EurekAlert! News by Subject: Policy & Ethics - News by Subject: Policy & Ethics

Policy & Ethics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-Jul-2025 12:10 ET (3-Jul-2025 16:10 GMT/UTC)

Taking the fear out of quantum physics

University of Texas at Arlington
Meeting Announcement

Just the word “quantum” can make even seasoned science teachers break into a sweat. But a national pilot program led by The University of Texas at Arlington is helping take the mystery out of the subject for students and educators alike. This week, 50 high school students and science teachers gathered at Arlington Martin High School to dive into the topic through Quantum for All, a program launched by Karen Jo Matsler, a professor of practice and master teacher in UT Arlington’s UTeach program.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Study: Food and housing insecurity linked to unsafe gun storage

University of Delaware
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from the Unniversity of Delaware links social hardship (housing/food insecurity) to unsafe gun storage, challenging focus on just individual behavior. The results point to the need for policy changes that reach beyond existing laws.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Female veterans, veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups at higher risk of dying from opioid overdose

Boston University School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Prior studies have shown veterans are particularly at risk of dying by opioid overdose and the possibility of that occurring has been rising steadily over the past two decades. From 2010-2019, there was a 61.2% increase in risk of overdose death among male veterans. Interestingly, this increased risk was not observed among female veterans, despite rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) rising more quickly among women than men in the general population. Racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths are also prominent with a significant increase in death due to opioids among all racial and ethnic minority veterans, except American Indian or Alaskan Native veterans.

Given increases in opioid overdose rates and policy changes expanding access to medications for OUD during the COVID-19 pandemic, BU and VA researchers sought to understand how the opioid overdose epidemic impacted veterans with opioid use disorder. In their new study, they found female veterans and veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups were at higher risk of dying from an opioid overdose than other veterans.

Journal: Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Technology and data will save lives: Analytics can help deliver improved healthcare - new book

Carnegie Mellon University
Book Announcement

Lives could be saved and treatment times cut, with data-driven decision-making, according to the book, written by an international team.

Receipt of buprenorphine and naltrexone for opioid use disorder by race and ethnicity and insurance type

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cohort study of opioid-related index health care events, race and ethnicity–based and insurance-based disparities in access to medications for opioid use disorder persisted despite efforts to expand treatment availability. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions, including culturally tailored care, expanded access points, and policy reforms to address structural barriers and reduce inequities contributing to the overdose crisis.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Study challenges climate change's link to our wild winter jet stream

Dartmouth College
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Dartmouth study uses machine learning to reexamine whether climate change is causing large waves in the polar jet stream that have brought Arctic-like temperatures and storms to temperate regions of the United States in recent years. The researchers constructed a timeline of the jet stream's wintertime variability since 1901 and found it's in the latest of several “wavy” periods from the past 125 years, most of which predate significant effects of climate change. The authors report that climate change is likely not amplifying extreme winter weather by making the jet stream wavier, but through more direct links such as a warmer atmosphere that retains more moisture.

Journal: AGU Advances

Researchers show AI art protection tools still leave creators at risk

University of Texas at San Antonio
Reports and Proceedings

Murtuza Jadliwala, associate professor in computer science and core member of the MATRIX UTSA AI Consortium for Human Well-Being at the Univeristy of Texas at San Antonio, worked alongside Hanna Foerster from University of Cambridge and Sasha Behrouzi, Phillip Rieger and Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi from the Technical University of Darmstadt to show the insufficiency of existing copyright protection tools and the need for more robust approach.The team developed LightShed, a powerful new method capable of bypassing these protections.

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