Matthew Troia, a UT San Antonio assistant professor, was awareded the distinguished Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award by the National Science Foundation. The award will support his investigation on how climate change and urbanization are affecting freshwater ecosystems by enabling exotic tropical fish species to expand northward. During the next five years, Troia will integrate lab experiments, extensive field monitoring, and computer modeling to better understand the vulnerability of Texas waterways.

New research following US adolescents ages 11–12 shows that problematic use of mobile phones, social media, and video games was associated with higher risks of mental health problems, sleep disturbance, and suicidal behaviors one year later. The study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, reveals that the links between problematic screen use and mental health are stronger than those previously reported for overall screen time and highlights the risks of addictive use.

Modern-day African softshell turtles have less diverse diets than their ancient counterparts, with human-driven agriculture and carrion likely shaping their change in foraging

Seabird poop could have been used to fertilize Peru's Chincha Valley by at least 1250 CE, potentially facilitating the expansion of its pre-Inca society  

Scientists have a solid understanding of what makes up spindles — the cellular machinery that separates chromosomes — but are less certain about how the building blocks of spindles, called microtubules, work together to direct the spindles’ behavior. By combining experimental data with theory, scientists at the Flatiron Institute and collaborators find that treating the spindle as an active liquid crystal, in which large-scale structure can emerge from local interactions between microtubules, is sufficient to explain the spindles’ organization. The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) saves lives by treating cancer that has spread to the brain, but it also causes long-standing brain damage. Many patients develop memory problems, thinking difficulties, and depression after WBRT. There are currently no medicines that adequately prevent these problems of WBRT. The research team discovered that an experimental neuroprotective drug, P7C3-A20, could protect the brain from these harmful side effects of WBRT in animal models, without impairing the ability of radiation to kill tumor cells. If these findings translate to humans, adding a drug like P7C3-A20 to WBRT could safely and effectively preserve cognition and mood after lifesaving WBRT.

For the first time, scientists have been able to watch the flu virus live as it infects human airway cells. They developed a new technique which makes the viral genetic material light up under the microscope. By tracking the virus throughout the steps of its life cycle, the researchers found out that only a minority of flu infections is successful. This is mostly due to errors in reading out the viral genetic material. The new technology can be used to address unanswered questions about the flu virus life cycle, which could help in the development of better antiviral drugs and preparation for future epidemics. The study from the Tanenbaum group at the Hubrecht Institute was published in Cell Systems.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine has gone in this eighteenth edition to Carl June (University of Pennsylvania) and Michel Sadelain (Columbia University) for revolutionizing the treatment of cancer by means of CAR-T cell immunotherapy. The two laureates pioneered this innovative therapeutic strategy whereby T cells are extracted from the patient’s own immune system, grown in the lab and genetically engineered so they recognize and selectively destroy cancer cells on being infused back into the body, leading to remission of the disease.

Coral reefs are undoubtedly in crisis. Scientists have documented concerning coral bleaching events, dramatic declines in coral cover, fish and shark populations across the Caribbean over recent decades. But a critical question has remained unanswered: has the way energy flows through reef ecosystems also changed? A new study led by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and published in Nature reveals that it has, profoundly. Food chains on modern Caribbean reefs are 60-70% shorter than they were 7,000 years ago, and individual fish have lost the dietary specialisation that once sustained a complex web of energy pathways.