The seafloor contains large quantities of naturally occurring, ice-like deposits made up of water and concentrated methane gas. For decades, climate scientists have wondered if this methane hydrate reservoir might “melt” and release massive amounts of methane to the ocean and the atmosphere as ocean temperatures warm.

New research from University scientists, the US Geological Survey, and the University of California Irvine is the first to directly show that methane released from decomposing hydrates is not reaching the atmosphere.

The researchers, including John Kessler, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and DongJoo Joung, a former research scientist in Kessler’s lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography at Pusan National University in Korea, carried out the study in mid-latitude regions—Earth’s subtropical and temperate zones.

While the stability of the methane hydrate reservoir is sensitive to changes in temperature, “in the mid-latitude regions where this study was conducted, we see no signatures of hydrate methane being emitted to the atmosphere,” says Joung, the first author of the study published in Nature Geoscience. Learn more.

With the United States midterm elections just around the corner, Gerald Gamm, a professor of political science and of history; Gretchen Helmke, the Thomas H. Jackson Distinguished University Professor; and James Johnson, a professor of political science, discuss political hyperpolarization, what happens when losers don’t concede elections, and the outlook for US democracy.

A new study by Medical Center researchers found that a majority of infant formula sold in the United States is lactose-reduced despite not being medically necessary for most families. The sugars found in lactose-reduced infant formula are associated with higher risks of obesity, changes in the microbiome, and formulation of biofilms on teeth.

“Lactose-reduced formula will have some alternative form of carbohydrates in it; often times, this is corn-syrup or corn syrup solids,” says Bridget Young, assistant professor in the Division of Breastfeeding and Lactation and lead author of the study. “Rarely-to-never do you see ‘lactose-reduced’ on the front label; the only sure-fire way for families to know is to flip over the container and check the ingredients to see if there are alternative carbs listed.”

The research analysis considered more than 1.65 billion liters of formula. Researchers obtained protein and carbohydrate composition and scoop sizes for each formula from manufacturers.

The analysis of formula purchased from these stores found the following:

• 5.5 percent of infant formula sold was hypoallergenic (designed specifically for children with a cow’s milk protein allergy), which is greater than estimates of cow’s milk protein allergy in infants of 1.3%.
• 59 percent of all formula sold was lactose-reduced – meaning the formulas included substitution carbohydrates such as corn syrup or table sugar.
• 32 percent of all “standard formula” sold – formula designed for healthy infants which is non-thickened and contains intact dairy proteins – was found to be lactose-reduced, despite no medical indication for this category.

Learn more.

“These projects tackle important and timely problems on data science methods and applications, and I am confident they will lead to significant research contributions and attract external funding,” says Mujdat Cetin, the Robin and Tim Wentworth Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science.

Ten projects supported with seed funding from the Goergen Institute for Data Science this year demonstrate how machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) are transforming the way University researchers—across all disciplines—address challenging problems.

The awards, approximately $20,000 each, help researchers generate sufficient proof-of-concept findings to then attract major external funding, following the highly successful model established by the AS&E PumpPrimer program.

This year’s projects involve collaborations among engineers, computer scientists, a historian, a biostatistician, and experts in brain and cognitive sciences, earth and environmental science, and palliative care.

Their projects include a totally new kind of computing platform, new virtual reality technologies to improve doctor-patient conversations and help people overcome color vision deficiency, and machine learning techniques to make it easier for people to add music to their videos and to enhance AR/VR immersive experiences based on the unique geometry of each user’s anatomy.

Find information about each of the 2022–23 funded projects.

Matthew Rook, pharmacology, November 1, 2022.
Interrogation into Molecular Mechanisms of Activation and Desensitization in Acid-Sensing Ion Channel 1a.
Host: David MacLean.

In June 2020, the Medical Center released an Equity and Anti-Racism Action Plan that outlined a five-year strategy to create a more equitable system. Over two years later, we’ve made a lot of progress.

Join a panel of six health equity leaders from the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI) and from across the Medical Center for a webinar from noon to 1 p.m. today, November 4. Learn about the progress, particularly toward the fifth goal of the plan: to engage in equitable health care. Register here.

How can you use active listening and conversations to build and lead a successful research group? How can you help promote resilience in your trainees and help them overcome barriers such as imposter fears? And create a space where individuals of all identities feel welcome and accepted?

Beginning Wednesday, November 9, the National Institutes of Health offers a series of five workshops on ways principal investigators and their staffs can meet these common challenges, and others, in your research group.

Learn more here.