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Cambridge researchers have uncovered why both activating and blocking the same brain receptor can promote weight loss. The findings may help scientists develop obesity treatments that are more effective and potentially work better in combination. The mouse study, published in Nature Metabolism, found that the outcome depends on which part…
For decades, scientists have generally viewed the brain’s immune system as largely separate from the immune defenses operating throughout the rest of the body. The brain has its own specialized immune cells, along with the blood-brain barrier, which restricts many substances and cells from entering brain tissue. New research from…
Even after a nuclear reactor is switched off, activity continues deep inside its core. Long-lived radioactive fission products keep decaying for months or even years, releasing a weak stream of particles called antineutrinos. (Anti)neutrinos are the lightest and most elusive known particles in the Universe, and they can pass through…
A newly developed superconducting quantum heat engine could deepen our understanding of thermodynamics while helping advance technologies needed for quantum computers with very large numbers of qubits. Scientists are getting a clearer picture of how thermodynamics behaves in the quantum world, and that progress could benefit both quantum technology and…
New research from the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital suggests that something as simple as choosing the stairs could contribute to a longer life. The large study found that people who regularly climbed stairs had a substantially lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.…
When laboratory mice experience brain damage, e.g., from an injection, Jan Deussing repeatedly notices the same response. A particular group of cells appears and becomes active around the damaged area. Although Deussing, a research group leader and experienced neurobiologist, had observed the phenomenon many times, he did not know exactly…
A large study has found that women who used hormone therapy later in life had a lower risk of developing dementia. The findings were published August 12, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers emphasized that the results show an association and do not…
For decades, scientists generally assumed that fossilization destroyed the original organic molecules once present in bones, teeth, and other tissues. Under that view, proteins and other biological materials were not expected to survive for tens of millions of years. New research led by the University of Liverpool now provides strong…
For years, climate scientists have warned that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could eventually shut down if global temperatures rise too far. New findings from researchers at Utrecht University suggest that temperature alone does not determine the fate of this major ocean circulation system. The speed at which the…
In 1989, Voyager 2 discovered six previously unknown moons around Neptune. Five of them are tiny satellites that travel just beyond the planet’s main rings. Their small size and distant location have made them extremely difficult to investigate from Earth. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has given scientists…
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V has taken a major step toward mapping the sky on a truly global scale with Data Release 20. Known as DR20, the release includes the first optical (BOSS) SDSS-V spectra collected from the Southern Hemisphere, greatly expanding the survey beyond the groundwork established in…
A large study involving more than 5,500 adults over age 50 has identified a potentially dangerous combination of health risks. People who had both abdominal obesity and vitamin D deficiency faced a 123% higher risk of death compared with those who had neither condition. The findings, published in the journal…
Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, affecting about 1 in 100 babies born each year. The condition can have many causes, including changes involving TBX5, a gene that plays a critical role in building the heart. In some cases, a child has only one working copy of…
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has captured a remarkable celestial sight: Earth briefly vanishing behind Phobos in the evening sky of Mars. A newly released sequence of images shows Earth as a tiny point of light while Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons, moves across the sky and passes directly…
Astronomers from MIT and other institutions have identified an exceptionally bright red object dating back to the early universe. At first glance, it resembles an enormous star with dimensions comparable to our solar system. Its energy output, however, is extraordinary. The object is producing roughly 100 billion times more energy…
Most of us think of orange juice as a simple breakfast habit, something you pour without much thought. Yet scientists are discovering that this everyday drink may be doing far more in the body than quenching thirst. A recent study has shown that regular orange juice consumption can influence the…
Some cynodonts may have started giving birth to live young far earlier in evolutionary history than scientists once believed. A new study published in Frontiers in Mammal Science presents the first compelling evidence that at least some cynodonts may have been viviparous — meaning they gave birth to live offspring.…
Obesity is a major health problem worldwide and can raise the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other metabolic disorders. Many factors can contribute to obesity, but researchers are increasingly interested in the role of high fat foods that are readily available in grocery stores. These foods can be difficult…
More than 120,000 babies around the world acquire HIV each year. For millions of people living with the virus, controlling the infection means taking treatment for life, provided those medications are accessible and affordable. A new study led by Oregon Health & Science University points to a potentially very different…
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that individual human neurons can carry out far more complex computations than neurons in other mammals. The discovery offers a new perspective on what may make the human brain so unusual. How does the human…
A recent study from TUD Dresden University of Technology suggests that what people have done before can shape their current decisions more strongly than researchers previously believed. The findings offer new insight into how people make everyday choices and develop habits. The results were published in the journal Communications Psychology.…
During deep sleep, a water-like fluid moves around the brain and helps remove metabolic waste associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. This cleanup process is part of the glymphatic system, which was first described in 2012 by Maiken Nedergaard — a pioneering neuroscientist and co-director of the University of RochesterCenter…
For many people, the thought of a tasty burger or a cold pint of beer conjures up a vivid mental image and drives behavior. This link between thinking and doing serves a clear function – it motivates us to get the necessities for life. But for some, this process can…
The region surrounding Earth is getting more crowded as thousands of satellites and pieces of space debris move through low Earth orbit. Farther above, at altitudes of several hundred kilometers, traces of Earth’s upper atmosphere can still exert enough drag to slow satellites. Accurately measuring atmospheric density at these heights…
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can reduce movement problems caused by Parkinson’s disease, and new research is providing a clearer picture of why the treatment works. Scientists have found that its benefits appear to depend on stimulating a specific brain network that communicates primarily through a relatively fast beta rhythm (20…
A new study led by a Charles Sturt University researcher and international colleagues is challenging a long-accepted idea about how scientists identify ancient disease. Evidence from the skeletal remains of children who lived in prehistoric Vietnam suggests that treponemal diseases could have been passed from mother to child thousands of…
The adult brain may have a greater ability to repair itself after injury or certain autoimmune diseases than scientists previously believed. In experiments with mice, researchers at the University of Zurich found that specialized support cells can repopulate damaged parts of the brain in an unusual way. Rather than moving…
Scientists have found that wool could provide an effective and sustainable new option for repairing damaged bone. The research focused on keratin, a natural structural protein that can be extracted from wool. When tested in a living animal, the material supported bone regeneration and produced new tissue that more closely…
The James Webb Space Telescope has captured new images of NGC 2392, a planetary nebula commonly known as the Lion Nebula, revealing the cosmic object in striking infrared detail. The Hubble Space Telescope previously observed the nebula in 2000, imaging the lion face-shaped target in visible light. Those observations highlighted…
Researchers at the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich have found a new way to examine how electrons move together inside one of the most elusive forms of matter, the Wigner crystal. By using light to probe this delicate quantum state, the physicists uncovered properties that had…