Latest News Releases 13 May

UCF researchers are developing a tool for primary care providers that could help them protect senior citizens from scammers who steal everything from the elderly’s life’s savings to their identity.

New research from the lab of psychologist Calvin Lai in Arts & Sciences shows that the racial demographics of a county, more than other factors, help predict discrepancies when it comes to who gets pulled over by police.

New research from scientists at UC Davis Health provides clues for how friendly bacteria in the gut — probiotics — may help eradicate bacterial pathogens like Salmonella by being able to compete with them for needed resources.

Researchers with the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering’s Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response (RIDER) Center are investigating better ways to predict where road-clogging debris will be most severe after tropical cyclones. Their latest paper was published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.

To protect their brand or uphold uniformity, franchisors sometimes terminate contracts with franchisees. A new study found profitability decreased right after termination but essentially bounced back in two years. The researchers also discovered young, rapidly growing chains benefited more from ending contracts with wayward franchisees compared to mature, slow growing chains.

A study by an Aston University engineering systems and management expert suggests that encouraging rail passengers to buy tickets via their smartphones is one of three changes that could make commuting quicker and safer.

Researchers at Heidelberg University managed to set larger groups of malaria parasites into motion and to analyse the acquired image data. The collectively moving pathogens form vortex systems that are largely determined by physical principles. Computer simulations helped identify the mechanisms underlying these rotating movements.

The world’s first rapid testing facility for tidal turbine blades, which researchers say can speed up development of marine energy technologies while helping to reduce costs, has opened for business.

How do our cells organize themselves to give their final shape to our organs? The answer lies in morphogenesis, the set of mechanisms that regulate their distribution in space during embryonic development. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has just made a surprising discovery in this field: when a tissue curves, the volume of the cells that compose it increases instead of decreasing. This discovery opens new avenues for in vitro organ culture, a partial alternative to animal experimentation. It also suggests new perspectives for the production of certain materials. This research is published in the journal Developmental Cell.