Monday, March 10, 2025

SPACE/COSMOS

James Webb Space Telescope reveals unexpected complex chemistry in primordial galaxy

University of Arizona

University of Arizona astronomers have learned more about a surprisingly mature galaxy that existed when the universe was just less than 300 million years old – just 2% of its current age.

Observed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the galaxy – designated JADES-GS-z14-0 – is unexpectedly bright and chemically complex for an object from this primordial era, the researchers said. This provides a rare glimpse into the universe's earliest chapter.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, build upon the researchers' previous discovery, reported in 2024, of JADES-GS-z14-0 as the most distant galaxy ever observed. While the initial discovery established the galaxy's record-breaking distance and unexpected brightness, this new research delves deeper into its chemical composition and evolutionary state.

The work was done as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, a major James Webb Space Telescope program designed to study distant galaxies.

This wasn't simply stumbling upon something unexpected, said Kevin Hainline, co-author of the new study and an associate research professor at the U of A Steward Observatory. The survey was deliberately designed to find distant galaxies, but this one broke the team's records in ways they didn't anticipate – it was intrinsically bright and had a complex chemical composition that was totally unexpected so early in the universe's history.

"It's not just a tiny little nugget. It's bright and fairly extended for the age of the universe when we observed it," Hainline said.

"The fact that we found this galaxy in a tiny region of the sky means that there should be more of these out there," said lead study author Jakob Helton, a graduate researcher at Steward Observatory. "If we looked at the whole sky, which we can't do with JWST, we would eventually find more of these extreme objects."

The research team used multiple instruments on board JWST, including the Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, whose construction was led by U of A Regents Professor of Astronomy Marcia Rieke. Another instrument on the telescope – the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, revealed something extraordinary: significant amounts of oxygen.

In astronomy, anything heavier than helium is considered a "metal," Helton said. Such metals require generations of stars to produce. The early universe contained only hydrogen, helium and trace amounts of lithium. But the discovery of substantial oxygen in the JADES-GS-z14-0 galaxy suggests the galaxy had been forming stars for potentially 100 million years before it was observed.

To make oxygen, the galaxy must have started out very early on, because it would have had to form a generation of stars, said George Rieke, Regents Professor of Astronomy and the study's senior author. Those stars must have evolved and exploded as supernovae to release oxygen into interstellar space, from which new stars would form and evolve.

"It's a very complicated cycle to get as much oxygen as this galaxy has. So, it is genuinely mind boggling," Rieke said.

The finding suggests that star formation began even earlier than scientists previously thought, which pushes back the timeline for when the first galaxies could have formed after the Big Bang.

The observation required approximately nine days of telescope time, including 167 hours of NIRCam imaging and 43 hours of MIRI imaging, focused on an incredibly small portion of the sky.

The U of A astronomers were lucky that this galaxy happened to sit in the perfect spot for them to observe with MIRI. If they had pointed the telescope just a fraction of a degree in any direction, they would have missed getting this crucial mid-infrared data, Helton said.

"Imagine a grain of sand at the end of your arm. You see how large it is on the sky – that's how large we looked at," Helton said.

The existence of such a developed galaxy so early in cosmic history serves as a powerful test case for theoretical models of galaxy formation.

"Our involvement here is a product of the U of A leading in infrared astronomy since the mid-'60s, when it first started. We had the first major infrared astronomy group over in the Lunar and Planetary lab, with Gerard Kuiper, Frank Low and Harold Johnson," Rieke said.

As humans gain the ability to directly observe and understand galaxies that existed during the universe's infancy, it can provide crucial insights into how the universe evolved from simple elements to the complex chemistry necessary for life as we know it.

"We're in an incredible time in astronomy history," Hainline said. "We're able to understand galaxies that are well beyond anything humans have ever found and see them in many different ways and really understand them. That's really magic."

Journal

Nature Astronomy

DOI

10.1038/s41550-025-02503-z

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Photometric detection at 7.7 μm of a galaxy beyond redshift 14 with JWST/MIRI

Mysterious phenomenon at center of galaxy could reveal new kind of dark matter

A mysterious phenomenon at the center of our galaxy could be the result of a different type of dark matter

King's College London

A mysterious phenomenon at the centre of our galaxy could be the result of a different type of dark matter.

Dark matter, the mysterious form of unobserved matter which could make up 85% of the mass of the known universe, is one of science’s biggest manhunts.

In this first of its kind study, scientists have taken a step closer to understanding the elusive mystery matter. They believe a reimagined candidate for dark matter could be behind unexplained chemical reactions taking place in the Milky Way.

Dr Shyam Balaji, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at King’s College London and one of the lead authors of the study explains, “At the centre of our galaxy sit huge clouds of positively charged hydrogen, a mystery to scientists for decades because normally the gas is neutral. So, what is supplying enough energy to knock the negatively charged electrons out of them?

“The energy signatures radiating from this part of our Galaxy suggest that there is a constant, roiling source of energy doing just that, and our data says it might come from a much lighter form of dark matter than current models consider.”

The most established theory for dark matter is that it is likely a group of particles known as ‘Weakly Interacting Massive Particles’ (WIMPs), which pass through regular matter without much interaction – making them extremely hard to detect.

However, this study, published today in Physical Review Letters, has potentially revived another type of dark matter with much, lower mass than a WIMP.

The researchers think that these tiny dark matter particles are crashing into each other and producing new charged particles in a process called ‘annihilation’. These newly produced charged particles can subsequently ionise the hydrogen gas.

Previous attempts to explain this ionisation process had relied on cosmic rays, fast and energetic particles that travel throughout the universe. However, this explanation has faced some difficulties, as energy signatures recorded from observations of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) where this is happening, don’t seem to be large enough to be attributed to cosmic rays. Such a process doesn’t seem to be possible with WIMPs either.

The research team were left with the explanation that the energy source causing the annihilation is slower than a cosmic ray and less massive than a WIMP.

Dr Balaji said “The search for dark matter is science’s biggest manhunt, but a lot of experiments are based on Earth. By using gas at the CMZ for a different kind of observation, we can get straight to the source. The data is telling us that dark matter could potentially be a lot lighter than we thought.”

“The search for dark matter is one of fundamental science’s most important objectives, but a lot of experiments are based on Earth, waiting with hands outstretched for the dark matter to come to them. By peering into the centre of our Milky Way, the Hydrogen gas in the CMZ is suggesting that we may be closer to identifying evidence on the possible nature of dark matter.”

This finding may simultaneously explain wider mysteries of our Galaxy, such as a specific type of X-ray observation found at the centre of the Milky Way – known as the ‘511-keV emission line’. This specific energy signature could also be due to the same low-mass dark matter colliding and producing charged particles.

Journal

Physical Review Letters

Article Publication Date

10-Mar-2025

Study: Climate change will reduce the number of satellites that can safely orbit in space

Increasing greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the atmosphere’s ability to burn up old space junk, MIT scientists report.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT aerospace engineers have found that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment of near-Earth space in ways that, over time, will reduce the number of satellites that can sustainably operate there.

In a study that will appear in Nature Sustainability, the researchers report that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can cause the upper atmosphere to shrink. An atmospheric layer of special interest is the thermosphere, where the International Space Station and most satellites orbit today. When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag— a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will encounter air molecules and burn up.

Less drag therefore means extended lifetimes for space junk, which will litter sought-after regions for decades and increase the potential for collisions in orbit.

The team carried out simulations of how carbon emissions affect the upper atmosphere and orbital dynamics, in order to estimate the “satellite carrying capacity” of low-Earth orbit. These simulations predict that by the year 2100, the carrying capacity of the most popular regions could be reduced by 50-66 percent due to the effects of greenhouse gases.

“Our behavior with greenhouse gases here on Earth over the past 100 years is having an effect on how we operate satellites over the next 100 years,” says study author Richard Linares, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro).

“The upper atmosphere is in a fragile state as climate change disrupts the status quo,” adds lead author William Parker, a graduate student in AeroAstro. “At the same time, there’s been a massive increase in the number of satellites launched, especially for delivering broadband internet from space. If we don't manage this activity carefully and work to reduce our emissions, space could become too crowded, leading to more collisions and debris.”

The study includes co-author Matthew Brown of the University of Birmingham.

Sky fall

The thermosphere naturally contracts and expands every 11 years in response to the sun’s regular activity cycle. When the sun’s activity is low, the Earth receives less radiation, and its outermost atmosphere temporarily cools and contracts before expanding again during solar maximum.

In the 1990s, scientists wondered what response the thermosphere might have to greenhouse gases. Their preliminary modeling showed that, while the gases trap heat in the lower atmosphere, where we experience global warming and weather, the same gases radiate heat at much higher altitudes, effectively cooling the thermosphere. With this cooling, the researchers predicted that the thermosphere should shrink, reducing atmospheric density at high altitudes.

In the last decade, scientists have been able to measure changes in drag on satellites, which has provided some evidence that the thermosphere is contracting in response to something more than the sun’s natural, 11-year cycle.

“The sky is quite literally falling — just at a rate that’s on the scale of decades,” Parker says. “And we can see this by how the drag on our satellites is changing.”

The MIT team wondered how that response will affect the number of satellites that can safely operate in Earth’s orbit. Today, there are over 10,000 satellites drifting through low-Earth orbit, which describes the region of space up to1,200 miles, or 2,000 kilometers, from Earth's surface. These satellites deliver essential services, including internet, communications, navigation, weather forecasting, and banking. The satellite population has ballooned in recent years, requiring operators to perform regular collision-avoidance maneuvers to keep safe. Any collisions that do occur can generate debris that remains in orbit for decades or centuries, increasing the chance for follow-on collisions with satellites, both old and new.

“More satellites have been launched in the last five years than in the preceding 60 years combined,” Parker says. “One of key things we’re trying to understand is whether the path we’re on today is sustainable.”

Crowded shells

In their new study, the researchers simulated different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios over the next century to investigate impacts on atmospheric density and drag. For each “shell,” or altitude range of interest, they then modeled the orbital dynamics and the risk of satellite collisions based on the number of objects within the shell. They used this approach to identify each shell’s “carrying capacity” — a term that is typically used in studies of ecology to describe the number of individuals that an ecosystem can support.

“We’re taking that carrying capacity idea and translating it to this space sustainability problem, to understand how many satellites low-Earth orbit can sustain,” Parker explains.

The team compared several scenarios: one in which greenhouse gas concentrations remain at their level from the year 2000 and others where emissions change according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). They found that scenarios with continuing increases in emissions would lead to a significantly reduced carrying capacity throughout low-Earth orbit.

In particular, the team estimates that by the end of this century, the number of satellites safely accommodated within the altitudes of 200 and 1,000 kilometers could be reduced by 50 to 66 percent compared with a scenario in which emissions remain at year-2000 levels. If satellite capacity is exceeded, even in a local region, the researchers predict that the region will experience a “runaway instability,” or a cascade of collisions that would create so much debris that satellites could no longer safely operate there.

Their predictions forecast out to the year 2100, but the team says that certain shells in the atmosphere today are already crowding up with satellites, particularly from recent “megaconstellations” such as SpaceX’s Starlink, which comprises fleets of thousands of small internet satellites.

“The megaconstellation is a new trend, and we’re showing, because of climate change, we’re going to have a reduced capacity in orbit,” Linares says. “And in local regions, we’re close to approaching this capacity value today.”

“We rely on the atmosphere to clean up our debris. And if the atmosphere is changing, then the debris environment will change too,” Parker adds. “We show the long-term outlook on orbital debris is critically dependent on curbing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

This research is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council.

###

Written by Jennifer Chu, MIT News

Journal

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-025-01512-0

Article Title

'Greenhouse gases reduce the satellite carrying capacity of low Earth orbit'

Rising CO2 likely to speed decrease in ‘space sustainability’

University of Birmingham

Currently more than 8,000 satellites are orbiting at altitudes of between 300 and 1000 km in the Earth’s upper atmosphere – also called the thermosphere. While changes in space weather, such as coronal mass ejections and solar flares, can cause temporary changes in the density of this region, scientists at the University of Birmingham suggest the effects caused by global warming are likely to be much longer term.

This is because of the effects caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. In the lower atmosphere, GHGs are trapped by the atmosphere, and they retain infrared radiation from the Earth’s surface, leading to an overall warming effect. But this effect also pulls heat, via conduction, from the upper atmosphere. And as this region cools down, it also contracts, leaving satellites orbiting in areas where the atmosphere is less dense.

This change in density means less of an atmospheric drag on satellites – and that has important implications for their life expectancy in space. Currently, this friction is useful because it reduces the orbital energy of satellites, causing them to sink back down to Earth after several years.

Without it, satellites have the potential to stay in space for longer, increasing the chances of collision, and producing more space debris – as well as leaving less space for new satellites to be launched.

The findings, published today (10 Mar) in Nature Sustainability, provide a clear link between ground-level sustainability and space sustainability.

Lead researcher Matthew Brown, from the SERENE research group, said: “Often we think only about the ground-, or sea-level impacts of climate change, but this research demonstrates that the impacts will reach as high as space.

“The numbers of satellites in low Earth orbit is rapidly expanding and we rely heavily on them for communications, Earth observation, weather forecasting and navigation. For this reason, we need to take the long-term sustainability of space very seriously.”

Dr Brown added: “Discussions are already underway about how many satellites can be put into space at any one time, as more and more instruments are being launched into low Earth orbit. Without checking this proliferation, we are in danger of entering a ‘Kessler syndrome’, where a chain reaction of collisions causes space to become unusable.

“While technology can help these objects avoid collision, recognising the influence that the Earth’s natural environment has on our ability to operate in space is becoming increasingly important. A coordinated approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions would ensure we can prevent the exploitation of the thermosphere and protect it for future generations.”

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)121 4142772: email: pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Notes to editor:

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.

‘Greenhouse Gasses Reducing the Satellite Carrying Capacity of Low Earth Orbit’ - Parker, Brown and Linares (2025) is published in Nature Sustainability.

Journal

Nature Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s41893-025-01512-0.

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Greenhouse Gasses Reducing the Satellite Carrying Capacity of Low Earth Orbit

Article Publication Date

10-Mar-2025

Is red wine a healthier choice than white wine? Uncorking the cancer risks

Epidemiologists assess whether red wine protects against cancer, comparing the cancer risks of red wine vs. white wine

Brown University

A common perception is that not all alcoholic beverages are alike. Red wine, for instance, is often considered a healthier choice, with many believing its high resveratrol content — an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties — offers protection against cancer. Researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health, however, have put this assumption to the test.

In a new a study, the researchers compared cancer risks associated with red and white wine. Analyzing 42 observational studies involving nearly 96,000 participants, the team — co-led by Eunyoung Cho, an associate professor of epidemiology and of dermatology at Brown — found no clear evidence that red wine mitigates cancer risk. The study also found no overall increase to cancer risk from consuming wine regardless of type.

“We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to assess whether red wine is truly a healthier choice than white wine,” Cho said “Our analysis included as many published epidemiological studies as possible that separately explored the relationship between red and white wine consumption and cancer risk. The results revealed no significant difference in cancer risk between red and white wine overall. However, we did observe a distinction when it came to skin cancer risk. Specifically, the consumption of white wine, but not red wine, was associated with an increased risk of skin cancer.”

In fact, the researchers calculated a 22% increased risk of skin cancer associated with white wine compared to red wine. The reasons for this remain unclear. Researchers suggest that heavy consumption of wine may correlate to high-risk behaviors, such as indoor tanning and inadequate sunscreen use. However, it is unclear why white wine, in particular, is the culprit.

The study also found a stronger association between white wine intake and increased overall cancer risk among women. This finding warrants further investigations into potential underlying mechanisms.

The meta-analysis done by the team is the first study of its kind and challenges the belief that red wine is healthier than white. It also points to the need for further study into the association between white wine consumption and cancer risk, particularly in women.

Alcohol — specifically, the ethanol in alcoholic beverages — metabolizes into compounds that damage DNA and proteins, contributing to cancer risk. In 2020, excessive alcohol consumption was linked to more than 740,000 cancer cases worldwide, accounting for 4.1% of all cases.

Journal

Nutrients

DOI

10.3390/nu17030534

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Consumption of Red Versus White Wine and Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

IMDEA Networks participates in a European project to create 6G networks that interact intelligently with reality

MultiX will develop advanced perception and communication technologies to enhance healthcare, industrial automation, and real-time environmental interaction

IMDEA Networks Institute

IMDEA Networks is part of MultiX, a European scientific project involving 17 research centers and technology companies from 7 countries coordinated by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), which aims to revolutionize future 6G communication networks by transforming their design and operation. By means of an innovative system that integrates multisensory perception, MultiX aims to make networks capable of intelligently observing the environment and interacting with it in real time. This innovation seeks to transform sectors as relevant as healthcare facilities or the autonomous vehicle industry.

“What we want to achieve through the development of this technology is that the networks stop being simple communication providers and become active observers of reality, capable of interacting with it,” explains the project coordinator, Antonio de la Oliva, professor in the UC3M Telematics Engineering Department. “To do this, we want to use multiple tools, such as cameras and communication networks acting as sensors simultaneously. In this way we will be able to have a broader vision of what is happening around us and design a new access network in which everything is connected”.

Within the project, IMDEA Networks is specifically focusing on the MultiX energy-efficient network perception system, with perception enablers that allow for localization and multi-static sensing across different radio technologies. IMDEA Networks is further involved in the development of machine-learning based algorithms to integrate all the different sensing modalities to derive fine-grained information about objects in the environment. “Multi-static, multi-band integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) with coherent integration is key to high-precision perception of the environment,” explains Joerg Widmer, Research Director at IMDEA Networks. “Capturing signals from multiple viewpoints improves spatial diversity, enhances micro-Doppler extraction, and provides richer motion signatures, while coherent processing fuses information across bands to improve accuracy, which enables real-time, intelligent interaction with the environment.”

The promoters of this project have explained that one of the many applications of this new technology is to make networks capable of recognizing if there is a higher concentration of people in a certain area, if an elderly person has suffered a fall at home, or to optimize the distribution of coverage by dynamically adapting to the needs of users.

Other potential uses MultiX is working on right now are industrial automation processes and home connected health. On the one hand, we intend that the networks can coordinate the movement of robots in real time, detecting obstacles and enabling more efficient task management,” explains Antonio de la Oliva. “On the other hand, the project is working on contactless health monitoring in the domestic environment. That is, through connected home devices, it will be possible to monitor vital signs such as heart rate or respiration. In fact, the network could even detect emergency situations, such as a heart attack, and potentially alert health services”.

MultiX also stands out for its commitment to sustainability, a key challenge for 6G technology. Thus, in order to maximize energy efficiency and reduce resource consumption, the project leverages artificial intelligence to implement low-power solutions and thus adapt to the requirements of future networks.

The project will validate its progress through two proof-of-concepts designed to demonstrate practical applications of the technologies developed. The first consists of a multilayer digital network twin, aimed at optimizing processes in the field of industrial manufacturing. The second proof will focus on contactless health monitoring in the home environment, with the aim of transforming home healthcare. These technologies combined with AI could optimize diagnosis and treatment in health-related matters even from home, according to the researchers. To support these proof-of-concepts, IMDEA Networks is developing a powerful multi-band integrated sensing and communication platform for 6G.

MultiX project has been funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe program (GA 101192521) and involves: Apple Technology Engineering BV&CO (Germany), BubbleRAN (France), Siemens AG (Germany), Telefónica S.A. (Spain), Nextworks (Italy), INTEL Deutschland GmbH (Germany), InterDigital Europe Ltd. (United Kingdom), Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (Italy), IHP – Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (Germany), Fundació Privada i2CAT. Internet i Innovació Digital a Catalunya (Spain), IMDEA Networks Foundation (Spain), Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications (Greece), NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH (Germany), Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A. OTE (Greece), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), Universidad de Cantabria and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain). Within this consortium, Professor Antonio de la Oliva (UC3M) acts as Principal Investigator, Valerio Frascolla (INTEL) as Innovation Director and Xi Li (NEC) as Technical Director. The project has started in January 2025 and is expected to complete its work in June 2027.

MultiX project website: https://multix-6g.eu

Reproductive justice–driven pregnancy interventions can improve mental health

Principles aim to increase autonomy, community input, racial equity, and/or cultural relevance

Wolters Kluwer Health

March 10, 2025 — Perinatal interventions guided by reproductive justice principles can have positive effects on the perinatal mental health of Black birthing patients and, perhaps, the mental health development of their infants, states a systematic review published in a special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry, part of the Lippincott portfolio from Wolters Kluwer.

Mental health interventions incorporating reproductive justice principles "utilize a trauma-informed approach to address the psychosocial stress and trauma of racism and their negative effects on pregnant parents and offspring," Cristiane S. Duarte, PhD, MPH, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City, and colleagues explain. "They link the health of pregnant parents to the upstream structural determinant of racism and attempt to combat its negative effects on both physical and mental health by giving agency back to Black birthing communities."

High-level evidence-quantified intervention outcomes in multiple settings

Dr. Duarte’s team identified 12 randomized controlled trials of interventions explicitly designed to address reproductive justice or increase autonomy, community input, racial equity, and/or the cultural relevance of perinatal care for Black birthing people and their infants. The interventions were initiated during pregnancy or delivery and occurred in hospitals, prenatal clinics, and birthing centers, as well as during home visits. The trials measured maternal and/or infant mental health outcomes or developmental processes relevant to mental health.

Five studies employed interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) or culturally tailored cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), two focused on group prenatal care, and four investigated culturally tailored home visiting programs with local community health workers or doulas. Ten studies measured maternal mental health, one included both infant mental development and maternal mental health outcomes, and one focused on infant mental development.

Positive mental health effects observed in a variety of outcomes

Seven studies had statistically significant positive results. Six found improvement in maternal mental health outcomes: reduction in ante/postpartum depressive symptoms (five studies), antepartum anxiety, and antepartum stress, and increase in postpartum adjustment. The other study identified a significant effect on infant mental health with REACH-Futures (Resources, Education, and Care in the Home by Black community health workers). One of the studies without significant findings was a pilot trial that did not evaluate for statistical significance.

"Effective intervention types included psychologically oriented modalities (IPT, culturally tailored/culturally sensitive CBT, CBT integrated into home visits), group prenatal care integrated with skill-building sessions (CenteringPregnancy Plus), and an educational intervention based on an interactive online platform (Birthly)," reports Simone Dreux, a CUIMC medical student and one of the article’s lead authors. "Of note, most effective interventions were specifically geared toward birthing people deemed at risk for developing mental health conditions—including antepartum and postpartum depression, and antepartum anxiety—as well as those with a previous history of mental health conditions."

Eight studies recruited predominantly low-income participants. Four of them found significant benefits for maternal mental health, and one study (REACH-Futures) found a significant benefit for infant mental development. "This finding is notable because low-income Black birthing people are at even higher risk of developing perinatal mental health conditions than low-income people of other races," the authors point out.

In their discussion, Dr. Duarte’s team suggests potential mechanisms related to their results: Engaging racially concordant community health workers “may increase social belonging, reduce isolation, and improve the emotional experience of pregnancy.” Culturally relevant, psychologically oriented interventions may improve mental health by focusing on “communication skills, goal setting, and problem-solving.” Additionally, group care affirms and respects the autonomy of birthing patients by allowing them to “take ownership of their prenatal care.”

Read Article: Reproductive Justice Interventions in Pregnancy: Moving Toward Improving Black Maternal Perinatal and Intergenerational Mental Health Outcomes

Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers, and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across health care. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health.

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About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (EURONEXT: WKL) is a global leader in information, software solutions and services for professionals in healthcare; tax and accounting; financial and corporate compliance; legal and regulatory; corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with technology and services.

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Journal

Harvard Review of Psychiatry

Article Title

Reproductive Justice Interventions in Pregnancy: Moving Toward Improving Black Maternal Perinatal and Intergenerational Mental Health Outcomes

Article Publication Date

10-Mar-2025

What’s in a label? It’s different for boys vs. girls, new study of parents finds

Psychology research shows parents use gender-neutral terms for boys and men more often than for girls and women

New York University

A decades-old riddle poses the following scenario: A boy is injured in a car crash in which the father dies and is taken to the emergency room, where the doctor says, “I cannot operate on him—he’s my son.” Who, then, is the doctor? Many over the years have been stumped in not recognizing the answer: the mother.

Similarly, research has shown that adults instinctively think of men when asked to think of a person—they describe the most “typical” person they can imagine as male and assume storybook characters without a specified gender are men. A new study by psychology researchers shows that the way parents talk to their children may contribute to these perceptions.

Their findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that parents across the US are more likely to use gender-neutral labels—for instance, “kid”—more often for boys than for girls and to use gender-specific labels, such as “girl,” more often for girls than for boys.

“While perceptions of gender are driven by a variety of factors, our research identifies one of the social influences that may contribute to our tendency to equate men with people in general and points to potential ways to address this bias,” says Rachel Leshin, the paper’s lead author, a New York University doctoral student at the time of the study and now a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University.

The tendency to view men as default “people” is also reflected in our collective reality: Internet searches for “people” yield more images of men than women, and men remain overrepresented in a host of fields, including politics, media, and medicine.

“This bias has important consequences for issues of gender equity, as perceiving men as the ‘default’ has the potential to elevate their concerns, priorities, and values above those of others,” explains Leshin. “Understanding the specific factors that may lay the foundation for these male defaults is one way to start thinking about how to intervene on this bias.”

To explore this matter, Leshin and her colleagues conducted experiments involving more than 800 parent-children pairs, with mothers making up more than 90 percent of the parental participants. In one, which included more than 600 parents of children aged 4 to 10 from across the US, parents were shown photographs of individual children playing on a playground—both boys and girls—and asked to come up with a caption that they then read aloud to their children.

In this experiment, parents were more likely to use gender-neutral labels (e.g., “The kid is sliding”) when describing boys relative to girls. Conversely, parents were more likely to use gender-specific labels (e.g., “This girl is swinging”) when describing girls relative to boys.

The researchers were also interested in knowing whether the results of the first study would extend to both stereotypical and counter-stereotypical depictions of children, so they conducted a second study.

In this one, which included nearly 200 parent-child pairs, primarily from the US, parents participated in a virtual picture-book-reading task designed to elicit open-ended discussion of gender-related themes. The picture book consisted of pages depicting a character engaged in a distinct gendered behavior—for example, digging for worms (stereotypical of boys) or painting fingernails (stereotypical of girls). Across the various pages, boys and girls were depicted as engaging in stereotypical gendered behaviors (e.g., a boy digging for worms) and counter-stereotypical behaviors (e.g., a girl digging for worms).

Consistent with the first experiment, the parents used more gender-neutral labels when discussing boys engaged in stereotypical behavior (e.g., a boy digging for worms) than they did for girls engaged in stereotypical behavior (e.g., a girl painting her nails). However, when discussing images depicting counter-stereotypical behavior, these patterns reversed: Parents used more gender-neutral labels when discussing counter-stereotypical girls compared to counter-stereotypical boys—for example, calling a girl digging for worms a “kid” more often than they called a boy painting his nails a “kid.”

“These findings reveal a notable bias in how parents see gender, signaling that a ‘person,’ by default, is a male,” observes Leshin.

The paper’s other authors were Josie Benitez, an NYU doctoral student, Serena Fu, an NYU undergraduate at the time of the study, Sophia Cordeiro, a lab manager at NYU, and Marjorie Rhodes, a professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology.

The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (BCS-2017375) and the National Institutes of Health (1F31HD107965, R01HD087672).

# # #

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

" 'Kids and Girls': Parents convey a male default in child-directed speech"

Article Publication Date

10-Mar-2025

Proximity and prejudice: Gay discrimination in the gig economy

University of Queensland research has found discrimination based on sexual orientation is common in the gig economy, but only for tasks requiring close physical proximity.

University of Queensland

University of Queensland research has found discrimination based on sexual orientation is common in the gig economy, but only for tasks requiring close physical proximity.

Dr David Smerdon, Dr Samuel Pearson and Dr Sabina Albrecht ran an experiment on a popular online marketplace involving more than 1,100 job posts across 6 Australian cities.

“To test whether workers discriminate against gay men, we created hundreds of fictitious male ‘requester’ profiles, with some clearly signalling they were gay by referring to their male partner or with a couple profile photo,” Dr Pearson said.

“The requested tasks were either inside the home – such as moving furniture – requiring close physical proximity between requester and worker, or outside – such as gardening – allowing for greater physical distance between requester and worker.

“We tracked engagement with profiles and discovered that workers were less likely to interact with gay requesters for tasks requiring close physical proximity.

“Furthermore, the workers who did reply to gay requester profiles were more likely to have lower ratings, as measured by other platform users.”

Dr Smerdon said the findings provide an important glimpse into what had been a hidden form of discrimination.

”Aside from the impact on individuals, more broadly this sort of bias distorts the labour market through inefficient allocation of talent, occupational segregation and lower productivity,” Dr Smerdon said.

“The gig economy is a relatively new digital frontier with lower regulatory oversight when it comes to anti-discrimination and its reliance on peer ratings and evaluations.

“But more and more of us are engaging in the gig economy either through income or services, so it’s crucial we understand how and when discrimination exists.”

The researchers said it was unlikely that regulatory changes would address this bias.

“The answer would seem to lie with the online platforms themselves, who until now may have been unaware of this happening,” Dr Smerdon said.

“Infrastructure changes, similar to those successfully introduced by several platforms to address racial discrimination, could perhaps also be applied here.”

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2412362122

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Physical proximity drives gay discrimination in the gig economy

Article Publication Date

10-Mar-2025