Newswise: Latest News

ACP Calls for Reform of the Medicare Advantage Program to Protect Patient Health

American College of Physicians (ACP) — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:00:00 EST

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) should reform Medicare Advantage to protect patient health and realign the plan option with its original purpose, says the American College of Physicians (ACP).

Prior Authorization Rules Vary Widely Among Major Commercial Insurers

American College of Physicians (ACP) — Mon, 18 May 2026 17:00:00 EST

A brief research report reviewed the prior authorization rules for Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare and found little consistency in their prior authorization rules.

New MatterChat Model Helps AI to 'See' the Language of Science

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:13 EST

Berkeley Lab researchers developed MatterChat, a versatile AI "bridge model" that translates between specialized physics models and conversational Large Language Models. This provides a powerful new blueprint for integrating complex scientific data directly into LLMs, and was used to accelerate materials discovery by understanding the language of atomic structures.

New Drug Target Identified for Fragile X Syndrome

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:00 EST

UCLA Health researchers have identified a potential drug target for treating Fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability and autism that affects roughly 1 in 2,000 boys.

Leucovorin Prescriptions for Children with Autism Surged After Public Attention

University of California San Diego — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:00 EST

National study found use of the drug rose sharply following major media coverage and later White House promotion, despite limited large-scale evidence for autism treatment.

Catching the Unseen: New AI Model Spots Micro-Gestures Humans Barely Notice

Chinese Academy of Sciences — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:50:01 EST

Micro-gestures - those almost invisible, fleeting body movements lasting less than a second - can reveal genuine emotions and intentions that words often hide. However, their low intensity and short duration make them extremely difficult for traditional artificial intelligence (AI) systems to detect. Researchers have now developed a new motion-aware AI framework specifically designed to recognize these subtle nonverbal cues. By combining innovative motion extraction techniques with an auxiliary task that helps the model focus on human body regions, the system significantly improves the detection of micro-gestures in video data, opening the door to more honest and transparent emotion understanding.

UWF Professor Receives U.S. Patent for Early Alzheimer's Detection Technology

University of West Florida — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:45:17 EST

Dr. James Arruda, professor of psychology at the University of West Florida, has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an electroencephalographic, or EEG, platform capable of detecting mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's dementia, a milestone that brings a non-invasive, accessible early-detection tool one step closer to clinical use.

New Research Offers Practical Biosecurity Tools to Limit Poultry Disease Spread

Texas A&M AgriLife — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:25:42 EST

New research from a Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences doctoral graduate could help producers better protect poultry flocks from disease outbreaks while reducing costs.

Teaching with Food Boosts Preschoolers' Science Knowledge and Vocabulary

North Carolina State University — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:35:43 EST

A new study shows that using food in the classroom can help preschoolers learn more about science and increase their vocabulary skills. (It may also get preschoolers to try the green vegetables on their plates.)

New Study Finds Surgical Patients with Mental Health Conditions Who Receive Music Therapy Are More Medically Complex

University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:30:51 EST

A new study from University Hospitals Connor Whole Health found that patients with mental health and/or substance use disorders who undergo surgery and receive music therapy are more medically complex and therefore may experience longer hospital stays compared to other patients receiving usual care.

Grejtak earns STLE Early Career Award

Oak Ridge National Laboratory — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:30:34 EST

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist Tomas Grejtak has received STLE's Early Career Award, honoring high-impact research in tribology (friction, wear, and lubrication), and will be recognized at the society's May 18-21 annual meeting in New Orleans. His work focuses on wear, friction, deformation and contact mechanics in materials used in nuclear, biomass and automotive systems.

These "Clockwork" Earthquakes Puzzled Scientists for Decades -- New Indiana University Study Explains Why

Indiana University — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:25:37 EST

Deep beneath the eastern Pacific Ocean about 1,000 miles off the coast of Ecuador, a fault line on the seafloor has been generating magnitude 6 earthquakes with almost clocklike regularity for at least three decades. The earthquakes strike every five to six years, in nearly the same places, at nearly the same size.

More Than Just Acid: Researchers Discover New Active Compounds in Ant Venom

Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:20:29 EST

The venom of forest ants and horse ants contains numerous substances that protect the insects from pathogens. Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and Freie Universitat Berlin have succeeded for the first time in identifying and characterising these novel antimicrobial substances in the insects' venom.

Nondestructive Testing Paves Way for Genetic Analysis of Historic Parchments

North Carolina State University — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:15:11 EST

Researchers have demonstrated a nondestructive way to collect cellular material from parchment manuscripts, allowing them to conduct genetic analyses that offer insights into everything from trade routes to agricultural practices dating back 1,300 years - without harming the valuable manuscripts.

Tezepelumab Controls Asthma in Diverse Patient Population

American Thoracic Society (ATS) — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:15:00 EST

The drug tezepelumab was shown to significantly reduce exacerbations in people with severe asthma in clinical trials.

Smarter Spending, Not Bigger Budgets, Drives Premier League Success, Study Finds

University of Bristol — Mon, 18 May 2026 09:05:46 EST

Higher spending does not automatically lead to greater overall efficiency or consistent on-pitch success, according to new research led by the University of Bristol that examined Premier League clubs over a ten-season period.

Polyendocrine Metabolic Syndrome Doesn't End at Menopause and Neither Should Its Care

Florida Atlantic University — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:30:38 EST

Polyendocrine Metabolic Syndrome (PMOS), formerly PCOS, is the most common hormonal and metabolic disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting up to 13% and contributing to nearly 40% of infertility cases. FAU researchers reviewed more than 2,200 studies and identified 29 focusing on non-pharmacological care in midlife and reproductive aging.

Chemotherapy May Influence the Immune System in Ways That Affect Tumor Response, New Study Shows

Houston Methodist — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:30:22 EST

Chemotherapy can be life-saving for many patients, but not all tumors respond--and some that do, may eventually become resistant. Investigators at Houston Methodist have identified a possible explanation for this resistance, offering new insight into why certain cancers evade treatment.

Sweeping Up Dust to Detect Emerging Viruses

Ohio State University — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:20:51 EST

Gathering dust from buildings may hold promise as a more efficient way to track viral outbreaks in indoor settings, according to a new study.

FSU Expert Available to Discuss High-Functioning Anxiety During Mental Health Awareness Month

Florida State University — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:00:00 EST

Study: Data Centers May Boost Power Bills Up to 57% By 2030

North Carolina State University — Mon, 18 May 2026 07:35:46 EST

New research suggests electricity demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining is likely to increase power costs in some parts of the country by up to 57% by 2030, with a national average increase of 6%-29%.

Improving Prediction of Alzheimer's Disease with AI

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) — Mon, 18 May 2026 07:00:55 EST

UCSF researchers have developed a deep learning, multitask framework for early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Their model outperformed all existing AI methods and produced accurate prediction of multiple clinical outcomes, including Alzheimer's diagnosis, tissue segmentation and both current and future cognitive scores, all from a single baseline scan.

More Than a Third of Menopausal Women Lose Sleep to Hot Flashes, Waking During the Night

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) — Mon, 18 May 2026 06:30:19 EST

While sleep is essential to health, women face unique challenges to getting quality sleep across key life stages. According to new survey results from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, more than a third of women ages 45-64 report frequent nighttime waking (37%) and night sweats or hot flashes that disrupt sleep (35%) due to menopause, while more than a quarter have increased daytime fatigue (29%) and trouble falling asleep (27%). Only 6% of women in that age group say their sleep quality has not changed during menopause.

No AI Authors, No Fake Citations: International Consensus Sets Rules for AI-Assisted Medical Writing

Chinese Academy of Sciences — Mon, 18 May 2026 05:20:43 EST

A ghostwriter that never sleeps but sometimes lies. That is the double-edged reality of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in medical research. A new global consensus delivers the first practical playbook for using tools like ChatGPT responsibly.

Smarter Water, Less Waste: How Physics-Guided Networks Boost Canal Forecasting

Chinese Academy of Sciences — Mon, 18 May 2026 05:05:08 EST

Reliable water supply in large canal systems is often compromised by unpredictable lateral offtake discharges. These deviations create uncertainty that can derail water-level forecasts and lead to poor operational decisions. A new study shows that integrating physical hydraulic laws into a probabilistic deep-learning framework significantly improves the prediction of these hard-to-forecast flows. The proposed physics-guided mixture density network not only improves point-prediction accuracy but also quantifies the uncertainty of its own forecasts. This advance offers a more reliable tool for managing large-scale water diversion infrastructure under real-world, data-limited conditions.