SciPod

While the psychological impact of warzone experiences on military personnel is well-documented, the unique gendered experiences of personnel are rarely discussed. Professor Lynne McCormack at the University of Newcastle, along with clinical psychologist Nicole L. Bennett, investigated the ‘lived’ experience of women in the military through a series of interviews with female veterans. Their finding...

The earth beneath our feet is far more than just dirt. Soil is a living ecosystem filled with microbes, worms and insects, and vast networks of underground fungi filaments. Healthy soils are critical to healthy ecosystems and productive agricultural systems. Dr Joji Muramoto and researchers from the University of California have created a framework for Integrated Soil Health Management that could...

In Australia, like in many countries, substance related disorders remain a pressing societal concern. The Australian government recently introduced a new framework to help regulate the quality of care provided and this has been reviewed by Simone Henriksen from the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her analysis highlights a variety of challenges that need to be faced and she provides critical reco...

An estimated 69 million people worldwide are currently living with traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI can lead to short- and long-term conditions including sleep disorders, depression, headaches and an increased risk of suicide. TBI has recently been recognised as a chronic condition, although the human factors involved in recovery remain understudied. Working to address this is Professor Barrett S...

Increased use of organophosphate chemicals in industry, agriculture and warfare has led to a rising threat of exposure to these neurotoxins in civilian and military populations. Though their danger has been recognised and efforts made to decrease concentrations used, even at low doses these chemicals can still pose significant risks to exposed individuals. Finding effective treatments to counterac...

The black holes found at the centres of most large galaxies are now found to be fundamental to galactic formation and evolution. Until recently, however, little was understood about how these massive bodies affect the behaviours of their host galaxies and beyond. Through their research, Dr Stefi Baum and Dr Christopher O’Dea at the University of Manitoba have made important strides towards untangl...

So far, very few research studies have investigated the effects of criminal convictions on the families of defendants. Dr Hong Lu, a Professor of Criminal Justice at University of Nevada, along with her co-authors, Dr Yudu Li and Dr Bin Liang, carried out a study examining how the family of Nian Bin, the defendant in a high-profile capital case in China who received four death sentences, managed t...

In the United States, public opinions have become increasingly polarised. This polarisation leads to ‘othering’, which describes how one group of people can view another group as very different from themselves and depict them in negative ways. Dr Megan Schraedley at West Chester University recently carried out a study exploring how othering arises in the context of US politics, and how it can be d...

Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases that contributes to the global climate crisis. As this gas is produced in the digestive systems of cattle, methane represents one of the greatest problems faced by the farming industry. Dr Robert Bryant, Dr Langdon Martin and their team at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina, propose an innovative feed supplement for cattle that helps to signifi...

Savannas are characterised by the co-existence of two very different types of plants – trees and grasses. They may be open, with large swathes of grass and an occasional tree dotting the landscape, or closed with a near complete cover of trees and a sparse grass layer beneath. In drier parts of the world, drought may play an important role in determining the balance between the trees and grasses i...

Propaganda is the systemic use of language with the intent to brainwash rather than to persuade. It has the subtle but pervasive power to ensnare an entire populace toward a predetermined attitude or outlook. Deceptive communication is now commonplace in this information age. Dr Robert L. Walsh recently examined how propagandists bend language for mass deception. He argued that what makes propagan...

Software piracy is a large and growing problem. The methods used to combat it are becoming increasingly complex as technology evolves, costing software publishers and users billions of dollars each year. Dr Alan Litchfield from the Auckland University of Technology and Jeff Herbert from Cybercraft, New Zealand, have developed a new method to suppress software piracy. In a recent paper, they presen...

Following exposure to injury or infection, the body elicits a counteractive immune response which involves many different cell types and processes. Cytokines are substances secreted by cells which play a pivotal role in the regulation of this response. Professor Paige Lacy and colleagues in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, have conducted extensive resear...

Human skin acts as an important line of defence against the external environment. To preserve this important function, the regeneration of injured skin is critical. Scientists are now able to artificially replicate aspects of the complex microenvironment in which human skin stem cells reside thanks to the technological advances in the field of biomaterial devices. Dr Ilida Ortega Asencio, from the...

Chemotherapy, one of the mainstays of cancer treatment, can unfortunately act as a double-edged sword. While achieving the intended aim of killing cancerous cells, it also generates an accumulation of cell debris, which in turn, promotes tumour growth by stimulating inflammation in the tumour microenvironment. Dr Dipak Panigrahy and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School, USA, have conducted s...

Children and youth who experience trauma often develop posttraumatic stress symptoms, and some go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Toria Herd from the Pennsylvania State University, US, is exploring the factors that put adolescents at risk of developing PTSD and also those that may protect against this consequence associated with trauma exposure. Her findings have important imp...

The multi-theory model (MTM) of health behavior change provides a theoretical framework for understanding and promoting health behaviors. Professor Manoj Sharma from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the originator of this model, has applied this model to breast cancer and undertaking mammography screening in women from groups underserved in current healthcare. His findings have important theor...

Sustainable Development Goal 12 refers to responsible production and consumption. Professor Rafael Ravina-Ripoll at the University of Cádiz in Spain and his colleagues (Luis Bayardo Tobar-Pesantez, Estela Núñez-Barriopedro and David Almorza-Gomar) have addressed a lack of research and understanding in the literature about how management models based on happiness management can help promote sustain...

The UK-based Pregnancy Care Integrating Translational Science, Everywhere (PRECISE) Network has set up biorepositories across sub-Saharan Africa to investigate the causes of placental pregnancy complications and enhance research capacity. The project encountered several challenges relating to facilities, staffing, training, cultural barriers, procurement, shipping and sample storage which impacted...

Interventions designed to improve health, including targeted drugs and medical devices, typically undergo a complex and lengthy process of development. In a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, the National Institutes of Health and Case Western Reserve University in the USA, experts Dr Clara Pelfrey, Dr Linda Scholl and colleagues have designed a case stud...

Discovering new phases of matter and classifying such phases are among the most important goals in physics. In a new study, Dr Tie-Cheng Guo and Professor Li You at Tsinghua University in Beijing present a new methodology to discover new quantum phases of matter, using the concept of ‘time order’. Through identifying and defining quantum phases from this perspective, time order could become a new...

The inability to access land is a major cause of poverty in agricultural societies. Women, who are less likely to own, rent, buy or inherit land, are particularly affected and access to communal land may provide a vital lifeline. Dr Jozelin María Soto-Alarcón and Dr Diana Xóchitl González-Gómez set out to investigate the use of communal land in a rural community in Mexico, investigating the strate...

While research into the experiences of people with autism and their families is flourishing, there remains relatively little research on the experiences of typically developing siblings, particularly those on the brink of adulthood. Ms Caitlin Calio, Masters of Teaching, and Professor Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro at Fordham University in the USA, are dedicated to overcoming this important knowledge ga...

Professor Zygmunt Pizlo at the University of California-Irvine has advanced degrees in both engineering and psychology. He is drawing on his extensive experience in these often disparate fields to explore how fundamentals in physics can explain how we see the world around us. His novel work extrapolating from the importance of symmetry in physics and the natural world opens up exciting possibiliti...

Military veterans are diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder at a much higher rate than civilians. There is a growing interest in psychiatric assistance dog placements to help veterans cope with their symptoms, however research into their effectiveness is limited. Sarah Leighton and her colleagues from Purdue University and the University of Arizona have undertaken a review of the existing e...