allow pharmaceutical companies to more quickly bring drugs to market.
- Journal
- npj Digital Medicine
- Funder
- NIH/National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Is it topological? A new materials database has the answer
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPeer-Reviewed Publication
A new materials database compiled by researchers at MIT and elsewhere reveals more than 90,000 known “topological” materials with persistent electronic properties.
- Journal
- Science
- Funder
- National Science Foundation, DOE/US Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research
BU study: Increasing urban greenery could have prevented at least 34,000 US deaths over two decades
Boston University School of Public HealthPeer-Reviewed Publication
Published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, a nationwide study found that increasing green vegetation in large, metropolitan areas could have prevented between 34,000-38,000 deaths, based on data from 2000-2019. The study also showed that overall greenness in metro areas has increased in the past 20 years, by nearly 3 percent between 2000-2010 and 11 percent between 2010-2019.
- Funder
- NIH/National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Science Foundation
Fly researchers find another layer to the code of life
Duke UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
A new examination of the way different tissues read information from genes has discovered that the brain and testes appear to be extraordinarily open to the use of rare codons to produce a given protein. Testes of both fruit flies and humans seem to be enriched in protein products of these rarely-used pieces of genetic code, suggesting another layer of control in the genome.
- Journal
- eLife
- Funder
- American Cancer Society, National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health
How fast-growing algae could enhance growth of food crops
Princeton UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
Researchers used computer modeling to identify the necessary features to support enhanced carbon fixation by an organelle called the pyrenoid, found in green algae, providing a blueprint for engineering this structure into crop plants. The study was published May 19, 2022 in the journal Nature Plants.
- Journal
- Nature Plants
- Funder
- National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Cooperation rewards water utilities
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing CenterPeer-Reviewed Publication
Inter-utility water agreements can help mitigate risks, in research that used supercomputer simulations of water supply in the North Carolina Research Triangle. Findings are generalizable to any place where water providers face financial and supply challenges in allocating regional water. XSEDE allocations on TACC Stampede2 system simulated water supply for two million people in the North Carolina Research Triangle out to 2060. Authors developed computational model together with regional utilities in North Carolina.
- Journal
- Water Resources Research
- Funder
- National Science Foundation, National Science Foundation
Both nature and nurture contribute to signatures of socioeconomic status in the brain
University of PennsylvaniaPeer-Reviewed Publication
In the first study of its kind, Penn researchers and an international team of collaborators found that a person’s genetics and the environment in which they live contribute to how socioeconomic status shapes the architecture of the brain.
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Funder
- European Research Council, National Science Foundation
Scientists hone long-range forecasting of US tornadoes, hail
Northern Illinois UniversityPeer-Reviewed Publication
New research identifies three specific orientations of atmospheric phenomena occurring near the equator over the Maritime continent that increase the probability of severe U.S. weather events three to four weeks later.
- Journal
- npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
- Funder
- National Science Foundation