scientific articles on research

Trending Articles

• These labs have prepared for a big earthquake - will it be enough? Ikarashi A. Nature. 2024. PMID: 39155315 No abstract available.
• Epinephrine promotes breast cancer metastasis through a ubiquitin-specific peptidase 22-mediated lipolysis circuit. Zhou Y, et al. Sci Adv. 2024. PMID: 39151008 Free PMC article.
• Deciphering the causes of sporadic late-onset cerebellar ataxias: a prospective study with implications for diagnostic work. Gebus O, et al. J Neurol. 2017. PMID: 28478596
• Association of Treatment Intensity and Adherence to Lipid-Lowering Therapy with Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events Among Post-MI Patients in Germany. Ahrens I, et al. Adv Ther. 2021. PMID: 33830461 Free PMC article.
• Neural tube defects: the experience of the registry of congenital malformations of Alsace, France, 1995-2009. Timbolschi D, et al. Fetal Diagn Ther. 2015. PMID: 25402326

Latest Literature

• Am J Clin Nutr (1)
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil (1)
• Cell Metab (1)
• Gastroenterology (1)
• J Am Coll Cardiol (11)
• J Biol Chem (2)
• J Neurosci (5)
• Nature (49)

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

Explore millions of high-quality primary sources and images from around the world, including artworks, maps, photographs, and more.

Explore migration issues through a variety of media types

• Part of The Streets are Talking: Public Forms of Creative Expression from Around the World
• Part of The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Winter 2020)
• Part of Cato Institute (Aug. 3, 2021)
• Part of University of California Press
• Part of Open: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
• Part of Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter 2012)
• Part of R Street Institute (Nov. 1, 2020)
• Part of Leuven University Press
• Part of UN Secretary-General Papers: Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016)
• Part of Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 12, No. 4 (August 2018)
• Part of Leveraging Lives: Serbia and Illegal Tunisian Migration to Europe, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Mar. 1, 2023)
• Part of UCL Press

Harness the power of visual materials—explore more than 3 million images now on JSTOR.

Enhance your scholarly research with underground newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Explore collections in the arts, sciences, and literature from the world’s leading museums, archives, and scholars.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Research News

• Subscribe to Health Newsletter

Invasive cane toads like this one have fanned out across Australia, killing numerous predators in their wake, including freshwater crocodiles. Joshua Prieto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

To save wild crocodiles in Australia, scientists gave them food poisoning

August 16, 2024 • Freshwater crocodiles die every year in Australia from eating poisonous cane toads that humans introduced to the continent. Now scientists have found a way to teach the crocs to avoid the toxic toads.

Saving freshwater crocodiles — by teaching them to not eat poisonous toads

Conservation biologist Gliselle Marin carefully untangles a bat from a net in Belize during the annual Bat-a-thon. Her fanny pack is decorated with printed bats. Luis Echeverría for NPR hide caption

Goats and Soda

This scientist has a bat tat and earrings. she says there's a lot to learn from bats.

August 12, 2024 • Gliselle Marin joins the “Bat-a-thon,” a group of 80-some bat researchers who converge on Belize each year to study these winged mammals.

A scientist in Belize hopes bats can galvanize locals to protect their forests

Researchers glued cameras and tracking instruments to small pieces of neoprene, that they then glued to the fur of the sea lions Nathan Angelakis hide caption

Scientists attach video cameras to sea lions to map the ocean floor

August 9, 2024 • How do you study unmapped areas of the ocean and identify critical habitat for an endangered species? You include the study animal in the scientific process! Researchers from the University of Adelaide fitted endangered Australian sea lions with cameras and tracking devices to better understand where they spent their time. The information could help scientists protect critical sea lion habitat and could give researchers a new tool for mapping the ocean.

"Everything that we are as human beings is in our brain," Dr. Theodore Schwartz says. Brian Marcus /Penguin Randomhouse hide caption

Health Care

For this brain surgeon, the operating room is 'the ultimate in mindful meditation'.

August 5, 2024 • Dr. Theodore Schwartz has been treating neurological illnesses for nearly 30 years. He says being a brain surgeon requires steady hands — and a strong bladder. His new book is Gray Matters.

New blood tests that help detect Alzheimer's disease are opening up a new era in diagnosis and treatment, doctors say. Marcus Brandt/picture alliance/Getty Images hide caption

Shots - Health News

New blood tests can help diagnose alzheimer's. are doctors ready for what's next.

August 2, 2024 • A new generation of blood tests can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. But many doctors don’t yet know how to use them.

Alzheimer's blood tests

Some researchers say the African coral tree has a racial slur embedded in its name. This month, scientists at an international meeting voted to have that epithet removed. tree-species/Flickr hide caption

Some plant names can be racist. Scientists are looking to rename them

July 31, 2024 • An international group of researchers has voted to modify the scientific names of more than 200 plant species whose names carry a derogatory word.

Researchers are revising botanical names to address troubling connotations

A key protein called Reelin may help stave off Alzheimer's disease, according to a growing body of research. GSO Images/The Image Bank/Getty Images hide caption

A protein called Reelin keeps popping up in brains that resist aging and Alzheimer’s

July 29, 2024 • Early in life, the protein Reelin helps assemble the brain. Later on, it appears to protect the organ from Alzheimer’s and other threats to memory and thinking.

Alzheimer's resilience

There are over eight hundred species of leeches, but researchers estimate that only ten percent of all leeches are terrestrial. Auscape/Contributor/Getty Images hide caption

We hate to tell you this, but there are leeches that can jump

July 29, 2024 • Generally, we at Short Wave are open-minded to the creepies and the crawlies, but even we must admit that leeches are already the stuff of nightmares. They lurk in water. They drink blood. There are over 800 different species of them. And now, as scientists have confirmed ... at least some of them can jump!

Two chimpanzees groom each other — a behavior that can involve several gestures. Anup Shah/Getty Images hide caption

What chimpanzee gestures reveal about human communication

July 26, 2024 • Chimpanzees are humans' closest living relatives. But does much of their communication resembles ours? According to a new study published earlier this week in the journal Current Biology , chimpanzees gesture back-and-forth in a similar way to how humans take turns speaking. The research presents an intriguing possibility that this style of communication may have evolved before humans split off from great apes, and tells researchers more about how turn-taking evolved.

Project RattleCam lets people observe rattlesnakes with a live webcam. Scott Boback hide caption

Watch a livestream of Colorado’s ‘mega den’ of pregnant rattlesnakes

July 24, 2024 • On a rocky hillside in Colorado is a “mega den” of hundreds of rattlesnakes — along with cameras livestreaming the whole thing.

 Pregnant Rattlesnakes Webcam

Glyptodonts were giant, armadillo-like shelled mammals that went extinct about 10,000 years ago. A study reveals that cut marks on a glyptodont fossil in South America could have been made by humans a little over 20,000 years ago. Daniel Eskridge/Stocktrek Images/Science Source hide caption

When did humans get to South America? This giant shelled mammal fossil may hold clues

July 23, 2024 • A fossil of an armadillo-like mammal appears to bear cut marks from butchering by humans, suggesting people were living in South America at least 20,000 years ago, even earlier than once thought.

Ancient Armadillos

Once completed, India's National River Linking Project will transfer an estimated 200 billion cubic meters of water around the country each year. STRDEL / Stringer/Getty Images hide caption

India's plan to reroute rivers could have unintended consequences on rainfall

July 19, 2024 • More than a hundred years ago, a British engineer proposed linking two rivers in India to better irrigate the area and cheaply move goods. The link never happened, but the idea survived. Today, due to extreme flooding in some parts of the country mirrored by debilitating drought in others, India's National Water Development Agency plans to dig thirty links between rivers across the country. It's the largest project of its kind and will take decades to complete. But scientists are worried what moving that much water could do to the land, the people — and even the weather. Host Emily Kwong talks to journalist Sushmita Pathak about her recent story on the project.

In 2022, a large, unexpected rogue wave struck the Viking Polaris, breaking windows. One passenger died and others were injured. Alexis Delisi/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Rogue waves can strike without warning. These scientists found a way to predict them

July 18, 2024 • Scientists have created a new tool that can give 5 minutes advance warning of a dangerous rogue wave in the ocean.

A study finds that psilocybin can desynchronize networks in the brain, potentially enhancing its plasticity. Sara Moser/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis hide caption

A scientist took a psychedelic drug — and watched his own brain 'fall apart'

July 18, 2024 • Scientists scanned the brains of people who took psilocybin, including a member of the research team. The scans showed how the drug disrupts key networks, potentially enhancing brain plasticity.

A prominent brain scientist took psilocybin as part of his own brain study

Crows can be trained to count out loud much in the way that human toddlers do, a study finds. Andreas Nieder/Universal Images Group Editorial hide caption

Crows can count out loud like human toddlers — when they aren't cheating the test

July 18, 2024 • A study finds that carrion crows can be taught to count and make vocalizations that indicate the number counted, much in the same way that human toddlers do.

Crows can count vocally like toddlers, research shows

An image released by the FDA shows bottles containing tianeptine and other compounds. Authorities have urged gas station store owners and others not to sell the products, with names like Neptune's Fix, Za Za and Tianaa, citing serious health risks. FDA hide caption

8 things to know about the drug known as 'gas station heroin'

July 14, 2024 • For decades, tianeptine was used to treat depression, even though no one knew how it worked. But it turns out it's a type of opioid, and the U.S. is facing a spike in abuse of "gas station heroin."

Researchers found that AI could increase the creativity of individual writers, but it also led to many similar stories. Moor Studio/Getty Images hide caption

Research shows AI can boost creativity for some, but at a cost

July 12, 2024 • Amateur writers using AI tools produced stories that were deemed more creative, but the research suggests the creativity of the group overall went down.

The star cluster Omega Centauri contains millions of stars. The movement of some stars suggests that an intermediate-sized black hole lies at its center. NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA hide caption

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars

July 10, 2024 • A report from Nature shows that astronomers may have found a medium-sized black hole, a kind they've long looked for.

Astronomers spot a mysterious black hole nestled in a cluster of stars.

Some ants, like the Florida carpenter ant, treat the injured legs of comrades, and will even perform medical amputations when necessary. Zen Rial/Getty Images hide caption

Like humans, these ants can perform leg amputations to save lives

July 10, 2024 • Some ants herd aphids. Some farm fungi. And now, scientists have realized that when an ant injures its leg, it sometimes will turn to a buddy to perform a lifesaving limb amputation. Not only that — some ants have probably been amputating limbs longer than humans! Today, thanks to the reporting of ant enthusiast and science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce, we behold the medical prowess of the ant.

A generic drug that's used to treat transplant patients has been shown to extend the life span of some animals. Guido Mieth/Getty Images hide caption

Rapamycin may slow aging. Here's one way the drug will be tested

July 1, 2024 • Longevity researchers are taking a generic drug they think may help extend people's lives. Now a dentist is testing if rapamycin stops gum disease — a canary in the coal mine for age-related diseases.

Anti-aging drug Rapamycin to prevent gum disease 

Paleontologist Dany Azar holds up one of his treasures that he discovered in Lebanon in a piece of amber from the early Cretaceous: The oldest mosquito ever found. Ari Daniel/For NPR hide caption

In Lebanon, the 'Amber Man' digs up golden time capsules from the age of the dinosaurs

June 28, 2024 • When dinosaurs reigned some 130 million years ago, flowering plants were taking over the world. That change is sealed in ancient amber specimens on the slopes of Lebanon that Danny Azar knows so well.

Reconstruction of a Lokiceratops rangiformis being surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps that would have existed in what is now northern Montana. Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution hide caption

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

June 28, 2024 • A brand new species of ceratops, or horned dinosaur, was recently discovered in northern Montana. The dinosaur is called Lokiceratops rangiformis , after the Norse god Loki, and is believed to have lived roughly eighty million years ago. The bones of the plant-eating dinosaur were found on private land in an area well known for its large amount of fossils, and at first, researchers thought the bones belonged to another species of dinosaur!

Every print subscription comes with full digital access

Science News

These are the most-read science news stories of 2021.

The International Space Station spotted the origins of a bizarre type of upside-down lightning called a blue jet (illustrated) zipping up from a thundercloud into the stratosphere in 2019. The discovery ranked among  Science News ' most-read stories of 2021.

DTU SPACE, DANIEL SCHMELLING/MOUNT VISUAL

Share this:

By Science News Staff

December 23, 2021 at 9:00 am

Science News drew over 21 million visitors to our website this year. Here’s a rundown of the most-read news stories and long reads of 2021.

Top news stories

1. space station detectors found the source of weird ‘blue jet’ lightning.

Instruments on the International Space Station detected the origins of an odd type of lightning called a blue jet. The bizarre bolt is sparked by a “blue bang” — a flash of bright blue light that may be brought on by the turbulent mixing of oppositely charged regions within a thundercloud ( SN: 2/13/21, p. 14 ).

2. A newfound quasicrystal formed in the first atomic bomb test

The first atomic bomb test, in 1945, forged a peculiar, glassy material called trinitite — and within it, a rare form of matter called a quasicrystal . Quasicrystals’ atoms are arranged in an orderly structure like normal crystals, but the structure’s pattern doesn’t repeat ( SN: 6/19/21, p. 12 ).

3. An Indigenous people in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA

The Ayta Magbukon people in the Philippines set the record for the highest known level of Denisovan ancestry — about 5 percent of their DNA comes from the ancient hominids . The finding suggests that several Denisovan populations independently reached Southeast Asia and interbred with Homo sapiens groups that arrived thousands of years later ( SN: 9/11/21, p. 16 ).

4. Astronomers may have seen a star gulp down a black hole and explode

In a first, astronomers caught a glimpse of a rare double cosmic cannibalism : A star swallowed a black hole or neutron star, which then gobbled that star from within, resulting in an astonishing explosion ( SN: 10/9/21 & 10/23/21, p. 6 ).

5. Frog skin cells turned themselves into living machines

Skin stem cells plucked from frog embryos organized themselves into miniature living robots, dubbed “xenobots,” that can swim, move around debris and even self-heal . Xenobots may one day serve a useful purpose, but ethical questions need to be considered ( SN: 4/24/21, p. 8 ).

Favorite video

Acrobatic rabbits bewitched online readers in our most-viewed YouTube video posted this year. The video — accompanying the story “ A gene defect may make rabbits do handstands instead of hop ” ( SN: 4/24/21, p. 13 ) — shows a sauteur d’Alfort rabbit walking on its front paws (below). Such hop-less bunnies may have adopted the odd gait because of a mutation in a gene called RORB , scientists discovered.

Top feature stories

1. new drugs that block a brain chemical are game changers for some migraine sufferers.

A class of drugs that inhibits a neurotransmitter called calcitonin gene-related peptide is helping some patients who suffer from chronic, debilitating migraines ( SN: 3/27/21, p. 16 ).

2. Einstein’s theory of general relativity unveiled a dynamic and bizarre cosmos

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity has served as the bedrock of our understanding of the cosmos. In the last 100 years, scientists have confirmed its most radical predictions, including black holes, gravitational waves and an expanding universe ( SN: 2/13/21, p. 16 ).

3. Chemists are reimagining recycling to keep plastics out of landfills

No matter people’s dedication to sorting and recycling plastics, most still end up in landfills because the materials are too difficult to transform into useful new products. Some chemists are trying to change that ( SN: 1/30/21, p. 20 ).

4. Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind

In the last 100 years, psychologists and other social scientists have dug into the muddy “science of us” and developed conflicting theories about human thought and behavior. From the messy, contentious research bloomed insights into what makes humans tick ( SN: 8/14/21, p. 18 ).

5. Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

From the Taung Child to Lucy, the last century of paleoanthropology has sketched a rough timeline of how humans came to be. Scientists now agree that human evolution has its roots in Africa, but many mysteries in our history remain to be solved ( SN: 9/25/21, p. 20 ).

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.

Not a subscriber? Become one now .

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Noro Psikiyatr Ars
• v.54(2); 2017 Jun

How to Conduct Scientific Research?

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines research as systematic and creative actions taken to increase knowledge about humans, culture, and society and to apply it in new areas of interest. Scientific research is the research performed by applying systematic and constructed scientific methods to obtain, analyze, and interpret data.

Scientific research is the neutral, systematic, planned, and multiple-step process that uses previously discovered facts to advance knowledge that does not exist in the literature. It can be classified as observational or experimental with respect to data collection techniques, descriptive or analytical with respect to causality, and prospective, retrospective, or cross-sectional with respect to time ( 1 ).

All scientific investigations start with a specific research question and the formulation of a hypothesis to answer this question. Hypothesis should be clear, specific, and directly aim to answer the research question. A strong and testable hypothesis is the fundamental part of the scientific research. The next step is testing the hypothesis using scientific method to approve or disapprove it.

Scientific method should be neutral, objective, rational, and as a result, should be able to approve or disapprove the hypothesis. The research plan should include the procedure to obtain data and evaluate the variables. It should ensure that analyzable data are obtained. It should also include plans on the statistical analysis to be performed. The number of subjects and controls needed to get valid statistical results should be calculated, and data should be obtained in appropriate numbers and methods. The researcher should be continuously observing and recording all data obtained.

Data should be analyzed with the most appropriate statistical methods and be rearranged to make more sense if needed. Unfortunately, results obtained via analyses are not always sufficiently clear. Multiple reevaluations of data, review of the literature, and interpretation of results in light of previous research are required. Only after the completion of these stages can a research be written and presented to the scientific society. A well-conducted and precisely written research should always be open to scientific criticism. It should also be kept in mind that research should be in line with ethical rules all through its stages.

Actually, psychiatric research has been developing rapidly, possibly even more than any other medical field, thus reflecting the utilization of new research methods and advanced treatment technologies. Nevertheless, basic research principles and ethical considerations keep their importance.

Ethics are standards used to differentiate acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Adhering to ethical standards in scientific research is noteworthy because of many different reasons. First, these standards promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote truth and minimize error. In addition, ethical standards promote values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. Many ethical standards in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data-sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Many ethical standards such as policies on research misconduct and conflicts of interest are necessary to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public. Last but not the least, ethical standards of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety ( 2 ). In conclusion, for the good of science and humanity, research has the inevitable responsibility of precisely transferring the knowledge to new generations ( 3 ).

In medical research, all clinical investigations are obliged to comply with some ethical principles. These principles could be summarized as respect to humans, respect to the society, benefit, harmlessness, autonomy, and justice. Respect to humans indicates that all humans have the right to refuse to participate in an investigation or to withdraw their consent any time without any repercussions. Respect to society indicates that clinical research should seek answers to scientific questions using scientific methods and should benefit the society. Benefit indicates that research outcomes are supposed to provide solutions to a health problem. Harmlessness describes all necessary precautions that are taken to protect volunteers from potential harm. Autonomy indicates that participating in research is voluntary and with freewill. Justice indicates that subject selection is based on justice and special care is taken for special groups that could be easily traumatized ( 4 ).

In psychiatric studies, if the patient is not capable of giving consent, the relatives have the right to consent on behalf of the patient. This is based on the idea of providing benefit to the patient with discovery of new treatment methods via research. However, the relatives’ consent rights are under debate from an ethical point of view. On the other hand, research on those patients aim to directly get new knowledge about them, and it looks like an inevitable necessity. The only precaution that could be taken to overcome this ambivalence has been the scrupulous audit of the Research Ethic Committees. Still, there are many examples that show that this method is not always able to prevent patient abuse ( 5 ). Therefore, it is difficult to claim autonomy when psychiatric patients are studied, and psychiatric patients are considered among patients to require special care.

We are proud to publish in our journal studies that overcome many burdens.

• Advanced search
• Peer review

Discover relevant research today

Advance your research field in the open

Reach new audiences and maximize your readership

ScienceOpen puts your research in the context of

Publications

For Publishers

ScienceOpen offers content hosting, context building and marketing services for publishers. See our tailored offerings

• For academic publishers  to promote journals and interdisciplinary collections
• For open access journals  to host journal content in an interactive environment
• For university library publishing  to develop new open access paradigms for their scholars
• For scholarly societies  to promote content with interactive features

For Institutions

ScienceOpen offers state-of-the-art technology and a range of solutions and services

• For faculties and research groups  to promote and share your work
• For research institutes  to build up your own branding for OA publications
• For funders  to develop new open access publishing paradigms
• For university libraries to create an independent OA publishing environment

For Researchers

Make an impact and build your research profile in the open with ScienceOpen

• Search and discover relevant research in over 95 million Open Access articles and article records
• Share your expertise and get credit by publicly reviewing any article
• Publish your poster or preprint and track usage and impact with article- and author-level metrics
• Create a topical Collection  to advance your research field

Create a Journal powered by ScienceOpen

Launching a new open access journal or an open access press? ScienceOpen now provides full end-to-end open access publishing solutions – embedded within our smart interactive discovery environment. A modular approach allows open access publishers to pick and choose among a range of services and design the platform that fits their goals and budget.

Continue reading “Create a Journal powered by ScienceOpen”   

What can a Researcher do on ScienceOpen?

ScienceOpen provides researchers with a wide range of tools to support their research – all for free. Here is a short checklist to make sure you are getting the most of the technological infrastructure and content that we have to offer. What can a researcher do on ScienceOpen? Continue reading “What can a Researcher do on ScienceOpen?”   

ScienceOpen on the Road

Upcoming events.

• 15 June – Scheduled Server Maintenance, 13:00 – 01:00 CEST

Past Events

• 20 – 22 February – ResearcherToReader Conference
• 09 November – Webinar for the Discoverability of African Research
• 26 – 27 October – Attending the Workshop on Open Citations and Open Scholarly Metadata
• 18 – 22 October – ScienceOpen at Frankfurt Book Fair.
• 27 – 29 September – Attending OA Tage, Berlin .
• 25 – 27 September – ScienceOpen at Open Science Fair
• 19 – 21 September – OASPA 2023 Annual Conference .
• 22 – 24 May – ScienceOpen sponsoring Pint of Science, Berlin.
• 16-17 May – ScienceOpen at 3rd AEUP Conference.
• 20 – 21 April – ScienceOpen attending Scaling Small: Community-Owned Futures for Open Access Books .

What is ScienceOpen?

• Smart search and discovery within an interactive interface
• Researcher promotion and ORCID integration
• Open evaluation with article reviews and Collections
• Business model based on providing services to publishers

Live Twitter stream

Some of our partners:.

Projects will develop a series of experimental datasets across a range of cell types to assess changes in cell function due to low dose radiation exposure

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $19.5 million in funding over three years for 14 projects on low-dose radiation – studying the cellular and molecular responses to doses of radiation that are at or near lower exposure limits.

The Low Dose Radiation Research Program supports research to develop a disease risk prediction and, in the longer term, inform radiation protection measures for the public and the workplace.

This funding will take advantage of recent developments in experimental and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to understand changes in cellular metabolism due to low dose radiation exposure.

The initial projects will develop a series of highly curated experimental datasets across a range of cell types to assess changes in cell function due to low dose radiation exposure. These datasets will serve as training data for a burgeoning AI/ML modeling capability for low dose radiation research. 

In the long run, this new approach may provide a better way to identify markers and patterns linked with altered cellular function that may signal an adverse health outcome.

Research goals include developing integrated biological and computational approaches and establishing comprehensive datasets to gain new insights on the effects of low dose radiation exposure on cellular functions. 

“These new projects take advantage of the latest advances in biotechnology coupled with advanced computational techniques (AI/ML),” said Dorothy Koch, DOE Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research. “The new integrated approach could lead to broader insights into the transient and persistent effects of low dose radiation exposure and potential linkages to health effects.”

The projects were selected by competitive peer review. The awarded projects involving multi-institutional teams include diverse and innovative experimental and computational approaches.

The model systems to be used in the research range from model human-derived cells/organ systems to mouse models and computational models. The research has the potential to expand understanding of low dose radiation effects on cellular processes, identify biomarkers of radiation exposure, and refine risk predictions of health effects associated with low dose radiation from a more mechanistic perspective. 

Total funding is $19.5 million for projects lasting up to three years in duration, with $11.7 million in Fiscal Year 2024 dollars and outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations. The list of projects and more information can be found on the  Biological and Environmental Research program homepage.

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time. 

• Search News and Media
• All of Oklahoma State University

Headlines News and Media

Trapped in her web: integrative biology researcher receives funds for spider cannibalism research.

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | [email protected]

Dr. Shawn Wilder, an associate professor in Oklahoma State University’s Department of Integrative Biology, was awarded $541,373 from the National Science Foundation for his project "Testing How Nutrients Affect Offspring Traits Using Cannibalism as a Model System."  

Wilder and his Ph.D. student, Colton Herzog, will use the NSF funds to advance knowledge of spider species that engage in sexual cannibalism, which is when the female eats the male before, during or after mating.  

“ Studies have shown that females benefit from eating the male, including in some spiders where the male is very small compared to the female,” Wilder said. “This implies that there’s some nutrient in the male body that can increase female fitness when consumed at low concentrations, such as a micronutrient or other type of dietary essential nutrient.   

“My students and I will be conducting experiments to identify which chemicals in the male body are responsible for the benefits of sexual cannibalism to females.”  

Wilder said that by further developing an understanding of these nutrients, comparisons could be made to other animals.  

“Nutrition can be complex, as there are many potential chemicals that could affect the fitness of animals,” Wilder said. “The goal of this study is to identify which micronutrients or dietary essential nutrients contribute to offspring success in spiders, with the hope that some of these chemicals are also beneficial to other animals.”  

As the duo builds their web of researchers, Wilder is focused on giving students unique experiences that will benefit their academic and professional careers.  

“This research will provide an opportunity to train undergraduate and graduate students in research,” Wilder said. “In addition, this work will provide public outreach events about spiders to educate the public about the importance of spiders in ecosystems and train students in how to effectively run those public outreach events.”  

Herzog said what was initially a side project for him and Wilder has come full circle.  

“ Now that a large grant for this project has been secured, we can investigate if any biomolecules are responsible for sexual cannibalism,” Herzog said. “Overall, having funding opens a door up for the different type of nutrients we can investigate, and their effects — if any — in sexual cannibalism.  

“For me personally, I'm most excited to begin utilizing nutritional ecology to address these advanced questions. I think in nature, animal behaviors that we may view as odd could have a nutritional reason behind it, and that is where Shawn and I come in.”  

To learn more about Wilder’s research, visit his experts page .   

Story By: Erin Weaver, CAS Communications Coordinator | [email protected]

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
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• NATURE INDEX
• 21 August 2024

How South Korea’s science stars are finding success

• Sandy Ong 0 &
• Benjamin Plackett 1

Sandy Ong is a freelance writer based in Singapore.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Benjamin Plackett is a freelance science journalist in Portsmouth, UK.

In the highly competitive environment of South Korean science, these rising stars stand out. They discuss highlights of their work so far, and how the country might address the many challenges faced by its early career researchers.

HYE RYUNG BYON: Power packer

Hye Ryung Byon, who works on materials for next-generation batteries, wants a clearer career pipeline for younger scientists. Credit: Yoon Hong Gi

The race is on develop alternatives to lithium-ion batteries that can charge quicker, last longer and pack more energy into a smaller space. Hye Ryung Byon, an electrochemist at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, and her team are developing technologies and materials for use in next-generation batteries. These include lithium-air batteries, which contain a lithium-metal anode and a cathode that pulls in oxygen from the air and binds it to lithium to generate energy, before releasing it again when the battery recharges. Because this set-up doesn’t require space inside the device to store the cathode ingredient, such batteries have “at least three times higher energy density” compared with their lithium-ion counterparts, says Byon. In one of her most cited works 1 , Byon and her colleagues demonstrated how using ruthenium oxide (RuO 2 ) nanoparticles as a catalyst can boost the electrical efficiency of lithium-air batteries by up to 73%.

Nature Index 2024 South Korea

Byon began working on energy-related areas, including batteries, capacitors and electrocatalysis, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after gaining her PhD in her home country of South Korea. “I developed a preference for more practical applications and believed that they lay in fields related to energy,” she says. Byon moved to Japan from the United States in 2011 to run her laboratory at RIKEN, one of the country’s leading research institutions, before moving it to KAIST in 2016.

Byon is also interested in the potential of redox-flow batteries, a type of rechargeable battery that stores energy in two large tanks of liquid electrolytes, for use in grid-scale energy-storage systems. Vanadium, a metal that is typically used as the electrolyte, is expensive to source, so researchers are investigating organic materials as a cheaper and more sustainable alternative. Such materials tend to produce reactive byproducts when a battery is charged or discharged, however, which can reduce the battery’s stability and lifespan. Many also tend to be less soluble than vanadium, translating to lower energy storage. To address this, Byon and her colleagues worked with an organic material called naphthalene diimide, and designed a soluble and stable version that could be used as an electrolyte material 2 .

Byon says there have been periods in her career when her experiments have failed to produce results or were unable to be completed due to design flaws. She reflects that she “should have dedicated more time to expanding my knowledge beyond my immediate research focus, because breakthrough ideas often emerge from tangentially related fields”. Byon says her experiences have highlighted the “insufficient social support and protection for scientists and their jobs”, and emphasizes the importance of providing South Korean scientists with a clearer pipeline of career opportunities, as well as access to competitive salaries and recognition for their contributions to society. “Hopefully, these efforts will attract more individuals to the field and foster a thriving scientific community,” she says.

Women, in particular, face additional pressures, says Byon. “Although the government has encouraged childbirth and provided some monetary incentives, it’s difficult to develop careers while looking after an infant in our highly competitive and conservative society,” she says. The current institutional system just doesn’t support young working mothers, Byon adds. “In many cases, women scientists delay marriage or children until they get to a stable position in their job.” — Sandy Ong

SEUNG HWAN CHO: Molecule maker

Seung Hwang Cho (right), pictured with student Semin Lee. Credit: Yunhui Jang

Seung Hwan Cho draws inspiration from being able to synthesize materials and products, almost from scratch. “I fell in love with the beauty of making something new,” says Cho, an organic chemist at Pohang University of Science and Technology in Pohang. “Only chemistry lets you do that.”

A key focus of Cho’s lab is designing new types of organoboron compounds — versatile building blocks with applications in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, plastics manufacturing and other industries. A type of organoboron compound, called 1,1-diborylalkanes, has become popular among organic chemists because it can be used in reactions that involve transition metals, a group of chemical elements that includes iron, copper and platinum. Transition metals play an important role in the types of chemical reactions that Cho and his peers are interested in, especially those that are inherently more challenging to pull off, he says.

Another attractive trait of 1,1-diborylalkanes is that they can facilitate chemical reactions that do not include any transition metals at all. These types of reactions are useful in the development of new pharmaceuticals, as metals can leave behind impurities that are tricky to remove. “Expanding the scope of reactions using this method is one of the goals of our research group,” says Cho.

As a leader, Cho strives to offer his young lab members the kinds of opportunities for experimentation that he benefitted from in his early years. He recalls how even as an undergraduate student at KAIST, he was allowed to set his own lines of enquiry, which fuelled his appetite for discovery. Staying nimble and innovative will help South Korean scientists distinguish themselves from the global competition, he says, especially at a time when student numbers and research budgets are low. “We need to focus on groundbreaking discoveries and exploring new research areas,” says Cho.

Aside from having access to more funding, Cho believes early-career scientists in South Korea would benefit from having more mentorship and leadership programmes. “Traditionally, Korean society places a strong emphasis on hierarchical order, which can sometimes hinder open communication and feedback between junior and senior researchers,” he says. Moreover, having a diverse incentive system that rewards exceptional young scientists will also aid in their professional development and prevent brain drain, says Cho. “Ultimately, creating a supportive and nurturing environment that values creativity, innovation and collaboration will be key in enabling the next generation of scientific leaders in Korea.” — Sandy Ong

SUK-JU KANG: Brighter picture

Suk-Ju Kang develops video and image-processing technologies for televisions and gaming devices at Sogang University. Credit: Sogang University

A collaborative culture between local technology companies and academic institutions is a major strength of South Korea , says Suk-Ju Kang, an electrical and computer engineer at Sogang University in Seoul. Compared with other countries, such as the United States, where moving from academia to industry can feel like a one-way street, it’s common for researchers in South Korea to move back and forth between these sectors throughout their career, says Kang. This means there is less uncertainty and anxiety around building relationships ‘across the aisle’, which particularly benefits researchers who are working in innovation areas, he says.

At Sogang University, Kang is developing video and image-processing technologies for next-generation televisions and gaming devices — an area that is increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize performance and power efficiency. Kang and his colleagues are exploring a technique called super-resolution image reconstruction, which uses AI to convert low-resolution images into high-resolution quality, while keeping power costs low 3 .

He is also looking at ways to improve displays in virtual reality and augmented reality devices, which often sit very close to the user’s eyes. “Images can be distorted or need to be displayed at ultra-high resolution due to the very close proximity of the display,” says Kang. “Methods to improve image quality are implemented using AI technology, which enhances both the image quality and efficiency.”

Another area of interest for Kang is improving image-processing techniques for stretchable, foldable and rollable displays 4 . The major challenge in developing such devices is that when the display stretches, the gaps between pixels increase, which results in reduced brightness over that area. “I developed a method that accounts for these changes in brightness per unit area, allowing the pixel brightness to be adaptively adjusted,” says Kang. “This ensures that the display maintains consistent image quality, despite the stretching.”

Kang’s research has caught the attention of South Korean companies such as LG, one of the world’s largest television manufacturers, headquartered in Seoul, where he has worked on display technologies, and Naver Corporation, an Internet technology company headquartered in Seongnam, where he consults alongside his role at Sogang University.

Kang says South Korea is becoming an increasingly competitive environment for scientists. Early career researchers often feel that there aren’t enough senior roles for them to progress to, he says, which could be addressed by increasing the availability of permanent and full-time roles in academia. He adds that young researchers should be given more opportunities to promote their work at conferences and poster presentations, and calls for more initiatives to showcase the country’s female researchers. Kang remains optimistic that real improvements can be made in South Korean science. “We can achieve better outcomes in the future,” he says. — Benjamin Plackett

SUE-HYUN LEE: Measuring memory

Sue-Hyun Lee studies how memories are formed, recalled and updated, at Seoul National University. Credit: Courtesy of Sue-Hyun Lee

A better understanding of how memories are formed and maintained in the brain is important, because this shapes so much of a person’s character and personality traits, says Sue-Hyun Lee, a cognitive neuroscientist at Seoul National University (SNU). “I find memory research fascinating because our sense of identity is based on our accumulated memories,” she says.

Lee’s lab at SNU investigates how memories are encoded, recalled and updated, and how they might be altered during these stages. For example, changes in memory might occur when discussing childhood pictures. “You might remember experiencing one thing, but then your mother tells you that your memory isn’t correct, and gives you some new information,” says Lee. “You now have an updated memory, not the original stored memory.”

Since the 1960s, scientists have known that protein synthesis is required for memory formation, but Lee and her colleagues have shown that certain proteins in the hippocampus are degraded when memories are recalled, which makes them vulnerable to change 5 . Studying memory-related processes such as these could lead to more effective treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health conditions, says Lee. “We could potentially edit or weaken traumatic event memories.”

Lee is also keen to figure out how recalled memories can affect people’s behaviour. The bridge between the two, she says, is working memory — information that we briefly hold in mind that facilitates learning, problem-solving and other cognitive processes. A very simple example of this is the notion that babies have no regard for money because they have no memories associated with its value. The memories strongly reinforced in adults “drives us to work hard to earn it and treasure it, rather than treating it as mere paper”, says Lee.

Reflecting on her career, Lee says she felt immense pressure to publish prolifically within a short period when she started out as an independent principal investigator. “But researchers, especially in basic science, need time to accomplish something valuable,” she says. “If we can give young scientists patience and time to freely explore new ideas, they are more likely to become pioneers in their field.”

What’s also important in cultivating a supportive research environment, especially for female scientists, is providing greater access to childcare, and to encourage their partners to share in family responsibilities, Lee says. She says she is fortunate because her husband is also a neuroscientist, so he understands the nuances and challenges of the job. But many female researchers have a difficult time managing household and career responsibilities, which makes institutional support key to improving retention rates. “I see many good women researchers give up their careers because of childcare,” says Lee. “But it’s not an easy issue to solve and it doesn’t just happen in South Korea.” — Sandy Ong

Nature 632 , S10-S12 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02687-w

This article is part of Nature Index 2024 South Korea , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content. For more information about Nature Index, see the homepage .

Lee, S.-H. et al. Science 319 , 1253–1256 (2008).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Yilmaz, E. et al. Nano Lett. 13 , 4679–4684 (2013).

Singh, V. et al. Adv. Mater. 35 , e2210859 (2023).

Chang, J.-W., Kang, K.-W. & Kang, S.-J. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol. 30 , 281–295 (2024).

Article   Google Scholar  

Jung, S.-H., Kim, J.-H. & Kang, S.-J . IEEE Access 10 , 72470–72479 (2022).

Download references

Related Articles

Partner content: New generative AI tools to boost biomedical research

Partner content: Joining forces to combat diseases with syndromic qPCR testing

Partner content: Mastering matter to empower diverse research fields

Partner content: Enhancing cell counting for cell and gene therapy

Partner content: Leading a transformation in global healthcare

Partner content: Green energy research is surging – and South Korea is a leading light

• Neuroscience
• Organic chemistry

Time to refocus for South Korean science

Nature Index 21 AUG 24

What I learnt from running a coding bootcamp

Career Column 21 AUG 24

How South Korea can support female research leaders

Light bulbs have energy ratings — so why can’t AI chatbots?

Comment 21 AUG 24

Shore up renewable energy in wake of Brazil’s devastating floods

Correspondence 06 AUG 24

How South Africa can move on from power cuts

World View 06 AUG 24

Placebo effect involves unexpected brain regions

News & Views 21 AUG 24

Oligodendrocytes and myelin limit neuronal plasticity in visual cortex

Article 21 AUG 24

Prefrontal and lateral entorhinal neurons co-dependently learn item–outcome rules

High-Level Talents at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University

For clinical medicine and basic medicine; basic research of emerging inter-disciplines and medical big data.

Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University

Faculty Position in Tissue Regeneration and Stem Cell Biology

Dallas, Texas (US)

Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern

Faculty Position in Metabolism Research

Faculty position in cancer biology.

Postdoctoral Fellow Position - Breast Medical Oncology

Houston, Texas (US)

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

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