Reporting world updates to you
New research suggests that memory problems in Alzheimer’s disease may be linked to a failure in how the brain replays recent experiences while at rest. The study, conducted in mice by scientists at University College London (UCL), points to a disrupted brain process that normally helps strengthen and preserve memories.…
Americans born in the 1960s and early 1970s are reporting higher levels of loneliness and depression than people from earlier generations. They are also showing declines in memory and physical strength. These patterns are unusual when compared with other wealthy nations. In many peer countries, especially in Nordic Europe, measures…
In the oldest known writing in Marathi, a language spoken by millions in western and central India, a 13th-century religious leader named Cakradhara points to an acacia tree as a symbol of death and rebirth. While his words were meant to convey spiritual meaning, they have taken on new significance…
As artificial intelligence continues to advance and ethical concerns grow alongside it, scientists say the need to understand consciousness has reached a critical point. In a new review published in Frontiers in Science, researchers warn that progress in AI and neurotechnology is moving faster than scientific understanding of consciousness. This…
A newly developed app powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is giving scientists and the public a new way to identify dinosaur footprints left behind millions of years ago, according to a recent study. The technology aims to make sense of fossil tracks that have long challenged researchers. For many years,…
How can information move at incredible speeds, or electricity flow without wasting energy? Answering these questions has pushed scientists and technology companies toward quantum materials, whose behavior is governed by physics at the smallest scales. Building these advanced materials depends on understanding how atoms and electrons behave, an area where…
Researchers have discovered a way to coax the bacteria living in animals’ digestive systems into acting like miniature factories that produce compounds linked to longer life. The findings point to a potential new approach for developing drugs that work by influencing gut microbes rather than directly targeting the body. The…
Researchers studying infectious diseases have discovered Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV), a bat-borne virus, in stored throat swab samples and virus cultures from five patients in Bangladesh. These individuals were originally suspected of having Nipah virus infection but later tested negative. The finding places PRV among the growing number of animal-to-human viruses…
Statins have dramatically improved cardiovascular health by lowering cholesterol and cutting the risk of heart attacks and strokes for millions of people. Despite these benefits, many patients experience unwanted side effects. These can include muscle pain and weakness, and in rare situations, a dangerous breakdown of muscle tissue that can…
Towering clouds ripple across Jupiter’s surface in dramatic patterns. Like Earth’s clouds, they contain water, but on Jupiter they are far denser and far deeper. These layers are so thick that no spacecraft has been able to directly observe what lies below them. Now, scientists have taken a major step…
Astronomers were surprised to learn in recent years that most Sun-like stars host at least one planet that falls between Earth and Neptune in size and orbits closer than Mercury does in our own solar system — sizes and orbits absent from our solar system. These worlds, known as super-Earths…
Picture a glowing cloud that looks like a neon sign, but instead of water droplets it holds vast numbers of microscopic dust particles suspended in space. This unusual mixture is known as dusty plasma, a rare state of matter that exists both in outer space and inside laboratory experiments. In…
Hydrogen is widely seen as a key energy source for the future, which makes it critical to understand how water is split during electrolysis. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge have taken a closer look…
Lowering sodium levels in packaged and prepared foods could lead to major improvements in heart health and prevent large numbers of heart attacks, strokes, and premature deaths in France and the United Kingdom. That is the conclusion of two new studies published in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart…
Termites are among the most dominant animals on the planet, forming enormous colonies that can contain millions of individuals. Their highly organized societies raise an obvious question: how did insects with such advanced social systems evolve from solitary ancestors that closely resembled modern cockroaches? New research from the University of…
A recently uncovered archaeological site in central China is changing how scientists understand early hominin behavior in East Asia. The discoveries suggest these ancient populations were far more capable and adaptable than previously assumed. An international research team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences carried out excavations at Xigou…
Night owls may face higher risks to their heart, especially later in life, with women appearing particularly affected. Adults in midlife and older age who tend to be most active in the evening, especially women, showed poorer overall heart health than those without a strong preference for mornings or evenings,…
A decades-long study tracking people from young adulthood has uncovered an early and unexpected shift in heart disease risk. Men reached a 5% risk of cardiovascular disease roughly seven years earlier than women, revealing a clear and early gap in heart health. Coronary heart disease accounted for most of this…
Researchers at Griffith University report encouraging progress toward treating sepsis after a Phase II clinical trial in China produced positive results. The study suggests a new drug candidate may reduce the severity of sepsis, a condition that affects millions of hospitalized patients worldwide each year. The experimental treatment, known as…
On Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, gray wolves are showing an unusual behavior: they are hunting sea otters. This unexpected shift in diet could have wide-ranging effects on coastal ecosystems and on the wolves themselves. However, scientists still know very little about how these predators manage to catch prey in…
More than 100 years after the sinking of the Titanic, the idea of ships that cannot sink continues to motivate engineers. Researchers at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics have now taken a significant step toward that long-standing goal. They have developed a technique that makes ordinary metal tubes…
A new study from Brazil, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, sheds light on how pancreatic cancer gains the ability to spread at an early stage. Researchers found that a protein called periostin, along with stellate cells in the pancreas, plays a crucial role in helping cancer cells…
A new study published in Kidney International reports that a class of medications called SGLT2 inhibitors helped prevent age-related damage to kidney structure and function in the African turquoise killifish. This small vertebrate completes its entire lifespan in only a few months, making it a unique model for studying aging.…
Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have created a new medical imaging tool called “fast-RSOM” that can capture highly detailed images of the body’s smallest blood vessels directly through the skin, without invasive procedures. By making it possible to detect early signs of cardiovascular risk,…
More than two decades ago, a small group of women with advanced breast cancer took part in a clinical trial that tested an experimental vaccine. All these years later, every one of them is still alive. Researchers say survival over such a long period is extremely uncommon for people with…
Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have created an experimental immunotherapy that approaches metastatic cancer from a different angle. Rather than attacking cancer cells directly, the treatment focuses on the cells that surround and protect them. The research, published in the January 22 online issue of…
Many of the complex patterns seen in nature arise when symmetry breaks. As a system shifts from a highly symmetrical state into a more ordered one, small but stable irregularities can appear. These features, known as topological defects, show up across vastly different scales, from the structure of the universe…
Farah Moustafa, MD, an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and a dermatologist with Tufts Medical Center, explains that collagen supplements are not a proven solution for skin aging. “Oral collagen supplements are not currently recommended to treat skin aging, although they can be considered along with other…
Research building on earlier work in type 2 diabetes suggests the experimental drug IC7Fc may also help protect against heart disease. A new study reports that the drug can lower cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation, two major contributors to cardiovascular problems. An international research team led by Leiden University Medical…
Researchers led by a team at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have identified biological markers that appear in the earliest stages of Parkinson’s disease, before major damage occurs in the brain. These early changes leave detectable traces in the blood, but only for a short time. The findings highlight…
