Reporting world updates to you
Just a few minutes of vigorous physical activity each day may significantly lower the chances of developing several major diseases, including arthritis, heart disease, and dementia, according to research published today (March 30) in the European Heart Journal. To explore this connection, researchers analyzed data from nearly 96,000 people. They…
A University of Michigan study suggests that the nitrile and latex gloves scientists commonly use could be causing microplastics levels to appear higher than they actually are. Researchers found that these gloves can unintentionally transfer particles onto lab tools used to analyze air, water, and other environmental samples. The contamination…
Researchers at Stockholm University have used advanced x-ray lasers to uncover a long-suspected feature of water: a critical point that appears when water is deeply supercooled. This occurs at about -63 °C and 1000 atmosphere. Even under everyday conditions, this hidden point influences how water behaves, helping explain many of…
A team of researchers led by Sergey Frolov, a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh, along with collaborators from Minnesota and Grenoble, carried out a series of replication studies focused on topological effects in nanoscale superconducting and semiconducting devices. This area of research is considered crucial because it could…
Scientists have uncovered something surprising in the Atlantic Ocean. The majority of plastic pollution may no longer be visible at all. Instead, it exists as nanoplastics, particles so small they are measured in billionths of a meter. “This estimate shows that there is more plastic in the form of nanoparticles…
A new study in The Lancet Digital Health suggests the brain can respond to stroke in a surprising way. Researchers at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) found that people with severe physical impairments after a stroke may show signs of a “younger” brain…
For the first time since 2018, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have released updated clinical guidance on how to screen for and manage blood cholesterol. The recommendations were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation and were presented March 28…
A new study led by researchers at Swansea University suggests that the way teenagers eat could influence their mental health. The team also lays out a detailed plan for future research to better understand how diet and mental well-being are connected. Published in the journal Nutrients, the review looked at…
A comprehensive review of global research on smoking cessation suggests that e-cigarettes containing nicotine may help more people quit smoking than other commonly used methods. These include nicotine replacement therapy (nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, etc.) as well as non-nicotine e-cigarettes and behavioral support programs. The analysis brings together findings from…
How small can a QR code get? A team of researchers has pushed the limits to an extreme, creating one so tiny it can only be detected using an electron microscope. Scientists at TU Wien, working with data storage company Cerabyte, produced a QR code measuring just 1.98 square micrometers,…
Researchers have developed a new holographic data storage method that records and retrieves information in three dimensions by combining three key properties of light — amplitude, phase and polarization. By using all three together, the approach allows much more data to be stored within the same space, offering a potential…
A new preclinical study has identified a gene therapy that directly targets pain-processing areas in the brain while avoiding the addiction risks linked to narcotic drugs. The findings could offer new hope to more than 50 million Americans living with chronic pain. Living with chronic pain is often compared to…
Solar power plays a major role in efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and address climate change. The Sun delivers an immense amount of energy to Earth every moment, yet modern solar cells capture only a small share of it. This limitation is due to a long-standing “physical ceiling”…
Stopping carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere is a critical way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. While carbon capture has been around for many years, it has not been widely adopted because most systems are costly and inefficient. A common industrial approach, aqueous amine scrubbing, requires heating large…
For more than 20 years, astronomers have been puzzled by a striking pattern of bright, evenly spaced stripes in the radio waves coming from the Crab Pulsar, the dense remnant of a supernova recorded by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054. In 2024, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of…
From low-carb ice cream and keto protein bars to “sugar-free” soda, erythritol has become a staple ingredient in many modern foods. However, new research from the University of Colorado Boulder suggests this widely used sugar substitute may have serious downsides. Scientists found it can affect brain cells in ways that…
Anyone who has had a severe stomach illness recognizes the pattern. Even after the worst symptoms fade, appetite often disappears and can take time to return. This same effect is experienced by millions of people worldwide who live with long-term parasitic worm infections. Despite how common it is, scientists have…
Researchers have discovered how a crucial protein switches on brown fat by helping it build the blood vessels and nerve connections needed for heat production. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest a new way to tackle obesity that focuses on increasing how much energy the body burns instead of…
Researchers report that a newly uncovered fossil ape from northern Egypt is changing how scientists view early hominoid evolution. The discovery suggests that the closest ancestors of modern apes may have originated in northern Africa, rather than in East Africa, which has long been the main focus of fossil research.…
During midday Friday prayers on March 28, 2025, a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar along the Sagaing Fault. The epicenter was located near Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. It was the strongest earthquake to strike Myanmar in more than a century and the second deadliest in its modern…
Antioxidants are often promoted as powerful supplements, credited with helping prevent chronic illnesses and cancer, treating conditions like COPD and dementia, and even slowing the aging process. However, new research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) suggests that taking high doses regularly may come…
One of the biggest challenges in cancer care is that the same therapy can be highly effective for some patients yet fail entirely for others. A new study published in Nature Communications, led by Dr. Louise Fets at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), takes a closer look at…
Scientists have uncovered a surprising way that gut bacteria interact with the human body. Certain microbes living in the digestive system can send proteins straight into human cells, actively influencing how the immune system behaves. The research, led by Helmholtz Munich with contributions from Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Aix Marseille…
Scientists have uncovered a surprising way that gut bacteria interact with the human body. Certain microbes living in the digestive system can send proteins straight into human cells, actively influencing how the immune system behaves. The research, led by Helmholtz Munich with contributions from Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Aix Marseille…
Species around the world are vanishing at an accelerating pace, driven by climate change, habitat destruction, and invasive species. Many lesser-known groups, including marine worms, are especially at risk, with some facing extinction before scientists have even identified them. To address this gap, researchers from the University of Göttingen, the…
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have identified previously unseen oscillation patterns known as Floquet states inside extremely small magnetic vortices. In contrast to earlier studies that relied on powerful laser pulses to generate these states, the Dresden team found that gentle stimulation using magnetic waves is enough. This discovery…
Today, Mars is known as a cold, dry desert, but its surface tells a very different story. Ancient channels, water-altered minerals, and other geological features show that the planet once had abundant water and a far more dynamic environment. Understanding how this wetter world transformed into the barren landscape we…
How much does a star determine what its planets are like? And could that influence whether those worlds can support life? Carnegie’s Luke Bouma is investigating a new way to tackle this question by using naturally occurring “space weather stations” that appear around some young stars. His findings are being…
Sea ice is remaining attached to Alaska’s northern coastline for shorter periods each year, based on 27 years of data analyzed by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This type of ice, known as landfast ice because it stays fixed to the shore rather than drifting with winds and…
Researchers from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil, working with University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, found that having both excess abdominal fat and reduced muscle mass significantly raises the risk of death. People with this combination were 83% more likely to die than those…
