Kornelia Wieczorek: TIME's Girls of the Year List
It wasn't until a teacher showed her the many practical applications of biology that her love for the subject began to blossom. At the age of 10, she began taking classes at a nearby medical school and contributing to research labs. At 14, she and a friend co-created a biodegradable fertilizer using Rhizobium bacteria strains, that would promote seed growth without degrading soil. The invention—which she says could be cheaper than fertilizer on the market today—could be critical as the E.U. aims to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides in soil by 2030. Wieczorek hopes to conduct more detailed research on the fertilizer when she begins college, and has access to more advanced labs, next year.
These days, Wieczorek's working on a number of projects—from an app to detect and diagnose skin changes, to research on the use of stem cells in therapies for Parkinson's, to creating an oncology app for brachytherapy in partnership with one of the biggest oncology centers in Poland. She's considering pursuing a dual degree—studying neuroscience and medicine—but the past few months have held so many opportunities that it's hard to know what the future might hold. 'I'm not really sure what will happen half a year from now, but I hope to be an expert in what I'm interested in, because it's something I really like.'
She advises young scientists to wholeheartedly pursue the topics that interest them. 'Get as much knowledge as possible, and dare to incorporate it together, and to work on who you would like to be in the future.'
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Time Magazine
10 hours ago
- Time Magazine
Kornelia Wieczorek: TIME's Girls of the Year List
Growing up, Kornelia Wieczorek, 17, wasn't interested in the sciences. 'I was scared of biology,' she says. 'I don't even know why.' It wasn't until a teacher showed her the many practical applications of biology that her love for the subject began to blossom. At the age of 10, she began taking classes at a nearby medical school and contributing to research labs. At 14, she and a friend co-created a biodegradable fertilizer using Rhizobium bacteria strains, that would promote seed growth without degrading soil. The invention—which she says could be cheaper than fertilizer on the market today—could be critical as the E.U. aims to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides in soil by 2030. Wieczorek hopes to conduct more detailed research on the fertilizer when she begins college, and has access to more advanced labs, next year. These days, Wieczorek's working on a number of projects—from an app to detect and diagnose skin changes, to research on the use of stem cells in therapies for Parkinson's, to creating an oncology app for brachytherapy in partnership with one of the biggest oncology centers in Poland. She's considering pursuing a dual degree—studying neuroscience and medicine—but the past few months have held so many opportunities that it's hard to know what the future might hold. 'I'm not really sure what will happen half a year from now, but I hope to be an expert in what I'm interested in, because it's something I really like.' She advises young scientists to wholeheartedly pursue the topics that interest them. 'Get as much knowledge as possible, and dare to incorporate it together, and to work on who you would like to be in the future.'
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Yahoo
Massive Study Links 6 Sleep Traits to Risk of 172 Diseases
The way we sleep can reveal a great deal about our overall health. But while many of us focus on the hours of shut-eye we get, new research suggests we should pay more attention to the timing and consistency of our bedtime. Researchers have now found that those with the poorest sleep rhythms may face a 2.8-times-higher risk of Parkinson's disease, and a 1.6-times-higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to those with consistent patterns of wakefulness and sleep. The findings come from the sleep data of more than 88,000 people in the UK Biobank, and while the results can only reveal correlations, they could point future clinical research in new directions. Altogether, scientists at Peking University and the Army Medical University in China considered the health effects of six sleep traits: length, onset, rhythm, extent and efficiency of sleep, and frequency of wake-ups during the night. Related: During the average 6.8-year follow-up, 172 diseases were associated with these sleep characteristics, with many tied to just one trait. To make the findings more robust, the associations were successfully replicated using another large database: the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Across both analyses, sleep duration (as measured by wearable sensors) showed a relatively weak association with disease risk, despite the fact that in surveys, many participants expressed greater concern over how much they slept, rather than how they slept. Sleep rhythm, meanwhile, showed three times as many disease links as those associated with sleep duration and onset. In fact, it was associated with nearly half of the study's 172 diseases. The term 'sleep rhythm' essentially refers to cycles of wakefulness and sleep, from when a person goes to bed, to when they wake each and every day. A more robust and regular sleep rhythm seems to be tied to healthier outcomes. Senior author and epidemiologist Shengfeng Wang from Peking University argues it is "time we broaden our definition of good sleep beyond just duration." "The existing literature has disproportionately focused on sleep duration rather than other sleep traits," write the study authors, led by Yimeng Wang from China's Army Medical University. In the current study, the most erratic sleep rhythms, as opposed to the most consistent ones, were linked to type 2 diabetes, primary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute kidney failure, and depression – to name just a few. One of the strongest associations was with Parkinson's disease, which previous studies have also linked to sleep disorders. Sleep onset and sleep quality were also associated with several diseases. Those who went to bed after 12.30 am, for instance, were 2.6 times more likely to develop liver cirrhosis compared to those who went to bed before 11.30 pm. In addition, the least efficient sleepers showed a nearly 1.8-fold increase in respiratory failure compared to those who slept the most efficiently. The data is based on wearable sleep monitors as well as subjective reports, and that seems to be an important combination. Nearly a quarter of self-reported 'long sleepers' actually slept fewer than 6 hours a night. The findings indicate that purely relying on surveys, as previous sleep studies have done, may not be reliable. "For example, some participants with difficulty falling asleep or keeping stable sleep may have spent a long time in bed but have short real sleep," the researchers explain. "As evidenced by our analyses, this dramatic misclassification of sleep duration has introduced substantial bias to the estimation of effect size for a number of diseases, including stroke, ischemic heart diseases, cardiovascular disease, and depressive episode and recurrent depressive disorder." "Our findings underscore the overlooked importance of sleep regularity," concludes Wang. The study was published in Health Data Science. Related News Common Viruses May Wake Dormant Breast Cancer Cells, Study Finds Study Reveals The Shocking Amount of Plastic We Breathe in Every Day Researchers Identified New Blood Group After 50 Year Mystery Solve the daily Crossword
Newsweek
25-07-2025
- Newsweek
Smart Speakers Like Alexa and Google Assistant Could Tell if You Have Parkinson's
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new AI-powered, speech-based screening tool could help people assess whether they are showing signs of Parkinson's disease at home. Developed as part of a study by University of Rochester computer scientists, the web-based test asks users to recite two pangrams, short sentences using every letter of the alphabet. In just seconds, the AI can analyze the voice recordings to look for subtle patterns linked to Parkinson's—with nearly 86 percent accuracy. The researchers believe such a tool could be implemented as a feature in popular speech-based interfaces like Amazon Alexa or Google Home (with users consent). Parkinson's is typically diagnosed by specially trained neurologists through a combination of examinations, brain imaging and family history. While the new tool is not intended to be a replacement for a clinical diagnosis, the researchers see it as a fast, low-barrier and accessible way to flag people who might have the disease and encourage them to seek thorough clinical evaluation. Man connecting Alexa-like device to phone at home. Man connecting Alexa-like device to phone at 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease, expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2030, according to Parkinson's Foundation. Nearly an estimated 90,000 people are diagnosed across the country each year, making it the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. While incidence increases with age, some four percent of people are diagnosed before 50. "There are huge swaths of the U.S. and across the globe where access to specialized neurological care is limited," said Rochester computer science professor Ehsan Hoque in a statement. "With users' consent, widely used speech-based interfaces like Amazon Alexa or Google Home could potentially help people identify if they need to seek further care." Most people living with Parkinson's in the U.S. seek their care from neurologists, with approximately 50 percent seeing a community neurologist and 9 percent seeing a movement disorders specialist, a previous Parkinson's Foundation study found. However, nearly 40 percent of people with the disease do not see a neurologist for their care but see a primary care provider (29 percent) or no provider (11 percent.) Home speaker device. Home speaker device. fabioderby/Getty Images To train and validate the new tool the researchers collected data from more than 1,300 participants—with and without Parkinson's—across home care settings, clinical settings at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the InMotion Parkinson's disease care center in Ohio. Using their computer's microphone, participants were asked to read aloud the following sentences: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog wakes up and follows the fox into the forest, but again the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." By utilizing advanced semi-supervised audio models trained on millions of digital recordings to understand the characteristics of speech, the tool can obtain enough vocal cues from the short sentences to flag warning signs. "For example, the way someone with Parkinson's would utter sounds, pause, breathe, and inadvertently add features of unintelligibility is different in someone without Parkinson's," explained paper author and computer science master's degree student Abdelrahman Abdelkader in a statement. The tool was 85.7 percent accurate when tested, providing a strong indication of whether someone may have Parkinson's, according to the study authors. Woman using Google Nest-like device at home. Woman using Google Nest-like device at well as speech, some people can display signs of Parkinson's through motor movement tasks or facial expressions. Over the past decade, this has led Hoque's lab to pursue algorithms to combine multiple indicators with state-of-the-art results. "Research shows that nearly 89 percent of people with Parkinson's have a deformity in their voice that can be indicative of the disease, making speech a strong starting point for digital screening," said paper author and computer scientist Tariq Adnan in a statement. "By combining this method with assessments of other symptoms, we aim to cover the majority of people through our accessible screening process." An interactive, browser-based demonstration of the lab's three screening tests, including this new speech test, is available to try out at home here. Newsweek has reached out to the study authors for more information. Do you have a health story to share with Newsweek? Do you have a question about Parkinson's? Let us know via health@ References Adnan, T., Abdelkader, A., Liu, Z., Hossain, E., Park, S., Islam, M. S., & Hoque, E. (2025). A novel fusion architecture for detecting Parkinson's Disease using semi-supervised speech embeddings. Npj Parkinson's Disease, 11(1), 176. Pearson, C., Hartzman, A., Munevar, D., Feeney, M., Dolhun, R., Todaro, V., Rosenfeld, S., Willis, A., & Beck, J. C. (2023). Care access and utilization among medicare beneficiaries living with Parkinson's disease. Npj Parkinson's Disease, 9(1), 108.
