Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is experimenting with a policy that has drawn national attention and local skepticism: providing cash compensation to people confined in the Allegheny County Jail in the city of Pittsburgh. The funds include monthly disbursements to all those incarcerated and additional pay tied to work assignments and participation in educational programming.
PFAS, often called "forever chemicals," are notoriously difficult to remove from the environment. Their extreme chemical stability means they can persist in water and the human body for decades, creating a major global pollution challenge. Now, researchers have made an important discovery that could change how we tackle the problem.
A National Taiwan University study shows that traffic particles can create sharply localized exposure hotspots near busy roads, intersections and elevated corridors. The findings suggest that targeted street-level planning may better protect children and other vulnerable groups than citywide averages alone.
Using bright X-rays from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), researchers pioneered an innovative approach to designing proteins with targeted functions. Their method generated new insights that allowed the team to turn a single designed protein into two new proteins with completely different functions—one of which is the most active designed enzyme to date.
The Netherlands prohibits gambling advertising from targeting young people under age 24. Using Meta's ad library, we found a minority of ads published by both online (7.3%) and offline (29.8%) Dutch gambling licensees that broke this rule, including the state-owned Holland Casino (which quickly admitted to and fixed the mistake upon notification).
Excavations from 2015 to 2021 on the ancient site of Motza, just west of Jerusalem, revealed a sprawling settlement with some surprisingly advanced technology. The site dates back to 7100–6700 BCE during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period. A new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, describes plaster floors from the site made by a technique previously thought to have been first developed by the Romans 8,000 years later. The finding has archaeologists looking at Neolithic craftsmen in a new light.
Researchers at the University of Oregon have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can read genetic code the way large language models like ChatGPT read text. Scanning the genome for biological mutation patterns, the computer model traces pairs of genes back in time to their last common ancestor.
A problem for researchers has been a lack of an agreed-upon standard gas diffusion electrode reactor to enable robust comparison of catalytic reactions. Instead, the common practice is to compare the performance of a new catalyst for a particular reaction against that of a "standard" or benchmark catalyst, within the same reactor. This practice reveals a further problem when no standard catalyst exists for a reaction, which typically applies to most reactions. In other words, researchers lack a platform to compare reaction processes.
A solar storm like the one that caused a nine-hour blackout across Quebec in 1989 could have even more dramatic effects if it struck the eastern United States today. Now, scientists have developed new tools to detect these storms before they strike by mapping the hidden electrical structure beneath our feet, revealing how the ground itself could influence the impact on our power grid.
A popular device for restricting cell phone use in middle and high schools is effective at achieving that aim, leading to short-term disruption but ultimately positive effects on student well-being, new research finds. The U.S. study conducted by a University of Michigan researcher and co-authors further reveals the restriction—lockable phone pouches—shows no impact on test scores, attendance, classroom attention or online bullying.
