ScienceDaily: All - November 28, 2023
Today's top research news
Our ability to pay attention to tasks—a key component of our everyday lives—is heavily influenced by factors like motivation, arousal and alertness. Maintaining focus can be especially challenging when the task is boring or repetitive.
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What if Alexa or Siri sounded more like you? Study says you'll like it better
One voice does not fit all when it comes to virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, according to researchers who examined how customization and perceived similarity between user and voice assistant (VA) personalities affect user experience. They found a strong preference for extroverted VAs -- those that speak louder, faster and in a lower pitch. They also found that increasing personality similarity by automatically matching user and VA voice profiles encouraged users to resist persuasive information.
A gamma-ray pulsar milestone inspires innovative astrophysics and applications
Scientists have announced the discovery of nearly 300 gamma ray pulsars.
Solar activity likely to peak next year
Researchers have discovered a new relationship between the Sun's magnetic field and its sunspot cycle, that can help predict when the peak in solar activity will occur. Their work indicates that the maximum intensity of solar cycle 25, the ongoing sunspot cycle, is imminent and likely to occur within a year.
Study reveals hidden immune defense against cancer
Researchers have found certain immune cells can still fight cancer even when the cancer cells lack an important protein that the immune system relies on to help track down cancer cells.
Macaque trials offer hope in pneumonia vaccine development
A research team has successfully developed a novel pneumococcal vaccine by combining the team's proprietary mucosal vaccine technology with pneumococcal surface proteins that can cover a wide range of serotypes. Experiments were conducted using mice and macaques and it was confirmed that pneumonia caused by pneumococcal infection was clearly suppressed in the target groups of animals inoculated with the vaccine.
Kids who feel their parents are less reliable take fewer risks vital to learning and growth
The researchers studied decisions that more than 150 children ages 10 to 13 made while playing games that offered opportunities to risk a little and explore for potential gains.
Discrimination during pregnancy can affect infant's brain circuitry
Experiences of discrimination and acculturation are known to have a detrimental effect on a person's health. For pregnant women, these painful experiences can also affect the brain circuitry of their children, a new study finds. These effects, the researchers say, are separate from those caused by general stress and depression. The study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Stronger thigh muscles may prevent knee replacement surgery
Stronger quadriceps muscles, relative to the hamstrings, may lower the risk of total knee replacement, according to new research. Researchers said the findings could inform strength-training programs for people with advanced arthritis in the knee.
Defending your voice against deepfakes
Computer scientists have developed AntiFake, a tool to protect voice recordings from unauthorized speech synthesis.
New framework for using AI in health care considers medical knowledge, practices, procedures, values
Health care organizations are looking to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to improve patient care, but their translation into clinical settings has been inconsistent, in part because evaluating AI in health care remains challenging. In a new article, researchers propose a framework for using AI that includes practical guidance for applying values and that incorporates not just the tool's properties but the systems surrounding its use.
Spike in premature births caused by COVID, halted by vaccines, study finds
COVID-19 caused an alarming surge in premature births, but vaccines were key to returning the early birth rate to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis of California birth records.
Researchers find neurons work as a team to process social interactions
Researchers have discovered that a part of the brain associated with working memory and multisensory integration may also play an important role in how the brain processes social cues. Previous research has shown that neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) integrate faces and voices -- but new research shows that neurons in the VLPFC play a role in processing both the identity of the 'speaker' and the expression conveyed by facial gestures and vocalizations.
Child care centers aren't a likely source of COVID-19 spread, study says
Parents who send their children to child care can breathe a little easier. New research shows that children in daycare were not significant spreaders of COVID-19.
Giant sea salt aerosols play major role in Hawai'i's coastal clouds, rain
A new study from atmospheric scientists revealed that the coastline can produce up to five times the concentration of giant sea salt aerosols compared to the open ocean and that coastal clouds may contain more of these particles than clouds over the open ocean -- affecting cloud formation and rain around the Hawaiian Islands.
Recycled phosphorus fertilizer reduces nutrient leaching, maintains yield
A promising new form of ammonium phosphate fertilizer has been field-tested. The fertilizer, struvite, offers a triple win for sustainability and crop production, as it recycles nutrients from wastewater streams, reduces leaching of phosphorus and nitrogen in agricultural soils, and maintains or improves soybean yield compared to conventional phosphorus fertilizers.
Measuring long-term heart stress dynamics with smartwatch data
Biomedical engineers have developed a method using data from wearable devices such as smartwatches to digitally mimic an entire week's worth of an individual's heartbeats. The new 'digital twins' computational framework captures personalized arterial forces over 700,000 heartbeats to better predict risks of heart disease and heart attack. The advance is an important step toward evaluating the risks of heart disease or heart attack over months to years.
Scientists have found both potential threats and promising resources in the thriving colonies of bacteria and fungi on plastic trash washed up on shores.
Promising salt for heat storage
Salt batteries can store summer heat to be used in winter, but which salt works best for the purpose?
