Since cancer cells inhibit T-cell activity, the authors investigated a method to reverse T-cell disfunction with gene therapy, so that the T-cells would become effective once again in fighting cancer cells. They used the inhibition of proprotein convertases (PCSK1) in T cells and programmed death-ligand 1 (CD274) in cancer cells. They observed the recovery of IL-2 expression in Jurkat cells, with increased recovery noted in a co-culture sample. This study suggests a novel strategy to reactivate T cells.

As the world struggled to grapple with the emerging COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many countries instated policies to help minimize the spread of the virus among residents. This inadvertently led to a decrease in travel, and in some cases, industrial output, two major sources of pollutants in today's world. Here, the authors investigate whether California's shelter-in-place policy was associated with a measurable decrease in water and air pollution in that state between June and July of 2020, compared to the preceeding five years. Their findings suggest that, by some metrics, air quality improved within certain areas while water quality was relatively unchanged. Overall, these findings suggest that changing human behavior can, indeed, help reduce the level of air pollutants that compromise air quality.

This study used hand-collected Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and aimed to understand the determinants and incentives of GHG emissions reduction. It explored how companies’ financials, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation, and corporate governance affected GHG emissions. Results showed that companies reporting GHG emissions were wide-spread among the 48 industries represented by two-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

Industrialization has transformed human life and improved it for many. Nonetheless, a side effect has been an increase in chemical waste, which when not disposed of properly, has detrimental effects on surrounding habitats. An increase in ocean acidification could potentially affect many forms of life, disrupting the ecological balance in unforeseeable ways. In this article the authors explore the effect of acidification on corals and shells, and observe that an increase in ocean acidity has a significant effect on corals, but not shells. This illustrates how acidification could negatively affect marine life, and calls our attention to managing the factors that contribute to increasing the pH of the Earth's water bodies.

In this study, Donnellan and colleagues investigated how environmental pollution may be affecting honey samples from Chicago apiaries. They found no significant correlation between heavy metal concentration in honey to distance from local industries, suggesting a minimal effect of proximity to industrial pollution on honey contamination.

The authors investigated the relationship between personality traits and adolescent materialism, as well as how materialism relates to spending habits. Results indicate that extroversion was positively correlated with materialism, and that adolescents' purchases were affected by the purchasing behaviors of their friends or peers. Moreover, materialistic youth were more likely than non-materialistic youth to spend money on themselves when given a hypothetical windfall of $500.

Here, the authors investigated the ability to use fruit peels to help soil retain moisture, a property that is essential to agriculture. Across a 96-hour observation period, orange, banana, and kiwi peel water emulsions were evaluated for their effects on soil moisture. They found that orange peels retained the most moisture, but banana and kiwi peels also offered improvements over their control sample.

Here, seeking to identify the possible role of sports in helping teenagers navigate the troubles associated with societal changes during a pandemic, the authors surveyed 50 adolescents to collect Beck Depression Inventory scores. They found that 9 out of students with severe depressions did not do sports, while no significant relationship between depressive symptoms and either gender or place of exercise was observed.

COVID-19 has impacted the way many people go about their daily lives, but what are the main factors driving the changes in the housing market, particular house prices?

In this study, the authors assess the factors that allow some speedcubers to solve Rubik's Cubes faster than others.