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  • Quitting smoking is associated with recovery from other addictions

    Quitting smoking is associated with recovery from other addictions

    Wednesday, August 13, 2025

    NIH-funded finding supports addressing smoking cessation during substance use treatment

    Adults who smoke cigarettes and are addicted to alcohol or other drugs were more likely to achieve sustained remission of their substance use disorder symptoms if they also quit smoking, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Based on their analysis of data from a large U.S. study of smoking and health, researchers believe the results clearly show the benefit of pairing smoking cessation with addiction recovery efforts.

    “We now have strong evidence from a national sample that quitting cigarette smoking predicts improved recovery from other substance use disorders,” explained Nora Volkow, M.D., director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which partly funds the study, known as the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. “It underscores the importance of addressing different addictions together, rather than in isolation.”

    Scientists analyzed data from 2,652 people 18 and older who had a history of substance use disorder and who experienced a change in their recovery status over the next four years.

    Participants in the PATH Study are asked annually about their smoking status and other substance use. In this analysis, a change in smoking status from “current” to “former” use of cigarettes was associated with 42% greater odds of the individual being in recovery from their non-tobacco substance use disorder.

    People with addiction to alcohol or other substances have a higher likelihood of being addicted to nicotine as well. Previous research has suggested an association between smoking cessation and improved outcomes from other substance use disorders. However, the authors note that most prior studies used data from treatment centers focusing on addiction to a single substance or from smoking cessation trials, and those that used nationally representative samples could not adequately test for an association with recovery. Researchers believe the new finding is generalizable to the millions of adults with substance use disorder and accounts for numerous confounding factors, thus increasing confidence in the results.

    “Although the health benefits of quitting smoking are well-known, smoking cessation has not been seen as a high priority in drug addiction treatment programs,” said Wilson Compton, M.D., deputy director of NIDA and senior author of the study. “This finding bolsters support for including smoking cessation as part of addiction treatment.”

    Although this was a longitudinal analysis that was strongly suggestive that quitting smoking plays a role in improved recovery outcomes from other substance use disorders, further research will be needed to definitively establish a causal connection. Also needed is more research on the best ways to support smoking cessation among people in treatment or recovery for substance use disorders.

    The PATH Study is an ongoing, nationally representative longitudinal cohort study of youth and adults who may or may not use tobacco products that is funded by NIH and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

    If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. To learn how to get support for mental health, drug or alcohol conditions, visit FindSupport.gov. If you are ready to locate a treatment facility or provider, you can go directly to FindTreatment.gov or call 800-662-HELP (4357).

    About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit www.nida.nih.gov.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    Reference

    MJ Parks, et al. Cigarette Smoking During Recovery from Substance Use Disorders. JAMA Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2025.1976.

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  • Two-dose therapy for S. aureus bloodstream infections on par with standard treatment

    Two-dose therapy for S. aureus bloodstream infections on par with standard treatment

    Wednesday, August 13, 2025

    NIH-supported trial finds dalbavancin safe, effective for treating bacteremia

    Colorized scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria (gold) interacting with a human neutrophil (red). Image captured at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana.

    NIAID

    A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical trial has found that the outcome of treating complicated Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections with two intravenous (IV) doses of the antibiotic dalbavancin seven days apart is just as good as daily IV doses of conventional antibiotics over four to six weeks. Nearly 120,000 S. aureus bloodstream infections and 20,000 associated deaths occurred in the United States in 2017. The study results provide the clearest evidence to date for the safety and effectiveness of dalbavancin therapy for complicated S. aureus bloodstream infections, expanding the number of antimicrobial treatment options for clinicians and patients. The findings were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

    “Given the small number of antimicrobial drugs available to treat Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections and the bacteria’s growing drug resistance, establishing dalbavancin as a beneficial therapy for these severe infections gives us a vital new alternative to treat them,” said John Beigel, M.D., the acting director of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which sponsored and funded the trial.

    Standard therapy for complicated S. aureus bloodstream infections, or bacteremia, typically involves inserting a long IV line known as a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) into a vein, usually in the arm, to deliver antibiotics through the blood for many weeks. The PICC line remains in place for the full duration of treatment, and people with a PICC line have many limitations on their activity to avoid damaging the line. Its long-term presence and use can lead to complications such as blood clots and additional infections. By contrast, dalbavancin therapy requires temporarily inserting a short catheter into a vein in the hand or arm twice for only an hour at a time. Given these differences, the investigators who designed the trial hypothesized that study participants who received dalbavancin therapy would have fewer side effects, higher rates of treatment completion, and a better quality of life than those who received standard therapy.

    The Phase 2b trial enrolled 200 hospitalized adults with complicated S. aureus bacteremia at 23 medical centers in the United States and Canada from 2021 to 2023. The participants initially received three to 10 days of preliminary treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic, had no fever, and lacked detectable S. aureus in their blood when it was cultured in a laboratory. The bacteria could still be present below the limit of detection, however. For study purposes, complicated bacteremia was defined as any case not meeting criteria for uncomplicated bacteremia according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s 2011 guidelines.

    Participants were assigned at random to receive either dalbavancin 1500 mg intravenously on days one and eight, or standard therapy for four to eight weeks. The antibiotics used as standard therapy were cefazolin or an anti-Staphylococcal penicillin for methicillin-susceptible S. aureus and vancomycin or daptomycin for methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), with the amount and frequency of dosing determined by each study site.

    The study team evaluated the likelihood that a participant randomly selected from the dalbavancin group would have a better overall treatment outcome than a participant randomly selected from the standard therapy group. The components of overall outcome were clinical success (survival with resolution of bacteremia), infectious complications, safety complications, death, and health-related quality of life. In measuring outcomes this way, the researchers aimed to capture not only the end result of antibiotic therapy, but also participants’ treatment-related experiences during therapy. A committee of four infectious disease experts ranked study participants based on the desirability of their overall treatment outcome after 70 days of therapy. To avoid risk of bias, the committee did not know which treatment the participants received.

    The study team also did a more conventional analysis comparing the efficacy and safety of dalbavancin therapy to standard therapy.

    Investigators found that a participant randomly selected from the dalbavancin group was 47.7% likely to have a better overall treatment outcome than a participant randomly selected from the standard therapy group, meaning dalbavancin was not superior to standard therapy. However, the individual components of overall outcome, such as clinical success, were similar for the two groups, suggesting that dalbavancin therapy and standard therapy were equally good. This was reinforced by the finding from the conventional analysis that dalbavancin and standard therapy were similarly safe and effective.

    “Our findings give patients and healthcare providers the data to support an extra choice when deciding on treatment for complicated S. aureus bacteremia,” said Nicholas A. Turner, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and first author of the study.

    To the investigators’ surprise, study participants in the two groups reported a similar health-related quality of life. It is unclear whether this is because the quality-of-life survey given to participants at each study visit failed to capture relevant differences between the groups, or because the way the antibiotics were delivered had little effect on participants’ treatment experiences.

    As expected, the rate of side effects leading to treatment discontinuation and of complications such as catheter-associated blood clots were greater in the standard therapy group than the dalbavancin therapy group. Yet the overarching similarities in the components of overall outcome diluted these differences.

    To further compare the two types of therapy for complicated S. aureus bacteremia, the investigators are analyzing their cost effectiveness.

    Called “Dalbavancin as an Option for Treatment of S. aureus Bacteremia” (DOTS), the study was conducted by the NIH’s Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group under the leadership of Thomas L. Holland, M.D. Dr. Holland is a professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine and a member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina.

    More information about the DOTS trial is available in ClinicalTrials.gov under study identifier NCT04775953.

    NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    Reference

    NA Turner et al. Dalbavancin for Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: The DOTS Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association DOI: 10.1001/jama.2025.12543. (2025).               

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  • Hartlepool residents object to ‘dominant’ wind turbine plans

    Hartlepool residents object to ‘dominant’ wind turbine plans

    Nic Marko

    Local Democracy Reporting Service

    Jonny Manning

    BBC News, North East and Cumbria

    BBC A close up of the centre of a wind turbine. Three white blades are attached to the dome shaped centre which stands on top of a large mast.BBC

    The wind turbine is about 50% taller than is allowed under local planning guideline

    Local residents have objected to plans to build a 150m-tall (492ft) wind turbine near their homes.

    The turbine could be built on land to the north of Tofts Road West in Hartlepool to provide renewable energy for local businesses.

    People have objected to the turbine’s construction on the grounds it is too tall, with Hartlepool Borough Council Conservative councillor Bob Buchan branding the scheme “detrimental to the landscape”.

    Melton Wind, the company behind the project, said the proposal would have no negative effect on the “amenity, landscape, ecology” of the area.

    “The proposal would significantly contribute to local, regional and national efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and tackle the pressing issue of climate change,” the firm said.

    If approved, the turbine would be expected to produce up to 4.26 megawatts of electricity and operate for 30 years.

    ‘Dominant development’

    However, the planning application states the turbine will have a height of 149.9m (492ft) to the tip of its blade.

    Under the Hartlepool Local Plan, wind turbines in the Brenda Road area are only allowed a maximum tip height of 99m (325ft), according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

    Buchan said the size of the turbine was a “complete disregard of the Town Plan”.

    His views were echoed in another objection by local resident Jamie Corbett.

    “The turbine’s scale and proximity to homes in Greatham, the Fens, Rossmere and Seaton Carew will negatively affect the amenity of residents, particularly in terms of visual intrusion and sense of place,” Mr Corbett said.

    “These are not industrial zones, they are residential communities and coastal villages where residents have a right to expect protection from such dominant development.”

    The proposals are expected to go before the council on 30 October.

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  • Long-term health risks linked to preterm birth

    Long-term health risks linked to preterm birth

    Long-term health risks linked to preterm birth | Image Credit: © Chinnapong – © Chinnapong – stock.adobe.com.

    Preterm birth has been linked to stress which can cause adverse health outcomes later in life, according to a recent study by University of Rhode Island College of Nursing researchers.1

    According to investigators, these complications highlight a need to include birth history in medical records and clinical guidelines for adults. Further research will focus on epigenetic age acceleration in patients born preterm, providing another potential avenue of understanding long-term health in this population.1

    “For individuals who have medical complications early in life, we are now seeing an increased risk of different chronic health issues later in life,” said Amy D’Agata, professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing. “We are now realizing that there is a very strong link between what happens to you early in life and later health outcomes.”1

    Assessing adult health after preterm birth

    The study was conducted to evaluate psychological and physiological health in adults with a history of preterm birth.2 Comprehensive data was obtained at the clinical research facility and included physiological measurements, biospecimens, performance-based tasks, imaging studies, and survey responses.

    Self-reported demographics were also collected from participants. Participants included individuals born preterm between 1985 and 1989, with a birthweight below 1850 g and certain neonatal diagnoses. Those who were critically ill or had low survival probabilities were excluded. Healthy, normal-weight, full-term infants were also recruited as controls.2

    Internalizing and externalizing problems were measured using the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment. At year 17 of follow-up, data was collecting through Youth Self-Report, while Adult Self-Report was obtained at years 23 and 35 of follow-up.2

    Additional health and social assessments

    During these follow-up periods, anxious, depressed, and withdraw behavior were assessed through broadband internalizing scales, while externalizing scales were used to assess aggressive behavior, rule-breaking, and intrusiveness. Blood pressure measurements were obtained 3 times after 5 minutes of seated rest.2

    Additional measures included blood specimens after at least 9 hours of fasting, body fat distribution and bone density image using dual x-ray absorptiometry, and cumulative medical risk across multiple follow-up assessments. Assessments in the home allowed proximal social factors to be indexed, and socioeconomic risk was analyzed at each time point.2

    There were 158 preterm and 55 full-term born adults aged a mean 35 years included in the analysis, 50.2% of whom were female, 8% Black, 4.2% Hispanic, and 87.3% White. Similar sex, age, and race distribution was reported between preterm vs full-term births, but preterm births had lower socioeconomic status (SES).2

    Mental and physiological health outcomes

    Preterm birth occurred between 24- and 36-weeks’ gestation, with infants born between 640 and 1820 g. These patients presented with an increase in adult internalizing problems, with a β value of 0.85. However, no associations with externalizing trajectories were reported. Correlations were also not found for social protection or childhood SES.2

    Increased adulthood systolic blood pressure was reported in patients born preterm, with a β value of 7.15. However, no association was found for diastolic blood pressure. Social protection and childhood SES did not impact these outcomes.2

    Similarly, higher triglycerides were reported in patients with increased medical risk severity. Childhood SES covariates did not influence these outcomes but was linked to lower interleukin 6 levels. These levels were not impacted by medical risk and social protection levels.2

    Implications

    Medical risk severity was also linked to an increase in android-to-gynoid fat ratio, with a β value of 0.22. Overall, the results highlighted increased mental health, cardiometabolic, and body composition risks in adults born preterm.2

    “We are urging that birth history be included as a standard question on every adult intake form,” said D’Agata.1 “Health cannot be fully optimized if we overlook such a critical assessment piece.”

    References

    1. Preterm birth can cause health problems later in life, should be considered in adult health records, URI study shows. University of Rhode Island. August 4, 2025. Accessed August 12, 2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1093533.
    2. D’Agata AL, Eaton C, Smith T, et al. Psychological and physical health of a preterm birth cohort at Aage 35 years. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(7):e2522599. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.22599

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  • Formation Of Organic Hazes In CO2-rich Sub-Neptune Atmospheres Within The Graphite-stability Regime

    Formation Of Organic Hazes In CO2-rich Sub-Neptune Atmospheres Within The Graphite-stability Regime

    The upper panel illustrates the mass loss processes and potential formation of graphite in sub-Neptune atmospheres within the graphitestability regime. The lower panel presents the atmospheric compositions calculated from the thermochemical equilibrium model without and with graphite. — astro-ph.EP

    Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are the most common exoplanets, with a “radius valley” suggesting that super-Earths may form by shedding sub-Neptunes’ gaseous envelopes.

    Exoplanets that lie closer to the super-Earth side of the valley are more likely to have lost a significant fraction of their original H/He envelopes and become enriched in heavier elements with CO2 gaining in abundance. It remains unclear which types of haze would form in such atmospheres, potentially significantly affecting spectroscopic observations.

    To investigate this, we performed laboratory simulations of two CO2-rich gas mixtures (with 2000 times solar metallicity at 300 K and 500 K). We found that under plasma irradiation, organic hazes were produced at both temperatures with higher haze production rate at 300 K probably because condensation occurs more readily at lower temperature. Gas-phase analysis demonstrates the formation of various hydrocarbons, oxygen- and nitrogen-containing species, including reactive gas precursors like C2H4, CH2O, and HCN, for haze formation.

    The compositional analysis of the haze particles reveals various functional groups and molecular formulas in both samples. The 500 K haze sample has larger average molecular sizes, higher degree of unsaturation with more double or triple bonds presence, and higher nitrogen content incorporated as N-H, C=N bonds, indicating different haze formation pathways.

    These findings not only improve the haze formation theories in CO2-rich exoplanet atmospheres but also offer important implications for the interpretation of future observational data.

    Sai Wang, Zhengbo Yang, Chao He, Haixin Li, Yu Liu, Yingjian Wang, Xiao’ou Luo, Sarah E. Moran, Cara Pesciotta, Sarah M. Hörst, Julianne I. Moses, Véronique Vuitton, Laurène Flandinet

    Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
    Cite as: arXiv:2508.05974 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2508.05974v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
    https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.05974
    Focus to learn more
    Submission history
    From: Sai Wang
    [v1] Fri, 8 Aug 2025 03:17:11 UTC (1,130 KB)
    https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05974
    Astrobiology,

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  • Amazon expands perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers

    Amazon expands perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers

    NEW YORK — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can order their blueberries and milk at the same time as their batteries and other basic items.

    The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns now have access to fresh groceries with its free Same-Day Delivery on orders over $25 for Prime members, with plans to reach over 2,300 by the end of the year.

    The company said that if an order doesn’t meet the minimum, members can still choose same-day delivery for a $2.99 fee. For customers without a Prime membership, the service is available with a $12.99 fee, regardless of order size.

    In the past, Prime subscribers’ grocery orders were fulfilled through Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods.

    The expansion is expected to put more pressure on grocery delivery services offered by such rivals as Walmart, Instacart and Target.

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  • Trial of Labour MP begins in Bangladesh

    Trial of Labour MP begins in Bangladesh

    PA Media Tulip SiddiqPA Media

    The trial of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over corruption allegations has formally begun in Bangladesh.

    The former minister did not attend the hearing, where investigators from the country’s corruption watchdog set out the case against her and 20 other individuals, including her aunt, her mother, her brother and her sister.

    She is accused of influencing her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as Bangladesh’s prime minister last year, to secure a plot of land in a suburb of the capital Dhaka for her family members.

    The MP for Hampstead and Highgate, who denies the allegations, said the “so-called trial” was “a farce” built on “fabricated accusations and driven by a clear political vendetta”.

    Hasina fled Bangladesh for India last August after being ousted amid a crackdown by government forces on student-led protests which saw hundreds killed.

    A copy of the case alleges that whilst she was a serving MP Ms Siddiq “forced and influenced her aunt and the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using her special power to secure [a plot of land] for her mother Rehana Siddiq, sister Azmina Siddiq and brother Radwan Siddiq”.

    As per Bangladeshi law, if an individual has any plot or flat in or around Dhaka, they are not permitted to receive any plot in the lucrative Purbachal project, prosecutors said.

    If found guilty, the maximum sentence would be a lifetime imprisonment, according to prosecutors.

    The prosecutor for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Tariqul Islam, said Ms Siddiq was being tried as a Bangladeshi citizen as the ACC found her Bangladeshi passport, national ID, and tax identity number.

    Ms Siddiq’s lawyers previously told the Financial Times: “Tulip has never had a Bangladesh national identity card or voter ID and has not held a passport since she was a child.”

    In a statement on X, Ms Siddiq said: “Over the past year, the allegations against me have repeatedly shifted, yet I have never been contacted by the Bangladeshi authorities once.

    “I have never received a court summons, no official communication, and no evidence.

    “If this were a genuine legal process, the authorities would have engaged with me or my legal team, responded to our formal correspondence, and presented the evidence they claim to hold.

    “Instead, they have peddled false and vexatious allegations that have been briefed to the media but never formally put to me by investigators.”

    She added: “I have been clear from the outset that I have done nothing wrong and will respond to any credible evidence that is presented to me. Continuing to smear my name to score political points is both baseless and damaging.”

    The Bangladeshi authorities issued an arrest warrant for Ms Siddiq earlier this year.

    The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for 28 August.

    Reuters Prosecutor Tariqul Islam speaks to reporters after a hearing at a court in Dhaka. He is wearing a black suit and white shirt and surrounded by male journalists who hold microphones towards him.Reuters

    Prosecutor Tariqul Islam spoke to the media outside the court in Dhaka

    Ms Siddiq resigned as Treasury minister in Sir Keir Starmer’s government in January, saying continuing in her role would be a “distraction”, although she insisted she had done nothing wrong.

    It followed an investigation into the allegations against her by the prime minister’s standards adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus.

    In his report, Sir Laurie said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties”.

    But he said it was “regrettable” that Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of her ties to her aunt.

    The trial in Bangladesh relates to three charges, while Ms Siddiq also faces another charge of allegedly illegally acquiring a flat in the Gulshan area of Dhaka.

    The ACC is also investigating a separate case against Siddiq and her family over allegations of embezzlement of £3.9bn connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant deal with Bangladesh in 2013.

    Siddiq has denied any involvement in the deal.

    The investigation is based on a series of allegations made by Bobby Hajjaj, a political opponent of Hasina.

    Bangladeshi authorities estimate that about $234bn (£174bn) was siphoned off from Bangladesh through corrupt means while Hasina was in power.

    Thin, red banner promoting the Politics Essential newsletter with text saying, “Top political analysis in your inbox”. There is also an image of the Houses of Parliament.

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  • ‘Revolutionary’ seafloor fiber sensing reveals how falling ice drives glacial retreat in Greenland

    ‘Revolutionary’ seafloor fiber sensing reveals how falling ice drives glacial retreat in Greenland

    image: 

    Dominik Gräff, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in Earth and space sciences (pictured in the center), and two crew members load the fiber optic cable, spooled around a large drum, onto the back of the research vessel Adolf Jensen.


    view more 

    Credit: Manuela Köpfli/University of Washington

    As glaciers melt, huge chunks of ice break free and splash into the sea, generating tsunami-size waves and leaving behind a powerful wake as they drift away. This process, called calving, is important for researchers to understand. But the front of a glacier is a dangerous place for data collection.  

    To solve this problem, a team of researchers from the University of Washington and collaborating institutions used a fiber-optic cable to capture calving dynamics across the fjord of the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier in South Greenland. Data collected from the cable allowed them to document — without getting too close — one of the key processes that is accelerating the rate of glacial mass loss and in turn, threatening the stability of ice sheets, with consequences for global ocean currents and local ecosystems.  

    “We took the fiber to a glacier, and we measured this crazy calving multiplier effect that we never could have seen with simpler technology,” said co-author Brad Lipovsky, a UW assistant professor in Earth and space sciences. “It’s the kind of thing we’ve just never been able to quantify before.”   

    The data provides, for the first time, a deeper look at the relationship between ice and the water it collapses into, from surface waves to disturbances within the water column. 

    Their findings were published in Nature on Aug. 13.  

    The Greenland ice sheet — a frozen cap about three times bigger than Texas — is shrinking. Scientists have documented its retreat for the past 27 years as they scramble to understand the consequences of continued mass loss. If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, it would release enough water to raise global sea levels by about 25 feet, inundating coastlines and displacing millions of people.   

    Researchers also speculate that ice loss is weakening a global current system that controls the climate and nutrient distribution by circulating water between northern and southern regions, called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.   

    “Our whole Earth system depends, at least in part, on these ice sheets,” said lead author Dominik Gräff, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth and space sciences. “It’s a fragile system, and if you disturb it even just a little bit, it could collapse. We need to understand the turning points, and this requires deep, process-based knowledge of glacial mass loss.”   

    For the researchers, that meant taking a field trip to South Greenland — where the Greenland ice sheet meets the Atlantic Ocean — to deploy the fiber-optic cable. In the past decade, researchers have been exploring how these cables can be used for remote data collection through technology called Distributed Acoustic Sensing, or DAS, that records ground motion based on cable strain. Before this study, no one had attempted to record glacial calving with a submarine DAS cable.  

    “We didn’t know if this was going to work,” said Lipovsky. “But now we have data to support something that was just an idea before.”  

    Researchers dropped a 10-kilometer cable from a boat near the mouth of the glacier. They connected it to a small receiver and collected ground motion data and temperature readings along the length of the cable for three weeks.   

    The backscatter pattern from photons passing through the cable gave researchers a window beneath the surface. They were able to make nuanced observations about the enormous chunks of ice speeding past their boat. Some of which, said Lipovsky, were the size of a football stadium and humming along at 15 to 20 miles per hour.     

    Glaciers are huge, and most of their mass sits below the surface of the water, where ice melts faster. As warm water eats away at the base, the glacier becomes top-heavy. During a calving event, chunks of the overhanging portion break off, forming icebergs. Calving can be gradual, but every so often, the glacier heaves a colossal chunk of ice seaward. The researchers witnessed a large event every few hours while conducting their field work.

    “When icebergs break off, they excite all sorts of waves,” said Gräff.   

    Following the initial impact, surface waves — called calving-induced tsunamis — surged through the fjord. This stirs the upper water column, which is stratified. Seawater is warmer and heavier than glacial melt and thus settles at the bottom. But long after the splash, when the surface had stilled, researchers observed other waves, called internal gravity waves, propagating between density layers.  

    Although these underwater waves were not visible from the surface, the researchers recorded internal waves as tall as skyscrapers rocking the fjord. The slower, more sustained motion created by these waves prolonged water mixing, bringing a steady supply of warmer water to the surface while driving cold water down to the fjord bottom.   

    Gräff compared this process to ice cubes melting in a warm drink. If you don’t stir the drink, a cool layer of water forms around the ice cube, insulating it from the warmer liquid. But if you stir, that layer is disrupted, and the ice melts much faster. In the fjord, researchers hypothesized that waves, from calving, were disrupting the glacier’s boundary layer and speeding up underwater melt.   

    Researchers also observed disruptive internal gravity waves emanating from the icebergs as they moved across the fjord. This type of wave is not new, but documenting them at this scale is. Previous work relied on site specific measurements from ocean bottom sensors, which capture just a snapshot of the fjord, and temperature readings from vertical thermometers. The data could help improve forecasting models and support early warning systems for calving-induced tsunamis.  

    “There is a fiber-sensing revolution going on right now,” said Lipovsky. “It’s become much more accessible in the past decade, and we can use this technology in these amazing settings.”    

    Other authors include Manuela Köpfli, a UW graduate student in Earth and space science; Ethan F. Williams a UW postdoctoral researcher in Earth and space science, Andreas Vieli, Armin Dachauer, Andrea Knieb-Walter, Diego Wasser, Ethan Welty of University of Zurich, Daniel Farinotti, Enrico van der Loo, Raphael Moser, Fabian Walter of ETH Zurich, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Daniel Mata Flores, Diego Mercerat and Anthony Sladen of the Université Côte d’Azur, Anke Dannowski and Heidrun Kopp of GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Rebecca Jackson of Tufts University, Julia Schmale, of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Eric Berg of Stanford University, and Selina Wetter of the Université Paris Cité 

    This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the University of Washington’s FiberLab, the Murdock Charitable Trust, the Swiss Polar Institute, the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, and the German Research Center for Geosciences GFZ. 

    For more information, contact Dominik Gräff at graeffd@uw.edu.

    Article Title

    Calving-driven fjord dynamics resolved by seafloor fibre sensing

    Article Publication Date

    13-Aug-2025

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  • watch time and streaming details

    watch time and streaming details

    Taylor Swift will make her first appearance on the New Heights podcast this Wednesday, August 13, at 7 p.m. ET, alongside hosts Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce.

    Fans are eager to tune in as the Grammy-winning singer is set to reveal more about her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl.

    The album announcement was first teased in a promo clip showing Swift pulling a vinyl record from a case with the cover blurred. While a release date has yet to be confirmed, her official store states that pre-ordered copies will ship before October 13, 2025. The color scheme for the era appears to be orange and mint green, sparking speculation among fans about the album’s artistic style.

    Rumors of a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter have also circulated after a mysterious date appeared on Carpenter’s website. Swift has hinted at the new era through a countdown timer on her site and themed orange-toned Instagram posts.

    The full interview will be available to watch on the New Heights YouTube channel at 7 p.m. ET on August 13, which is 12 a.m. BST on August 14 for UK viewers. Audio versions will be released at the same time on Wondery, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast platforms.

    The Life of a Showgirl follows Swift’s 2024 release, The Tortured Poets Department. In the days leading up to the announcement, promotional billboards appeared in Nashville and New York City, accompanied by a Spotify playlist curated by Swift titled And, baby, that’s show business for you!. The episode is expected to draw a massive audience of Swifties eager for every detail of TS12.

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  • Scientists Unveil Wild New Way to Explore the Edge of Space

    Scientists Unveil Wild New Way to Explore the Edge of Space

    Scientists often refer to the mesosphere as the “ignorosphere”—a region that’s too high for planes or weather balloons to explore, yet too low for satellites to probe. Despite our technological advances, we’ve yet to find a decent way to monitor this large stretch of air, which lies about 37 miles (60 kilometers) above the surface. But engineers are inching towards a solution—one inspired by a toy-like invention from the 19th century.

    A Nature paper published today presents a proof-of-concept for an extremely lightweight, disc-like structure that levitates thanks to sunlight, no fuel required. Crafted from ceramic aluminum with a chromium base, the device floats on photophoresis, which literally means “light-driven motion.” When sunlight strikes the device, the differences in heat and pressure around the disc create an upward airflow, keeping the disc airborne. The pressure difference produces photophoretic lift—enough to keep these little guys aloft.

    Although this particular device was tailored for mesospheric exploration, the physics driving its flight could easily be applied to future missions beyond Earth—including the achingly thin Martian atmosphere, as long as there’s sufficient sunlight, the researchers say.

    “Photophoresis requires no fuel, batteries, or photovoltaics, so it is an inherently sustainable flight mechanism,” Ben Schafer, study lead author and an associate researcher at Harvard University, told Gizmodo in an email. “We could use these devices to collect groundbreaking atmospheric data to benefit meteorology, perform telecommunications, and predict space weather.”

    The initial idea dates back to 1873, when physicist William Crookes invented a radiometer that fed off sunlight. Subsequent projects attempted to build on Crookes’s invention, but with limited success, as Igor Bargatin, a mechanical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania, explained in an accompanying News & Views article. (Although Bargatin did not participate in the new study, Schafer cited his work as one of the main inspirations for the device.)

    Schafer and his colleagues, however, capitalized on previous work and recent advances in nanofabrication technology for their blueprint, constructing samples of “shiny, thin squares with very tiny holes,” as Schafer described them. Researchers from multiple countries teamed up on the project, combining theoretical and experimental steps. Normally, the photophoretic force is weak relative to an object’s size and weight, making it nearly impossible to notice, Schafer explained.

    But the new device is so thin and tiny—about half the size of a penny—that the photophoretic force actually exceeds its weight, causing it to levitate. To validate its calculations, the team built a low-pressure chamber in the lab to simulate the atmospheric and sunlight conditions of the mesosphere. To their delight, the tiny discs remained aloft.

    Schafer, now CEO of Rarefied Technologies, is moving quickly to bring these devices to commercial use. His team wants to tinker with the fabrication element so the discs can carry communications technology that can collect and send back weather data, Schafer said. “We plan to use passive devices that can be tracked remotely with lidar or radar to collect weather data in the upper atmosphere; this could reach the pilot phase in a couple years,” he explained.

    “If the full potential of this technology can be realized, swarms or arrays of such photophoretic flyers could be collecting high-resolution data on the temperature, pressure, chemical composition, and wind dynamics of the mesosphere,” Bargatin added. “What began as a Victorian curiosity might soon become a key tool for probing the most elusive region of the atmosphere.”

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